Fun at the park
Little League wraps up
Star Wars exhibit = Scott’ big chance to be a pod racer
Swimming with cousins
Worship with singing and dancing
Family wedding
This picture speaks for itself
Lucy’s first swim lesson
June’s Top 10
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Category Archives: Cousins
Holy Summer, Batman
So yeah. We’ve never really had summer in the traditional sense before this. Summer with school aged kids. Summer with road trips. Summer with swim lessons. Summer with a garden and a yard and oh, yikes, a drought. It’s been awesome. It’s been full. It’s been sun-soaked and outdoors and lots of watermelon and learning to ride bikes and all the things summer is supposed to be.
We had an awesome trip to Colorado to visit my parents. It involved our first ever family camping trip (on the night between our two days of road trip) and then a super fun 9 days at Gramma and Papa’s house.
We didn’t get to see the amazing mountains as much as we wanted (due to their being on fire) but we did get up to Estes one day and rode the tram and hiked and climbed rocks and had a blast.
We also went up in the canyon and waded in the mountain river. This is a tradition for my mom and I, so it was pretty awesome to do it with the kids.
More camping on the way home, and then we flipped right around and headed to Madison for the Fourth of July. After all these years, we finally saw the fireworks over the river for the first time. Super fun. Super hot super fun.
(I know I’m trying to cover a whole summer in one post, here, but I just have to stop to say that watching fireworks with Scott was an experience. He oohed and aaahed LOUDLY at EVERY explosion. He also began to make comments on them, like “Now that’s what I call a firework!” and “Ka-boom! Classic firework.” It kind of made the show for me.)
As soon as we got home from Madison, we started two weeks of swim lessons. Just Ellie and Scott this year, though it was such a good experience that I will definitely put Lu in next year, too.
Throw in another trip to Madison, a bunch of swimming with friends, a couple of good movies, blasting through the summer reading program at the library, a jungle garden full of cucumbers and tomatoes, and yeah. It was a good summer. Just one that didn’t leave me much energy by night to blog about it. School starts in two weeks. I think we’re going to be ready for it.
Resurrected
New life out of the death of the old. It’s a fundamental part of the human existence. Death and rebirth, death and rebirth, over and over. It all points in one direction, and it’s really, really beautiful.
We had a wonderful Easter, full of worship and family and happiness. And sugar. And napping. If we’re being honest, some of the happiness came from those last two.
Dying Easter eggs was my nod to all the Easter crafts and treats we’ve made in past years. Hey, at least we did this!
Easter baskets
At Nate’s request, we got a waffle maker. Bunny waffles are not quite as easy to make as bunny pancakes, but we made it work. Sort of.
Easter kids. Seriously, I don’t talk about this sort of thing often because…I don’t know really. But I just have to say. These kids are full-on worshipers now, and it is at least four times the joy.
Egg hunt with cousins.
Oh Hal, your cuteness is too much for me.
So I haven’t mentioned this yet, but we’re buying a house. Probably closing next week and moving in two weeks. I know. It’s only a few blocks from where we live now, and it’s just right for us, and we’re really happy about it. It’s also unbelievably weird and happening crazy fast, which should be terrifying but instead is just exactly…us.
(Yes, I’m implying that we are unbelievably weird and move crazy fast. There’s no point in pretending otherwise. You all pretty much know us by now.)
It turns out that March
has a lot of happy things, too.
Like yummy lunches
and color coordinated Lego creatures
and flowers from friends for no reason at all
and birthday parties
and the wonderful weight of a passed out two-year-old
and cousins
and colored pencils that still, after all these years, double as “guys”
and haircuts (and sisters)
and Spring!
even if it doesn’t last.
I also read this post this morning, and it expresses my feelings so exactly that I could have written it myself (except for the part about actually reading the Twilight books- no way, no how). I don’t think about taking any of you out, but I do think often about various kinds of apocalypse while I’m working out. I actually have muscles on my arms now. Thank you, World War Z.
This Week – August 29- September 4
Gramma and Papa visit, Labor Day weekend with the Joneses
This Week – August 22-28
School mornings are early, Gorniks arrive, Trip to Madison
We Head Home Tomorrow
And it’s time. It’s been wonderful. Just as wonderful as I could have hoped. But it’s time to go home. I’ve been trying to make the most of these last two weeks, so I haven’t kept up with posting what we’ve been doing. Here’s a mini recap of it all.
We visited Paul and Amy and the girls in Ft. Wayne. It was one of the most encouraging days of our trip. And that doesn’t even count the awesome Mexican food.
We came back to Gaga and Grandpa’s house. We did this:
And this:
And this:
We had cousin party extraordinaire with lots of cousins and friends…
a petting zoo…
pony rides…
men standing around…
a highly successful animal parade…
games…
Aunt Leah really knows how to plan a party. And these guys are totally worth the effort:
Scott went to a Reds game with Papi and Grandpa:
We played at Monkey Joe’s.
We played at Clark and Erin’s house.
Nothing is cuter than little girls snuggling on a Taun-taun.
We also had some amazing times with friends. But I was too busy enjoying those to take as many pictures as I should have. So I’m just reposting someone else’s photo.
For the record I need to say that every time I’ve come back to the States, I’ve had strong moments of feeling like I don’t fit in anywhere here or like I’m running out of things in common with people, but this time was totally different. I felt so encouraged by every single hour I got to spend with my friends. I feel like we have more in common the older we get, even if our lives are light worlds apart. I like and respect you all more now than ever. And I think that’s pretty special. Special enough that it needs to be said.
Thanks for a wonderful time.
Posted 8/8/2010 at 11:8 PM
5 Comments
*hug* It was absolutely wonderful to see you.
Posted 8/9/2010 at 1:43 PM by crabtrees
I can’t even comment without getting teary. So I’ll just say that we love you so much.
Posted 8/9/2010 at 8:22 PM by brahamcrackers
we thought it was wonderful too. sad to see you go, friends.
Posted 8/9/2010 at 9:24 PM by cmanahan
Wonderful for sure. I am so glad that I got to see you guys.
Posted 8/10/2010 at 8:30 AM by The3wigs
I love all of these pics of all of these awesome friends and their beautiful children!!
Posted 8/12/2010 at 7:44 PM by jilandrich
Beautiful
I will post soon about everything that has been happening. But for tonight I just want to say that we know a lot of gorgeous little girls. These aren’t even all of them. Just some pictures that were breaking my heart. I love every one of them.
Posted 8/3/2010 at 11:42 PM
4 Comments
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such beautiful girls….I enjoyed seeing all these! Posted 8/4/2010 at 8:38 PM by tsdg
they are all so beautiful. look at the M girls! I haven’t seen them in forever! Is Lucy starting to look like Andi? maybe it’s the short blond hair? 🙂 Posted 8/4/2010 at 9:22 PM by jilandrich
what great smiles! Posted 8/4/2010 at 10:7 PM by crabtrees
Totally 🙂 Posted 8/5/2010 at 11:18 AM by The3wigs
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Even more photos
So, this last week we were back in Indy. Take a deep breath, and here we go.
Aunt Marlene was here!
In case anyone was wondering what Ellie is going to look like in 20 years…
We went to the Rivi…the same pool that Nate..and his mom…and apparently his grandma swam in as a kid. I can’t even fathom those kind of roots. But it’s cool that my kids get to be a part of that.
We had a cousin princess tea party. It was completely lovely.
I think the princesses enjoyed it. (Scott and Clark got to go to McDonald’s with Uncle Nate.)
My princess likes to be girly as long as she can still, you know, do stuff.
The girl cousins. And yes, that is the best I could get.
The princess hat got passed around.
We got to visit the Braham’s at last. Baby Gillian is just the cutest thing ever. And she thinks she can fly.
Just really good friends. (One of whom could eat the other for lunch.)
We also had a lovely shower for Erin at the Manahan’s house.
The dads took the kids swimming while we had girl time.
It was very fun. And the only picture I have of Christa is of her being the multi-tasking hostess.
I have a shot just like this one at my baby shower for Ellie. How time flies.
Ellie got to go to her first baseball game. Scott was quite sick by that time, so I stayed home with him and Lucy. If you haven’t read Nate’s account of the game, you should. It made me cry.
Poor boy has been very sick. But he’s better now. And finding time to ride the horse while talking my ear off.
And look! Crazy baby has hair! You just can’t see it when it’s dry and…you know…normal looking.
Posted 7/21/2010 at 7:28 AM
6 Comments
LOVING all these pictures. Loving them. Bummed about what I have missed but loving the pics 🙂
Posted 7/21/2010 at 1:8 PM by The3wigs
Oh, I am loving the pictures too. What great memories with cousins…
Posted 7/21/2010 at 2:20 PM by crabtrees
Loving all the pictures too! Such great cousin shots and how cool about the pool! Ellie looks SO much like Marlene in the third shot from the bottom of the post! Thanks for sharing all the photos with us!!!!!
Posted 7/21/2010 at 8:27 PM by tsdg
Love seeing these. Sweet tea party. I’m so glad I got to see you, even for a short time!
Posted 7/22/2010 at 11:17 PM by broolee
You are having such a wonderful time, Deb! I am loving the pictures, too..what great memories you are making. How much longer are you in Indiana?
Posted 7/23/2010 at 8:57 AM by SinginMama
I think Ellie looks even more like Marlene in the baseball picture. CRA-ZY! Good thing her Aunt marlene is so cute! 🙂
Posted 7/24/2010 at 3:21 PM by brahamcrackers
Massive amounts of photos
I’m so very far behind. This is going to have thirty pictures and it will only cover our week in Madison with my family. I’ll have to do this last week in the next post. Hang on to your hats.
When Gramma and Papa arrived in Madison, we had a tea party waiting for them.
Gramma taught Lucy all about water bottles. Now she is constantly soaked.
My parents brought my old doll house for the kids to play with. It was very wonderful. There’s no taking it back to Argentina, of course, but it will stay in Madison for visiting kids to play with.
Teeny tiny stuff to play with!!
Did someone say teeny tiny stuff? Wait for me!
What is it about the front porch swings in Madison?
We went to the creation museum. That’s its own story. Let’s just say this was the best thing there:
And this:
Moving on. David, Kristin, Katie, and Josh came for the weekend. It was super fun. Scott invented two and three person games to play with the boys.
Bath time!
The boys’ turn:
Felicity had her own bed in the girls’ room.
Walking downtown:
At the coffee shop:
A little early celebration of Katie’s birthday. (She’s turning nine. I’m checking the mirror for gray hairs all the time.)
Presents. That girl is a serious reader. I love her.
Also, I really love these people.
One morning, Papa told the kids a story. I couldn’t post just one picture of this because their faces are too amazing in all of them.
Gramma and Papa and the grandkids. This one is going into a frame the second I get home. Even if Lucy isn’t looking at the camera.
It was a wonderful time that just reminded us of how much we miss each other. But we’re not thinking about that. Instead, I’m going to sort through another huge batch of pictures and dump more on you in the morning. We head to Winona Lake/Columbia City tomorrow, and I need that memory card free for the next round.
Posted 7/20/2010 at 10:16 PM
3 Comments
yay, yay, yay! i love all these pictures! i love seeing all of your family….together! and YOUR doll house?? how sweet and wonderful that you still have it…..even if it stays in Madison….how awesome! um, i can’t wait to hear stories of the creation museum! and that last picture is the best!
Posted 7/20/2010 at 10:59 PM by tsdg
So LOVE seeing these, especially the cousins holding hands and spending great time together playing! I so wish I had met Scott…he sounds so creative and fun!
Posted 7/22/2010 at 11:13 PM by broolee
Aw man…what a great sequence of grandpa story pictures! I love it! Your folks look great, too 🙂 I miss them… and you guys.
Posted 7/23/2010 at 9:3 AM by SinginMama
True Story 