Family Fun

Yesterday when Haydn had ball practice, I told the guys that I was going to go home to make supper for us. HA! If only they knew what I was really up to! I made a birthday cake for Haydn (he chose carmel!) and ordered pizza from Chuffers in Ohio City, since they are the only ones around here who have Ham & Pineapple on their pizza. This happens to be Haydn's absolute personal favorite! I packed a picnic box and the stroller and waited for them to come home. When they pulled in, I told them to get into the van for a surprise. I drove them to Ohio City, and we had a little birthday party for Haydn in the shelter house and then played at the park forever!

I had to take this cake-y picture of Hutch

Of course, Haydn wanted one too. His cake is coming out of his teeth. yum!

I guess the "icing on the cake" was that Haydn's friend best friend from church was at the park playing, so they got to play together. They were born less than 2 weeks apart, so they've grown up together!

While Haydn was off playing, I decided to follow Hutch around and pester him with some pictures! He's totally into the fake cheesy smile.

This was SO cute. Hutch was playing with some little girl who had an upside down tiara, angel wings, and a big fake jeweled necklace on. What made it even more adorable was the fact that she was just as dirty as Hutch!

See the wings?!!
Hutch pretending to throw stones.

Of course, we have to get one of the little one with daddy.
Here are a few more of Gwyneth from the past few days. She hasn't been the happiest little girl lately. I think she's working on a few teeth.

I put her hair up in two clips. John said she looked like a little ant with antennae!! How cute!

Birthday Bash

Haydn chose a patriotic theme with soldiers for his birthday this year.

I thought it was very fitting for Memorial Day!

Grandma Shirley decorated the cake, and it was fabulous!!!
A closer look at the cake. It had soldiers and tanks on it. There were blueberries and strawberries around the bottom edge too. It's funny how we somehow incorporate blueberries into all of his birthday cakes somehow!!
The award for the Best Birthday Card goes to Aunt Amber! It's now hanging in his room.
Haydn has wanted a pinata for his birthday party since he was probably three years old. This year we decided that we'd get him one! They had stars with the American Flag on it! It was meant to be! The kids had a lot of fun, but I didn't get any photos of the kids actually hitting the pinata, because I was shooting video. Haydn went first, and then we had them go in age order. By the time we got to Tyler, it kept falling out of the tree, but not breaking! So we decided to pitch it (yes, you heard right!) to Jacob with a plastic bat. Finally, Caleb got a metal bat and candy went everywhere!!!! How funny.
The kids grabbing candy! We had to hold Jim back! (:
Memorial Day is typically when we have Haydn's Birthday Party. After the Memorial Day Services, all of our family comes over for burgers on the grill and a day of fun. I love having everyone over, but the only downside is that I am so busy "keeping things running" that I don't get to sit down and spend a lot of time with each person. The day was over and I thought, Hey! I didn't get to talk to so-and-so very much! Thanks to EVERYONE for pitching in and helping. Without you, we wouldn't have a party! It was great to see all of you!

If I haven't said it before, I'm an awful event picture taker. I get so wrapped up in doing things and watching my kids that I don't get many pictures snapped. After every birthday party I wish there were more pictures to capture the moments! No wait, one year I asked Amber to take pictures during the day, and I have a lot. I think that I'm going to start just passing my camera around to everyone and asking them to snap some pictures!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HAYDN!!! You are a great kid, and we love you!

Congratulations Haydn!!

Haydn is officially finished with Pre-K! Yesterday was his last day. He was very exicited to be free for the summer, but he is a little apprehensive about kindergarten! I forgot my camera when we picked him up (of course). So we arranged a photo date with his teachers today since they were working in their room. We had such a nice visit with them. His teachers were WONDERFUL! Mrs. Bollenbacher has such a sweet spirit, and she is so patient and kind with the children. She has such a calming presence about her, and Haydn just thinks she is great. This year was Mrs. Balliet's first year, and you certainly could not tell. She was very professional and had it together. Haydn told many stories about her, as she definitely opened up and shared with the students. He was constantly saying, "Mrs. Balliet has..." or "Mrs. Balliet told us that...." or "Mrs. Balliet thinks...." It was so exciting to see Haydn grow and mature over this school year, and we are so thankful that God gave him to us! I'm going to cherish this summer, because it will be so hard to not have home during the day in the fall~

Mrs. Balliet, Haydn and Mrs. Bollenbacher

Gwyneth 3 month pictures

Last week Miss and I took Gwyneth to get her three month pictures. I had them taken at Sears, and I've never been there before. I thought there were some really cute ones!

I had the afghan that Aunt Amber made Gwyneth with us. We thought it would make a really cute picture!

I had to get one with "Dolly" since she just *loves* her. Grandma Shirley got her for Gwyneth for Easter. I love how she is holding her hand!

On her tummy. Haydn loves to help supervise her tummy time! (Oh, and did I tell you that she rolls now!! She did it the first time at 2 1/2 months! yikes.)

I TOTALLY was not prepared to have my pictures taken with Gwyneth. The girl taking them wanted me to jump in on one of the last ones. Despite hardly ANY make-up and self-dried hair, I thought it was pretty cute! Besides, this is the way I look in real life, why not capture it in pictures!?

Before-Church Pictures

These are always the pictures that make you late-but are SO worth it! I continuously forget to take these type of pictures. We never seem to have Easter or Christmas pictures(before church when everyone is still tucked in and clean), because we're so focused on getting out the door that I forget the pictures until we're all buckled in the car. And then, NO WAY! (:

Hutch is not really a morning person like mommy

Silly Boys

My boys are always up to something!! They both have a funky sense of humor, and they make me laugh so much! Over the last few weeks, these are a few silly things that I've captured in photos!

Haydn (complete with "Bubba Teeth"). He was saying "Howdy ya'll!" in this!

This is a sparkly Christmas dress that John's mom bought for Gwyneth for when she's like 2 years old. Hutch found it and put it on while we were in the other room. He came strutting in, thinking that he was just so funny! I couldn't resist snapping a few pictures to pull out when he is getting ready to leave for prom!

But, then, I wonder where they get their odd-ness from?????????

It's a tag from a baby rattle that says "SHAKE ME"

Long Overdue Update!

RIGHT before our little baby girl joined our family! I was SO excited (can't you tell?!)




Gwyneth Rae joined our family February 7, 2008. She was 9 pounds even, and 21 inches long! (Thank goodness she was c-section!!) She was a scheduled C-section, so her delivery was pretty laid back and fun (i can't believe I just said that) But, really, in the realm of having babies, it REALLLY WAS! She was pretty jaundice, so she spent a few days in the special care nursery with the light over and under her with an IV, which is always pathetic for such a tiny little one, as some of you know! She went in on my 30th birthday, so that kind of bummed me out. While she was in the special care nursery, they found a heart murmur. They did an echo and a chest x-ray and it was a PDA and a PFO (for anyone who may know about these things). She didn't have any symptoms, so we came up and had a follow-up appointment with a pediatric cardiologist on the 25th. God closed the little holes by the time we had this appointment!! We were very thankful for that! Fast forward three months, and Here we are! She is now THREE MONTHS old, and she is a precious little girl. She is such an easy baby so far. She has slept 8-9 hours since she was about 2 or three weeks old (hallelujah!) and is just very sweet and pleasant all-around. Her brothers love her to pieces-so do mom and dad- and she is our little princess! I'll give a photo re-cap (very brief) of her first three months, and then I *PROMISE* to be more faithful in updating.

Our first picture of the two girls! (my drugs still haven't worn off here)

One month old

Two months (yes, that is a hair clip!)


Three months old
Enjoying the fresh air and sunshine. She LOVES to be outside (good thing!)