I want to ride my bicycle...

This is long overdue! For my birthday, my mom and dad got me a gift card to get a new bicycle. I was so excited! Mascoutah is the perfect town to do some biking and I knew I would get a lot of use out of a new bike. Then, they gave Tim a gift card also so we could both have new bikes. Once the craziness of school got over, we went to the store and were fitted and ordered new bikes. It took a week or so for them to come in, but by early June we had them. We also wanted to get a trailer for Hannah so we can take family bike rides. Unfortunately, the craziness then the heat of summer got the best of us and we haven't used them yet...until tonight! I knew I wanted to get the rest of what we needed soon since the weather is starting to cool off. We went last night to get a trailer, put it together today and took all of it for a test drive after dinner! We had a nice time and can't wait for more family rides this fall!
I promise Hannah is in there too! She smiled and laughed the whole way!!

School's in Session

Well, summer is offically coming to a close. We have had a summer that wasn't always what we expected, but when I look back it was so fabulous. Once again, we loved watching Hannah grow and change over the last few months. There are so many things she accomplished during the summer and she really is getting to be such a big girl. We had lots of family time and friend time and made many great memories. But all good things must come to an end. I headed back to school today and as we start a new year, I am always excited and anxious to get a new year going. I remember always taking a picture on my first day of school so I thought I'd take one with Hannah today. Happy Back-to-School!

A Grandmother's Love

I just wanted to take a moment and honor Hannah's grandmas. I think that Hannah has the best grandma's ever! Don't get me wrong, grandpa's are pretty special too, but there is just something extra special about a grandma--especially to a little girl. Both of our mom's are wonderful mom's and have already turned into even more wonderful grandmas. They each love Hannah unconditionally & I know they have so much they want to show, teach and do with Hannah as she grows older. What an awesome relationship God blesses through grandmas!

Gwannie & Nana - I love you very much!

A Summer Blessing

One of the highlights of our summer has been spending time with amazing college friends on a variety of occasions. Last night & today has been no exception to that! After going to the Mascoutah homecoming parade, Hannah and I took off to Dwight to stay the night with the Windham's. Once again, Sarah and I stayed up late visiting. Today, the main event occurred. Our dear friend Erin and her beautiful daughter Elle, who live in North Carolina, were back home (Rockford, IL) for the weekend and came down to visit for a few hours. Kristina also joined us and we had a fantastic time catching up with each other's lives as well as refereeing our kids (5 there that day). It was awesome! This group of girls has been a part of my life from the very beginning of college, when Kristina & I met in biology to the bond we made through all of us being a part of CSC, to road trips (Alabama, baby!) to graduating, getting married and having kids (a total of 6 between us). What awesome relationships God has given us. I love these girls so much and am so thankful that we have maintained such strong bonds over the last nine (yes, nine!) years. Praise Him for girlfriends who share my beliefs and values and who have been there with me through so much. Although we all live away from each other, when we talk on the phone or get together it's like nothing has changed. There have been many times when I wished to "re-create" these relationships with other people in other circumstances. I've come to realize that the friendships I have with these girls are irereplacable, and that is exactly the way I want it! I have amazing friends at school where I work, in my neighborhood and through church, but no one will replace what I have with these girls. I know that no matter what happens, we will always be able to lean on each other and no matter how often or little we can visit or talk, nothing will change what we have with each other. Thank you, girls, for being such an integral part of my life. I love you all!The kids (minus Sadie) -- Elle, Macey, Kinnick, Hannah & Whittaker.The moms -- Kristina, Erin, Sarah and me.
The kids & the moms (not an easy shot - but the best we could do...on a timer by the way!)

80 Years Strong

This past weekend we headed up for a quick trip to the northwoods to celebrate Tim's grandpa's 80th birthday! It was also Delaine's birthday so it was really nice that we got to celebrate both. We got in on Friday and settled in for the night. Saturday morning we went to help get the house ready as well as visit the other set of grandparents for the afternoon. Even though it was a short time at each place, it was really great for all the grandparent's to get to spend a little time with Hannah.

When we left, we stopped about halfway to Ken & Delaine's for Godfather's pizza to celebrate Delaine's birthday. I won't go into the details, but we shared a lot of laughs over our two hour....yes, I said TWO HOUR adventure of eating pizza. It was quite the memorable experience! :-)

Sunday after church we stopped briefly at the big party to take a family picture since everyone was in town. It's a great shot of the whole family!

Although it was a short weekend, it was so nice to be around to visit with family and especially to help celebrate the birthdays. Happy Birthday Grandpa Hoff & Delaine!

We Heart Visitors!

We have been so blessed to have friends come to visit two weeks in a row! Both sets of friends are some of our WIU/CSC friends. What awesome people God put in our lives while we were in college. The thought that these are life-long friends makes my heart smile! It's so awesome that we are still in touch and get to see each other a few times a year.

A few weekends ago, the Windham's ended their mini-vacation with a couple days at our house Friday, we headed off early to the zoo to beat the heat. We had a great time! One of the highlights was seeing the stingray exhibit. It is very hands-on and really cool! Even Hannah was able to reach in and got a chance to feel the stingrays. We got around most of the zoo before lunch, ate a picnic lunch and finished the last section before the real heat set in. Here is a picture of Luke, Sarah, Whit & Hannah at Caribbean Cove and the stingrays!After the zoo and a much needed naptime, we grilled out, and had a fun evening hanging out and visiting. What fabulous friends the Windham's are to us! We were so glad to have them in Mascoutah for a few days!

The end of this past week brought another set of visitors. Kristina came down with her kids for a night. We started the visit with a short naptime then headed to the pool for an hour or so of water fun. All four kids seemed to have a blast swimming! We came back to homeade pizza ready to eat. The kiddos got baths, headed off to sleepy land and the grown-ups got a chance to visit and catch up. We all headed our seperate ways the next day. Even though it was a short trip, it so refreshing to have Kristina here for a night! Before we all left, we tried to get a picture of the kids (minus Macey who was sleeping). Here is one of the better shots.Sadie was so good during the picture session! She just kept smiling so we could focus on getting Hannah and Kinnick to smile...or at least look our way. After we got the kids, we tried to get a couple with the mom's and kids. We didn't look at any of the pictures right away, so later in the car I started flipping through and came across this photo...

I thought it was hiliarious! I think this shot truly captures the current state of our lives! Hey - at least the mommy's are looking great! :-)

We are so glad that we had the opportunity to visit with some of our college friends over the summer! We are already trying to set up a visit to WIU this fall for a football game! We love all of you guys!!!

Baseball Heaven

We are big baseball fans around here and one of our favorite things to do is watch the Cardinals. Mom, Tim & I headed to Busch Stadium today for a game. We are always excited for baseball, but a little hesitant today because it was extremely hot outside. Earlier this morning, Tim had the opportunity to listen to Tony Dungey speak to a group of coaches. The event was sponsered by FCA and it was Christian Day at the ball park. He said it was amazing and he had a really good time. Mom and I met him at one of our favorite pre/post-game eatery's, Calico's, for a late lunch before the game started. As we got to the satdium, we realized it was way hotter than we thought. Our seats were in the sun, so we hung out in the concourse where there was some sort of breeze for the pre-game festivities. We then attempted our seats for a total of maybe 5 minutes. It was beyond hot! We went back to our spot on the concourse and ended up watching the game from there -- in the shade and with whatever breeze was there at the time. During the 4th inning, we decided to take off. It is the first time EVER that we left that early in the game. Both Tim & Mom were not feeling great and it was so unbearably hot. We're going to try again before the season is over...but this time in the evening!

This is where we ended up watching what little of the game we stayed for. Oh well -- always an adventure!