Summer Recap

We had a wonderful summer filled with busyness and lazy days.  Here are some of the fun day to day things that we remembered to take pictures of...

In July, Ben and Sherry got to stop by on the way to Andrew's parents from Virginia!  We got to meet baby Elliott for the first time!  She is so adorable and Emmie loved her...

The next day Andrew left for Haiti with the High School Youth Group from church.  While he was there, the kids and I stayed at my parents.  We had fun but missed Andrew.  In Haiti, they built a new playground, showed them how to use the clean water filters they brought, and taught VBS at a couple orphanages.  He loved it...

In August, Andrew took Oliver camping in the back yard.  We had a camp fire and roasted s'mores until bedtime.  Ollie loved it and they slept until 8 the next morning...

Even though Andrew worked long hours this summer, he did a great job spending time with us...

One evening we had some girls over for dinner.  We had so much fun chatting and playing games...

Last weekend, on my birthday, we celebrated some August birthdays.  Brock's, Andrew's, and mine.  Brock brought his girlfriend, Alyssa, home and we had fun getting to know her.  We just hung out at my parents and had delicious food...

On Wednesday was Andrew's 30th birthday.  It was his first day of school and first night of youth group but we fit a little celebration in there...

Our summer went way too fast but I am ready for some more fall weather!  Love that my kiddos are still little so we don't have to start school :)

Emmerson 14 Months

This little girl is 14 months today...

Do you notice her shoes in these pictures?  This is what she does lately.  Bringing me shoes to put on her!  It is so cute how much she loves her shoes :)  She has also been bringing me her favorite books to read.  She loves going outside, slides, her blankets, animals (which she is not scared of ), getting into everything, pushing the STOP button while Ollie is watching a movie, picking tomatoes, and anything her brother is playing with.  She also is very good about putting things back when we ask her to.  She is still pretty dramatic and can throw a good tantrum.  She usually gets over it pretty quickly though.  She is very good at letting us know what she wants and if you ask her a question she will shake her head yes or no, it's so funny.  She does play well by herself and doesn't seem to be scared of anything.
She has been saying "do" for dog and sometimes other things.  She has said "ba" for ball a couple of times and "ha" for hot.  She also makes an "ah" sound when she drops something and wants it.  She likes to jabber and is usually trying to tell me something.
She still usually takes 2 naps a day but sometimes 1 longer nap.  She still loves her bottle before bed and when she wakes up.
She is climbing everywhere and learned how to climb Ollie's ladder to his bunk bed!  We decided it might be best to take the ladder away and move Ollie back down. We put his train set up on the bunk so Emmie can't mess it up and it seems to be working well.
We love her kisses and her smiles, especially her scrunched up nose smile.  She isn't super cuddly but we take what we can get.  We just got Ollie a new car seat so we turned her around in the one Ollie was using and she loves it.  She seems to have grown a lot taller this summer but is still in 12-18 months and is wearing size 3 shoes but not for much longer!  We love your fun sweet personality Emmie Girl and enjoy watching you learn new things.  We are so blessed to have you!

Wiese Weekend

This past weekend, we went up to Dad and Mom Wiese's for the weekend.  We have many August birthdays in the Wiese family so we celebrated a little.  Zach and the girls came down on Friday too.  We met at Red Robin so we could enjoy our birthday burgers.  They were delicious!

Saturday, while the men went disc golfing...

Ready to go!

Mom and I took the kids to the zoo.  We had a blast...

Ready to see the animals!

Enjoying the ride.

We were glad the elephants were still there!

Our little monkeys :)

Feeding the goats....

Cousins!

Lunch time!

They loved cooling off in the mister...

Train ride.

Mom and her grandkids.

They did a great job!

Ollie and Nancy, they had so much fun!

That evening we relaxed and watched Leverage.
After church on Sunday, we ate at Noodles & Co.  It was a first for Andrew and I and we loved it!  We had another relaxing afternoon and enjoyed the beautiful weather before heading home.
Thanks so much for everything Dad and Mom!  We loved spending time with you both :)

Florida

 On July 6th we left on a mission trip to Pensacola, FL with the Jr. High Youth Group from our church.  We took Ollie with us but Emmerson got to stay home with Papa and Grandma Massner and my sister.  It was super hard to leave her but I knew she was in good hands :)
We started out Saturday morning, all 60 of us.  Andrew got to drive a van full of girls and Monika (the youth pastors wife) and I got to drive a mini van with kids and Emily and Sarah (youth leaders on the trip)....

It was a long day driving but Ollie did really well thanks to the dvd player!  We spent the night in Jackson, MS and drove the rest of the way to Pensacola on Sunday.  We stayed at a church in Gulf Breeze that was wonderful.  We slept in the classrooms on air mattresses.  Ollie and I got to snuggle every night :)  The week was wonderful and filled with trips to the beach (for Ollie and I), service projects, and VBS in the park.  Andrew even got some disc golf in!  On the last day we all went to a beautiful beach and then headed home.  Here are some pics of the week...

Tuesday morning at the beach.

Ollie and I have fun in the sun.

We saw the crab and tons of hermit crabs!

I found this thing in the water and our new friend picked it up!

Wednesday morning we took Faith to the beach.

Ollie's new friend Becca... she pretty much had to bribe him he was so shy. 

My buddy and I.

My men on the beach.

It was perfect!

Throwing shells into the water... there were a ton of shells!

Andrew had to take it :)

Love these boys!

Loved getting to know Emily and Sarah!

One last picture of Ollie and Becca.

Monika, my traveling buddy :)

It was so awesome to see God work in our group and in the kids.  He did some pretty cool things and we are so thankful we got to be a part of it!

Back home, Emmie was having a blast with Papa and Grandma...

Missed her like crazy but I don't think she missed us much :)  Thanks so much for taking care of her Dad and Mom and Aaron and Nichole!  We are so blessed.