Celebrating Family

This past week we got to spend some wonderful time with Chris' family. His parents were in town to meet Ada and help out. Chris' sister was also able to stay with us for several days; it was so nice to have the whole family together. Thanks so much for all the cooking and cleaning, etc. It was very much appreciated! The time went by too quickly, as it always seems to when they come to visit. We loved that they were able to come and meet Ada; she's the first grandchild on Chris' side and it's been wonderful seeing them together; we know Ada loved getting so much attention. :)




She is so blessed to have so many people that love her. We have been thankful that so many family members have been able to meet her and spend time with her; lots of good memories and photos. Unfortunately the last few weeks have also been a bittersweet time, as my uncle passed away just a couple days after Ada's birth. Since his death I have been thinking a lot about family; about wanting to spend more quality time together and wanting to capture those times and stories in photos and words in my scrapbooks - I want Ada to know her family and have a wonderful childhood, full of great memories of spending time with family members, playing with her cousins, hearing family stories, etc.

I encourage you all to take some time this week to not only think about and spend time with your family and loved ones, but to also think about capturing the memories of your time together. My family is now talking about making time to go to the lake together this summer and spend some weekends at the cabin seeing extended family and just being together. Chris and Ada and I will be heading to North Carolina in July with Chris' sister to visit my in-laws and other family members and spend time hanging out at the beach.

I would love to see comments about how you celebrate with your family. What traditions or activities do you participate in together? What's your favorite thing to do together? Are there traditions that you would like to start or pass along to your children? Do you capture / record family memories - scrapbooking, photo albums, writing down stories?

Hanging out with Uncle Lawrence at the cabin

"What the next generation will value most is not what we owned, but the evidence of who we were and the tales of how we loved." -Ellen Goodman