Andrej, Jessica, Kaiya and Tobi

A few weeks ago my dad was invited along with one of his best friends to go on a weekend long fishing trip. Fishing just happens to be one of his favorite things to do, so he proposed the plan to my mom. At first she wasn't too excited about spending a weekend alone, but it didn't take long for her to cook up a plan of her own. She got a decent deal on a plane ticket and came to spend a few days with Kaiya and Tobi. It was so much fun to have her here for a spontaneous visit. (Read more …)

I'm not sure if anything like weblog etiquette exists, but if it does I'm sure I've broken all the rules. I've learned that I'm not very good at frequent updates and often start entries that I never finish. My drafts folder holds so many posts that range from nothing more than ideas to pretty much complete posts that were for whatever reason never published. (Read more …)

I cannot believe it, but in one month our sweet boy will celebrate his first birthday! His. First. Birthday. I’ve asked this question before, and I’ll ask it again, where does the time go? Tobi at 11 months is one active little boy. He took his first unassisted steps on April 15, five consecutive steps before he dove into my arms in a fit of laughter. Each time I would stand him back up and cheer for him to try again, he would laugh even harder as he wobbled towards me. Since then he has taken more and more steps each day. He looks like a little tin man as he moves his stiff legs one foot at a time. It is amazing to watch him learn to balance and navigate upright. I didn't think I would be so excited since I've already experienced one child's first steps, and I knew Tobi would walk eventually, but it seems that no matter how many children you have it is truly amazing to witness each one take their first steps.  (Read more …)

If you looked through photo albums of my childhood, you would see year after year pictures of my brother and me standing outside on Easter Sunday. Dressed in our Sunday best, we were always positioned nicely beside some blooming tree or flowers holding our Easter baskets. I knew on the Friday before Easter this year that there would be no outside pictures of Kaiya and Tobi in the new clothes purchased for them by their grandparents and great-grandparents. A huge snow storm blew in as we were dyeing Easter eggs Friday afternoon. As beautiful as it was to watch the snowflakes fall, it didn't exactly fit my picture of Easter weekend. In the weather's defense, Easter did come really early this year.  (Read more …)