Wonder of wonders, Miracle of miracles

She's NAPPING.
I can probably still count on 1 hand the number of naps Mary has taken since she turned 2 years old. And they all have happened for one reason and one reason only...BEING SICK. Poor girl. Since I hate seeing the kids sick, I guess I can't ever wish a nap on this girl.

We are Family

What a week of fun company and visitors. My sister, Bonnie, came to visit with her girls, Elise and Lucy. The kids LOVED playing with their cousins.


My cousin Kelli recently moved to Connecticut and her sisters paid her a visit as well. On President's Day, we had a COUSIN PARTY! Here's the math problem that 'sums' it up.

5 cousins + 12 of their kids (ages 5 and under) = INSANITY!!!

It was great to get to see everyone again though. It's been too long.

All 12 minus Annie (poor girl was napping and missed the fun)

Jamie, Shannon, Bonnie, Kelli, and me

(yes, the picture was taken by a 5 year old)

Gratitude

Mary had 2 birthday parties to attend this weekend and Andrew felt like life was pretty unfair. Trying to be a good mom, I planned fun things for us to do while she was at her parties. Party #1 was next door. We dropped Mary off then came home and made a huge pillow fort in the living room. For dinner we ate hamburgers, Andrew's favorite. We hustled through dinner so that we would have time to make a special dessert, refridgerated biscuit donuts (and we never get to make these donuts b/c they have soy flour in them and Mary can't eat them). It was an extra special treat.

Well....Mary came home and eventually the evening ended. As I was tucking Andrew into bed, he looked at me with tears in his eyes and said, "Mary got to go to the birthday party, but I didn't get to do anything fun."

Party #2 was Saturday afternoon at the bowling alley. I promised Andrew that after we dropped Mary off, we'd head to McDonalds and get an ice cream cone. I even caved into going to the McDonalds with the playland. We got ice cream and he had a blast playing for a long time. As we were leaving, he saw the display with the happy meal toys and then was totally upset that he didn't get to get a toy.

Next time, when there are parties and life doesn't seem fair, I think I might just reply with "I know, life isn't fair" and not even try to sugar coat it.

Leavin' On a Jet Plane (again)

We made it to Oregon on Friday afternoon and then did the 3 hour drive to Grandma and Grandpa's house. So glad to finally get there!

Saturday was a full and fun day. In the morning we went to Wildlife Safari with Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Dan, Aunt Wendy and Wendy's mom. It's a drive through zoo with a small walk through part at the end. The kids LOVED it. We had to take 2 cars. Mary and Andrew were in the car in front of me. I loved getting to see Mary sticking her head out the window and hear her talking to the animals. I could see Andrew's reflection in the sideview mirror and don't think the smile ever left his face. Here are some pics.

Whit sat on Grandpa's lap the entire time and LOVED the animals, except for the emu that got a little too close to her window.

Annie was happy once I changed her blowout diaper. Plus a rare car ride not in the carseat is not too shabby either.

A typical picture of Mary and Andrew with Uncle Dan--all over him!

It almost did!

We succeeded in forcing naps upon 3 of our children before the wedding reception since their bodies were really confused by the time zone change. It wasn't pleasant waking kids up but we managed to be happy for the reception. It was really nice and Dan and Wendy looked great!

Dan and Wendy--so happy and cute!!

The whole crew...Andrew and Whit look SOOO tired!

Mary's favorite part of the night was dancing with Uncle Dan. She was also the only kid who did NOT take a nap and the only kid who did NOT look like a zombie in all the pics. Maybe we should have forced the others to stay awake.

After the reception, we had 3 low key days of hanging out with Grandma and Grandpa. Then it was back to the airport to fly one more time--home.

Here are some pics of those last few days.

Cute Annie; Andrew helped Grandpa build a bird feeder

Grandma and the kids; swimming at the hotel!

Leavin' on a Jet Plane

Now on to some pictures and descriptions of our whirlwind trip across America last week. Matt went out to San Diego for Dan and Wendy's wedding on the 17th. It sounded so great and left me jealous that I wasn't there too! I'll take any chance for a family reunion and am bummed I didn't get to see the entire Singer crew.

Matt, Phil, Dan, Nate--the Singer boys

We planned to leave on the 22nd to fly to Oregon for their reception and to spend a week with Matt's parents. My parents called on the 18th to let me know that Aunt Ginna had died. Bless her heart...she's been in a nursing home about 18 months now and has not been in good shape for even longer. I'm grateful for her to finally be released from pain and loneliness. Aunt Ginna had been a widow for 30+ years and had no children--we were really her only family, so all of kids wanted to be there for the funeral.

So...change of plans.

We left snowy, cold Connecticut on Wednesday the 21st and flew to St. Louis. The funeral was Thursday. It was really quite nice, I think she would have been pleased. Mom and I spoke about her life and memories and Casey spoke about the Plan of Salvation.

After the funeral, we went to the cemetery. She was buried next to her husband and near my Grandma, Grandpa, and Uncle Butch. It was nice getting back to see their headstones as well and to show the kids. Here are some pictures from the cemetery.

At the mention of a picture being taken, Andrew started crying, bolted across the cemetery and hid behind a tree. We had one tired boy.

A picture of the whole family. It doesn't happen too often.

The rest of the day was spent having a luncheon, visiting family and letting the kids play with their cousins.

We left Friday morning and headed to Oregon for wedding celebration and fun. The trip continues....

The Final Countdown

We've come and gone and now we're back and getting organized. I'll upload pictures soon and share more details of the how and why of our whirlwind trip when I get a chance. Here is a quick countdown recap.

8 is for the number of days of our trip

7 is for the number of places we stopped or visited (Chicago, St. Louis, Denver, Portland, Roseburg, Chicago-again, Hartford)

6 is for how many different airplanes we flew on

5 is for the cousins we got to see--Hailey, Brenton, Ethan, Elise and Lucy

4 is for the number of kids who embarked on this journey. What troopers!!

3 is for how many different time zones our bodies have temporarily lived in

2 is for the 2 sets of grandparents who got to see the kids!

1 is for the one happy couple for whom the trip was all about anyway. Yea Uncle Dan and Aunt Wendy!

You've Got the Cutest Little Baby Face

Here are a few pics of our girl who is growing up so quickly. Annie is 3 1/2 months old now and quite the wonderful, happy, good baby. I couldn't say enough about her, except we love her SOOO much!