The Algeras

That's David's happy giggle - "guy, guy, guy!!" I've never heard a baby giggle like that, but it is really cute. He's such a happy dude, and always dimpling at something. Here he is, sitting on his beach chair supervising Daddy's boat building and chatting away.

Ben and the kids had a great Memorial Day; I had to work. I had a good day working and everyone else had a good day together. Ben took the kids to the parade in Jenison. It goes down Baldwin, right near Nate and Ellen's house. The group gathered early and walked down to watch. The kids had a great time. This parade still lets people throw candy and Sara was amazed. They saw Clifford, Curious George, Ronald McDonald, firetrucks, cars and dogs. Sara has been listing the fun things in the parade all day long. She doens't mention the dogs - she is still being afraid of them. After the parade, it was time for lunch and then all the kids took naps together and the adults relaxed. My contribution was a devil's food cake I made for Ben's birthday. He's 31 now!

Sara and David were up early and back to their normal routine today. They have been so amusing! Sara has been explaining camping to David. "We will pack toys and books and food and sleep in a tent and get dirty! We will swim and have a flashlight!" She can't wait. I hope she enjoys the actual camping as much as the talking about it. What's really cute is how she ticks each fun thing off on her fingers as she lists it.

David had his first experience playing on dirt today. He scooted off the blanket in his efforts to get to Sara's pink ball. He was one dirty little dude by the time we came inside to escape the sprinkles! He can't move very fast but he certainly is persistant. He gets to what he wants!

After baths the rain got a little harder and there was some thunder. Sara told me "sometimes it storms in the nighttime and I wake up. But the thunder does not come in my bed so I just go to sleep. Sometimes I find mommy if it does. I think I will be OK tonight." Since things have calmed down, I think she will be. She also worries about David a little; "you need to check on Davy if it is loud tonight, OK? He might be scared. Maybe he should have Dolly tonight." I reassured her that he would be fine and I'll keep an ear out for him.

What a fun day. I'm sure I'll have more quotes by tomorrow. And David should be warming up to some new tricks soon!

Oh dear. Dave is mobile. This causes much glee on David's part and much angst on Sara's. "Davey is in my STUFF! Mommy! Help!!" Yes, its true! Dave has learned to crawl. It's still a mix of crawl/hitch/scoot, but he's getting where he wants to go. Way to go little man! He scoots himself all over the rug. The floor is a little harder because he loses traction with each forward movement. But now that he's got the forward motion figured out I'm sure his crawling abilities will improve rapidly. Time to check the baby-proofing!

David had therapy today and Sara went to Allison's house. They had fun playing. Ellen says it's pretty funny to listen to the kids playing together. They really have a great time. Dave did well at therapy and didn't even get to fussed.

After short naps we went to visit Great Grandma. She's finally feeling a little better and was glad to see all the grandkids. Dave showed off his crawling attempts and the older kids gave hugs and hung out. David really eyes the cookies he sees everyone munching on. Soon you will have enough teeth to get one, Dude!

After dinner Sara helped me make cinnamon rolls for Ben's birthday treat for work tomorrow. She likes to measure and mix and especially to punch down the dough after it rises. She packs a pretty good punch for a two year old! This is the first time I've fridged them overnight, so I hope they turn out well.

David went to bed after that and Sara and I had a girl picnic for bedtime snack. We made lemonade with ice and sat out on the patio chairs. I showed her how to do a toast; she calls it "knocking sippys." We chatted and played some catch until she started to get sleepy.

Sara got a package from Grandpa Algera that had a new bedtime story in it! She was so excited to get an envelope with "my own name! See! S-A-R-A! That means it is mine!" It's the story of the Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge. She loves it. Thanks Grandpa! She got some pictures of Grandpa by the lighthouse on the Hudson and has to have them with her when she reads her book. She wants to go see this lighthouse for herself "some soon day with Grandpa"

I got her into bed and quick finished up the rolls. Dave started bawling towards the end of the job. I let him watch Daddy boat build for a bit and then tucked him back in. Both kids are sleeping comfortably now that the air conditioning is running. They were both unsettled and I finally noticed that the house temp was 80 degrees. Too hot! It was really warm today. I'm finding that I don't have enough summer clothes to keep from doing kid laundry every other day. Time to find some deals!

It's been a good day. I'm so glad David is learning to move. He gets so frustrated when he can't get where he wants to be. Go Davey, keep it up! He's a happy dimple face through it all. Oh, he learned another trick today too, speaking of happy flirt faces. He waved bye-bye to his therapists. He tried waving to Grandma but just ended up staring at his hands. It's very cute and I'm sure he'll master it so we can catch some major cute video soon. He's such a little man!

The weather is starting to get more and more summerlike here! The kids love it. Sara doesn't like to come inside at all. We ate lunch at her picnic table and read books on the backyard chairs. She did come in for a short nap.

David is just discovering the fun of outdoors. He mostly likes to tackle Sara, point at birds and just yell a lot at everything.

We unpacked our new tent last night. It's great, especially since it only cost ten dollars! It's very roomy and the kids love playing in it. Hopefully they will like our camping trips this summer. We're hoping to go up to Sleeping Bear Dunes in July. Sara has been telling Dave all about camping and how fun it is. I don't know how much she remembers or is making up, but it's really cute.

Another cute Sara thing I have to get written down: when ever she doesn't want to do something she says "That's OK, I'll be all right." Example; Mom says "You need to put your jacket and shoes on to go outside." "No, Mommy, that's OK, I'll be all right." She never wins, but she'll keep trying. She'd run naked if I let her.

We had a very summery night tonight. Sara discovered sweet corn on the cob for dinner. She loved eating from the ear. Then Dad and kids ran outside while I cleaned up. We listened to the Tigers game on the radio and then Ben went out to work on the boat. David is still up, he feels a little warm and has a nasty cough starting. Hopefully this is nothing...he'll just need a little mommying for the next day or so.

It was a great day for playing outside! Sara flew her kite and was very excited about it. I got it flying and then handed her the string. "I'm doing it! I'm doing it!" David was pretty excited about it too. We heard lots of "guy guy guy"ing. That's his excited noise, accompanied by much pointing and waving.

Sara heard the ice cream truck while we were out there. She loves the "music truck" She hears it, runs out into the yard looking for it and yells "here boy, here boy!" Did you know that trucks come when they're called just like dogs? She never begs for ice cream and I'm not sure she even knows you can get ice cream from it. She just likes the tunes, and the fact that the driver says hello to her on the speaker.

We played some hopscotch after David went in for his nap. She does get it but after a few times through she just started skipping and running. Watch and see!

David is getting so close to crawling! He gets his little butt up in the air, balancing on his hands and feet. Ben calls it his plank position. Sara calls it his good pushups. "Good pushups, good job Davey. Work it out!" Just this afternoon he got up on all fours and moved his hand forward before face planting. I think he's getting it. Go Davey, work it out! He really wants to be moving so he can get into stuff. I hear lots of guy guying when he gets to junk mail or the letter blocks. I hope he figures it out soon

It's Tulip Time! And that means time to dress the kids up and head downtown for pictures, dancers and elephant ears. Sara loves getting into her dancing dress and going to smell the flowers. Four tourist ladies had taken the kids pictures within 15 minutes of getting them out of the stroller. This just confirms our belief that we have the cutest kids ever :) They were happy and happy to pose for Daddy. This picture of Sara is similar to a pose from last year; I can't believe how much she's grown! She's turning into a little lady. David just liked flashing those dimples and watching dogs and people.

We went to Froggy's for dinner. Sara really enjoyed her hot dog, eaten plain. David tried a few fries, but found them hard to chew with only two teeth. That didn't stop him from gumming and drooling until he got it down. We visited the junk food carts for elephant ears for dessert. Such a healthy meal! Sara loves elephant ears, we had to spell them until we were ready to buy one.

We stopped at Sandcastle to find Sara a kite. She's so excited! I hope the wind picks up a little so we can fly it. Last night was pretty calm but Ben still took it out for her and ran around to make it fly. She's very excited, even though we could not find a pink shark kite to name Bruce after the Finding Nemo shark. (Remember, fish are friends, not food!)

We ran into Uncle Paul and Aunt Donna, Phil, Paula and Lawrence while waiting for the Dutch Dancing in Centennial Park. Sara sat by Aunt Donna while Ben and I took turns rocking a tired boy. Lawrence looked so cute all dressed up, but he and Sara were beyond the mood to pose by that time.

It's a cloudy day today, but the wind is picking up a little. We might go to the park and try to fly that kite!