All photos courtesy of Julie Kraai Photography:
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Smiles
This summer my sister came to visit for almost a whole month! It was so wonderful to see and spend time with Erin, her hubby Nick, and their FOUR beautiful children. Our dear family friend, and incredible photographer, Julie came to snap some lovely shots of all of us together. We had such a fun day at the lake with her and she produced some treasured images. We cannot recommend her enough - be sure to visit her at http://juliekraaiphotography.com/
All photos courtesy of Julie Kraai Photography:
All photos courtesy of Julie Kraai Photography:
I love Paris
As I mentioned below, Nick and I got to have a dream come true this May 2011 when we traveled to Paris together to celebrate our 10th Wedding anniversary. I will let the pictures do the talking, but to summarize...it was truly the most perfect, wonderful, incredible trip I have ever been on. I now have a complete and total obsession with Paris and cannot wait to return. BUT. At the same time I am scared to ever go back because I do not know how any visit could ever possibly be as perfect as this one was. In a way, I want to always remember it just as it was on this trip for us. I want to always have *this* Paris. Enjoy. We sure did.
The Space Between...
Despite my best efforts and intentions, the space between postings grows longer and longer. It is certainly not for lack of material for the blog. I will admit that the use of facebook and twitter has put a damper on my blogging. Why write lengthy descriptive posts when about 100 characters can sum up a moment? I have grown more adept at summarizing my life, thoughts, and feelings in a few sentences via those social networking sites. However, I do miss the fun of blogging away. I won't make promises here about frequency or length of blog updates, but I will try to do what I can.
Somehow, Nick and I find ourselves at our 10 year wedding anniversary mark this year! We have two beautiful children in grade school full time (Kate in second grade and Liam in Kindergarten!). We are abundantly blessed. We celebrated our 10 year anniversary in Paris, France and it was truly heaven on earth. I will try to post some of the pics on here. The kiddos are healthy, happy, and active. Kate is a reading machine and spent the summer - when not in the pool - reading the entire Harry Potter series. At seven years old, that is quite an accomplishment! She is so bright that it floors me sometimes. I love her brain, her sweet nature, and her giggles. She is excited to be in choir, dance, piano, Brownies, and swimming this year. Liam is a whirlwind of activity. He has the mind of an engineer and is also reading up a storm. He requests story time every night, only now it is him reading to us. His smile is the best thing in our world, rivaled only by his hugs. He is excited to be in Karate and swimming this year and I am sure more activities will pop up as the Kindergarten year rolls along. He is sad that Cub Scouts does not start until first grade...the boy really wants to be a cub scout!
Nick has been traveling like a madman. He is gone probably 70-80% of the time for business, but we make it work. Technology is a big help - he has been known to read the kids bedtime stories via Skype, and the ease of facebook photo posts and online chatting has kept us in closer touch. I am so proud of his hard work and, frankly, I am darn proud of us for managing the schedule and the stress of it so well. We are both very supportive of each other and encouraging of every opportunity there is. I miss him when he is gone, and I know he misses us. Really, though, it all works out very well.
As for me, I am still President of Ever After Gowns and I volunteer for Theta. Those are two passions that I am so blessed to be able to be involved in. I love the incredible women that I get to work with and the difference in the world that I am able to make. It is very rewarding to see growth and success in those parts of my life. I am also now working for the University of Minnesota! I teach there! It is an absolute dream come true for me. I teach Leadership development in the Leadership Minor program and it is pure professional joy for me. Never have I felt so professionally supported, encouraged, and energized. Lucky lucky lucky lucky me. I get to see brains sparking and action inspired in the students and it is the coolest thing ever.
So - now you know the general situation for our clan for this Fall 2011. It is controlled chaos to be sure - - - Nick flying here, there, and everywhere, me zipping between meetings and work while the kids are in school and then me being a personal assistant and driver to the kids while I drive between activities, doctor appointments, dentists, playdates, birthday parties and the like. Dinners and bathtimes and homework and reading and PJs all before 8pm and then lights out for the kidlets....and sometimes then a glass of wine for Mom (and Dad when he is here!). It is blissful exhaustion that somehow is energizing at the same time.
Blessed.
Somehow, Nick and I find ourselves at our 10 year wedding anniversary mark this year! We have two beautiful children in grade school full time (Kate in second grade and Liam in Kindergarten!). We are abundantly blessed. We celebrated our 10 year anniversary in Paris, France and it was truly heaven on earth. I will try to post some of the pics on here. The kiddos are healthy, happy, and active. Kate is a reading machine and spent the summer - when not in the pool - reading the entire Harry Potter series. At seven years old, that is quite an accomplishment! She is so bright that it floors me sometimes. I love her brain, her sweet nature, and her giggles. She is excited to be in choir, dance, piano, Brownies, and swimming this year. Liam is a whirlwind of activity. He has the mind of an engineer and is also reading up a storm. He requests story time every night, only now it is him reading to us. His smile is the best thing in our world, rivaled only by his hugs. He is excited to be in Karate and swimming this year and I am sure more activities will pop up as the Kindergarten year rolls along. He is sad that Cub Scouts does not start until first grade...the boy really wants to be a cub scout!
Nick has been traveling like a madman. He is gone probably 70-80% of the time for business, but we make it work. Technology is a big help - he has been known to read the kids bedtime stories via Skype, and the ease of facebook photo posts and online chatting has kept us in closer touch. I am so proud of his hard work and, frankly, I am darn proud of us for managing the schedule and the stress of it so well. We are both very supportive of each other and encouraging of every opportunity there is. I miss him when he is gone, and I know he misses us. Really, though, it all works out very well.
As for me, I am still President of Ever After Gowns and I volunteer for Theta. Those are two passions that I am so blessed to be able to be involved in. I love the incredible women that I get to work with and the difference in the world that I am able to make. It is very rewarding to see growth and success in those parts of my life. I am also now working for the University of Minnesota! I teach there! It is an absolute dream come true for me. I teach Leadership development in the Leadership Minor program and it is pure professional joy for me. Never have I felt so professionally supported, encouraged, and energized. Lucky lucky lucky lucky me. I get to see brains sparking and action inspired in the students and it is the coolest thing ever.
So - now you know the general situation for our clan for this Fall 2011. It is controlled chaos to be sure - - - Nick flying here, there, and everywhere, me zipping between meetings and work while the kids are in school and then me being a personal assistant and driver to the kids while I drive between activities, doctor appointments, dentists, playdates, birthday parties and the like. Dinners and bathtimes and homework and reading and PJs all before 8pm and then lights out for the kidlets....and sometimes then a glass of wine for Mom (and Dad when he is here!). It is blissful exhaustion that somehow is energizing at the same time.
Blessed.
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