Family. Friday. Fish. Fun

Friday night, I stopped by Uncle Fred and Aunt Marie's and picked up some fish. Anitra, April and all the kids were coming over for dinner and Brian wanted to use his new Fry Daddy. :) We had fish, fries, shrimp, chicken...you name it! After dinner the kids and I played on the Wii. Brenna and Senica did some hula-hooping and Janae wanted to run. Brian got in on the hula-hooping and Jacinda stood with him and did it too. Too cute! :)

I love nights like this!!

Lovin' Life!

Janae, Brenna, Senica and Ty came over tonight to hang out. Brian was cleaning the yard and the kids had so much fun jumping into the leaf pile!! It was so fun to see them laughing and laughing! We played in the leaf pile, ate some Taco Bell....and of course.....watched Elf! :)

Fashion Farm

Monday after work, Brian and I met Anitra, April and all the kids at the Fashion Farm for the annual trip. It was a beautiful day and the kids had a blast! Fall is my favorite time of the year and it was finally a nice fall day! Can you believe how tall all the kids are? I love days like this...with my favorite people! My husband, my sisters and the kids!! Life is good!

Eight is Great!!

I was sitting at a cafe called the Bulldog. I was in Amsterdam. I was on my first trip to Europe by myself when I read my email...."I am pregnant!!! Brian and I are having a baby. We wanted to tell you before you left, but we hadn't told all the grandparents yet....congraulations, Addi...you are going to be an aunt!!!"

I cannot believe it has been 8 years since I got that email. I cannot believe how much you can love a child that is not your own. I cannot believe that Janae is 2 shoe sizes smaller than me and I really cannot believe that she is just about as tall as me!

What I CAN believe is how smart, FUNNY, caring, loving, artisitc and beautiful she is!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JANAE!! I love you bunches!

Chicago half marathon

I went last weekend to watch Anitra run in the half-marathon race in Chicago. I was supposed to run in it with Anitra, but because of my hip, the Dr. said no running. I transferred my registration to next year. I don't know if Anitra will do it again, but if not, she can take the pics of me running. :)

We went with our friend Mary...who is amazing! We had some fun girls time together! Mary is quite the inspiration! She ran the race...came back to help us cheer Anitra on...and then ran the rest of the way with Anitra, encouraging her! What a blessing her friendship is! Dustin and Stacy were there too. Stacy ran the 1/2 and Dustin ran the 5k. I just realized that I have a pic of Stacy running in this collage, but not Dustin. Dustin finished before I was expecting him, so I didn't get a pic of him running...just right after he crossed the finish line. I will have to post that separately.

I am extremely proud of Anitra!! She trained hard and ran a good race! Way to go sis!! :)

I'm back...

So - I guess I took a longer break than I realized and I didn't really think that I had that many people follow my blog...but, apparently, I was wrong. :)

It's been too long to write everything that has been happening, but here are some hi-lights...

- Brian's brother got married
- Brian is playing in the church softball league...and is the pitcher. I think this is the last week and they are still waiting on their first win
- I went to the Taste of Chicago with my cousin's Nanci and Mia
- We got a lot of swimming in
- Had a Pampered Chef party with the best consultant ever. :)
- Went to BlueGate with Adam and Mary and saw His Life
- Papa's birthday, April's birthday, Adria's birthday
- Brenna's graduation
- More swimming
- Oh yeah, and I signed up to run a 1/2 marathon with my sister and some friends from church :)

Easter Continued...

So I haven't been very good at keeping up-to-date on my blog. Sorry!

This was the second half of Easter. We went to mom's for dinner. The little kids had an egg hunt in the front yard and the bigger girls, in the backyard. I couldn't get a picture of Janae because she wouldn't stop long enough for me to take one. All my pics of her are from the backside as I was chasing behind her. ha!

Saturday's Sunshine!

Brenna spent the night at Anitra's Friday night, so Saturday afternoon, she came down to hang out with me for a little bit while Brian was at work. She showed off her new glasses...aren't they so cute!?!! Brian watched the 3 oldest girls so April and I could run to the store and when we got home....he had changed his FIRST EVER poopy diaper!! YEA!! :) Before they left, we got some pics outside because it was such nice weather! Such absolutely beautiful girls!!

Snow, Snow, SNOW!

This weekend we took advantage of the snow took the kids out to play! April and Brian went to dinner for his birthday, Anitra was inside taking care of Jacinda and Seth and I had snow duty. :) Seth and I both realized how out of shape we are...that's hard work pulling sleds around!! We had fun...and the kids loved it!! :)

Christmas...one last time

Yes, on February 1st, we had our final Christmas! :) Thanks Bob for coming over and celebrating with us!

Sleepovers and Swim Meets

Friday night I picked up Janae and Brenna for a sleepover. When we stopped to get Senica, Ty stood at the door saying "I go Addi's", so he came too! You know me...I couldn't leave him behind! We had a good time! The kids played and played.

Saturday morning we got up and had breakfast, the usual pancakes, eggs, sausage and has browns. After breakfast, Ty had a really yukky I'll-spare-you-the-details-diaper and so we called Anitra to come and pick up him. Then the girls and I got bundled up and headed to Goshen to watch our cousin, Mia, swim. We really enjoy watching her compete. She is such a good swimmer and it is so fun to hear the 3 little ones yelling "Go Mia!, Go, Mia!!" After the meet, we went down to the cafeteria to have some cake and punch with the team, b/c it was Senior Day. The girls got to hang out with Haylie, another cousin, and take some pics with Mia too. :) They had so much fun!!

When we were leaving, there was a wrestling match going on so we stopped and watched for a little bit. Our cousin's nephew was wrestling and we were going to try and stay to watch, but the girls were starting to get "wrest-less". :) At one point I turned around and Brenna was in a wrestling stance, trying to slap Senica like some of the boy-wreslters were doing and Senica was saying "Brenna, I don't think this is a really good idea!" ha!

So we got loaded back up in the car and stopped by my Aunt Jeannie's house. The girls call her Grandma Jeannie. :) She got out the coloring books, crayons, construction paper and scissors and glue so the girls to do some projects. Brenna of course, went in the computer room to play on her Webkinz. :) I laid down on her couch, and just like my Grandma Pauly's old couch, I was out! Thanks so much Aunt Jeannie for entertaining the girls and letting me have a cat nap!

Then we headed to Grandma Pottenger's for our Christmas with her. (bottom collage) We ate dinner, the kids played, the adults talked and then we exchanged gifts. We laughed so hard at Grandma trying to mimick Anitra doing excercises! ha!! We had a wonderful time...thanks Grandma!

It was decided at Christmas, that Janae, Brenna and Senica would come back and spend the night at our house because today we were supposed to have Christmas with Bob at our house after church. Brenna was asleep by the time we got home and I put her right into bed. Janae and Senica stayed up for a little while with Janae reading Junie B. Jones to Senica and teaching her how to spell and right new words. Just like both of their moms used to teach me whatever they were learning in school. :)

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone! Brian and I had April and the girls and Anitra, Seth and the kids over for New Year's Eve. The kids played in the play room and then watched a movie (1/2 of it). Brian and Seth went to the store to run errands. It gave us sisters time to hang out and talk. I love days like that...just spending time with my sisters. :)

Seth had to leave early in the morning, so Anitra, Seth, April, Ty, Adria and Jacinda left before mid-night to spend the night at Anitra's house. Brian and I kept Janae, Brenna and Senica. The girls and I slept downstairs. They all made it to mid-night. Then the fireworks started. We opened up the window so the girls could try and see them. We couldn't see them, but we sure could hear them! :)

The next morning, everyone came back down for breakfast. We had a wonderful night/morning! :)

Fun with the Girls!

Yesterday morning, April called to see if I would watch the girls so she could go shopping. Well...of course!! I didn't get to see them on Christmas, so I was happy to spend the morning/afternoon with them! :)

It's a little hard to take pictures with four kids 7 and younger, so I let Janae take some for me! Didn't she do a good job? She took all of these pics, except the one of her. Isn't she talented!?? :)

We had a lot of fun and they were so good for me!! Adria is quite busy and into everything...she is very quick too. Jacinda is so sweet and fell asleep right in my arm. Janae and Brenna each got a Nintendo DS for Christmas, so they played with those for a while. We also printed some pictures for Janae for her new scrapbook.

April found some good buys....great day for everyone!! :)

Thanks girls for coming over...I had so much fun with you!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas!! Happy Birthday Jesus!! :)

Christmas Eve Christmas

April had all of us over for our annual Christmas on Christmas Eve! :) I will just let the pictures tell the story...the kids got lots of gifts and I think they all were very happy!! :) Somehow, I missed Papa...he was holding the trash bag for all the wrapping paper.

Thankful!

I have so many things to be thankful for this year! Actually, every year, but this year, I think I am more aware of it.

First, I am thankful I have such a loving God that always provides! I am thankful for such a wonderful husband. To name a few...he runs to Goshen at 11:00pm at night when I realize my pump is empty and my insulin is waiting at the pharmacy, when I get home from the grocery store, he meets me in the garage to help carry stuff in, he does the dishes 98% of the time! Need I say more...the dishes! :)

I am thankful for my family! I am thankful for my parents, my sisters and their husbands, and my ADORABLE nieces and nephews! No matter what my mood is, they always make me smile!

I am thankful for our jobs. There are so many people that have lost their jobs and Brian has had to deal with this first-hand, so we both realize how fortunate we are that we are still employed.

Thursday, my family came over and we celebrated Thanksgiving. We had lots of food and fun! Grandma came over and brought Floy. It was wonderful to have her join our family celebration.

Tonight, Brian's parents came over and we had dinner and a nice time with them. Lots of laughs!! :)

Full House

This weekend was a busy one, so I am gonna just do it in one post. Bear with me...

Thursday night April and her girls came over and Anitra and her kids too. We had dinner and then the girls and Ty played and then we all watched the Wizard of Oz. April and I hadn't seen it in a long time and we forgot how bad we felt for the scarecrow, tin man and lion. Too funny!

Friday I had 2 dr. appointments in the morning. At my second appointment, my Dr. wanted me to go over to the hospital and have some x-rays and labs done. I have been having some problems with my shoulders for quite awhile and we are trying to figure out what is causing all the pain. By the time I got home, it was almost 3pm. So, Cheryl said I didn't need to come into work.

Friday night April and Brian dropped the girls off so that they could have a date. Anitra came down with Senica and Ty so they could all play together. The kids played really nice together and it was a wonderful evening. April's Brian put up a new porch light for us and it looks wonderful! Thanks Brian! April and Brian took the 3 youngest girls home and Janae spent the night with us. We stayed up watching Jon and Kate plus 8 and playing on the Webkinz. I am now addicted to Webkinz too! :) Sorry to Anitra who I was making fun of for playing Webkinz all the time! :)

Friday night, Janae and I slept on the blow-up mattress in the basement and we woke up to breakfast in bed. Thanks honey...that was a nice surprise! After we got around, Janae and I went and got groceries and then I met April at mom's to drop Janae off.

Saturday night, our friends Jim and Keia came over with their little girl, Kaeleigh. Anitra, Sencia and Ty came down too and we had dinner and the kids played in the toy room while the adults played on the Wii. I think everyone had a great time!

This morning after church, Kristi and Dave and their little girl, Savannah came over for lunch. Anitra, Seth, Senica and Ty came over for lunch too and Senica and Ty were loving on Savannah. Ty was rubbing her belly and Senica was telling him "gentle, gentle". :) We had a nice time and Dave amused Senica by bowling with her on the Wii.

The weekends always seem to go so fast!!

I am so thankful for my family and all my friends. Thank you God for blessing me with these special relationships!

Fall Pictures

The other week, we tried to get some pictures for Anitra and Seth's family picture. Janae wanted to have a "photo shoot" too. :) She is quite the little model!

WARNING!! Bambi lovers beware!

April called today and said that Brian got his buck...a 10-pointer and one of the biggest ones he has ever gotten! She wanted to know if I wanted to come and take some pictures. I was at Kari and Don's house so BK came over and the four of us headed to April and Brian's. We ordered pizza and made a night of it! :)

Janae was so proud of her dad...she even went with the guys when they went to gut it. The rest of us stayed home with the babies. :)

Picture Time!

Saturday morning I headed over to Jessica and Corey's house to take some pictures of Ethan. Isn't his little giraffe outfit so cute? I really enjoyed getting to take pictures of him! He's such a cutie!

After I went and took Ethan's pictures, I picked up Brian at home and we headed to North Webster to take engagement pictures for Andrew and Katie. Katie's parents have a house on the lake and that is where they are getting married next June! We also went and took some pictures where they are having their reception. It's this beautiful place that overlooks the lake. We are so excited and happy for them! We love you guys!

When we were done taking Andrew and Katie's pictures, we headed over to April's house. Anitra, Seth, Senica and Ty came to Syracuse too and we all met at the church down the road from them for a fish fry! It was delicious and the kids did really good behaving while we ate. From there, we went to the Syracuse Community Center for the Fall Carnival. They had games for the kids, a cake walk and a costume contest. None of our kids won in the costume contest, although I think they should have! :) While I was taking pictures of the kids, the lady in charge asked me if I was from the paper. I told her no and that I was just the proud aunt! :) Well, the paper was supposed to come and they never showed up, so she asked me if I would take pictures of the contest winners. So, keep an eye out in the Mail Journal. You might see some of my pictures in there! :)

It was a really busy day, but I am so thankful to be able to spend the day with my family and friends! :)