Nico..

Celebrating Family!

Memorial day weekend, Charlie's sister and her family visited from California! It was such an awesome time because they had their daughter Avery two weeks before Nico was born so this was a really big event for us to meet our neice and for Nico to meet his cousin!

We had a great weekend celebrating with Charlie's brother and sister that live here...good bbq and cheap entertainment with the kids! We loved having the kids together. Nico was in heaven and thought that it was super with all the girls! It meant the world to us that Chris and Tara would make the trip out here to be with family. It was a wonderful weekend and we are so grateful for the time together.

Sweet Avery having fun in the living room!

Kat, Briah and Nico just taking a break

Avery meets Uncle Ed for the first time!

Our trip to the zoo! Nico's first time and his first time

in his wagon! They were hilarious...they loved pulling each other's

hats off!

The gang!

Two little munchkins!

Tara is due in September and I felt like I was due that day!

Briah and Grace eating bbq

Avery loved discovering new things!

I am not sure what happened but this picture reposted! OOPS!

Happy Father's Day

Today I celebrate my amazing husband. Watching him be a dad has opened up a new well of love I didn't know existed! He is so extremely patient and loving with Nico. I can see so clearly that the time they spend together impacts Nico and has shaped him into this little mini Charlie. One of my favorite things is to watch Charlie spend time with Nico at his little Elmo work bench (which Charlie scored at a garage sale!) and how happy Nico is when he is with his dad.

We all have different definitons of what a father is. Our own experiences have so much weight on our perspectives about what we expect and how we would like to be loved or see our children loved by their fathers. It is such an enormous job as is being a mom. I find it so amusing though, that the time Charlie spends with Nico seems to be so much more impactful than all the time I spend with him. Nico just seems to want to absorb and breathe everything Charlie says and does.

Charlie, you truly are an outstanding father. All of your kind and gentle ways are so clearly imprinted in Nico and I am grateful for that. Waiting for our little Lucy to arrive has been really exciting and thank you for setting up her room and for everything you do to make the lives of your children richer. You are one in a milion. I am so thankful for all the prayers my Nana and mom said so that we could find each other. Thank you for being a wonderful father, a loving husband and my best friend. Happy Father's Day!

Hanging out with dad and taking a rest

Nico is helping his dad draw up the plans for his little play area

in the backyard!

I made a chocolate cake and let him lick the spoon....

he really thought it was the best ever!

Working at the tool bench together!