How Quickly Time Flies

keela's car accomodations

little ellie weaver

winner of CatchPhrase :)

mallory and sawyer

sawyer opening gifts

the Wichita, Kansas clan - brother Nash, Mallory, Jenny and Sawyer

eric and chloe

family photo time

Eric and I loaded the dog in the car for our Christmas vacation on Saturday the 22nd. The drive to Kansas City was fine until the last hour - where sleet, snow and ice delayed our arrival at the Lanes - but we had a fabulous time with Cass, Chris, Ward, Em, Ben and Ellie. The next day we arrived in Salina where we stayed until Friday the 28th. I had not seen the nieces since March and how they've grown!! We had a great time hanging out with the entire fam. I wish it would not have flown by so fast....

Happy Holidays

To everyone - a very safe and glorious time with your family and friends!

Much love - Eric, Emily and Keela

Go Hawks

Lucky Duck

Eric is in Sonoma, California for work. He left on Monday and gets back Friday night. It's 60 degrees there, he's staying in a gorgeous hotel, and he gets a 1/2 day today to tour the Franciscan and Robert Mondavi vineyards. Lucky...........

Ice Storm In Kansas

These were taken at sunrise at my parents place in Salina last week. In the above photo, one of the many horses is out saying hello to my mom.

Good College Try

Well Eric's Delaware team just couldn't seal the great season with a win in the National Championship game on Friday night, but at least they made it there. The ending was interesting to say the least with the fans all spilling out on the field with four minutes left in the game. And then a player tosses the football after a touchdown and it accidently hits a security guard - who goes after the player. Nice. Not good for the stadium security staff - I hope the Orange Bowl does not hire the same security team when the Jayhawks play VT and Lane the Train tries to take down the goal posts :)

Eric and I have a friend that needed a place to stay over the weekend since her floors are being remodeled. She has this sweet Bernese Mountain dog named Dutchess, who Keela likes to hump. I guess we've always known she likes the big dogs - so this love affair isn't a surprise.

Rowan Millie Safer

Welcome little Rowan and congrats Sue and Adam! What a fun time for little baby Rowan to join the world! Sue is doing good after the long labor and c-section. She was born 3:15am on Thursday the 13th. She's 7 lbs 8 oz and 20 inches long. Sue said Rowan so far is a very very good baby. They're hoping for no personality change when she gets to go home on Sunday :) She likes to chill as you can see....

Congrats to the Safer fam!!

Growing so fast...

Here is little Ellie Weaver. She's three months old already!

Baby Safer

She will be making her grand debut soon! Sue will be checking into the hospital tonight! Good luck and congrats Adam and Sue!

Heading to the National Championship

Talk about some comeback kids!! For the second straight week, the University of Delaware football team overcame a deficit on the road. The reward is a trip to the NCAA Division 1 National Championship game for the second time in five seasons. Friday night - 7pm - ESPN2. Eric and I know Gutie and Ward will be cheering Go Hens!

Fun fact: The Hen's quarterback is ranked #7th out of 120 potential QBs for the 2008 NFL draft.

Another fun fact: Ex-Chiefs and Raiders QB Rich Gannon played for Delaware.

Holiday Cheer

Friday night Eric and I finished decorating our tree, popped open some vino, and watched Eric's favorite movie "It's a Wonderful Life." Last year, he received the behind the scenes book and the audio cd. This year, we're heading to a small venue called the Music Box for the 24th Annual showing of the movie on the big screen. We heard it's a great time - plus there is caroling before hand. Mr. Doust is sooo excited that I went ahead and bought the tickets already!

Snowy Hump Day

Pictures of this morning and last night.

Going to Miami

The Jayhawks are heading to the Orange Bowl - whoo hoo!

Eric and I booked our flights right after it was announced Sunday night. I've never been to Miami so this should be a fun trip! We'll both be ready to get out of this flippin cold by January 2nd and cheer on the Hawks with our friends! We're playing Virginia Tech - yikes - they are a good team. Hokies alum Cindy Doust and I will have to wager a little side bet.....

Brrrrrr

It's winter in Chicago!


Friday night Eric had #1 of 2 work Holiday parties. It was nice to meet people that Eric works with on a daily basis. We all dined together at Shaw's - such a great seafood place downtown. It was very fun and festive, including a limo ride, but waayy cold for gals in donkey holiday party gear :)


Saturday was spent decorating our place, getting a window replaced, and enjoying some football. Eric's Delaware Blue Hens won the quarterfinals of the Division 1 playoffs, and will play Southern Illinois next weekend! He's very excited and it's fun that both our teams have played well this football season.


A full blown winter storm rolled in with a couple of inches of snow, which then turned to sleet during the evening. We bundled up and went to a "Christmas Tree Decorating/Wine Tasting" party at our friends place. This is a traditional party where their good friends help decorate their tree and celebrate the holidays together. The wine tasting part included being assigned a wine region and bring a couple of bottles from those vineyards. Our area was the East Coast. Yeah. The only decent vineyards are in Richmond, Virginia (funny how we were there but too lazy to bring back some bottles to Chicago) and the Finger Lakes region in Upstate New York (also funny that Eric's parents live in that area). Long story short - NO ONE carries those wines in this city. So as a joke - we brought one bottle of Arbor Mist - made in Rochester, NY. It served a purpose - easy party shots!



Keela climbed up the back of the couch to watch outside turn into winter wonderland.