Pumpkin Carving

This past weekend we all went to Troy so my parents could babysit the kids while Mike and I went to the UM vs. MSU game.

During our trip, we decided it would be a good time to do pumpkin carving. Because we made two separate trips to the pumpkin patch (and pumpkins are included with a hayride), we had quite a lot of pumpkins! We only ended up carving 4 and here they are!

Rachel was only interested in the carving for about 5 minutes and Jake was napping most of the time during carving so here are the main two artists - Mike and I. I also have to give credit to my dad who helped carve and did the owl pumpkin.

More Pictures from the Cummiford Visit

Here are just some more pictures from Saturday afternoon after the trip to the pumpkin patch. We let the girls run around outside in the princess dresses that Shae had brought to share with Rachel.

The first picture is Leah holding Paige.

Poor Jake, he is not in too many of these pictures as he was feeling pretty bad last weekend and we found out he had gotten his first ear infection! Yuk! Poor kiddo but luckily he is doing much better now.

More Pictures from Pumpkin Patch Trip 2

Here's a bunch of pictures from our 2nd trip to the pumpkin patch with the Cummifords...

Visit from the Cummiford Family

Last weekend, the Cummiford family came to visit us. Everyone had such a great time! Uncle Aaron, Aunt Leah, Shae, and Paige stayed with us the whole weekend.

Since the pumpkin patch/baby animal farm was such a hit previously, we decided to go again! Here is a picture of the kids all posing : from the left, Paige, Shae, Rachel and even Jake!

Trip to LeCronier's Baby Acres

We took a trip to LeCronier's Baby Acres today, which is a pumpkin patch and animal petting farm with all sorts of activities for kids. Mary and Alex Vallieu came along with the whole Iwaniw family. The girls had so much fun and Jake loved all the action too.

Rachel "shared" her daddy with Alex since Mr. Brian had to work (Mike had the day off from the startup madness).

Here are some neat pictures from the trip:

Rachel riding the pony and me being a nervous mom next to her.

Rachel holding a baby rabbit.

Daddy holding Jake in the baby animal barn.

Rachel feeding the goats. After this picture was taken, the goats got so excited that they pushed open the gate we were standing next to and knocked Rachel down. She wasn't hurt but it startled her (and Mary, Alex and I who were standing right there as well). Afterwards, she said "Those goats hit me with the gate; that wasn't very nice."

I thought this was such a beautiful picture that Mike took of Alex and Rachel. It shows the wonderful weather we had today. We can't wait for Alex to get her little brother or sister because she is going to be a great big sister. She was really sweet to Rachel during the whole trip.

Yumm... The Cereal Monster!

My goodness does this boy love his food! Here is a picture Mike took of Jake after wolfing down his cereal and veggies.

The past two weeks Jake has really been eating a lot of solid foods. He also has been sleeping better! This past weekend he slept from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m.! So for this kid, getting enough solids during the day made a huge difference in sleep.

Before this he had still been waking up after 3-6 hours depending on the night. Some nights he might only wake up twice but other nights 3 or 4 times. I was getting super sleep deprived.

But I knew he was hungry because boy would he eat when he woke up. So the doctor said to go ahead and give him cereal at 4 months and I am so glad I did. It took until now (5 months) for him to actually get the hang of it so that he was actually ingesting more than he had on his bib.

Boys will be boys I guess, and my boy is an eater!

Guardian Angels Were With Us This Day...

I was in a car accident this past Thursday. Rachel and Jake were in the car with me. This is a picture of the damage to my car and all I can say is that it could have been much, much worse. The guardian angels were with us that day.

We were driving south on a divided highway near our home (M-47). I had just taken Rachel and Jake to a doctor appointment and was driving them back to daycare so I could go back to work. The divided highway turns into a 4 line road. Just where it changes, there is a spot northbound where cars can cross the southbound lane.

A man in a white Astro van was crossing at this point. He must not have even seen me; he had a stop sign but pulled out right in front of me. I slammed on my brakes as hard as I could and all I remember is the brakes squealing. Remember this is a highway (70 mph going down to 55 mph at this point) so I had a lot of speed at this point.

I pulled off to the left as much as I could but I still hit him. The air bag did not even go off; I had slowed down enough. Both kids and I were fine.

My learnings from this were the following: Always be paying attention to the road. Don't talk on your cell phone while driving or play around with the radio!!

Luckily I had been doing NEITHER of these things at the moment this car pulled in front of me. If I had, I would have been delayed in applying the brakes and even a half a second difference could have made things so much worse. I was so glad that I stopped as quickly as I did and did not freak out and swerve the car. Thank you God for watching out for my babies and me!

Visiting the OTHER Iwaniw Family

On Sunday, we got to visit with the other Iwaniw family - Grandpa Mike, Grandma Joan, Aunt Katie, Aunt Sarah, and Uncle Andrew. We all had a really nice visit.

Luckily, Katie had some Care Bears that kept Rachel very entertained. She had to see how many bears she could stack on Grandpa Mike and then made him "bury" her in bears.

Aunt Sarah made some good mac n cheese for Rachel's lunch - she pounded it down, which was amazing for her. Jake had a good time "talking" to his aunts and Grandma Joan. Grandpa Mike made some killer BBQ sandwhiches that I wish I would have had 2 of, but unfortunately I was being "good" on my road to healthy eating... darn.

Rachel must have had a good time though because we told her when we left that they could come visit at her house sometime soon. She kept saying afterwards that Aunt Sarah was coming to see her "tomorrow" and we said well maybe not tomorrow. Aunt Katie was nice enough to give Rach and Jake a care bear which they both loved (Jake's still is wet with slobber to prove it!)

Pulaski Party at Jeff's

Jeff had a Pulaski Party at his house Saturday afternoon. It was a polish food celebration, but also served as an engagement party of sorts for Jeff and Molly. Molly's family as well as Jeff's friends came over to eat good food and watch football.

From the top, you can see me and Jake; Rach and Jake tired from too much partying; Jeff and Todd (Molly's brother-in-law, Robin's husband); Molly and her sister Robin; and finally Robin holding Jake.

Molly's family was so nice! We had a great time and hope to see them a lot more in the future. Sorry Tom and Kathy (Molly's mom and dad), I have no pictures of you guys to share (maybe you are glad!) :-)

Pulaski Days 2008

Well, the kids and I had our weekend away in GR, and boy did we celebrate in style! First we had door to door limo service (Papa and Mimi picked us up in their crossover vehicle). Then, we stayed a posh hotel (Jeff's house). Also, we got to enjoy the local attractions - which was Pulaski Days. Pulaski Days celebrates actually a man named Pulaski who fought for Poland's independence from Russia and then was living in exile in America. Here are some pictures from the parade.

Rachel loved the parade. She got candy, a balloon and even took pictures with Spiderman. Jake was designated "cutest baby" by at least 10 people who were actually IN THE PARADE. His little bear bunting suit attracted a lot of attention.

Jeff and Molly are Engaged!

It is official. Jeff and his girlfriend (now fiancee) Molly got engaged on Saturday, September 27th. We are so happy for both of them. Molly is such a nice wonderful person and is perfect for Jeff. We wish them both a long and happy life together.

Here is a picture of Jeff and Molly together with their Pulaski Days T-shirts. And since everyone is going to ask (and my dad took a picture of it), here is a picture of the ring as well. Jeff did a good job picking it out - it is beautiful!

We Miss Daddy!

Well, no pictures with this post. Just a salute to all the single parents out there because I don't know how you do it! Mike has been working 12 hour night shifts for the past two and a half weeks. Not only do the kids miss daddy because they don't get to see him much, but I sure miss him as well. Mike certainly does a lot of work around here and it has been hard without him being around as much. Thank goodness I was able to visit Grand Rapids this weekend with my parents to get a little bit of a break.