Grill pictures

Happy Feast Day, Elizabeth!

In the Catholic church, patron saints are holy people that have gone before us who give us an example of ways to live our lives and who can intercede for us. In Poland (as well as several countries in Europe), it is common to celebrate Name Day which typically aligns with the feast day celebration. November 17th is Elizabeth's feast day - the feast day of St. Elizabeth of Hungary. To make it a special day, we had a family outing to Ritter's for chocolate ice cream. Elizabeth had a wonderful time - we think she's going to be pretty into the feast day thing!

Sunday Night Football

Grandma and Grandpa Downing bought Elizabeth a Colts outfit for her birthday and she had to wear it to support the home team on the night of the Colts-Patriots game. AnnCatherine still prefers her in Green and Gold (Go Pack Go!), but I don't think there's much debate that she looks adorable regardless.

Look! I can walk!!!

Right around the time of her first birthday, Elizabeth started walking. Now, she is zooming around and challenging us to rearrange things already. Watch out, world!

Happy Halloween!!!

This year, we were indoctrinated into the Halloween festivities in our new neighborhood, Sylvan Ridge. Our friends, the Poulakidas's, joined us so Maria and Elizabeth could trick-or-treat together. We joined in the neighborhood picnic and then witnessed the craziest trick-or-treating ever. We had hundreds of kids at our house! 500 pieces of candy - gone. Our favorite parts included the neighbors who hand out jello shots and the man in the green pick up truck who drives around with beer for the adults walking the kids from house to house. No kidding! But the best part was Elizabeth in the adorable flapper costume her Grandma Ruth made for her having a blast! She and Maria had a great time playing even after the outdoor festivities had ended. We hope you all had a Happy Halloween, too!

A first birthday party

We enjoyed having friends and family over for Elizabeth's first birthday party on the day after her birthday. Elizabeth must have sensed the excitement and observed all of the preparations because she would not take a nap all day, even though the party didn't start until late in the afternoon. We were very afraid there would be a major meltdown, but our little party animal enjoyed being the center of attention too much to rest. We watched her first year memory video, ate dinner, opened presents and had chocolate cake. Thank you to those who were able to join us to celebrate this special day...

Happy First Birthday, Elizabeth!!!

HAPPY 1ST BIRTHDAY, ELIZABETH!

October 23rd, 2009. Elizabeth's first birthday. Its amazing to think of what we were doing a year ago... Thankfully, tonight we had a spaghetti dinner at home. Think Elizabeth enjoyed it?

We count our blessings for this amazing, healthy, special (and extremely active) little girl everyday.

Jarod & AnnCatherine take London

Jarod had a business trip to the UK, so we decided to make a mommy-daddy vacation out of it and we hung out in London for 5 days. We saw Billy Elliott on the West End, we went to Notting Hill to the Portobello Road market, walked the banks of and took a boatride on the Thames, took a double decker bus tour, visited St. Paul's and Westminster Abbey, went to the London Silver Vaults, shopped (of course) and toured the Tower of London. It was a whirlwind trip, but, as always, we fit in as much as we could.

Thanks to Grandma Ruth and Grandpa Dave for giving Elizabeth a vacation in WI while we were away! And thanks to Grandpa Doug and Grandma Mary for watching Roamy, too...

Libby's first year memory video - and an early birthday party!

While we were in Wisconsin for the Ludwig wedding, we had a little early first birthday party with AnnCatherine's family. Elizabeth loved the lemon cupcakes that Great Grandma Mary made and everyone enjoyed the Carl's pizza - a real Kenosha tradition. The highlight of the party, in addition to the fun toys of course!, was the video Uncle Mike and Aunt Lisa made of Elizabeth's first year. If you'd like to watch, please click on the link below. What a wonderful way to capture memories of our little girl.

Please click on the link below to see the video. For PC users, you may need to download the free quicktime plug in. Enjoy!


http://gallery.me.com/mltennis/100030

Wedding Fun!

AnnCatherine and Jarod were honored to stand up in her cousin Adrien's wedding to her high school friend, Toni Drissel. It was a beautiful affair - a very traditional ceremony followed by a big party. They even had fireworks! Elizabeth joined for the ceremony... what a wonderful family event!