Day 2: Thankful For... FAMILY.

So as a Facebook user, I've been reminded that each day of November represents a separate thing or two for which we're all thankful.

I figured I'd compensate for my not doing it yesterday and for also probably not repeating sequence tomorrow or the day after.

That being said....

I am especially thankful for my family. There are so many reasons I could list here for why I feel so blessed to have them, but for the sake of brevity, I'll just say that I love them, and that they are absolutely incredible. Now, saying that, I know that family is a very broad term, so I'm sticking to my most immediate family, just for today. Mom. Dad. Sister. 



entertrainment junction | cincinnati | 2010
heidi. dad. jonathan. corin. sydni. mom [missing joe]

I'll start with the women in my immediate family. For those of you who are looking at that picture, or who just don't know.... yes, I'm adopted. Let that lay to rest any questions about the *ahem, varied appearance of myself vs. the other ladies. 

mama & her daughters.

My mom is probably one of the kindest, most generous women I've ever met. Add to that her unbeatable charisma [honestly, I will not be surprised in the least if the woman outlives me; she's that incredible], her culinary genius, and her passion for just embracing life as it comes, and you've got a force with which I don't think anyone could or should reckon. Mom. I love you.

And then there's my sister. My sister, the adopted Dutch girl who is half a foot taller than me with gorgeous blonde hair and blue eyes, but all the while a pretty close reflection of my personality. She's the first person I go to when I need a true reality check [it's often, just fyi], and I know that I'll get it in a way that speaks perfectly to me and what I'm handling. She's random, spontaneous and hippy just like me, and I love her to the moon and back.



dad... i. love. you.

And then there's my dad. My poor dad, who endured a house full of women for years and managed to keep his cool :). Haha. He's fooled many who assume he had prior military experience [flat feet = no go :( .. ]; he carries himself with a confidence and a sense of dignity that I could only hope to exude someday. My dad worked himself to the point of exhaustion when it came to providing for his family, and for that I will forever be grateful. I love you, Dad. Thank you for everything.

 

I'm blessed.

SO blessed.

 

xo | cmd

 



 

Easter 2012

#back.dated.entry,yo.

It's technically Monday right now, but since I hear it's bad safety etiquette - or something - to blog while driving, this is the best I can do.

Easter girl!

So Easter itself pretty much flew right on by. It started early when we were up and at it, en route to our old stomping grounds at New Harmony Baptist Church for the Easter service. It was such a welcome refresher seeing all the familiar faces from our time there; it blew me away at how grown all the smaller kids seemed. Since we'd left, a new pastor has taken the reigns, rendering not only a beautiful service for everyone, but the baptism of little Ashley. As a sidenote, seeing the little kids get baptized, while such a warming feeling, makes me feel all that much older. Given the reason, though, I don't mind one bit! We were blessed to be present for it! My parents joined us, and the lot of us headed to lunch afterwards before trailing back to the apartment and undertake the process of switching everything from our car to my parents' for Sydni's weeklong vacation with them. Since distance is now a small obstacle with us living in IL, it's less frequent that they see her, so a week at a time now is the best conducive solution. Plus, it'll be a small breather for me since Joe will be flying back to Atlanta in a day or two.

my family. love love love.

Anyhow, we changed clothes and headed over to Joe's Aunt Sis' house, where the annual Easter crowd was already gathering. We arrived to find the food already coming out of the oven, and while final preparations were happening in the kitchen, we spent time catching up with family members we hadn't seen in quite some time. Chrissy and I got to talking about her upcoming endeavor of hiking the Appalachian trail, starting at the south end and completing the entire thing. She looks fabulous, and I envy the adventure on which she's about to embark. If I had 6 months of spare time, I'd be all over it. We all sat down to eat mid afternoon, on an invisible schedule centered around the egg hunt. We stayed on track.


three generations of ladies of joe's family: sandy. nicki. katelynn
[joe's cousin] chrissy & me

kiddies getting ready: katie & billy | sydni

dad & joe

This egg hunt is a big deal. Not only do they stash over 225 eggs in their backyard for the findings, they fill those things with everything from the standard chocolate [which is usually half-melted by the sun by the time we get to it, making for lovely kiddie fingers!] all the way up to $20 bills. I happened across one of those golden eggs this year, and am proud to say I finally beat my husband at something: egg hunt earnings. Hahaha. It doesn't take much, I know.

$$$ money eggs! $$$

cousins :)

The next almost 7 hours following the egg hunt can only be summarized as travel time. I made the trip alone back to IL, and after getting caught up in some late night road construction and a carwash to remove the blanket of black bugs plastered on my front end, I'm here, now, just shy of 12:30AM.


gorgeous sunset

It's back to work, tomorrow. Needless to say, I'm out :)
xo | cmd

And Now, For the Tour [& Christmas Part II!]

fiona's | eds.ville

We realized this morning as we were getting moving for the day that we have done this sort of standardized tour for all of our visitors. Seriously. We thought back to Eric, who was the first to come and visit our new house, then JB, Lynn, Tim, Heidi, Paul, Jonathan, my parents, and now Joe's mom & aunt. We also realized that after this visit, unless KP & Sam make their way out in the near future, we should be just about done with our quick version of the IL-MO tour.

In honor of our last tour, we thought we'd spice it up a bit. First, we took them on base to show them where Joe works. We even made a pitstop by the Babots for a quick second, and they were able to see what base housing looks like. From there, we took a turn off the beaten path and  headed up to Edwardsville for a brunch at Fiona's. Now, keep in mind that up until today, I've only heard rumors of the superior quality of this little dive. Meagan and Rob frequent this place seemingly every other time he's here for her lunch hour, and Nancy speaks highly of it as well. So, we thought we'd give it a whirl. We were NOT disappointed. It was quite scrumptious, and at the very end, we ran into Nancy and Karen, who'd been there entire time we had, neither of us noticing the other party. Funny things. 

sandy. syd. joe | shadow of the arch from atop the arch :)

From there, we trekked into Saint Louis, being very mindful to avoid Soulard [mardi gras]. We found ourselves at the arch, and, at the request of our visitors, journeying up into the arch. We'd done that once before, the first time when Eric visited us. It's a nice chance to catch an aerial view of the city, and I suppose it's a must-do for any tourist not planning a trip back anytime soon. 

syd gazing out over st. louis

By the time we'd finished at the arch, we headed back home, ordered pizza, and got down to opening Christmas presents.

Wait.. what? 

merry [part II] Christmas!



Yeah, that's right. We weren't able to make it back to Ohio as originally planned over the Christmas holiday, so we had a very late Christmas here at our house tonight with just the four of us and Sydni. She made out like a bandit, and of course we all got exactly what we'd asked for during the pick-a-name drawing we do each year with his family.

It's been a great day. I hate that it was so short, but we are blessed to have our family.

xo | cmd

Visitors, Continued!

Friday was fiiiiinally hereeeeeeee [yessssss!!!!!]

With no small group in the dugout, and no other scheduled events for the evening, we spent the early evening just tidying up around the place before settling in for some relaxation time before Joe's mom & aunt arrived from Cincinnati. We patiently waited...


pack your bags & head for the dills' :)

 .. and waited...

... and waited.

Apparently, Sandy & Sis [the affectionate nickname for Joe's aunt] had gotten tied up in some traffice in Indiana, so they arrived much later than anticipated. I had finally given in to Sydni's whimpers of sheer toddler exhaustion and put her down to bed, and of course accidentally fell asleep right along with her. It's nearly midnight now, and while Joe's family did arrive safely, they and the rest of my house are fast asleep.

Woops.

We'll pick this up where we left off tomorrow.

xo | cmd

Clean Clean Clean!

I'm not sure where I was for the majority of today, because the bulk of it flew by so quickly. I'm not complaining, don't get me wrong, but it's the days like this that keep me on my toes for hours afterwards in fear of having forgotten to complete some crucial task. *Ohhhh well.

When work let out, it was straight home to clean up around our house, in preparation for Joe's mom and aunt coming to visit us this weekend. I'm excited to see them; it's been a long time since we had a good visit with Joe's mom, and I know she misses Sydni.

So clean clean clean it was, and then we waited.

This place is spotless!

*WHEW.

Company comes tomorrow. Yay! :)  

xo | cmd