The Buerglers

This weekend we traveled to Nashville for a long weekend visit.  We were fortunate to see some of Eric's friend, some of my friends, and to reunite with college house mates for the wedding of one of our own.  We knew it was going to be a fast trip, especially with 4 hours of travel, an hour time difference and me having to work Sunday night. We had some great successes with toddler travel and a hotel stay but also some epic failures.  I'd love to share with you but I also want to learn from you. Success! Travel at nap time -  We've learned from car trips that Evie doesn't do a 4am start or a bed time travel. Nap seems to be our best shot! Bring a favorite toy - Evie has this  LeapFrog My Discovery House  that she will play with for hours. I hid it for a few days so it was like brand-new self-contained fun for easy car and hotel play.  Of course, Delany travels everywhere with us. She made for great over the seat puppet shows, too! Bring...

When I started my first job (I've always worked at the same place, I've just worn three different hats) one of the Deacons took me under his wing and mentored me that whole first year.  Not only on business matters but on freshman-in-life matters as well.  I am truly grateful for his tutelage. He also bailed me out of a pickle.  I was short one male chaperone for our winter ski trip.  He said he knew just the person, his son.  Well Dennis Jr tagged along that year.  We spent several hours on the bus and in the ski lift line just chatting away.  There was an instant friend connection - like trust-with-your-fears, and call-you-out-on-your-bullshit connection. (c. 2006 I had to dig this bad boy out of the archives. Other pictures in this series involve one or both of us picking our nose) That following summer he was off to seminary in Chicago, and Eric and I met shortly after. Seven long years of struggle and beating the odds, he...

 Recently I was having a flash back to a particular night in Chicago. We'd only been dating but a year.  We were sitting on the bench in a courtyard and my then 24 year old husband said that we should wait several years until my friend Dennis was ordained a priest before we should get married so he could marry us.  And he definitely didn't want children anytime soon after. Well, Dennis' ordination was a week ago. And am I ever grateful that Eric didn't listen to his 24 year old self.  If he had we wouldn't be celebrating 4 years of marriage this Fall, nor another wonderful Father's Day with our little family. For a guy who was apprehensive about having children, and admittedly knew nothing about newborns, I have to say he has excelled beyond my wildest dreams of who I wanted my husband to be as a father. Eric enthusiastically attended every Bradley class with me. Went to a breastfeeding class. And even did research on baby products before we regis...

Happy Father's Day, Dad! Last year I briefly mentioned that my Dad and I didn't always get along. Being similar in always having to be right, get the last word, and being overly critical --- yeah, my mom has to referee once in a while.  It mostly ends with, "Elizabeth, just let it go"  All that non-sense aside, my Dad and I enjoy several same interests and hobbies.  We love trading recipes or going to photography classes together. Most of all my Dad gave me my emotional and sensitive side.  And he's always stressed the importance of good relationships.  He's always talking great about my mom. Encouraging us to do our best; to follow our dreams and the money will come.  And not to worry about things beyond our control, but to have faith in God.  He builds up our entire family bond.  Most importantly, he loves us kids like crazy and has gone to great lengths to sacrifice in order to provide for us. Q...

All day yesterday I had a raging headache. I knew there must be a killer storm brewing, but the weather forecast only said 30%.  No one took the weather forecast seriously. It's summer. It's Atlanta. It's give or take. Since Evie has Hand Foot Mouth all week, I was getting a bit of cabin fever. And so was Evie. So we decided to go to out to dinner near the mall, about 15 minutes away. Eric needed pick up something near there anyway. While we were there I looked out the window and noticed it was raining. Hard. Then out of nowhere everyone in the restaurant's phones started sounding the tornado warning siren.  No tornado watch had previously been issued. Eric and I weighed the pros and cons of quickly driving home or being stuck at Fudruckers for an unknown amount of time with a sick toddler past her bedtime.   We had NO IDEA how bad it really was out there until we got about a third of the way home. It was hailing, pouring buckets...