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| This picture was taken of me when I was probably around 5 or 6 years old. I was at my grandma and grandpa Nye's house and when on a walk with grandma we found this beautiful puffball. A few days after moving into the "big house" we found a very similar puffball. |
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| It was too heavy for Lily to hold on her own (or so she said) so Colin helped. |
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| Well after what feels like years of uncertainty we have finally closed and moved into our new home. The short of it is this......we were supposed to close Aug 1st, we didn't; the seller's bank only approved half of the short sale, then when they approved the other half the expiration date they placed on the first half of the short sale had come and gone so then they chose to start all over again on approving the first half. Basically it came down to the last day that we could be in the lake house and we did not have a home to move into. So we contacted the seller of the new house (the big house, according to Lily) and asked if we could rent from her.....she approved and within 24 hours we had our moving crew all signed up and ready to go. Thank HEAVENS for our family and friends! We would not have been able to move out of one house and into this house without them. Essentially during moving day when everyone was there the seller of the big house was NO WHERE to be found and thus we could not get access to the big house. Prior to that day she had given us the code to get into the house, well when myself, Kalie and Sheila went to the house to start cleaning (it was a horrible disaster) we could not get in and the code did not work. So for hours we could not get a hold of the seller or her agent to help get us in the house. So we have all of these folks on very tight schedules helping us move in and we cannot get into the new big house. Frustrating and stressful is an understatement. First moving with a toddler is the last thing anyone should do, second moving 32 weeks prego is the other thing one should not do and lastly moving into a home that was excessively dirty and in need of some serious TLC is the final thing one should not do. It was bad and like I said if it were not for our family and friends - taking Lily here and there, moving everything heavy, cleaning walls, cupboards, floors bathrooms......we would not have made it. So we moved in and two weeks later we closed! |
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| So this is our new project. Ummmmm yes in need of a little TLC is right. |
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| Many have been asking for a belly shot. Well all belly shots have been in passing and very minimal. Here I am trimming our hedges so we can find our front door. I am 33 weeks along here. |
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| I NEVER thought I would have a princess room. Well never say never. We have one - pink everywhere including the floor and closet trim and closet and 3 different princesses along the wall paper. Lily LOVES it. Colin and I very much dislike it. This was the first night in her first big girl bed. She did awesome. The nights following were not as easy but moving is a transition in and of itself so I really just blame the move. |
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| So happy in her new bed, with her new owl bedding, and princesses lining the room. |
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| This is the baby's room, pre-painting. Yes baseballs line the ceiling - how nice. We took the wall paper down and thank goodness that the previous owner did not wall paper the entire room! |
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| We took a break from house work and had dinner at my folks for labor day. Lily thought this was the best, everyone sitting on each other's lap. |
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| 33 weeks |
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| Family shot! What a group! |
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| Katie, Geoff and Harper have been in town for a few weeks and have had the opportunity to see them quit a bit. The girls even got to go out to dinner one night without the kids! |
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| We had to show Harper the Splash Park by us. |
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| This is the funniest picture yet, she clearly has to pee and is starting to panic! |
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| The sadness that occurs once we realized she has peed! |
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| Finally we are over our little accident and we have moved onto posing. The kids are pretty funny to watch. They basically chase each other around squealing. Harper has a hard time keeping his hands off of her, he is either trying to hug her, kiss her or hold her hand. She occasionally allows it but usually says no and then when he stops she continues chasing him. How do they already know their roles at such a young age? Boy chases girl, girl plays hard to get, boy moves on, girl tries her hardest to change his mind and the cycle starts again! |
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| Debbie and Dan (Meg's mom) throw a great party for the kids, adults and grandparents. We had a blast swimming, playing and eating. Lily jumped off the diving board! |
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| Netty showed her how! |
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| Left to right: Katie, Harper, Davis (Liz's son), Annette (behind the net), Meg, Lily, Colin, Liz (Meg's sister) and Nolan |
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| Kid's table- Davis, Annette, Lily and Harper |
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| Lily also had to show Harper her favorite playground! |
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| We are sad to see them go! We had such a blast with everyone. It was great to get the kids together so much and really makes you appreciate good friends. |
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| It has been excessively hot here....and there have been many days where our only relief is the water. Lily has become quite the little swimmer: kicking her feet, attempting to blow bubbles and putting the back of her head in the water. Lucky for us, water is typically only a 5 minute drive away no matter where we are. Here we are at Aunt Megan's pool. |
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| The sunsets on our lake are still beautiful. However, our stay here has almost ended. Our offer on a house in Brighton was excepted and we should be closing in the next week. The house needs ALOT of TLC, mostly cosmetics, so for the next month we will be packing up the lake house and getting the new house move-in ready(titled "The Big House," somewhat of a misnomer but that was the distinguishing factor for Lily). |
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| For the 4th of July we went up north to Colin's folks house/the Nye cabin. My family has a gathering every year around then. Most of the Aunts, Uncles, cousins and new cousins were there. We had a great time visiting and swimming. I love this picture because it shows how much Lily looks like Colin. |
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| Lily swam every second we could. |
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| Here she is kicking the distance. By the end she was walking in deep water and jumping off of the dock. It was so fun to see the transition. |
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| She made it. |
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| Filling her pool. Who doesn't need a lake and a pool? |
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| We took all of the dad's to the Tiger's game this weekend for Father's Day. It was an incredible game. We had good seats and lots of fun. Mimi stayed home and played with Lily. It was such a gift for Colin and I because we have not had an evening out since April. I know Colin was in heaven. |
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| The group under the Tiger. (Left to right: Chuck, Dad, Kalie, Julie, Colin, Megan, Drew) |
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| Bleacher seats in the very hot sun. We were packed in there. |
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| Tiger's won 7 to 1 against the White Sox! |
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| Then we went out for dinner and had some great food. |
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| Our days have been packed over the last month. We have been on a bit of an emotional roller coaster. We have spent what feels like every waking moment looking for a home to buy. There is not much on the market right now and so when something does come on it is gone within 24 hours and typically much higher than asking price. We first placed an offer on a house we both fell in love with in Ann Arbor only to learned we were out-bid by $15, 000. We looked at what seemed like 100's more houses and then we found one that was at the higher end of our price range, in a decent neighborhood but was really priced high for the type of house it was. We submitted an offer, both felt awful about it and so we withdrew the offer. Then 2 days later we found another place that we have submitted an offer on, the place needs a lot of work but is in a good location. We just learned that there are at least 2 other offers on the place.....so the saga continues. Sometime in all of this we spoke with the landlord and he agreed to let us stay in our current location month to month, then 1 week later he called saying nope we needed to move by the end of July. Colin convinced him to let us stay until the end of August. So for now we are hoping that we are able to find a place and move by 8/31 or we will be knocking on the doors of those near by with our bags packed! There is nothing on the rental market at this point either. So our schedule has been at the mercy of the homes coming on the market.......when a new one comes on, we drop everything and go and take a look. If we are not physically looking at the house we are scouring the web for new listings popping up. I am pretty sure our real-estate agent is about to kill us. In our free time we have been up to see Mimi and poppi in Gaylord, pick strawberries and a few other things in-between. The strawberry picking, tractor ride and park has been Lily's highlights. It is so cute how she, even today, continues to recount the day (this was 3 weeks ago). This is her version: go pick strawberries, Aunt Megan, Mama, dada and Lily; go on a tractor ride; go to the park; pick strawberries; see goats. I also reminded her today that we had donuts! Yes all at the same farm, who could ask for more? |
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| Such a big girl! |
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| We went at 9 am. It was so hot so we finished picking by 10. I realized that crouching in the hot sun pregnant is NOT my favorite thing, it made me very nauseous. |
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| Testing the goods. |
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| Aunt Megan and Lily |
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| This weekend was the Howell Balloon Festival. It is quite a sight, 40 balloons take-off at set times, together all weekend long. Saturday was Aunt Kalie's birthday and so we woke to find 22 hot air balloons rising above the lake for Aunt Kalie's birthday. Lily LOVES hot air balloons, Curious George has a story about hot air balloons and the come over the lake frequently and so this weekend was so exciting - not only getting to sing Aunt Kalie happy birthday but also getting to see the balloons take off. If you click on the picture you will be able to see the balloons better. |
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| Watching the take off. |
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| Who can look at the picture when there are so many balloons back there? Hello? |
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| A picnic for the babies. She was feeding them each gold fish and making sure they went in their mouth. It was so sweet. |
