Easter Sunday

Happy Easter! 
Rebecca started off the morning with a bang by finding her basket hidden in the bathtub right after waking up.

Sarah followed suit not long after when she crawled directly to hers hidden under the jumperoo.

 Teresa found hers in the ottoman.  She adores this light up Princes Sophia spinner!

 Andrew had a pretty extensive search before he found his hidden in our room in the old ottoman under some pillows. 

 After the initial diving in, we headed downstairs to find all the eggs that were hidden.  Lots of good ones!  The group favorite was one held up by darts on the dart board.

 Back upstairs for breakfast 

 Rebecca trying out her bubble spinner 

 After a beautiful, packed 10:30 Mass we were delighted to find our cousins waiting in back to say hi before they headed to Green Grandpa's.

 We ran home to change & headed over to my sister Cara's house where Red Grandma & Grandpa, Uncle Fr. Jon, & my sister Chris' families were all awaiting us. 

 We had way too much fun with these huge Easter eggs.

 

 Fabulous food & conversation with those I love. 

(Look at Dad's face!  Ha!)

 In between bursts of rain the littles had another egg hunt out back.

Most of the crew

Such a fun group!  Glad we could all be together.

Boys, boys, boys

 We've been blest with another nephew!

Ryder James was born on July 12th

to happy parents Katie & Brad.

He's so sweet.

Welcome, baby Ryder!

Thanksgiving 2011

We spent the day up at Darren's parents & it was full of family, food, & fun. So thankful for... cousin wrestling,

curtain peek-a-booing,

happy coupling,

auntie hugging,

meal sharing with Grandma & Great Aunt Sr. Alma,

Great Grandma snuggling,

bucket hiding,

beautiful day swinging,

enthusiastic Grandpa playing,

& SO MUCH MORE. Thank you, Lord! Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

He's here!

We had the honor this weekend of meeting our newest nephew: baby Logan Craig.
Now all Rebecca's "babies" are ___ Logan Craig. Yesterday it was "This is Felicity Logan Craig." She is a girl after all. ;)

He is so handsome. Congratulations, Katie & Brad! Our prayers are with you as you start this new adventure!

Babymania

I was honored to throw a double baby shower for Darren's little sisters this weekend. They are both due this summer with their first. They really do EVERYTHING together. ; )

They were showered with great gifts to welcome their little boys! Check out the homemade growth charts & even-cuter-'cause-I-didn't-have-to-make-them diaper cakes. Love it.

The girls' friend Holley made this cute cake. My favorite part was little blue booties made out of marshmallows.

Hi, Abigail!Two wonderfully helpful relatives cut the cake & poured the drinks, both things it is rather tricky to do with Teresa in arm. Knife wielding with baby... not such a good idea. Thank you so much Karen & Lori!We had a pretty good turnout & a fun time. It was so nice to have everyone together.

The Girls

Grandma, Mom, me & Teresa, Christine & baby, Katie & baby, Alaina, Andrea & Abby

Katie

Happy Birthday, Katie! I'm so glad to have you as a sister-in-law. =]

There went the bride

Last weekend we had the joy of witnessing Darren's little sister, Katie, marry our fantastic new brother-in-law, Brad. We were all in the wedding, so it was a few whirlwind days again, but very exciting. They are so obviously a perfect match. : )

The rehearsal dinner was in their parents' backyard. It was fun & beautiful. Andrew was giddy to receive his ringbearer gift: his own digital camera!

Katie surprised us all with a song she wrote for Brad...then sang for everyone without bawling. I was very impressed. =]

The kids did a pretty good job playing their parts, too. At rehearsal we practiced that they would walk down with their cousins...all four in a row holding hands. They were all grinning as they happily walked down the aisle straight to us. The day of the wedding they somehow ended up walking in two separate pairs, this time carrying pillows & baskets of petals. Well, not one petal was thrown intentionally on the floor by Rebecca, since we'd never even talked about it. Oops! When she & Andrew made it down the aisle, they were too distracted by the congregation to remember to come to us. Rebecca proceeded to lift up & offer her basket of petals to Father!

The whole day was quite the adventure. I have to offer a huge word of thanks to my parents who helped out with the kids all day...& especially Rebecca during the homily/vows/Eucharistic prayer as she continued to loudly exclaim, "Becca hungry!" Mom took her out for a break. Thank you! There are many more stories, but these few pics off of our camera will have to suffice for now. It's hard to take many when you're in on all the action & juggling kiddos. Hopefully there will be some good shots from others forthcoming!