Erin

Isn't it funny how life can be sometimes?  I mean just think about why am I here at this place and time, and I'm in this family.  How come I wasn't born during the 1940's and have other people as parents?  I mean it blows my mind.  Which brings me back to Erin.

Erin was a gift given to our family when we thought there were no more gifts to be had.  Katie was 12, and Julie was 10.  We started thinking about longer vacations, high school, colleges (well maybe not college), but the future was coming on.  We were done with baby stuff, and everyone was old enough to be a lot more independent.  That was until that cold February day when I was told "hey you're having another baby"!!!.  I was 39 years old, and just couldn't wrap my head around this knowledge.  Surprise wasn't a strong enough word.  It took me a really long time to finally realize that yes, we were being blessed once again.  After a long, hot summer, our family was finally blessed with Erin.  She arrived three weeks early on a day like any other -- Katie and Julie had homework, the world series was in full swing, it was a gorgeous fall day, I worked that day, and even drove myself to the hospital because Brad was out-of-town.  I remember telling the girls that they should bring their homework with them, because we would be home soon and I would get them dinner.  Well the afternoon turned into evening and evening into late night. 

I remember that seeing her for the first time and noticing that she had cute dimples and big blue eyes.  (Just like her sisters).  She became a very social person from the get go -- meaning that everyone got a chance to hold her after only being a few minutes old.  She captured our hearts that day.  That was in 1996.  Fast forward to 2011.  This past Sunday was her 15th birthday.  The years have literally flown by.  She went from a toddler in pig tails to a grade schooler, to a middle schooler, and now a high schooler. She sings, gets moody, cries, laughs, has many friends, plays piano and sometimes drives us all crazy.  We love her all the more.   It saddens me to think that in three short years, she will move on to her future and life.  How exciting for her.  In addition to her birthday, this past weekend she went to her first high school dance.  Excited doesn't begin to describe her.  She talked about this for weeks, went with Julie to get a dress, spent hours wondering how she was going to fix her hair, but in the end, it seems the dance was everything she hoped for.

Then on Sunday, it was her 15th birthday.  So Erin...  Here's to you -- to a future filled with love, happiness, peace, success and more blessings than you can imagine.  We all love you.

Erin's baptism with Nana and Pa

Recognize these kids? 

Cousins

I spent a weekend in Kansas City to visit family.  While I was there I spent an afternoon with Bryan, Denata and their two kids.  We have had several additions to our family lately, the latest one being Laura's new baby girl, Ashley.  Erin loves to have her pictures taken with her cousins.

Walk in the Park

I've been trying to lose weight.  I will be the first to admit that I am not a fan of the gym.  I don't like exercising in front of people I don't know, and I always feel very self conscious.  I have a lot of problems with my feet hurting, so exercise is not high on my list.  But, lose weight I must so I have started to walk Creve Coeur Park.  The park has been around forever, but several years ago, someone put in a walking, biking, running, rollerblading trail around the lake.  Brad and I have started walking so one night I decided to take some pictures and play with my camera.  I didn't get much walking done, but I had a lot of fun taking pictures of the pretty lake.

I let the pictures speak for themselves.  It was a warm summer night and you could hear the locusts and if you looked really hard, see the deer coming out for an evening meal.  I would much rather walk this than a gym any time. 

Gotta go.  Time for my walk. 

Vacation

This past summer I went on a really fun vacation to Siesta Key, Florida.  It was a genuine beach vacation.  My favorite thing was to walk on the beach every night and sun myself silly during the day.  I spent a lot of time in the water, and after watching Soul Surfer this past weekend, makes me look back on my vacation and think that I was incredibly stupid for going out as far as I did.  But I had a good time.  Katie went with us, and I really really missed Julie and Joe.  I hope they can go with us sometime.  I think they would have fun, too.  We went to the Everglades and got chewed by mosquitoes, ate lots of good food and had yummy ice cream every night.  I played shuffleboard with everyone and generally had a fun time.  I definitely was not ready to come back.
Here are some pictures:

Driving through the Smokies on our way there.

At the Florida border enjoying freshly squeezed oj

Our bedroom in our condo

The kitchen

Living room

Katie and Erin's room

The porch

 Our condo was really nice, but the only thing was the guy upstairs decided he needed a new floor that week so proceeded to bang on our ceiling early in the morning.  Oh well who needs sleep, its just vacation and then you have that beautiful beach.

Katie and Erin on the beach

Pretty Flowers at the Botanical Gardens in Sarasota

Katie listening to herself in a Chinese echo chamber

Sarasota Bay

Katie and Brad at Big Olaf's

Erin at Big Olafs

So that is just a small glimpse of vacation.  See you next year !!!

I'm Baack!!!

Okay, so it's been two months since I've written. Well I've been busy. With what you ask??? Well lets see:

1. Vacation which I took before I went to Joplin,

2. Came back from vacation and went to Joplin then Kansas City,

3. School started (Oh yeah, Erin is in high school)Wow that went fast!!!

4. Got super busy at work, and

5. Church Campout.

Shew. Okay that's where I've been. I'll write about these next