Father's Day 2010

We had a really fun day celebrating Zack's 1st Father's Day!  Taylor got her daddy a shirt and tie, for all the dress-up occassions we will be attending this summer :)  And isn't that the traditional Father's Day gift?!

We had the Ford Family over for a BBQ of sausages from Marv's.  The guys really liked the jalapeno cheddar ones.  We also had some leftovers from Owen's party the day before :)

All the kids got Dad a patio cooler for his new lower-deck bar and Zack & Ian got new American flags for their houses. 

The highlight of the day was having the babies try out Taylor's new pool.  They had a lot of fun swimming - we had to pry their wrinkly bodies out of there :) 

The Dads and their Babies...

It was a great day to celebrate some great Dad's! 

Happy 1st Father's Day, Zack!  You are an amazing husband and father.   All of your ladies are truly blessed to have you!  We LOVE you!

Meg's Bachelorette / Kev's Bachelor Parties

Saturday, June 19th was the last day of freedom for Kevin & Meghan :)

The boys got a hotel downtown Detroit, went to a Tiger's game (they lost to the Diamondbacks) and bar hopped.  They ran into Darren McCarty - what a cool thing to happen during a bachelor party.  Apparently, there were 3 am coneys involved, some fist fights, beer can spraying, and some rough housing.  Sounds like a successful bachelor party to me :)

The girls on the other hand, were a little more civilized.   A little!  We started our night at Stephanie's house for dinner and gifts.  We played the "guess who bought those panties" game and Meg got lots and lots of "outfits" for the honeymoon!

Then, a party bus came to pick us up and take us to Gigi's - to a drag show.  I wasn't sure what to think of this at first, but it ended up being very entertaining!  We then went bar hopping in downtown Dearborn.  The bride-to-be had a really great time and it was fun celebrating her last night of single-dom! 

Happy 1st Birthday, Owen!

I can't believe the little nugget is 1!  It seems like just yesterday he was born...

Owen's birthday party was last Saturday at Sherry & Ian's.  It was Mickey Mouse themed and was super fun :)  We had a yummy BBQ, then the fun started with presents!  The lil' guy got spoiled!

Here he is opening the lawn mower from his cousin Taylor.  And the golf club set too :)

Here's his cool new toy box from Grandma & Grandpa Ford....

And his sweet Cozy Coupe from Mom & Dad....

Of course, the cake picture :)

And one of our little family :)

It was a great party to celebrate a special little guy!  We love you Owen :)

No power :(

Well, we had our first experience with losing power out here in the country.  Last Friday night, 6/18, a huge storm came rolling through.  We lost power around 9:30 pm.  And when  you're on a well, no power =  no water.  I guess I learned my lesson about the water!  I had just loaded the dishwasher with all of Taylor's bottles and it was about 15 minutes into the cycle when the power went out.  And then, with no water, I couldn't wash them in the sink.  Saturday morning came around and still no power.  The next-door neighbors had a huge tree come down and almost land on their house.  There were tons of down trees all over the place.  Since we had a ton to do that day (including Owen's 1st bday party) we had to take some showers somewhere!  So, we invaded Zack's parents house for showers and a bottle washing session.  We rushed around and were back in time to leave for Owen's party.  After the party, I went to Meijers to get some gallon jugs of water and when I got home around 5:30 - POWER!  Woo-hoo!  Just in time as my mom was coming over to watch Taylor while Zack and I partook in Kevin's Bachelor / Meghan's Bachelorette parties :)

Lessons I learned:
1) If there is a storm coming, fill the bath tub with water to flush toilets.
2) Keep jugs of water on hand
3) Buy a generator :)

Phantom Pooper

Taylor's new thing - phantom pooping.  It started this weekend and has been going on for the past few days :)  We can't see her doing it, can't hear it, can't smell it - check her diaper and BAM!  There it is!  I feel bad because her little bum is getting red since it's been sitting in poop, but we don't know it's in there!  What a little stinker!

Sick Baby :(

We had our first sick baby experience :(  Taylor woke up on Sunday morning with a super stuffy nose, watery eyes and a hacking, old man, smokers cough.  Her cough sounded awful!  She was perfectly fine when we put her to bed on Saturday night, so we were pretty surprised when she woke up sick.

We had my Dad's birthday BBQ that afternoon and she was acting OK.  Eating fine, drinking fine, and pretty much her normal self.  She went to bed OK that night but then woke up around 11:30 screaming her pretty little head off :(  It took us 45 minutes of tears and crying to get her calmed down and back to bed (and a little Tylenol!).  We thought it was maybe another tooth coming in.  Whatever it was, we knew it hurt because she normally is not like that.

Monday morning came and I had to go to Chicago for work.  So, Daddy to the rescue!  We decided to call the doctor just to have her cough checked out.  I know, over reacting!  BUT - good thing Zack took her in because she ended up having a double ear infection!!!  She didn't seem to be pulling on her ears any more than normal, but poor little thing had it in both ears.  She is on amoxicillin twice a day, her humidifier is running at night and we put down one end of her mattress to keep her tipped forward a little bit.  Hopefully she'll be back on her feet soon!

It was one of the hardest things I've had to go through so far as a parent.  Not only did I wish I could take her pain away, but I had to be out of town for work while she was going through it.  It is definitely a horrible feeling to be so helpless when your child is in discomfort.  I hope we don't have to do that again for a very long time!

Start of Wedding Season 2010!

Friday, June 4th marked the beginning of the Year of the Weddings - 2010.  It kicked off with Neil & Natalie's beautiful wedding on Friday night.

The wedding & reception were held at Lyon Oaks in Wixom.  The ceremony was held on their outside patio.  There were storms on the horizon, but they held off long enough to the get the ceremony in and the sun even peaked through the clouds at one point. 

The reception hall was absolutely gorgeous!  They definitely did a great job with the wedding!  They had so many cool things and ideas I'll be hard pressed to remember them all!  The place cards were bookmarks with names of trees and then each table was named for a different kind of tree.  We were at the Cedar table along with Kevin/Meghan, Scott/Heather, Scott/Megan, and Nick/Katie.

The table settings were beautiful!  The colors were very cool together!

The food at this wedding was incredible!  There was soooo much of it, we all ate ourselves sick :)  There were about 20 different salads, ravioli, chicken, prime rib, salmon, shrimp, etc. and then a HUGE dessert buffet with about 15 different kinds of cakes, chocolate covered strawberries, fruit, creme puffs - you know it, they had it!  And a premium bar with top shelf liquor.  It was awesome!

And then, as if that wasn't all cool enough, there was a photo booth.  When you took your pictures in the photo booth, you got a copy that you slid into the back of your bookmark placecard as a keepsake.  And then they put the other copy onto a scrapbook page where you could write a message to the bride & groom.  It was an awesome idea :)

Here's a picture of us with the gorgeous couple!

The kick-off to the season was a great one!  Can't wait for all the rest :)