Friends & Family |

Family Weekend

Last weekend we headed home for a quick family weekend. We went to Andy’s parents’ house first for lunch.

Snuggles with Uncle Jared.

And riding the piggy with daddy. Yeah, he’s something special.

Did you notice anything different about Andy?

Brutus is gone! The sad thing is I didn’t even notice the morning he did it, I saw remnants of his beard in the garbage. He told the guys at work it’d be receiving death threats ;-) I think he looks really nice without it.

We had a really nice day with Andy’s mom, dad, Jared and Becky. Just relaxing and enjoying each others company. We also looked at old photo albums which was a lot of fun.

Sunday we went to my mom and Paul’s cottage on Lake Ontario. They’re having an addition put on so it was fun to walk around and get that tour. I love how they carried the architecture and old cottagey feel to the new bedroom, bath and laundry room they added.

My mom took such a cute picture of Paul with the kids.

Andy also helped Paul do “something” with their dump find TV.

Ben enjoyed playing on the tablet at their house too. He calls it the Brown Book because of the brown leather case.

That evening we went out to a surprise 50th birthday dinner for my mom.

Her birthday had actually been the weekend before and we wondered if she thought we’d forgotten about her…but a few family, friends and neighbors were there to celebrate.

There was a gorgeous cake!

Cassidy was a little unsure of all the people at first.

But she quickly warmed up and was passed around :)

Ben trotted around like he owned the place. He ate his food and my food.

Then mooched off other people too. Phil is my mom and Paul’s cottage neighbor, thanks for sharing your fries Phil!

I brought all these activities for Ben to do but he was happy to socialize with everyone, play hide and seek under the table and be an all around ham. He had fun and we were in an enclosed area so he wasn’t bothering anyone else in the restaurant. He sung Happy Birthday to my mom too, it was the sweetest thing.

Happy 50th mom, hope we were able to make you feel special!

Ohio or bust!

by Heather | 0 comments

A few weekends ago we headed to Ohio to visit our college friends Mark and Jenny. For the long weekend away my mom and Paul took Cassidy and Andy’s parents had Ben. Friday we went to a huge indoor market to pick up supplies for dinner. Afterwards we just hung out at their house and watched Ender’s Game.

Saturday morning we slept in until 9, it was wonderful. After a big breakfast we headed out for a tour of Amish Country!

Quilt shops, wine and cheese tastings, bakeries, country stores, Amish restaurants, oh my! It was the first time I’d ever pumped in a car too ;-) As nice as it was to not have kids that weekend, I was still tied to that darn milker machine.

Telephone booths outside of the Amish businesses. They can use phones, just not have them installed in their buildings.

It was so much fun driving around hitting special spots all day. Mark knew all the fantastic little places to visit. We got to chat along the way too, here we were talking about Andy’s beard. They hadn’t seen us in a while and were quite surprised by it ;-) Actually, one of the college students at church has given the beard the name Brutus. Quite appropriate. And for anyone wondering, no, I am not a fan.

Such a fun day!

Saturday night we went to an ice carving festival in town. It was cooooold, but some of the sculptures were so pretty.

Before we headed home Sunday, the boys got a little target shooting in too.

Thanks so much for the wonderful weekend guys!

Baby Dedication

by Heather | 1 Comment

Last weekend we dedicated both Ben and Cassidy at our church. We don’t do baby baptisms, instead we did the dedication as a way of giving the kids back to God. Recognizing that they were gifted to us and are only “ours” for a short time before they head out to their own lives. They’re ours to love forever, but we only have a certain number of years to teach and influence them.

We got the chance to share a little bit about the kids, their personalities and what we see in them that points to their purposes in life. Pastors and other church members were able to pray over them and us and give words of wisdom. We also spoke about how we wanted to be intentional in our time with them, not just letting the day slide by…but intentionally finding moments to love on them and teach them.

The weekend started with family sleeping over at our house.

A quiet moment with Ben before we went up front at church.

Sharing a bit about the kids.

Our friends Matt and Grace dedicated their little girl too. They’re the ones whose daughter was born at 29 weeks and in the NICU. Baby Evie is doing great by the way :)

After church we had friends and family back to the house for lunch. Andy wasted no time changing back into a t-shirt ;-) Neither of us really enjoy dressing up, although I must say Cassidy looked stunning in her little purple dress. Andy’s mom made it for her, it is SO cute!

Thanks to everyone who came out to be a part of our family’s special day, it really meant a lot to us :)

And thanks to my mom, Leslie and Heather B for their pictures!

Playdate

by Heather | 0 comments

We had a playdate with some friends a few weeks ago (I just found the pictures now, oops). Ben the toy hoarder claimed all his belongings early in the day. We are getting better at “sharing with our friends.” Slowly.

A sharing moment!

Easton putting one of the Noah’s ark animals together.

Casey digging through the train bin.

Cassidy watched the boys play.

And enjoyed a little story time with the other Heather.

Signs of a successful playdate.

Christmas part 3

by Heather | 0 comments

After doing our Christmas with Andy’s family, we headed across the road to Justin and Kate’s apartment. Kind of neat they live across from my inlaws. These pictures can basically be labeled “family members with Ben and Cassidy” as you wouldn’t really even know there’s anything Christmasy about them. We had such a nice time exchanging gifts though :)

Baby still has a little bald spot on the back of her head, although it’s looking a lot better these days.