Welcome to our Family Blog

We hope this will be a good way to keep in contact with all of our Friends and Family that are spread out all over the world.
John - Tona - Violet - Abbi

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

New Highchair




I bought a highchair the other day for Violet, she seems to enjoy being more upright vs. lying down or being in her swing. So I have been putting her in the chair when I'm in the kitchen washing dishes or making dinner. Here are a couple pics - her expressions crack me up.

3 Month Update



Violet will be three months on Sunday - she is getting so big. We can't get enough of her smiles and her constant talking. She will just lay in your arms and talk your ear off - hopefully we can post a video soon. She has always had a strong neck and she is continuing this trend with her constant need to stand. She is becoming her own little person and we are just enjoying every moment of it.

Surprise Road Trip to Madison



A couple weeks ago I decided to take a road trip with Violet to see my family in Madison. My dad just had knee surgery and I thought a visit from his granddaughter would cheer him up. Little did I know that I would be driving into a mini blizzard.... I won't go into the details but I planned on arriving at 3:00pm and didn't get in till 5:00pm. Other then the weather it was a nice visit - here are a couple pics of " V " with Grandpa and Uncle Dan.

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

This Old (Falling Apart) House & Other Updates

For those not in the know, it's been a tough month. Here's the list:

-A water pipe going into our upstairs bathroom burst a couple weeks ago. It sprayed hot water all over the upstairs hallway and ran into the downstairs hallway (which I had just remodeled) and into the garage. There was an inch of ice on the garage floor and icicles hanging from the ceiling.
- A friend from my last job committed suicide the same night.
- I got called for Jury Duty.
- The hot water heating froze up a week ago. We found the pipe in our bedroom had completely fell apart.
- We have been without full heat in our house since then as some of the pipes are still frozen.
- I bought a new dishwasher and we had it all ready to install, when the screw holding in the power wire sheared off. A repairman took a look at it and ordered a part to fix it. It's been a week and a half with it sitting in the middle of the kitchen and counting.
- One of the frozen pipes finally unfroze tonight and started spraying water on the new sheetrock I put up in the basement this fall. I will have to tear out some of the wall to get to the pipe.
- We had a scare with Brute last week. He was moping around the house, barely moving, and making whimpering noises. It turns out that he has arthritis, and the medicine the vet gave us has made a world of difference. He is back to normal, but I thought that we were going to have to put him down.
- And last but not least, our taxes did not come out even close to what we were expecting (to the worse).


It's been hard staying positive when it seems like nothing is going right and your house if falling apart all around you. With all that negativity its easy to lose sight of all the good things that are happening.
- I really enjoy my new job.
- Violet has been an incredible kid lately. She slept 8 hours straight last night, and when she has been waking up, she has been entertaining herself in her crib. She is also much more aware of what's going on around her. She will follow us around the room and smile when she sees us. It warms my heart every time I see her.
- We have been having a good time getting out of the house more. With Shorty, CC and Dana's birthday, the superbowl party at Julie's, the birthday parties last weekend, and the early valentines day date we had on Monday, its been a fun couple of weeks.
- I have a fantastic wife who puts up with me.
- Brute is still alive and kicking.
- It's almost Friday!

Happy Belated Birthdays!

Joe & Lucy

We celebrated Lucy B's and Joe Wilt's birthdays this past Saturday. Thankfully Violet was well behaved and didn't mind the loud noises at Joe's house and at the Chatterbox Pub. We had a good time at both events and wish them both a happy (though belated) birthday.
Joe Wilt & Violet

Friday, February 8, 2008

Previous Post Typo

I did notice the typo in the previous post, but somehow I feel that it is appropriate.

-John