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!! :)

Happy Birthday Mom!!

Today we are celebrating my mom's birthday! It's a lot harder to find pictures of her than it is the kids. She is usually cooking or
"behind the scenes" when we all get together. My mom is a wonderful mother and an amazing Grandma. She is full of life and is always, always making me laugh! I have been blessed with a wonderful family and it all started with my mom!

Happy Birthday Mom! I love you!

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!! :)

Happy Birthday Anitra!!

Happy Birthday to my favorite 33-year-old!!

Today is my oldest sister's birthday. I was trying to find some pictures of just her to post, but there are very few of just her alone.

I am lucky enough to live down the street from Anitra. I am also lucky enough to have 2 of my very best friends be my sisters. The older we get, the closer we get. I am so grateful for the relationships that I have with them.

Anitra has been a wonderful sister! I have watched her in recent years not only be a wonderful sister, but an incredible mother. She has guided me in so many ways. She has helped me in my walk with Christ, taught me too many things to count...probably the most important, the act of forgiveness.

She makes me laugh! If we are really honest, sometimes she makes me mad too. She supports me. She encourages me. She pushes me...when I think I can't do it. But most importantly, she loves me. Unconditionally. And for that, I am forever thankful!

I love you Anitra!!

Pumpkin time!

Once the train arrived at our destination, we got out and picked the pumpkins we wanted. Brian helped mom put all the pumpkins back on the train and then we headed to the playground. The kids got to run out some of their energy out on the playground before getting back on the train. It was a wonderful day! Great idea mom...we loved it!! :)

I hear the train a comin'

Sunday afternoon we drove up to Coldwater, Michigan to take the "pumpkin train" to Quincy. It's about a 30-minute ride on the train to get the pumpkins and then another 30-minute ride back. Mom, Bobby, Anitra, Seth, Brian and I took Janae, Brenna, Senica, Ty and Adria. It was a gorgeous day and the kids had a really good time. I think the adults did too! :) It was so much fun opening the windows and sticking our heads out.

Vistiors, visitors!

So, do you think Jacinda is loved?

The nurse told us that she would let the family come up after 8pm, although that's when visiting hours ends, since April didn't have Jacinda until 6pm, I don't think she knew what she was saying yes to!

At one point, we had 7 children in the room and 15 adults!

Isn't that pic so cute of Ty kissing Jacinda? And then April and her two little mama's girls? And sweet Brenna crying because she didn't want to leave her mom.
**Anitra called and said she was skipping by the time they got to the elevator because Anitra said she could play with her Webkins!

The bottom collage shows you a little bit of the madness....and then the calm and quiet that April had with Adria. :)

Say CHEESE!

Our family is each other's papparazzi. Janae got a digital camera for her birthday. This included opening her camera, realizing there were no batteries to go with it, a quick trip to Pamida and Waaaa Laaaaa...her new camera!

As I looked back over my pictures from Sunday, I realized we are creating our own little unit of papparazzi. :) As you can see, Janae is using her new camera to do self-portraits while she jump ropes. Oh yeah, we are a family of multi-taskers too! ha!! Then the sharing of the pictures...the one where Senica has a camera around her neck and is looking at pictures on Janae's camera.

Then Janae getting the "action" shot of Grandma Jeri jumping and then mom herself with the camera taking pictures.

Someday our children/grandchildren will be able to look back at all the wonderful times we had...

For those who are curious...I took 767 pictures at Janae's party. :)

Jump Rope anyone??

Janae loves to jump rope. She wanted a super long one for her birthday and that was one of her gifts.

It all started with Janae, Senica, Ty and I. We went outside and they wanted to jump...so I tied the rope to Papa's truck and had them jumping. It was just too cute, so I called Anitra out to take some pictures. Then I wanted to jump! Aren't you supposed to act like a 7-year-old at a 7-year-olds birthday party? Anitra thought so too, so she took a turn jumping. Then mom came out...and to show that she was a cool grandma, she jumped too! Now, this was one of the funniest things I have seen in a long time. I think I actually shot about 40 pictures of just mom jumping, but the best ones are in the middle collage. The one picture of Ty in the background looking at mom like...my grandma is CRAZY, cracks me up!!

Of course, after we all took a turn, the men had to go too! :)

It was a really fun day and I have to say that I was glad Janae asked for a jump rope! :)

Day of rest?

Today was Grandparents Day and Senica sang up front at church, so Mom and Bobby and Marty, Joyce, Ethan, Maddie and Aunt Cecil came to watch her.

It was a busy day...I started my new post at the Welcome Cart for when people drop off their kids for Sunday School and Church. I also wanted to get some pictures of all of our friends who dedicated their babies today, so I went into church to take pictures...then I ran upstairs and did a drama with Anitra for the 3, 4 and 5 year-olds where I played an artist! HA!! Me an artist...I think not! Our lesson was on creation and how God made everything and how we can take care of what God created. It was a great lesson and I think the kids liked it!

After church Mom and Bobby picked up some chicken from Martin's and we all headed down to the river walk for lunch. It was such a beautiful day and it is so pretty down there!! Then we went over to the open house for the new Townhouses they are building...WAY out of our price range, and Brian said if we even spend that much money on a home, it's gonna have some kind of yard be on a body of water where he can put a boat! Ahhh...dreams! :) After that, we headed home so I could lay down and rest for about an hour and wake up just in time to see the Cubs blow it in the 9th! Grrr...I should have stayed asleep!! Then Senica and Ty came down and Brian and I watched them so Anitra and Seth could go to Bethel to the Hall Of Fame banquet...they left at 9:30!

I had to tell Anitra they had to leave because I needed to get my Sunday night blogging in!! :)

Pool Fight!

Mom and I had a pool fight and Anitra caught some (unflattering) pictures, but too funny to not post! The last picture is hilarious and sad...hilarious because what kind of faces are we making...and sad b/c I look just like my mother! Usually when people say I look like my mom, I take that as a compliment, cuz she's a pretty lady....but here...we both are SCARY! ha Thanks Anitra for taking such great action shots!

Fun in the Sun

It was such a beautiful, HOT day! It was so hot that every single person got into the pool...including Seth! :) It was so much fun playing "PONY" at Papa calls it. Anitra beat him and she wasn't afraid to show how proud she was of herself. ha! The bottom collage shows Ty crawling out of the pool with his "pruned" feet. We missed Brian and wished he didn't have to work!!

Pool time

Thanks to Grandma Pottenger for letting us have the party at her house. As late as Friday, they were calling for PM showers. Thankfully, they were wrong!! It was a beautiful day and warm, so everyone enjoyed the pool! Grandma even stuck her feet in. There was swimming races, diving competitions, chicken fights and just lounging! Adria enjoyed having her own pool to herself! She kept sticking her head in the water like a duck. It was too funny!

No one under 6 allowed....

For the first time since Janae was born, the adults had a dinner at a nice restaurant WITHOUT children! When Janae was first born, Anitra and Seth lived in Kentucky. Then as the kids were born, schedules got busy and we just had not done it. But my cousin, Kaytie and her brave boyfriend Jordan (who the girls LOVE) came to April's to watch all 5 kids so we adults could go to dinner to celebrate Seth's birthday!

We went to the Boathouse in Warsaw and it was delicious!! The middle picture is us at dinner. It was nice to be able to spend time with my sisters and mom...as you can see we sat girls at one end, boys at the other.

We got home and the kids had been good. *Sigh* April was worried because Adria had been fussy most of the day (teething?) but Kaytie said she was fine. Thanks to Kaytie and Jordan for watching the kids!! :)

Mom and Sadie

We took the boat to dinner one night and on the way home in the channel a train had stopped on the tracks above us...Sadie was showing it to mom. I thought that picture was adorable...then the one where Sadie has such sleepy eyes! We were all ready for bed! :)

Mom and Adria

One day last week, mom took care of Adria and Sadie during the day. I helped a little...with lunch and naptime. It was neat to get to see mom with Adria. Not very often do you get just one of the kids to spend the day with. Adria woke up from her nap before Sadie, so mom had some time to play with Adria. I can't wait until mom can play with my kids. I love the top right picture. I don't know who was making who laugh harder!