Welcome to our Family!

On Sept. 13th, Harper Marlee Schuppert was born at 6lbs. 12 oz and 19 inches long (exactly the weight and length of her Auntie Angelica).

Perla and Matt (my sister and brother-in-law)are adjusting to being new parents and handling the new change perfectly! My mom was able to spend several weeks with Perla right after Harper was born, and literally as my mom was leaving the airport, I arrived. Fun to see my mom in passing, even for a little bit at the Jet Blue ticketing counter! Because of the thoughtfulness and amazing help of my husband, I was able to spend a full week with my sister and new niece. I'm amazed at the lack of sleep we got, and how well we did! Harper is a little night owl, but I cherished the times she and I got to watch TV late at night and cuddle together. I am very proud of how quickly and beautifully my sister has picked up mothering! Love you little Harper and Auntie Angelica misses you with all her heart!

Ah . . . Fall/School!

Micah started 5 full days of Kindergarten this year, and Sienna is going 3 full days of Preschool. This tired mommy is enjoying the time she now gets to catch up on her blogs and photography work! It has been a joy to see how Micah has evolved to such a confident, compassionate young man! He was one of the leads in his play last week "Vacation to Mars". If you see him, ask him to sing you one of the songs, he would LOVE to (and you might even get Sienna to join in!) Oh, and here is a picture of me and Galen! What a handsome husband I have!!!!!

Birthdays!!!!

July 23rd, Micah turned 6 years old! He celebrated with friends by having a "Ben 10 Alien Force" Party. For all of you without little boys, its a cartoon!

On Sept 5th Sienna celebrated her 4th b-day in style - Princess Style that is! Even big sister Torrey dressed up and wowed the little girls with her awesomeness! HA! She took pictures with and read to the little princesses.

What a blessing our children are!!!!

Niagara/Princeton Trip

Sorry all! It has been such a busy summer/fall, again, I've been a little behind on my blogging! Daniel graduated 8th grade and has entered . . .HIGH SCHOOL! WOW! Both Daniel and Torrey were accepted (with almost full scholarships) to the North Shore Country Day School in Winnetka. Both take a short train ride in the morning to their schools from Evanston each day. Torrey joined the Field Hockey girls team and Daniel made the varsity soccer team (he's the only freshman on the team). They are both doing very well, and we are very proud of both of their respective accomplishments.

In late July, Galen, Micah, Sienna and I decided to take a road trip to New Jersey to visit my brother Ben and his family. We were both a little apprehensive at how the little guys would do on such a long car ride, but to our pleasant surprise they both did AMAZINGLY well! Not a peep from both of them! We left Chicago and drove about 6 1/2 hours to Sarnia, Canada to visit our dear friend Mark Crate. There we spent the night and were treated to homemade blueberry pancakes in the morning. Kids played in his pool and we hung out for a bit in the morning before heading to NIAGARA FALLS! It was another 3 hours before we drove into the Canada side of the falls. The falls were beautiful, but it looked like Las Vegas threw-up all around it! Very strange, but still a beautiful site. We then got in the car and drove through the border to Syracuse, NY. There we bunked for the night before heading to New Jersey. It was a wonderful time with family and we enjoyed playing at the Jersey Shore! The beach was a site for sore eyes for these two California natives! My beautiful little son turned 6 on this trip and just got loved on by family and friends! On our way back home, we visited and spent the night with our friends the Crane's. Over all it was an amazing trip!!!

A green little thumb I am . . .

Well, I'd like to say that I am as good as my father was, but I don't come close to his supernatural abilities to make dirt give birth to the most amazing flowers I have ever seen! But, I'm a close 2nd. HA! I wish! This year, I have been trying to "move-up" in the ladder of vegetable gardening. I have had a little patch of land that I would grow some meager little veggies, but my AWESOME husband and INCREDIBLE son, Daniel, worked an entire Saturday to build me the garden fence of all gardens! Daniel even designed and built the door by himself! Galen borrowed our friend's rototiller and prepared the dirt in a large open spot that we really weren't using too much. The fence is the key here, because we have deer, rabbits, and other wildlife just devour anything we grow as food out here. Here are some pictures of my thriving garden . . . Galen and Daniel's hard work is not in vain! The veggies and herbs we are growing are: Tomatoes, strawberries, cilantro, basil, rosemary, chives, curly parsley, 3 grape vines in pots (and a 4th that was thought dead and somehow appeared in my garden), jalapenos, tomatillos, red bell peppers, round yellow squash, broccoli, green beans, romaine lettuce, leeks and cucumbers. Whew! Of course we still harvest the raspberry bush that came with the house and seems to be producing more and more every year! Yum!










And tonight for dinner, we ate the fruit of our labor . . . Green Beans! Sienna and I harvested some beans and picked some raspberries too. : )

Happy Birthday America!

Well, summer is in full swing and I have been neglecting my blogging duties. Chicago heat is wilting our bodies, but not our spirit. We had a great 4th of July celebrating with our neighbors, the Pierce Family and then heading to an early evening party with our dear friends the Squires. I love the 4th in Sleepy Hollow - we have parades (made up of every kid with a big wheel or bike in the village), the annual fishing derby, at our our local lake/pond, bands playing, pony rides and food, food, food. But, my most favorite thing in "The Hollow" are the FIREWORKS! We always get such a spectacular view and all we have to do is walk one street down from our home. This year we watched it from a different location, but the show was still AWESOME! Of course there were a few kids that didn't like the loud booms, so Mr. Iverson was so kind to sit inside and read them books. : )

Princeton or Bust . . .

For Spring Break, the kids and I (Angelica) flew to NJ to visit my sister-in-law and nieces and nephew. My brother, who is a professor at Princeton, was there for a few days before he traveled to Korea to speak at a conference.

Boy did we have fun going to the Aquarium in Philadelphia and playing around with family! I took on a few photo sessions while I was there to help pay for the flights. My sister-in-law spoiled us by feeding us and taking care of our every need. An added bonus to our trip was my mother flying in from California to visit as well! My kids (and I) were doubly spoiled. Galen and I are looking forward to taking a road trip to NJ sometime in July.