Auntie Morgann's First Soccer Game

My sister Morgann is in her senior year as a defensemen at EK on their soccer team. She is an AWESOME soccer player and we are so sad that this is her last year playing. Brogan has been going to her soccer games since he was born, and he loves picking her out on the field and then running up to her after the game. Even if she is not in a great mood, Brogan can always bring a smile to her face. They are best buds. Since she watched him the whole first summer I was working. Here are pics from the game, she is number 18.

(side note.. yes that is a pacifier, and now since i thought it was so cute and let him have it for a couple days... since he never wanted one... now he won't give it up again!!!..ugh you live and learn right!)

:The rules of soccer are very simple, basically it is this: if it moves, kick it. If it doesn’t move, kick it until it does.:

BUSY MONTHS

June 19th...

OK so I'm sorry I haven't been posting but we have had a CRAZY couple of months!! From Birthday's, Mothers Day, A couple weddings, baby showers, friends in from out of state, graduations and grad parties, and a SURPRISE anniversary party we have been completely booked since the beginning of May. Did I mention full time school with all of that? Well needless to say the blog has been pushed back for a while here. I PROMISE there will be posts coming soon, and LOTS of them!! This is my finals week for my first summer session (out of 2) and after this weekend I will have 2 weeks off, so lots of time for posting *I hope*

Look for updates coming soon... OH and a special 1st Birthday shout out to Quincy!!! 1 is fun! (and busy for mom, so vaness watch out!)

Boys will be Boys....

Brogan has been LOVING the outside and has been becoming increasingly more active as of lately... Boys will be boys i'd say... because outside+ no fears+ active boy= bumps scrapes bruises and scares....

For Easter Auntie Chelsea got him some outside toys! Note: She works at Toys R US and therefore gets a discount..and being the nice auntie she is HAS to spoil her only nephew! So mom had to nix the buying of inside toys as we were running out of places to put them.... SO she bought him OUTSIDE toys as we have yet to fill up the garage! (Joking Chel we love it!) She came with bunches of stuff for Brogan to help out with the yardwork INCLUDING a bubble mower that makes a vroom vroom noise... perfect for anyone that knows Brogan knows that he is constantly using his "motor" He loves that thing! She also got him his own personal patio chair! He has been really into climbing lately so its nice to have a chair that is closer to the ground and not such a hazard for him to get onto, as he sometimes thinks he is too big for his britches...

He also has been loving our trampoline and is starting to understand the jumping action! He actually is bending his knees now and knows if he does that he will get a springing action. Always carefully observed though when playing around and on the trampoline! We have had one of these around since we were kids and it was ALWAYS a favorite pastime.

Brogan is definitely not afraid of heights and loves to be thrown as high as he can be into the air! This is Uncle Nate and him playing outside! He has really started to bond with my brother's lately and runs to them whenever one of them enters the room, and then points outside and goes auhh, as if he is saying ok cmon lets go play!




My cousins and I had a garage sale the other weekend, and although the garage sale went great Brogan gave me quite the surprise! I had been waiting for this for quite some time actually knowing his upper body strength and persistant personality. I came in to check on him while he was "taking a nap" and mr big boy was looking up at me from the bottom of the stairs! That's right Mr. Brogan is now climbing out of his crib with no problems.... I'm not quite sure how he did it, but it runs in the family. Both of my older sisters climbed out of their cribs too! It was quite the shock to see him standing there though, but then I laughed as he stood there clapping his hands to say YAY i'm a big boy!! hahahaha I knew I was in for it! Also at the garage sale he tripped and fell and bruised his ear... poor baby just has no fears and loves to RUN everywhere! He's so fast and his little legs can't keep up with how fast he wants to go!

All I know is that Brogan is 110% boy and there is nothing this kid isn't afraid of or willing to try! I love that I can already tell that he inherited the determination and will power from both of us! As I think it is such a great quality to have to be able to get up and keep going after falling! Its just up to me to be able to keep up with him now! I can't wait to see what kinds of things he comes across in life!

A boy is Truth with dirt on it's face, Beauty with a cut on its finger, Wisdom with bubble gum in its hair, and the Hope of the future with a frog in its pocket. -- Author Unknown

Easter

Well after Frederick Meijer Gardens even though we were tired from our long fun day we decided to get out the EASTER egg stuff so that Brogan could dye eggs for the first time. I bought the kind that you could color on with a white crayon so that he could actually decorate them! He did a few and I helped out with some after he tried to eat the crayon and the eggs...



Easter Morning the Easter bunny came for the first time... (since she forgot to come last year)...
...and Brogan showed off his spiffy new Easter outfit! I love dressing him up like a lil man :) Also in these pictures he is doing patty cake patty cake... although we have our own version of the old nursery rhyme he has so much fun doing it and laughs and laughs and get so proud of himself!!





Then it was off to church.... Each Easter our church, Ada Bible, has a cross in the atrium for attenders to come and place flowers on in remembrance on the true meaning for Easter.. Christ's death and RESURRECTION!
and here are just a few cute pics we took at church of Brogan by the Easter lillys and leaving... He's been doing such a good job of walking places like a big boy. I hope everyone had a great Easter!!

We live and die; Christ died and lived! ~John Stott

Frederick Meijer Garden

So on the Saturday of Easter weekend it was GORGEOUS out so my friend Jamie(who happens to be a preschool teacher and is SIMPLY awesome with kids and Brogan) suggested we take him to Frederick Meijer Garden's to see the Butterfly exhibit! Frederick Meijer Garden's along with other merchants in the area help to fund the butterfly project. There is a HUGE green house in the gardens and it is filled with tropical plants and streams and waterfalls and every year between March and May they have hundreds, maybe thousands of butterflies from 40 different species that transform from their chrysalises and fly freely all throughout the greenhouse.







Can you see Both Butterflies?


















The line was really long and it was pack since it was so nice out, and it also happened to be the tail end of H.S. spring break and apparently everyone had the same idea as we did! The line went fast though and we had so much fun! It was hard to keep Brogan on the path though as he wanted to trample through the gardens and grab the butterflies. We had to be careful he didn't touch them because if you touch their wings they won't be able to fly anymore :( So we did a whole lot of "just look"...

What a cute caterpillar!

Metamorphisis!!

Can you see the frog?!

After we were done with the butterfly exhibit we had some extra time so we went out to the sculpture park and childrens gardens. Brogan was such a big boy and walked most of the time! He loved the freedom of being able to run through the garden's and being outside. They also had Butterfly dress up! Don't we make cute butterflies... GIMME SOME BUTTERFLY KISSES BABE!!



Here are some of the other activities they had, and some of the little friends brogan met throughout the way.....






A Giant Sandbox...







Tea for two!....









Sensory Garden....
Touch












Hear...











Smell...







Brogan LOVED running up and down this ramp on the walkway through the wooded area! He ran up and down multiple times!

all the way at the top of the big hill! AND RUNNING DOWN! W

They are also very famous for the statues and sculptures that are owned by the park... I think the most known for Frederick Meijer Garden's is "Leonardo daVinci's Horse" Nina Akamu- The American Horse made out of Bronze 1998. It's SO BIG! Look at the picture where Brogan is standing right underneath it for size comparison.


Also they had the Grand Rapids Arch, and here is a picture of the sign detailing it's history.. very interesting!



"Life is either a Great Adventure or Nothing" Helen Keller