A weekend in Francesville

This past weekend was time well spent for the Vollmer family. We travelled up to our hometown of Francesville, IN. Saturday we spent the day at my Uncle Steve and Aunt Linda's home where about 30ish members of the Gutwein side of my family were getting together. It was great to see my Grandma, aunts and uncles, cousins and their kids, as well as my mom, siblings and nieces. Ben had a great time too! He enjoyed eating monster cookies courtesy of Aunt Allison, playing with his cousins, and entertaining the crowd.

Here are my 4 beautiful nieces making a Ben sandwich- from left to right:

Anna, Grace, Violet, Ben, and Alexa

Grandma Gutwein trying to get a good squeeze on her great-grandbabies... Ben hardly sits still long enough anymore!

On Sunday we went to church with Nick's family and spend the afternoon playing, taking walks, and more importantly getting ice cream from the Patio Drive-In. Yum!

Grandpa got Ben a baby dish of frozen yogurt (yes, the sugar free kind) and he was LOVING it. Blue Moon and Vanilla twist, what's not to love?

He couldn't shovel it in fast enough, so Grandpa had to step in and help

A little later, eating yet another snack. Aunt Lindley (aka Auntie Lo-Lo) was nice enough to spread peanut butter on pieces of banana for him.

Seriously- he is too cute for words sometimes.

Such a little stinker!!

Thanks for a great weekend everyone!

Space Bags

So I've shared before my successful infomercial purchase (think Gyro-bowl). Well, my blog following friends, do I have a treat for you. My latest "as seen on TV" purchase was one of the best things to happen to my closet space in a LONG time. I purchased a set of Space Bags. These are the bags that you load up with all sorts of things, such as clothes, blankets, pillows... you name it, and then you suck all of the air out of them with your vacuum cleaner. This reduces the space that the items take up by about 50%, all while giving you a handy and clean way to store things. Brilliant!!

Nick and I have been on a kick lately trying to organize attics, clean closets, etc in the house, and we came to one conclusion... we need more space. Well, since buying a new home is a few years out, I thought the space bags were a pretty good alternative! I cleared up a TON of space in our upstairs bedroom closet and even the linen closet- and if you don't believe me, check out these before and after pictures!!

BEFORE: Two queen comforters, a queen blanket, a throw, and a throw pillow... pretty huge bag, notice the height and width.

AFTER: Look at that shrinkage!

BEFORE: 2 fluffy pillows and a queen blanket... brace yourself, the after picture is pretty amazing

AFTER: I know- it's amazing. I love my space bags!

3 Weeks Off

I officially took about a 3 week hiatus from blogging, not sure why, I guess summer has kept us busy! So here are a few of my favorite pics of our August adventures...

Loading all of the stuffed animals up in the laundry basket for a ride!

A trip to the zoo with Ben's best bud Owen

Lindley and I deciding to be brave and take Gunther for a walk... wearing roller blades. This did not end well:)

Ben again with Owen at the State Fair- this was a big day, seeing all of the animals and eating some delicious fair food. The biggest hit of the day was the baby piggies!

Okay, well maybe the biggest hit was the chocolate milkshake that Ben and I shared, followed by the baby piggies in a close second. Ben looks like he has a dirt-stache in this picture...

Ben on his bike just out for a ride in the neighborhood. We decided to stop at the pond so Dad could do some fishing and Ben could feed the fish little pieces of bread.

Woah- the HUGE fish that Nick caught in the pond- Ben was so excited!

Ben eating the bread that we brought to give to the fish, sigh.

GGW 2011

GGW- or Gutwein Girls Weekend- is now a 5 year old tradition for myself, my sister and sister-in-laws, and 5 of my girl cousins. We get together every year at my Mom's house up in Winamac and enjoy great food, even better company, and lots of girl time.

It's hard for me to accurately describe what this weekend does for me and the girls. First of all, it's a very rare chance for the 9 of us to really catch up on what is going on in each others lives. Work, spouses, kids, school, relationships- we cover it all. Second, we eat ourselves silly with all of the delicious goodies that we all pitch in to bring (and mooch off of Mom too!). Last, but not least, we get to use one another as a network of Christian women, which is truly priceless.

Thanks girls for such a great weekend- love you all!!

Here is a pic of me and the girls with our moms and Grandma G- the woman at the head of our family who inspires us all.

Back, L to R: Jennifer, Allison, Molly, Emily, Laura, Me, Carrie

Front, L to R: My Mom, Grandma Gutwein, Aunt Linda, and Sara

**We missed you this year Bets!!! It wasn't the same without you...