Love my girls!

Trip to IN!

 Here it is! Our Labor Day weekend post, finally! We had a great weekend visiting several friends and family members in Indiana. Of course our time is always too short to see as many people as we would like, but we loved the time we had with those we were able to see.

We drove up to Carmel on Friday to stay with the Bans for a couple nights. Emily was SO excited that she couldn't even nap during the entire 4 hour trip.  Turns out Gabi is a great traveler in the car and she slept most of the way.

We arrived to their house around 4pm and Emily was immediately attached to Mae! They were off to the neighborhood park in no time. In fact, I feel like I didn't even see Emily for 24 hours!  :) She was off playing with the big kids most of the time and she even had a slumber party the first night with Mae.

Emily, Mae and Karen making guacamole!

Karen and Gabriella

Dinnertime...the kids all ate outside.

Gabi traveled great, but once we were there she was pretty overwhelmed. Eric was the only one who was able to calm her down and she rested like this for a long time.

Playing at the park with Mae.

Slumber party...remember this sweet 3 year old didn't nap in the car...well she was also up until 10pm that night. She is a trooper! (Or a party animal, says her daddy).

On Saturday they took us to the Children's Museum in Indy. We had SO much fun!

Pretty sure I want a 12 year old (well, really we just want Mae) to come live and help us with the girls.

Emily has been asking to ride a carousel for over a year (seriously), but I don't know where to take her to ride one locally. You should've seen her face light up when we turned the corner in the hall and she saw this huge carousel just waiting for her to ride!! Priceless.

Funhouse with Brick and Mae.

Even Daddy had fun!

Seriously, this is one great group of "kiddos!" Love them all!

Gabi was along for the ride! :)

Off on an adventure! No, we aren't going to Egypt. :)

Buds!

Taking Mae's baby doll for a walk.

Lounging on Sunday morning before we took off.

After our visit with the Bans we traveled to the southside of Indy to visit with our good friends, Tom and Beth. We also got to meet their current international students, Lewis (Scotland) and Alfonso (Spain). Fun times for sure! Beth and Gabriella enjoyed some cuddle time. I was amazed...Gabi NEVER falls asleep in our arms...Beth has the magic touch. :)

Emily wanted Tom to teach her how to play the organ. She did pretty well!

After lunch and visiting with Tom and Beth we hopped in the car again for our final destination, Bloomington. We arrived to Gretchen's (mom/dad's) house that evening and were so excited to see everyone. Pretty sure we haven't seen Gretchen and her girls in almost 2 years...which is WAY too long! Gretchen's brother, Zach, and his family came down for the night, too. It was so much fun to all be together again under one roof. LOVE this family!!!

Gretchen meets Gabi!

Amelia and Ella practicing their salon skills on Emily. haha. Three sweet girls!

What do you do with three over-tired, wound up girls at 9pm at night?! Don't put them to bed...rather, teach them a crazy game which involves throwing Jenga pieces across the room. HILARIOUS!

Monday morning we made our way out to the lake to visit Pop and Mimi for the day. Sadly it rained, but we still had a good time resting and playing inside. Here is Emily helping Pop prepare dinner.

On Tuesday morning we stopped in for breakfast with our sweet friends, Doug and Kristin. It was delicious and we loved learning all about their newest creatures (chickens, turkeys, bees, kitten, etc). We love our time with them, but I guess we were too busy chatting and playing because I didn't get a picture! :( 

After breakfast we stopped in to see Grandma and Uncle Dave. It was a short visit...after such a long, jam-packed weekend the girls were both in meltdown mode. However, we enjoyed the time we did have together! These girls love their great grandma!

There you have it! We had a blast and enjoyed every minute of our time together as a family. The girls seemed to bounce back from lack of sleep and Emily is still talking about all her friends we visited. Our hearts are grateful!

Sisters!

Our friend, Nat!

A few weeks ago (yes, I am playing catch-up on the blog...), our good friend, Natalie, and her mom, Carol, came up from TX to visit for a long weekend. We had such a fun time together! Emily was very young the last time she saw Natalie (young enough that she doesn't remember), but she knows Natalie because of the special gifts that appear in our mailbox from time to time. Emily could probably go through her room and point out most of the things that Nat has sent her or made for her over the years. It is special. Natalie and I worked together "back in the day" at ATS. We had a lot of fun together when she lived here in Wilmore and we've missed her since her move back home. God knew the perfect timing of her visit a few weeks ago. Our time together was such a breath of fresh air in so many ways. It was also the first time in nearly 5 months that I enjoyed an entire afternoon out with women while my amazing husband stayed home with the girls (PTL Gabi decided to finally take a bottle!)

I'm so thankful for our friendship even with the many miles in between.Thanks for visiting--hope to see you in TX someday soon! 

Discussing Hungary or Habitat! :)

Best buds!

5 months!

For those of you on Facebook, you've already seen these pics...but I didn't want to leave anyone out! :)

For Grandma...

 I told Emily I was going to post a couple of pictures on our blog for Grandma and then I asked her, "Emily, what do you want me to tell Grandma?" She replied:

"Dear Grandma,

I love you...(pause)...SO MUCH! That's all, ok?!"

Emily Nikolett & Grandma, Sept. 2012

Gabriella Kate & Grandma, Sept. 2012

More of our Labor Day trip coming soon...promise!

A bit of August!

We've had a great few weeks settling into our new home in the country. It is so peaceful out here and definitely a blessing to be here for this time. We LOVE having an adopted grandma, Ms. Janice, who lives downstairs. We have enjoyed several cooler evenings on our back deck where we can actually hear crickets chirping instead of construction trucks working away. Emily has enjoyed getting to know Ms. Janice's little cat named Boo, and our two neighbor horses, Wichita and Phantom. We hear the rooster crow in the distance each morning and enjoy the random stray chickens that graze in the yard every so often.

We have said several goodbyes this summer (that's the nature of living in this community), which has definitely been hard on our sweet Em. She loves her little friends and misses them already. Moving off campus has also been a change for her. She used to have instant access (just walk out her front door...) to her friends who lived close by, but now it takes a little extra effort/drive to see them. She has asked several times since moving to go back to her "other house." My little social butterfly....

This month also marks a new season in our family life...Emily started preschool! We are so excited for her and this opportunity (and so thankful for my parents who are making it possible for us to send her!).

Here are just a few pictures to share from August!

Our sweet friends, Ellie and Reni (along with their parents!), shared a meal with us before leaving on their new adventure of raising support to be missionaries. We have enjoyed their company over the years! Maybe we'll see you all on the road this year! :)

Getting ready for one of our daily walks around the property. Even daddy loves "wearing" Gabi!

Emily helping Ms. Janice clean off old paint on the tank. Our little helper!

She was so excited for school!

Our sweet baby girl is growing up!! We are so proud of her!

We just returned yesterday from a little road trip! Stop back in a few days (if I can get it all together!) for some fun pictures of our time away!