Greek Fest!

Last weekend was our church's Greek Festival. Once again, the food was amazing. Nate and I especially appreciated all the Greek food this year since we were not able to go to Greece. I think I gained five pounds just in the two days I worked at the festival. Nate and I worked at the ticket booth on Saturday. I sold tickets again on Sunday with my brother and also worked at the kid's tent. I really enjoyed working at the kid's tent. I've been away from my preschoolers for so long, I really do miss them. It was nice to be around kids again and just have fun. I was in charge of face painting. I am hardly an artist, but none of the kids complained about my paintings. I would offer to paint a heart or a sun, something easy, but in the end the kids would decide on SpongeBob or a dragon. Kids are so sweet, they all said that my paintings were beautiful, even though most were unrecognizable. Some of the kids enjoyed the painting so much that they wanted to paint me! Before long, my arms and legs were covered with kids' artwork! I miss preschool. I don't want to go back to work, but working with kids this weekend made me miss preschool.

Selling ticketsMy best customer at the kid's tent, Katie.

Then Katie started painting me!

Alaina wore a Greek dress that my parents bought for her. It's hard to see when she's sitting in her carseat, but it was really cute!

Ruby met Alaina at the Greek Fest
The Greek dancers from our church

Family picture at the festival

Blast from the Past

Kalli, Eric, Jill, Dan

Four best friends, summer 2000......together again in 2009

Nate and I had some very special visitors last weekend. Jill, my roommate from college, drove to Rockford from Kansas City. My other good friend from college, Eric, also drove in from Des Moines. Dan is currently living in Rockford so it was the perfect opportunity for the four of us to get together. Our lives have definitely changed since the summer 2000 photo above. We all live in different cities, three of us are married, and Nate and I have a child. Here is a current picture of all of us, along with our new families, but minus Jill's husband who was unable to make the trip to Rockford.

Jill and Eric stayed in Rockford until Sunday afternoon. We had a lot of fun over the weekend going to Brat Days, grilling, and just hanging out. Below are some pictures from our exciting weekend. Thanks for coming to visit us, Eric and Jill. We love and miss you!

Eric, Jill, Kalli at Brat Days
Hanging out at home. Jill meets Zoe. Zoe enjoys a nap with Eric
Dinner time.

S'mores time.

Eric's parents had us all over for breakfast Sunday morning.

Two Months Old

That's right, Alaina is already two months old! I can't believe how fast she is growing up. Her two month check-up was this morning. Alaina now weighs 10 pounds, 3 ounces... she finally outweighs Zoe. Her weight is in the 50th percentile. She is 24 inches long which keeps her in the 95th percentile for length. The doctor said that some 6 month old babies are not even 24 inches long. We might have a very tall girl!

Here are some cute pictures from this past weekend.

Alaina looked so cute in her white church dress!

Nate and Alaina napping after church

Alaina Loves Her Greek Farm!

When my sister came home from Greece last Christmas, she brought a musical farm to put in the baby's crib. The farm plays Greek music. Nate and I want Alaina to learn Greek as she grows up so we were really excited about the musical farm for her crib. As it turns out, Alaina is also very excited about her farm! She loves to look at the flashing lights and listen to the music. Sometimes we will hear her farm music playing in the middle of the night. She moves around in her crib and turns it on by herself. It's so much fun watching Alaina enjoy her farm toy. She shows us how excited she is by moving her head and arms. Recently she has even started laughing and smiling when she hears animal noises. In the video above you can hear the Greek music and if you listen closely you can hear animal noises as Alaina kicks the different farm animals.

Fourth of July in Iowa

Cute cousins Alysa and Alaina

Nate and I spent the 4th of July weekend in Iowa. This was Alaina's first road trip. She did very well in the car and slept almost the entire trip! We stayed with Nate's parents and also spent some time with Nate's sister and her family. The pictures above were taken on the 4th of July right before we left to watch the parade. Brianna, our oldest niece, was in the parade this year. Alaina was a little unsure about all the noises in the parade, but soon she fell asleep in her stroller.

Alysa, Kevin, Sarah, Marvin, Jan... watching the parade, waiting for Brianna to march by.

Brianna in the parade. I cannot believe how fast she has grown up!
After the parade we all went to Nate's parents house for a cookout. I contributed to the cookout by making a special dessert, an American flag cake. I was very proud. Isn't it beautiful?

Hope you all had a great 4th of July!