cousins!

We were lucky enough to have my SIL and her children visit us at the beginning of February while my brother was on a business trip. They were here overnight and there was much fun had by all!

Having a birthday dinner for Abby. Homemade Mac n Cheese and Ceaser salad with homemade dressing - complete with anchovies (shhh! don't tell the kids - they LOVED it).

My Anna Banana - She and Damien had a couple go arounds. Once I went to the bonus room and she was saying "No baby, no no baby" and Damien was sitting on her. He looked at me like "what?" She is an absolute delight! She is also my phone buddy. She calls me on her moms cell phone and we talk...her mom did NOT know she was doing that by the way...she thought Anna was playing 'calling Aunt Mimi."

Jack Attack! My Godson. Love him. He had so much fun playing with Michael (whom he worships). Being an only boy he needs that quality male cousin lego time!

Lexi is such sweetness. Damien adores her. There is a picture of her on my phone and Damien likes to find it and smile at it and talk to it and then show it to anyone that is around...including strangers at the store.
Kaitlyn...is 10...how on EARTH did that happen? Her mom was pregnant with her at our wedding! It was nice to spend time with her and listen to all the wonderful things rolling around in her head.

mmmmmmm cake

The birthday girl - she was so excited to share it with cousins.

The kids thought it was awesome that it is so windy here. They were pretending they were going to blow over (or not pretending...it was pretty windy that night).

We all went back inside and someone was upset he wasn't in the picture. So we went back out....can you guess who it was?

There was much playing with cell phones. It was quickly determined that Aunt Susan's iphone was WAY cooler than mommy's LG phone...I agree...I agree...

The 4 older kids had a camp out on the floor of the bonus room. We really can't wait for them to come back to visit. :)

Miss Clare

We super LOVE our Clare!

Joshua Paul

Yesterday Aunt Amanda gave birth to our newest cousin, Joshua Paul (we call him Paul). He is super cute!

Happy Easter!

We went to Grandma and Grandpa's house this year for Easter. It was pretty quiet since we were the only kids there (and Clare). We had tons of fun hunting for eggs and eating our candy. Mommy didn't get a picture of it but Lamby had the same dress as me...it was so cool.

Damien and great grandma Bell

Aunt Kristen and Clare

Fairy Princess Party!

At 1pm we had 3 of Abby's friends (Sara, Livie & Mia) over for a fairy princess party. It was a lot of fun and the girls really enjoyed themselves.

Our big 4 year old!
Birthday cupcakes...thanks Krista for the cupcake stand (I really want one now - they are cool!)

Each girl received a crown, wings and a magic wand.

from left to right: Livie, Abby, Mia & Sara.

Damien got lots of attention from both the little girls and their mommies.

Abby received lots of nice presents. She was particularly excited about her big girl booster seat.

She tried very hard not to be shy when we were singing to her.

--Thank you to everyone who worked so hard to make this a special day for Abby.

Curious Clare!

Cousins!

This is my cousin Jack (Uncle Paul and Aunt Susan's boy - he's 3). I like Jack - he is a lot of fun. He came down to visit because Grandma and Grandpa had a BIG party for Uncle Jim. Uncle Jim was leaving to spend the next 5 years studying Theology in Rome (like Uncle John did WAY before I was born). We won't see Uncle Jim for 2 years...we will miss him a lot...especially Jack...it is no secret that Jack LOVES Uncle Jim.

Warners or bust!

At the end of July we loaded up the minivan at 3am and started heading south...to Warner's Hot Springs, California for our annual family reunion. We took two days to get there. The kids did great...we had a portable DVD player but never needed to use it. The kids kept themselves entertained and were model passengers. We did learn that Michael gets carsick - at the end of the Sisqu's he said his mouth felt funny and then threw up on himself. He only got himself and his car seat so we got him cleaned up and laid towels all over his booster and continued on our way. Fortunately our hotel had a laundry room where I could wash everything that night. We had the same cabin at Warners that we had last year and this year cousin Rachel stayed with us. Great Uncle Bob has all the pool pictures...for some reason I didn't take any. He does have a very funny one of all the nieces and nephew playing tug o' war with Ben in the pool - if I can get a hold of it I'll post it. The kids did great in the pool and loved playing with their cousins. I did not get into the pool. My eczema was flaring up and I can't take my medicine when I'm pregnant so it was too painful for me to get in the water. The kids got to go on pony rides...they LOVED that. There was also a barn cat that would chase pine cones...that was actually more fun for the kids than the pony rides. My cousin, Julie and her family came as well and she brought a bunch of craft stuff for the kids to do. We LOVE our time at Warners and look forward to going back next year.