Vandervaart Family: August

August turned out to be a busy month for us - hence the update taking until September 10th! (sorry)... Anyways, we started out the month by heading to Warren Dunes, Michigan for our 19th Annual Beach Mo trip. It was a blast as always! We spent a lot of time at the pool, we went to a picnic for my work that Claire had a great time at, and we helped paint my parents house so that they can put it on the market. My parents are doing well but it just seems to be a little too much up-keep for everything that is going on. My dad continues to be in remission but has been diagnosed with Parkinsonism which was caused by Multiple System Atrophy. Neither one of these diagnoses is related to the cancer so the poor guy just got double-whammied. It is a struggle but we are hoping to get their house sold and have them into an easier living situation as soon as possible! Claire is becoming such a little diva - she is adorable and tries to bring toys to her little sister but then when Grace shows interest in them she swipes them away and laughs! We are trying to get this behavior under control but then again, she is two! Grace has picked up the pace with her crawling and is going through some separation anxiety... every time you are out of site she starts to cry and aimlessly crawl around trying to find you...poor thing! Here are some pictures from our month of August...

Grace has 6 teeth now, these two on bottom and four up top

Go Horse!

Both girls ready for football season!

Grilling out... in a pull up :)

Snuggling while watching Backyardigans

(I'm not sure where their shirts are?)

Mallory came over and watched the girls after I worked so I could catch up on some sleep. They played play-dough together and were well behaved for the most part!

They both got in trouble and this is how Jude does time out

Claire usually sits in a chair in the corner but felt like she needed to do what Jude did so this was her attempt...

Grace LOVES standing

Claire showing Grace the bells and whistles of this toy

Claire watching a movie in the car with her sunglasses on, upside down

Claire fighting sleep in the car

Nice and refreshed after a nap

The pictures below are from the picnic for my work that we went to. Claire's favorite part was the pony ride - she rode at least 5 times!

She also enjoyed the carnival-like games.

Her face is priceless.

The pictures below are from one of the few fishing adventures we went on as a family. We live on a lake and sometimes in the evening throughout the summer we would go down and fish for an hour. It was lots of fun (since I always caught more fish than Pete :) and Claire really enjoyed it. Grace was such a trooper, but when is she not?

Entertaining herself on the blanket while we were fishing.

We spent many days at the pool. Jude, Ana, Jackson, Charlotte, and Rhett all came to play with us in the pool...

Thanks to Mallory, we found this AWESOME floaty device

The following are pictures from our 19th Annual Beach Mo trip

Aunt Beth and Claire

Jackson and Claire watching a movie

Pete and I partaking in adult beverages (we lost a bet)

The kids "playing" air hockey

Claire, Jackson, and Charlotte on the beach

Mommy and Claire

Jude and Claire

Grace taking a nap on the beach

Claire pooping on the way home (she likes her privacy)

Grace playing on the beach

More beach napping for Grace

The five contestants in the "Geographically Challenged" game

(The 5 of us admit to knowing next to nothing about geography... world, U.S., etc So they decided to make a Jeopardy like game about it and see who TRULY was the MOST geographically challenged... my cousin, Chelsea was the "winner")