The Kriz Family

Happy Easter everyone. He is risen!

I can’t believe how fast this year is going by. Just a few months ago, we celebrated Elsa’s first birthday, now Easter Sunday is almost over and we’re heading in to May. It’s been a while since our last update (as usual lately…), so I thought today would be a good day to finally post something out here.

Last weekend was busy. We went to Kevin and Erin’s to celebrate Kevin’s birthday on Saturday. The kids had a great time over there, and the parents did too. (Thanks for having us Kevin & Erin!). The next day, we went to Palm Sunday mass, then had two Easter Egg hunts. We were all tired at the end of that day! Our little Elsa has started walking (just last weekend, actually), so she was able to walk around and get some eggs. She’s still pretty clumsy, but it is fun to watch her. She really gets going, and her big belly is always leading the way – and keeping her balanced when she starts to topple backwards

Yesterday, we colored Easter eggs. Elsa is still not quite old enough to have any interest in this, but Lukas was excited about it. Then in the afternoon, we went to Kevin & Erin’s again to celebrate Caroline’s birthday. Once again, a fun time for us all. And of course, we celebrated Easter today. We went to church this morning, then had Heidi’s parents over for Easter dinner. All through the service this morning, Lukas was talking about how Jesus’ body wasn’t in the tomb when they rolled the stone away. And where did he go?? He is risen! I love that he is so interested in this, but just wish he had a volume control for places like church, the car, at home, pretty much everywhere. We asked him today to turn his volume control down about half way, and he responds (loudly), with a laugh, “But daddy, I don’t have a volume control! That’s silly!” “I know Lukas, I know…” I replied… And this evening, we started to notice that Elsa is probably just as bossy as her brother. Granny took her shoes off and had them in another room. Elsa brought them over and tried to get them on Granny’s feet as best as she could. Then pretty much every time Granny took her shoes off after that, Elsa would bring them around to put them back on. Everything has to be in its place!

Anyway, I have some videos I’ll be posting soon, but in the meantime, here are some photos from the past few weekends.

Lukas found an egg – collecting in the Home Depot bag

Green egg in one hand, other hand holding on to Mommy… Now how do I get this yellow one?

I have a bunch of eggs now!

Mommy loves when I make this face

Checking out the loot

Just out for a stroll…

Checking out the colors – orange is almost done!

Always putting on a show for the camera…

Elsa in her Easter outfit

So ladylike

Happy Easter!

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?

Since the first week of December, we’ve been gradually decorating for Christmas in our new home. It’s taken a lot longer this year, partially because it’s a new house, and partially because we don’t have as much free time as we used to…

What did we learn though the decorating extravaganza this year? For one, Heidi and her parents don’t like when I am climbing a ladder 2 stories high during a snowstorm to screw brass hooks into the soffit so I could hang icicle lights. Probably a valid concern. Another lesson learned is that LED lights, while they have come a long way, still don’t quite have the warmth of incandescents (the icicles are LEDs, you can kind of tell the difference in the photos). Oh, and don’t count on your various strings of lights to work from one year to the next. This year, over half of our lights decided to not work at all, or to only partially work. So the outdoor lights are kind of sparse (don’t worry, it is on our list for next year), and the tree lights for inside are almost all brand new as well.

Anyway, we’re done now, and we have a lot of ideas for next year, for inside and outside. And now we just get to sit back and enjoy it each night. So here’s what we have this year…

The Christmas tree is home.

Lights are on (all 1200 of them…), now it’s time to decorate

Our Christmas Tree

Tree and Hearth with some Socks

Nativity Scene

More trees – these are above our front door

Our house, with the first light snow of the year

The first heavy snow

Since I was little, my family always celebrated St. Nicholas day. St. Nicholas was a Catholic bishop in the 4th century, who was canonized as a saint for his kindness and generosity, among other things. He used his own wealth to help out those in need, often leaving gifts in shoes left by the fireplace. Today, a lot of families will celebrate St. Nicholas day by putting small gifts in stockings hanging over the fireplace, and that’s what we did when I was growing up. I can remember waking up early to run into the family room to check and see what St. Nick brought us. And if it was a school day, we’d have to get up extra early so we’d still have time to get ready.

So the tradition continues with our family, though I’ll admit that so far, the gifts for our kids are coming from Grandma and Grandpa Kriz (thanks Mom & Dad!)

Here are a couple photos of Lukas and Elsa after they opened their gifts. Notice they’re still in their PJs and a little groggy looking

A nice red bow for Elsa

Lukas got a cool Slinky Dog from Toy Story

Elsa got her first purse, complete with makeup and money

We made our annual trek in the 4-wheel-drive sleigh to cut down our Christmas tree today. This year, we tried a different tree farm – Big Tree Plantation in Morrow – and it was a perfect experience. To start off, we had the first real snow of the year, so that made it really feel like Christmas. When we got to the farm, we bundled up, grabbed our camera, and loaded the kids up on the wagon (in tow by a red tractor) that took us out to the tree farm. After that, we got a saw and a sled, and hiked around to find that perfect tree. It didn’t take long, they had some really beautiful trees! Once we found it, we cut it down, dragged it in the sled back to the wagon, and then went to the barn to warm up with some hot chocolate and candy. It really was a perfect day – the weather, the wagon ride, everything made it a truly memorable experience. A great way to kick off the Christmas season!

Heidi, Lukas, and Elsa, ready to pick out our tree

Found our tree, just have to cut it down now

James and Elsa by some future Christmas Trees

Lukas and Elsa in the sled

Hauling the tree back