new year's at grandma's

Up until this point the longest time Lilyana has spent in the car was the 2 hour drive back and forth from Springfield to Wyandotte. We were a little nervous to find out how she would do on a 10 hour drive to McKenzie TN. We decided to take an extended new year's weekend to go and visit grandma Deni and Papa Ken in their new house. They just moved into the new house August 2010 and this was the first chance we had to make it down there.

We left our house Friday evening around 7pm and drove south to just past Indianapolis (about 4.5 hours of driving) before we stopped to stay at a hotel for the night. Lilyana pretty much slept this whole portion of the trip. A well rested Lilyana woke up when we got to the hotel and was very excited to play and explore in this new place that was our hotel room. It was a little difficult trying to get her to fall back asleep that night. The next morning we ate a large breakfeast at the hotel before heading out for the remainder of the drive. Lilyand did very well at this portion of the drive also. We stopped once at a rest area for about an hour to eat and stretch our legs. Lilyana played on the jungle gym for a while before we got back in the car for the rest of the drive.

The time we spent in Tennesee was carefree and very relaxing, we even got in a round of golf, although it was a little chilly that day. Another day we walked down the road to a ranch with some carrots to feed the horses. While we were on the way 2 puppies spotted us and decided that they wanted to go for a walk with us. The puppies went with us all the way to the horses and back to grandma's house. Their owner had to come and rescue them later.

On the way back home we stopped and stayed the night at aunt Suzie's house in Henderson Ky. We arrived late and left early. It was a short stay but it was still nice to visit with Suzie for a bit.

On the way home just north of Indianaplos Lilyana had a breakdown. This was the final leg of the trip and we had to pull over and get her out of her car seat to calm her down.

Overall it was a very relaxing trip, even with all of the driving.

Friends with babies

Although most of my friends from high school have moved away to exciting new places, they still have family back home in Michigan. Yippey for me, cause I get a chance to catch up on them and how wonderful their families are growing. Oh my growing to say the least.



For Thanksgiving Kay and her husband Dan, can to visit with their most handsome son Henry. He was such a character he was cool with Lilyana following him around his grandma's house. Sharing his dog bed and laundry basket. see Kay's story






For Christmas, Kim and her husband Josh and their two beautiful kids Julia and Paul made the drive up from Atlanta to come visit. With precise calculation we found an hour to get together to see each other. It was one the of quickest hours of my life It was so fun to watch our three little ones play with one another.




Born on mother's day Paul has the cutest gummy smile, you just can help but to smile back at him yeah, you try to get three kids to look at the camera, still so stinkin' cute

catch up on Christmas

We had a great time watching lilyana discover all the new things that christmas had to offer.
Lots and lots of new toys, books and stuffed animals. lilyana loves playing with the ball go around, spin spin spin.

she did pretty good with the tree although we kept the coffe table between the tree and her play area so that helped, once we moved the coffee table she had to discover the ornaments.

After coming home from visiting all of matt's family on christmas and christmas eve, lilyana had a tree full of toys

Videos of Lilyana

Spaghetti Noodles

Lilyana plays with a snowball

Our little climber