Total Eclipse of Our Anniversary

12 Years

Today is our 12th Anniversary.  It's crazy to think about.  A whole lot has happened to us over the last 12 years.  I couldn't imagine doing any of it without him.  I got lucky.  Real lucky. We've created a pretty good life together.  Definitely crazy at times, but totally worth every minute of it.  I love you, Wally.  Happy Anniversary!

Two Years

Today marks our 2 year anniversary of living in the Chicago area.  A lot has changed for our family in the last couple of years and we have learned a lot as well:

• This is one of the coldest places we’ve ever lived.
• The Spring and Summer make you forget about the long cold winters.
• Frozen pipes are not fun.
• There is a lot of culture and diversity here.
• There are lots of fun things to do.
• We could live at the beach in the summer.
• Long underwear is a necessity when walking kids to/from school.
• Riding the train is lots of fun until it gets really crowded.
• The treasure hunt downtown is lots of fun for kids.
• A working A/C unit in the car is not as important as a working heater.
• It really is beautiful here.
• The schools here are wonderful!
• We have met so many nice and friendly people.

We really have had a great experience living here with all its ups and downs.  At one point in the last couple of years I didn’t think that I would have any good memories of living here, but I don’t think that anymore.  We’re excited for the next few months ahead of us and the changes to come in our family and where we may possibly end up. 

I think one of the most important things that we’ve learned is that change is really hard for everyone.  It’s hard to uproot and move somewhere new and start all over again, but it can be done.  And it can be done with positive results.  The kind of results that you work hard to get and end up being huge blessings in the end.  Life is an adventure and the experiences you gain are priceless.  Enjoy the journey!

Here’s to the start of year 3!

MIA

Whew!  These last few weeks have gone by so fast here that I have barely had enough time to catch my breath, let alone blog.  Here’s a quick report of what has been going on here in our little corner of the world.

We officially have a “tween” living with us now.  We celebrated Kelsie’s birthday with a small family party this year.  And it rained most of the day.  Bummer.  She loves being another year older and got (almost) everything she wanted.

Wally spent a week away from us in Europe and had a fabulous time.  He enjoyed the time he had to play tourist in Amsterdam and Maastricht, but in the end decided that there really is no place like home.

The day after Wally got home from Europe, his brother and his family came for a visit from Iowa.  We had so much fun hanging out and playing with them.  It’s always fun to have cousins around and Caleb couldn’t get enough of his new favorite cousin, Caroline.  I also just have to mention how much more fun Chicago is in the summertime.  So.much.fun.

Since strawberry picking is on our list of things to do this summer, and since it is such a short season, we decided to drive up to Wisconsin just before the 4th of July and picked 12 quarts of strawberries.  Caleb ate the berries faster than we could pick them and everyone ended up with juice stains all over their shorts, but we had a great time and had lots of fun together.  We were even excited to get a $0.49 ice cream cone at McDonald’s before we headed home.

 

Then came the 4th of July.  It is one of my most favorite holidays, so we went to just about everything we could.  The parade was fun, even in the rain, and the fireworks on the beach were great (it stopped raining by then).  The kids had fun with sparklers, glow sticks, friends, and fireworks at the end of the day. 

 

A few days later, Wally’s parents came out to visit and watch our kids while we went down into Chicago for a couple of nights to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary.  We had a great time together, without any kids and they had tons of fun without the parents.  They were able to eat as much chocolate, donuts, and chips as they wanted and play as much video and computer games to their hearts content.  Just the way it should be when Grandma and Grandpa are in charge!  I have tons of pictures from our little jaunt into the city—I’ll have to post those later.

In between all of this we have also been doing a little bit of:

reading:

crafting:

taking care of bumps, bruises, and boils:

and getting as much play time in as we can!

9 Years and Counting...

Wally and I celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary on the 21st, and were lucky enough to have some friends from Wally's work offer to come watch our kids so we could go out. We went to dinner, talked, and enjoyed about 3 hours of uninterrupted time with each other--I can't remember the last time we went out together so it was great! Kelsie and Brandon got in on the festivities too and made us some cards. It was a great day (aside from the parking ticket I got that morning because I forgot to move our car across the street for the street cleaners) and it is always so fun to celebrate something special!