A Special Girl

Happy Birthday, Sis!

Crystal (sitting) and I (standing) on termite mounds in Senegal.

My sister and I are three years apart in age. She's always been my big sister, the brave and bossy one. Forging ahead and making a path for me to follow.

Crystal and I one Christmas at Grandma's house in New York.

Watching cartoons together.

As we grew we became more than sisters. We became friends.

Now she is a wonderful Auntie to my boys. They love her. She was there at both of their births.

I can finally share these photos with you! Back in March while i was still in Florida Crystal got in her wedding dress and we went to the beach for some bridal portraits. I'll share more in another post.

Things are changing. She is a married lady now. Her focus is on her husband now. Just as it should be.

But still, change is hard. I just have to remember that change isn't always a bad thing. Change can bring some wonderful new experiences. Like maybe some nieces and nephews in the future? ;)

Crystal, I hope Andy spoils you today and treats you like a queen! Happy Birthday! Love you!

Another Late Night Post

This is a video from my walk this evening.

It was nearly 11pm when I took this and look how bright it still is!
I love the long summer days!

These photos are from last week. Spending time with my family after the wedding!

I love pillow fights with Kyle!

My brother and I.

Most of the cousins that were there.

My brother Andrew with Ethan.

Snoozin' with Grandpa!

♥ ♥ &hearts

WEEK 25 Theme - Wedding Bells

This beautiful little girl is Chaella.
She was the flower girl at my sister's wedding last week.

Click here to see more wedding photos at I ♥ Faces.


Just for Fun:

My little cousin Anna

My Welcome Home

Why am I up at a 2am loading a video to my blog?

Because my world traveling 5 month old's internal time clock has gone wacky! It's not his fault really. I'm the one who dragged him over the ocean and made him go through the five hour time change... twice! He's wide awake and that means I'm awake too. I'm not quite as perky as Ethan at this late hour but i'm awake never the less.

So i loaded the short video clips of my welcome home. You can hear Elijah's squeaky voice, poor kid has a cold too! The lady who talks to Elijah is the one who was so nice and helpful on the trip. She and her husband were on both my flights. Geoff is talking to her husband during the video.
I had a cup of coffee and a nice chat with them during our layover in Newark.

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Did you see the picture of the sign i added to this post?

Finally! Pictures!

Since today is Andrew and Crystal's ONE WEEK wedding anniversary and you still have yet to see pictures I thought it would be a good day to post a few.

All these photos are from Susan. I haven't even had time to sit down and go through all of them myself yet. So these are just a few to hold you over until I can organize them and myself a little bit better.

My mom, Crystal and I getting ready

The Ceremony

Their first kiss
Sand (instead of a unity candle)

Mr & Mrs Topel

The Families

The Cake

The First Dance

Adios!

Lots more to come! And then there's the pictures of our time after the wedding.

Home again!

A sign that Rachel and Elijah made for me!

It feels so wonderful to be home with my husband and Elijah again! I really missed them!

The two flights I was on were packed full. But I met some really nice people. Ethan slept all night on the flight. I was worried that because he had a runny nose that the flight would hurt his ears but it didn't seem to bother him. My ears on the other hand... ouch! Flying with a cold is not fun.

Geoff and Elijah were there at the airport to pick me up! Elijah had a bouquet of flowers and a huge grin! Geoff had a cup of coffee and a hug!

I was so exhausted by the time we got home that I felt like I was going to pass out. I was able to get a nap in before we had to go to the doctors for our appointment that was made a few weeks ago.

Poor little Ethan had his belly button taken care of. He had to get it cauterized.

I have to go. Geoff wants to take me out today.

Thanks for your prayers. The trip went smoothly even though I was really tired.

Off to the airport

Mom is taking Ethan and I to the airport in an hour.

It's bitter sweet because i hate saying goodbye to my family over here but i'm really excited to hug by boys back home!

Thanks for your prayers!

Rehersal Dinner Faces

The Groom and his Bride

The two happiest faces there!

Rachel, Ethan & Lindsay

Sherri (the wedding planner) Brittany & Ethan

My littlest cousin Anna
Aunt Winnie and Ethan

Aunt Winnie, Me, Sherri, Brittany, Ethan

I've seen so many faces this weekend.

Young faces, old faces. Family faces, friend's faces.

Faces i see almost every day and faces i haven't seen for years.

They've been happy faces. A few teary eyes here and there but they were happy tears.

Anna's big sister Sara

The flower girl.

Brittany and Ethan.

My mom with Matthew and her sister with Anna.

Crystal and Shannon.

Ethan and MatthewThese are all precious faces to me.
I've got more amazing faces to share with you soon.

Thanks to the Chiaros for opening up their home and hosting the rehearsal dinner there!

From Rachel

"It was 7am on a Thursday morning as my phone sang its wake up call. After a moment of fumbling about, my hand discovered and silenced it. As my brain struggled to consciousness two thoughts dominated. One, sitting up past 1am to read Persuasion is not the wisest course of action - particularly when you have read said novel before and are fully aware of the outcome. And two? Geoff would arrive in 30 minutes and it was important that I look awake and organised....I was certain of one thing. I needed coffee.

My dear brother arrived 20 minutes later, laughed at my bed head and pjs, plopped his son into my arms, handed me a bag of clothes, and drove off. And so commenced my time Elijah.

One of my goals in life is to be a great auntie. The kind of auntie that the kids want to spend time with. The kind of auntie that they will think of fondly, even when they grow up. The kind of auntie who will induce happy memories, and so will still be visited, even if she turns into a crazy old lady with lots of cats (we all have to plan for worst case scenarios folks). With those cheerful thoughts in mind, I looked at my nephew and said "Hey Booger, you want cinnamon rolls for breakfast?" These words acted like magic, and he promptly went from snuggling against me half asleep, to bright eyed and wriggling, "Yeah!". Cinnamon rolls just out of the oven, and fresh coffee. Elijah giggling, slurping his milk and displaying an appetite to match his dad's. As I contemplated the scene before me, I decided that the day was off to a pretty good start.


I had also decided that we should go to the toy store - regardless of age, toy stores are fun. It was a big store, there was wide-eyed wonder at the rows upon rows of toys. Then I felt Elijah pull my hand 'Come on auntie'. Oh right, yes, we were here for the kid. We wandered up and down the aisles, checking out the race cars, confirming that anything pink is not for boys, and stocking up on toy swords. Because little boys need weapons of warfare. Since then much of our time has been spent in sword-fighting, and during these fights I am frequently required to die. After being informed that I was dead, I flopped to the ground and decided it was the perfect opportunity to rest. Elijah looked at me, poked me with his sword and ordered "Get up!". "I can't. I'm dead!" He looked at me for a moment, and moved closer. I braced myself, fully expecting that he was going to jump on me. But he didn't. He leaned down, gave me a kiss, and said "Now you can be awake again!" Who teaches them such cuteness??

Everyday we go through the alphabet, Elijah loves doing this - although I'm not entirely sure whether it's a love of learning or the opportunity to laugh at my British pronunciation! A danger of having me as an aunt is that I might decide that being three years old and American is no excuse for not learning the Hebrew alphabet. Elijah may not know which alphabet is his alphabet, but as long as it comes with flashcards, he's happy.

After a morning of cutting and sticking, Elijah looked at me quite seriously and declared that he had been working hard, and was done now. Work was done. It was time to play, the sun was shinning. It was time to play with water pistols. By lunch time, we were both wet and tired. Elijah was so tired, that he lay down on the ground! Definitely time to re-fuel!

So dear sister-in-law, this is how we have been spending our days! If I had more time I could tell you about the amazing things we have formed out of play-doh, the ciabatta bread that Elijah helped to make, the battles with pecking hens, hide-and-seek between the silage bales, and the search for Father's Day presents...but it's time for Elijah to get up from his nap - so all those things will have to wait :)"

He gets his little chair, and just sits. Watching.

The slide is still going strong after all these years
It started with bemused glances....
Slowly the pieces started coming together.
I was quite impressed.