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!

Happy Birthday Brian!!

Today is my brother-in-law's birthday. Happy Birthday Brian!! I am so glad that you are part of our family...it's always fun when you are around. :) Thank you for taking such good care of my sister and all the girls!! I am so proud of you...finding out what you wanted to do and working so hard to accomplish your dreams! Love you!! Happy Birthday!!!

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. :)

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.

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! :)

Downtown Trick-or-Treating

Janae is 7!!

Happy Birthday Janae!

You are growing up to be such a beautiful young lady! You were adorable from the day you were born! I can remember being so proud of your mommy and I couldn't drive fast enough to Kentucky to show Aunt Anitra how pretty you were! I can't believe that was 7 years ago! I am so proud of you! You are such a smart girl and whenever you are around...we are sure to laugh! :) You do a great job at helping your mom and dad with your little sisters and even helping with Ty too!

I love you Janae and feel so lucky that God let me be your aunt! :)

Happy Birthday!!

Happy Birthday Janae!

Today our (not so)little Janae turned 7! On her birthday, we go to Hacienda and have mudslides...I think this year we ordered 4 of them! :) April brought a candle for her, but we forgot to get it out! Here are a few snapshots from the night. Thanks to mom who watched Adria and Jacinda so we could celebrate.

Family photos

So here are the first family photos!! Aren't they such a beautiful family?

We are so blessed and so thankful for the wonderful gifts God has given us in all of these beautiful girls!!

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. :)

The waiting...the delivery

These pictures are of the waiting...the delivery...and then the pure joy that came when Jacinda was born!

I can't remember what we were talking about, but Brian had run to the fire station to get a few things and it was just Anitra, April and I in the room. Who knows what we were talking about. Maybe it was when Anitra tried to sit in the chair and she didn't lock the wheels and the chair rolled away from her!

Then the delivery...April did such an amazing job. She did so good and we are so proud of her!! As you can see in the last collage, when it comes to babies, all April and Brian know is how to make cute ones!! We are so glad that she is here and healthy!!

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! :)

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!! :)

Concert

Brian and I after the concert.
Brian showing me his pic he caught at the end of the concert. (It actually hit him in the head first)
Me, so happy after the awesome concert!