Winkler Family: July 2007

Happy Birthday Vera

July 25, 2007
We had a birthday party for Vera at the park with some of our friends. There were about 20 people. We had a lot of fun. Vera had fun walking around watching and playing with all of the pink balloons. She was very quiet and was just so curious about everything that was going on. We ate lots of food. The other kids at the party helped Vera open the presents that they brought for her. She got clothes, books, blocks, necklaces, two dolls, money, and two kittens. Jonas wanted to give her a princess wand and three rubber ducks. I made very a 4" round cake and 24 mini cakes to match for everyone else. Vera enjoyed carefully picking off a sprinkle and eating it one by one. After she picked off all the sprinkles on half of the top of the cake, I turned the cake around and she finished the rest of the sprinkles, then she was done. We still have the cake on our counter. It was lots of fun. I'm not sure Vera realized everything was for her, but she had a very happy day.

New Twin Kittens!

July 23, 2007
For Vera's 1st birthday, we decided to get the family two kittens. We found twin sisters that we couldn't resist. Bella is slightly darker in color and is a little more rambunctious. Lily is grayer in color with a whiter belly. She is very curious and mostly follows Bella around. They are very quiet kittens. We haven't heard a peep out of them so far. They are 9 weeks old. They are believed to have been born around May 21, 2007. They both have very easy-going temperaments and love to sleep snuggling together. We are all very excited about them, especially Vera. Vera calls them Bella Lella, and Lil Lil. For now, we have put the kittens in Vera's play yard until they are more familiar with us and are a little bigger. Vera stands on a stool, watching them and playing with them as much as she can.

Vera's Black and White Pictures

June 24, 2007, 11 months old

Visiting Nauvoo, IL

July 6-8th, 2007

We drove as a family 5 hours to Nauvoo, IL. Just on the border of the Missippi River and Iowa. The city was built by the early pioneers of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

(1) Nauvoo, IL. Temple

(2) Camping in Nauvoo. The usually very clean Jonas who washes his hands multiple times a day, was very proud of his dirty feet.

(3) Inside the printing office, one of the many restored buildings left in Nauvoo.

(4) Mississippi River.

(5) Jonas feeling very "cool" in his pioneer clothes. When he heard that we were going to Nauvoo, he insisted on dressing the part.

(6) Jonas and John playing a game of "stick pull", an old pioneer game common in Nauvoo.

Following Videos: (1) Jonas playing Horseshoes. (2) Jonas and John in a potato sack race. (3) John pulling us in a pioneer handcart. (4) Vera walking around "little Nauvoo". (5) Part of the Nauvoo Pageant that we saw. The video is a reenactment of the Saints building the temple.

Jonas doing Karate

Independence Day!

July 4, 2007

(1) Jonas smiling after cooling off with the hose. (2) Vera eating a cracker while watching the 4th of July parade. (3) Jonas hitting a pinata at a BBQ.

Video - John and Jonas playing catch.