bundle of joy

after months of anticipation, we finally got to meet little miss lily, and wow is she adorable! we all fell in love at first sight, you really can't help it! our weekend with the chicago mangos was a blast, thanks mark and bev for hosting all of us:)

another excuse

okay you may have noticed that my posts are quite delayed, well, what can i say, um, sorry:) we've been very consumed with adjusting to life in the northwoods, looking for our new home, and trying to keep 2 children busy, so try and be patient.

and then we had fire

easter croquet

quinn loved watching everyone play croquet....."i see you"

a few lessons, some trial and error, and then wa-la.....one amazing 5 year old player!

good game!

painting some eggs

the kids had so much fun preparing for easter, the eggs turned out very colorful.

bring it on!

ryder got all ready to play the entire family in table ping pong. now, legion has it that the christopher family is quite spectacular with all racket sports (great grandma elvera was amazing at ping pong) and so ryder has been wired with some of this raw talent, and attitude...not sure where that comes from:)

awesome action shot!

visitors

our good friends, amanda, jamie, lexie, and baby samuel came from chicago to visit us. the girls are almost the same age, so had tons of fun together. this is when they were chillin and watching elmo, it must be relaxing to pick your nose while watching a movie......i just may try that trick again:)

the second half

well the second half of the road trip wasn't as amazing as the first, but we somehow made it all the way to wisconsin. we sang a thousand songs, played every car game possible, ate snacks all day long (i swear quinn said "i hungee" like every 5 minutes), watched a movie, read books, took naps, and any activity mom could create......like beading! it was a fun trip, but we are glad to be out of the car!

we got to meet calvin

it was so fun to hang with amy, matt, and calvin in denver, they are just such a sweet family! the kids loved playing with calvin and all his toys, and i loved doing all my dirty laundry from our road trip (thanks again amy!!). we love you guys, and hope to see you in madison soon;)

indoor slide

while staying at daniel's house in boulder, ryder and quinn slowly gravitated to the stairs. it started with rolling cars down, then marbles, then one evening ryder figured out the indoor slide, wow, was it hilarious! he had everyone laughing so hard.....it brought us all back to our own childhoods, weee!!

boulder, co

we got to cruise around boulder for a few days and show our kids our old stomping grounds, it really felt good to be back in such a beautiful town. the kids had fun playing on the pearl street mall, going on hikes, and playing at daniels house.

quick dip

we made a little stop in steamboat springs to treat out kids to one of our old favorites, hot water springs....in the middle of the mountains!

the kids were amazed! and it felt so good to swim around.

gorgeous!

our awesome travelers

first day on the road

we got on the road early tuesday morning, and took off around 630. the car was packed up to the top and the kids were snug in their car seats......the great american road trip!

we made it to tahoe, and had then discovered a flat tire, ugh!!

it ended up being okay, and ryder was quite interested, then we were on the road, again!

good-bye sharp family!

we had the opportunity to stay with the sharp family, once again, and like last time, it was wonderful!! they became our california family, and we feel lucky to have them in our lives.

sally and lindsey working hard on the kids cards. they sent along a few gifts (and a very sweet card) so they each had something new and special when the road trip was starting to get old:) we broke it out right before we left boulder, we needed something awesome to get through nebraska!

last game in lafayette

ryder got so good with the "standard" hopscoth, he insisted on making one to 20, whew, that's a workout!

check out how quinn picks up her rock, oh, it's so stinkin cute!!