The Kriz Family » Birthdays

Happy Birthday Elsa!

jim — Sun, 20 Feb 2011 02:39:34 +0000

We celebrated Elsa’s big first birthday a few days before the actual day. Rudi and Sue joined us, and so did Kevin and Erin. And Elsa had a little friend to play with too – Kevin and Erin’s daughter Caroline, who’s exactly two months younger. Not that they really “play” together at that age, but it was fun to see the two of them together. It was a really sweet celebration of our little girl’s first birthday. And now Heidi says that she’s sad that her little girl is growing up, and maybe we need another baby. I’m not so sure about that one. Elsa, quit growing up so fast!

So here are some moments from our party…

Checking out her presents and cards

"I’m so cute"

Birthday decorations

The spread

Elsa’s cake – pretty flowers!

Elsa and Mommy

Singing "Happy Birthday" (and Lukas blows out the candle…)

Alright, we’ll just pretend Elsa is blowing out the candle…

"Ok, you took off my clothes, and you have me wearing this silly flower hat. Where’s the cake?"

"Hmmmm, this cake stuff is pretty good!"

"Alright, it’s in my hair, on my arms, and all over my face. There might even be some in my mouth. I’m done."

Time for a bath – who knew there would be so much cake everywhere.

Elsa, Lukas, and Caroline hanging out in Elsa’s new "Secret Garden" playhouse.

Lots of presents, but Elsa always had a card in hand (for chewing on…)

And, if you’ve come this far, why not take a look at the slideshow we put together with some moments from Elsa’s first year. It’s about 30 minutes long, so why not sit back, relax, and enjoy?

Grandma and Grandpa Kriz’s Birthday Party

jim — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 05:19:26 +0000

We finally were able to make it to Cleveland to have a belated birthday party for Grandma and Grandpa Kriz (or “Mom and Dad”, to me…) The weather was perfect for spending the day outside, hanging around the picnic table, grilling out, having a few cold drinks, and enjoying time with our families. Aunt Kay & Uncle John, Tom & Alison, Jeremy & Michelle, and Tony & Gladys all came by. It was a really fun day, especially for our boy. He got to see Grandma and Crapaw Kriz, but he also got to “play” with everyone else there. Which is nice, because that meant Heidi and I didn’t have to watch him like a hawk every second

Here are a some pictures from the day.

Grandma Kriz and Lukas

Grandpa Kriz and a tired little boy

Lukas stealing fruit from Uncle John (and cracking up about it)

Tony & Lukas and Tony’s cell phone

Uncle John & Lukas and a noisy bottle opener

Uncle John, Aunt Kay, and Lukas

Yes, I am cute.

A tired boy after a long day

Happy 2nd Birthday Lukas!

jim — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 04:20:45 +0000

We celebrated Lukas’ second birthday this weekend. He sure had a lot of fun. All the grandparents were here, Maria and Marcos and Derrick too. And Kevin and Erin came by after their long drive from DC (the birthday boy was in bed already, but we were still really glad they could come). It was a really special day for Lukas, he was the center of attention and just ate it up.

So here are some highlights from the weekend…

The grandparents were all in the kitchen, and of course Lukas had to be in on the action

Lukas had a tiger hat (to go with his tiger cake) – he wore it for all of 30 seconds

Starting out his fleet of vehicles, we have a Big Wheel (yes, the Original Big Wheel, the same one you probably had when you were growing up!), from Grandma and Crapaw Kriz, and the Cozy Coupe from Granny and Opas. (That little car has been in production for 30 years this year, and actually was the best-selling “car” in America in 2008!)

Derrick got Lukas a basketball hoop (with breakaway rim no less!). Crapaw Kriz and Uncle D put it together, and then we all shot around. Is that MJ dunking?

The next day, Lukas got to play with some of his toys. First we have a really cool Indiana Jones “Taters of the Lost Ark” Mr. Potato Head (or “Table Head”, as our son says…) from Kevin and Erin. When you press his hat, it plays the theme song. This is a big hit. Anything that makes noise…

Next is a Disney Mickey Mouse fire engine from Gladys and Tony. Also a big hit, as it makes LOTS of great noises. This one was also a hit because it required no assembly, which meant Lukas got to play on his new car, and Dad actually got to relax on Father’s Day

Here’s Marcos assembling the “Strider Running Bike” that he and Maria got Lukas. It’s a bike without pedals, that’s supposed to help kids learn balance, etc, so they can ride a bike without training wheels. Cool idea! (Notice Lukas “helping” with the assembly – he’s got a frog horn that attaches to the handlebars).

Maria is helping him out on his first ride – he did pretty good!

And these are the next day – we decided to give the bike a try outside. What do you think of his helmet? Luckily we already had this from when we did the “Ride Cincinnati” bike ride last year.

Lukas is One!

jim — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 17:03:48 +0000

Happy Birthday Lukas!

We all made it! Lukas turned one on June 22. One whole year – it went by so fast!

We had a celebration at Granny and Opa’s house on June 15th (we celebrated Father’s Day and Heidi and Becki’s birthdays too), and then another on June 21st at our house. Lukas got all sorts of great gifts from everyone, but his favorites were the boxes and the wrapping paper, of course.

And you would think that a kid who never had sugar before would have been totally thrilled to get to try cake and icing for the first time. Boy were we wrong! He had two parties, so two chances to eat cake, and both times we got the same disgusted looks from Lukas. He even cried about it the first time!

Anyway, Heidi and I are just so happy we made it one year, and we feel blessed to have such a wonderful boy, and such great family and friends to help us celebrate!

You can see more pictures from Lukas’ first year if you click here. We have lots more to post (from his birth, up til about Christmas), so check that album often if you want to see more!