More from Wisconsin...

My sister in law, Jessica, and I rarely get a chance to get shutter happy on our girls together, so we had a little 36 hour photo-fest when we stayed with them in Plymouth.

I am not sure how often you go through Wisconsin towns, but in the summer it is absolutely adorable - the architecture, the green farmland, the red barns - and the weather is windy and warm. It is enough to make you want to move there.

Except for that dang cold winter. Because that just doesn't even make sense.

Everytime we make our way back to our own home, we are ready to sell the house and move - never sure exactly where, but we miss our family being out here on the West Coast. After spending such a lovely month with so many fun family members and seeing Madee with her family it is hard to want to be back.

So, family, we miss you terribly and we want you to know we had a great time with all of you and really enjoyed our visits. It is hard to live without you in our immediate vicinity.


That being said, we get home and I have to tell you I really love my house. I think it is too small and not updated enough and a little too hot, but I feel really good here. Since we have been home I have been revamping, rearranging, and repurposing like crazy so everything is a mess and I have barely upacked. I think it will take a good week or so to settle in.


Anyhoo, back to photofest. We chased those little girls around with cameras for many of those precious hours and boy, I can tell you there is no more challenging subject than a tiny human on the move. It is hard to get good ones of both of them at the same time...


Then they just get crazy... here is a tackle from Rachel that ended up on the floor.


And the classic cousin shot. Yep she sunk those teeth right in and deep! This one is going to be SO funny when they are 16! I mean, it is already funny now, but who knows how the dynamics of their relationship will change over the years?

I don't know, I think Rachel is already the leader of this show!


Silly Little Swinger


Oh Mama



Unh. I love this baby.


Kissing Cousins


Rachel and Auntie Jess


Leg Meat. From the neck down, they are little twins.


Dad and Eden get in on the action.


Kisses


Two months old tomorrow! Time is flying - except at night. We could definately use more sleep around here!


Many, many things to do!

Cousins

You never know how it will be when you put two little ones together, but these little cousins are new best friends! They are so similar in size and physique and skill set that they are just perfect together. They just run around the house like two little imps giggling and playing.

It is serious cuteness. They just totally get each other.


We are sad to say goodbye to our Midwest Van Dervens.

We can't wait for cousin time again!

I have a new favorite picture of Madee...this one is totally getting blown up for the wall!


And the tiniest precious Van Derven girl is doing quite well! Such a cute little baby.
Here she poses with a couple of hats.


We still have so many pictures to get through, so I will post some more when we get home sometime Wednesday or Thursday. We have had such a great vacation and road trip and are so happy we got to see so many of our family and friends.

Wish us safe travels and we will be back soon!

Minneapolis fun...

We got to meet Tate and Jayde's little Eamon! He is 7 months old and the last time I was in town, he arrived right after we left!

What a cutie pie! Madee liked him alot. Eamon wanted to eat her crayons...



I know that was a whole lot of exclamation points, but he is really just the sweetest buddy. And we are excited to kids the same age as Tate and Jayde's. Plus he is the bendiest baby I have ever met!

Pretty Blue Eyes

I also got a haircut at a great salon while I was here - Charlie sent me in for a haircut and a massage for our anniversary. Have you heard of daymaking? The owner of this fabulous Aveda Salon and Spa wrote a book about it and they hand it out to you on your first visit.

They certainly made my day!

Now I don't have dragged out Mom hair!


And other than that we have just been living the ritzy hotel life at the Holiday Inn. Madee loves to get ready to go down and eat. I think breakfast is her favorite - they have lots of fruit!

And we skidder down the halls saying "hi!" to everyone on our floor.


And have photo shoots in the late morning sun.


And laugh. And play.


And snuggle.


And smile alot.


And snuggle some more...


We check out today and head back to Wisconsin for some much needed cousin time...then back to Lake Tahoe for us!

We have had a great trip so far, and it will be nice to be at home so everybody can relax a little bit - vacation is go go go and we are looking forward to just chilling in our own space again for a while.

Hotel Girls

I am sitting here in the Holiday Inn in Minneapolis with the girls and they are just so freaking cute.

Madee is pretty good at sleeping on location as long as you have her blanket and pack n play. Right now she is laying in it winding down for her nap. Spongebob is on the TV in this part of the suite, and now, whenever she hears the seagulls and the captain says "Are ya ready kids?" she starts singing "Ooooooohhhhh...Bob bob BOB bob!"

It cracks me up that she knows songs now.

Eden is rocking in her swing and just smiling. She is really such a smiley baby. She loves touch and caresses and kisses and she totally smiles when you make funny faces at her.

And some her smiles are so big and reactive that they just couldn't possibly be gas.

2nd Anniversary

Those are highlights from the best 2 years of my life. Love you, babe. Life couldn't be more incredible.

Unless we had a van. That would be pretty rad.

Serious Cute

So now we are in Minneapolis for the week at a Holiday Inn and Suites. It is a pretty sweet room and luckily we have enough room for Madee to go to sleep in the bedroom area while we watch TV and play with Eden.

We are excited to see our friends Tate and Jayde and to meet little Eamon for the first time, and to introduce Eden. We get to have our first baby party since the E's were born. And we are pretty close to the Mall of America so hopefully I will be brave enough to go there with the girls one day this week.

Tuesday is our 2nd anniversary so that is pretty cool. Especially since we get to spend it with our 2 little girls. Boy have things gotten interesting in the past 2 years at our house!

Hello Wisconsin!

Well, all good things must come to an end. It was hard to leave the lake house. It is such a nice little piece of earth, and we already can't wait to go back.

I really had fun hanging out with my sisters. So did the kids - Aunties are the best!

A little truck stop fun for the ride to Wisconsin.


Oh goodness - more fun.


Madee couldn't sleep the night before our drive. She was getting road jitters. She was so happy to climb up into her carseat and get on the road.

Then about 40 miles later she said "All done?"

It was a pretty fast trip and now everybody gets lots of Grampa kisses. Pretty sweet deal.