My Mom's birthday!

Mom has been sick with this dreaded flu/cold but we headed over for dinner and celebration anyway. The day was full of sunshine and we spent it outside basking in it and around a bonfire. The dinner was tasty and ice cream was refreshing but the company was the best. Again, lots of pictures, lots of laughing, playing, talking and just plain loving. We even snapped a shot of Gretchen's pregnant belly (fully clothed of course) And I couldn't help snapping some great shots of my niece Alexis, who made my day by giggling out loud as I played hide and seek with her. I can't help but smile at that still.

Mary's Birthday

Mary is a dear family friend and we celebrated her birthday this past weekend. The kids love her and of course we take any opportunity for photo ops. My kids are hams and love to pose - while David was helping with computer issues I took them out back and played games with them. Of course, since it was such a beautiful day I had to capture them playing on camera. So fun!

David's Seventh Anniversary at Metagenics.

It just so happened that the department was getting pictures taken this month and coincidentally David celebrates 7 years this month. So here are the people he works with every day, Tracy, Jeff, Chris, Christine and well, I am not sure of the one on the far left. I'll have to get back to you on that.

Kids all ready for church

Natalee decided she wanted her hair curled for church and so I did it. It was so funny she stood in front of the mirror and in the most dramatic way said "mom, I think my hair needs curled it just doesn't look good straight." It was so funny and of course I took any opportunity to get her to let me do something to her hair. Typically, that is a battle I don't fight and so if anyone ever sees her hair matted or out of order that is because she wants to do her own hair. Anyway, when it was done her comment was, "I look like a grandma" I guess not so used to seeing her hair poofy. Anyway, we took pictures and then of course the boys wanted in on the fun. They all look great.

Natalee Turns 5 Years Old

Yikes! I can't believe my little girl is 5 years old today. Yesterday we had her birthday party -princess theme- of course. It was so much fun to see her excitement while we prepared all her gifts for her friends, decorated, and planned the activities. We went shopping together, she helped me cut out princess pictures and she helped me to bake her cake. The party was a hit with snacks, coloring, crafts, story time, dancing, and the princess pinata. Here are a few pictures of her party. My cousin Rebecca took the pictures and did some editing. I had to post one of them because it really is one of the best pictures of Natalee- it truly shows that my little girl is a true princess. My Sweet Princess Natalee

Princess Audrey, Emma, Natalee, Meghan and Avery

Princess Tea Party

Let's eat and color -Girls are so easily pacified.

Yes, I made the cake. My first attempt at frosting with tools. Not bad!

My Scrapbooking Class

I signed up to take a Digital Scrapbooking class at TCC and while I am still learning I am so excited about the knowledge I am obtaining. A lot of the people in the class are people I know from church, since the teacher is a friend from church, also. She is amazing, you should check out her website, www. fontologie.com (she actually designs fonts). Anyway, I just thought I would show you my first "scrapbook page" all done digitally. It's not the greatest but it's a start. I used the pictures from sweetness day so the pictures will be the same but the format different. Hope you like it.

What a great weekend!

Well, it started out with me finishing my 2nd draft of my paper earlier than expected so I was able to step into the activity of the weekend without any stress or guilt. Saturday Evening we were invited to a Murder Mystery Party by my friend Rebecca and it was so much fun. It was all out, with costumes, food and the decorations matching the theme of the murder scene. "Maiming the Shrew" was the title and David was Gridlock, the merchant of tennis and I was Queen Illicibeth. We had a great time meeting new people and pretending to be someone else for the evening. We would definitely do it again. Thanks Again Rebecca, for inviting us!

Sunday was Super Bowl Sunday! I try not to make a big deal of it-- but with David being such a sports fan its hard not too. This year we invited his cousins, Johnny, Kathy(and Seth), and Kristee to join us and Kristen and Tom. Tom opted for plans with his friend Kip- but Kristen joined us with my brother Christian for Pizza, chicken wings, drinks (non-alcoholic of course) and ice cream. We topped off the evening with our newest found game -LOOT- and smoothies. It was a fun night and a great game. I was actually not feeling so hot over the weekend and come to find out--- I had strep throat! Things are getting better and now I am just nursing the kids back to health. Enjoy the pics from the weekend! Thanks to everyone who made it possible.

Well Thanks to Rebecca I snagged these pics off her website for everyone to see just how spectacular the evening was. (Is there a copyright on pictures I am in?) Anyway, this was such a fun evening I wanted to share it in its fullest with my friends and family.

Queen Illicibeth and Gridlock the Merchant of Tennis

Kristee and Kristen

Seth, Kathy and Christian with Natalee and Nicholas as decorations.

and Johnny! Who could have a party without Johnny?

What a great game!! Let's celebrate!

Aunt Kristen and Nicholas! So cute!

Darn, those Giants! (Was it the Giants that played?)