In the name of love

February. The month of love. Valentine's Day and our anniversary. 9 years this past February. We celebrated by going out to a couple new breweries in Fort Wayne. 

You know who seems to get the most love around here? You know. Simon. Who do the girls want to see the minute they get off the bus? Simon. Who does Mommy take too many pictures of? Simon. Who does Felicity beg to see the minute he wakes up? Simon.

First smoothie.

Favorite toy-that-belongs-to-Elijah

Something's off here.

Yes, apparently he doesn't get proportions yet.

LYLAB

BFFs + Super Mom

Yup, that sums up the Simon life.

So in other February news...there was e-learning. WE LOVE e-learning. These are our bonus days. The girls are home and we don't have to make up school for bad weather. We just do the school work at home. It's a lovely, lovely thing.

On a relatively warm afternoon, we went up to Pokagon for a hike through the woods. These peaceful times as a family are going to be memories we'll cherish. When people say, "You're going to miss these days" they're right. We will miss the days we stopped everything to just enjoy our children. 

 Mommy and Aunt Bridget took Simon, Elijah, and Felicity to the botanical gardens in Fort Wayne. It's an annual trip that let's us pretend it's summer for a day with warm, fresh air and play that feels almost outdoors.

 

Tim took Vivian to a friend's birthday party at the local roller skating rink. She really enjoyed it and is getting pretty quick on those skates. Just has to figure out how to balance on them and she'll be ready to let go of the trainer!

AND speaking of love...we love Aunt Bridget! Her birthday is in February and we surprised her with a family birthday party! The Canadian family members even came!!

A quick, lovely post for a short, lovely month.

Christmas, etc. {The Miniseries, Part 1}

We've been suffering from too much partying and too much germ passing...so here goes a series of posts trying to catch you up on the holiday happenings. On Christmas Eve, Miriam had the honor of carrying baby Jesus to the manger at Mass.

Felicity and Vivian had their own moments in the spotlight during Fr. Derrick's children's homily...Vivian repeated something to the effect of "Jesus lives in outer space." She loves to be a goofball.

 While we were at Mass, Santa stopped by with a pile of presents.

These little blonde people got right to work playing with their new gifts...

 ...and learning where Jesus really lives.

We spent the next two days with Tim's family and friends!

Tim's parents celebrated their FIFTIETH Wedding Anniversary the day after Christmas! We had a very nice Mass for them and a delicious lunch at a steakhouse in Fort Wayne with the extended family. Our girls were amazed at the salad bar because it had everything including...JELLY BEANS! Phil and Linda are such a wonderful example of faithfulness, perseverance, and love to all of us. We are truly blessed to have them living near.

That evening we got together with Tim's long-time friends. The kids now equal the adults. However, Tim's friends are producing only boys, while we're keeping things all girl all the time. The kids had a BLAST together! But then, so did the adults. When Tim, Tyler, and Brian are together, it's as though they see each other all the time rather than a few times a year.

 Part 2. Coming soon(ish).

Day 6: 5 Years

What a difference five years can make. We celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary last Friday. By playing the train game with friends. Don't worry we had more "romantic" plans for a future date. But we'll get to that.

Five years ago today we were doing something like this:

 Looking at this:

 Hanging out with these guys or...

...these guys.

We'd happily do it again. But five years and three kids later we have some entirely differently priorities. While the honeymoon pictures take us back and make us want those days laying on the beach sleeping and drinking cocktails...to celebrate our anniversary this year we went to the Home and Garden Show. Because we're building a house and we still have no idea what we're getting into!

We fell in deep like with this front door! *SQUEAL!*

Then we had a relaxing, peaceful dinner for two at our favorite Chinese restaurant (how great does that sound!?!?!). Hurried home to help Nana get the girls all to bed. But it was nice to get to kiss them goodnight. If you would have said this is how we'd celebrate 5 years, we probably would have smiled and nodded to your face, then laughed later about how you don't know us at all! Maybe we just didn't know us.

Life is Such a Blessing

Well, today you get Tim on the other end of the keyboard.  We're nearly snowed in here, and I know some family members wish they could make it here but can't.

The snow has stopped, but the cold and wind keep on coming!

I thought I would put some pictures and thoughts on here from the last few days.

Two posts back, our dear Pepa (as he's known by many) was in the hospital and fighting an infection and who knows what else.

Well, he ended up in the ICU, and even with everyone's best efforts, his sickness (mainly pneumonia) is just too much to fight off.  So now, he's in the same room, but transitioned into hospice care.  Monitors, oxygen levels, etc. don't matter anymore.  Our job now is to keep Pepa comfortable and let him know we love him.  Father Derrick and Father Denis (our new priest who will be filling in for Father Derrick while he is on sabbatical) said that we also needed to give him permission to go.  So we did - boy was that hard.

Father Derrick was happy to come up and give the Anointing of the Sick again AND bless their 71 years of marriage.  They are a wonderful example of a great marriage.  Mema walks into the hospital room and if Pepa's been restless or agitated, she holds his hand and lets him know she's there and he calms right down.  They really are a great team.

As of Monday morning, he's still peacefully resting with my mom Linda and his wife Mildred at his side.  Say some prayers for them all if you could - he'll be missed.

Sunday the 5th - what love

December 27th - celebrating Pepa's 95th birthday (in conjunction with Phil and Linda's 49th - hence the "495")

We love you Pepa!

All is Bright

Today we celebrated Mema and Pepa's 71st wedding anniversary!!! That's a lot of years. We haven't even made it to five yet.

The love birds with the children who never stop moving

They're celebrating at the hospital where Pepa has been pretty much all week for a bunch of reasons. So if you have an extra slot in your prayers tonight, please include him. If it's God's will, we wouldn't mind keeping him around a little while longer.

As we were saying our goodbyes this morning, Vivian gave Pepa a big hug and said, "You get better. You're a good guy." It was the sweetest, funniest, most perfect thing she could have said. Those Vivers are good to have around.

52 Weeks of Joy: Week 52

If we're going to celebrate joy this year, we're going out with a bang. Because this week we celebrated 70 years of marriage. A very big deal! And makes us very joyful.

We started with a blessing at Mass in the morning and then lunch at the country club in the afternoon.

Tim's grandparents, Mema and Pepa, were married during World War II in the middle of the night in Indianapolis while Pepa was on leave. Very romantic. And somewhat forbidden because Mema was Lutheran (who converted years later) and Pepa was Catholic. And she wasn't allowed to marry that "papist". But love prevailed. And it continued to prevail for the next 70 years...

...through the raising of three children...

...and seven grand children and their spouses (just one grandchild missing from this picture)...

...and eight (soon to be nine) great-grandchildren (three great-grandkids couldn't be with us).

 And all together, we couldn't be happier to celebrate this very beloved couple.

Of course, the day wouldn't be complete without antics from our girls. Like when Vivian tried to sneak into the bar with Pepa's walker. Was she thinking, If I've got this walker they're going to think I'm old enough for a drink?

Oh and Miriam pulled the fire alarm.

Which the fire department had to respond to and turn off. Despite these Crazies, Tim and Sarah look forward to their own 70th anniversary. And thank Mema and Pepa for their beautiful witness to the vocation of marriage.