Parker

One of my best friends had her 2nd little boy on July 21st. I went over when Parker was about 2 weeks old and got some cute pictures of him and his big brother, Connor. Kim is an amazing mother and an equally amazing friend! Aren't these boys just adorable?!

Grace Reunion

A few weeks ago, when we still had summer weather, we had our 1st annual Grace Road Trip Reunion. Brian and I hosted the cookout and it was so good to get together with our friends! I cannot believe all the little ones running around!! Good times. :)

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 :)

Annual Birthday trip

Jacinda and I made our annual birthday trip to Chicago to watch the Cubbies. Her birthday is the 11th and mine, the 12th. Our last year of our 20's. The game was a blast!! ;) Anytime you get to sing Go Cubs Go at the end of the game it a good time! :)

Sleepovers & Prom

Friday night April and I had a date at Red Lobster. :) Brian watched Jacinda and Anitra had the rest of the kids. We ate dinner and did a little shopping. When we got home, Brian and Jacinda were hanging out downstairs and both were happy! :) They both did a great job while we were out!

Janae and Brenna were spending the night at Senica's, so April came down with Adria and Jacinda spent the night at our house. :) Brian was up at 6:30 to go to work and I got up with Jacinda. She is so happy when she wakes up...not like me! So I made breakfast and then April went to pick up the kids.

After they left, I stated working on the tile by the front door and Brian came home shortly after that. We got all the carpet and padding pulled up and then I headed to Goshen to take Mia's prom pictures. Aren't Tony and Mia absolutely adorable?! :) It was such a gorgeous day and they were just so cute!! After pictures Brian and I went to dinner at the O with Uncle Fred and Aunt Marie, Aunt Marie's sister, and Nanci and Dawn. Then after dinner I made my first trip of the year to The Chief. :) Yummmy!!!

It was a GREAT weekend...and I'm beat!

Busy week!

Monday night we hosted the Bethel baseball team at our house for dinner to give Anitra a break. Nelson had gotten tickets to the Cubs game on Wednesday night and since Bethel's game was rescheduled, he sold me his tickets. So Wednesday night, Jacinda and I drove to Chicago after work to go to the game! :) We had such great seats and it was a blast!! :)

Thursday night, we watched the kids so that Anitra could go to a spa party and get pampered. :)

Saturday Anitra dropped off Senica and Ty at 8:30 in the morning because she had a conference she had to go to, so Brian and I put them to work! :) We are changing the walls in the front room from green to a sand color and they helped to prime it. Since we are tearing up the carpet, it didn't matter if they got paint on it. Then, I gave them baths, because we had paint everywhere, and headed to Bethel for Senior Day.

It rained before the game started, but the sun came out and it was a gorgeous day! The big surprise of the day was Cam and Sam's engagement. Cam had it planned out so well and did a great job!! :) Sam had no idea about any of it and Cam had been planning it since last November. Isn't her ring beautiful?! Sam babysits Senica and Ty for Anitra and Seth and does a great job with them! :) They were high school sweethearts and it was fun to hear his grandma telling stories about when they first started dating. :)

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 Easter!!

Happy Easter!! We had a wonderful service this morning and what a beautiful day it is outside. A perfect day for lots of pictures!

After church, we had a brunch at our house and Brian's parents and Seth, Anitra and the kids came. It was so nice to have everyone over! :)

I was telling my in-laws how I would like to have some new floor in the front living room and kitchen this spring/summer. Brian and I have been talking about it and since they have done a lot of home repairs, I wanted their opinion too. I have been really wanting laminate flooring in both of the rooms. Talis said we need to see if there is hardwood under our carpet, so Brian tore up a section of our carpet and WWWHOOOOOO HOOOOOO, we have hardwood! I am ecstatic!! Another project for Brian! ha

Hope you all are having a wonderful day too!

Sunshine and Smiles!

Today I went over to April's house to watch the girls. Janae had her first practice for t-ball and so I kept Jacinda and Brenna. Adria wanted to go with her mommy and it worked out perfect for her to nap at the park. :)

The girls were great for me! Jacinda drank a bottle, played and then took a 1 1/2 hour nap! Brenna, of course, was on the computer. When Jacinda woke up, I told the girls it was way to nice to be inside. So, out we went and it was a great day to get some pictures of them as well! :) Jacinda didn't feel like looking at the camera, but Brenna was ready to pose!

April dropped Janae off at a friends house and then she and Adria got groceries. When they got home, Adria wanted to get in on the pictures too. Aren't they all such dolls in their pink?!? :)

I am so glad they are home!!!

Fun at Anitra's

These pics are from last week at Anitra's house. She saw an idea on TV to do Rice Krispie Easter Eggs...too cute! The kids loved it and even Anitra and I got to decorate some. :) Ty was more interested in just eating the frosting. ha

They came down for dinner and Anitra gave the kids baths at my house. Jacinda is such an angel. You can see in the top collage where she is wanting to hold the spoon and feed herself...and in the bottom where she holding the bottle on her own. She is growing so fast!

Terrific Tuesday!!

Today I felt like I got quite a bit accomplished. I started going through all of my kitchen stuff and cleaning out what pots and pans I don't need. Like the one Anitra said is so old, she was sure it was Grandma Pauly's (from like 30+) years ago. I found a great buy at Hobby Lobby...the "Kitchen" sign in the above pics. I got it for 1/2 off = $5. It was black, so I spray painted it to match the kitchen and then hung it above the sink. I love it! :) Brian made dinner tonight, so Anitra and the kids chanted for him to stand under it and have his picture taken. :)

I called Seth and asked if he would watch the 3 little ones so that I could surprise Anitra with a pedicure. Not, I did not do it myself! Those who know me, know I don't do pedicures on other people (Unless you are 9 months pregnant and happen to be my sister). So I picked Anitra up, grabbed her flip flops and headed to Wal-Mart. It was a nice relaxing hour! :)

Then, we went home and Seth came down with the kids and my dear, sweet hubby cooked the majority of dinner. Yum, yum! :) Anitra, Seth and the kids posed for a pic for me and Graw managed to make it in there too.

It was a great day and I am so thankful for the wonderful family that God has blessed me with!!

A day at the Park

Saturday was sunny and gorgeous! A great day for baseball!! Seth had a double-header at home and they won both! Now the team is 8-0 at home! Whoo hooo! :)

Kristi and Savannah came to the game along with Kristi's brother Alex, who was here on Spring Break. I asked Seth if it would be ok for Alex to sit in the dugout since he didn't get to go anywhere nice and warm for his break and Seth said that was fine. You can see Alex (in the red fleece) giving hi-fives to the players. The players were so nice to him and made him feel really like part of them for the day! :)

Seth's brother, Ethan, was here for the games too. I love the picture of him and the kids...too cute!

Phoenix

It's been awhile since I have posted, huh!? Wow, it didn't really feel that long...

Last week I was in Phoenix for a Pain Management Symposium for work. My nurse, Randa, and I went and it was a quick-long 5 days. Does that make sense? I guess it seemed quick, because getting on 4 different airplanes in 5 days felt like A LOT of traveling and it seemed quick because it was all within 5 days...but then it seemed L..O..N..G because we were basically in conferences all day long! After 10 hours in seminars on Sunday, we decided to head to a Cubs game for a break! :)

We learned a lot, walked a lot and laughed a lot. I am so thankful for having great co-workers that I get along with so well, we can travel together! :)

We stayed at the Hilton - Squaw Peak Resort. It was really gorgeous and the staff was extremely friendly!! As a matter of fact, the first day there, I felt a cold sore coming on and I didn't have a car to go to the pharmacy to get Abreva. I didn't think the gift shop would have any, but I thought it was worth a shot to check. Well, I was right, they didn't, but the lady working said that she would go on her break and get me some. I was shocked and so THANKFUL! Apparently, she understood the urgency because she gets cold sores too!

It was very hard to be in meetings all day knowing it was 80-plus degrees outside and SUNNY, but we really learned a lot and it is always exciting to learn new things!

Favorites

This series of pics were my favorite from the day. Looking at them, just makes me smile! Seth coached Ty the entire way..."Watch the ball...swing" and Seth's face when Ty hit that ball! Priceless!!! :)

Beautiful Weather!!

Last night, we had such beautiful weather, we had to take advantage of it! We had out the hula hoop, the volleyball and of course the ball and bats! The kids had so much fun...and so did Anitra and I! Senica even got in on the volleyball action! :)

Season Opening!!

I was so excited that my FAVORITE drive-in was opening again!! So, we picked up Anitra and the kids and headed for some chili dogs and pizza sticks!! Yumm...and oh so healthy!! ha! Brian volunteered to sit in the back seat between the two car seats. The top middle pic is of him once we got to the drive-in. It doesn't really justify how tightly he was packed in there, but you can get the idea. If you have never been to Dog 'n Mug...you gotta go!! :)

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!!

Mini-Golf

Senica and I had a great "date" at the putt-putt place. She is naturally athletic and the lady behind us told me that exact thing and couldn't believe she was only 4!. No, I didn't claim her as my own, but was so proud of her that I would have in a heart-beat! We had a lot of fun, but we were a little bummed that the alligators weren't hungry enough for us to feed them. :( Thanks Senica for the fun time!! :)

Florida

Last Tuesday night, I flew down to Florida and met Anitra, Seth and the kids for a quick trip to sunny Florida! :) Wednesday we went to the beach. Thursday, we went to baseball games. Friday, Anitra and I stayed back at the hotel pool with the kids and then Senica and I went minature golfing. Saturday we a double-header, quick shower at the hotel and a 22-hour bus ride home.

It was a really quick trip, but fun and I was glad to be in the warm weather!! ;)