Grandma and Grandpa Traxler have moved back! It's fun to have them close again and see them a bit more often. Last Saturday, we went to visit them in South Haven where they're staying until their house is built. We had a great time taking a walk in the ridiculously warm November weather and making cookies.

And we really enjoyed being able to celebrate Grandma's birthday with her for the first time in quite a long time.

Halloween

You know, it's the day after Thanksgiving. So it seems like the appropriate time to post a few Halloween pictures. Eli was a scary Ghost (Boo!) - his idea. And Asher was a pumpkin (with a little Elmer Fudd mixed in), thanks to the pumpkin outfit we were giving - he wasn't a fan for most of the night.

Greatest Grandparents

Our kids are blessed to have four living Great Grandparents - three Great Grandmas and one Great Grandpa. One Great Grandma, Grandma Lois, lives in Iowa, but the other three live within an hour of home and Eli and Asher get to see them every once in a while.

Earlier this month we celebrated Great Grandma Traxler's 84th birthday.

And on Thanksgiving Eli and Asher got to spend a little time with Great Grandpa Gordon and Great Grandma Miriam.

Getting so big.

Eli made a very big big-boy decision today. He threw away his "Piers" (aka - pacifiers) and traded them in for a Rescue Squad Mater. He gave them both one last suck and then spit them in the garbage can, proclaiming that the garbage man would come and take them away.
(edit - at bed time, our poor Big Boy cried for 45 minutes and assured me that, yes, we could get it back RIGHT NOW - we could just drive to the dump and get it. I realized in a new way tonight that, no matter why their heart breaks, no matter how small an issue it is in the whole scheme of things, our hearts will break along with theirs. Eli may be justified in crying over the end of his Piers because he's three. We are justified in crying with him because we are Momma and Papa and that's what we do.)


This weekend, he helped Grandpa Pete make cookies, and put up new wall boards in their bathroom.

Ludington State Park

We spent last week camping in Ludington State Park in mostly beautiful fall weather. The boys had a great time playing outside all day.
Asher even got a bath in the sink of the camper.
Eli hiked most of the 4 mile round trip to the lighthouse and back. When we got there, Asher was too little to climb, so the nice volunteer ladies watched him while the three of us made our way to the top.

We forgot sunscreen, so on the way back to the campsite he looked like this. Wonderful.
And the boys were still brothers.

Even some first wrestling happened.

And we're running

Wow, I finally got some space freed up on my computer and dumped about 400 pictures in from the last three months. I'm not even going to try to catch up - let's just say it's been a busy summer and the boys are both growing like crazy. Eli's working hard on puzzles, learning letters and counting. Asher's starting to crawl (he's been scooting around for a month or so) and even thinks he wants to pull himself up on things - silly kid. And they look like this.

Hey all,
I'm sorry that there haven't been any new posts for quite some time. Despite Eli's birthday, the birth of a new cousin and Asher's 6 month bench mark, we haven't updated you in a long time. There's a problem with my computer and I can't dump the pictures from our camera - and therefore can't post any. So for now I'll tell you that Eli's third birthday was a blasts, new baby cousin Jacob is wonderful, and Asher came in at 16lb 5oz at his 6 month check up - 50th percentile all around. Eli, at 3 years of age, measures even with the average 4 year old. He's tall.

As soon as I can, I'll post a whole slew of pictures.
~Jen