Exciting Times

I woke up to a very special email on Saturday morning: a picture of my brother holding a newborn baby!  Yep, I’m an aunt for the very first time!

Elynne Cara Hoyt was born on Friday night at 9:15.  She weighed eight pounds, eight ounces, and measured 21.5 inches long.  My poor sister-in-law was a week overdue, so little Elynne’s arrival was very welcome.  I talked to Zech on Saturday morning, and Mama and Baby are doing very well.

All that remains is for us to get over to Michigan sometime soon to see the newest member of the family.  Charlotte was thrilled to have a girl cousin, since she ended up with another baby brother, although she was pretty happy about that, too.  I’m excited that Jeremy will have a cousin close to his own age.  Elynne will have two cousins close in age to her, as Alyse’s sister-in-law is due to have her fourth baby in a few weeks.

Jeff and I also celebrated a special milestone last week: 15 years of marriage on July 22.  It was pretty low-key, but we enjoyed it.  We left Jeremy for the very first time with a sitter (our friends, the Fiedlers), and went out to eat.  (The older kids stayed with the Fiedlers, too!)

We ate at Water Street Cafe, a small restaurant in downtown Peoria.  Water Street has fondue on the menu, which is why we picked it.  We started out with a couple of appetizers, which were fantastic: tempura asparagus with a roasted red pepper sauce and duck nachos, which consisted of confit de canard on fried wontons, with goat cheese and mango chutney. 

After we scarfed those down, we were brought salads while our cheddar and gruyere fondue melted.  It was served with carrots, broccoli, bread, and Granny Smith apples for dipping.  We ended our meal with turtle fondue (melted dark chocolate and caramel, with pecans) with strawberries, pineapple, caramelized bananas, and toasted croissants for dipping.  All was complemented with a white wine from Argentina.

Yes, it was all as fabulous as it sounds!  We spent a couple hours eating, reminiscing, and laughing.  We have a running joke about our ending-in-five-or-zero anniversaries.  Our fifth anniversary was in 2000, about a month after Charlotte was born.  We had toyed with the idea of a big trip on our tenth anniversary but paid off our house instead.  (Yes, we are big nerds.)  And what do we do four months before our fifteenth?  Yep!  We had another baby. 

I can’t wait to see what we’re doing come 20 years.  So, supper out and leaving Jeremy for the first time was the best way to celebrate!

And now for something completely different…Charlotte and Elijah have gone to stay for a week in Tennessee with Jeff’s parents.  We drove down to Mt. Vernon, IL, yesterday, which was halfway for both of us, and handed off the kids at the Cracker Barrel.  Charlotte, Elijah, Grandmama, and Granddaddy will head back this way on Friday.  Jeff’s parents are planning to stay for the weekend so that they can get a little time in with Jeremy, too.  (We deemed him a bit young for the week-away thing this time around!)

The kids have never been away from home this long before, and it hasn’t been just Jeff, a baby, and I in 10 years!  But we’re planning to enjoy this, too.  The kids were happily playing the Wii, which we sent with them, and eating their choice of food for supper when we checked in last night.

All is well.