The Gardens

Last week the kids and I took advantage out of our membership and spent a morning at Frederik Meijer Gardens. We had the most gorgeous day: lots of sunshine, but not too hot. They have a wonderful children's garden. This time we found a little ballet stage that we had never noticed before complete with mirrors, bars, feet showing the ballet foot positions, and a basket full of ballet skirts. Elinore was beside herself. Here she is dancing in front of the mirror.

When Kevin came home from work and asked Elinore what she did that day, she told him all about the big horse (you can sort of see it here behind us, a big statue. we are about as big as a hoof. Big!) and running down the hill. They have a couple really big hills around the horse, and Elinore went up and down them several times (you can see the photo below). Mama only went once! We played in the water, the sand, the tree house, ate our snack, more water, and stopped at Wendy's on the way home.
Tobin, little dear, took a little snooze in the stroller and we tried to keep him out of the sun. We can't wait until he can run down the hill with us!!

The Big Move

This little building has been completely occupying our lives for the past few weeks. This is the new Macatawa Technologies. They are renting space from the same landlord as before, but now have twice the square footage (what a relief!!). The building was brand new, so they were able to do the build-out themselves. I hardly saw my husband a couple weeks ago as the office was being finished and they made the move. They actually closed for a couple days so that they could get everything moved and set up at the new location. It really looks beautiful. This second photo only shows the front desk area. The empty space directly in front of the camera will eventually have a few cozy couches/armchairs and an HD screen for people to check out. The large room behind all those glass windows is the tech room where all the repair happens. I decided not to include a photo of Kevin's office because his desk wasn't quite organized yet!

He has been so busy and working so hard. I am so proud of his drive to work hard, especially when he would rather be home with us. I am so proud that my husband works in this new beautiful space. I am so proud that my husband is so young, but is running a successful business that he started. And most of all, I am SO proud of his vision (where and what he dreams this business can be - you'll have to ask him about that) and his heart (how much he cares for people and for doing things right).

I am so glad the move is done, and I have my husband back!
If you're going past the new office, you should stop in and check it out!
It is on the corner of 32nd and Apple just off 31.

New Rooms

I have been meaning to post photos of these rooms for a while now. This is our new half bath on the main floor. We converted the dead space under our stairs into a half bath. It is a small space, so we bought the smallest toilet and sink that we could find, and it is actually more spacious than we had anticiapted. Elinore really enjoyed showing visitors our "new potty".

This is our study. This room was down to the studs when we bought the house, and it has been that way for the last four years. Eventually our computer will go in here, and that big white thing will be a closet of sorts. Both of these rooms were completed right when Tobin was born. It was a GREAT relief to have a bathroom on the main floor (with a new baby, my recovery, and a potty-trained toddler). Kevin's brother was able to do a lot of the work for us, and he did such a lovely job. There are still a few details that we aim to finish up one of these days...

Both of our new rooms are so beautiful and we love actually getting to use the living areas in our house!!

Only one more room to go (hopefully this year)!

Big Boy!

Whenever I put Tobin on his belly for "tummy time", he just cries, gets angry, and tries to eat his hand. I know he can lift his head up because he's done it once. He is displaying his little personality: I am perfectly capable of doing (fill in the blank), but I will not do it until I decide I want to.

So yesterday I put him on his belly and voila! And he did this for like five minutes just smiling away at me. And today he rolled over (probably by accident, but still)! My big boy! Having him on his belly suddenly makes him look a little less baby. Elinore and I clapped and cheered and danced for him.