weekend in illinois

John had the weekend off, and wanted to visit his brother David who has recently moved to Illinois. The plans were on, then off, then on again at the last minute. So Friday morning we stuffed some clothes - and a bunch of diapers - into a duffel bag and headed north. On the drive we realized that Emma has been in four states in her four weeks. Pretty good for a little one!
We had a great time seeing David, his new place, and the town he lives in. He was a great host!

the local art park

dessert was quite good - it even deserved a picture

taking over the bed

the crossword puzzle that we labored over all evening (we only cheated a little bit)

announcing our baby girl

Emma Grace Elizabeth was introduced to us on February 26th at 11:31 pm. She weighed 8 pounds 15 ounces, and was 20.5 inches long - a very healthy little girl with red hair!

the 14th

special coffee drinks that John made up for us

we drank our cafe mochas, ate strawberries and homemade truffles (with whipped cream) and watched our gift to each other - one of our favorite classic movies - Casablanca. a quite evening with an early bedtime, because John was off to work again at 5 the next morning. quite, but oh, so enjoyed.

A Good Year

Wow .... it has been over a year now since John moved to the "Queen City". The time seems shorter than that - and longer, too!
Shorter, in that I can hardly believe we are approaching our first anniversary, and are days away from becoming a family of three (yes, we will be keeping you posted!).
Longer, in that it seems we have been married so much longer. So much longer, and yet every day still feels like the first one. (sometimes I wake up amazed to find his head on the pillow next to mine)
A year sounds like it would be enough time to settle in to a place and make it home, but I still feel like a new transplant. Right now I am under the impression the California will always be "home" to me. Oh, I am on the edge of being confident of being able to find my way around the city (with the help of the GPS John got me), but it's not the same. Not home.
Of course, since John is here, any place with him would be home!
It has been a very good year.



(John might do a more thorough re-cap post later)

The neighbor boys loved playing on the snow in back of our place yesterday. I almost wanted to go out and join them myself!

making his own blog, originally uploaded by Lizi Beth.

'cuz you're lovely ........... just the way you look tonight

(link to the blog he and David have been working on)

New Year's Day