family weekend

Doug & I went to visit my family the weekend after the 4th of July. 

His brother, Zach; our sister-in-law, Michele; and her little sister, Sam, met us there 

and we had a glorious weekend! There was a lot of picnicking, bonfiring, laughing, eating, camping, boating and bocce-ing. Boccing? Bocceing? Bocce balling. 

Our campsite for the weekend.

Zooey loves the farm.

Intense competition.

Mama & son.

5 years of bliss & weird faces.

I spy a tired pup.

Here's my 94-year old grandma, playing bocce ball.

She's so awesome! She didn't win this round, but she won the next round!

 Favorite place on earth with several of my favorite people. 

Life is good.

six pics

1. Understatement: It has been raining a lot recently. Here's a picture of the Virgin Zooey after one particularly soggy playtime.

2. The flowers from Katy are still going strong. Katy, I don't know if you ever read this, but I can't thank you enough! Simply love all this yellow!

3. We had a lovely Easter at home with my family. I ate a lot. Pictured: homemade waffles.

4. I also went horseback riding for the first time in ... years. I was pretty sore afterward. I am never more in awe of the complexities of the human body than after I use muscles that I didn't know existed. Pictured: not the horse I rode.

5. We (girls) decorated Easter eggs. As Mom would say, the brown eggs really intensify the colors.

6. An image of hope. Baby bud, please blossom & bloom!

Now I'm off to take Zooey for a walk while there's a break in the rain and the sun is shining.

a weekend of newness!

What a fun weekend! I went home to NY, where I was greeted by a little remodeling of the ole Bannister kitchen!

Love these new doors!

On Saturday I finally got to meet Colden!

He is absolutely perfect & so tiny!

I made a gift for Colden almost 2 months ago... I'm pretty pleased with the way it turned out. I've been dying to blog about it, but haven't wanted to ruin the surprise for Victoria:

I knew I wanted to make something for Colden's nursery (safari theme), and was inspired by this mobile and this insanity. I went for something a little more low key, but I still think it's cute! Plus, they're finger puppets.

I also got to spend some quality time with Mom & Dad and Emily & Jayne. It's weird not seeing Ethan or Robert when I'm at home. We have a lot of baby calves on the farm - - 4 were born just during the time I was there!

Mom thought my "craving" in my latest "recently i'm..." post was a hint, so she made minestrone soup, homemade bread AND my favorite salad ever - strawberry poppyseed.

Oh, AND apple pie for dessert. YUM.

Now I'm back in Michigan & entirely unprepared for school tomorrow... gotta love weekends!

p.s. Can we just talk about how awesome it is that Cornell is in the Sweet Sixteen!? As my dad said, "Revenge of the nerds! Go Big Red!"

christmas pictorial

12.23.09

BFFs riding shotgun:

Bannisters don't mess around when it comes to Christmas trees.

12.24.09

Mom had big plans for the fam:

The pond froze over:

So we went ice skating:

It was smooth as glass in the middle:

Then we had hot cocoa afterward:

After church, we made snowflakes:

Dad is the master snowflake maker:

Jayne focusing intensely:

Christmas Eve pjs!

Every Christmas Eve, my dad reads The Night Before Christmas. This year, we called Robert on speakerphone so he could hear too.

12.25.09 - Merry Christmas!

Santa came:

Yummy Christmas dinner:

Pool tourney:

Shaking hands after Jayne defeated me soundly:

Doug strategizing?

The bracket Mom made. Yes, she made a bracket.

(Doug ended up winning!)

12.26.09 -Boxing Day

We watched some soccer & lounged pretty much all day.

12.27.09

Fam went to Grandma & Grandpa Lynk's, and Doug & I went to Victoria & Jeremy's. V, I didn't get any pics of the 2 of us. Frown face.

Cute Christmas mantel:

The Mookster:

Sidenote: Who is 6 months pregnant, works full time, has a long-haired dog and still has floors this clean?!

12.28.09

We had to complete Mom's schedule, so we decorated cookies.

All in all, a wonderful Christmas (with the exception of Robert's absence). I'm sad I didn't get to see more people while we were home & that we'll miss Bannister Christmas.

Happy New Year's Eve!

thanksgiving

Interrupting the Africa update to share about Thanksgiving.

We went back home to WNY for Thanksgiving. Actually, on Thanksgiving, we drove out to eastern NY to spend the day with my mom's folks. My Uncle Tom & Aunt Heidi hosted. The meal was delicious, of course, and it was so good to see my grandparents. Being far from my mom & dad has helped me realize how difficult it must have been for my mom to be far from her parents over the last 27 years.

View from Uncle Tom & Aunt Heidi's driveway

The rest of our time at home was wonderful as well. I haven't seen Ethan since he left for college. It was fun being able to talk to the whole fam about Africa and hear stories about various happenings on the farm and back home since we were last together.

Warning: Potential reader eye-rolling ahead but I'm going there anyway.

I'm really thankful that our trip to Africa was in such close proximity to Thanksgiving. It's really humbled me and helped my perspective. I've been really challenged this Thanksgiving to not only be thankful for what I've been given, but to understand that nothing I have is really mine. I need to use what I've been given to bless others. Anyway, just a little of what I'm learning lately.

That being said - there is so, SO much I'm thankful for.

the redemption of my sin ~ doug ~ my family ~ friends ~ a warm home ~ a warmer bed ~ good health ~ a reliable vehicle ~ a job that I love ~ zooey ~ nutritious food ~ junk food ~ beauty ~ laughter ~ hugs ~ kenyan boys ~ and so much more.

Dad & his girls going to get the tree. Alarming.

Let the hunt begin!

Girls wandering through the trees

Dad sawing down the tree

Dragging the tree to the truck

Now I'm off to bake a pumpkin pie for Parton family Thanksgiving tomorrow!

wny weekend

So last weekend...

We drove through the States since we had Zooey with us - we didn't want to deal with any potential issues at the borders. That added 2 delightful hours to our trip. Sigh. We got in at 12:30am Friday night/Saturday morning. 

We had a blast watching Zooey & Elly get to know one another. They were pretty much a constant blur.

I don't think Robert had his shirt on the whole time we were home...

It was hilarious - Zooey would attack Elly, then run & scoot under the table so Elly couldn't get her. Elly would stand and wait for Zooey to emerge, get bored, turn around around to leave... and Zooey would zoom out again and start nipping her.

Funniest. Picture. Ever.

That afternoon, Victoria & Jeremy came over and we picked peaches (not too many were ripe, sadly) and had a picnic at the pond. Mookey and Elly and Zooey were quite entertaining.

That evening, we celebrated Jayne's 12th birthday. Look at her short hair! She had it chopped that morning for Locks of Love.

  

Sunday morning we said our goodbyes - Mom & Dad took Ethan to Grove City College, and Doug & I headed back to Michigan. Wait, can I just re-visit that thought? Ethan is in COLLEGE. When did that happen? ... I must be getting old.

The weekend flew by (since we were really only there on Saturday!), but it was wonderful. I love my family so much.