Honk Shoe

New Photo Galleries!

2010-07-10T12:18:00.002-04:00

Due to repeated requested by our millions of followers we have now posted photo galleries using our Mobile Me account.

There is a link on the right, just click on the picture, or just click below. Enjoy!

http://gallery.me.com/jebbanner

March 2010

2010-05-10T00:11:00.005-04:00

This is one of the family's favorite months because it includes our annual Spring Break vacation. This year we went to Ft. Myers Beach, Florida. We returned to the Pink Shell for some super silly swimming and family fun.

After a long day of travel, S catches some zzzzzzzzz's

Handsome hubby on date night.

R & G have a putt putt play date with friend from school

This was our daily destination!

What we miss.

Other March Fun

G dressed as Alphabet Soup for kindergarten letter day

R and her principal at the St. Pat's Parade

SPX 3rd grade class post St. Pat's parade

Decoupage while daddy is at SXSWi

Phase 2: Painting

February 2010

2010-05-10T00:01:00.003-04:00

February was a busy month for our family. This is good because it seems that every person we know thinks February is terribly long.

G & R had a Daddy Daughter Sweetheart Dance and Sylvia and I got silly.

G was a big fan of the pipe cleaner glasses as well

G turned 4 and we went to Carribean Cove indoor water park and spent the night in the hotel.

G is not a cake fan. She prefers cupcakes. We can accommodate.

Sylvie says "cheese" on picture day.

January 2010

2010-05-09T23:45:00.007-04:00

JANUARY HIGHLIGHTS

Everyone was a raving Colts fan this season!

At the New England playoff game!

Ramona's Friend Anniversary

The girls before they got really silly

Winter mix of slush and beauty

Princess play date. In the winter we get creative.

Happy Halloween!

2009-10-31T12:22:00.006-04:00

Yes, we regret how bad we are about blogging. In the interest of time, I will upload a bunch of pics and add stories later! Happy Halloween!!! (More pics to come)

G as The Queen of Hearts

S as Snow White!

R as Cleopatra with her other class Cleopatra and Hermonie

J the Pirate on the SPX Vampire Vittles lunch crew!

Girl Scouts Activities

2009-10-29T12:36:00.000-04:00

Georgia had her first Daisy (little girls version of Girl Scouts) meeting this week. She got her vest and did a craft. It's a chaotic and fun group. Look for more Daisy updates and perhaps some cookie sales to come.

Ramona is also in Brownies, but I wasn't able to make her meeting. They learned about how germs spread using glitter as an example. What a concept! They also did morning announcements on Oct. 30th and sang germ songs on video in front of the whole school. Ramona's song was to the tune "Kung Fu Fighting" and one line was "when you sneeze it's a little frightening." Good stuff!

Georgia and her best buddies!

Daisy's circling up

Fall Leaf Fun

2009-10-25T12:29:00.000-04:00

The girls had fun piling the leaves up, posing and acting like Zombies last weekend. It had to be captured on film.

Happy Banner Girls!

The pool in the Fall...right before covering!

Great pic of G & R

Zombie Eyes

Zombies walking...oooo...scary!

October Birthdays

2009-10-03T13:02:00.001-04:00

Ramona turned 9 on the 3rd and Jeb turned 38 on the 28th. We don't have any pics from Jeb's coming of age day, but we do have plenty of Ramona's enjoy. Ramona's events of the day included lunar bowling + arcade time, pizza dinner, dance competitions, s'mores and a sleep over. She also got her new pet, Stardust, a male Guinea pig. Ramona had a great birthday!

Blowing out the candles!

Line up at the arcade prize booth

The Bowling Gange

The Morning After

Sylvia & Carolyn ready for their close up

Sally Walker - Dance Game

Another fab bowling pic!

Various Fall Photos

2009-09-27T12:49:00.000-04:00

These include a photo shoot the girls wanted to do out front before we headed out, Georgia's art installation on our coffee table, and the one pic I took when G'ma Striewe and I went to the Children's Museum with Ramona & Georgia to see the Tutenkamman (King Tut) exhibit. All great times!

G working on the "no teeth" smile

R showing love for Harry Potter

On of my favorite G pics!

S eyes closed and her only solo pic

The Banner Girls modeling their Lake Michigan Hats!

Girls + Max

Pennies & Paper by Georgia

R & G in Ancient Egypt

First Day of School - St. Pius X

2009-08-16T12:45:00.001-04:00

I can't believe I didn't post these earlier. The girls were so darn cute and excited on their first day. They still do love school, it's just not as easy to get them out of bed as it was this day.

G & S showing off their uniforms!

R outside of her classroom

G in her seat on the first day (things have improved since!)

Happy Birthday Sylvia!

2009-06-16T23:19:00.007-04:00

Our "baby" Sylvia turned three yesterday. She has such personality and happiness bursting from her every pore. Here are some cutie pics of her early eve swimming party with her sisters and two good friends: Maddie Rocchio & Metta Judkins. She was given a Barbie Jeep by some friends of ours who are moving up to South Bend, IN. We expect lots of lawn jobs out front this summer. As you can see lots of fun was had by all.

CAKE!!!

Sylvia behind the wheel with Metta holding on.

Dora the Explorer cake (she requested a dinosaur, but we couldn't find one)

Silly face while waiting for friends to arrive

(more pics to come uploads blocked for now)

Happy birthday dear Sylvia...

Ramona's First Communion

2009-04-27T21:53:00.000-04:00

Ramona celebrated the reception of her third sacrament in 12 months in the Catholic church, Holy Communion. She's moving quickly on her path of spirituality these days. She picked out her own dress, which was floor length, and looked very beautiful in her satin jacket and veil. Jeb and I could see a future bride that day, and it was scary, but a reality that we will probably some day face. Here are some pics of the day. We had both sets of grandparents and god parents in attendance, as well as a great uncle (my grandpa's brother). Our big group had a casual lunch out and then enjoyed time working on the house and pool later that day.

Getting dressed

Sisters

Looking lovely in the church

Ramona and friends

Happy kid!

Ramona with her God Parents (Ben & Ali)

Ramona with G & G Striewe

Ramona being silly with G & G Banner

Hanging with Sylvia and Morels

2009-04-21T11:33:00.006-04:00

Sylvia is home today and we shot a little video together. She loves "making movies"!

Also, it's Morel season! We had a nice haul from Spencer this weekend, about 60 Morels!

Easter at the Hollywood Farm

2009-04-12T22:10:00.000-04:00

Some people ask why it's called the Hollywood Farm, well it's because the people who live there moved back straight from Hollywood, CA. They were both doing fun things in the film industry and decided to raise the kids close to the grandparents outside of the wild world of Orange County. The farm is in Greenfield, IN and we simply love going there.

On Easter Jeb came down with some flu-like symptoms, still fighting off his pre-Disney flu we think. So our trip to South Bend was cancelled. The Shaver family graciously let us join them for a late lunch and egg hunt. Ramona and the dads ended up hiding 84 eggs for the little ones, all but 4 were found (some were plastic). We came bearing the annual bunny cake, which is always a crowd pleaser.

Georgia working on the cake!

The final product - Happy Bunny Cake Day!

Coloring eggs

Hunting eggs

Easter tractor ride

Spring Break at Disney World

2009-03-30T10:11:00.000-04:00

This seemed to be the perfect year to take the kids Disney for their first experience with life size characters, princesses, and more. We had a wonderful time, the whole family! The girls especially enjoyed their visit to the Bippity, Boppity, Botique for hair and make up and lunch with the princesses. Ramona got her first taste of roller coasters and hasn't warmed up to them yet, but we think she might come around. Here are some of the highlight photos of the trip, these are also posted on Facebook. Enjoy, as we certainly did!

Ready to head to sunny Florida!

DAY 1: HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS

First bus ride to the parks with Grandpa

Character Breakfast : Sylvia & Jojo

Georgia & June
Ramona & Kermit

DAY 2: ANIMAL KINGDOM

The Tree of Life

Ramona and her face painting artist

Sylvia hits the midway in Dinoland

Georgia & Mom on the flying dinos

Girls with Pocahontas

Animal Kingdom was so much fun for us, we went back 2 more times during the week and we still didn't see everything we could have.

DAY 3: MAGIC KINGDOM

Jeb at Space Mountain

Banner Family on the "It's A Small World Boat"

Georgia & Jenny on the "Tea Cups"

DAY 4: BIPPITY, BOPPITY BOTIQUE AND EPCOT

The Banner Girls all princess-ed up for lunch

The girls and their favorite princess of the moment - Sleeping Beauty "Princess Aurora"

Proof that we really were enjoying ourselves too...our large beers from the Beirgarten were cropped out of the photo!

DAY 5: POOL BY DAY - FT. WILDERNESS & MAGIC KINGDOM @ NIGHT

We revisited one of Grandpa John's favorite attractions - the Wup-De-Du Review

Below is some footage of the Magical Kingdom night parade...it was quite spectacular!

FINAL DAY: ANIMAL KINGDOM (again) + HOME SWEET HOME!

Catching Up with the Blog Again

2009-03-14T11:51:00.002-04:00

When it comes to things like regularly blogging, our request is 'be patient with us.' We spend so much time on the computer daily that it takes a little bit of the fun out of the family blog. But don't get us wrong, we're still having lots of fun! Here are some photos of our last couple months. Yes, you will see some Christmas photos if you scroll back far enough, as we realized none of that magical time was blogged yet. Thank you for being okay with our quarterly blog updates. We've got a good case of spring fever over here and wish everyone who visits this blog the best!

Commence the photo montage of our life....

(I'm going to try to put them in groupings and back date them, not sure if that works, but we'll see)

Georgia's 5th Birthday

2009-02-28T13:42:00.000-05:00

As you know, we love to celebrate birthday's around here. This year Georgia had a birthday brunch. The kids enjoyed a yummy waffle bar breakfast, then played indoors in our blow up jumper, painted ceramics and enjoyed some yummy cupcakes. Georgia had a wonderful day. Mid-party she whispered in my ear, "Mommy, I feel like I'm in a dream." After the party we enjoyed a wonderful day/evening with extended Banner family.

The crazy cupcake cake...still love these!

Painting at the party

Our favorite part!

Present time

Happy Georgia!

Georgia and her best buddy Madeline!

POST PARTY HILARITY

Grandma Banner playing Dance Dance Revolution

ramona, georgia and syilvia funny three legged race......

2009-02-22T18:16:00.002-05:00

Tour of "Fort Banner"

2009-02-15T13:41:00.003-05:00

Here is a guided tour of the latest installment of the Banner Fort.

February 2009

2009-02-14T12:56:00.000-05:00

Sylvia & Mommy (taken by Georgia)

Happy Birthday Mommy!

We love sushi Valentine Feast!

Grandpa Banner moves in!

January 09 Snow Day

2009-01-10T12:32:00.002-05:00

New Year's Eve 2008

2008-12-31T12:26:00.004-05:00

Wonderful Christmas Day!

2008-12-30T19:36:00.002-05:00

We will post photos very soon, but I just can't help quickly posting how wonderful our Christmas was this year. On Christmas Eve we had a gift opening extravaganza at Striewe's. The adults drew names this year, so there was only one gift given and received by the adults, which meant the real focus was on the kids, and we find that far more enjoyable! I have started the tradition of getting the girls pajamas every Christmas and presenting them on Christmas Eve, so they can wake up on Christmas morn in their snuggly new jammies.

We got home from G & G Striewe's around 10:30pm and the girls went straight to bed without a peep...they're very good at that sometimes. Mommy and Daddy were up until around 2am waiting for Santa's arrival. He brought lots of good presents and even assembled some things this year, which was a GREAT strategy. The biggest gift of the year was the Fur Reals Friends Pony, Butterscotch. It is approximately three feet in height and is one of the first iterations of the new animatronic pets that are on the market these days. It's a hit with all three girls, but scares some of the visitors who enter our house and don't expect the 'stuffed animal' to move. Yikes! The little girls each got a new baby doll with a stroller, which they have pushed around every day religiously.

We prepped a yummy egg, sausage and hashbrown casserole and feasted on that around 11am at the dining room table. It was a late relaxed breakfast that happened naturally and peacefully (quite rare for our breakfasts around here). Daddy and Mommy decided it would be fun to have mimosas after brunch, which seemed decadent, but were very enjoyable. The day went by quickly jumping from toy to toy to project to project, and ended with a Daddy, Mommy, Ramona Scrabble game. Ramona came in close third. We couldn't have asked for a better Christmas day. No driving, no rushing, no planning, no stress, just relaxing in our PJs very late and enjoying our family time. Days like this are ones we are sure to cherish for years to come. I hope everyone else enoyed their Christmas Day as well!

Christmas Fun

2008-12-24T11:59:00.001-05:00

The happy couple - Christmas Eve 08

Silly Reindeer Ramona

Breakfast with Santa 2008

Thanksgiving Farr Family Reunion

2008-11-28T20:41:00.001-05:00

uh never mind I forget what I was going to say

the first game was very serious!

Every 2 years Jeb's Mom's side of the family comes to Indy to celebrate Thanksgiving. This year there were 50 people! and this year the spoons trophy champions were Ramona and carl. and that means the Banner family won this year. last year the horns won but this year the Banner's won.

Ramona's Baptism

2008-10-12T20:23:00.001-04:00

Since Ramona is going to a Catholic school she needed to get confirmed. Here are some pictures from her confirmation and the lunch afterwards.

Ramona's Birthday Pool Party

2008-10-05T20:14:00.000-04:00

Yesterday - Ramona's 8th Birthday Party

We did a camp theme - Ramona and her friend Laura painted the sign!

Ramona got a traditional Indian outfit, which all her friends loved!

It was warm enough to swim - yes this is our backyard!

The cupcake cake - best invention EVER.

Jim Banner Turns 70

2008-09-17T20:16:00.001-04:00

At the 70th birthday gathering. His brother and sister, Bill and Becky, flew in for the event.

Jeb and Jim c. 1975

SEPTEMBER: Besides moving into a new home another big part of the month was Jeb's dad's 70th birthday party in South Bend. My person favorite moment of the party is Jim Banner dancing to Charlie Pride (one of his favorite musical artists).

Fresh faced Jim Banner

Our New House!

2008-09-14T20:15:00.000-04:00

We moved into a new house! Whew.

View coming in the driveway

The glorious 30 x 40 sunken den

View of the backyard and house from the tiki bar

Radiohead in Concert

2008-08-14T20:18:00.000-04:00

We really enjoyed getting to see Radiohead in concert this year. They don't tour often so this was a special treat. VIP access and tickets didn't hurt!

Lake Michigan Vacation July with Banner Family

2008-07-14T13:53:00.000-04:00

We spent a wonderful week at the Lake at our Union Pier cottages we stay at every year (Lat's Cottages). Here are some pics and a video!

Check Up Stats

2008-06-27T07:08:00.004-04:00

Sylvia and Georgia went to see Dr. Hannah yesterday for their annual check ups (a little late).

Sylvia is weighing in at a whopping 31 lbs and stands 35.25 inches high. I've heard you can estimate height by doubling their height at age two. If so, Miss Sylvia may end up over 5'10". Am I doing that math right?

Georgia weighed in at 39 lbs and is 42.75 inches tall. She's still long and lean and has always been trending a little tall on the charts. I've never been a fan of the percentiles Dr.'s use to tell you how on track your baby is.

Sylvia has been referred to an allergist, as we have been having some problems with certain foods and her reactions to them. I'm hoping to find an herbal solution with my sister's help. But if anyone in the blogoshpere can recommend some homeopathic / herbal remedies for allergies, I'm open.

Belated Daddy's Day Post

2008-06-22T20:48:00.008-04:00

We did, in fact, celebrate Father's Day last Sunday. It was quite a weekend, so Sylvia's pics trumped the Father's Day pics. Jeb got to sleep in and woke up to fresh coffee and wonderful bagels before joining the Striewe clan for brunch at Zest. Here are a couple photos of Jeb reading all the wonderful cards Ramona made (there were about 5).

Here is a retrospective of why Jeb is the best dad ever...

He swims with his kids

He knows how to relax

He's got a great sense of masculine style

Happy Father's Day, Jeb. We are grateful for all you do.

Birthday Extravaganza

2008-06-15T16:43:00.008-04:00

Today is officially Sylvia's 2nd birthday. I can't believe my youngest girl is two years old. Wow, time flies. She's definitely moving into two quite aggressively with her new word combos and short sentences, "I wan gummie (candy)," "Gimme me silkie," "Ho me mommy" and lots of fabulous others that can't be recalled because she is peacefully sleeping at the moment and not using all her new words. She is also gaining strength and bravery every day, for which we are thankful and scared. Physically, the word "tank" comes to mind. She takes challenges on with brute force and climbs whatever is in her way. Whew...who knew the third could be so drastically unique from the other two?

We celebrated Sylvia's birthday early (Saturday, June 14th) with friends at the 61st & Broadway splash park. It was the perfect day, with great sunny weather and we managed to snag a picnic table under the pavillion before lots of other families showed up, so we could set up for lunch and cake. Sylvia's three girl friends: Maddie Rocchio, Metta Judkins, and Emilia Touw were in attendance, as well as her helpful sisters. A good time was had by all splashing and swinging and eating and generally being silly little girls. Just about three hours after the party ended, each of the presents had been opened and put to use by Sylvia and Georgia, everything was a hit!

Party Pics

Yummy ice cream cake!

Sylvia gets a hug from Maddie

Ready to take on the splash park

Banners love cake!

Sylvie digs in!

Post party painting with new supplies!

So You Think You Can Parent!

2008-06-07T12:37:00.010-04:00

Quote of the Day: "Mommy, I have so much love in me it's coming out of my nose!"
- Georgia Banner

I think we had a bit of false confidence once we knew Ramona was going to St. Louis with her grandparents. Two kids, no problem! It's been a study in monkey see, monkey do without big sis at home to mediate and model maturity. If Georgia does a somersault, Sylvia does a somersault. If Georgia puts flour in her hair, Sylvia puts flour in her hair. If Georgia wants the big floatie, Sylvia wants the big flotaie. I think you see the pattern here.

This time as two little sisters, has also given the girls time to bond and Georgia the opportunity to be a little leader. Last night we went to a after-work get together and the girls both acted shy at first. They held onto each others hands and walked around the back yard in their own sister world. It was very sweet and something that we haven't seen much of yet. Georgia stepped up as Sylvia's protector and served well in the role. We left with no bumps or bruises and no tears.

Here's a glimpse of this week's activities:

Swimming in the Deck Pool

Saturday Morning Biscuit Making

Georgia's hard work paid off...perfect golden biscuits.

The Flooding in Our Front Yard (which keeps happening)

Haircut Anyone?

2008-06-03T21:28:00.004-04:00

Tonight mommy gave Ramona and Georgia haircuts. Ramona got about 6 inches taken off and Georgia just got about an inch trimmed. Beauty school here we come!

Check out Ramona's new summer style:

Tomorrow Ramona heads south to Cousin Peter's first birthday party. The girls all contributed a little bit of art to the card before bed. It is 9:40pm and they are all tucked in for the night. We're working on getting a bedtime routine worked out. Suggestions welcome!

Sixth Anniversary!

2008-06-01T22:43:00.004-04:00

Today was our sixth wedding anniversary.

It was a gorgeous sunny day in Indy, similar, but not as hot, to the day we were married. Ramona and Georgia went to church with Jenny's parents, and instead of honoring each other with gifts (Iron is the gift for six years) we went to breakfast and looked at iron sculptures in the Broad Ripple Art Center's Art Garden with Sylvia. We didn't get a pic of any of the iron pieces to kick off this blog, but we got some really cute pictures of Sylvia.

Sylvia in the shadow of her own curls.

Other posted photos are from last weekend (Labor Day) of the girls having fun or being silly, you know how our girls can be. If you don't know how our girls can be, by the time there are a few posts on this blog, you will see how truly unique each member of our brood is.

Sylvia (left) with her buddies Maddie and Metta.

Ramona in her second badminton tourney of the weekend.

Georgia showing off her newly painted finger nails.

A photo from spring break 2008, giving a preview of the girls uniforms for the summer!

Springtime Fun!

2008-05-14T13:34:00.003-04:00

Some pictures and a video from Springtime.

Obama Rally in Indianapolis

2008-05-05T20:42:00.000-04:00

Jeb and Jenny trekked out to see Obama speak during the Primaries here in Indianapolis. It was an inspiring night and we were joined by our friends Brandon and Laurel.

Morel Mushroom Hunting at the Swingley's

2008-05-03T13:38:00.001-04:00

The whole family went Morel Mushroom hunting at the Swingley's this year and we came back with quite a score! Ramona found the biggest one as you can see here.

Magnolia Blooming at 1427 Northbrook

2008-04-14T13:32:00.001-04:00

Our Magnolia tree had a great year, here are some pictures!

Vacation in Florida with Grandma and Grandpa Striewe

2008-04-05T13:12:00.005-04:00

We spent Spring Break vacationing in Ft Myers with Grandma and Grandpa Striewe. Mike, Lisa and Ryan came along too and we all had a great time!

Easter In South Bend

2008-03-22T13:08:00.000-04:00

We spent Easter in South Bend with Grandma and Grandpa Banner.

Georgia's Birthday Party!

2008-02-29T13:01:00.002-05:00

Georgia celebrated her big 4 year (1st Leap Year) Birthday on February 29th at Oogles and Googles!

Later Aunt Carolyn made a cake for her Birthday and Georgia got to help!