Catching Up

I didn't realize that I had not written for so long, so this will be an attempt to recreate some of the events in the last little while--don't know how far I will get. Two months is almost too much for me to remember! We celebrated Averie's birthday. She turned 7 years old and is very happy that she is getting so grown up. She is usually very happy and can get very dramatic about all the wonderful things in her life. She loves her family and has some good friends, but especially loves cousin Nicole. Happy 7th year, Averie girl And, since we are talking about celebrations, Jer and Liz celebrated their anniversary in March as well.Jer loves posing for pictures! They didn't do much celebrating though because they have been spending all spare moments fixing up the house they bought. It needed lots of work! But, things are coming together for them and it should be a great house, with lots of room. Happy Anniversary, Jer and Liz! Little Ben turned a big 2 year old this year, also in March. Wish I had one without the bink cause he has an adorable, melt your heart smile! It is so cute to hear him talk now. And, he gives great hugs. I was a little worried after reading Kim's blogs about what a mess maker he was, but when they visited at Easter, we only had one mess--rice krispies (with the Cherrio's threatening to follow) dumped out. I tried to follow Kim's example and take a picture, but Daniel was faster cleaning up than I was finding my camera. He is so cute, though, how do you get mad? I didn't--I thought it was funny. Also, the first of April, Isaac had a school play that was a spoof on Little Red Riding Hood. He got to play the couch potato father in the story. He did a great job and his voice projected so well that we heard him great. He has lots of supporters if he decides to stay in drama. We had a great "surprise, sort of" family mini reunion in April, for Easter. Trav and Allison and family made their traditional trek to our home for Conference. They got to come a whole week early as their kids had spring break. And, Kim thought it would be great to spend Easter with everyone, and her kids also had spring break, so they made the trip also. (And she was dying to see her new little niece!) They didn't get to spend very long though--just Friday till Monday morning, but we take what we can get. Conference was so great and TJ and Brody love going. I can tell it makes an impact on them when on Sunday they were watching it with the family here and they even sang the rest songs. That was great! Kim was so great to do all the traditional Easter things with the kids. They loved dying the Easter eggs. Only problem was that the eggs didn't get cooked all the way. Whoops! We discovered that when a few were dropped, so back into the pan they went, colored and all. The kids had so much fun the next morning when they did the Easter egg hunt. The weather was awful so it was inside, but they loved it. Trav and Allison and Kim and Daniel took them downstairs where the Easter bunny had hidden eggs and baskets and goodies. (This picture of Trey looks kind of weird--don't know why. It is really cute on the computer but it came over to the blog looking strange. sorry Trey!) I insisted that we take a few pictures--not nearly as many as we should, but the kids cooperated--on threat of no dessert. We let the girls stay inside. We took the boys outside for theirs. I love these pictures. It was a hoot getting them to do it, but well worth it. Olivia's first Easter After dinner and pictures, Allyson had the kids do Easter baskets for dessert. They had a great time making and eating them Other Easter memories: And who doesn't love doing a game night??? The next week we took off for Hawaii, which was wonderful. I am going to write a separate post about it, but can I just say that I am ready to go back! or anywhere for that matter! The Sunday after we got back we celebrated Jer's and Dad's and JD's birthdays. (the birthday boys!) Dad really scored this year. He got lots of books to read--thank you everyone so much!--and he got lots of steak. Now that doesn't sound like a good birthday to me, but since he doesn't get red meat very much he thinks--not true, he got spoiled. I took him to Texas Roadhouse, thanks to a gift certificate, on Saturday, Sunday was roast and then Monday, Christie and Darren had us over for--steak. Now if that wasn't enough, Jer and Liz took him to lunch on Thursday at Tucano's, where he got all the steak he wanted. So happy birthday and eat lots of oatmeal now to unclog all those arteries. JD wasn't sure what was going on with his cake! Oh! It is a castle! Family shot Well, that is a synopsis of a few events. At least it is a start!