February 21st, 2013 | Aunty Amy | PapaJohn & GramJan | Ryker | Uncle J
In the last month we have had some family visiting to meet our sweet Ryker.
Papa John
Grandma Jan
Newlyweds by the gum wall!
Raven LOVES to hold Ryker
And this one is from a while ago, but I just love it :)
Thanks everyone for coming to visit us! We’ll hopefully be in the midwest this summer…stay tuned :)
May 27th, 2011 | Aunty Trish | Hazel | PapaJohn & GramJan | Raven | SPRING | Uncle J
Wow, I have a lot of catching up to do…and I have to try to remember everything that has happened…
Ok, first we had a visit from Papa John and Grandma Jan. I am just now realizing that we don’t have any pictures of their visit! How did this happen? I really have no idea, but we do have proof they were here. The yard looks amazing…now I just have to try to keep up with some things. Also, Matt built a sandbox while they were here, and Papa John filled it up with sand! This is a new favorite spot of Raven’s!
Raven in her giraffe costume loving the sandbox
Then we had a relaxing Mother’s day weekend…Matt sent me to the spa (my favorite place)…and I got a new toy, a fancy phone which sucks up quite a bit of my time. Not with calls, with the internet and picture/video taking!
Next we had a great visit from Uncle J and Auntie Trish!
We really didn’t do anything too out of the ordinary here…I made J come with me to costco, we went to the zoo, and out to eat, scrabble (where Trish and I got creamed by J), and went down to the beach we love…
Great times with Uncle J
Great times with Aunty Trish
Overall, it was a great visit, and we all agreed this needs to happen more regularly. Love you!
Now we are getting ready for a special girl’s birthday party! She has requested a purple party…we are looking forward to a purple bean bag toss, a purple tutu, purple balloons, and cupcakes with blueberry frosting! I’ll try to get picks up soon :)
December 15th, 2010 | Alek | Aunty Trish | Chicago | Christmas | cousins | Hazel | Josiah | Lydia | Nick | Raven | Uncle J
Well, we made it to the Chicago Christmas parties! Raven was so excited and had so much fun that she couldn’t even sleep (even at night when everyone was sleeping and the house was quite…she was wandering around! …Lord, help me with this child!)
We started by spending the day with Uncle J! Then the Woltjer family joined us and we took the L (red line) a few blocks from J’s house. One of the major highlights of the trip! I think Raven laughed the entire way! She liked the jerking of the starting and stopping…silly girl!
Uncle J was pretty excited to have us all there :)
We stopped at the old traditional downtown Chicago Marshall Fields (I mean Macy’s) windows. Although the stories in the windows when I was a kid were much better…and they didn’t mention ‘The Sun’ in every window. Raven was still pretty mesmerized with the story and the moving characters. A very precious moment for me.
Then we went to see the Christmas tree in Daley Center. Also a bit underwhelming when remembering “when I was a kid, the tree was much taller.” But it really was taller when I was a kid. Really, it was! And there wasn’t a Santa’s village surrounding it with a bunch of vendors everywhere. Raven loved the lights and her cousins….and this was all totally worth it. We remembered our old family memories, and we are making new ones.
Our new favorite pizza place that I can't remember the name of. The place where Nick saved our lives from the flaming napkin (which someone with a name that starts with M accidentally left directly over the candle...)
Party time!
Cousins! (all looking at the other camera...but this is the best shot)
Raven snuggling the nutcracker (and a glimpse at the chaos behind the camera)
Party time, again!
Hazel with Great-Grandma T
Hazel in her favorite spot
we are very spoiled.