Babysitting and Baptism

Brighton and I are bi-weekly babysitting our favorite little guy (well, he's not that little) Urban James. This picture demonstrates how he feels when he comes to our house. I really think he loves it, but he also doesn't know what hit him. Brighton loves him to pieces, and I really think Urban is beginning to notice when Brighton all of sudden isn't around. Oh, and we are very good babysitters, but our services are not available for hire. This is just plenty for us. Plus, I'm potty training Brighton this week, so things are beyond busy.

While on the subject of Urban, he was baptized at Faith Reformed Church in Zeeland on Sunday. We attended a really nice service that in celebrated Urban, and we continued the celebration with a family lunch following the service. God Bless Urban!

Let's Go to the Movies

Do you know that song from Annie? Let's go to the movies...let's go see the stars...
We love Annie over here and coincidentally we went to the movies last night.

It was a first for our Brighton. We went to see Cars 2. We love Lightning McQueen, tow truck Mater, and all of their friends. We have the toys. We frequently watch the first movie. It was an obvious choice for us to go as a family and for it to be Brighton's first movie.

But hello, when did the movie experience get so expensive? We told Brighton that we could get popcorn, but that was before I realized how expensive it was. Yikes! It cost just about as much for the popcorn and drink as it did for our tickets. Oh well, good thing we don't go to that many movies. Jon and I can't remember the last time we went. I would say we'll remember this one though.

Armed and Dangerous

We've been talking about it for quite some time. The dentist brought it up to Brighton last week too. So finally after lots of convincing, Brighton decided he could let the last one he had go. This week, he cut up his "pipey" with my help, and then we headed to Meijer for the prizes. Brighton is now armed and dangerous. We found and bought both a Nerf Gun and a squirt gun for him. We of course had to buy the same for his dad.
And yes, after hours of playing with the guns outside, that first night it was a little rough for Bright. It took him over an hour to settle down. It probably was a combination of both excitement and loss. He had that Nerf Gun right in bed with him shooting darts at the ceiling. Oh well, better that than the pipe.

Brighton has asked about his pipe a few times since, and I remind him that they're all gone and he has his guns instead. Yesterday, he sighed, pouted, and said, " Oh no, what am I going to do?"

I'm just thrilled we're done. Now all we have to do is get potty trained.

My Annual Shopping Trip

Every year with some of the ladies in my family, we head to the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale. I've wrote about it here before, and before that too. I of course look forward to the getaway every year. Good deals, good times, and good company. This year was no different. We spent the weekend in Chicago, and we did much more than shopping this time. We always have a few fabulous meals. We always go back to our favorite spot Quartino, and this year we tried Bandera; it's conveniently right across the street from Nordstrom. We also saw the musical Beauty and the Beast. That show was fabulous!

It was a gorgeous weekend so we decided to do something touristy that we had never done before. We took a boat ride down the river and out into Lake Michigan. I've been to Chicago countless times, but I've never done that before - very fun.