More from Texas

This is the second-to-last post from our Texas trip-- I promise!

On Sunday morning, we went to a local elementary school's playground and had a lot of fun playing with Uncle Jordan's discs.  I love this picture that my mom accidentally took when she leaned on the camera.

Grandma JoJo and her first grandchild!

Here's a semi-long video of Uncle Jordan playing with his nieces and nephew.  They worship the ground he walks on!



More attempts at group pictures.....

Why do we even try to take posed pictures with these nutter butter children?!?  The candid pictures are much easier.  I love this one of Sosini and her Uncle Jordan:

But, then again, we sometimes get cute ones like this one of Petey and his beloved mama:

Oh, Charbunkle.  You are too darn cute!!!

Bestest buddies!!!

Awwwwwwww!!!!

Sonia and her uncle, aunt, and cousins

On Friday, family members kept popping out of the woodwork.  First, Sosini's Uncle Jordan arrived from Seattle.

Then, Andrew flew in to join us for the weekend.

Just before dinnertime, Sosini's Aunt Niki and cousins Charlotte & Peter pulled up in the Big Red Van.  As usual, hilarity and mayhem ensued.

That night, after the chitlins were put to bed, we busted out the insanely awesome carrot cake (made using the same recipe as the carrot cake I made for my mom's birthday last month) and wished my bro a happy birthday.  I love this picture of him cheesin' it up while we sang Happy Birthday:

The next morning, while Jordan, Andrew, and my dad were disc golfing, we played outside.  Somehow, I failed to take a picture of Charlotte.

Post-swimming ice cream cones...  YUM!!!

We attempted some group pictures of the kids and the great-grandparents....  It's just not a family picture unless some kid is crying (or at least giving a stink-eye).

That night, Andrew, Sonia, and I ditched the Evanses and helped Andrew's lovely sister, Ali, celebrate her birthday.  Unfortunately, I failed to get any pictures of the occasion, which is quite a tragedy because we had a great time!  Sonia's cousin, Nicholas, was in the most hilarious mood and kept us in stitches the whole evening.  That handsome little dude is a crack-up!  We can't wait to come back to Texas and spend more time with Andrew's sis's family and his parents.

More pictures to come....

Sonia and her great-grandparents

Sonia and I just spent a week in Texas at Grandma JoJo and Grandpa Spike's house (yes, we have gotten to see a lot of them lately!), and lemmetellyou, we had an awesome time.  Sonia got to hang out with her maternal grandparents, one set of great-grandparents, her uncle, her aunt, and her cousins.  She also got to have a brief visit with her paternal grandparents, another aunt & uncle, and another cousin.  Confused?  Well, let me start with the great-grandparents.

My mom and her parents (Meem and Pop, who had been in Texas for a few days already) picked Sonia and me up from the airport.  Of course, we jumped in my parents' swimming pool before we even unpacked.  Sonia is such a little fish!!

After we dried off, my mom entertained Sonia while my grandpa chilled on the couch.

Later, four generations of Williams/Scott/Evans/Malahowski women baked cookies together.  I was behind the camera for this picture, of course.

More pool antics!  Pop helped inflate the doughnut pool float while Sonia goofed off.

Ahhhhh....  This is the life....

After the fishy got sufficiently water-logged, she started bringing all of the pool toys over to Meem and Pop (who were sitting in the shade about 15 feet away), one by one.  Sosini thought that was a great game!

I had been happily floating around in the giant doughnut, but when she ran out of toys, Sonia demanded that I get out of the pool and hand over the doughnut so she could present it to Meem.

Sonia really loved hanging around with Meem and Pop. It's not surprising, really.... these two people have been charming their grandchildren (and now their great-grandchildren) for almost 35 years.  

....and then, Uncle Jordan arrived.  To be continued!

ZEM

A flower for our first-born on his birthday:

We love you, Zachary Evan.  Your little sister is learning about you and will love you, too.

More May fun

Sonia likes to play beauty shop, but I don't think she's ready to open up her own hair salon just yet....

Unlike Christmas, on her birthday, Sosini took her time and actually played with each toy before ripping open a new one.... What a difference 5 months makes!

Later that day, Sonia had a lovely birthday party with her friends.  I don't think the weather (low 70's, sunny, slightly breezy) could have been any more perfect!

One of her favorite birthday presents is a playdough cake-making contraption.  She loves decorating these little desserts!

As usual, we have had criminal amounts of fun with our playgroup friends this month.  One sunny day, we went to Willowbrook Wildlife Center in Glen Ellyn, and after lunch, we played a rousing (if slightly chaotic) game of Red Light, Green Light:

At Blackberry Farm, Sonia found a new friend:

And at the Brookfield Zoo, Sonia insisted on riding the giraffe on the carousel, even though it was the only animal on the entire merry-go-round that didn't go up and down.

Next up on the blog: pictures from our week-long trip to Texas!

Grandma JoJo & Grandpa Spike's visit, part III

Backlog, ahoy!  I have been busy/preoccupied/lazy/whatever, so I have barely posted all month.  Here are some more pictures from the grandparent visit earlier in May.

Once again, Grandma JoJo came to a gymnastics class and took some awesome pictures.  The dynamic duo (Ike & Sonia) showed off their skills and acted like total goofballs.

Grandma JoJo helped Sonia with the parachute!

Before we sent my parents back to Texas to rest (hanging around with an almost-3-year-old is exhausting!!), we brought them to one of our favorite places: the Phillips Park Zoo.

My favorite inhabitant of the zoo:

Grandma and Grandpa tried to teach Sonia how to tell knock-knock jokes, with hilarious results.

Horsing around with Grandpa!

Snuggles with Grandma!

We had such a lovely time with you, Mom and Dad....  Sonia loves her grandparents!!