BEST SURPRISE!!!

Let's be honest. It's a little lame having a big birthday on a holiday - in my case, Thanksgiving, a day that revolves around preparing and eating a gigantic (albeit tasty) meal.

But something happened tonight that made next week's birthday extra special.

Our long-time friends Carrie and Steve Christensen (and their three boys) drove across the country from Denver and showed up at my front door tonight. I had NO IDEA they were coming. I heard the doorbell ring, peeked through the window of the front door and was so stunned to see them standing on our front steps.


SURPRISE!!! from the Christensens 2010 from Sarah on Vimeo.

Oh my gosh. Surprises are the best. Seeing them totally made me cry. I am overwhelmed that they really drove all this way, took time off from work, school, etc. They'll be in town for a week visiting us and other friends. It's going to be so fun!!

Twins!

I realize my posts are all over the place this week, but I had to include this picture - my friend Carrie and I showed up to church on Sunday wearing similar outfits. It was pretty funny.

(and I am totally sucking in on this picture - believe me, my belly is bigger when I'm standing normally)

Trip to Holland

We did a quick road trip to Holland, Michigan this weekend for the city's Tulip Festival. Our friends, Steve and Carrie Christensen came with their three boys along with Rachel and Ryan Ray with their twins.

Of course, these pictures aren't showing off the beautiful tulips everywhere! But here we are. Holland is about a 3-hour drive from Chicago - we stayed for two nights.

Here are some tulips! I took so many pictures in two short days :)

There were a lot of Dutch festivities - below are some pictures of Dutch dancing, a Dutch man demonstrating how they make cheese, and a slide in the Dutch Village that is made out of a wooden shoe:
There was a Delft painter and beautiful porcelain all over. And windmills of course!
The Dutch Village had lots of neat things to see and taste (the bottom right pic is of Steve C. and Ben trying out all of the different kinds of licorice)
We watched Dutch dancing in downtown Holland on Friday evening with the Rays (they have cute twins, Holland and Ethan, who started dancing in the street too!)
Here are a few more pictures from the Dutch Village - Sam and Alex dressed up in wooden shoes and Dutch hats, and we rode a swings ride together. I got a little dizzy turning around taking pictures! And there is Eli, being pretty easygoing on Day 1 of the trip.
On Day 2, we went to the Tulip Gardens with the Christensens. There were rows and rows of beautiful tulips!
Eli had fun seeing the tulips, but we were careful not to let him pick them - there was a $100 fine for anyone caught with a tulip in their hand!!
My favorite of all of the tulips was is shown below in the bottom row in the middle - the hot pink one. It is the Mariette Lily Tulip and is a mid-season bloomer. You could order any of these varieties of tulips (they were all numbered in the rows), and the prices weren't as bad as I expected them to be. For a set of 20 tulips, the price is $17. For 100 tulips, it's $75. I would love to have 100 tulips in my yard someday!
More tulips (including the Mariettes)
We thought the dark tulips were pretty cool.
Here are a few other pictures - 1) Pic of Eli wandering out into the main path as we sat watching the Tulip Time parade. There were two big dogs near us that he was obssessed with - he kept walking over (even though we kept bringing him back near us). There was also a girl with a ferret that he was curious about and eventually pet it softly. He is a strong-willed child and is pretty opinionated about what he wants to do. :) It's funny, but hard too.

2 & 3) In front of The Boat House restaurant in Saugatuck, MI - a much quieter town close to Holland, with lots of charm and right on the water.

4-7) More pictures in Saugatuck. Eli was walking with that rubber duck in his hand and kept squealing "DUCK!" in a nice high-pitched tone. It was funny. He does that with ducks and dogs - he says "DOG!!" super high any time he sees one...

8) On Day 2, Eli only took a one-hour nap in the morning. He was SO tired when we got back to the hotel that night (he didn't sleep on the bed, but was in his peapod tent - this just shows how wiped out he was... Eli NEVER stays asleep if we get him from the car like this).

9) This is Eli for the last 2 1/2 hours of our drive home. We got stuck in traffic so the ride was 30 minutes longer - and that whole time was pretty miserable. He slept for the first hour, then woke up exhausted, unreasonable, and angry. I sat in the backseat next to him and was so tired by the end of the drive from trying to make him happy. It was his Mother's Day present to me :)

So I have to ask - Ashley, how on earth do you and Anthony take your three kids under 3 on all of these wonderful weekend trips around Europe?? I am exhausted after two weeks of traveling with Eli... He did well during the trip, just not great on the traveling part!

*And if you would like to see ALL of the pictures that I took, click here.

Pictures from this week (at home)

Eli is now 9 months old. Here he is with his one and only sippy cup that works for him (Nuby). We tried about 10 brands before finding that this was one he could use. The high point of today was that he balanced standing up for a few seconds! He gets SO excited about walking with us (holding our hands) and practically runs anytime we try walking.

Here he is laughing at Ben being silly. Today I came home to find Ben crawling around on the floor with Eli's stuffed lamb on his shoulders, totally cracking Eli up. (I think his idea was to show Eli that crawling is fun :)
Snowflakes on the ground... it feels like we have had snow every single day this month! (But I know there were a few days without it, so I'm exaggerating)
The usual attire when we go anywhere: the blue bunting and red hat. I can't wait for summer when we don't have to bundle up to go anywhere...
With my friend Rachael at Lake Michigan today after going to Carrie's baby shower/open house. I took this as I was crouched down on the ground, about to slide down the ramp to get onto the beach (there is still a ton of ice as you will see below).
Are you tired of Lake Michigan pictures? I can't get enough!
Notice just a little strip of blue showing in the water.
Ice everywhere!
Freezing bits of the lake. Tomorrow the high is 35 degrees and mostly sunny - I can't wait!

Carrie had her baby!

Since many of you know my friend Carrie (she was the cute preggie in the post a few weeks about about playgroup), I wanted to share that she had her baby! She has two boys and didn't find out what she was having this time, so it was a fun surprise to learn she had a third boy. He came three weeks early and was 8 lbs, 5 oz! Everyone is doing well and they are naming him Jacob Arjen (Arjen is Dutch, pronounced Ar-yen).

It's crazy to think Eli was once this small! Baby Jacob is very cute and has different features that remind me of both boys. I would post a picture of the whole family, but I think Carrie would be mad at me for including a picture of her in the hospital :) Congrats Christensens!