Date with Brenna...and Senica

Today I worked a half day and was going to take Brenna to the fair and have her spend the night. Well, as you can see in these pictures, Brenna and Senica L.O.V.E each other! So, Brenna napped, Senica napped and off the the fair we went! We got there and went to see Papa Bobby. He was working...bought the pig in the above picture...saved him from the slaughter house. :) We told Papa bye and went to the nature center. The nature center was back in a park area by the "colonial" days exhibit. That was pretty neat too. I was pointing out to the girls what each person was doing. First, the blacksmith...then I said, "That lady is making soap". Senica said "Where is the lady making hamburgers"? HA! Next stop, the Kid's Zone and petting zoo. Brenna was loving it and couldn't get enough. Off to the ONE ride. Of course, it was the Merry-go-round and it cost $6 for the two of them to ride. OUCH! The girls did so good at only riding one ride. I was proud of how they listened. There was no whining, no crying and no debating! Then, off to get dinner and donuts. They girl's had grilled cheese from the dairy barn. As we were leaving, we stopped by to see the pig races.

The day had just begun....

Back home we went...

It was so hot outside I told them that we needed to take a break from the heat...so we put in Happy Feet and they played with Play-doh. From Play-doh - to them getting married and straight to the pool. The girls swam until I pronounced them offically "pruned". We came inside and got them into the bathtub. Once we got them all clean and jammies on...downstairs to make cookies! We got our cookies made and finally, laid to to start to relax and watch Open Season.

Whew! What a day!

The Baths, BVI

So...we got our water camera's developed from our honeymoon. Actually, we had them developed awhile ago, but this is the first that I have sat down and downloaded the pictures to my computer. Actually, for disposable water camers (that cost $8 in IN and $22 in the BVI) the pictures turned out pretty good! :) The top two corners are pictures of Brian and I jumping from The Baths http://www.thebathsbvi.com/ It was an amazing day and we had so much fun! I would LOVE to go back because we didn't get to spend as much time as I wished we would have!

These pictures are from inside of the baths, so they didn't turn out so well, but the bottom right is me "rolling" down the rock into a pool of water. In order to get to the other side, you had to climb up the rock, roll down the side while you "tucked" down, as to not hit your head....a blind fall and SPLASH! You made it! :) It was quite scary, but awesome at the same time!

My nieces...the photographers!

So, mom developed the pictures that Janae, Brenna and Senica took at the reception. Here are some of our photographers, Ben and Laura and our DJ, Blake! Seriously - aren't these so good? It's hard to believe that a 5, 3 and 2 year old took these pics! Talented, I'm tellin' ya!!! :)

The Play...

When we went to April and Brian's last night, Janae "directed" a play. Brenna couldn't remember her lines, so Janae is whispering them to her. Her line was - "I wish I had a prince". In comes Janae as the prince...they somehow end up husband and wife. Senica enters (if enters means shoved by Janae) and is Janae and Brenna's child. She is told by Janae to go to her ballet class. From there is kind of fell apart and Janae took a bow and curtsied. (spelling??) Director and Lead actress...her ambitions are high! :) Anyway, I had to put pictures on because it was too cute! I wish I had a video of it! Also, Brian (April's) said I have more pictures of the other girls than Janae...so Janae is in 3 of these pics...so see Brian, there is no favortism! ;)

Gotta go...Brian just said he is going to bed and to wake him to do our devotions...guess that's my sign. :) Till tomorrow...

Cutest girl in the Whole World and Earth

This was the statement made by Brenna last night. She LOVES to kiss Adria. She said in her cute little raspy Brenna voice...Yeah, I kiss her all the time! April concured! HA!! April is getting along great and is up and visiting family and getting out with the girls. Brian took Janae and Brenna over to his parents on Saturday so April could rest some...when I called her, she was sweeping the front porch! :) Look at how skinny Adria's legs are! Who is she related to?? Janae! That's for sure!!

Fun in the Sun...

The Zartman's came over this weekend for a swim. First Senica had to sun herself...how cute is she? Honestly! Senica LOVES the pool. The beginning of the year she didn't want to get in without you holding her. Sunday she was swimming around with just her floaties all.by.herself! Meanwhile, Ty was busy eating the baby doll. Her ate her feet, her hair, her arm...he ate it all! The boy can eat. He also got to eat cereal for the first time this weekend and he couldn't get enough. Tonight at dinner, he grunted and made all kinds of noises! Anitra said, that's the last time she will feed him before we eat....he wanted everything! :) How cute are their precious little feet. Those who me well, know that that I hate feet....but these feet in these pictures, I could just eat them up!

Mark Schultz and The Weaver's

I am quite a few days behind on my updates. The past few weeks have been very busy! From camping - to Bible School - to the fair - to a new, adorable baby...we haven't been home much!

So, I am going to back-track a little. :) Our fair is free on Sunday, which means it's quite crazy with tons of people! Honestly, I would like to NOT go to the fair on free day because of the crowds, but the versper service is Sunday night and I did not want to miss it! Mark Schultz was the main entertainment and he was awesome!! This is the second year that he has come and last year was just as awesome! He has the crowd sing It Is Well acapella and just thinking about it now gives me the goosebumps.

Thinking about this concert makes me think of the Weaver's too! :) Last year we all went to the concert together! It was so much fun and although it was fun this year too, I missed them! They are the family in the picture above with Anitra, Seth and Senica. They are friends that Anitra and Seth met at church. They were in a small group with Anitra and Seth and they started praying for me long before I knew them and long before I made the big move into Anitra and Seth's house. And through the process, they became my friends too! Lane, Elizabeth, Luke and Grace -we miss you! Oh yeah - and Lane has an Aunt Addi...I don't know if she spells it the same, but how cool is that? :) It doesn't seem possible, but it's been almost a year since they moved to Kentucky! :(

Rodney Atkins

This concert was one of the best the I have ever seen at the Elkhart County Fair. It rained. Was muddy. We danced. A great show! He's yummy..well, look at him! And a great entertainer! I told Brian, you're my husband and I love you, but look at that butt! He said, "Yeah, he's gorgeous." HA! I love that man - always making me laugh!

AJ, BJ and AJ

How great does April look? She did such a great job - and still looks amazing!! Brian you look amazing too....and you guys make BEAUTIFUL babies!

Bundle of JOY!

I LOVE this picture! She really is 'bundled' here and if I think about my first feeling after she was born....JOY! It's just so awesome!

How cute are her footprints?? Don't you just want to jump in this picture and hold her? I do!!

Adria Justine Brown

She's here!!! Adria Justine arrived at 2:32pm today, July 25! She is ADORABLE! April did such an amazing job and it was one of the most amazing things my eyes have seen!

She is just beautiful and I think she is a good mix of Janae and Brenna. She was born with basically her fist in her mouth. She is VERY alert...and loves her fingers/fist in her mouth. She weighed 7lb. 4 oz., was 19 1/2 inches long and her head was 13 1/4. The nurse came in to give her a shot and she barely cried. It lasted less than a minute. :) She's tough already!! I took many, many pictures, so I will be posting quite a few over the next few days/years. ha!

We're having a baby!

No Silly!! Not Brian and I! Brian and April - no, not my Brian, April's Brian! :)

April came in last night at 6pm to get induced. They gave her some meds and her labor started at 4:45am. She's doing well so far, but feel like it's moving slowly. Anitra then reminded her, she'd only been in labor for 2 hours at that point. April - having 2 previous labors that lasted longer than 24 hours! Keep her, the baby and Brian in your prayers today!

I will keep updating throughout the day! :)

Fair Parade

L.O.N.G. One word to describe the parade this year! Honestly, it was one of the longer parade's that I have seen. The girls loved it though and were so excited for it to start...but the time it finally did, they were starting to yawn (see Senica). Look at Brenna's dreamy eyes in the one pic. :) The girls got their candy, saw their friends on the floats, but the best part was seeing Papa walking and giving them candy. Those pics aren't posted, but I will get them on here. I love the pictures with the kids and their daddies! How precious. Even though the parade was 4 hours long, they didn't really complain (they let April's Brian take care of that aspect). The only thing Brenna was concerned about was that they fair and animal barns would close and she wouldn't get to see them. Our little animal lover! ;)

I love the picture of the girl's holding hands. Senica was telling Janae and Brenna to get up there b/c she wanted to show them something. I hope someday my kids have cousins that they are close with like this!

How fast they grow up...

A conversation between Anitra and Senica today...

Senica: Mommy, I got a ring on, do you like it?
Anitra: Yeah, I do!
Senica: It's my wedding ring!
Anitra: Really, who did you marry??
Senica: Sawyer
Anitra: You and Sawyer got married?
Senica: Yeah, at the church (she had her Bible in her hand)
Anitra: You got married at the church?? Did you guys kiss?
Senica: Yup, we are going on our honeymoon. See ya later
Anitra: Where are you going on your honeymoon?
Senica: I don't know mom, he's little and I'm big. He's crying for me, I gotta go.

Away she runs, Bible in hand ring on finger...

Why??

The one question as an aunt that I hear over and over again....Why?? Honestly, most of the time, I have no idea on how to answer the "why's" of my nieces! I am sure with Ty being the only boy, there will be many boy "why's" that I can't answer either. I can remember when Janae first entered the "why" phase. It was humorous at first...just so cute of her. Then it got annoying. You couldn't have 2 sentences without 10 "why's". Senica is just entering her "why" phase. Here we go again...

Today was a long day at work...actually it's been a long week! I have been helping Anitra with VBS, but I just couldn't go tonight. I was just.too.tired. So, I stopped by their house on the way home to drop off the stuff that I had in my Jeep for VBS. Seth had a meeting at Bethel with one of his players and his dad and Seth was going to take Senica and Ty with him. Yeah...ok, Anitra thinks Senica can't sit through a 20-minute Bible story at VBS. Senica in a baseball meeting for an hour...and Ty too! So, sorry to disappoint you...Cheryl, but I told Seth that I would take Senica if he would keep Ty. Senica didn't want to sit through a boring baseball meeting anyway! :) So, Senica came down, we swam, I gave her a bath, we dried her hair so it will be nice for their pictures tomorrow, ate dinner and Seth was back! Senica was an angel and it was almost effortless! :)

So, we go to get in the pool...
Senica: Addi, you don't have all the leaves out, we can't get in yet.
Addi: It's ok, we don't need them all out, we can swim with some of them.
Senica: Why?
Addi: Why, what?
Senica: Why, does BK take them out then?
Addi: Well, sometimes we like to have a clean pool when we swim, but we don't always have to.
Senica: Why?
Addi: Well, sometimes if we leave the leaves in the pool, it's kinda like the lake (dirty)and BK likes the lake.
Senica: Where is BK, is he at work?
Addi: Yes, he's at work, he should be home soon.
Senica: Why?

And so our evening went...Senica with her "why's" and me sometimes wondering along with her...yes, Why?

It made me think about this week at work. I had a patient who was quite unhappy.... she used the 4-letter word with me that would have cost her $.25 in the cuss jar if she had grown up in our house...and Dr. Poovendran came through with some education on the origin of the word. I thought how does he know that, who would know that? Dr. Poovendran is a bottomless pit of knowledge. It got me thinking...he must always ask "why". How else would he know all this trivia, if he didn't ask why. After my lesson from him on the 'naughty word'...he went on to tell us how the word "sandwich" came to be. Dr. Poovendran is the kind of person who if he wonders something he will research it and he will remember it...his memory is AMAZING! Really, people, I have never met someone with a mind like his!

So, anyway, in all my rambling, it made me think, when did I lose my ability to ask "why"? Not that I need to ask as often as the girls though. :) But honestly, I am going to make an effort in asking "why"... see what new things I can learn about. Useless knowledge? Maybe, but it will probably help me beat Brian in Jeopardy! :) (by the way, it's teen week...when I can get a lot of answers right!) he he

So, tonight I tried to pick out the pictures of kids - that looked like their captions would be "WHY" How do you like the one of Ty? His little eyebrows are raised! Too.CUTE!

Reception pictures

When Brian and I got home today, in the mail, was a CD with all of our reception pictures on it! Ben and Laura Harrison did the photography and they are awesome! http://www.benharrisonphotography.com/ We were so excited. After VBS, we popped it in to look at our pictures again and to our wonderful surprise....there were even more than what we had thought! Some are candid and really quite funny. Brian said some of them are even blackmail pictures....of my mom making funny faces! ha! So, here are some of my favorites! Look at how grown up my girls are getting!! :)

Leah's Challenge

Leah, that I work with, had posted a challenge on her blog. Take one of your messiest places in your house, post pictures of the "before" and "after". So, Friday I came up with the idea to paint the basement in a day. (Like we need one more thing to do) Of course, my loving husband who always goes along with my crazy ideas agreed to do it! So Saturday morning after Senica left, we got to painting! We painted from 9am-2pm...took a break for lunch (a nap for me) and then back to business. We have the trim to do yet and some touch ups, but I LOVE it! The bottom of the wall is Tree Bark, the trim will be Carribean Walk and the top is Mongoose Green! It really looks great. Brian thinks it looks like a North Carolina cottage. HA! Seriously his thought process cracks me up. I will post "final" pictures once we get the furniture all back in place. :) Anitra came over to check her email and Senica "helped" Brian clean the brushes. :)

Today we taught during Sunday School and second service. We had no kids during Sunday School and 13 during second service. We were tired! Straight from church to Goshen to go to my cousin Dawn's house....they were having a pool party! It was great to see the extended family. It was a beautiful day and Janae was in the pool for over 5 hours with only a 15-minute break! I got some really great pictures that I will have to post later of that. Then, home quick...with a 30-minute nap. Get up, shower and head to Vacation (vocational as Brian said, he he) Bible School. We have a great class, 4-year olds, who did a great job with listening. I have to be honest, when I woke up this morning and thought about the day ahead, I was not really feeling the whole "servants heart" deal, but after seeing how excited these kids were to learn about God, It made me excited for tomorrow night!

Happy Anniversary...date #1

Well, date #1 was with Senica! Thursday morning Anitra called to see if Brian and I could watch the kids so that she and Seth could go on an anniversary date! Tomorrow, July 15th is their anniversary. 7 years, as you can see in some of the pictures. So after work Friday, Senica and Ty came down to hang out with Brian and I for awhile. When they got there, I asked if Senica could maybe stay the night. Brian immediately volunteered sleeping on the couch. Poor guy! Last time Senica spent the night, he got kicked out of bed. Well, not really kicked out, but had 2-year old hands and legs all over "his side". he he So we grilled some hot dogs for dinner and of course made some mac-n-cheese. It will make Anitra happy though, we had pears too. :) Gotta have that fruit or vegetable. Then I started working on some stuff for Bible school this week. I am the craft lady and needed to make some crowns. I gave Senica my left over scraps to see if she wanted to make a card for mommy and daddy. She made that beautiful card on the black picture above. She did a great job!! Meanwhile, Brian held Ty and look at the precious picture I got of them! Awwww...how sweet!

Next up, bath time! We got Senica all cleaned up and Anitra and Seth called. They wanted to know if we were doing ok and if so could they get groceries? They got to have a wonderful dinner and even went putt-putt....and groceries with no kids?? That is a happy anniversary! :)

We finally made it to bed at 11:30pm! Senica was a complete angel all night. I love her cuddles when she starts to get tired. We were so tired, we both slept until 9 this morning! Kids are exhausting! ;)

Oh yeah - the pool pics are from earlier this week. Senica DID NOT want to get in the pool...just wanted to kick her feet. By the time we got her in, we were racing (I was losing of course) and in the end, she wanted to lay on the raft with me...with no floaty on. How brave is she??

Well, tomorrow is a BIG day! Church, Teach Sunday School, pool party at Dawn's, teach Bible school....I'm tired already!

Hopefully I won't be too tired to post tomorrow!

Being silly!

Ok - so I found them! I found the pictures that I was referring to in the post below. The crossed eyes...tongue out! Of course, after I realized that she was doing it, I joined in too. With her new haircut she reminds me of one of the Lawrence brothers. :) HA! Oh, and she's not sweating....it's the body glitter that the girls had been playing with earlier.