Weiss Weekend

We had a great weekend this past weekend. Every year, the Weiss family (Marc's mom's side of the family) gets together at an Inn in Michigan City the first weekend in January after New Year's. It gives all the cousins, aunts and uncles, brothers and sisters, and great-grandma (well, to my girls she's great-grandma) a chance to all get together. I brought my camera, but only happened to take pictures when the girls were in the pool. Almost everyone made it out this year. There was Great Grandma; John and Sandy (Marc's parents); Aunt Cathy and her boys - Kiko and Bert; Aunt Karen, Uncle George and their boys - Adam and Richie; Uncle Dave, Aunt Becky and their children - Chris and Kristin; Jonas (AJ and Jen's son - they were in Hawaii); and Marc, me and the girls. The girls had a great time. They actually talked to everyone this year. No one was shy, which surprised me. They even loved playing with all of Marc's cousins. The cousins loved it, too. They all play with the kids so well. Anyway, here are a few pictures of the girls in the pool. Hope you enjoy!


Lily with Marc's cousin, Chris.

Lily with Marc's cousin, Kristin.

Emma with Marc's cousin, Kiko. She was giving him a big, wet hug!!

Lily loved hanging out with Kristin.

Maggie and daddy. I love her smile in this picture.

Chris and Lily.

Lily trying to get the ball.

Maggie thinking to herself, "I want that ball!!!"

All the kids together. They hated it when they had to get out.

We had such a good time. We're looking forward to the time together next year. Maybe we'll head down for an extra night so that way we can spend more time with them.

Happy New Year

Well, 2008 came in with a storm. Literally! Last night around 7:00, there was just a dusting of snow on the road. But at about 9:00, we had 3 - 4 inches. The girls are very excited about this. Since Marc has the day off today, they want to go out and play in the snow! We'll have to see.


I'm anxious to see what this year will bring for us and our family. I'm not big into making New Year's resolutions because whenever I do, I usually never follow through with them. But this year's resolutions will be different. Every woman usually makes the same ones -- to lose weight, to exercise more, etc. But this year my resolutions are these -- to show Christ more in my life (to not be afraid to share with others about Him); to be a better mom; to have Emma finish 1st grade before the end of the year. I feel these resolutions have more substance than the others. But losing weight and exercising more isn't a bad promise. I will continue to try to do those, too.

From our family to yours, we hope that you have a very Happy New Year!

Family

We were able to take some family pictures this year while in Texas. Most of these were taken Sunday morning before church, but there are a few that were taken later. Again, we really enjoyed being with everyone. Hopefully we'll all be able to get together again soon!

My mom and dad. Married for 33 years and still in love!

The Rader family. It's hard to get everyone smiling all at the same time.

My brother, Dan, his wife, Melissa, Alex and Kate. Baby #3 on the way!!

My brother, Brett, his wife, Emily and Jack.

My nephew, Alex, and I.

My nephew, Jack.


Alex and Kate. Aren't they so cute? You can definitely tell they're brother and sister.

Emma in her Christmas outfit.

Maggie in her Christmas dress.

Lily in her Christmas dress.

The cousins. They have had such a good time together.

We have had a wonderful time together this year. Unfortunately, it always go by so fast. I love my family and will miss them all so much!

Christmas in Texas

We headed down to Texas this year for Christmas Day. We flew out of Chicago on the 22nd and will return tomorrow, the 28th. We've had a great time here. It's been wonderful to spend time with family again. Christmas is the only time that we can get together as a family and we look forward to it all year.

My brother Brett with his son Jack. Jack is 11 months old and this was his first Christmas. He really enjoyed the paper.

My nephew Alex. He just turned 3 a few weeks ago. He is all boy and is very busy. But so, so cute!

We bought this for Alex for Christmas. It was so funny because as soon as he saw it, he jumped right on and took off as if he had been driving it for awhile now. He loves it! The look on his face was priceless!

Emma opening one of her gifts. I think it was from Uncle Dan and Aunt Missy.

My sister-in-law Melissa and my niece Kate. Melissa and my brother, Dan, are expecting their third child! We are so excited for them!

My brother, Dan, and Alex.

My sister-in-law Emily and Jack.

Lily opening one of her gifts!

We had a great time and are so thankful that we could come down to visit! We'll miss everyone but we're walking away with some great memories!

Merry Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas this year with the girls. Christmas is becoming more fun the older they get. They enjoy opening the gifts and aren't just interested in the boxes and paper. We started off our day reading the Christmas story. The girls really listened well. Maggie gets a little antsy, but it's not too bad. And then we commenced to the gift opening process. We always do one gift at a time. That way this time seems to take longer and everyone gets to ooh and aah over the presents. Here are just a few pictures of our family day together.

Emma LOVES music. So we bought her her very own personal CD player headset. She's used it quite a bit already.

This gift for Lily was a huge hit. She got a huge floor puzzle of the nativity scene. Lily loves puzzles and puts them together very quickly and very well. As soon as all the gifts were opened, she had me help her put it together the first time and then she did it a few more times by herself.

Maggie got a Mr. Potato Head family. It was a last minute gift idea and she loved it! We opened it right away to play with it. In fact, I think Marc and I had more fun with it!

I think Maggie is trying to package herself up to sell. I would definitely buy this gift!

Present anyone?

Maggie decided that she was going to wrap herself up for Christmas. Notice the bubble wrap in there with her.

Any takers?

Snow Fun

We took the girls outside last night to play in the snow. This is the first time they've been out to play in it since the snow fell last week. They had such a great time. Being from New York, I have always loved the snow. Not necessarily the cold, but the snow is great! I'm so glad that my children love the snow, too!!!