Cousin Love…

Dear Guillianna and Elijah

So it’s been a few days since I have been able to write you – this site has been a challenge to get up and running smoothly since Nana is not the sharpest crayon in the box when it comes to computers!    I am sorry for the delay but please know I am thinking of you both all the time – even when I am not writing to you  – We think of you both all the time- songs come on and I can see you dancing around the living room with Poppy in my head ! If we go to a restaurant and everyone asks how you two are doing!    I know there are lots of people here that want to send love to you both – that miss you !    Rylee and Liam for sure say they miss play dates and I promised them when you do come back to visit we are having a big party to celebrate the visit !   FOR SURE !

Aunt Allyssa made Nana a picture for the new condo and the whole Hamlin family came over the other night to give it to me and hang it!

 

 

They are growing so big! I can’t begin to imagine how big you’ve grown in these past months. I wish for you both to be healthy and happy!

Crazy how big everyone is ! I hope you are doing well in school and learning is fun. The school is hopefully a lot like Notre Dame and we hope you have adjusted to it well. The teachers had friends here all send BIG HUGS and wishes for the best fourth and first grade years ever ! Be good, kind, sweet today and always !

Forever and always – we love you ?

❤️ Nana and Poppy?❤️

A long history here in the Mitten State!

 Dear Guillianna and Elijah…

In preparing these love letters for you Nana and Poppy have literally thousands of photos, this is Guillianna at one of her early visits.  She stayed here in the Mitten  for a year on this visit, where in I cannot count the number of photos taken to share with Mom and Dad while in Iraq, aka the “Land of Sand”.   The good thing about this web site, is you can look up any of those love letters and your early years are documented beginning in February of 2010.

Biggest baby photo book ever!

When Elijah came, the domain name for the website was already www.guillianna.com and had to stay that way, but we then changed it from All About Guillianna, Love Letters to Mom and Dad, to All About Guillianna and Eli, Love Letters to Mom and Dad.

Now, it remains the same domain, only the name has changed to All About Love, Love Letters to Guillianna and Elijah.   The next photo is Guillianna in September of 2011.   You had been staying with Nana then too.  Pretty sure you were ready for the arrival of a baby brother, and you loved practicing with your babies.    Elijah came earlier than planned so Guillianna stayed with Nana and Poppy for a while longer while Mommy helped Eli work his way to coming home from the hospital.   Daddy was in Afgahnistan and we made sure he got lots of love from the Mitten state.  Reading the love letters again will help you see how we have always supported Mom and helped her by keeping you safe and happy.   Nana and Poppy have always tried to do the best for all of our children and maybe they don’t remember.   I wish we had a journal like this to help them remember all they did and meant to us as children.    Lucky you two will be able to keep your memories in this format that is for sure.


This is Guillianna and Poppy meeting Elijah for the very first time.  We flew you down to see him when he got out of the hospital.  Mom was so happy to have you both together.   We always flew you back and forth, I think you both had record frequent flyer points adding up really early on in life.

So adorable….  October 2011

This is how tiny Eli was can you believe it.

In December of 2011 while back at Nana’s and celebrating your third birthday. Elijah was partying like a newborn, and you were partying like a princess.   Dancing with Poppy and loving the royal treatment.

    

    GREAT MEMORIES FOR SURE!

All the family came, (this was before Gray Elena Cole Sebastian, Anthony, Mia and Janai ) and your friends Riley and Grant, Mr. Jeff, Ms. Erin (before Austin and Caroline), Great Grandma Sharyn, Papa Alan, Uncle Dave, Aunt Kris, Aunt Nori, Marisa, Noah, Rachel, Bryan, Steven, and of course the rest of the campers at Nana’s  (my kids) were there too.   You rode in your first limo that day.   Daddy was out of the country and so was Uncle Nick.  But oh my goodness did you two have a ton of family around all the time.   These people came to every party and every holiday, they made sure that you were surrounded in love all the time.   As you read you old love letters to Mom and Dad, you will see loving the two of you was a favorite thing for everyone here in the mitten.

   

  

      There are so many memories of the two of you, from infancy on… and we hope you will find all of these treasures when you are grown.  By putting them together in this format, they can be saved for you indefinitely.   Please know that our dedication to mom and her family, to you both, was and has always been our priority.   Your happiness, your health, your education as you learned to eat, sit on your own, crawl, walk, to talk, to discover and learn, to do activities like Gymboree, and gymnastics, dance, karate, warrior training, soccer, and cheer.  We have always tried our best, and we are hopeful that you will use all the tools we tried to teach and all the play and fun we tried to have, as you grow into adults.   The foundation given out of love should always be inside of you.  The many family and friends who have shared in the joy of the time spent together, they did with gratitude as well, we are all grateful and would do it all over again.

Love you both

Always and Forever,

❤️Nana and Poppy❤️?

Change is hard…

 

WE LOVE THESE FACES… WE MISS THESE SMILES….

WE WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOU BOTH!

 

Dear Guillianna and Elijah:  We know how hard change can be ! We have missed writing you love letters for several days while Nana made some changes to your website ! The changes were a must since the design of the program I had been using to write you these letters – was a decade old. By upgrading the technology the site is even more secure and can be navigated more efficiently.

IF YOU TYPE A WORD, at the magnifying glass icon, any word, it will find you a post with that word in it.  You will find so many memories on these pages.  Please hold on to the memories made and the joy you always had in your hearts when we were together.   I have lots more love letters for you to read – and have so many stories to share with you .

If you move over a LOVE LETTER TITLE now shown in Blue the title will turn red, and take you directly to that post.   You can leave comments.  For anyone in our Mitten State, who may visit the site, or  read love letters….  None of the identifying information will be shown on the comment, and it cannot be displayed to the public without Nana or Poppy’s approval.   So please feel free to send your own love letters IN THE COMMENT SECTION,  to Guillianna and Elijah as often as you like.

 

 

 

We are missing you both so very much.   We are wishing happiness for you both, and that you will know when you read these letters just how much you have always been loved.

 

WE WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOU BOTH, SO VERY MUCH, AND WE WILL KEEP TELLING YOU THIS IN OUR LOVE LETTERS  TO HELP YOU SMILE AND BE SUPER PROUD AND HAPPY FOR ALL THE WONDERFUL TIMES WE HAVE HAD.

 

All our love, FOREVER AND ALWAYS,

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

Nana and Poppy

 

 

 

A new day – a new website design …

Dear Guillianna and Elijah,

I am so very sorry that I have not been able to post for a few days ! I had wanted to keep the web site in its original format and since it was such an old platform it was having so many issues and I didn’t want to lose any of the memories and data so – we have given it a new look better security and using this site we want so very much to preserve the reality and truth of your lives up until last January 2018 – the life you spent with us – and all the love we have for you.

This new design is hopefully easier to read and has the ability for you to search through all the memories made here in the Mitten.

I will continue to work on this site and hope that it is easy to navigate.  There is a little tiny arrow in a gray box, about half way down the page.   That arrow will lead you to the next post!

Not a minute goes by where we don’t miss you and think of you. We dream about seeing you again soon and laughing hugging and making the most of every minute we can … we do not know when that will happen. We don’t know if things will change with time and if mom and dad will eventually want to visit us or let you visit us, but know we – all of your family in the Mitten – are here with open arms and all of the love and support you always knew while in our care! We hope you never forget that love we share and we hope you’ll always use the happy we saw in your hearts over ten and six years- to do good, be kind and choose right . We understand you are small and how important it is to both of you to make your mom and dad happy. That is a good thing. You can and should always respect them and be good ! You can do this – and still keep the truth of your childhood secure in your heart because LOVE like the love we have for our children, and our grandchildren is the kind of love that  NEVER LEAVES .

All our love forever and always ….

❤️Nana and Poppy❤️?