Kevin&Stephanie

We went to Horrocks tree farm in Ionia to cut down a Christmas tree a little over a week ago. Aundrea enjoyed tromping around in the snow, although she falls down a lot in her puffy jacket and snow boots. After carefully selecting our 9 1/2 foot tall Blue Spruce, Kevin cut it down with his chain saw. We decorate while Aundrea was taking a nap last Sunday. She received it with much enthusiasm. This picture is just pure joy. :) Aundrea loves to remove the little bells and put them back on, but other than that she hasn't been too much trouble around the Christmas tree (much to our surprise and relief!).

Happy Halloween and Reformation Day! We didn't actually do a whole lot, but Aundrea had fun playing in different costumes. Last Thurday we took Aundrea to Ionia's little Halloween event. It was basically trick-or-treating in downtown shops, games, and lots of chili dogs. Aundrea was a garden gnome, and we went in our medieval costumes. We felt a little silly, because very few of the adults were in costumes.....oh well. Many young boys looked envious of Kevin sword in his back-scabbard. Aundrea is a cute gnome Riding her horse - a gift from Grandpa and Grandma Anderson. Fairy ....and a princess . Did I mention she loves her horse? She likes the real ones too. :) We had a big bowl full of candy (good candy, too!) and 0 trick-or-treaters. Guess who's eating the chocolate instead?

I had no idea Aundrea did this, but Kevin captured it on camera. SO sweet. :)

It has been a lovely autumn so far here in West Michigan. The weather for the past week has been truly amazing. As you can see, we're dressed more for summer than fall lately. Despite the summery weather, it definitely is fall. I have attempted to decorate seasonally by displaying some of our corn stalks and pumpkins. Our mums are huge and bright. The bad thing is, our numerous walnut trees have been dropping absurd amounts of walnuts at all hours of the day or night. The thunk of a walnut hitting the roof has been known to wake us up at night! The walnuts laying all over the ground also present more than a little fall hazard. This is what walnuts look like when they come off the tree: This wheelbarrow-full is only a small portion of what's left! Aundrea sometimes helps pick up walnuts....(do you see all those walnuts on the ground around her?) Aundrea also loves climbing onto the lawn-mower (parked, of course) Last night we "shelled" some walnuts (we took the green ...

Just some fun shots of Aundrea and Ein (garden in background).

Life's been pretty steady this summer. It's been pleasant, but nothing too exciting to share, so here's a bunch of randomness... Aundrea really likes her baths. She doesn't ever want to get out, even when all the water is gone. She is climbing all over the furniture, and is extremely active. We went to Ludington and camped with Kevin's family for a few days. Aundrea enjoyed flinging sand all over. We tried to go to the Ionia Free Fair again this year, but we walked over and discovered it had been shut down early, due to flooding. Aundrea continues to have a big-time sweet tooth, and LOVEs licking beaters/mixers. Yes, I know raw eggs are a danger, but let the kid live a little! nothing better than a face full of brownie batter! Here's a picture of our resident woodchuck in our driveway. His life is safe thus far, but if he digs into the garden, it's over! Aundrea really enjoys technology - particularly phones. She has ...

On July 7, we celebrated Aundrea's first birthday! We can hardly believe our baby is a year old! We celebrated with lots of family and cake! Kevin's parents stayed at our place for a few days, and Aundrea's great-grandparents on the Anderson side stopped by to visit on her birthday. I (Stephanie) made a mini cake and cupcakes for Aundrea's actual birthday. The big cake was yet to come.... Aundrea couldn't blow the candle out, but she enjoyed looking at it. After a brief contemplation, Aundrea decided to attack her cake face-first. An unfortunate side-effect of this method was frosting up the nose! She thoroughly enjoyed it nonetheless When she'd had enough of eating cake, Aundrea took to painting with it and sharing it with Otto. Licking the beaters 2 days later, while Mommy made the big cake. Aundrea thinks it's fun to share and "feed" us. We'll see how long that lasts. On Sunday, July 10 we hosted a joint birthday party for Aundrea and...