Easter Egg Hunt with Cousins

Hello!!!  We are baaaaaackk!!!  I've been busy snapping away, not always pics of us, but I am still getting many.  It's the lack of hours in the day that prevent me sharing with you.  We are still out and about, checking out a few new places and the kids are busy being kids--you know, making "splash parties" on the front porch, climbing trees and all sorts of innocent mischief...

We've introduced a new "member" into our family, our nanny Trixie who has been a part of the regular ebb and flow of our lives a couple of days a week.  And so life is thankfully slowly returning to somewhat of a normal-ish pace. 

Last weekend, we spent with family at our uncle and aunt's place with the cousins.  Our immediate family wasn't around, but we were so happy to spend Easter Sunday with the cousins like we did last year.  It's becoming a fun tradition each year.  And now the kids are all old enough that we can do Easter Egg hunts. 

The weather was glorious in the afternoon, so we did a little hunt outside and it was really sweet to see the little cousins all playing together.  They were all so cute in their little Easter get-up.  Adorable!! 

On our way home, Maggie exclaimed, "I play with Violet!  That was fun!"  Thanks for the lovely dinner, family!  We are slowly recovering from our chocolatey sugar craze/meltdowns....  Yay!

Happy Easter!! 

L. O. V. E.

Happy Belated Valentine's Day from our two little ones!  Yesterday, I was off doing a photoshoot all morning, but the moment I got home, I flew out the door with the kiddies and we were off to get goodies to surprise daddy--flowers and cupcakes and BALLOONS!!  Nothing seems to be more exciting than that these days! 

One of the benefits of being a photographer is that I also seem to have a ton of props around so decorating for holidays is made nice and easy.  (Including the balloons which I used for a shoot the day before).  I might have to start hiding all these things or my kids are going to grow up thinking that this is all normal!!  Oh well, as I always say, there is always a reason to celebrate!!

The kids help to make a card for their dad (thanks to an idea Jenn Hembruch gave me, THANK YOU INSTAGRAM for keeping us in touch!)   We love daddy so much, we just had to tell him so. Gabriel is nearly bursting with excitement to share our special Valentine's day party with dad.  All this excitement and pure pleasure over little things--don't you wish you could just bottle it up and save it forever?? 

It sure was cold yesterday, but we cuddled up inside and stayed warm together.  I feel so lucky to have two littles who love each other and are soo cuddly and lovey with us.  I really, really hope they don't grow up and lose that lovey affectionate nature.  It is such the sweetest thing.  Hope your Valentine's Day was cozy and spent with those you love!

~ Happy New Year ~

Today I sat down with the specific task of going through all of this year's photos and selecting just a few to look back on from the year.  Ya...  so...  I take a lot of pictures.  My final total of "just a few" was more like over 100.  I think we had a pretty amazing year this past year.  Maybe one of our best yet!  Although, I have to say that it's pretty hard to go wrong when our lives are filled with such supportive family, wonderful friends and lots of adventures both big and small. 

Here are just a few snaps from the year of all the family that visited, a few of the friends we played with and many of the places we went and things we did.

May we do more good in the world this year than we did last year

May we spend more time with the people we love, doing the things we love

May we explore new places, as many as we can

May we celebrate each special time in our lives; there is always a reason to celebrate  

May we stop and enjoy the small moments

May we mostly remember the best parts

Arrivederci Italia! Guten Tag, Germany!

Okay, okay, these are the last pictures from our Italy trip, I promise!!!  We just really, really had the best time ever.  I almost (almost) didn't want to come back.  Except, honestly, I couldn't wait to have a little more room in the kitchen and for the kids to have a bath again.  Did you know that Italians (as a general rule) don't have bathtubs?  In the four places we saw, none of them had bathtubs, despite the bathrooms being bigger than the kitchens.  The bidet had a large honorary space in the bathroom along with other things, but our kitchen was so tiny only one person could fit in it at a time (and I am NOT exaggerating about this).  

Anyway, I digress!  We spent our last three days on a whirlwind of traveling--we finished seeing Florence, the Rome again before spending a few overnight hours in Frankfurt, Germany. 

When we were here in Florence 10 years ago, we missed seeing the Leonardo DaVinci Museum and I am pretty sure that, since I was the one with the guide book, that Jordan never quite forgave me for not telling him in was in Florence until the day we were leaving.  It was a good reason to come back!  The Museum was amazing!  It was so incredibly fascinating to see DaVinci's drawings recreated in wooden versions--these amazing forerunners to modern technology, centuries before their time. 

 An airplane

 A crane

 The Last Supper

Okay, so the whole time we were in Florence, we kept our eyes open for the little pizza place on the edge of a piazza where we had pizza for dinner one night in the pouring rain right before stumbling into the side of the Duomo.  As it turns out it was on the complete opposite side of where we remembered it to be!  (Gabriel took this picture)

Right next door......  J & S like it was meant to be.

Best pizza I had all trip!

After that, we hiked across the river, and up to the top of the hill overlooking the city of Florence--the best view of the city.  Jordan pushed a 50 lb stroller over cobblestones up the hill and I carried 40 lb Gabriel on my back.  I'd say we definitely had a good workout this vacation--enough to work off any calories from the delicious Italian food and any cake we may have had way back in November.

 Spectacular Florence!  So worth the hike!  And then we were off to Rome again before flying out.

Gelato for the littles. 

How we travel...  Add too ginormous suitcases (we have NO IDEA how to pack light).  In fairness, we actually wore everything we brought and were so glad for any "extra clothes" because between having the flu and no dryers in any of the apartments we rented, we needed all that clothing!

And that was it for Rome.  We had an overnight in Frankfurt, Germany and we were so thankful to have a hotel to spend the night and celebrate.   We barely saw anything, including the fireworks that were blasting off the top of our hotel from 9:30pm to 5:30 am (we could only see the reflection in the windows across the street).  We just didn't have it in us to wander around so late in the evening with an early morning ahead of us.  But we swore we would go back to Germany.  We loved it even from our less than 12 hours there. 

Germany is made with little people in mind!!!  What do I mean?  From the minute you get out of the gate, there are children's play centers made of interesting wooden structures, there are big baby changing rooms (Italy didn't even have change tables or spaces to change children).  The cars we taxied in had build in booster seats for children that popped right out of the seat and clicked into place. So, ya.  We are going back.

 

All of the restaurants in Frankfurt around the hotel were booked since it was New Year's Eve, so we had to order in room service.  Best idea ever!!   Fries and sausages and schnitzel and German beer. 

We didn't realize we would be without our luggage in Germany and ran out of diapers and everything was closed.  Diapers on a platter for us!  Hilarious!

A big bag of Cheerios and German Art.  What can I say?

Arrivederci Italia!  We loved you!