Camo

Ethan received a new hat for Christmas from his Papa Bob! Is this a sign of what the future holds for him....many cold mornings in the deer stand with his dad, waiting patiently for the perfect buck?

One Half Of A Year

Yesterday, Ethan celebrated his 6 month birthday. It is hard to believe that 6 months ago such a sweet little boy was not a part of our lives. A look back on his first day of life. He was such a small little guy......wanting to be a part of this world so badly. I will never forget his screaming little lungs just seconds after his birth and the first time he was placed into my arms. It is truly one of the most cherished moments of my life.

Ethan continues to amaze us each and every day. His curiosity is contagious and he never wants to miss a minute of anything. My favorite times of the day are when I walk in to his room in the morning and he just stares at me with his large sparkling blue eyes and then gives me a huge toothless grin just after he realizes it is me and when I am feeding him at night and we have that last snuggle of the day. He is such a sweet baby and I would not change one bit of the last 6 months for anything.

Thank you Ethan for making our lives more enjoyable, more, filled with emotion, more intense, more crazy, more wonderful, more blessed, and most importantly, more important. We love you more each day and can't imagine our lives without you.

Merry Christmas

The stockings are down, the presents opened, dinner is in the oven and the joy of Christmas surrounds. I sit here watching Ethan roll back and forth, playing with toys, old and new and I can't help but think of how grateful I am during this holiday season. While it has been quite a crazy year, I would not change a minute of it for anything. I am blessed to be surrounded by a wonderful family, great friends, the best husband in the world and the sweetest little boy. I am thankful to know some truly amazing people who have been tremendous influences in all aspects of my life. We could not have made it through the past year without each one of you and for that we are so grateful. We wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a safe, happy and healthy New Year. We look forward to a fabulous 2009 filled with much joy, happiness and maybe even some unexpected surprises. Love to you all!

Photo courtesy of Nathaniel Edmunds Photography.

Delish

Candy Cane Hershey Kisses are my new obsession, I can't stop eating them. What am I going to do when the holidays are over? Might just have to stock up in the after Christmas sales! Give them a try, they are so good!

Ho Ho Ho!

As Matt mentioned in a previous post, we took Ethan and Addy to see Santa while we were in Virigina after Thanksgiving. As you can see, both were indifferent to being on Santa's lap. Hmmm, let's see how much that changes by next year! Happy Holidays everyone!

Catch-up, Almost There

Maybe the last part of the catch-up proceedings? I don't know.

The week after Green Lake, Ali, her mom and sister, went to the play Dirty Dancing on Tuesday night. They said it was horrible and left halfway through. Just thought you should know.

I took off for Toronto on Wed morning and got back Friday night. Pretty standard stuff, I have long said that Toronto is a cool town and it did not disappoint yet again. Good meals, a ton of stuff to do, etc. And Canadian beer is so much better than American. Maybe due to the higher alcohol content, that usually makes everything better.

We had a pretty chill weekend, only going to my boss' house for a holiday get together with my work group. About 20 of us went through a lot of beer and wine, some pizza and had a gift exchange. I ended up with lotto tickets and a magic eight ball (won $5) and Ali ended up with a travel pillow/blanket which she will undoubtedly use in this next week.

So, where does that leave us - Xmas week. We are leaving for Lafayette Tuesday night(snow dependant). We will be there until Xmas early evening when we will head to Crystal Lake. We will be in CL until Saturday. We will come home Saturday in preparation for E-man being baptized on Sunday. We are looking forward to spending time with family, seeing Addy for the 2nd time in a month, eating, opening some presents, eating again, and most likely eating some more.

So, if you don't hear from us for a while, that's where we will be. I am sure another catch-up post/rambling will be in our not too distant future.

I am out of here to go to the Bears game tonight - I think its about a -15 wind chill out there right now. Should be fun - football weather.

Catch-up, Again

Ok, part two. The weekend after Bloomington, we headed up to the lake. I don't think we have been up there since September, so it was long overdue. Winter time at the lake is definitely different, yet some things stay the same. There is always a party to attend, and there are always fishermen in the cove in the morning. The differences are that you have to drive to the party instead of taking the boat, and the fishermen are drilling holes in the ice instead of casting from their boat.

The Harris' and Carlson's hosted a wonderful evening of food and booze mixed in with a little bit of mingling. Ethan was especially fond of Cole's girlfriend Courtney, although I don't think he liked her jeans, and he showed his displeasure as such.

Look here for pictures from the weekend/party.

Maybe the biggest development from the weekend is that I finally joined Facebook. I am still not sure what the heck I am supposed to do on there, but I have about 50 friends as of today. So, find me if you want, be my friend, write on my wall, or whatever it is you do in the Facebook world.

Catch-up Post?

I was about to start this post saying I would try to do a few over the next couple of days so we can catch-up on things. Now that I think about it, I might as well do an all-out catch-up post. We will see how much I ramble before committing to the full catch-up.

So - we were two weeks behind when we posted a week ago. That puts us on Ethan's first trip to B-town.



We loaded up the family truckster on Thursday night and headed down to Bloomington with a stop-over at grandma and grandpa's in Lafayette. We got down to B-town on Friday around 1pm and headed to Laughing Planet for a burrito. Does anyone have a recipe for blackbean hummus? They have a good one at the Planet and we have some blackbeans from the farm - makes sense to grab a recipe. We did some shopping and showed E-man some of the campus.

We were joined at the Courtyard by Ali's parents and sister around 6:45 that night. The reason for the trip was to celebrate the graduation of Ali's cousin Katie from IU. Katie is doing something that I didn't know could happen and I think its really cool - she is completing her student teaching in Ireland. Not too shabby. So, we went over to the McArdle's and their party for the rest of the evening. As no trip to B-town is complete without it, we hit up Pizza Express for two bags of breadsticks on our way back to the hotel.

We awoke Sunday morning and it was snowing heavily. We took E-man out for some pictures at the Sample Gates - his first taste of snow if I am not mistaken. Lunch at the Village Deli and then we headed north to Zionsville.

We went to Z-ville to get our pictures taken with our friend/photog Nathan (see link to the left). We met in downtown Z-ville and it was decked out for the holidays - so cute. At least that is what Ali would say. After some pics downtown, we headed back to Shannon and Mike's for some more torture, er, I mean, pictures.

We spent the night at the Barron's and when we woke up the car didn't start - didn't even budget. We even had my Uncle Mike over to figure out what Mike Barron and I were doing wrong. It ruined a brunch with the Connolly's and we ended up leaving the car there for the better part of the week. Luckily, my mom and dad were able to come down from Lafayette to pick us up and we drove my mom's car home.

And that's the Bloomington trip. And I have realized that if anyone is still reading this, they probably need a break and I will not do a full catch-up post. Maybe the Green Lake holiday party later today, maybe tomorrow.

In the meantime, here are the pictures from Bloomington-Zville.

The Twins Are Here

Congratulations to our friends Sarah and Chris Nickoloff. The twins were born at 12:30 a.m. on Saturday! While we are still awaiting on the names, weights, etc., we are thrilled that the twins are here and are doing well. We can't wait to meet baby boy and baby girl Nickoloff and could not be happier for Sarah and Chris. Congratulations to the Nickoloff and Neal families!

Godfather the Third

On the Friday after Thanksgiving, Ali, Ethan and I left Chiggy for DC as Addy's baptism was that Sunday. As Ali said before, E-Man did very well on the flight - although I think he was annoyed at the lady sitting next to me trying to talk to him.

We got in late on Friday night, so E-Man didn't get to see Addy until the next day. Saturday morning was spent by the guys in the front yard trimming a tree and swapping Autumn decorations for Xmas decorations. We watched a little football before all eight of us headed to the mall. Addy and E had their pictures taken with the big man to whom both kids were indifferent.

We also had a quick visit with my cousin Becky, her hubby and kids. They were on their way back to ATL from Pennsylvania.

Best story from the mall is when a high school girl came up to me and asks a question. Her: "Do you mind if I ask where you got your sweater?" Me: "Sure, it's from Lord and Taylor - Ben Sherman is the brand." Her: "Cool, we were looking for something like that for my dad."

I solemnly believe her dad is one the most hip guys around D.C.

The baptism went off without a hitch on Sunday morning. As I am a professional godfather, I am sure I was a great benefit to the process. It was great that I got to see my grandpa and my aunt Ruthie who came down from Pennsylvania. E-man enjoyed hanging out with them both. He told me.

My grandpa brought E and Addy a really cool gift that you can see in the pictures. It is a piggy bank that he made by building a wooden box (with nice dove-tail joints) around an old post office box door. E-man's door dates to 1956 (if I remember correctly as its posted on the inside of the door) and has a combination lock to get into the bank. Its just a really cool bank that E will get to enjoy being from his great-grandpa (Pap-Pap as I call him.)

We flew home at 6am on Monday morning and E did well on the flight again. He must like flying as much as his dad.

HERE ARE PICS FROM THE WEEKEND.

ElephanToes

Shortly after Ethan was born we received the most adorable burp cloths from ElephanToes, a small home business run by Marcy Barkema. Since then, I have been meaning to do a post to endorse her ideas, talent and creativity. Not only does she make the cutest burp cloths, she also can do onesies, bibs, crayon rolls, and many other fabulous personalized items. Marcy and I hit it off right away while e-mailing back and forth. She and her husband are expecting in January and I am certain that little one will be outfitted with the best monogrammed items. So, if you are looking for a great, well crafted gift for friends with little ones, check out ElephanToes, you won't be disappointed. You can check out a lot of her designs here or see some of my favorites below!

Chatterbox Is Working

The video below should now be working. Sorry for the ignorance.

Flying High

Ethan enjoyed his first plane ride the Friday after Thanksgiving as we headed to Virginia to see Kelly, Jim, and Addy. He was a really good boy flying both ways. After a quick feeding, he went right to sleep and slept the entire way. Can't beat that! The flight was short, which was a perfect test for his first time on an airplane. We are looking forward to another trip as a family of 3!

Chatterbox

We have a lot to post from the past few weeks, Addy's baptism, the trip to Bloomington/Z-ville, etc. Hopefully we will have time to get all of those together this week. In the mean time, you can watch my digital short entitled "Chatterbox."

Enjoy.

Thanksgiving 2008

We hope everyone had a very safe and Happy Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is one of my favorite times of year and this year was extra special as we celebrated Ethan's first Turkey Day. While this year was crazy and unexpected, we really have a lot to be thankful for this holiday season. We have been blessed with great family and friends and a beautiful little boy that brings more joy to our lives than we could ever imagine.

Thankgiving celebrations kicked off a little early with dinner at my aunt and uncle's on Wednesday followed by a mini Crystal Lake bar crawl with Matt, my sister, Ben and my two dear cousins, Adam and Megan. We had to celebrate Megan's BIG 2-1 with a few drinks and lots of laughs. I was also able to catch up with some girls from high school that I have not seen in a while, which was great. We were up fairly early (not as early as we should have been....those 1:30 am nights really get you when you are 30) on Thursday to begin preparations for the big meal. My sister was in charge of "dressing" the turkey and while I don't think it was her favorite thing to do (see picture below) she did a great job. My sister, dad, and I hit Sterne's Woods for a quick walk and then headed back to get ready for company and dinner. Festivties started around 3 when the Livermore's, my grandma, and a few of my mom's friends joined us. After a few glasses of wine and some yummy appetizers, we sat down for dinner around 6. I absolutely love Thanksgiving dinner and this year did not disappoint. Everything was delicious! Ethan was extremely well behaved and enjoyed a little turkey in his own special way. We ended the evening with 3 great pies that Bev made and a visit from the McArdle's that included a fabulous bundt cake. Friday Matt, Ethan and I headed to Virginia (more on that in another post), but not before putting Christmas lights up at my mom and dad's to kick off the holiday season!

Here are all the pictures from Thanksgiving. I apologize for several duplicates, we were trying to capture some good Christmas card photos. A couple of my favorites though......

Off To Work I Go

I have officially started my first day of work...yep, sitting at my new desk right now in front of my new computer. I have to admit, I was feeling like a student on the first day of school; full of excitement, anticipation, and nerves. While leaving Ethan was extremely hard, I am glad to be here and looking forward to starting a new job.

As many of you know, I was presented with a great opportunity, shortly before Ethan was born, to work at Vienna Beef with my friend Carolyn. While I was not thrilled with the idea of going back to work, it was something that Matt and I decided was necessary and it seemed as though Vienna was the perfect place. They are kind enough to allow me work 3 days a week (Tuesday thru Thursday) and my job consists of easy entry level accounting while helping them with some analysis and special projects that had been put off for several months. Pretty much a perfect situation for having to go back to work.

So, here I am, on my first day! I have been introduced to pretty much everyone and they all seem wonderful. I think the anticipation leading up to today was much worse than actually leaving Ethan and starting my new job. It also helps to know that Ethan is in great hands with our lovely nanny, Carmen. By crazy circumstances, we are able to nanny share with a guy I went to high school with. So, not only will Ethan be learning a little Spanish from Carmen, he also has a new friend, Jackson. We feel really blessed to have such great opportunities like this fall into place. Thank you to everyone for the encouragement and support leading up to this day!

I will be back later today with posts about Thanksgiving, Ethan's first trip on an airplane, and Addy's baptism. I hope everyone had a great Turkey Day!

Da Bears

Yesterday we headed out to Cary to have lunch and watch the Bears with the Berndt's, the Glynn's and the Nickoloff's. It was so great to catch up with everyone and have all the little guys together. We are all greatly anticipating the birth of the Nickoloff twins and can't wait to introduce them to Alex, Ethan, and Keegan. I don't think I caught one second of the Bears game, but instead enjoyed great Tortilla soup that Jaime made, lots of laughs with the girls and tons of fun with the kiddos. Needless to say, the big boys spent most of the time watching the game and checking fantasy stats with quick breaks for some food and daddy daycare! Thanks Jaime, Mike, and Alex for a great afternoon! More pictures here if you so desire.

Check-Up

E man went to the doctor for his 4 and a half month check-up. Or maybe its his three month check-up. Everything we ever discuss at the doctor is discussed twice because development and growth-wise, we discuss as of his birth date as well as his due date.

Overall the visit went great up until the shots. Ethan's stats are as follows:

11 lbs, 5 oz which puts him in the 5th percentile for being born at the end of June. That shoots way up to the 20th percentile if you go off of babies born in mid-August.

24.25 inches which puts him in the 20th percentile for length - 75th percentile if off of due date.

15.75 inches head - I don't even know what this is - circumference? I don't know why it matters, but he is in the 5th percentile/15th percentile. All we know is that E will have a smaller melon than Gibson, Riebe and all of my other big-meloned friends.

E got four shots and it went a little worse than his last four. Kid screamed unlike anything we have ever heard from him. After about five minutes of screaming, he calmed down and was fine the rest of the night.

Everything else like motor skills and the sort seemed fine to the doc. We won't start rice cereal for a few more months.

That's about it.

Tuckered Out

I captured this picture of Ethan after running several errands Sunday afternoon. Do you think he was a little tired? Either that or quite bored since I had dragged (or is it drug) him all over the city in the freezing cold. I am currently on a mission to complete Ethan's nursery....geez, it has only been 5 months....so, I spent most of the weekend at Target, Bed, Bath, and Beyond, and Pottery Barn Kids gathering the last of what I need to complete his room/our guest room. Everything is almost hung and decorated so be on the lookout for pictures soon! Since Matt was at the Bears game on Sunday, Ethan had to be my companion, much to his dismay. I am sure he would have rather spent the afternoon curled up with his dad on the couch!

Longest Day Ever/Miranda Lambert

Here's the rundown on the trip home from St. Petes. My alarm went off at 6am St Pete time on Saturday - which was 7pm Chicago time Friday. I jumped on a 6am flight to Frankfurt. Luckily I fell asleep for about an hour and a half. Arrival in Frankfurt was 9am St Pete time, 7am Frankfurt time and 1am Chicago time. I chilled in the business class (which I think was actually the first class - they never checked my ticket) lounge for about three hours. I got on a 1015 am Frankfurt time, 615 am Chicago time flight and arrived at 230 pm Chicago time on Saturday which is 10pm St Petes time. That's the first half of the day - are you lost yet? By the way, I watched four movies on the flight to Chicago, no sleeping.

When I arrived in Chicago, Ali picked me up, we went home, I showered and we headed to Gibsons around 430pm. We were there until 8pm - 4am St Petes time (25 hours after I woke up.) At 845, Ali and I went to concert. We got home around 1215am and hit the sack around 1am (9am St Petes time.) So by my calculations, that's about 30 hours with roughly 1.5 hours of sleep, approximately 12 hours on a plane, 3 hours listening to country music and 3 hours in what I think was a first class airport lounge - trust me, the swankiness of this joint was unrivaled.

Now I wonder why I am sick.

On to the concerto.



Miranda Lambert. I guess I have had a sort-of crush on her for a couple of year's now. Ali knows this and is now close to embracing the fact. I tried to take Ali last year, but we couldn't get tickets. For the last two years Miranda has come to Chiggy to celebrate her birthday with two shows at the beginning of November. Why do I like her - I guess cause she sings about what she lives. A song called "Dry Town" is about her growing up in a dry town in Texas. I lived in a dry county in Texas while there - I had to join a "club" to purchase alcohol at a restaurant. I say she sings about how she lives and she lives a redneck life cause that's the way she likes it. I think she's kind of cute, so that might add to the allure as well.

Either way, Ali didn't know many of her songs before the concert, but now she listens to Miranda non-stop. That should tell you it was a great show. The show was at Joe's which if you've lived in Chicago you know is not a big place and it was general admission, so you can get as close to the stage as you want, as long as you pushed your way up. There are some photos HERE and I will try to upload a video or two tonight so you can get a little taste.

St. Petersburg

Sorry for the delay in posting about my trip to St. Petersburg, but I have been a bit under the weather since Monday. Not really sure what it is, but it cause me to miss work on Tuesday and I only do that about every other year.

St. Petersburg was great. If you didn't know, I left Sat Oct 25 and returned Sat Nov 1. USG opened a plant there a couple of years ago and it was their time to be audited. So I took my five Russian words over and got the job done. I am happy to report I am now up to 12 Russian words.

St. Petersburg is a very vibrant and photogenic city. At least I think it would be in the summer. It rained every day I was there - I did not see the sun the entire week. That was unfortunate, because it really seemed to be an awesome place. I only snapped a few photos on the Sunday I arrived. All photos are of the Church of Spilled Blood because that's as far as I walked in the rain with wet feet.

I spent most of the week working at the plant which was a normally harrowing 45 minute ride from the hotel. The traffic in St Petersburg has to be seen to be believed. Think right hand turn lane going three-wide into a two lane road.

The city itself was awesome. Even in the rain, there were so many people out walking down the main street, Nevsky Prospekt. Cafes and resturants were everywhere and always full. Most people spoke some English so my lack of Russian did not preclude me from ordering food and the like. When in doubt in the cafe at lunch, I would just have them lift the tops to all of the food trays and point at what I wanted.

On my last night, the plant manager took me on a quick tour by car - quick is relative, due to traffic we went about 10 miles in an hour and a half. At night, just about every building on a main street is lit up due to the city putting the lights on the buildings a few years ago. It looks like there is always something going on. The main city attractions, The Hermitage, St Peter and Pauls Fortress, various other palaces and the sort looked awesome at night - I just wish I could have gotten the camera and tri-pod out. I guess next trip (which will have to be in a summer month next time.)

Overall, a highly recommended visit for anyone who has never been to Russia. Next time I will make sure I go in the summer and take an extra day or two to see everything.

By the way, Lufthansa's business class kicks United's business class' ass. It's not a competition. A couple of the pictures are from the Lufthansa business class lounge in Frankfurt.

See all the pics HERE.

Halloween Weekend

Ethan had a great 1st Halloween and looked so cute in his costume, if I do say so myself. He didn't get to wear it nearly as long as I would have liked because the weather was just too gorgeous for Halloween and I picked the hottest fleece footed costume!

The weekend kicked off with my mom, sister, and Ben coming over Friday night for some yummy chili. We enjoyed the gorgeous night and about 20 trick or treaters. We had special visits from the 3 chicks (Abbie, Lauren and Ellie) that live below us and Amy, Patrick, and Lindsay Forebaugh. I love seeing all the kiddies dressed up so I was thrilled to have a lot more visitors than we did last year. I even used most of the 6 lb. bag of candy I bought. Thank goodness or I would be eating all the leftovers and believe me, that would not be a good thing!

Saturday my mom and I went for a long walk around the neighborhood. Can the weather be any nicer for the end of October/beginning of November? I am loving this! While I went to the airport to pick up Matt, my mom made her infamous Vidalia Onion Dip and Rice Krispie Treats (only this time we added Candy Corn and drizzled chocolate on top). Just a side note, I am so glad Matt is home from Russia....Ethan and I really missed him while he was gone. We then headed over to Gibson's for a Halloween party. Really, it was just an excuse for all of us to get together, have a few drinks, and dress up all the kiddos again. The costumes were so so cute and all the food was delicious. Thank you to the Gibson's for having us all over, I know it was a lot of work, especially with Laura not feeling well. After the party, Matt and I went to see Miranda Lambert (more on that in another post) and my mom and dad got to spend some quality time with Ethan (aka...babysitting!).

Sunday, Matt tried to catch up on some sleep and get over his jet lag, while I tried to get some things done around the house (tried being the key word in that sentence!). That evening, we had a dinner date with the Dill's and the Rice's. Katie really out did herself with a great Italian meal....Caesar salad, spaghetti and meatballs, and then apple crisp. It was so delicious (even if it was more like spaghetti and meatloaf!). Thanks to the Rice's for having us over for dinner....it was so much fun!

I have posted some of the images from the weekend, but you can see them all here. Hope everyone had a great Halloween!

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween from the cutest little cow!

More pictures to follow soon!

C-Ville

On Saturday, Ethan, my mom and dad, my sister, Ben and I (Matt is in Russia for work) hopped in the car and headed south to visit my dad's family in Carlinville. A lot of the family came over to Grandma and Grandpa's on Saturday afternoon/evening for dinner and we had a great time catching up with my grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and cousin's children. The weather was just gorgeous so we were able to spend some time outside and even have a little photo shoot with Ethan.

Sunday, my sister and I were able to get out for an early morning walk. We always love taking walks in Carlinville because the air is so fresh and crisp. It seems as though every time we venture out for a walk we get extremely nostalgic and relive wonderful childhood memories we have of visiting our family there. It is nice to get away from the city for a couple of days and enjoy the peaceful little town.

You can see more pictures from the weekend here (warning: there are a ton of Ethan....special thanks to my Aunt Tammy for taking some great shots of the little guy).

The Sky Is Falling

Well, not really.....just a branch, but it sure seemed that way when I went to unload my car in Lafayette on Saturday and witnessed a huge branch come tumbling down on my car. Yep, just like that Allstate commercial (the one you watch and think it will never happen to you).

As I was standing in the garage, a huge gust of wind ripped a branch off a tree that is in a neighbor's yard next to Carol and Larry's house and it landed smack dab on the roof of my car. Unfortunately I did not get a picture of the branch on top of the car, but as you can see the tree and the branch were not small. Surprisingly, the car did not suffer that much damage, just a bent luggage rack and some small scratches and dents. Now it is onto the fun of dealing with the insurance companies and having the car fixed. Thank goodness I was not 30 seconds ahead of myself.....I would have had a tree protruding from my head!!!

The Damage Is Done

















If you look closely, you can see where the branched snapped off in the middle of the tree!

Airport

Currently sitting in the United Lounge at OHare waiting for my flight to Frankfurt. Then on to St. Petersburg. Just thought you might like to know.

Congrats to the Summa's on the birth of their baby boy Mac yesterday afternoon.

Ali will be in Carlinville then Lafayette over the next few days, so I am sure the next post and some pics will come next week.

Lafayette's Great Pumpkin

The next weekend Matt, Ethan, and I headed down to Lafayette to visit the Hunt's. Matt's sister was also going to be in Lafayette with Addy and since Ethan enjoyed his first pumpkin patch experience so much I thought it would be fun to share the experience with his cousin. This was their first meeting after all and what a fun way to spend some time together. While the boys were golfing on Saturday, Carol, Kelly and I drove about a half hour outside of Lafayette to Millennium Farms. While Ethan and Addy were still too young to partake in many of the farm's activities, we did get a chance to see some llamas, baby cows, baby lambs and chickens. We picked out some pumpkins and enjoyed spending the morning outside in some seasonably warm weather. It was a beautiful day, spending time with family and enjoying the kids. Click here to see more pictures from the weekend.

The Great Pumpkin

A couple of weeks ago, Ethan has his first pumpkin patch experience with some of his lady friends!! The Barron's, Betsy, and I loaded up Libby, Hailey, Brianna, and Ethan and headed to Tom's for some fall fun! While we arrived about 15 minutes before Tom's was about to close, it was still fun to walk around and enjoy the beautiful fall day. It was difficult to capture a good picture of all the kids....who wants to sit still when there is so many fun things going on around you? Regardless, it was still a fun afternoon seeing all the little ones together and hanging out with good friends. Here are some more pictures from the afternoon.

Ethan's First Game

The family loaded up the Jeep and headed one mile south to the United Center last night to take in the preseason Bulls-Timberwolves game. Thanks to Uncle USG, we were in the suite for the scintillating match-up of two terrible basketball teams. And yes I said it, the Bulls are bad again this year.

I think Ethan enjoyed himself, although the starting lineup announcements were a little too loud for him. We retreated to the hallway behind the box. We were joined by all of the managers in my group along with their kids as well as a couple of other former auditors.

I'm not a big NBA fan, so it will be interesting to see who Ethan roots for when he gets a bit older.

Check out a few other pictures HERE.

Run Run Run

A huge CONGRATULATIONS to all the runners who finished the 2008 Chicago Marathon. My mom, dad, Matt, Ethan and I headed out early on Sunday morning to watch the race. We made it just in time to catch the elite athletes at mile 4, which is always incredible to see. We stayed at mile 4 to watch Heather and my cousin, Megan, and then headed over to mile 11 to see them again. They were both looking great and ready to take on the next 15 miles, which they did without hesitation!

Watching the marathon is always so inspirational to me and gets me in the mood to run and puts the idea in my head to do the marathon the following year. While I am not sure I will follow through on signing up for the 2009 marathon, I did get out and run!! I hopped in with Heather at mile 18 and finished the last 8 miles with her.

I admire all the finishers because it was hot out there. While it was gorgeous weather for all the spectators, the weather was less than ideal for all the runners. With temperatures in the low 80's and not a cloud in the sky, it was just too hot to run 26.2 miles!!! I am so proud of both Heather and Megan (who both beat their previous best times) and all the other runners who completed the grueling race! I know a lot of people were disappointed with their times, but you finished a marathon. What a great accomplishment!!! Congratulations!

Here are some more pictures that Matt took during the race!

Wisco Golf

Last weekend I attended my buddy Kevin Harper's pre-bachelor party bachelor party up in Wisco. A very long weekend consisting of playing golf at two of the best courses in the country as well as taking in a top 25 college football match-up.

Thanks to Kevin's job at Taylor Made, he has a habit of getting us on the golf courses in Kohler, WI - Whistling Straits and Blackwolf Run. Kevin met the Manager of the Golf Academy one day at Taylor Made and it has been downhill ever since. Todd Wagner at Kohler hooks us up with tee-times and discounted golf once or twice per year. Since we essentially call a couple of weeks ahead of time, we don't always get to play where and when we want, but for $75 a pop, we aren't allowed to complain.

We played Blackwolf River on Thursday and the Irish course at Whistling Straits on Friday. EA took some photos you can see here:

Golf

Special thanks to the Konneker's for letting crash at the lake for two nights. After golf on Friday, we headed down to Madison for the Ohio St - Wisco game on Saturday night. There are many details that would not be fit to put on the blog, so we will just put it this way, I was up past 4am three nights in a row which hasn't been done since college.

A fun time was had by all even if the Mexican food sucked at 3am on Saturday night.

Bear With Me

Bear with me on the albums, it has obviously been so long since I posted anything, I don't remember how to get an album up in cyberspace. I will figure it out shortly.

-Matt

Catching Up - Labor Day Week and Charlotte Trip

Here are links to photo albums from both the week at Green Lake over Labor Day and the trip to Charlotte.

Green Lake

Charlotte

Catching Up - The Michigan Trip

A quick catch-up post regarding the trip to Michigan. I have already commented on what happened, trip to the farm and Brady's baptism, but now we have photos.

Check out the full Michigan album HERE.

Sunday Night Dinner Date

A couple of weekends ago, the Dill's and the Rice's came over for fajitas. While dinner didn't turn out quite as good as expected (too many things going on and not enough attention paid to the food), the company made the evening well worth over cooked tortillas and flat jalapeno corn bread. It was great to catch up with Sarah, Nathan and Kaitlyn and Katie, Dana, and Jack and have all the little ones together.

I met Sarah and Katie through Junior League and have since introduced the boys to each other. The Rice's and Dill's have become great friends and ones we love hanging out with. We had such a great time with everyone and are looking forward to our next Sunday Night Dinner Date.

The Nickoloff Twins

Our good friends the Nickoloff's are expecting twins in December so yesterday my mom, Ethan and I headed to Naperville for a shower to honor Sarah, Chris, Baby Boy, and Baby Girl Nickoloff.
The shower was beautiful...special thanks to Heather's mom for opening up her gorgeous house for the afternoon. We were able to catch up with good friends, enjoy some delicious food, and most importantly celebrate Sarah's pregnancy and the twins pending arrival. Sarah just glows each time I see her and is such a beautiful mama to be. The twins are truly blessed to have Sarah and Chris as parents and Diane, Jim, MA, and Chris as grandparents. We can't wait to meet the little ones in December, if not before!! Congratulations!!

You can see more pictures from the beautiful afternoon here.

Oops

Obviously I didn't read Matt's post before I did mine so, I apologize for the duplicate info! Enjoy the picture nonetheless!

Getting Caught Up

Well, after 4 weekends of being out of town, we are finally home! I have lots to post about.....trips to Charlotte and Detroit, birthdays, furniture, and Ethan, of course, but I need to get the house in order before I do so. I also need to sort through lots of pictures, but for all you Ethan lovers out there, a quick photo from his bath this morning.

Where Are the Hunts?

Good question. Sorry for the lack of posts, but it seems like we are never home. Actually, I am typing this from Santa Rosa, CA.

The last two weekends have seen us travel to Charlotte and Michigan. We have a bunch of pics that I promise we will get up before the end of this next weekend.

You can read about the Charlotte trip on the Gibson's blog.

Last weekend, Ali, E and I headed to the farm on Friday morning. After a quick stop at Ali's new all-time favorite store - Pottery Barn Outlet - at Birch Run, we made it to the farm in time for dinner with Nanny. We sat around talking and watching the Tigers on Friday night then headed to see Pappy on Saturday morning. Pappy was doing well, although still not walking, and loved seeing Ethan. Pictures are coming.

Saturday afternoon we headed down to Macomb to Andy and Kim's as the next day was Brady's baptism. A nice dinner was had at their house with the kids as well as Chris and Bill. Brady was baptized on Sunday and after a great luncheon at Macaroni Grill, we headed home. Got in around 9pm and I flew to San Fran on Monday at 8am.

Definitely a whirlwind.

The Weasel is coming for a visit tomorrow as she has never seen E outside of the hospital.

I am sure Ali will post more and we will definitely get the pics up soon. I just wanted to let everyone know we are still alive.

Green Lake Wrap-Up and The Doctor

We returned on Sunday from over a week at Green Lake. It by far the longest we have ever stayed up there and every minute of it brought relaxation. While the weather didn't work out at the end of the week, we still had a bunch of fun. The week was capped off by the Wisconsin State Chili Cook-off, held each year in downtown Green Lake. I tasted four of the approximate 30 entrants and all were very different and had varying degrees of heat. A fun time was had by all, including Ethan.














Note that E did not go for a ride in his new red wagon as it wouldn't be safe of course. But, we had to take a picture for the future.

Ethan went to the doctor today for his one month post-hospital release check-up. Because of the hospital stay, he will not have a standard one-month, two-month, four-month, etc. check-up. The appointment went well even though E had four shots. He took them like a man, stopping crying as soon as the nurse put the band-aid on. E is currently weighing in at 7lbs 12oz - almost a two full lbs higher than a month ago. He is about 21.5 inches long and his noggin is 14.5 inches around if you want to know. If you backdate all of the measurements to Ali's actual due date, he is right around the 50% percentile for everything. I personally think he is measuring in the 96% percentile of awesomeness.

Our September US tour takes us to Charlotte this weekend to hang with the Browns, Riebes and Gibsons on Lake Norman and the Bears-Panthers game. Should be a good time as long as the Riebe weather jinx is not in effect.

In the month of September, I (Matt), will be in Illinois, Wisconsin twice, North Carolina, Michigan and California, with another trip to Wisconsin the first weekend of October. Busy busy, time is flying by.

Lovin' The Lake

We have been up at the lake for almost a week now and the clouds have finally shown up. We had five days in a row of sunny weather with the temp usually in the 80's. Ali and I are trying to get tan, but it takes time seeing that we were whiter than Casper.

Ethan is loving lake life - even though its rainy and 50 degrees today. He has gone on a few boat rides and loves it so much he falls asleep. Actually, that's all he does on the boat - sleep. He has been on a ride of 3.5 hours and slept almost the entire time. (Sleeping update - he slept for 5.5 hours last night, which is nice.)

The picture above was taken before dinner at the marina on Tuesday night.

Highlights so far for me this week have been two rounds of golf, one tubing ride and a haircut by Dangerous Dan.

Ali's highlights so far are shopping, a little more shopping, working on her tan and the Labor Day party at the Livermore's. (Oh - and writing thank you notes, which she may finish before our next child is born.)

Highlights for E-man have been his first Friday night fish fry at Walker's, his first boat rides, hanging out with this cousin Bobby, and being stared at by the 14 person table eating dinner at the marina.

Vacation will come to a close on Sunday, but after Saturday's Wisconsin State Chili Cook-Off in downtown Green Lake. Ethan is very excited to get some 2nd-hand chili.

JCrew

I have always loved looking through the JCrew catalog. I think they have great clothes that are full of life and sometimes unique and funky. As I browsed the most recent issue, I found myself dog-earring quite a few pages. Their new line is full of color and lots of pattern. I loved this as I am trying to add more pizazz to my wardrobe. Unfortunately, many of the things I found are available in the catalog or on the Internet only, which is quite frustrating as I often find that their clothes don't fit me that well (my husband is reading this thinking that is a good thing) and need to try them on. Why does JCrew do that? Are they trying to make money on shipping? I have never quite understood the logic behind the availability.

Anywho, I absolutely love this dress. Too bad I don't have a place to wear such a fancy dress. I think I would choose the bright peacock color and pair it with a great pair of heels and sparkly earrings. I also think this would make a great bridesmaid dress. Very cute for a summer wedding, perhaps outdoors?!?!