Eli & Zeb's Life Beyond the Friday Photos

Apple Orchard

2009-10-26T21:48:00.002-04:00

Today was Fall Break for both Nico and I. It was Nico's first day of 2 weeks being off to be Mr. Mom and it was my last day home with the boys, as I go back to work tomorrow.

It was a BEAUTIFUL day... we couldn't ask for a better one!! :)

I wanted to go to the Apple Orchard on Friday, but the weather was yucky, but this worked out even better, so dad could come too!!

We went out looking for apples... Eli says this direction.

Eli loved picking his own apples

Here he's asking Mommy if it's a good one?

But he like being on dad's shoulder too, to reach the high ones.

All the while, Zeb just hung out in the front pack, taking it all in. It was a fun day for all of us... but a GREAT beginning of Daddy's Mr. Mom's experience!

(Zeb wanted to watch the cars along the road rather than look at the camera!! :)

Molly's Birthday

2009-10-26T21:36:00.004-04:00

Eli's good friend Molly had her 3rd birthday party on Sunday. Eli loves birthday parties, so he was pumped! It was a Princess Themed party. Here's the princess in her new birthday Princess gear!! After Eli realized he couldn't open Molly's presents, the next thing he looked forward to was cake. I know it's hard to really see in this picture, but both Molly and Eli loved the frosting... they did eat a little cake too!!

Today, Monday, is officially Molly's Birthday!! Happy Birthday Molly!! We love you!!

Etter Baby Shower

2009-10-26T21:27:00.004-04:00

My teaching partner Tammy's sister-in-law Angie is going to have a baby in December. Angie is Keenan's teacher and Nico worked with her for a year when he was at Hickory Center. Needless to say, we are SUPER excited for her and Mark.

Tammy is a PARTY MASTER!! With her planning and the help of her other sister-in-laws, a GREAT shower was in store!! Lots of family, friends, food, games, gifts and goodies!! Thanks Etter family for letting us be a part of that special event!!

Pumpkin Patch with Aunt Andrea

2009-10-23T00:25:00.006-04:00

Since I was running out of time on my maternity leave, we wanted to take a trip to Indy to see Aunt Andrea and Uncle Andy (but he had to work) So we planned a trip down and she planned a VERY FUN adventure for us. Between the hay ride, pumpkin patch, jumping pillow and hay stacksEli and Zeb didn't know what was their favorite. But they did LOVE being with Aunt Andrea
And maybe even being with mom... at least a little.

It was a beautiful day, a beautiful setting, beautiful kids (they are mine, so of course I think that) and a beautiful Aunt. We got such WONDERFUL pictures.

Thanks Andrea for such a GREAT day!!

Fall Get Together

2009-10-23T00:15:00.004-04:00

It's taken us a few months, but we finally found a day for the Hunsches, Ankenbrucks, and us to get together. We thought pumpkin carving would be fun. Molly was a trooper, she was the only kid who actually LIKED to stick her hand in the pumpkin. The only reason we have this pic of Eli is we told him he didn't have to actually touch anything inside.

The finished products...

And Nico hanging out with the little boys while the carving was happening.

We all had a good time!!

The Great Zoo Halloween

2009-10-22T23:56:00.005-04:00

Saturday was my mom's birthday. One of her favorite things to do is to take the kids to the zoo... especially the Great Zoo Halloween. So we decided to combine the two, her birthday celebration and the Zoo. We went early b/c of my little ones, but it was still super fun!!

Flash Gordon and Captain America led the way with a small giraffe to follow!!
Keenan and Eli both loved the corn maze... we did it a few times.

Then of course we had to have some cousin pics, family pics, and birthday girl pics.

Hope you had a GREAT birthday mom!!

Punkin' shopping

2009-10-22T23:50:00.003-04:00

On a chilly Saturday morning, we went to a local pumpkin farmer to get our pumpkins for the season. Eli loved all the pumpkins and had a hard time choosing his favorite. Here's some pics of Eli and the pumpkins he loved!

Boys Sleep Over

2009-10-22T23:45:00.003-04:00

Friday night, Eli and Nico had Johnny and JR over for a night of football and video games... and that was just the big boys. :) They went to dinner, headed to the CHS football game, and played before it was time for the little boys to head to bed so the big boys played some Madden... just like college.

A good time was had by boys of all ages!! Thanks guys!! I know my boys are excited about the Basketball Sleep Over coming soon!!

Zeb's Big Bite

2009-10-22T23:38:00.004-04:00

After Zeb's 4 month appointment, Dr. Mark suggested we start cereal. We were so excited... looking back we have NO IDEA why!! :) It's a mess and Zeb hates it. With some practice we got it down now, but it was a struggle. But still it's a step up... he's getting to be such a big boy!!Again... we have a GREAT video of Eli encouraging Zeb to eat, but the video function isn't working. Any tips anyone? I'll keep trying!!

Rainy Day Fun

2009-10-22T23:35:00.002-04:00

What do you do when it's rained for like 27 days straight (ok, maybe just 3, but if felt like 27) when you have a 4 month old and a almost 3 year old... you build a tent out of sheets! :)

Here are the boys hanging out in the tent!!

Visit to Charleston

2009-10-22T23:17:00.006-04:00

My mom had a conference in Charleston, SC and so she invited the boys and I to come along. The original plan was to leave in the evening and drive over night so the boys would sleep. Well my mom, the cheap flight queen, found us plane tickets CHEAP, so we flew!! :) Zeb's first flight ever!!

Each day we were there (it was a quick trip, just 4 days) we visited different places. I told my mom who's NOT a history person "Sorry, we have to visit Fort Sumter. It's a MAJOR historical place." Luckily she agreed. We took a boat out to the island and had a fun visit

The next day we went to the aquarium. Eli loves fish, so he was in Heaven.

The hotel had a pool, so we did that EVERYDAY!!

This is one of my favorite pictures of Zeb ever!!

Needless to say we had a GREAT time!! The boys were WONDERFUL and they loved time with their Grandma. Thanks mom for letting us tag along!!

Amazing Race-Fort Wayne Style

2009-10-22T22:50:00.006-04:00

I am obsessed with the Amazing Race... might be the Social Studies teacher in me. Tammy and I decided to make it our theme this year. What better way to really immerse ourselves in the Amazing Race theme, then to do the Fort Wayne Amazing Race. We had a team of four, Tammy and Chris, Nico and I and went throughout and did various tasks. Most of them were silly... we spend more time laughing then anything else. I wish I could post some of the video, but for some reason I can't get the video to work, so pictures will just have to do.

There's lots of pictures, but they are just too funny!!Thanks Etters for a fun Saturday!!

Let's go fly a kite...

2009-10-22T22:33:00.005-04:00

We've had this kite FOREVER and we just keep forgetting about it. A few weeks ago on a windy Sunday, Nico busted it out. From what Nico says he was as close as you can get to a professional kite flyer. So it was time to pass on the skills to his son.

Eli and Jackson

2009-10-22T22:25:00.003-04:00

We wanted to make sure Jackson was home and settled before he had visitors. Nico and Eli visited and got some pictures together!!

Oh boy... the fun these 2 will have! :)

Eli and Daddy

2009-10-22T22:21:00.002-04:00

While they fight like cats and dogs... these 2 LOVE each other SO MUCH!!

Scrub a Dub Dub

2009-10-22T22:16:00.002-04:00

Before bath time, we took a few pics of Zeb...Love this smile!!

The Tigulis Guys

2009-10-22T22:14:00.002-04:00

Can't wait until we can get Jackson in this picture too!!

Diggin machine

2009-10-22T22:03:00.003-04:00

Nico started a task about 2 months ago. I'm still trying to understand the whole project, but something that involves trenching to drain water to help our sump pump. All I know is it that requires lots of digging!! So at one point, Eli decided to help dig.

I'm sure he was a HUGE help to Nico!!

Jackson Comes Home

2009-10-22T21:56:00.004-04:00

After 6 1/2 weeks of being in the NICU, Jackson got to come home.

We are SO excited to have him home!!

Fort for Fitness

2009-10-22T21:37:00.005-04:00

2 years ago I roped my teaching partner Tammy into doing a pilates class with me. Well then because she did that with me, she wanted a partner for the 1st annual Fort for Fitness Half Marathon. We trained... not too hard though, and we did it. It took us just over 3 hours. So she wanted to do it again this year and beat our time. And the finish line was on Parkview Field... how cool is that!!

I only trained like 10 times (I'd like to blame Zeb for this, but really I just had no discipline) So needless to say it SUCKED!! Tammy was my number one cheerleader. As much as I swore at her for making me do this :) she kept me going!! :) AND we both finished in under 3 hours... I was like 2 hours, 59 minutes and 46 seconds... but that's under 3 hours!!

Thanks Tammy for all the encouragement!!

Daddy and his Boys

2009-10-22T21:32:00.001-04:00

Love these 3... enough said!! :)

Plaster Fun Spot

2009-10-22T21:13:00.004-04:00

Brenna, Kim, Eli, Zeb and I took a outing to the Plaster Fun Spot. It's a plaster paining place, but the cool thing is you don't have to wait to take it home with you. You can take it home that day. First we had lunch at Chick Fil A that had a play yard. (They made a friend too)

Then off to paint. Here's the dinosaur Eli painted.

Brenna and Eli had a great time!!

Sahsha's Birthday

2009-10-22T21:03:00.003-04:00

Right after the church picnic, we got to celebrate Sahsha's birthday!! We went to her favorite restaurant... Buffalo Wild Wings. :) Then we headed back to their house for cake and presents. Of course, Eli had to help out Aunt Sahsha!!

It was nice to spend quality time together!!

St Nick's Church Picnic

2009-10-22T20:48:00.004-04:00

Every year, St. Nicholas Church, Nico's mom and dad's church, has a fall picnic. There's always food, dancing, and lots of fellowship!! Here's Zeb and Baba Eli (that's what Eli calls her... really it Baba Mila)

Eli had TONS of fun with the kids... here he's in a moonwalk type thing

and Zeb did his first Macedonian dancing. :)

Amanda's Birthday

2009-10-22T20:30:00.003-04:00

Sister-in-law Amanda turned 30 this year. So of course we had to celebrate!! We threw her a surprise Birthday party. We struggled to find a way to get her to our house, so I told her we were going to take a family picture for my mom and dad's Christmas card. She bought it... so much so that her and Cora got all dressed up, they looked GREAT for the party!! We decided we should take a picture then!!

Family, Friends and Good Times!!Happy Birthday Aunt Nana!!

Powder Puff

2009-10-22T20:14:00.003-04:00

You know we couldn't go an entire fall with out Nico coaching any football...so he coached powder puff. He and Ryan Taylor coached the Senior Girls.He had great plans to teach them lots about football... they didn't care!! But they did win, so I guess he did his job!!

Get it started... who was I kidding??

2009-10-21T15:29:00.005-04:00

If you notice in my last post I talked about getting my blogging started again... then take a gander at the date. So obviously I didn't get right on that like I wanted.
But since I am going back to school in T minus 2 school days, I HAVE to get on it!! So my plan is to work on it after the boys go to bed, especially since my list of 15 has increased to about a list of 20 :) So I've decided to make sure I do get it done, I'll cut down on the fun anecdotal stories (the ones I'm sure you all just skim anyways) and just do mostly pictures. That will be best for everyone.
But what would a post be without a picture, here's one of the boys and Aunt Andrea at the Pumpkin Patch in Indy yesterday. There's lots more where this came from....stay tuned!! :)

Need to Update!!

2009-10-04T19:35:00.002-04:00

So I just made a list of everything I want to blog about... it's got 15 things on it!!! Needless to say the comments won't be all that long, especially since I'm sure you'd rather see the pictures than read the commentary. :)

Here's a pic of the boys from this weeks Friday Photo just to get it started...

My budding photographer

2009-09-04T15:06:00.003-04:00

After I got done taking the Friday Photo for today, Eli wanted to take some pictures. So I gave him my camera (ok, that part was scary) and told him where to look and what button to push... Here's what he took:

Cut part of my head off, but what to I expect he's only 2.

But then try 2 was MUCH BETTER!!Didn't he do a GREAT JOB??!!

Then I did a bit of cropping and here's what we got...Thanks Eli for taking GREAT pictures of Mommy and Zeb!!

Fishin' with Grandpa Fred

2009-09-04T14:50:00.009-04:00

As I've already explained, Eli spent all last school year with the Ginders. Two of his favorite people he met were Grandpa Fred and Grandma Peggy. These two treat Eli as one of their own grandchildren and Eli honestly believes they are another set of grandparents. Eli hadn't seen Grandpa and Grandma in a long time, so he was SUPER excited to go fishing with him.
We met some new friends that day too. Kim brought Jen and her boys who just moved here from Kentucky!! Here's the crew on the boat (don't worry, it stayed docked the whole time.)

Grandpa trying to catch some fish with his 2 helpers!!

Eli contemplating jumping in... no just kidding, he was WONDERFUL!!Eli and Brena feeding the fish in their own way... with Fruit LoopsOf course we had to have snacks :) Zeb was wonderful!! He got lots of lovin' from Grandma and our new friend Jen. Grandpa, Eli and Brenna cheesing for the camera!! Ok... at least Brenna is. Grandpa is pretty focused fishing and Eli's focused on feeding his face. We caught 2 fish the whole time. Here's the one Grandpa caught. And of course all the kids were gone on a nature hike with Kim while he caught it. Luckily, Brenna wanted to head back early, so she got to see the fish... but it doesn't look like she's a fan!!Besides fishing, there was a play ground, so after we were bored with fishing, off to the playground we went!! Then I saved the best picture for last...

Here's Brenna and Eli scheming... I think they were dividing up Fruit Loops to give to the fishies. I love the smiles on their faces. These two are hilarious together. The both rode with me up to the lake. On the way Brenna tells Eli, " When I was at Gitchegume (the vacation spot Ginders go to during the summer) I missed you Eli." Eli then said, "I missed you too Brenna" It was priceless!!

Ginder (and Kurtz) family for taking us fishing. We had a BLAST!!

My Big Boy

2009-08-28T14:14:00.004-04:00

This week has been a rough one for Eli and I... but we made it to Friday and neither one of us is dead!! :) On a postive note, it did get better as the week went on. But as much as it's been a struggle... I love this little guy.

He's got a great personality (actually I think it's alot like mine, so of course I think it's great:) and he really is a fun kid!! Because him and I are alike, we have a tendency to butt heads frequently... grrrrrrr. But he's got a HUGE heart and a zeal for life that I am so thankful for. Plus, look at him, he's just so darn ADORABLE!!

I love you Eli!!

Dinner with Uncle Jason and Aunt Sahsha

2009-08-28T14:07:00.004-04:00

After our visit with Jackson, we were lucky to have Jason and Sahsha come over for dinner. It was so nice to have them over, eat, and chat. :) After dinner Nico snapped a few pics of the boys with their beloved Uncle Jason and Aunt Sahsha. They were too good not too post.
Love you 3... including Jackson!! :)
Ok, look at Eli's face... looks like he's up to something :) :)

Newest Jackson Pictures

2009-08-28T13:58:00.003-04:00

Last night I got to go up to see Jackson. It had been WAY TOO LONG since I'd seen him. This time not only did I get to see him, but I got to hold his hand and play with toes!! :) I loved it. He's getting strong every day. He's off his oxygen and the only tube he has is his feeding tube. That will be there for probably another 2 weeks. He's officially 2 weeks old today!! He's up to 3 lbs 7 oz and growing!!

You may not notice, but in the first picture, he still had some of his cord attached to his belly button, but his "anal father" (not my words, but Jackson's mommy's words) wanted it off. It hanging by a tiny piece of skin, so they cut it off. So in honor of your dad Jackson, I took another picture of you, this time, with your cord gone!! :)

Babysitting the Cousins

2009-08-28T13:52:00.003-04:00

Monday, Eli, Zeb and I, got to spend some quality time with Keenan and Cora... unfortunately at the expense of Kenny... he was having hernia surgery (which on a side note, please pray for him... he's still in a lot of pain!!)

I picked Keenan up from Kindergarten and then later, Cora up from 3rd grade. Since it was such a special day, only ice cream could be the way to celebrate it. So here are the oldest ones eating their ice cream.

Then we came back and played outside!! But of course, Aunt Abby made them take some pics before they left.

Thanks guys for coming over and playing with Eli and Zeb... we'll do it again soon!!

Smores Fun

2009-08-28T13:43:00.003-04:00

Sunday was a cool Fall night, a big odd for the middle of August, but we took advantage of it and cooks some smores. You guys built a bonfire you might ask?? Nope, we just roasted marshmallows in our chimanea!! :)

Eli loved it... wish I would have taken another picture after he was done eating, because while he's a little gooey here, by the end he was a marshmallow mess!! It was hilarious.

Zeb didn't partake in the smore fun, but did hang out outside with us.

I guess Sunday night was also "White T-shirt" night in my house. Here are all 3 of my boys sportin' it!!

After the fun we had... I'm sure there will be many more Smore nights in our house!!

George McKinney Night

2009-08-28T13:24:00.004-04:00

This year Carroll High School is celebrating 40 years of Charger Football. So for every home game they are welcoming back alumni from each decade and honoring coaches at half time. The first coach they honored was the first Carroll Football coach EVER... George McKinney!!

Little background on George... George was my government teacher in High School. He also was the Senior Class Sponsor which put him in charge of graduation... in turn he chose me to help him with graduation, so we got close during that time. After retiring he and his WONDERFUL wife Betty, spend winters at Ft. Meyers Beach, where we always go for Spring Break, so we often see them down there. When he's not in Florida, he subs... lots in our building. He's taken maternity leave jobs for people on my team, so I've worked with him quite a bit... I was his technology buddy. And now to top it off, he's taking my maternity leave, which I am SUPER excited about... now ask him if he's that excited now that school has started and he may not be!! :)

Now I guess from reading the program and listening to them introduce him at the game, he did a lot of monumental stuff for Carroll Football, but I was so concerned about snapping his picture, that I really didn't pay attention so I can't remember all that stuff to put on here... Sorry George!! :) But I did promise him that Tammy and would cheer for him when he got his plaque and shout "That's my maternity sub!!" Which we did!! :)

Thanks George for all you've done for me throughout High School and now taking care of my classroom. You are a Class Act!!

Love this look... I got it from time to time in High School... and I still some times get it from him!!

Ball State Fantasy Football Draft

2009-08-21T15:38:00.004-04:00

Last weekend was the draft....Every year Nico's college friends get together to draft their Fantasy Football Team for the upcoming fall. It's a day of eating, drinking, corn hole playing, drinking, trash talking, drinking, and more eating. :) It's pretty much a "Boys Only" event, but lately wives with kids have stopped by so everyone can meet the newest arrivals. That's where I come in. I was instructed to bring Zeb (and Eli) to the draft so those that hadn't yet, could meet him. Not that I mind... it's time for me to say hi to all these guys too!!

Good luck this year guys!

Friday Photo

2009-08-21T15:25:00.009-04:00

Most of these pics have been sent out to everyone, but they were just too cute... I had to post them.

We picked Keenan up from school today, so here are the 3 boys...

Look at my 2 handsome boys...

How can you not LOVE this ADORABLE face... ok, I am a bit biased but still...

I know these last 3 are not oriented right, but I promise you I have spent the last 35 minutes trying to fix them and I can't!! :( :(

So you'll just have to bend your neck to get the best picture viewing angle!! :)

Hope these put a smile on your face like they did mine!!

Molly and the Boys...

2009-08-21T14:37:00.004-04:00

The past 6 months or so, we've try to have a monthly meeting with Nico's friends from college who are still in Fort Wayne (that's not to say they aren't mine friends now too, but they started off friends with him first :) The guys say it's a chance for the kids to get together and play, but the wives say it's mostly for the big boys to get together and play!! :) No matter... its fun for all. This summer our group has expanded by 2. Now if I was an on the ball photographer I would have gotten a photo off all 6 kids together, but things are a bit hectic with 6 kids and it was forgotten. But here's how it plays out..

Johnny 3... just turned in June

Molly 2... will be 3 in October

Eli 2... will be 3 in Dec

Sammy... almost 1 in Sept

Zeb... 11 weeks tomorrow

Max...6 weeks Monday

Now you know why I said it was hectic AND why the title of the post is Molly and the boys. Poor thing all her life she'll be over protected by the boys her age and bothered by the ones younger that her!!

This month's "meeting" was at the Ankenbrucks. We had tacos (always a favorite in the Tigulis house) and then for dessert, we had this WONDERFUL Carmel Smores thing that was outstanding... and the older 3 made it. Here they are making the treats!!Then they of course had to try their creations... How ADORABLE are these 3!!!After some yummy treats, it was time to work off those calories with some basketball.

Look at Molly's follow through... a natural.

Here's Johnny after a basket... looks like he's ready to "chest bump" somebody.

Then we have Eli going in for the slam!! We all had a GREAT time... including the little boys even if they didn't any camera time. Next time that's my mission. Thanks Ankenbrucks for hosting!!

Wednesday's Play Date

2009-08-21T14:22:00.004-04:00

All last year, Kim Ginder watched Eli for us and it was such a blessing!! Brenna and Eli became like brother and sister.... at least they fight like brother and sister!! :) We got together a few times this summer, but now since I'm home for a bit, we thought we'd set up a Play Date for every Wednesday.

This Wednesday, we went to Shoaff Park. We played on the toys, had a picnic lunch, and Brenna played at the Splash Pad... ever since Splash Universe and that HUGE bucket dropping on Eli, he's ANTI splash things. But he loved the slides and all the climbing toys!!

This picture cracks me up...Here's Brenna on the BIG slide...Here they are playing Hide and Go Seek from Kim and I. If you notice... they are hiding AND have thier own eyes covered. :)

The two of them had a great time and have already planned next week's date... a trip to the pond.

Thanks Ginders for a GREAT Wednesday!!

More Jackson Pictures

2009-08-16T21:59:00.002-04:00

Here are some more pictures of Jackson... with his eyes open!! :) These were taken today by the NICU nurse... isn't that so nice of her. :) The nurses up there are just OUTSTANDING!! I think this one is my favorite

He's BEAUTIFUL!!!

Introducing.... Jackson Tigulis

2009-08-16T18:11:00.005-04:00

We've had an exciting few days to say the least in the Tigulis family. This could be a very long story, so I'll just hit the highlights!! On Thursday, Sahsha was admitted into the hospital because of preeclampsia (basically VERY high blood pressure) and they were told that it was best for the baby and for Sahsha for her to have a C-section on Friday. While we were SUPER excited to meet baby Jackson, Sahsha was only 30 weeks along and we told that at this point Jackson was weighing 2 lbs 8 oz. The good news was the the doctors were VERY positive about Jackson. They were more worried about Sahsha then about Jackson.

As soon as we heard the news the prayers started!! We are so blessed to have such GREAT friends and a wonderful church family who started prayer chains and prayers around the clock for Jason, Sahsha, and Jackson.

We were told that Sahsha would have a c-section at noon on Friday. Friday morning was never-racking... we all were attached at the hip to our cell phones. Eli, Zeb and I were in the Target parking lot at noon. So we stopped and prayed for the situation. Then, we started driving and Eli told me that HE wanted to pray for Aunt Sahsha and baby Jackson, but I had to close my eyes. So, I pulled into a parking lot and he made sure I closed my eyes, and he prayed... "Dear Lord, be with Aunt Sahsha and baby Jackson, help them. Amen" When we both opened our lives, needless to say I was crying tears of joy that my 2 year old son said such a heart felt prayer to an AWESOME God for an aunt and a cousin he loves so much!! While my heart was still worried about Sahsha and Jackson it was overflowing with love!!

Then we got the good news...Friday at 12:25 Jackson Cory Tigulis was born. He tipped the scales at 3 lbs 1 oz... he was a "chunk" compared to what we were told... YAY!! Other than being small, everything else was looking good!! GOD IS GOOD!!

Sahsha is recovering but still having some struggles with her blood pressure. Jackson is doing well but is struggling with some apnea. But we were told he most probably will only be in the NICU for 6-7 weeks instead of 8-10 which we were told earlier. WONDERFUL!!

We ask for continued prayers for this family... for Sahsha's recovery, for the bonding between Jackson and Jason & Sahsha, and for the overall health and growth of Jackson.

So this post was longer what I was expecting, but I don't think you'll be upset. :) But I know here's what you really want ... pics of Jackson:

We thank God for all he's already done in Jackson's life and for all he's going to do in it.

We serve a GREAT God!!

Sahsha's Baby Shower

2009-08-11T14:37:00.004-04:00

Nico's youngest brother Jason and his wife Sahsha are expecting a baby boy come October. We are SUPER excited for Jackson's (that's his name) arrival!! But before he can come, mom and dad have to get stocked up on goodies!! So... Saturday was Sahsha's Baby Shower.

Here is the BEAUTIFUL mom to be and her YUMMY cakePresent time!! They got a lot of very practical and very cool things!!I told her this was a good gift!! We love ours... it hooks underneath tables so that you can have a highchair just about anywhere. She got some cute clothes. Her comment was "Wow, these are tiny!!" :) :)
Sahsha's good friend Jamie, stole the show with her gift...we ALL loved it!!
Sahsha explained to everyone this was Jason's football number in High School. How ADORABLE is this!! I then explained how this was ALL THREE boys' football number in High School, so I thought I'd take it right now and put it on Zeb!! :) They actually are thinking about framing it and putting it in Jackson's room. That would be a COOL piece of art work!!

In Sahsha's words the shower was "Perfect" so mission accomplished!! Now we are just waiting on Jackson. Can't wait to meet him!!

Splash Universe

2009-08-11T13:50:00.006-04:00

For our Hendricks' family vacation, since the lake was a bust with the weather AND we didn't get to go since we just had Zeb, we went to Splash Universe. The rest of the family had been there before, but we hadn't. They told us Eli would have a blast and boy were they right. We stayed at the hotel connected to the water park. Here are the 3 kids riding the rocking horses in the lobby. Then it was on to the water park. This is where Eli spent most of his time. He LOVED this little slide. He would CONTINUOUSLY slide down it. As soon as he was down it was right back up the stairs to go back down again. It was hilarious!!

Paw Paw was on Zeb patrol for the first day... and LOVED IT!!

Then we went to check out the big slides. Since his cousins were going down it, Eli wanted to too!! He was tall enough, so we thought we'd try it. As you can see... Eli wasn't a fan!! :)

He was more at home in this little pool...

Zeb even got in a few times. It was nice that the kid's pool was so warm!! Here he is warming up with Grandma.

It was a GREAT trip together!! Thanks mom and dad for taking us all!!

Zeb's Big Day

2009-08-02T21:23:00.005-04:00

Today, we were so blessed to bring Zeb into the household of faith. It was so great to have so many of our family and friends there. My brother had to work, but found someone to cover for him for a half and hr so he could be there... boy does Uncle Kenny love Zeb or what!! :)

Pastor Greg did the honors and we were so excited he did. We LOVE Pastor Greg!! To be fair we have loved all our Pastors, but they each were so different. Pastor Greg is emotional and down to earth.We love that he ALWAYS includes Eli in all things Zeb... like Zeb's blessing at the hospital and his blessing after being baptized.

As I reflect on what we did today, it continues to make me smile. Today, we brought our 2 month old into a new family, a family that will help raise him up to be a Jesus follower. I loved that Pastor Greg reminded us that it will not be easy, but God is asking us to do our best in raising these 2 boys that he has blessed us with. It's a HUGE challenge, but one that Nico and I are so glad God has given to us!! God is good... All the Time!! All the Time... God is Good!!

After the service, we had friends and family over to our house to celebrate!! It was a wonderful time with good food, good cake, and even better company. It was a GREAT day, but by the end Zeb was wiped out!!

God has blessed us with such a great support system in our friends and family. I just cannot say Thank You enough to them AND to our Lord for putting them in our lives!!

Passing Along a Prayer Request

2009-07-31T22:48:00.004-04:00

When Andy and Andrea got married, we met TONS of cool people... one of these is Abbi E. When we met, she had just had a son too and was a teacher. We hit it off right away!! We don't get to see each other much, but we stay in contact through e-mail and blogs.

She has an ADORABLE blog called http://ourlaughterandnoise.blogspot.com (It's along the side of this blog as one I follow).

While reading her blog I "met" her friend Lindsey and read about her pregnancy with Evie Jayne. After the first ultrasound they found out that Evie Jayne is facing some tough problems. Lindsey has set up a blog to track Evie's life. Here's the site: http://eviejayne.blogspot.com Please read the first post, I will let her explain the full story. Lindsay is a wonderful writer and while I've never met her, she's got an AMAZING faith... one that I believe we can all learn from.

So as a friend of a friend, I'm asking for some prayers for Lindsey, Evie Jayne and the entire family. God hears our prayers!!

Tin Caps Game

2009-07-31T22:30:00.004-04:00

On Wednesday, Keenan, Cora, Kenny, Eli, Zeb, and Mom and I went to the Tin Caps game. While it was kind of rainy, the kids still had a GREAT time!!

We got to see Johnny...

It was Firefighter Appreciation Day, so SADAR the mascot dog was there too!

Visit with the Helsoms

2009-07-31T21:53:00.003-04:00

Even thought I don't coach at the High School anymore, they do a GREAT job of always including me and keeping me in the loop. High School Volleyball is getting ready to start next week, so this is their last week of "freedom!!" We decided to meet Doug, Nicole, Gabby and Riley at a park out Southwest. Then about 10 minutes before we were to leave, Doug called to say it looked like rain, so we went to their house instead.

We had a YUMMY dinner!! Then the kids took to the toys. Eli loved all of Gabby's toys. His favorite was a Diego bus that sang songs that him and Gabby danced to.

It was HILARIOUS!!!

Doug then pulled out a set of drums and then that added to the fun.

The kids had a good time and the adults did too. It was so nice to have time to just sit, chat and catch up. Thanks Doug and Nicole for a WONDERFUL evening!! We are so lucky to have you guys as friends!!

Zeb's Exciting Friday Night

2009-07-25T12:58:00.002-04:00

Many of you already hear about our fun Friday night, but for those that haven't...
In this picture of Zeb you'll notice the nice band-aid on his forehead, leg, and you might even be able to see the one on his hand... all courtesy of the ER. :(

Here's the story: He'd been cranky for a few days and threw up Wed and Friday, but we thought it was just reflux and/or gas. Friday afternoon though he started burning up. Took his temp... 101. So called the dr who had us do a rectal temp (first time for that and it wasn't fun for any of us... had to call Kenny to get the 411 on how to do it) and told us if it was over 100.4 go the ER. It was 100.7... so off we went to the ER.

THANK HEAVENS for my sister-in-laws!! Nico had a DJ gig and I didn't want to have to entertain my hyper 2 year old at the ER, so off Eli went to Aunt Sahsha's. Then Aunt Amanda and Uncle Kenny picked him up and took him to the fair, where he had a GREAT time... just ask him.

At the ER they:

-Started an IV line, just in case, but the never needed it... hence the band aid on his hand

-Did a Chest X-Ray -Drew blood... hence the band aid on his head... the took his blood thru a scalp vein

-Took a urine sample

ALL to not be able to find anything wrong... but at least they didn't find anything horrible. So we went home with Tylenol (which I'm sure when I’m billed for it will be like $75.00) and told to check in with our Dr. on Saturday. He was fine over night and the temp came down.

Saw the dr on Saturday and they gave him an antibiotic... hence the band aid on his leg... actually 2 shots, but one band aid already came off :) They are still running tests on all the blood and urine we'll know more on Monday.

Keep Zeb in your prayers... but he's already feeling better!! :)
We laugh... in the 7 weeks Zeb's been born he's cause us more medical bills and scares than Eli his entire 2 and a half year of life... but each time he gets better, so we are thankful!! :)

Visit with the Davis'

2009-07-23T22:38:00.003-04:00

This week, while we were down in Indy to hang out with Andy and Andrea (see previous post for more details) we thought this was a GREAT time to catch up with the Davis Family. Nico went to college with both Brad and Sarah AND their son Luke and Eli were born on the same day... again perfect play partners.

The boys had a good time together...both big boys and little boys :)

Thanks Davis' for coming over and hanging out... next time we'll have to do it in Fort Wayne!!

Our Trip to Indy

2009-07-23T22:15:00.007-04:00

Andy and Andrea ALWAYS make the trips (yes, multiple) up here to see us, so we decided we'd take a few days and go see them!! Andy was on shut down and Andrea took a few days off, so we had 3 full days to spend together!! HOW FUN!!! (We hope Andy and Andrea think so and don't regret spending their days off with our CRAZY kids!! :)

On Monday, we went swimming...

On Tuesday, we went to the Children's Museum...

Uncle Andy and Zeb bonded at the Museum!! :)While both of those were fun, probably the most fun was just hanging out with them. Eli got to play cars with Uncle Andy and gymnastics with Aunt Andrea. Zeb got spoiled lots by being held by his doating Aunt and Uncle. Daddy and Mommy got spoiled by not having to cook and having 2 other adults help with the kiddos... it was GREAT for all of us!!

Thanks you 2 for a WONDERFUL mini-vacation. We are SO THANKFUL to have you in our lives!! LOVE YOU!!

Fireworks

2009-07-23T22:00:00.003-04:00

Another tradition in the Hendricks' household resurrected itself this year. When we were little and my dad worked full time for Mercy (the old ambulance company that covered all of Fort Wayne), they always had a cook out for the families on the last day of 3 Rivers to watch the fireworks. I remember looking forward to that cookout every year.

Well, fast forward about 25 years and this time my dad AND my brother work for Paramedics Plus (the NEW ambulance company that covers all of Fort Wayne) and they decided to have a cook out for the families to watch the fireworks. Families included adult kids and grandkids, so sign the Tigulis family up!!

We had to wait a bit on the fireworks, so of course PawPaw found something for the boys to do:

Then it was firework time!!

This picture shows one of the only times Eli's mouth was shut... Luckily the people around us didn't care, but Eli talked the ENTIRE firework show... about anything and everything!! :)

Another good time was had by all and a tradition was brought back to life!!

Last Week's Friday Photo

2009-07-23T21:45:00.006-04:00

So last Friday, I forgot to send the Friday Photo... yes just send it. I remembered to take it but then got distracted and forgot to send it out. So here's the Friday Photo for last week.

Since I have a whole blog page, here's a few more from that photo session :)

Typical Eli here...

Plus, I had to add a few pictures of Eli outside helping Nico with the landscaping.

I LOVE the outfit he picked out to wear... classic!!

Cousins

2009-07-23T21:37:00.007-04:00

Just have a quick post with 2 GREAT pictures!!

This is a typical picture of Keenan and Eli.

I am SO THANKFUL for the WONDERFUL relationship these 2 have. Keenan is AWESOME with Eli... He puts up with Eli saying his name 47 times in a row... how many other 5 year olds can do that. He often lets Eli beat up on him, go first in line, and give up the toy he's playing with so Eli can play with it... how many other 5 year olds do that either?

I look forward to watching these 2 get older AND throw Zeb in the mix... WOW, what fun!! Carroll High School is going to be lucky to get these cousins!! :)

Visit with our Upland Friends

2009-07-23T21:19:00.004-04:00

It was a busy Wednesday for us!! After we came home from 3 Rivers and took a nap, we were off again... to Upland. Once a year, we head to the Slater's house for some play time for the kids and catching up for the parents. And of course... Ivanhoes!!
Aeyden and Eli are about a year and a 1/2 apart. Braelyn and Zeb are about 4 months apart...needless to say, perfect ages for them to play together (Not that Zeb and Braelyn did a lot of playing, mostly just laying by each other :)

While we are there, we always have to take a few of the same pictures each year...
Here are the boys:
Don't ask me what's up with Nico and the pirate hat.

The moms and kids:

I love how Braelyn is just staring a Zeb in this picture... cracks me up!!

We laughed about the past... the first time I met Abe and Gwyn...on their wedding day... the same day I met all the "Ball State Friends."

We laughed about the future...Nico and Abe honestly believing Eli and Aeyden will both go to Ball State and live in houses close to each other. AND that the dad's will come visit often to show them how to have a good time!! :)

Every time we drive home Nico and I always say, "Why do we only do this once a year?" So Slater family, our goal this year is to do again... before next July!! :)

Love you guys!!

3 Rivers Festival

2009-07-23T20:39:00.007-04:00

I know I've shared it before, but when Kenny and I were little, we always went downtown for lunch with my Dad during the 3 Rivers Festival. Even though we now have kids, it's still a tradition. So we met Kenny and his crew and my dad down there for food and fun. We went down a bit early, so we had some time to visit the Old Fort. Nico and I swapped stories of being little and spending the night in the Fort while Eli explored.

Nico also took some GREAT pictures of Eli climbing a tree. Here's two:

Zeb pretty much slept the whole time, but Nico felt bad that Zeb couldn't be in any of the pics, so he took a few of him in the stroller.

Then we headed to the rides. Grandma had given each of the kids money to go on the rides. (No way mom and dad were paying that much for those rides...leave it to Grandma)

They had a blast... once the generators kicked on and the rides started working :(

Food time was next. While I'm sure we all spent a fortune on lunch, it was worth it. Fried foods galore!! We all left with grease filled tummies...and loved being together just as much!!

Catching Up

2009-07-12T21:33:00.012-04:00

So while I was on a blog sabbatical, we had TONS of events happen in our lives!! But I did want to share 2 of the major ones... One couldn't have happened without the other!! :)

EVENT #1:

Nico and Abby's 5 Year Anniversary

On July 3rd, Nico and I celebrated our 5 year wedding anniversary. Thought you might enjoy a quick look back at us...

Look at how young we look!! (This is when I first met Nico's mom and dad and extended family... which was like at date 3. Don't worry, met the brothers on date 1. :) :)

Who's that HOT couple...When we ask Eli who's in this picture he always says "Mommy" but then the other person changes, sometimes it's "Uncle Andy" and sometimes "Uncle Jason" He doesn't remember what Nico looks like with hair :)

We had a WONDERFUL anniversary at home... the FOUR of us. (see event #2. Also see event #2 for why we are looking a little warn-out :)We ordered in food and then watched our wedding video (that was the first time I had ever seen it) It was GREAT to watch it with Eli because he picked out all the people he knew. Only problem was he couldn't figure out where HE was. He finally decided he was sitting with everyone else in the pews. It was too cute!!

I know I said this would be quick, but I do have to give my husband some love... As I told him on our anniversary (I probably should tell him more than just on our anniversary :) I am a BLESSED woman to have him as my husband. He's the one who balances me out, calms me down, picks me up, and levels me out. Not only does he do all of that for me, he's a PHENOMENAL dad. He loves our 2 boys like no other. He's fiercely protective, over the top silly, and super loving to them and me. Plus... isn't he a hottie!! Boy oh boy did God know what He was doing when He put us together. THANK YOU LORD!! :)

EVENT #2

Birth of Zeb Joseph

See what I mean about event #1 had to happen so event #2 could? :)

Like Eli (when he was a baby :), Zeb did a great job of listening to directions. My instructions for him were NOT to come until after school got out. (sound familiar, same thing with Eli... boy do I know how to plan my babies :) Well, 2 days after school ended, we went to the hospital and a day later... WELCOME ZEB!!

He's a GREAT baby... he eats and sleeps well and at this age, that's about it!!

Eli loves him like no other. He constantly wants to kiss and hug him.

We are so blessed to have both boys in our lives. We look forward to seeing them continue to grow and to watch their own relationship grow. THANK YOU LORD!!

The New and Improved Blog

2009-07-10T22:48:00.002-04:00

With the addition of Zeb to our family, I thought it might be time to update the blog a bit. So I did a bit of playing around and here's what I created. Hope you like it!!

I'm going to try and do a better job of keeping this updated!! :)

What's a post without a picture, so here you go... My THREE Boys!! :)

Baba's and Andy's Birthday

2009-02-14T19:45:00.004-05:00

On Sunday, we celebrated more February birthdays... Donna and Andy. We all went out to dinner then back to Jason & Sahsha's for presents, cake and ice cream. Eli LOVES giving his gifts... and helping open them!!

Happy Birthday Baba!! Happy Upcoming Birthday Andy!! We love you!!

It's gonna be a...

2009-02-14T19:39:00.003-05:00

BOY!!

We had our ultrasound on Monday of this week and found out we are having another boy. Nico is SUPER excited and I am too!! We have the clothes, the toys, all the boy needs!! :) Now Eli will have a guy friend, a rough and tumble playmate, a partner in crime, and even a team mate later on in life. I look forward to watching my 2 boys grow up together and be BEST of FRIENDS!!

I'll try and get one of the ultrasound pictures up here soon... not that you can usually even tell it's a baby!! :)

All Caught Up :)

2009-01-28T20:15:00.004-05:00

So I know I left out quite a few pictures we've taken over the past 4 months, but I'd be SO OVERWHELMED if I tried to put them all up.

So here's something that happened in the last weekend!!

We took Eli to the Shrine Circus. The circus was SO MUCH FUN!!! He was WONDERFUL!! Everything was "Oh Mommy look" or "Daddy elephants" He sat thru the whole thing... 3 hrs!! We were shocked. They did have a 15 min intermission where Nico and Eli walked around, so that was good. Nico also bought him a light up spinning toy, so when things got a bit old sitting. He's play with that.

The dang toy cost like $12.00. I was SHOCKED that Nico spent the money. He said, "when we went to the circus when I was little, mom and tot NEVER let us get one and they were so cool, so I want Eli to have one." It was so cute and Eli LOVED it!

It didn't get over until 8:30 and so the WHOLE WAY home, and even putting him to bed Eli did nothing but talk about the circus. Even laying in bed he was talking to himself about it. Then Monday morning when he got up he was talking about it, when I left him at Kim's Monday morning he was telling Kim and Brenna all about it... so needless to say he LOVED IT!! I'm SO GLAD we went!! It was a WONDERFUL family time for all of us!!

Christmas X5

2009-01-28T19:45:00.008-05:00

We SO looked forward to this Christmas because Eli would "get" it. And he did... between Santa Clause (which he HATED) and Baby Jesus (which he LOVED) our Christmas was FULL OF FUN!! Between our familes we had 5 Christmas:

Baba Mila

Tigulis Family

Christmas Morning just the 3 of us

Hendricks Family

Extended Hendricks Family

So here are some pics from all 5:

Baba Mila's

Tigulis Family

Christmas Morning

Hendricks Family

Extended Hendricks Family

Our Baby Turns 2

2009-01-28T19:24:00.011-05:00

So I guess that means he's not a baby anymore!! :( As I think back of all the stages he's gone through, I can honestly say they just keep getting better. Not that I didn't love the newborn stage or the crawling stage but each time something better kept coming up. I never thought it could get better, but it did.

And now as a 2 year old... he is his own little person with his likes, dislikes, habits (good and bad) sense of humor, sense of right and wrong, love for so many people in his little life, and just his "Eli-ness"... that his dad and I just absolutely love!! We are so blessed with our little chatter box son, who tells us often "Love You" We couldn't ask for anything more.

We celebrated his birthday on the Sunday before the actual day so we could have our family and friends with us. :) I let him choose what kind of cake he wanted and he chose Diego. So I made him a Diego cake. I have to say, this being the first cake like this I made, I was pretty happy with my creation.

Note: I really did make Diego with 2 eyes, but Eli got into the cake before we could take a picture. So this is the best we got. He had a GREAT time playing with friends and family, opening presents, but HATED the singing of Happy Birthday. We think he was just so overwhelmed with all those people singing to him and focusing on him that got nervous and started crying.

Nico and I got him a small fish bowl and some "fishies" Here are all the kids looking at the fish!

We did want to make sure that he got something on his actual birthday, so for lunch on the 24th we had a family lunch together and let him open a final birthday present. His very first Etch A Sketch. He LOVED IT!!

Between his birthday party and our little family lunch, we celebrated our little man's birthday and his future and all it will hold!! Love you Eli!!

Halloween

2009-01-28T19:19:00.006-05:00

So in our house Halloween ensued an argument... about Eli's costume. I wanted him in something cute, I mean he is only 2, but his dad wanted him in a super hero costume. So we compromised... and did both. :) I had found a cow costume that I loved and had bought. I couldn't find a Super Hero costume small enough... Aunt Nana and MawMaw to the rescue... they found BOTH Spiderman AND Batman

When we took Eli to the zoo and it was chilly, he wore the warm cow costume. Then for costume day at gymnastics he wore Spiderman. On actually Halloween I let him choose, hoping it would be the cow, but Batman won out. So here's Eli in his THREE Halloween costumes.

Jason & Sahsha's Wedding

2009-01-28T15:55:00.011-05:00

On, Sat. October 4th the Tigulis' family was LUCKY to welcome in another member... Sahsha. We are so blessed to have her in our family. She brings humor, happiness, and a whole lot of love to not only Jason but to all of us.

It was a busy day in our house, being that all 3 of us were in the wedding!! But oh what a day it was!!

Here's the boys:

The girls:

What a BEAUTIFUL wedding party, if I do say so myself!! :)

Eli and Ava (Sahsha's niece who's 6 weeks younger than Eli) were the ring bearer and flower girl. We didn't know how it would work out, but with some brainstorming at the Rehearsal, we figured out a way to get them both down the aisle... with their parents:

Eli was the ONLY boy who got to see Aunt Sahsha before the ceremony, lucky him!! They got some AWESOME pictures taken together!!

And this one just makes my heart melt...

The ceremony was a good mix of both Jason and Sahsha. Here's a pic of them saying their vows.

Of course, after the ceremony was picture time. While I am a bit biased, I think this one stole the show...

Sorry, Jason and Sahsha it's taken me 4 months to finally blog about your WONDERFUL day!! Thanks so much for letting all of us be a part of it... it's a day we too will never forget!!

Love you both!!

Been A LONG Time...

2009-01-28T15:48:00.003-05:00

I'm embarrassed to say it's been almost 4 months since I've posted a DARN thing on this page. And trust me it's not like we've not had lots going on in our lives:
-Jason & Sahsha's wedding
-Halloween
-Eli's 2nd Birthday
-MANY Christmas'
Just to name a few.

So because those events are pretty important in our lives, my plan it to post about those, so I'll be caught up AND THEN continue from there... hopefully once a week. :)

But what would a post be without a picture, I'll give you one from today... AKA Snow Day in our house!! :) Enjoy!!

A First...

2008-09-21T15:30:00.003-04:00

So in Eli's short life almost 21 months, he's only ever had family member's babysit him. Now that doesn't include Kim... who is practically family since these days she sees Eli more than Nico and I do.

In other words, we've never had a kid babysit Eli. Well... Saturday was a first. Nico had an out of town wedding and I was invited to a Birthday party for the girlfriend of one of the football coaches. It was only for 2 hours and he was going to be sleeping the whole time. So we figured, why not just have a kid come sit at our house and watch TV and be here just in case.

Friday night I asked Kacie if she'd do it. I had her in class (she's a freshman now) and she played volleyball for me. She lives just like 2 streets away... it worked out perfect.

She laughed, but I told her I had to take her picture and it would be on the blog because this was a monumental event in Eli's life (even if he slept right through it, which he did)

Thanks Kacie for letting me be a crazy mom!! Next time, we'll see if we can't have him still be awake!! :)

Homecoming

2008-09-21T15:22:00.002-04:00

I'm disappointed in myself for my LACK of Homecoming pictures, so I'm just apologizing now. The football is always brought in by skydivers and this year was no exception. I wish I would have taken a picture of Eli's face when he was watching, he was in sheer amazement. It was awesome. Unfortunately, the game was not so great. But here's a fun picture of Eli, Cora and Keenan.

Near the end of the game, not too many people were left (tells you about the game too :( So no one was around to snap our picture. So here's Eli and my self portrait.

Eli made it the whole game, thanks to some popcorn and a balloon by the queen candidates. So he got a chance to see his daddy.

Better luck next week vs Bellmont!! :)

Jessica's Wedding

2008-09-21T15:12:00.005-04:00

Jessica is a family friend of the Tigulis'. They grew up next door to each other and was like the little sister the boys never had. She got married the beginning of September in Indy (she lives in Colorado now) so we made the trek down for the big day. Here's the beautiful bride.

It was at the Indiana Historical Society, so I was in Heaven... I think I tried every door possible, but they were all locked. :( It was an elegant affair which was a bit tricky with a 20 month old, but we made it work. Here's Eli with Baba and Dedo.

A little family shot... yes I did plan our outfits :) Silly I know, but I only do it for special events :)

My 2 boys walking down the stairs...

The LOVES of my life... don't you just love that picture... just ignore the milk dripping down Eli's chin :) :)

Aunt Sahsha's Birthday

2008-09-21T14:56:00.003-04:00

Sahsha's Birthday was Sept 11th, but because of busy schedules we didn't celebrate it until the 12th. We went to O'Charlies (where kids eat free... score :) for dinner then back to our house for some cake and ice cream!!
Eli was STARVING, so needless to say he wasn't the most pleasant child... put it to you this way both is uncles were thinking about not having children after his tirade :) Once he got some food in him though, he was great. He loved his Mac and Cheese.... can you tell???

Aunt Sahsha got lots of gift cards to go shopping with and the "mandatory" present from Eli. Eli had to help her open the present from him.

We had her favorite yellow cake and chocolate icing and I even bought fresh ice cream so the Tigulis' boys wouldn't holler about freezer burn ice cream. :) :) Eli was in heaven, he just went from aunt to uncle to mommy to dedo for cake and ice cream. He probably had total 2 pieces of cake and a whole bowl of ice cream... but it was a special day, Aunt Sahsha's Birthday!!

Hope you had a WONDERFUL BIRTHDAY!!

WE LOVE YOU!!

Bye Bye Amboy!!

2008-08-30T23:44:00.007-04:00

Today we drove to Amboy for the last times... Andy and Andrea sold their house and are moving. Now where they are moving to is still to be determined!! :) They know it will be somewhere on the North side of Indy, but are still looking at houses. But they have to be out of their house by Friday, so we went down Sunday to help move.

We debated bringing Eli... when you bring him, someones got to watch him and therefore that person doesn't help in the moving all that much. But since they had lots of people there and almost everyone was there including Patty and Patrick we took Eli with us!!

We are so happy for Andy and Andrea and can't wait until they find a new house... Eli hopes it has a play set!! :) Love you guys!!

Family Time

2008-08-30T23:29:00.007-04:00

Since we've been crazy busy, we thought it would be good to spend some quality family time together this long weekend. We went to one of Eli's favorite places... The Zoo!! Doesn't he look so grown up in that picture above?

Since we were with Daddy, we went on his favorite ride, the Australian Log Ride.

Here's what they were looking at...

Here's Eli and mommy on the Log Ride...

and in the play train...

Eli LOVES this Tree House. He now even knows where it is in the Rainforest Area and begs to get out of his stroller as soon as we pass the Tigers :)

Carroll vs Marion

2008-08-30T23:12:00.006-04:00

The first home football game was Friday night vs Marion. Got to admit that I was a bit nervous... not so much for the game, but how I was going to keep a 20 month old in the bleachers for an entire game. Oh how my life had changed... there was a point in my life when I was nervous for the game!! :) :)

Thank goodness for fruit snacks, popcorn and the band. Yes, I did say the band. Our kid LOVES the band.

He was just mesmerized!!

Here's more pictures of Eli during the half time show...

He WAS NOT mesmerized by Charlie the Charger... didn't know about him!!

Luckily Keenan and Amanda were with us too. Keenan entertained Eli too!! Here they are trying to get a picture together... yeah right!! :)

Then we busted into the popcorn.

That held us for most of the rest of the game. We did have to take a little leg stretching between the 3rd and 4th quarter. But he held on for the whole game. I was so proud of him!!

Here's a GREAT picture Uncle Jason took of Eli and his daddy!!

Oh and by the way... Carroll won 21-7.

GO CHARGERS!!!

Hurricane Gustav

2008-08-30T23:00:00.002-04:00

I'm sure you're all aware of Hurricane Gustav. They are predicting this Level 4 Hurricane is going to hit the Gulf Coast (including New Orleans and Texas) sometime early Tuesday. I'm asking that we all pray for people in those areas, especially those in New Orleans. It's only been 3 years since Katrina... I can't even imagine.

Hurricane Gustav is also "hitting" us closer to home too. My brother left on Thursday with a team of paramedics from Fort Wayne and Evansville heading to San Antonino. They were driving straight through and as of Saturday morning they were 300 miles outside of San Antonio. The plan is to have many extra health care workers in these areas (a bunch were sent to New Orleans too) so if Gustav does ends up being a major natural disaster people with the training and the know how to help are right there ready to go to help the people who need it.

So please, take a few seconds to send up a prayer for all those all around the world (including our military men and women and those in New Orleans and San Antonio) who have given up the comforts of their homes to help people they don't even know.

Kenny- we are so proud of you and are praying for your safety. Love you lots!!

And then School Started...

2008-08-30T22:52:00.003-04:00

Actually school started the week between Sahsha's Bachelorett Party and Jason's Bachelor Party, so it was a little nutso around here. :)

But until this weekend we had no pictures from the middle of the month until now... we had no time for pictures, we were just trying to survive with school, football, volleyball, djing, finishing the basement, church, families and everything else. I think we're getting better now... we have a schedule (usually) so that helps. We make our lives as crazy as they are, so I shouldn't complain. :) We are lucky to have all the craziness we have!! We wouldn't know what to do if it was any different!! :)

Plus we have this to come home to every night... SO WORTH IT!!

Party Time for the Upcoming Bride and Groom

2008-08-30T22:36:00.004-04:00

The Bachelorette Party was the evening after the Tigulis' Family shower, while the Bachelor Party was the next weekend. In what has become a tradition, the Bachelor Party was at our house. It followed the BSU Fantasy Football League Draft. So we had plenty of guys here for some quality fantasy football drafting, corn hole playing, beer drinking, and bachelor party celebrating.

But that's not to say the girls didn't have a good time of their own....

We had dinner at the Trolley Bar

with lots of fun martini's,

then off to Rum Runners.

We ended the night downtown at Flashbacks, sweating our booties off dancing the night away!!

At both parties a good time was had by all!!

Tigulis Shower

2008-08-30T22:24:00.005-04:00

The next weekend, we threw Sahsha the Tigulis Family (AKA Macedonian shower) She was a little nervous, but she did a GREAT JOB!! She met lots of new people and again, got lots of GREAT gifts.

Here she is with her mother-in-law and her mom...

Here the Tigulis wives...

And because I'm just so proud of the center pieces Andrea and I created (with the wonderful help of Laurie) I'm going to be vain and post a picture of them. Forgive me, but I think they turned out so well, I'm just going to "toot our own horns" here!! :)

Tigulis Boys

2008-08-30T22:21:00.003-04:00

Just too good of pictures of the Tigulis Boys not to post...

Boy these guys LOVE Eli!!

CHS Volleyball Party

2008-08-30T22:04:00.004-04:00

August 2nd was VERY busy for us... just check out the last 2 posts :) We started off the morning with the Huntertown Heritage Days Parade, then I had Sahsha's shower, then we had a Carroll Volleyball coaches dinner. While I'm no longer coaching at the High School, they never hold that against us and ALWAYS invite us to be a part... which makes me so happy!! I am so blessed that God put these people in our lives. What started out as a random job interview at Don Pablo's (I still remember that guys:) has turned into a WONDERFUL friendship!!

Now lots of us have kids... Pandy has Andrew and Bailey. Here's Andrew sharing a ball with Eli. Andrew is an awesome kid! At these get togethers, he's always the oldest, but does such a GREAT job of playing with the little ones!!

Doug and Nicole have Gabrielle... who I can't believe will be one in a few months. How cute is she!!!

And we have Eli... who LOVED Doug and Nicole's swing set

Here's Nicole trying to play bubbles with Eli... but he kept sucking in rather than blowing out. We got quite a few laughs out of that!! :)

The High School Volleyball season has already started and Carroll just had a HUGE win over Snider (that's always a big win!! :) :) Not only are these good people, they are outstanding coaches!! Keep up the good work!! Good luck this season!!

Spangler Shower

2008-08-30T21:51:00.003-04:00

August was CRAZY busy with pre-wedding fun!! We had the Spangler Bridal Shower, the Tigulis Bridal Shower, Sahsha's Bachelorette Party and Jason's Bachelor party... WOW!!

We started off with Sahsha's side, the Spanglers, throwing the shower. It was good food and good fun... and Sahsha got LOTS of good stuff!!

Andrea and I went together and got her stuff for her guest bathroom... we really liked it and wanted to keep it!! :)

See the woman in the red on the right side of the picture? That's Sahsha's good friend Brooke who's in the wedding. What's the big deal you might ask... She lives in FLORIDA!!! She COMPLETELY surprised Sahsha by showing up for the shower!! It was AWESOME!!! We were all crying when we found out who it was... WAY TO PULL IT OFF BROOKE!!

This is an afghan that Sahsha's late grandma made. Jacque saved it for this shower... again, not a dry eye in the house!!

Here are the sisters with the sister-in-laws!! :)

Huntertown Heritage Day Parade

2008-08-30T21:43:00.004-04:00

You all know my mom LOVES parades big or small, so of course we were at the Huntertown Heritage Day Parade. This parade qualifies as the small parade, that's for sure, but the kids still loved it.

The Grand Marshall of the Parade was Phil Ginder. He is the "main man" of the Huntertown Ball Diamonds. He is over there EVERY NIGHT from beginning to end working TIRELESSLY at helping kids have GREAT experiences playing ball. He SO DESERVED it!! And in a typical Phil Ginder move, he asked any kid who played at the ball diamonds this summer to walk with him in the parade.... that's just the type of guy he is!! :)

So here's Cora (on the far right) walking with Phil!! :)

The Etter family came too, so Eli got LOTS of loving from Keenan, Nick and Ella... He loved it!!

Dinner with the Ankenbrucks

2008-08-30T21:32:00.004-04:00

With busy schedules, getting together with friends sometimes is difficult and it took a little shuffling of plans, but we were able to go to the Ankenbrucks for some dinner and play time... for both the little boys (they have TONS of fun toys) and the big boys (mock draft)

Johnnie and Eli right away hit it off. They played and played and played... you get the point. We played outside, in the living room, in the basement, in his room. Eli LOVED this horse and how great is it that they have a cowboy hat to go with it!!

As we got ready to leave it was night night time for both boys so with pj's on they decided to read some books together... one of my favorites!!!

Fun Spot Park

2008-08-30T21:19:00.005-04:00

So it's a tradition in the Hendricks family that before we all go back to school, we take a family trip to Fun Spot. It's ok to laugh... we do, but we all have a great time. This year, Eli could actually ride some rides and he LOVED IT!!! Don't know what he loved more, the rides or being on the rides with Cora and Keenan.

Here's Eli and MawMaw on the Merry-Go-Round...

Then Nico, Eli, and I rode the Farris Wheel (thanks to a very generous Fun Spot worker who let Eli who was too short by an inch, let him go on) I was more freaked out on it than Eli was!! :)

They had big people rides too, so Kenny, Nico and I rode some of those. I let the boys ride together...

As always, its so nice we are able to spend time with the entire family. WE LOVE YOU GUYS!!!

It's been too long...

2008-08-30T21:11:00.005-04:00

since I've actually posted anything. Can you tell school's started??!! :) So now I've got to catch everyone up on the month of August. When I look back, I feel like August has been the LONGEST month ever!!! I am SO ready to move on to September.

So here's what's coming up, starting with the beginning of August to today!!
Fun Spot Park
Dinner with the Ankenbrucks
Huntertown Heritage Days Parade
Sahsha's Spangler Shower
Sahsha's Tigulis Shower
High School Volleyball Coaches Party
Tigulis Boys
Bachelorette Party (I promise.... they are all family friendly :)
Bachelor Party (again, family friendly)
Carroll vs Marion
Labor Day Trip to the Zoo

Phew.... I better get on it!!
But what would a post be without a picture. So here's us at the zoo today!!

Unofficially the Last Week of Summer

2008-07-30T12:34:00.003-04:00

We really don't start school until Aug 14th (which is still ENTIRELY TOO EARLY if you ask me) so technically we have like 2 and 1/2 more weeks of summer left. But Nico starts 2-a-days on Monday, so basically our summer is over when those start!! :)

So we thought we'd take a family trip to the zoo. We went early enough so there was very few people and it wasn't too hot. I love to watch Eli and the zoo. He's gets the biggest kick of out of the littlest things... the birds on the path, the ducks in the water, and he LOVES to just watch the little kids around him (I'm turning him into a people watcher like his mom! :)

I also love to watch Eli and Nico together... it's my favorite type of people watching!! :) They are just 2 peas in a pod!! :)

This one is one of my new favorites!! :)

Tomorrow we all are going with my family to Fun Spot Park... should be lots of fun. Don't worry, I'll take lots of pictures!! :)

Keenan's Birthday

2008-07-28T13:39:00.007-04:00

Before I talk about how great Keenan's birthday was, just have to comment about how much I LOVE this picture of Keenan. Just in case that AWESOME Batman cake is getting in the way of you fully appreciating his smile here you go:

That smile... LOVE HIM, LOVE HIM, LOVE HIM!!
Ok, back to the party...This weekend, Keenan turned 4. In some ways I can't believe he's only 4, it seems like forever ago when Amanda VERY pregnant at our wedding, and have you ever talked to him... you'd never believe he just turned 4. But then in so many ways I can't believe he's already 4... he's grown up so quickly. He's already talking about going to Kindergarten. :)
He had a Batman themed party. Batman decorations, Batman cake, and lots of Batman gifts...It was great!!

While all the kids LOVED all his gifts, one of his non-Batman gifts was a big hit.

Here's some pictures of the kids playing with it. Even Eli got in on the fun!!

Not a surprise to anyone that I tried to teach him swing the right way :) :)

And not surprising at all, he hit it when he did it all on his own!! :)

Keenan, we hope you had a WONDERFUL 4th birthday. Know that your Aunt Abby, Uncle Nico and Eli love you VERY MUCH and can't wait to see you grow up into an AWESOME big boy!! :) LOVE YOU!!

Welcome to the Neighborhood!!

2008-07-28T13:27:00.003-04:00

This weekend Jason and Sahsha closed and moved into a new house. It is BEAUTIFUL!! And if that's not enough good news... their subdivision is attached to ours... how LUCKY are they!! :)

If I was a good sister-in-law I'd have lots of pictures of the house instead of Jason opening the champagne and our families just toasting to the new house... sorry guys!! :)

After lots of packing, hauling, unpacking, and lots of sweating, their house is looking like a home. We can't wait for it to keep filling up with all the cool shower and wedding presents. But we REALLY can't wait for it to fill up with cousins for Eli and Ava!! :)

Love you 2 and are SO HAPPY for you both!!

Lunch with Heather

2008-07-28T10:59:00.003-04:00

Heather and I used to work together and we try and meet up to catch up. But it had been a LONG time since we'd seen each other, so we had LOTS to talk about... and we had Eli with us... talk about a challenge.

No but really, he didn't do too bad, considering we had like a 2 hr lunch!! :)

Here are Eli and Heather together:

We just love Heather to death!! She is one of the most genuine people I know. She's such a caring person with a HUGE giving heart, she's just a joy to be around... I only wish it could be more!! :)

Lots of love to you... until next time!! :) :)

Little Big Town

2008-07-25T23:02:00.006-04:00

A few weeks back one of Nico's football coaches was talking about Little Big Town coming to the Elkart County Fair for free. Him and I talked about what a good concert that would be. THEN he was nice enough to invite Nico and I to go with him. :) :) This was Nico's 2nd concert ever... the first being "The Oakridge Boys" :) :)

Here are the boys before the concert.

Clint's sister was nice enough to go early and get us FANTASTIC seats. Thank you,Thank you, Thank you!!

Nico said he only knew 1 song they sang "Boondocks" It turned out he knew more that one, but he was waiting, and waiting, and waiting for that one. We tried to tell him it would be last, but he didn't believe it, until it was the last song. Nico was the first one standing!! :) Here's some video of it. You can here Nico telling Clint to get up!! :)

Then this is my favorite part of the song!!

HANG WITH ME, STILL WORKING ON THE VIDEO PART!!

It was a GREAT night!! Thanks Clint for inviting us!!

Jackson MI Cascades

2008-07-25T22:20:00.008-04:00

This summer, we've been doing a lot of things that we did "when we were kids"... the parade, junkfood alley, fireworks, lake, and now Jackson Michigan Cascades. When I was little my Grandma and Grandpa Jones took me (this was pre-Kenny) to Jackson MI to see the Cascades. You might be asking.... "What are these Cascades?" Short definition: a man-made waterfall with big fountains in the middle and mood lighting. But when you are 4, it's like the coolest thing ever... or at least it was to me. :)

So we made the trek up there with all the kids. Nico and I were lucky enough to have all 3 kids in our jeep on the way up... but seriously, they did great!!

Now remember it's been like 27 years since any of us had be up there, but we thought we'd try it. Mom found a program called "Christmas in July" so they were singing Christmas songs and Santa, the Grinch, and lots of other "Christmasy" character were there.

We got there right at 7:30 when the program was to start. It ended up that the Pre-dark program was one man singing Christmas songs, lounge style. So we had some time (under statement of the century... like 2 hrs) to kill. Luckily there are stairs leading up to the top and some HUGE hills to play on.

and some HUGE hills to play on. The Cora, Keenan and I rolled down the hills while Eli tried to run down them with Uncle Kenny.

So between that and about 6 trips to the concession stand,

We made it. It was worth the wait!! :) But the kids were tired by the time the lights came on, so we only stayed for a bit... but it was enough.

We stayed in a hotel with a pool, so the kids did some swimming before we left and the next day. They had a ball!! :)

It had been a long time (since the lake) that we had all been together, so it was nice to spend time together. The kids have a great time together, but so do the adults!! :) I know lots of people whose family is so far away that they don't get to spend much time with their own nieces, nephews, brother's and sisters. We are very blessed that they all are close and we get to spend lots of time together!!

TRF Junkfood Alley

2008-07-25T22:09:00.003-04:00

When I was little, my dad used to, every year, take Kenny and I down to junkfood alley for lunch. We even went when I was in college... I was never too old!! :)
So this year, I thought we'd carry on the tradition with Eli. So downtown we went... Me, Dad, and Eli.

We had hot dogs, curly fries, lemonade shake ups, and Eli's favorite, an elephant ear!! More importantly, it was some GREAT quality time with me, Dad, Eli.

Funny story... not really related to Junkfood alley, but to my dad. Today when I was changing Eli's diaper his window's were open. We heard a "rumbling" outside. He pointed and his mouth went in that cute little circle like it does when he hears something loud. And the next words out of his mouth were "PawPaw, PawPaw" And he was RIGHT!!! It was dad on his motorcycle pulling into the driveway. It's amazing how quickly kids can pick up on things... especially when it involves people they truly LOVE!!

3 Rivers Festival Parade

2008-07-13T23:33:00.005-04:00

My mom is a HUGE Parade fan. She's been going to the TRF Parade for years... even when we were old and she didn't have any grandkids... we still went. But now that she does have some little ones... watch out!!

I think she has found a Parade Partner for life... Eli!! He loved it. But think about it... this is the kid who loves to say hi to EVERYONE as they walk by at Wal-Mart and waves to TONS of random people from the car. Parades are right up his alley!!

I got him one of those small American Flags from the disabled veterans. So between the flag and his hand he was a WAVING FOOL... sometimes waving both!! :)

Plus it was a good time with Uncle Kenny, Aunt Amanda, Mawmaw and Keenan.

See his flag??!!

We even made the Newspaper. Now before you think it's a HUGE deal, we are just some of the background people of Mitch Daniels and the Patriot Guard as the Grand Marshall's. Here's a link to see if you can see us!! :) You have to click on the 2nd picture to enlarge it to see us!!
http://www.journalgazette.net/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080713/LOCAL/807130406

Naperville Play Date

2008-07-13T23:10:00.005-04:00

You may think that's a heck of a drive for a play date but it was SO worth it!! I met Abbi and Griff at Andy and Andrea's wedding. Abbi is one of Andrea's BEST friends from High School. It's so cool to see how close they still are!! You would never know they don't see each other very often (but that will get better now that Abbi, Ryan and Griff live outside Naperville... before they lived in Nebraska!!)

But back to the wedding...we hit it off immediately. She was a teacher, had a son a few months younger than Eli, but more importantly, she was just the SWEETEST THING ever!! While I was only with her those 2 days of the wedding, I felt like I had made a friend for life. We still keep in touch by e-mail and blogging. She's got a blog too: http://ourlaughterandnoise.blogspot.com/ It's GREAT!! She does an awesome job of describing being a mom to a little boy. She says she looks at this blog to see what fun stuff Griff will do next!! :) Yea for blogs!! :)

Ok enough background, to the pictures!! While we were exited to see each other, we were MORE excited to have the boys play... and they DID NOT disappoint!! In looks they are complete opposites of each other as seen here:

Griff is blond curly hair and bright blue eyes and then you have Eli with dark straight hair and the darkest of dark brown eyes. They are ADORABLE together!!

We played most of the afternoon in the playroom.

We did take some time to play with their dog, Maci. You know Eli... he LOVE IT!!

Thank you to Abbi and Griff for having us over. We LOVED our long-distance play date and will FOR SURE have to do it again.

Lots of love, kisses and hugs to you both!!

Visit to Naperville

2008-07-13T22:37:00.011-04:00

Nico was in charge of lifting last week, so we knew he'd be at school most of the week, so we used that as an excuse to go to Naperville to see Andrea's family. The last time we'd seen them was the wedding, so it was LONG over due!!

After a 3 1/2 hr. drive (which Eli did pretty good one, thank goodness for Veggie Tales) we arrived!! We had a nice dinner with the family, played outside, had a fun bath by Aunt Andrea and then it was off to bed.

On Wednesday, Eli, Andrea and I went to one of my FAVORITE stores EVER that we don't have in Indiana. Not just Fort Wayne, but none anywhere in Indiana...

If you've never been to Ikea before, I HIGHLY recommend it. AWESOME Home Decor at CHEAP prices!! And it's HUGE!! Needless to say we spent about 4 hours there. You might wonder, 4 hours in a store with an 18 month?? Are you crazy?? YES, that's how much I LOVE this store!! But seriously, Eli didn't do too bad. He wasn't awesome, but what guy, at any age, wants to shop for home stuff for 4 hours???

Eli deserved some major play time after that trip. So after dinner that night, the whole family and Eli and I went to the playground behind the Elementary School that Andrea and Patrick went to when they were little. Eli played and they told stories.

He went down slides...

That's Joe at the bottom ready to catch him!! :)

Worked on his pull ups...

GREAT picture Aunt Andrea!! :)

Eli LOVED Patrick... they both had someone to play with!! :)

But this one is my favorite!!

Eli WOULD NOT let us keep going unless he could hold Patrick's hand/finger :)

We got home and tried to wind down with some book reading by Patty. I don't know who loved it more... Eli or Patty!! :)

hen Thursday we went to see one of Andrea's oldest and dearest friends that I met at the wedding and LOVED!! She's got a son about 6 months younger than Eli. See the next post for all that fun!!

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you to Patty, Patrick and Joe for letting us INVADE and I do mean invade your home. You made us feel so welcomed and loved. You would have never known we'd only met just a few times. We can not thank you for your hospitality, your spirit, and your genuine love for Eli and I. WE LOVE YOU!!

Eli and his Aunts

2008-07-13T22:25:00.005-04:00

Many times we've talked about how lucky we are for our family because we really are!! :) Eli's Aunts are some of his FAVORITE people!! When you think about it, all of Eli's aunts have married into our 2 families. BOY DID WE GET BLESSED WITH ALL THOSE MARRIAGE!! Not only did all the men in our lives get WONDERFUL wives, Nico and I got GREAT sister-in-laws, and Eli got AWESOME Aunts out of the deal!!

Each of them is so unique and brings so many positive things to the families, most of all LOVE!!

So this is a LOVING shout out to Eli's Aunts.... He loves you all MORE than you could ever know!!

Don't worry uncles, I haven't forgotten you... you'll get your own post one of these day!! You are awesome too and Eli loves you lots too!! :)

July 4th Times 2

2008-07-13T22:08:00.005-04:00

As most of you already know, Andy and Andrea ALWAYS drive to Fort Wayne to see us, so Nico had a the GREAT idea of us going to them for a 4th of July lunch. Eli always loves to go to Uncle Andy and Aunt Andrea's for lots of reasons, but one big on is because of Gracie.

Don't know how much longer they'll be happy to have Eli over, since now he knows how to open her cage and so Gracie is out a WHOLE LOT more than before!! :)

It was nice to spend some time as a family together. Eli got lots of time with his Baba and Uncle Andy and Aunt Andrea!!

Then we packed up and headed home for a nap... not just Eli, all of us!! :)

After our Tigulis family nap, we went to my mom and dad's for a Hendricks 4th of July cookout.

Then we even did fireworks... you'll notice it's still pretty light out, but it we waited until it was dark, Eli would have been FAST ASLEEP. You can tell in the pictures he's pretty tired as it is. He didn't do too bad with the fireworks. He didn't like the "screamers." He hung on to Aunt Amanda tight!!

It was a WONDERFUL 4th of July. It did make me think of all those serving overseas who are protecting our rights and the rights of millions of others to be free. I'm so thankful of the sacrifices they and those that have served before, have made for so many people they don't even know. What a person it takes to do that!! So I just ask, even though the 4th is long gone, continue to keep those soldiers in your thoughts and prayers and when you do have a chance, Say Thanks!! They deserve it!!

TOO CUTE!!

2008-07-13T22:04:00.006-04:00

Ok, since that last post had no pictures of Eli, I better put on a good one to make up for it. This is currently my FAVORITE picture of Eli:

Now you are probably asking yourself, "What is in his hair??" You know those little cheese and cracker packs where you can spread the cheese on the crackers???? I gave him one and then went out to tell Nico that lunch was ready. When I came back in, here's what I found!! :)

TOO DARN CUTE!!!

4 Years

2008-07-13T21:51:00.005-04:00

I know this blog is supposed to be about Eli, but with out our marriage, there would be no Eli, so I just wanted to take a short post to talk about how BLESSED I am to have married Nico. Just last week I was talking to Andrea about before I met Nico I was talking to a girlfriend and we were listing the qualities we wanted in a husband. Mine went something like this:

Caring to others

Loves kids

Would be an OUTSTANDING father

Close relationship with his family

Loves God

Wants to travel

Loves Sports

Not intimidated by my sometimes outspokenness

Be the calming factor is my NUTSO life

I'm know there were lots more, but I won't bore you :)

And the final BONUS quality was: Coaches football

Then low and behold, about a 1 month after that chat, when I was officially DONE looking for a husband, guess who God drops in my lap... NICO!! There is NO OTHER way to put it!! THIS WAS A GOD THING!! :) SERIOUSLY, look at my list and if you don't see Nico in that list you are crazy!! Even a football coach??? YEA GOD!! :)

Nico and I laugh and wonder if we would have met each other sooner in life if we would have dated... I don't know. I kind of think that God had to let us grown on our own into the people that would best suit each other.

All I do know is that I thank God every night for my husband and the WONDERFUL things he brought to my life, especially Eli!!

I love you Nico!!

Happy 4 year Anniversary!!

Dinner with the Slaters

2008-07-13T21:32:00.005-04:00

Way before we had Eli, Nico and I would try and take a trip down to Upland (ha ha) and see Gwen and Abe (then once Aiden came along, him too:)

It was always the same...we'd go to Ivanhoes

A small restaurant with THE MOST (like 200) different shakes and sundae's. THAT WAS A MUST!!

Then we'd go to an Eastbrook Football game.

Abe and Nico met through coaching at West Del in college, so football is a passion for both of them!!

Then once the kids came, it got harder and harder to meet. But Nico and I promised ourselves this summer we'd make a trip down and again, it took until the end of June, but we made it!!

Of course, we ate at Ivanhoes :) Eli had major ice cream so he was LOVING IT. Then we went back to their house. That's when Eli found heaven... a little boy AND a dog to play with!! Eli and Aiden ran themselves ragged, but it was SO DARN CUTE!! :)

It was a WONDERFUL evening!! We are SO GLAD we made it down to see them. They are such caring, down to earth people who we just LOVE!!

And there kid is ADORABLE!!! :)
Thanks Slater Family for letting us come down and hang out!!

Play Date with the Zimmerman

2008-07-13T21:23:00.004-04:00

My best friend from college has 2 awesome little (ok, they aren't so little anymore) girls, Morgan and Anna. It's had been FOREVER since Lisa and I had been together and NEVER since our kids had played, so we were SO EXCITED for our first play date with them!!

The girls were AWESOME with Eli. He LOVED all the attention they gave him. He also loved the train tracks right by their house!! :) Every time a train came by, he'd run across the yard and yell "Choo Choo" It was hilarious

We played outside, inside, upstairs, downstairs, and even had some snacks... I think that might have been Eli's favorite part!! :)

Here Eli could care less about the picture, he just wants the snacks!!

Thanks Morgan and Anna for having Eli over!! We hope soon we can have you over to our house!! Thanks Lisa for being a GREAT friend. Even when we don't see each other for months, it's like we can pick up right where we ended!! I TREASURE our friendship!! Love you!!