Long Time No See...Can't Wait to See Again!

This past weekend, my cousin Michael, and his wife Beth, who I haven't seen in about 6 years came to town!! We were so excited to see them and meet their darling children. Even better, they brought my cousin Nicole's twin daughters who are 6 with them! We met at the zoo and had a wonderful day. Later on, we gathered at Sean's where my cousin Jennifer, who lives closer with her family to eat pizza and let the kids be kids. Seriously, it was so fun. I am sad that we don't do this more often. Even though the kiddos had never met one another, it was if they were life long friends from the very minute they exchanged names. I just watched them play and talk to each other. And I got to know Beth and hang out with Michael too- Sean and Stephanie and his family loved it too. My cousin Gina is getting married in May, so we are heading to that event and cannot wait to hang out with this crew again. Here are a few shots of the day- between Leah and I, we took 157 pictures! WOWZA!

It was a tad windy...

Marissa and Celeste matching!!

Elaina stayed nice and cozy for about 30 minutes...then she wanted out!

Our Crazies.

We passed her around...

Anthony and Michael enjoy the sights.

Checking out the bald eagle.

Anthony, Maddie, Marissa, Kate, Alex, Brianna, Celeste, Leah, Elaina and Adriana- whew!

Taking turns in the wagon too.

We had quite the crew- 9 walking children- and then us adults and 2 baby girls to carry!

They loved posing together!

The stroller- thank goodness we had that, but not for Elaina- but for our crap!

Audrey takes a rest with Beth.

The whole bunch, minus Ryan, who didn't want to be in the picture!

All the kiddos- minus Ryan again...but such a fun group!

This really was long overdue- and now that we know how much fun we can have together, it is only a matter of time before we do this get together again! I love this!

18lbs 3oz

Yep- that is what I have been lugging around these days...No wonder my back aches...

Good thing she is so cute!

She's also 25 1/4 inches long and in the 35th percentile for height. Short and chubby- just how we like em!

Apple and Pumpkin Picking

I feel like I just take pictures. I hardly have much to say regarding what is going on right now in our family. I just don't have much to say, apparently!
Well, it was super nice on Friday, so we all went to pick our Golden Delicious apples and some pumpkins for our porch. Normally we would go with Sean's family to a different pumpkin patch, but this year we were unable to coordinate schedules, so we just grabbed some from the apple orchard. They were great! We had a really fun time- the weather was so warm and a little hot, honestly. The apples take no time at all- in fact the kids thought it was over in 5 minutes- and they were pretty close! The pumpkins took a little longer, thankfully! This is Elaina's first fall, obviously, so there are far more pictures of her (shocking) than of anyone else- but I tried!! If she weren't so edible herself, right?!

Enjoy, we did!

Everyone got their own pumpkin. Alex got the biggest one- and it is so big! The porch look so festive now! I am excited to keep it that way for a few more weeks. The kids beg to carve the pumpkins, but I just love them so much I want to keep them as long as I can- usually close to Thanksgiving! (if we are lucky!) We'll see...

I love fall and this warm day was a perfect one for the outing. We got dinner afterwards and then went to Alex's school for a back to school social. It was nice for him and we got to see him run from us to hang with his friends...nice. He is loving 6th grade, and is quite active with his groupies. The girls played on the bars and Dana and I chatted with some teacher friends. It was really a nice night there too. And on the plus side, little miss 18 pounds is sleeping much longer at night now- well, truthfully she is waking at 1am, but I am not getting her- and she is only fussing for about 15 minutes and then going back to sleep until 4ish. This is progress! I will take it!!

To My Girls

1/2 way to a year...already!

So, though my precious baby girl is still not the best sleeper....she is doing better!! Last night on her 6 month birthday, she slept until 3am and then back to bed until nearly 8am- I will take it!!

I can hardly believe it's been 6 months I have survived through! ha ha

I can't believe she has thrived how well she has! Check out this beauty- at her whopping 17lbs 12oz body! If only you could see the rolls...yum!

Not sure how she feels about that grass!! Too funny! I am loving the outdoor shots- she was so distracted, though, that she would barely look at the camera! Love what we got, though!

Here's to an even better 1/2 year ahead!

An apple a day...

Elaina is just like the others...

she LOVES apples!

If only she had teeth, this thing would've been gone in seconds!

Time on my Hands

This is Conference Weekend!! Whoo Hoo!! I LOVE Conference - it is such a wonderful opportunity to hear from our Church leaders on many topics, and ones just for me. I loved so much of yesterday's sessions, and am looking forward to today's too!

My parents took Alex and Leah for two days, and Celeste had a play date for much of yesterday, and Elaina took a 2 hour nap (a first!- actually 2nd one in 2 days- if only we are starting something big here!) Anyway, I had a few moments to play with some fun shots of her from this week. I do that often, right?! If she weren't so dang cute and fun to photograph! Enjoy!

I have an addiction, can you tell?!

By the way, she is sick again- actually gotten worse from her double ear infection 10 days ago, and is headed back to the doctor tomorrow- you can't tell in her pictures- but you can at 1am!! Poor baby and tired mommy!