Happy 4th...from the Little City with a Big Heart!

Happy 4th! We spent this - the hottest weekend yet - outdoors, surrounded by friends and family. The heat was hard to deal with, but throw in a plastic kiddie pool and a water hose and make a child's day...hot or not! So, we spent most of the weekend in the pool. We hosted our 5th Annual Partin 4th of July BBQ on the 4th. It was a great day, filled with friends and BBQ. Remi had a blast, playing with Audrey & Zach.
Then on the 5th - Clawson's 4th of July Celebration began early at 9 a.m. with the parade. We love our little city and they sure do know how to put on a show! We walked to the parade to meet the Chrysler's & the Nelson's to watch our "Little City with a BIG heart" pull out all the stops for a great parade! After that, we couldn't fill the pool fast enough (for the adults) to cool off. After naps, we all headed to the C-town fair and then wrapped up the night with fireworks. We live directly across the street from where the fireworks go off, so needless to say...we had the best seat in the house :) It's hectic, but so much fun in the end!!
Remi's 14 months now and getting to be quite the little lady. She's talking more and more and all over the place. She's so much fun and really a joy to be around! She has quite the personality...such a HAPPY baby!! She loves daycare now and it's been 2 months already that I've been back at work - hard to believe! We are working towards a routine. It's harder on mom & dad for sure, but we're getting there. As they always are in Michigan - our summer is JAM packed, but all the more fun to have :) We will share more in a few weeks! We hope everyone is enjoying their summer.
Here are some pics from the weekend!

Bathing Beauty!

We returned earlier today from our beach vacation. We met my parents, my brother & his family and my sister & her family at North Topsail Beach, NC. We rented an oceanfront beach house with a pool for the week = PARADISE! We had a wonderful trip and hated for it to end, but as we all know...all good things must come to an end :(

We drove through the night on the way down so Remi would sleep. That worked, but our return trip didn't work so well. We traveled to Virginia to visit a friend and her kids, and when we left last night to drive through the night to return to Michigan, Remi had other plans. She didn't want to sleep and Randy and I both were super duper tired...so we stopped in Merietta, OH to sleep. Then this morning we traveled the remainder of the distance to Michigan. We arrived home around 3:30 today. We're quite tired, but oh so happy to be home.

Here are some pics from our trip. Remi LOVED the beach, the sand, the pool and most of all...being with family! She has changed so much and her personality has really started to develop. She was big on giving "high five" to everyone at bedtime. She loves to say "nite nite" - and will give you a smile that just melts your heart! Here's our little beach baby...

Pics in the Park

So, we had these pics done 3 weeks ago, but we've been so busy! Tomorrow starts my third week back to work and with that came...Remi's start of daycare, which we like to call "school" :) With that...came double pink eye, an ear infection and a bad cold all in her first two weeks of school! Oh my!! So, in her first two weeks, she actually only attended school 6 days. WOW! What a start! At first, Remi wasn't fond of daycare....which is expected, right? But, on Friday morning, she actually waved bye-bye to mommy, making me smile! Not only was it hard for Remi Roo, but Mommy & Daddy too! Of those 6 days, I haven't missed a single phone call at 11:30 to check on my sweet girl to make sure her day is going well...followed up by a report to her worrying daddy who checks with me throughout the day to see if I've talked with the daycare. Then there's the 5 p.m. text message asking if I'm on my way to get her! So sweet...that daddy of hers! :)

But, all in all...it's going as well as expected. I am SUPER happy to be back at work and even more thrilled that I was able to return to my old company, working with basically the same people as before. I'm very happy!!! It is rough though, coming home at night with little time to spend with Roo, but we're making it work and pretty soon it will seem like it's always been this way!

We're off to the beach in NC in 5 days to meet up with my family! We are sooo excited!! Remi is going to have so much fun...playing with her cousins and being snuggled by her aunts, uncles and grandparents!!!

Anywhoo.....the reason for this post...Remi's 1-year pics. We went to Rochester Park with a fantastic photographer, Cindy, who truly captured the personality of our Remi Roo! It was soooo much fun and Remi really enjoyed it. So...check it out...our baby's growing up!