Blockheads

For a relaxing Sunday activity, the boys that don't nap love to play with legos.  They found the little kid ones, involved Daddy, and this is what they created.

 

 Blockhead Elliott

 Blockhead Donovan

 

Boy am I glad my kids aren't claustrophobic!

They tried to make Dan a blockhead too, but they told him that his head was just too big!  Ha ha!  It's all those books he reads, lots of knowledge in there!

Night-time Tramp

The boys have wanted to have a campout on the trampoline all summer long!  They earned the event through their sticker/good behavior charts.  Since fall is quickly approaching, we had to do it quickly while there was a night without rain.

 

 I found fun glow-in-the-dark glasses for a buck that I thought the boys would have fun wearing in the dark.

 

Here's a picture without the flash.  They had so much fun jumping with them.

Ross ended up getting pretty scared of the dark and thought that bats would come and eat him, plus it was going to get down to 42 that night, so the boys opted to finish the campout in the basement watching movies and return outside to jump in the morning.

 

 Donovan was the trooper and stayed up till almost midnight while the rest quickly fell asleep around 10.  He'd rather read than jump any day!

 

Monkeys Elliott and Ross jumping in jammies.



Roswell's Preschool

Roswell has been so excited to start preschool with me this year!  He is doing great and I hope his enthusiasm for school will last and he will learn as well as his brothers did before kindergarten starts for him next year.

McMahon/Powell Wedding on Sept. 2, 2012

On Labor Day weekend, we were able to let our friends keep our children overnight and attend Dan's cousin Mary's wedding down in Detroit.  It was an awesome experience and quite elegant!

 

 On the St. Clair shores Mary and David said "I Do".

 

 Mr. and Mrs. Powell

 

 Cousin Maureen and Paul Zoski also renewed their wedding vows after 25 years of marriage.  Here is the wedding party: Zoski children Steven and Ali, David, Mary, the Captain who married them, Maureen, and Paul. (Mary and Maureen are sisters.)

 

 For the reception, we had a 4-hour cruise on this yacht!

It was so fancy and had great family and sights!

 

 The RenCen (Renaissance Center in downtown Detroit)

 

 Dan had to take a pic of the Joe Louis Arena where the Red Wings play!

We cruised right by the waterfront areas of downtown and also right by the Underground Railroad Stop Monument.

 

 We turned around at the Ambassador Bridge.

 

 We enjoyed visiting with family.  This is a picture of Dan's grandma, Grandma McMahon.

 

 The lighting wasn't great inside for pictures, but here is a picture of Dan's mom, Irene and her siblings, Tom and Cheryl.  I think the last time they were all together was for our wedding 10 years ago.

 

 Aunt Cheryl and Uncle Tom

 

Uncle Tom, Uncle Rick, Dan's dad David

 

This evening was beautiful!  It was an adults only cruise, so it was nice not having to worry about the kids falling overboard!  We got home super late, but it was nice and relaxing, especially since the next morning was a holiday so we could both sleep in!  Congratulations Mary and David!

New Grave Stone

Evelyn's new and permanent grave stone finally came in!

We are happy with what it turned out to look like.

 

 We wanted something simple that had a vase for flowers that we could tuck in during the winter.

This shows how it looks when the vase is tucked down.

 

 This is the vase obviously up.

 

 Evelyn's grave is between 2 large trees.  Families have put melodic chimes in the trees in "babyland" and when the wind blows it is like songs playing for all these children.  It's a very peaceful place.  Nama and Papa Earl put this green butterfly chime up for Evelyn.

 

Some wonderful friends gave us a sign that says "Evelyn's Garden" that we have along with her keepsake stone (that was the temporary marker on her grave) in the front of our house with an array of beautiful flowers that we dedicate to Evelyn.  Though she is unable to grow with our family, we hope to keep her flowers growing as a reminder.

This summer has been quite tough, but we are moving on and keeping our sweet Evelyn in our hearts until the day that we get to be with her again.