Near, far and everywhere in between

Yes, its been awhile. We are FULLY aware, no need to remind us. It has been a hectic summer to put it mildly. The last few weeks we had Tom and Laura's wedding, a week up north with Josh's family, a baptism where we became godparents of Aidan and then Grandma Peg and Petra stayed at our house for the last few days! With Josh traveling during the week I realize how much less time I have to get the blog updated along with keeping up with pictures, laundry, house cleaning and then running after the almost 15-month-old who runs our house! I'm way behind on pretty much all of the above, except running after Gretta of course!

I don't even know where to start with pictures, but since Jeff and Angelie have been without their little girl for a week and a half and they miss her dearly, I thought I better post a couple of her and Gretta. They had an absolute BLAST playing and getting to spend time together.

There are lots of pictures of the last couple weeks so I'll be posting more later of all our fun.

To top it off, I hear Gretta waking up from her nap and now the internet isn't working as I'm trying to post this so all I can say is............I'm TRYING!!



Kissing cousin Petra, it may look like her hand is mauling her face but she is being very "gentle" as we have taught her.


Going for a ride in their hogs.


At the park


Auntie Jessica

Family

We had a family reunion for Jess's mom's side in Spillville, Iowa this weekend.





Gretta discovered she could climb UP the slide.....


And have fun on the swings with her cousin Petra.



Petra was all smiles! It was so good to visit with her, Jeff and Angelie for the weekend.


One of Spillville's sites to see was the Bily Clocks Museum. It had the clocks on display along with some Antonin Dvorak (famous Czech composer) memorabilia from when he and his family lived there in 1893. There were many beautiful wooden carved clocks, made by brothers Frank and Joseph Bily, one of which they had been offered 1 million dollars for by Henry Ford back in 1929, they declined the offer.


Family!

Daily activities

Well, its June already and we can tell the summer is going to fly by. Our weekends are filling up quickly and even though Josh is gone Mon-Thurs. during the week it really goes fast! Here are some recent pictures....we've been kind of slacking and need to get some of the whole family again! For now, Gretta will have to do her best to entertain you.

Our favorite game...."cup foot"

Reading time

Girly girl

Decided to girl Gretta up a bit today tried a headband....it lasted long enough for some pictures!

After all, it matched the flip flops!

Playdates and Memorial Weekend

We have had a couple playdates since we've been home. This was with our friend Beau and Jess's son Devin (lucky boy in the middle) and our friend Laura's niece Erin who is only a month younger than Gretta.

Erin and Gretta

Devin and Gretta share a swing!

The other day Devin and Gretta had on some cute summery outfits so pictures were a must!

We went to my parent's cabin for Memorial weekend and it turned out to be a beautiful weekend up north!

Had to try on Grandma Peg's hat

Fishing with dad

Fishing is fun! Everyone caught a walleye or perch!

Driving the boat with Grandpa Steve

Housewarming, homecoming and babies!

This weekend we had Joel and Meghan's housewarming and our homecoming party. We also got happy news that 2 of Jess's cousins, who are sisters, are expecting little ones in December! Congratulations Beth, Luke, Laura and Matt!

Great-Grandma Glady and Gretta

Gretta thought the beanbag game was a lot of fun!

First Cousin Nora gets a hug, whether she wants it or not!

Auntie Meghan and Uncle Joel in their new house

Whew....

We've been keeping a little too busy now that we're home, so blogging has been taking a backseat. Someone has a lot more stuff to get into here at home so we've been more busy with that too and Josh is back to traveling during the week, his new project is in Orlando, FL. However, today he left for a training session in Brazil! Tonight, Gretta and I went to Walking With Dinosaurs with my Aunt Julie and her 3 girls Michelle, Gretchen and Sarah, it was a lot of fun and Gretta had a lot of fun with the girls and watching the dinosaurs, she didn't get scared at all! Thanks for a such a fun event Julie!

Ahh...the drawer of pens and other miscellaneous objects of wonder....

Climbing the stairs! She can make it all the way to the top, very quickly!

We rearranged Gretta's room and got her a new rug, slowly we have been nesting for her. Didn't really get to do much before she was born or for her 1st year since we weren't really here!

Mother's Day

Will post more pictures and words later, but just wanted to put these up quickly....

4 Generations

Great-Grandma Ellie and Gretta

Surprise!

We're home! We surprised some friends and family this past weekend with coming home early! We got home Friday and Saturday we just took the day to settle in a little, do some grocery shopping, go through 3 months worth of mail, unpack. Sunday was a day of surprises starting with our friend Laura, we were at the finish line of her 1/2 marathon! We made a stop at our friends' Beau and Jess's house and then on to Grandma Rachel and Grandpa Fred's house to surprise them and Uncle Seth, thanks to his girlfriend Kim for the elaborate planning! We weren't scheduled to be home until the end of the month so it was fun to see the look on people's faces and we got some video and pictures, but I'm sure they will appreciate if we don't post their funny reactions......

Petra and Angelie happened to be home when we were coming home so the girls got to have a little cousin visit.

Gretta tried to blow raspberries on her belly and then body slammed her, luckily it wasn't a full body slam so she was unharmed. Oh the fun they will have!

Had to test out the Burley right away, only around the block though, we need to get her a helmet.

The apron from France that Grandma Rachel brought back

Exhausted! Surprising is hard work!

It was so nice to come home to our house and we're slowly settling in, getting over jet lag and all that. Josh headed to his new project in Orlando, FL right away on Monday and was home last night so a nice short trip. Gretta and I were busy all week with visits to Abby and Nick, Sara came over and visiting Meghan and Joel's new house so the week went fast. Now that Josh is home for the weekend we're going to continue settling in and getting our house in order, do laundry, mow the lawn, etc. You know, "normal" stuff!

Thanks Joel and Meghan for taking such good care of our house and congratulations on your beautiful new home!