A Beautiful Day on the Deck

It has been a week since I've last posted, so I thought I would post some pictures that I took earlier this week that I thought were cute. Lizzie loves spending time on our deck looking at the trees, leaves, birds, neighborhood dogs - basically anything that moves.

Fun at the Zoo

Yesterday Ryan and I took Lizzie to the John Ball Park Zoo here in Grand Rapids. Even though it was pretty hot and humid outside, Lizzie really enjoyed the zoo. Lizzie loved looking at all the different animals. The only thing she didn't care for was the loud noises made by the Pygmy goats.

Gerber Baby

Today I was messing around with my photo software and I came across the embossing technique. The attached photo is the end result. When I looked at the picture, I thought to myself, those people who keep telling me that she looks like the Gerber Baby are right. In this picture, she does in fact kind of look like the Gerber Baby to me.

Sprinkler Comparison

Oh the things we let our children do.

Last night after we came back from our evening walk, Ryan said that he needed to fix one of the sprinkler heads. In a moment of comparison, I decided to let Lizzie explore the concept of a sprinkler. Moment of comparison? What do you mean? Well, last year when I was pregnant for Lizzie, Ryan and I were watching Dylan one evening and we thought it would be great to show him the sprinklers and see if he liked them. He hated them. Hence, my moment of comparison. The pictures pretty much speak for themselves - she loved them. The consensus at the Wolthuis and DeVries households is that she is pretty much the complete opposite of her cousin Dylan.

Pictures from this week

My four top teeth are almost in - mommy's had a lot of fun at night!

Daddy and I look a lot alike when we wake up!

I love Mr. Lion!

Growing up

Daddy & Lizzie all tuckered out - the day we can home from vacation.













We took Lizzie with us to vote this past Tuesday. I told her that I am going to teach her at a very young age that it is important that she votes b/c we are blessed to have the opportunity to express ourselves in a democratic system of government (I'm sure she doesn't understand our political system yet...its a little complex, but that is why I plan on starting young!)






The other night I was making dinner and this is where Lizzie ended up. She became a prisoner of the kitchen table. I'm not sure how she got under the chair b/c it took a lot of work to free her.



Grandpa and Grandma W. are on vacation and will not see Lizzie for 3 weeks, so we are in the process of keep them updated via our posts (so for those of you who visit our blog regularly, you may see more posts than normal).

Lizzie is very excited because she is beginning to stand unassisted for short periods of time (seconds) and she can also walk behind her toy unassisted. I can't believe how quickly she is changing.

Summer Vacation 2008

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Vacation

We're home. It is a little disappointing. Honestly, it feels like we just packed the car to head off on vacation at Robinson Lake and now we're back home. This is the first year that Ryan and I had to worry about packing for another human being and boy was that different. Not only did it make our checklist longer, but it also made the Honda Accord seem that much more packed to the gills. We (I) really need to become more efficient packers. The first few days seemed rather long, but I think that was because we had to get acclimated to the new, slower vacation routine. The last half of the week was anything but slow. Each day seemed to go by quicker than the last, until we found ourselves packing things back into the Honda to head home. There were so many wonderful things about our vacation that it seems only fair that I share my list with you: Robison Lake, the weather, play area for kids, decent cottages (although I will say they are just cottages - not as clean as home), cousins to play with, husbands who play with their children, aunts/uncles - sisters/brother-in-laws, friends, food, conversation, fishing, warm lake water (Lizzie loved it)...and the list could go on. It was great to share our vacation with Uncle Matt, Aunt Kim, cousins Dylan and Cassidy, as well as Mr. Nate & Mrs. Lisa Burgess. Mr. Nate & Mrs. Lisa are expecting their first baby in November, so they thought that it would be a good idea to get some real life experience by spending a week with kids who range in age from 4 months to 2 1/2 years old. I think that they had a fun time and are still excited about having their own little one to run around...at least that is what they told us. Lizzie did so well on vacation. She absolutely loved the water and being outdoors. Ryan and I were so amazed at her ability to adapt to her new surroundings. We praise God for a wonderful vacation!