Sunday, October 30, 2011

Happy Birthday MJ!

Our friends The Dickinson's decided to postpone their son's birthday party a couple of weeks in order to make it a Halloween Birthday Bash! They also asked that the adults dress up. With a little help from a co-worker, I snagged these costumes for us.
The kids had an utter blast playing all sorts of games and then just basically running wild.

This costume is a bit sentimental because Seth wore it when he was 2 also.

Happy 6th Birthday MJ! Your party rocked!

Family Art Project

Seth came home with his first family art project and we love projects so we brainstormed, gathered supplies and got started. Seth colored his turkey, then we added family pictures, sequins and feathers. It was really fun to do this as a family.

Ta Da...the final product! Way to go Seth!

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Friends for Life Updated

We haven't been able to get the four kids to sit still like this since before Leah had hair and Lindsey was still a blob. We are thrilled that this picture turned out so good!

Happy 2nd Birthday Lindsey!

Our beautiful god daughter turned 2 this past week and we have no idea where the time went. Lindsey is such a spunky, sassy, smiley and beautiful little girl and we are so proud to call her our god daughter. She is a huge Dora fan, just as Leah is so it was only fitting that she have a Dora themed party this past Sunday. It was super small this year and we really had the opportunity to spend some quality time with our sweet girl.
Miss Kristen had all sort of crafts to keep the little one's out of trouble.

The kids even played pin the tail on Swiper. What a hoot that was.

Happy Birthday dear sweet Lindsey, we love you tons!

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Wacky Pumpkin Heads

Who is wackier...the pumpkins or our kids??
Notice all the face pieces that Leah chose are all purple. It's her favorite color!

TA DA...

Happy Almost Halloween!

Sunday, October 23, 2011

A Reason to Celebrate

Friday night we grabbed our friends and went to a fancy restaurant to celebrate Roland's year milestone. We ate until we burst, laughed and then went to Blood Creek Manor for some thrills! It was the perfect way to celebrate!
Thank you to our wonderful friends (and those there in spirit) for a great evening!

Saturday, October 22, 2011

Milestone

Life is so full of milestones. As individuals we reach milestones all throughout our life and now that we have children we get to relive our youth and see all of their wonderful and momentous milestones as well.

Our family has now reached a milestone we never imagined we would reach. One year ago our lives were turned upside down and we got the shock of a lifetime. The month of October in the year 2010 is such a blur that it is a good thing Roland kept track in a small calendar of the appointments we went to and when. It feels like a lifetime ago, yet it feels like just yesterday that a doctor told us Roland had cancer.

What a wave of emotion we went through. Would the surgery take care of it? Would he have to have further treatments? We lived appointment to appointment wondering and waiting.

Now one year later and with oncologist appointments ever 4 months now we can say that we have reached the 1 year mark and that the surgery was truly a success.

We spent this weekend celebrating with friends and family this momentous milestone. To many more healthy years together.

We can't tell you how blessed and relieved we feel. We know so many others who are and were not this fortunate and we feel like we are truly lucky.

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Sick Beaner

First neb treatment ever. We have been lucky, but our luck wore out. Home with Beaner today and letting her rest up.
Feel better soon Leah! We love you.

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Happy 2nd Birthday Linds

Happy 2nd Birthday to a little girl who is very near and dear to our heart... Lindsey!
I have been with you since your took your very first breath and I will be here for you, all throughout life. I love you tons and tons.

Roland and I are so very proud to call you our god daughter, it is such an amazing honor.

We can't wait to celebrate with you. Love you always Linds.

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Let the Good Times Roll

On the evening of our 9th anniversary Roland got a call from an old friend who is very near and dear to his heart. Roland thought it might be about Pepsi in some way because the two often talk business. No, it was a personal call asking Roland if he would be a groomsman in his wedding. Roland was shocked and thrilled to say yes. Pete was in our wedding 9 years ago so Roland was very excited to accept this request.
Fast forward three months and the two of us had the best time at Pete and Beth's big fat Greek Arab Irish wedding! It was the experience of a lifetime.

It was a small ceremony in the Catholic church in Carthage, but it was anything but ordinary. It was a traditional Greek service. We had never seen or experienced anything like it in our lives.

The ceremony was interesting. The entire wedding party stood for the whole hour, the bride and groom wore symbolic crowns and they had to circle the altar three times as a Greek tradition. It was quite an experience.

In the end they were smiling from ear to ear as they introduced Mr. & Mrs. Peter Levos.

Roland's partner in crime was a kindergarten teacher from Carthage and she was a blast in a glass. What a great girl.

The entire wedding party was tons of fun and welcomed me with open arms.

We never thought this day would come, but we are thrilled for Pete.

CHEERS

Let the drunk pics begin...

This was the Greek priest, what a trip he was.

He isn't letting life pass him by. He told me he is in his 70s and runs seven miles a day.

Congrats Pete and Beth and thank you for letting us share this very special day. It was amazing.

Columbus Day (a bit late)

Every Columbus Day we try and go to Old McDonald's Farm. This year we weren't sure if we should while potty training Leah, but we took the plunge and she did fantastic. No accidents, but lots of trips to the potty. It was a beautiful day with the sun shining and there were tons of people who had the same idea we had. We got there early fortunately and left before the mad chaos started.
This was also the very first time in five years that Roland was able to join us.

We brought Grandma too because it is our tradition!

The kids LOVED feeding the animals and were amazed. We go twice a year and it never seems to get old thank goodness.

The reindeer are one of my favorite parts so we had some fun with their antlers this time.

Goofy girl

Goofier Daddy

Seth got a chance to brush this beautiful horse.

We also ran into our buddies The Voss', so we took the opportunity for a quick group picture.


I love going to OMF in the fall mainly to walk through the corn maze. It is a favorite of mine in the fall by far.

Lastly, we picked out our pumpkins.


Such a great fall day...