3 Rivers Festival Parade

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

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

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

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

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!!

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

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

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

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!!

Zoo with Birk Girls

At the end of school, G and I promised that we'd get the kiddos together at least once. It took us until the end of June, but we finally did it!!
Eli and the girls LOVE the zoo, so that's where we met!!

We even road the train!! Eli and the girls LOVED the Peacock we saw!!

It was AWESOME to get the kids together!! Can't wait to do it again!!