Hawaii Here We Come!

Well here it is Tuesday night. I can't believe we leave for LA on Friday! We are going to spend a few days at Disneyland with our good friends from Monterey, The Tolmans! Then, on Tuesday we take-off (literally!) for Hawaii and a whole new adventure! We may be in temporary housing for a while so I may not catch up with the blog for a few months- but please let us know how you are doing! We will have our same email addresses and phone numbers! We would love to have friends come visit!!!

Our Last Few Days in Illinois!

Mike has been working on some home-improvement projects for my parents! He put shelves in their walk-in closet, and designed a "food-storage" pantry and built shelves from scratch! I'm so glad I have such a handy husband! Joshua couldn't resist being in on what Daddy has been doing!

Joshua got all bundled up today and went out to help Grandma shovel! What a cute snow baby!

I can't believe 5 months have gone by so quickly! My family has been wonderful to allow Joshua and I to stay here with them and eat their food, drive their cars, etc! They have been such a wonderful help with Joshua as well! We love them so much and appreciate all they have done! We will miss you when we leave!

OH....... BOY!!!!!!

We found out a few days before Christmas we will be welcoming another boy to our little family! I have to admit- I was quite shocked! This pregnancy has been different in a lot of ways and I was convinced that it was a girl! However, the very first shot of the ultrasound told otherwise! Before the technician even had a chance to tell us I knew- he gave us a very clear picture of himself! We are so excited to welcome him to our family around April 19th!

Christmas!

A visit with Mike's Family in NC! Eric, Mike's mom- Elaine, Joey, Joshua, me, and Mike. We were sad we didn't get a picture with Mike's dad and Sue! They'll have to send us one!

My family all together! From left: Trisha, Dad, Mom, Stuart, Me, Joshua, and Mike. In front: Hayley, Meagan (Ryan's wife), and Ryan.

This was a fun Christmas for us! My whole family was together again minus Stuart's fiance, Julie- whom we missed. We spent a day at the Museum of Science and Industry downtown Chicago and finished the night off with true "Chicago Style" Deep dish pizza! We also had lots of fun shopping, playing games, and just hanging out! We don't know when we will all be together again so we were grateful for the time we were able to spend together!

Joshua was adorable opening Christmas presents! We didn't want to "over" do- it with presents, knowing that he is only a year and a half old- so we got him a few things including a roller back-pack- which he loves, a Mr Potato Head, a coloring book, etc. But- even these few things proved to be too much! He was bored opening after the first present and so he sat and ate animal crackers while we opened the rest of his presents! We'll see how it goes next year!

Thank Goodness Daddy's Home!!!

Mike came home on December 19th! We have missed him these past 4 months! We have enjoyed some wonderful family time with family here in Illinois as well as a trip back to NC! We are so glad to be back together as a family again! Talking on the phone to Daddy was a nightly ritual for Joshua- Mike only was hung up on a few dozen times!

Catching Up...Again

It's been so cold outside we have tried to be creative with our indoor activities!

We had a big snow before we had any boots for Joshua so Grandma had the great idea to bring the snow to him. You can see what he thought of how cold it was!