Flashback Friday

Can you guess whooooo?...

Yep - It's Sophie's mommy! :) I dug up some old pictures from my baby albums and Craig scanned them for me. I'm just a little younger than Sophie here.



This one actually looks like a mixture of both my kids, I think.

Here's one where I'm posing with/just like my mom at the lake. Look at my mother! Isn't she phenomonal? Seriously, mom, you look so amazing. And P.S. - Craig likes your big hair in these pics and thinks you should bring it back.

That is the spitting image of my Sophie girl.

Daddy-O

July '82 - so I was 18 months here.

Here I am "breastfeeding" my baby doll. Casey was probably just born and I was trying, once again, to be like my mommy.

My mom wrote a caption in my baby book with this photo: "Ashley, just after a sudden 'growth spurt'!" Those were plastic Easter eggs in my shirt. :) Apparently I needed "breasts" so I could "breastfeed". LOL

A Belated Flashback Friday

Same shirt, different baby.

Top: Cecilia Mae at 7-ish weeks.

Bottom: Sophia Grace at 6-ish weeks.

Kelly, Steve and Celia came over for dinner on Saturday night. Baby Celia has grown and changed so much! She was really alert and especially adorable. It's so fun to see all of Sophie's out-grown clothes again on a tinier person! :)

Flashback Friday

I'm not sure why, but this particular comparison came to me this week while I wasn't even looking at pictures. I love this picture of Craig as a child -he is adorable - and suddenly I remembered a very similar smiling picture of Will. So tonight I dug it up and, sure enough, they look like twins! (Except with different hair colors.) And P.S. - the only reason I have all these pictures of Craig and I (that you've seen in recent posts) as children was because we had a photo slideshow playing in the foyer at our wedding reception and these were the ones we'd scanned in. I'd love to scan more though 'cause old pictures are so fun.

Anyway, what do you think?

I'm pretty sure there's an age gap here, but still...And one more flashback, just for fun...

Craig as a child again:

And an adult Craig, blowing bubbles for his son:

I love flashbacks. :)

Flashback Friday

Remember my "biker kids"?

How about a biker kids flashback, circa... oh 1984 or 1985?
(Note in the above picture:
candy necklace, super-scraggly hair, Detroit Tigers t-shirts...
Ya... dad was babysitting.)

And one last pic of me with my very first baby.
I was quite the little mother, eh?
Love you, Case!

Flashback Friday

Sophia - about one year ago today - our first full day at home.
Will - exactly one year ago today - sporting the mullet.

Will - approximately two years ago today - about 10 1/2 months old.

Will - also about two years ago today - doesn't he look like Sophie in this one?

Flashback Friday

This sort of goes along with my nostalgia post. These are all pics of Will from this time last year. I was just discussing with my co-worker today how it's funny that your child can seem so mature and grown up at the age of 14 months (his age when I found out I was pregnant again) or even 22.5 months (his age when our 2nd baby arrived) when you compare it to the infancy period. But then I look back at him just one year ago - shortly before Sophia was born - and I think "My God! He was just a baby!"

This was early April 2009 - Will had just begun sleeping in his "big boy" bed. He had been used to the crib so he was still wearing a sleep sack and was still sans pillow or blanket. You can't see it in the picture, but Craig had created a sort of baracade with pillows at the head and foot of the bed. :) Side rails were also up and we had been going through the whole "Super Nanny" phase of getting him to stay in bed. Ahh... that seems so long ago.
This was at a visit to Bass Pro. We really had no reason to go, except to squeeze in a few last lazy Sunday afternoons as a family of three. Will loved all the animals.

Easter 2009 - and I can't believe how ridiculously long his hair was!

April 17, 2009 - exactly one year ago today. This was a Friday - my last day of work before Sophie was born. I remember we read lots of books that weekend. His position in my lap (while we read in the glider chair) had drastically changed months before that and he now faced me with his legs straddling my huge belly. I hugged him a lot and thought about how my arms were going to be too full to do that as often and that made me sad.

Another shot of the curls - this was the day we brought Sophie home from the hospital. I remember sitting a sleeping Sophia on the table in her car seat just as we arrived home so I could hold Will and read to him before he layed down for his nap. Will cried when I layed him down and I know he was just feeling a lot of emotions (relieved I was home, scared I was leaving, confused about a lot of things) because he also woke in the middle of that first night crying for me as he had both nights I was away in the hospital.

It's all so vivid to me and I just keep replaying these moments. I also feel relieved knowing that Will came away from that whole transition unscarred (as I so frequently doubted) and that Will and Sophia have a wonderful bond now.

Just a few more days now until our baby girl turns one! I'll be posting a Year In Review sometime this weekend, I hope.

Nazareth Hall

Craig and I got out for a really fun lunch date today. I read in a local paper that Nazareth Hall (where we were married) in Grand Rapids hosts a Sunday Brunch every weekend between November and Mother's Day. They serve a buffet breakfast/lunch in the Cadet West ballroom where our reception was held for a very reasonable price. We made a noon reservation, got a babysitter for the kids, and made the beautiful, 45-minute, winding drive out there along the river.

You can read about the interesting history of Nazareth Hall (originally a Catholic boys boarding school built in the 1920's) at nazarethhall.com and also see pictures of the ballroom as I don't have any good shots that offer a broad glimpse of how pretty the room is from the inside.

After brunch, we walked through the building to check out the dressing room where my bridesmaids and I gathered before the ceremony and then outside to the grotto where our wedding was held. It was really fun to see and I even snuck in a smooch right on the spot where we said 'I do' 5 1/2 years ago.


It would have been nice to come back here on an actual wedding anniversary, but ours is October 2nd and that's not within the dates that they offer the brunch. So instead I picked this weekend because we're coming up on another (not-so-acknowledged-anymore) anniversary this week. On the evening of April 15, 1997 (Casey's birthday!), Craig asked me to be his girlfriend after our high school track meet. I was a sophomore; he was a senior. So today we celebrated our nearly 13 years together!

Here are a couple pictures we took today. Behind Craig is the winding path that leads down to the grotto. Not the best of either of us, but the only one of us together.

This is the bridge I walked across to enter the wedding ceremony, so technically it was part of my "aisle".

And this one is just from up one of the little hiking paths overlooking the grotto.

Uh-oh. I'm feeling on the verge... of posting a lot of pictures! I forgot my Flashback Friday last week and I'm just itching to post some flashbacks from our wedding at Nazareth Hall... I don't know... should I? Okay I will. You know I can't resist sharing pictures. Don't worry, I won't go overboard. I'll only post the ones that help showcase the grounds/hall.

Here's the front of the building on October 2, 2004. Our photographer was trying to get artsy-fartsy and the picture is somehow curved.

A view from the side - you can see the round part all the way to the left with the arched windows... that's Cadet West ballroom from the outside.

Some of my bridesmaids in the dressing room before the wedding. Pictured from left: Kelly, Molly, Brittany, Casey and Julie.

Love the light on this one. Dressed and ready to get married!

Gorgeous blue skies on October 2nd! Some of our friends and family walk down the path to the ceremony. There was a golf cart on hand to drive anyone not up for the walk.

A view from below looking up towards the hall.

Family walking across that bridge to be seated.

After a ride down in the golf cart, we snuck into a tent they had set up off to the side so as not to be seen.

Another "artistic" shot of the aisle.

Our original guest list was trimmed down from about 600 to about 300. We packed them into a very small area!

Love this picture of Craig. And I also love to see how young and different my brothers look (far right).

Ahh! I cannot believe how beautiful the day turned out to be despite the forecast. I LOVE the fall and we so desperately wanted an outdoor ceremony. It was perfect! At this moment, Enya's "Only Time" was played as my dad waited for me to meet him across the bridge where he escorted me the rest of the way.

I loved this day and wouldn't change a thing. I always say I wouldn't do it over again because I want to remember the day exactly as it was. I was so calm! Surrounded by family and friends, outside on a beautiful fall day. We wrote our own vows and had a wonderful celebration that followed.

Our bridal party on the bridge.

So much fun with my best girlfriends, taking LOTS of pictures!

We're married!!!

Okay, so clearly I'm not doing a very good job keeping my flashbacks to just one or two pictures. I'll really try to work on that this week. :)