October already?

Mark and I just returned from a great weekend in Kalamazoo, MI with his side of the family. For his mom's birthday, we gifted her with an entire weekend of yard work- so everyone was very busy! The boys spent the day pulling out bushes around the porch (a 6 hour job!). Colleen and some family friends trimmed and replanted the gardens, and I made lunch, prepped dinner, delivered drinks, and provided moral support ;)

It was wonderful to spend time working with family, enjoying the perfect weather, and watching the leaves change over Sherman Lake. (Unfortunately, I forgot to get a camera out and document the hard work or the beautiful leaves all weekend.... I'll get better with pictures, I promise!)

We're not quite sure when it turned into October... At this point we are almost exactly 8 weeks away from meeting Baby C! The weekends in October are already filling up- next week we have a wedding on Saturday, the following weekend is Homecoming at MSU with our friends Eric and Cori, then one last free weekend before Barry and Donna (Alyssa's parents) come to deliver the crib, help finish setting up the apartment for Baby C- then I start working November 7th! Whew!

We love visitors, but at this point it is probably best to plan a visit in November or after our baby girl gets here. Hope all is well in your lives across the country (and the world!). Happy fall. =)

Summer 2011

Here are a FEW photos from this summer. Mark surprised me with a fancy new DSLR camera and we're trying to train ourselves to take more pictures! We hope that Baby C will prompt this habit more ;) 

Pregnancy has wiped me out! Naps have been pretty standard at our place. 

Tall ships come to Navy Pier. 

Baby bump as of August 14th.

Just showing!

Still loving the view from our apt roof.

Trying my best to stay up with Mark, my little night owl ;)

Life in Chicago

This is a collection of photos from our life in Chicago over the last 3 years. Mark and I have had a wonderful time learning and growing together in our new city! (sorry they are not chronological!)

Alyssa and Katherine: 11/13/2010

NYE 2010

NYE 2009

NYE 2008

St. Paddy's Day 2011

Thanksgiving 2009

Hannah's Wedding!

M. Ed. Graduation from Loyola Chicago, May 2011

Higher Education Conference, Baltimore, 2011

3 Amigas, together again =)

Alyssa and the IIT Orientation Leaders at Camp T, Summer 2010

Bernadette's Wedding

NYE 2009

25th Birthday

Laura's visit

Alyssa's first MSU Homecoming!

Halloween 2009

First Anniversary, Oct 2009

Eric, James, Mark: Summer 2009

Cancun 2011

Mark and I had a great trip to Cancun for a long weekend of recuperation and relaxation. Here are a few shots from the trip! We didn't take as many photos as we would have liked- the humidity seriously fogged up our camera lenses! Next time we'll bring more than one camera ;)