ohio family vacay: cosi, park playtime & shopping

one thing we were excited to do in columbus was show ellery cosi, the center of science & industry. it's where we had our wedding reception and we knew ellery would have tons of fun. and we were happy ellery was surrounded by so many family members who tagged along to join her in the fun! such a fun day - though i'm really not sure who loved it more, kyle or ellery :)

we also got to spend some quality family time at the park with my mom's side of the family. i love those times. living out of state, time with family, and especially extended family, comes few and far between. so when it finally happens, i try to soak it up. what was really for special was the fact that my grandparents from florida were also in ohio. ellery got to play with her cousins, and made a new best friend - her second cousin, mikaela :)

a trip to see mawmaw would not be complete without shopping! ellery and i headed to the outlet malls with mawmaw and mamaw (say that 5 times fast!) and wouldn't you know ellery was more into the playground and little rides than shopping :) we still got to sneak in some stores between the slides and rides. ellery even snoozed a bit while we shopped. thanks mawmaw for holding her stroller up the whole time she slept! so great to spend the day with 4 generations of beautiful women!!

ohio family vacay: pawpaw & the rv

we always treasure our trips to ohio to soak up time with family, and this trip was no exception! we packed so much into one little week (and our car, too!) and made so many fun memories!

To start the trip off, ellery got to spend some precious quality time with her mawmaw & cousins while mama & daddy celebrated at pawpaw mark's retirement party. after 30 years of service as a firefighter, we were ready to party & celebrate my dad's huge accomplishment! we had a blast eating & singing & dancing. we loved checking out the osu student union since the party was at woody's tavern (and dreamed of ellery maybe one day being a buckeye...)

pawpaw & laurie also bought a little...well big...something now that he's retired - an rv! and they let us break it in for the weekend! we bunked up with corey & keely the first night, then we had a different roommate night 2 - ellery :) she loved it!! and we loved the time we got to spend with pawpaw & laurie, especially our breakfast feast & talking around the fire sunday night. thank you so much pawpaw & laurie for starting our vacation off right!!  (can't wait to see that rv in Milwaukee!)

a very merry 2nd christmas

for the second year in a row, we celebrated a very merry christmas in wisconsin. last year, ellery spent most of the day snoozing away, nuzzled up with anyone who would snuggle. this year was so fun, because though she doesn't fully understand christmas, why we celebrate it and what is up with the tree and present, she was more into the "magic" that christmas time brings. we got to go look at lights. read books about the very first christmas. play in the snow. open our stockings christmas morning. kyle and i are so excited to continue and begin family traditions with ellery, and though nothing compares to being a child running to the tree on christmas morning, it is pretty fun to be the one who gets to sneak them under there :)

kyle's parents, brother and sister also came for the second year in a row to celebrate christmas in milwaukee. we went to christmas eve service at epikos, feasted at bucca di beppo afterward, had a yummy breakfast the morning of the big day, opened so many presents, went swimming, and had a delicious, delicious meal prepared by momo. so many memories squeezed into just a few days.

and while we loved having momo, papa, aunt keri & uncle kris here, we missed the rest of our family that we normally see around the holidays. to me, christmas was just missing a little something without loading up the car to make our big trip to indiana and ohio. i missed my family. i especially wished ellery could have seen her cousins ethan & landon, and they could have taught her a thing or two about opening gifts. (she opened a few on her own, but then needed mom & dad's help). even though we were far from ohio, ellery was still so so spoiled by mawmaw, pawpaw mark, great grandma judy and so many others we weren't able to celebrate christmas with.

each of our favorite memories from this holiday season:
kyle: watching ellery and papa have a tea party christmas morning
andrea: one night while the three of us were home, carolers came to our house to sing. we wrapped e up in a blanket and stood on the porch to listen.
ellery: mom had just put a plate of cookies our covered with foil for their bible study. right as she looked away, i lifted up the foil and took a big bite of a sugar cookie! then, mom saw me! i thought she'd be mad, but instead,  we shared the rest of the cookie :)

from our home to yours, we wish you a very merry christmas, filled with sweet tidings of great joy.