What a Month!

As Febuary comes to a close, I am reminded of just how sick I have become of snow! Also - on a good note, I am reminded of some of the things that have happened this month. Baby Kyle was born! Also, I look back on some of the fun times Lexi has had with Kaitlyn this month. Just a few days before Kyle was born, Brittany and Kaitlyn were here at our house for the weekend. The girls played in the snow, dressed up like Princesses, and took a bath with baby Jill. They always have fun together! Then, Kyle was born. Bethany, Lexi, and Jill made the trip to Brittany's house to visit and meet up with Maely to help out with Kaitlyn and the girls had even more fun. They love to run around Brittany's dining room table. They also like to sit in the glider-rocker and swing back-and-forth together. Of course, they love to play with baby Jill too and that just wears her out! Hopefully Kyle will be able to keep up with these wild women when he get a little bigger. Until then, we will probably be making a lot more trips to Brittany and Matt's house to see baby Kyle start his life and grow. Hopefully spring is just around the corner, but until then enjoy the pictures!

Kyle Matthew!

We finally added a boy to the family! Brittany and Matt had Kyle Matthew Gurtzweilwer on Wed. Feb. 11 at 9:21 am. He weighed in at 5 pounds and 1 ounce and was 18½ inches long. He was also almost 7 weeks early. His first few days may be a little difficult, as he must learn how to eat (he has the sucking down, but needs to work on the swallowing). He is currentyl getting food through a nasal tube. May be looking at a few weeks in the hospital, but hopefully all will turn out great and he will be home with mom, dad, and big sister Kaitlyn soon! Congrats to the Gurtz's and YAY! We have our boy!!!

Digging Out!

Well hopefully most of you were able to dig yourselves out of this snow. The snow only fell for about 15-20 hours, but it managed to accumulate about a foot! Matt spent 1½ hours just clearing our driveway! Lexi, Jill and Bethany got bundled up and joined him for about 20 minutes, but ths snow was even too deep for the sled... Lexi wanted nothing to do with it. Jill didn't know quite what to think. Her snowsuit made her body so stiff because she couldn't bend at the waist and her limbs were stuck straight out. Banky even got to enjoy a little fun in the snow. He was trying to escape our driveway, but just couldn't do it. The snow wall was just too high for him. Lexi did enjoy helping Matt scoop the snow off the driveway with her little bowl. Anyway, hopefully the snow didn't slow anyone down too much.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot... Happy 30th Birthday to Matt today! What a great present - to shovel a foot of snow off the driveway!

New Picture People!

As some of you may already know, our picture people that we have used since Lexi was born went bankrupt (the whole company nationwide)! No more Kiddie Kandids! I had an appointment already made for Jill's 9 months pictures and I also wanted an updated family picture - since Lexi is only 18 months old in our last family picture. I was so upset. They were so convenient (located just down the road about 10 minutes in the Summit Mall) and they printed your pictures right there after your session. They only took 8 proofs total so you weren't sitting there for an hour trying to figure out which poses you wanted to pick. They also printed 4x6 prints - which I have come to find out that NO other picture place prints 4x6's. Needless to say that is the size of most frames now! I went to the internet to search for a new picture place. There were several options, but I finally decided on Portrait Innovations. There are 3 locations within 20 miles of our house, but all 3 are a good ½ hour from our house (with traffic and city streets). I was pleasantly surprised with them. They took a LOT of pictures (140 total proofs) and then came the weeding down part. I was there for an hour after our session just trying to decide what I wanted while Matt had Jill and Lexi to look after in the studio. Hopefully with this being the first ever visit, now I will know what to expect in future visits and it will go much faster. They got some really good shots of the girls and of the family. I ordered way too many pictures this first time, but at least now I will know what to order for next time! Enjoy and let me know what you think!

A Little Busy!

I know it has been a few weeks since the last post. I am truly sorry! We have been busy little beavers in these past few weeks. Matt and Bethany took Lexi to see Disney on Ice Jan. 9th. We were in the very 1st row (only about 5 feet from the ice)!! She liked it and spent the whole hour and a half waiting on Jessie, Buzz, and Woody to come onto the ice - they were the very last ones to make their appearance. Then on Jan. 10th Bethany and Lexi went to a birthday party for our twin neighbors who turned 4! They had Outback Ray and his amazing animals at their party and he was a HIT! All the kids even posed with his VERY LONG albino boa constrictor!

Bethany's family came out the following weekend to watch the girls while Matt and Bethany worked on Sat. The house was FULL of females - Matt and Banky were the only 2 males. And we just want to send a HUGE thanks to Nola, G.G. Eileen, Brittany, Kaity, Maely and Ruby for coming out and watching the girls. You will never know how much we appreciate it! Also, we will challenge you to a re-match in Tennis on the Wii next time you all come out!

To round out our busy January, Lexi, Jill, and Bethany made a quick trip to Toledo this weekend to go to Maxwell's 3rd birthday party. The theme was Yo Gabba Gabba. It was really great to see Ellisa and the boys and catch up a little with her. Then on Sunday we stopped in on my friend Natalie and her 3 kids (the youngest whom we had not yet met and he is 16 months old!). Lexi was crying in the group picture because she didn't want to leave! Again, great to catch up with friends from the past. Enjoy the few pics that are posted with each story and check my facebook page out for the rest of the pictures.

Last but not Least!

And to think, Christmas is all over! We did manage to get grandma Chris' siblings and their families together this year, too! I volunteered to host the whole clan. It was a full house and just about everyone was able to make it. 35 people total!!! We had a little (actually A LOT) more snow than I would have liked, but everyone made it to our house and back home safe and sound. I hope everyone had a good time and I know we really enjoyed seeing everyone. Hopefully we can do it again sometime (when the weather is a little warmer)! Thanks to everyone who made the trip and it was great to see the whole family together!

4 Christmases!

Sorry for the late post, but we have been just a little bit busy these last 10 days. Here are the pictures from Christmas weekend. Christmas Eve and Christmas morning at home, Christmas Day at Chris and Chuck's, Saturday (the day after) at G.G. Eileen's and Saturday evening at Nola and Gary's house. We almost needed a U-Haul to carry back all the girls' presents! Anyway, thank you to everyone and enjoy the pictures!

Christmas Eve/Christmas Morning



Christmas Day (Saris)



Saturday noon (Thomas)



Saturday evening (Ginter)