Elsie's Shower in a Box

Laura came up with this creative idea for family members in Idaho, Utah and Korea to throw us a baby shower. She pulled it together and sent it to Wisconsin with Mom. Thank you, Laura!
Tuesday night Mom told us that she had a "surprise presentation" for us and she needed to get refreshments. We thought it was a slide show for FHE and we made brownies and ice cream for it.
Wow, were we ever surprised when we walked into the dining room and saw this display!
The colors were gorgeous and the photos made us feel like everyone was there with us.
Katie thought to include gifts for Isaac, Lucas and Ariel -- genius. And so festive!


Mike tries some burp cloths on for size.
Elsie modeled everything for us as fast as we could get it unwrapped.

The first thing Ariel said when she met Elsie for the first time was, "I want to see her shoes." Well, Elsie has shoes now. If that is the sign of a darling girl, Elsie has arrived.

Elsie now has the SWEETEST blankets, most DARLING bracelets, ADORABLE shoes, PRECIOUS outfits, FASHIONABLE headbands, CUTEST onesies, PRETTY hair clips, FUN legwarmers, and DASHING hooter hider.

Thank you Laura, Haley, Mom, Katie, Karin, Melinda, Mandy, Sarah, Annee and Robbie Jo for coming to my Shower in the Box and for your generous gifts. We had a great time!

Her name is

Elsie Anne

Everyone Wants a Turn

Everyone wants a turn to feed
Elsie Anne.

Meeting our new sister

Homecoming



So glad to be home. Ariel is thrilled with her new baby doll and wants to help Mom with everything. Her face reflects how she feels about Grandpa's efforts to keep her from being on top of Mom and sister 24/7.

Little Miss Marion

After 2 hours of labor, Daddy delivered a healthy baby girl. She weighs 7 lbs 11 ozs and is 20 inches long. She was born @ 12:49 PM CDT. Mother & daughter are both great.

Broken Water

lisa awoke to a wet bed last night. Her water had broken without much for contractions. We are now at the hospital getting labor started. Results pending...

Mike's Tri

Isaac's Baptism

June 21st Isaac celebrated his birthday and baptism.

Grandpa Hawkes made the journey out to the midwest for this milestone in Isaac's life. It was a wonderful day!

Rest & Relaxation in California

Half way through our week-long layover in California, I discovered that my girlfriend, Megan, and her kids were there for a visit. We hooked up at the beach one day. We met up at Cardiff-by-the-Sea.
While we got caught up on each other's life, our kids played together.

Ariel and Logan enjoyed splashing in the cold water.

Isaac and Lucas built a mighty fortress sandcastle. . .

...which was soon under assault from the waves.

Guess who won.

So they built a bigger, stronger castle.

I enjoyed watching them work together as much as they enjoyed doing it.

Just when they thought their stronghold would protect their treasures...
Mother Nature proved them wrong again.
The princess thought the valiant knights had built her a hot tub.