Wonderful Bill and Teresa

What a lovely evening (dessert and chatting) we had with Bill & Teresa Welch last week! They are special people to us, having been our first point of contact when we moved to Bloomington almost 3 years ago. They hosted us when we first arrived, drove us around to orient us to B-town and helped us search out a place to live (Bill even came along a few times when we were with a realtor looking at condos). Such gracious, supportive people. 

And the chocolate icebox pie was really, really good too. If I do say so myself. First time making it - I've had the recipe from Southern Living for ages. It's a rich chocolate pie in a chocolate crumb crust, topped with whipped cream, milk chocolate pieces and peanuts. Deadly.

Here's the recipe link for interested folk. Quite easy to do! I changed it up by doing peanuts instead of pecans; in future I would probably do Cool Whip instead of whipping cream to lighten it up a bit.

Fun striped Sunday dress

Jim snapped a few photos of Gemma and I at 3rd St. Park (across from the Boys & Girls Club, where our church meets) on Sunday. These are special because this dress is from Mrs. Ro and Esther Ro, mom and sister of Sam Ro, Jim's college roommate. Mrs. Ro passed away a few weeks ago.

It's also somewhat of a rarity to get Gemma grinning her brilliant smile while taking a photo. (Sorry, Lillian and Elsie, we're working on it.) This is Gemma at her most genuine. ...I'll admit that I was tickling her leg in the photo below to get her to smile.

Hooray! "Karin? Karin! Coming!"

Karin and Jul on IU campus (can you see my 16 week baby belly?)

"Karin? ... Karin! Coming!" That was Gemma's query and reply every time she woke up in the morning or after a nap for three days last week while Karin Svenson was visiting us. Gemma would stand at the top of the stairs and call down to Karin, then after hearing a reply, hurry down the stairs to find her. Needless to say, Gemma adored her and we had a GREAT visit together. (even though Karin might have tired of reading Dr Seuss books over and over and over by the end)

Karin and Jim have been friends since high school, and later I become friends with Karin in college and we were roommates senior year. There aren't too many people that we can spend time talking non-stop for 60+ hours on faith journeys, food & nutrition, relationships, families, exercise and just plain goofy stuff. 

Here are some photos from day 2 of Karin's visit (I know, I know, we forgot to take any photos on day 1): brunch at Farm Bloomington and a stroll downtown; back to the house for naps; afternoon & supper picnic at a state park.

We really enjoy Farm Bloomington - cool decor (modern country/farm), local and seasonal food - from produce to meats, and really really good biscuits and apple butter. The biscuits are a semi-formed drop biscuit: crunchy and peaked on the top, but very soft and very buttery inside. Perfect.

It's fun to have Gemma growing up and increasing her stamina for walking when we go out (meaning we can leave the stroller). She likes to request "hands, Daddy, Mommy" or "hands, Mommy, Karin".

We finally checked out McCormick's Creek State Park, about 30 minutes out of town (how has it taken us nearly 3 years to get there?), which we had heard has a rocky creek with waterfalls and lots of wading areas, in addition to lots more acreage of forests, trails, cabins, campsites, nature center, Inn and pool. 

The sun was bright and weather in the 80s, perfect for cooling off in the river. Gemma didn't hesitate at all and wanted to plunge right in.It was sometimes tricky to get her to keep holding on to someone's hand to walk around (the bottom was rocky). 

Definitely a neat place and we will have to return! And hopefully we will be with Karin again soon, too!

Two special memories with Nonna

Two special memories of our time in Wheaton, and Gemma's time spent with Nonna: 

exploring the playhouse/treehouse - Gemma's face just peeks above fence! 

and helping Nonna cut " 'lacs" (lilacs) from the side yard to bring inside to a vase. They were gorgeous and filled the family room with their fragrance.

Mother's Day Weekend in Wheaton

What a terrific four days we had in Wheaton with Dad and Mom/Granddad and Nonna!! Late spring is a beautiful time to be there - the blooming lilacs, the bright green grass, the mild weather - and we particularly loved being able to be outside in the yard or walking around the neighborhood. Nonna introduced Gemma to the joys of running around barefoot in the grass. Gemma even got to go up to explore the play house with Nonna (see the house behind Dad in this photo? Thank you to Dad and Noah for last year's updates/renovations!).

Nonna & Gemma got a good running and chasing game going one afternoon

Jim grilled salmon burgers and we had a nice dinner with Uncle Dick

Gemma loves to look at photo-books and point to pictures of her Gieser cousins

Unfortunately the planned Work Day (Saturday) was chilly and rainy, but Dad and Jim still managed to complete most of the planned flower box plantings and gutter cleanings. 

Meanwhile Mom and Jul (and Gemma) had fun over several days doing some shopping (new maternity clothes for Jul! fun summer clothes for Gemma!), wandering downtown Wheaton (Gemma was mesmerized by the freight train) and enjoying half-price frappuccino's from Starbucks. Oh, and ginger cookies and snickerdoodles made by Mom at Jul's request, please please.

Jim's homemade Mother's Day chocolate cake!