Holidays - Come & Gone

Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years snuck up and flew by us this year. We tried in vain for an adorable Christmas card photo (above) and ended up sending out a collage of sorts. We did manage to squeeze in some festive fun around home, including a trip to see Santa Clause in Geneva (another photo op gone wrong) and, below, Zoo Lights @ Lincoln Park Zoo.
Then it was off to Western New York to spend Christmas at Nana & Papa's, joined by cousins from Michigan and lots of area family/friends.
Here are just a sampling of the happy surprises awaiting Linnea & T on Christmas morning.
Once home, it was off again to Rockford for Daniels Family Christmas over New Year's weekend.
Again, a small sampling of the seasonal joy...
Now it's on to 2012 and preparations for Baby Sister's arrival in just 5 short weeks. Wow!

Halloween 2011

Thomas the Firefighter and Linnea the Dinosaur had a fabulous Halloween...

They trick-or-treated with Evan the Fire Dog and Elle the Butterfly.
Earlier in the weekend, we got away to Galena, IL with Nana & Papa. More pics to come but the above was too cute not to share right away - Linnea's first canoe outing with Daddy.

The Rest of the Summer... and Early Fall

Highlights of the rest of the summer included a visit from Zander (& baby brother Sebastian... and their parents) and an accompanying visit to the Chicago Children's Museum (note the view, above). That's Linnea in the hard hat above and T relishing the waterworks below.
August brought a trek to Western New York to see family, a high point of which was a raspberry-picking foray at Brown's Berry Patch on Lake Ontario.

With the onset of fall came Linnea's first day of preschool (below)...
as well as a few camp-outs with Daddy (and campfire dinners including T & Mommy).
Other autumnal delights have included some "hikes" with Daddy (below)...
and last weekend's first apple orchard/pumpkin patch outing.

Summer of 2011 - So Far

Picking up where we left off... summer kicked off Memorial Day with the annual Geneva parade...
and accompanying candy booty.
Above, some special time with Aunt Aimee & Uncle B; below, a visit from the Ferenczis - Mommy's college roommate, her husband and their four girls (three pictured). Ryan, Jason & T were greatly outnumbered.

Above & below are a trip to Swedish Days in Geneva...
and last but not least, that staple of American childhood Julys - swimming lessons.

Easter with Cousins & Friends

We were blessed to have cousins Kelsey & Evan (and their folks, along with Nana & Papa) at our house this year for Easter. Above are Easter preparations; below is the actual day. Nothing tastier than Easter candy on the bathroom floor, right?

The Andersons hosted their annual egg hunt again this year. T's eggs were all empty and he didn't care one bit.
Linnea, on the other hand, gathered quite the booty and enjoyed the process thoroughly.

Thomas' Baptism

T-Man was baptized (finally - I know; we had to join the church first... long story) on Sunday, May 1st.
We were all much more joyful than this photo reflects; between T's squirming and our attentiveness to what the pastor was saying, we didn't really get any fabulous shots of the four of us up there.
Above, the actual act; below, Thomas' glare at the pastor after the fact - priceless.
Thomas Charles, may you indeed grow in the nurture and admonition of the Lord and may we, as your parents and family, be used of God to help you become a man after His own heart.

Hawaii '11

We braved our first transoceanic trip as a foursome for Spring Break 2011 in Kauai with Ryan's folks and siblings. Despite RSV for Thomas and an ear infection for Linnea, we made some great memories and had some good times. The Hyatt's koi pond was popular (above), as was their daily parrot show (below).




For a little my-how-time-flies perspective, scroll back in our blog to the January 2009 entry when Linnea made the trip at the same age as Thomas pictured above; what a difference a couple years makes?!?!