Weekend at Grandma's

Last weekend we went to El Paso to attend the Baptism of our Godson's new little sister. We (ok, I) forgot to get pictures at the Baptism and reception, but we had a great time.

Since we were going down to Illinois, we also took the opportunity to get Christmas pictures done, as well as visit with friends and family.

On Saturday, cousins Connor and Lucas came, and the cousins enjoyed one of their favorite pastimes: running in the hallway.

And now Lucas is big enough to get in on the action.

In the early afternoon, Andrew and Laura's good friends from Chatham, Noah and Makenna arrived.

And they brought their new little brother Aidan.

The seven kids had great fun playing at Grandma and Grandpa's house while Noah and Makenna's mom took Bridget's baby pictures.

To see how cute the pictures of Bridget were, you can visit Michelle's blog: http://michelleyeager.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/12/bridget.html

The cousins got in every last second of playing they could.

And a few more cute pictures from the weekend:

Thanksgiving and a few recent baby pics

We had our first Thanksgiving at home this year. Uncle Richard joined us for Thanksgiving week, and all of the kids had a lot of fun with him. We never got a picture of him with Bridget which is surprising since he spent a lot of time holding her. She really enjoyed going to sleep on Uncle Richard's shoulder.

We did get a few pictures of Andrew and Laura enjoying their Thanksgiving feast. Andrew claims he's not a fan of pumpkin pie, but the pictures tell a different story:

And next are a few pictures of our growing baby. Bridget is doing all those exciting baby things. (ok, they're at least really exciting to mommy and daddy) She's holding her head up, smiling, and cooing. We don't have a good picture of her smiling, but hopefully we'll get one soon.

After Bath

Holding her head up

With her big sister

And of course, Sleeping Baby

Introducing Bridget Elinor

Bridget Elinor was born yesterday, October 18th at 2:53 in the morning. She was 8lb 1oz and 19 inches long. She's been eating and sleeping like a newborn and we're looking forward to heading home in the morning. Andrew and Laura are both very excited.

Playing with Cadence

Last night we had dinner with the Wisconsin Drakes. The kids had a lot of fun playing with Cousin Cadence.

"sleeping" in the tent

on the swingset

I also thought I'd include the next one since it shows off our new landscaping in the backyard...it's a little bare back there, but at least we should get less water in the basement!

VBS

The kids had their first experience with Vacation Bible School this week, and they've both had a lot of fun. Andrew was very upset today when he found out that he didn't get to go back next week! Today's theme was the parable of the kingdom of heaven being like hidden treasure, so the kids had a lot of fun making treasure boxes,

hunting for treasure,

sorting jewels,

and breaking rocks to find the treasure inside.

Any day that involves shattering things with hammers AND glitter glue ranks high for Andrew and Laura.

Strawberry Season

We spent Father's Day strawberry picking. It was the first day of picking, so the strawberries were a little scarce, but we still had fun. The kids have had a great time this week eating the strawberries, as well as baking with them.

A New Car!

...and not the battery operated kind. :) This weekend, after a bunch of paperwork and some negotioation by John, we trade in our Grand Prix

for a new Honda Civic.

Andrew enjoyed the process thoroughly, but Laura was a little sad that we weren't going to have the Grand Prix anymore.

We're starting a blog too...

Inspired by "Aunt Kristen's" cool posts about Ben, we've decided to start blogging too. But like our sporadically updated webpage, I doubt that we will be nearly as consistent. :) We'll do our best to keep everyone updated on the "big happenings" in the lives of Andrew and Laura.

Right now our days mostly consist of getting outside and enjoying the warmth and sun after our long, cold Wisconsin winter. Both kids have been biking a lot. Laura can bike all the way to the park, and Andrew can bike a few miles at a time.