We Love You, Nate!

Just realized that I posted something about Father's Day without mentioning anything about Nate. Oops! Alaina and I love you very much, Nate. You're a wonderful daddy. Hope you had a great Father's Day.

P.S. Alaina and I bought Nate a smoker for Father's Day. We tried it for the first time a few days ago. It's awesome. I'm sure we'll be using it a lot more throughout the summer.

Father's Day Weekend

We spent Father's Day weekend with Nate's parents and our niece, Brianna. Nate's family came to Rockford on Saturday afternoon. On Sunday we all went into Chicago and toured the Museum of Science and Industry. This was my first visit to the museum- we had a great time! We saw a WWII submarine and went in a cole mine replica. Below are some pictures of the other exhibits we saw.

Sitting on a John Deere tractor in the farm exhibit

There was a huge section on weather at the museum! This is a picture of the tornado simulation.

After the Museum of Science and Industry we stayed and walked around downtown. Brianna went to the top of the John Hancock building and took these great pictures for us. We stayed over night in the city and on Monday we took an architectural boat tour. Also, very interesting and fun. Perfect photo opportunities!Thanks for a great Father's Day weekend, Jan and Marvin!

Go Cubs, Go!

What a good looking group!

Nate, Paul, Kalli, Anna

Last night we went to the Cubs game at Wrigley. We went with our good friends, Paul and Anna. The four of us had never been to a night game before. It was a perfect night for a baseball game! Not too hot, not too cold. The Cubs won the game 6 -2. Alaina styaed home with Yiayia and Papou. She's still too young for a baseball game, but soon she will be enjoying games with us! Below are a few pictures from our fun night!

Kalli and Anna

Nate, Paul, and Anna with a Cubs hat full of $15 worth of nachos!!

Still working on those nachos...

Cool picture from our seats at Wrigley.

Aren't we cute with our matching Cubs jerseys?

Congratulations John and Zografia!

My brother John proposed to his girlfriend last weekend. It's hard to believe that little Johnny will be getting married! They have not set an exact date yet, but they are thinking the wedding will be sometime next summer... maybe in Greece! We are all very happy for John and Zografia. Zografia will be a perfect addition to our family. The picture below is of John and Zografia on the day that John proposed. We were also celebrating John's 25th bithday, hence the cake.

Lainy Loves Her Legos!

Grandma and Grandpa Bruck gave Alaina Legos for her first birthday. She loves playing with them. I expected her to just put them in her mouth and throw them around, but she actually puts them together! She's not building anything too spectacular, but I was pretty impressed that she's able to put them together on her own. Some of the pictures below are from Alaina's birthday party when she first played with the Legos and others are more recent photos.

Happy Birthday, Alaina!

May 11, 2009

May 11, 2010

It's official! As of 9:13PM, Alaina is 1 year old. All day I kept thinking about what I was doing a year ago. I was looking through some of the first pictures we took of Alaina in the hospital. It's hard to remember her being so tiny! She's such a big girl now. Nate and I have enjoyed every minute of the past year watching Alaina grow. She has changed our lives forever. We look forward to celebrating many more birthdays with our sweet little girl.

Alaina's First Birthday Party!

We celebrated Alaina's first birthday today! It's hard to believe that she's a year old already. The past year went by so fast! Alaina's birthday is officially May 11th, but we celebrated today since the whole family was here. Nate's family came from DesMoines. My parents and brother came over to celebrate. The weather was very cold and rainy today so we could not have everyone outside like we planned. Instead we grilled some hot dogs and hamburgers and had a nice dinner inside. I made a cute cupcake tree instead of a big birthday cake for Alaina. She wasn't too interested in eating her cupcake, she was content just holding her #1 candle. Below are some pictures from her birthday party. Mommy and Daddy love you, Alaina. May you have many more happy birthdays!

Cousin Brianna decorating cupcakes for Alaina's cupcake tree.

Cousin Alysa showing off the final product!

Papou and Yiayia holding Alaina before singing "Happy Birthday"

Hello cupcake!

"The cupcake is nice and all, but this candle is really fascinating!"

"Try some cake," says Grandma Bruck. "It tastes better than the candle."