Mondays With Thys

On Mondays, Maddie and I have a special guest that visits. Thys Vander Wall comes to play, and Maddie just LOVES him. She plays the little mother, giving him his pacifier and wanting to feed him. Johanna has gone back to work a couple of days a week and we couldn't be happier to have him. Here are few pictures from yesterday.

Courtright Family Vacation

This past week, Tom, Maddie and myself spent a week in Gaylord MI, with my Mom's side of the family. We had such a great time seeing all of my family. Many traveled from Virgina and also from Florida. Of course there were a lot of Michiganders as well. :) We spent some time at Lake Michigan, traveled to the Mackinac Bridge and even got out golfing. The weather couldn't have been better that's for sure. It was so wonderful watching my Grandma enjoy all of her great-grand kids and laughing with her own kids. We can't wait to do it again!! Here are some great pictures from the trip.

More Pics...

Here are a few more pictures from yesterday. We took them at home on the porch after the park. :) She is getting so old.

Pictures by the river...

This morning, Maddie and I took a walk down to the park by the river. It's a hot one out today...really more muggy. Yuk. Anyway, we took some pictures in her pretty white (at that time, clean) dress. She's such an angel really, letting me take pictures of her all the time. I'm sure she must get sick of it. Her and Jackson will probably ban Melissa and I from having cameras at their wedding. ;)

Star Wars & Baseball!!

A dream come true for Maddie; there was Star Wars AND baseball in one place!!! :) As many of you know Maddie LOVES Star Wars and she loves the baseball (especially when watching with Daddy snuggled up in bed). This past Saturday while I was assisting Melissa with my first wedding of the season with her (yeh!!! So fun, more about that later) Tom went with my Sister Vicky, nephew Kellen and Maddie to the Whitecaps for a Star Wars themed baseball game. They had a blast. Although Maddie didn't want to get toooooo close to Darth Vader, she did love it. :) She gave a Stormtropper a high five and got to run, run, run!! :) Thanks Vic for inviting them to go.

Maddie's First "M"

This morning Maddie wanted to color. :)

We have been working on "M's" for Maddie for a few days now and today she wrote TONS of them all on her own. :) Saying "up down, up down, M for Maddie!!!! YEH!!!" So cute.

She also is drawing circles. Not perfect yet, but she's doing great!! I'm a proud Mommy today. (everday really) :)

What a sweetie...

Our darling nieces make these flower crowns for Maddie when they are all outside playing. I just had to post a couple of pictures with one on. They are so beautiful. Maddie loves her crowns...princess in the making I say.

Smooches from Dylan

Silly Faces

Now...many of you know that Jackson Burkholder is whom Maddie is betrothed too...this is still very true. They are going to get married someday, we just don't know when. However, this past weekend Maddie got a few smooches from her buddy Dylan. :) Our friends Doug and Dorthy invited us up to their cottage to enjoy some sun and fireworks. We had a great time! Even got a little swimming in. ;)

Here are a few shots of the kids. They had a BALL together. Played and laughed all night.

A Day on the Lake

Today we went out to Grand Haven to meet up with the Vander Walls that are boating there for the weekend. They got a new boat that is absolutely beautiful!! This was Maddie's maiden voyage and she LOVED it. "Uncle Jay Go FAST!" she would yell. :) Of course she was safe in her bright pink life jacket. :) She ended up being quite tuckered out and feel fast asleep in my lap. The Heins spent the early afternoon with us as well, which was a great surprise. I love when things actually work out when planned!! :) Thanks for joining us you guys!! Thanks to Jason and Johanna for letting us crash for the day, we had a blast!!

Happy 4th of July!! (Thanks Heins!)

We spent the Forth of July with our good friends Aaron, Brooke and Carson Hein. We crashed Brooke's parents home on Spring Lake (they are on an Alaskan Cruise) and grilled out. We had a wonderful time! Maddie just loved the ducks and walking on the dock. Carson is 8 months now and is such a doll. Crawling all over the place and pulling himself up. ( I think they'll have an early walker...) :) We stayed up for the fireworks there were actually in Grand Haven, but we could see them from the end of the dock. :) Maddie actually stayed up until then and was a basket case. :) She just got up from a three hour nap (thank God). :) Thank you so much Aaron and Brooke for hanging out and letting us stay!! Hugs and Love!