With Ryan’s Parents at a Family Picnic

Ryan is the only child of Bob, who recently retired from a transportation company and Nancy a 1st grade teacher at a Christian school where Ryan enjoys spending time helping the students and chasing them around the playground. They have been married 30 years and live in Michigan, where we enjoy visiting several times a year.

Nicole’s Parents and Siblings

Nicole, the oldest of 3 children is the daughter of Chuck, who retired from the railroad in 2004, and Carol a stay-at-home mom, who have been married 35 years. Her brother David works as a computer systems analyst for the FBI, and her sister Megan is in college pursuing her degree in nursing. We see them all about twice a week since they live less than an hour away. Growing up, Nicole took a motherly role over for Megan as she was 13 years older. Nicole worked in Megan's day care and pre-school, as well as being the troop leader for her Daisy Scouts and Brownie troop, and was frequently asked to chaperone class field trips and help in her classroom.

We are very close with both families and rely on them for support, friendship and advice. They are all excitedly looking forward to being first time grandparents and spoiling a new baby rotten.

Our Home

We have just finished building our dream home, at the end of a cul-de-sac, close to schools, shopping and parks where we attend family events nearly every weekend such as outdoor concerts, firework displays, holiday and cultural events and carnivals.

Our favorite part of our 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom home is that it backs up to a horse farm, so we feed the horses apples for their nightly treats, and can go horseback riding whenever we like.

Getting the House Ready for Christmas

Our backyard is ready for a child as Nicole's father is quite the craftsman, and excited about welcoming the first grandchild into the family. He came up with the idea of a sandbox/kiddie pool that looks like a sailboat, which he, Ryan and David are currently designing and building together.

The kids in our neighborhood frequently gather in our cul-de-sac for a game of basketball or street hockey, to ride bikes, or run from lawn to lawn playing in the sprinklers. So, we always know to have freshly baked chocolate chip cookies and kool-aide on hand! Our neighbors are all very close and love to have block parties and BBQ's.

We spend warm evenings just talking on the back patio and cool nights in front of the fireplace toasting marshmallows to make s'mores. Our media room has a big screen TV with lots of movies, video games, and big comfy couches. Our downstairs family room is perfect to cuddle up and read a book together or play a board game with family and friends.