Caroline Lou is 4 months old

My sweet little, miss Caroline Lou, is four months old today. Boy, has that flown by! Every day we love her more than the last. She is absolutely the best thing. These days she: is very talkative, smiley, and increasingly independent; is rolling like a pro; reaches out and grasps things that she wants; enjoys reading books with mom and dad; is a little social butterfly and enjoys the company of friends; drools ALL the time; is a little snuggle monster who just laughs and laughs when you blubber her belly. She loves "standing" and giving her little legs a workout. I have visions of our life in the not too distant future when we have a walker. Watch out!

Life these days just gets busier and busier. At night, Bob and I fall into bed exhausted, but deliriously happy.

I suspect this blog will be taking a back seat for awhile. I'll try to do these monthly updates, but otherwise we'll be truckin' along enjoying our little family. Cheers to fun filled times for all of you, too!

Months one, two, and three.

Happy Mother's Day

I am so looking forward to my first Mother's Day this Sunday. Caroline Lou is my greatest gift and my biggest joy. I love her so much and am so thankful that I get to be her mommy. I'm looking forward to spending the day with my little family just lazing around in our jammies, eating pancakes, snuggling, grilling out, playing, planting flowers, and sneaking in a facial (just an hour or so of "me time":).

I miss my mom everyday. I always think about her a lot on Mother's Day. She was the kindest, warmest, most compassionate, and loving person I have ever known. She had a way about her that made everyone love her and feel at ease. She always spoke well of other people and she truly led by example.

My mom told me every single day how much she loved me and that I was the best thing that she ever did. I now understand that kind of love and am so happy to share that special bond with my sweet baby girl. It's unlike anything else. My mom would have loved Caroline so, so much. I am certain that they would have been the best of friends. I can't wait to share all of my memories of my wonderful mom with Caroline. If Caroline loves me even half as much as I loved my mom, I'll be one lucky lady.

The photos above are of my mom and me sitting in the same wooden rocking chair, each pregnant with our baby girl. Pretty awesome, right?

And, a few more photos to share after the jump...

Sweet treats

This weekend, husband and I threw a diaper/baby shower for Emily, my sister-in-law. She's expecting a son, Myles, March 19th. I had fun making these necktie cookies and cute cupcakes. I made little cupcake toppers that said "Little Man," "Oh Boy!," "M is for Myles," and some with neckties. And, I loved the green and blue color combo. All quite tasty, too.

Here's a group shot from the day. Me and husband: count down = 10 days 'til due date. Yay for babies!

Hello, August

I just flipped my desk calendar to August (a day late) and this adorable little guy greeted me. Tree pose is one of my favorites, especially extended. It's a great one midday at work to regroup and refocus your energy.

Happy August! And, happy birthday to my father-in-law, Tom! He's a swell guy.

Pictures

I have framed photos of my family and friends all over my office. Just looked over at these little beauties and had to smile. Such a great way to brighten up the work day. That's all.

Have a wonderful day!

Ancient Greek playing cards

My parents-in-law just returned from a nearly three week Mediterranean cruise. (So jealous!) This deck of playing cards is a gift they brought back for us. Those jokesters are too funny! :)

Fortunately my nieces don't read the blog...

St. Simon's Island

 

 Over the Memorial Day weekend holiday Bob and I traveled to St. Simon's Island, GA, for a family vacation. We had an amazing time. We rented a condo and basically ate, drank, swam and relaxed the entire time. It was the perfect retreat. There's something so refreshing about gathering with your family and just having really great quality time. No schedules. No appointments. Just fun. I really love my family down south and wish we got to see them more often. 

See a little photo recap of our trip after the jump.

Avery dances

My sweet little niece Avery danced up a storm on our recent family trip to St. Simon's Island. Check out that chicken wing! I think the `20's movie style suits her perfectly, don't you?

Vacation photos to come soon...

Have a super fun weekend!

Welcome home, Kia

Today our family is growing. The adorable, sweet, and lovable Kia is joining the Kacich family. This afternoon Bob and I will be headed to the Champaign County Humane Society to pick her up and bring her to her new home - and to meet her brother Winston (who is very excited for her arrival).

Since we lost our sweet Taz, we knew that we would eventually want to adopt another puppy to join our family. After our Sunday afternoon dog park excursion, Bob, Winston, and I decided to stop by the CCHS to take a peek at the dogs. From the moment we saw Kia she just melted our hearts. She gladly accepted treats with sweet little kisses and the loviest little face. We took her outside to get to know her and we were smitten. She impressed us with her ability to fetch, sit, and come; her sweet nature charmed us; and, just look at those ears!

As fate would have it, the behavior specialist was on duty and Winston was patiently waiting in the car. So, we were able to introduce Kia to Winston right then and there. They hit it off wonderfully. Although a little tired from his dog park high jinks, Winston managed to keep pace with Kia and they ran circles around the yard and just played and played. It was decided. Kia was coming home.

Inside, we filled out the adoption papers and the staff at the CCHS were so great. They all remembered Taz and were so supportive of us bringing Kia home. We're really grateful to them.

I'm so excited for Kia to come home today. What a great day!

p.s. We're participating in the Mutt Strut to raise money for the Champaign County Humane Society. Please considering donating to our team!

Angel Lush with pineapple

I hope you had a wonderful weekend! This morning I'm recovering from eating two Easter dinners. That's  a nice thing about having both mine and Bob's families living in the same town - double the celebration for every holiday. :)

I made this Angel Lush with pineapple cake that was delicious. It was so airy and creamy and light. A perfect spring treat and super easy to make. Here's the recipe.

Spoeth girls

Are they not the cutest?  I need some of these little girls in my life very soon!

Ju Ju Julia

My niece Julia celebrated her 9th birthday a couple of weeks ago and we went to her favorite Mexican restaurant to celebrate. What a beauty, right?  The sombrero and whipped cream face is a good look for her. :)

Later in the evening we entertained a game of rub-your-tummy-pat-your-head.  Little Lily was pretty good!

Taz

In our home, pets are family.  We play together.  We go places together.  We eat together.  We sleep together.  We have fun together.  We share lots of love.  It was no different with our friend Taz who joined our family just over a month ago.  Sweet as could be, this little guy brought so much love and happiness into our family.  Each day when I would come home Taz was there to greet me with his "happy dance" and excitement.  Each night we'd snuggle on the couch to our favorite TV shows.  Each morning he'd gratefully lick a little peanut butter from my fingers secretly wishing I'd share all of my peanut butter toast with him.  He really was a wonderful little guy with a seriously cute under bite.
Today we had to say goodbye to Taz.  It breaks my heart to even write this.  After a short, painful battle with lymphoma, Taz (in true Taz form) left us with lots of love and many of his famous puppy kisses.
I will miss him very much.

Moon Glo

This weekend the Kacich family made our annual trip to the Moon Glo restaurant in Danville, IL.  This little dive restaurant is tucked away off the beaten track about 30 minutes from home.  They've got giant burgers that come served on wax paper, tasty fries and out of this world fried pickles.  Nobody is too formal in this place, but the service sure is friendly.  A frame newspaper article detailing a holdup that happened decades ago hangs over the fireplace and the salad bar has all of your favorites: whole scallions in water, beets and radishes.  Oh, the pickles...

Read more to see the photos.

Happy New Year!

After a long holiday hibernation... I'm back.  I took a little time off of work, blogging, checking email (mostly) and pretty much everything else to disconnect and spend some quality time with my family and friends.  Boy was it worth it.

Bob and I adopted a new dog. Taz is the most recent addition to the Kacich family.

We went for lots of walks.

We had a wonderful Christmas with our families.

My mother-in-law and I took my nieces Lily and Julia ice skating. That was a really fun day!

My dear friend, Heather, sent us a bottle of homemade apple brandy.  Looking forward to trying this!

I wore these fun nails on New Year's.  We had a great night filled with fancy drinks, fancy dinner, fun games and fabulous friends!

It was a great break.  Now, I'm looking forward to focusing some energy on getting our house decorated and in order.  I'm REALLY looking forward to growing my photography business.  I've got a few engagement sessions and family sessions lined up for the beginning of this year already.  I'm looking forward to seeing the Kacich family grow again in about a year - Matt, my-brother-in-law, will be getting hitched to Jackie.  Oh yeah, and Bob and I will be taking a trip to Ireland this spring.  It's going to be a great year!

Mister Misty

Yesterday we had to put Misty, my last childhood pet, to sleep. Misty was a really great cat. When I was in 4th grade, some guys who worked at my mom's office found a litter of three kitties behind the building. The momma cat had abandoned them when they barely had their eyes open and fur on their bodies. My mom, being the angel that she was, brought them home. We bottle fed them (sometimes using a syringe) to health and two of the three of them survived to live long and happy lives with our family. Misty was one of them.
I will always remember the great massages that Misty gave with her paws and just how lovey she was. Now she gets to see all of our wonderful pets again - Shadow, Jenny, Sophia, Domino, Captain and Samantha.
When I was young my mom always told me that Captain and Samantha, our big black German Sheppards, were guarding the gates to heaven. I still find that a very comforting thought.

My first photo shoot

Jackie and Matt, my brother-in-law and future sister-in-law, recently asked me to take their engagement photos, to which I immediately said, "YES!".  They gave me the opportunity to test out my photography skills and begin to develop my portfolio.  I was nervous as could be going into the session.  Really nervous.  The kind of nervous like before a big test or something where your stomach does flip flops.  I was so nervous that the photos would turn out terribly.  To my delight, we had just the opposite experience.

Jackie and Matt were terrific sports.  They let me drag them to several different locations throughout Champaign-Urbana trying out tons of different spots and poses.  The sun came out just enough to give us some great lighting conditions and the rain held off, too.  We had a lot of fun! 

I'm extremely happy with how the photos turned out and now can not wait to really launch this hobby of mine into something bigger.  I'll be working on developing a site (or perhaps a page of this blog) to show my work and hopefully book more engagement sessions.  Please spread the word if you know anyone who may be interested. :)  Also, you can email me with questions at libbykacich at gmail dot com.

Here are some of my favorite shots from the day:

What An Exciting Weekend

This weekend was the BIG move.  Husband and I packed up our entire house and moved everything to a storage unit... in just 2 days!  It was a crazy weekend, but we managed to get our house all ready for our first tenant.  We had the incredible help of our family that made it all possible. 
We put an offer on a wonderful house and now we're playing the waiting game.  We've shacked up with my parents in law and will be living a new kind of adventure for the next 30 days or so.  It's quite an interesting time in life and I couldn't be more excited to be doing all of this with Bob.  Despite the stress, fatigue and hectic schedule we managed to have a pretty good time moving. 

Winston was ready to go before we even finished packing.

We found these under one of the beds.

And this weekend we also had more fun celebrating Matt & Jackie's engagement.  We can't wait to have Jackie join our fun family!

Birthday Love

How great is this card?  My dear friend Michele gave it to me for my birthday and I simply love it.  I also love her.  She managed to surprise me for my birthday last week with a trip to celebrate with me right here in C-U!  I really had no idea that she was coming and was shocked and thrilled to see her sitting at the table for my family dinner.  We had a great weekend! 

My sweet sweet husband threw a surprise party for me with friends and family and we celebrated into the wee hours.  It was fabulous!  So fabulous that I didn't manage to take a single photo.  Hopefully others did so I can get a peak at the fun we had.  Between my lovely husband, dear friends and super duper family, I'm one lucky gal.

Memory #12: Fishing with Grandma

Was I was young I used to spend summers with my Grandma Jenkins.  One of my favorite things that we did together was going fishing.  In the morning and we would load up the Mustang with our poles, fishing pail and lawn chairs and swing by Kmart for bait and head towards Crystal Lake.  We'd make a quick stop at KFC for a bucket of chicken and then head into the park to find our perfect spot.  All day long we'd sit there chatting about the weather and such, eating our chicken, catching little blue gill.  Grandma would, of course, bait my hook for me and pull the fish off when I caught them.  Those were really great days!