Cliff Notes to Catch Up

We are officially doing a terrible job of updating our blog.  In an effort to catch up, here is a summary of our post-holiday through early April events worth noting… in pictures.

 
Lily’s first trip to the Newport Aquarium

Date night to eat at Bakersfield OTR, then to see Book of Mormon

Happy Valentine’s Day (and five months old to our baby girl)!

February trip to Columbus to see our niece’s cheerleading competition
 
And while in Columbus, we went to our friend’s Dr. Seuss themed baby shower
(Susan made that cake, too!)

Our little snow bunny!

Fast forward to summer (we wish!!) – tried going swimming in a hotel but little lady was too overwhelmed and tired.

Being held by her cousin during his 6th birthday party celebration!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day (and six months to the little one)!!

Ohhhhh C-A-T-S Cats, Cats, Cats!  March Madness!

Lily had a little photoshoot with her friend who was born a few days before her (but due the same day!)

Lily was so very excited to meet her new best friend (pictured inside her mommy’s belly at the Dr. Seuss baby shower above!)
  
Exploring the great outdoors at Cincinnati Nature Center

The Holidays in Pictures

The holidays are busy for everyone, and no different for us.  This year though, with us being back in a reasonable distance from the families, the holiday schedule was stretched across much of November and December.  Here’s a little bit of what we’ve been up to…
Right about the time of our fall recap post, we had our first true date night since Lily’s birth.  For Father’s Day, Susan got me tickets to see Alton Brown Live in Louisville and set up babysitting with my parents.  Alton is one of my food heroes and I didn’t even know he had a live show so this was very exciting…and the show was great.

Thanksgiving weekend was packed with activities in Delphos.  First we had a small family (if any meal with 8 kids involved can be considered small) Thanksgiving feast at Susan’s parents’ house on Thursday. 

 

  

Friday morning, Susan and her mom and sisters squeezed in Cookie Day, which finished Saturday morning.

Susan’s dad’s side of the family had their holiday party (Christmas and Thanksgiving combo).  With such a large family, it’s impressive to find any time to get most of them together in one place.  Lily also had her first Santa experience here and was not fazed by the man in red.

     

To cap off the Thanksgiving weekend, Sunday brought Lily’s baptism which she slept through completely.  No reaction at all to the anointing and water.

  

    

At the start of December, we got snowed on…about 5 inches that was maintained by follow-up dustings and cold temperatures for about a week.  However, I took the time to play in the snow by running a Topo Trail Series race at East Fork State Park, the morning after the big snow.
To celebrate the season while in town in Cincy, we made a trip to the Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal, an awesome experience any time of year with the old train terminal converted into a museum hub.  Given the season, though, they had a holiday trains exhibit that was a big hit and packed with families.  My favorite attraction is the miniature of downtown Cincinnati from the early 1900’s right at the entrance of the Cincinnati Museum.

Finally Christmas arrived and we first made our way to Delphos for the weekend.  Most of the time here was spent relaxing with her family around her parents’ house, but there was one Christmas party for Susan’s mom’s side of the family Saturday night.  It included a (more convincing) Santa visit, which Lily seemed to enjoy…particularly snuggling into Santa’s beard.

 

After a one day work layover in Cincinnati on Monday, it was down to Louisville for the Kissel and Murphy celebrations.  This was a busy few days with family visits, friend visits, last minute shopping, and parties scattered throughout.

Back from the whirlwind of the holidays, we are taking it easy and staying in Cincinnati for New Year’s (what a difference a year makes)...looking forward to 2014.
Happy Holidays!

Recapping The Fall–In Pictures

This just in: Newborn babies are a time consuming experience!

Luckily for us, ours is also cute and photogenic, so despite the lack of posting lately we have gathered plenty of pictures to review what we’ve been up to the past two months.

We had plenty of visitors through the rest of September to meet the newest family member and take a shot of us in the back yard (while my arm healed).

Lily’s aunt got Lily her very own miniature Derby.

One of our first outings was to the Gorman Heritage Farm for the Sunflower Festival

 

In a blink of an eye, one month had passed and it was time for a photo shoot.

The first road trip was to Indiana to visit the Hilly Hundred and Huber’s pumpkin patch.

Then the 6 week photo shoot, with a hat we brought back from Logan.

 

Followed by the first Halloween with our Little Lady-bug.  Then straight to Lily’s first formal appearance at a friend’s wedding where we were able to catch up with college friends we hadn’t seen in years.

Finally, we took in the falling leaves that buried our backyard and took Lily to her first UK football tailgate…she was smart and skipped the game itself.

With the holidays fast approaching, the schedule only gets more eventful going forward.  Hopefully we remember to keep things up to date around here.