The Ellisons: Memorial Day Weekend

We had all of Shane's family here at our apartment in Omaha over Memorial Day. Ken, Shirley, Jake and Mema drove in on Wednesday night and Josh and Rachel flew in Thursday morning. It was the first time that Ken, Jake, and Mema had met Charlotte and a few months since Shirley, Josh, and Rachel had seen her, so of course that was a great first meet and reunion.

When we're together with Shane's family, we don't "do" much:). We just enjoy hanging out and catching up at a leisurely pace. Breakfast happens more near lunch, lunch is in the afternoon, dinner is usually around 8/9pm and we continue to chat till pretty late. This visit, with 8 people to one bathroom, a baby with an odd sleeping schedule, and me having to eat homemade meals, our excursions out of the apartment were rarer and later in the day. But we did make it out!

Rachel and I went to my last cake decorating class on Thursday and we decorated a red velvet cake to celebrate their 3rd anniversary on the 31st.

Friday, the girls went shopping at a top-notch, second-hand baby store called Bigwheels to Butterflies and got Charlotte a few things. Shirley was wanting to buy Charlotte a walker and we found one for $5.50! It was pretty bare bones and she was wanting to find her one with more gizmos attached to it, but I was thinking this phase, like most baby phases, would only last a few months and you can't beat that price.

She also got her a dress which she wore to church on Sunday.

I found her some shoulder strap covers for her carseat and some owl pjs for when she's a 2T - can't pass up owl stuff. Mema got her a see-say which she thoroughly enjoys during the air-drying period of diaper changes.

Saturday we went to the Old Market area of downtown Omaha which is pretty cool - I'm really excited to explore this area more. Biggest plus - free parking on the weekends! Wouldn't have found that in NYC! The streets are mostly brick and there's alot of restaurants and shops. We spent alot of time in the "Nebraska/Iowa" shop getting various souvenirs and I loved the Christmas Shop! I'll have to check that out w/out Charlotte's big stroller soon - I love Christmas all year long.

Four generations

Charlotte had just spit up:)

Sunday we went to our new home church here, Grace Reformed Presbyterian and had a big turkey dinner in the evening. Mema showed me how to make her yummy yeast rolls - they melt in your mouth and don't require butter.

We had learned just that weekend that we weren't allowed to be using our charcoal grill in the apartment complex (so sad!), so we took it to a nearby park and grilled out there.