Me and my baby....

Ithink I already posted a different pic of Reilly and I a while back, but I came across this pic again today and thought I would share. Reilly is almost as much my baby as Kaelah. He was born a month before she was and kind of grew up along with her. He is the biggest baby ever. He would love to sit in my lap all day long if I would let him. I know you find that hard to believe, but he can actually get in my lap. :-) He is very good at making himself small. Anyways, I love this pic, and thought it was worth posting.

The day has come...

Kaelah's first day of school was today. She was so excited. She usually sleeps in every morning until I wake her up--not today! Today, she was up and already eaten breakfast by the time I got there. She was so cute. Every 5 minutes, "When is my bus coming?" When we got to the end of the driveway, she stared intently out the window waiting for her bus.


Here she is heading for the bus, hefting her back pack.

This is a picture of an extremely happy girl! And I actually made it with no tears! :-)

A couple of days with Jade Liberty...

I have only seen Jade when she was born and once more when she was two weeks old, and now she is three months old, so I was so excited to be able to get to see her again. She is such a cutie. She has the best dimples if you get a good smile out of her. She is so long, that she can fool you into thinking she is older than she is. Liss and Nick are doing a great job as parents.

She wasn't smiling big enough to show her dimples funny girl.

Emma loves to do whatever Jade is doing.

Pretty girl

She is a very curious little thing. When we set her on the chair, she kept looking out the window.

It was great to see the fam again. My trips home go by so fast, it hardly seems like I am there, but it is worth it.

A day with Emma Noelle....

My niece Emma is 2 1/2, and full of energy. She has always had this amazing memory of people. You would think that as little as she sees me (5-6 times a year) that she would forget who I am. But, no, she has always seemed to recognize us when we come home. She remembers our names and has done this since she was barely a year old. That is amazing to me--I can barely remember my own name half the time! She is starting ballet this week, so she had to show off her moves. I must say she can get up on her tip toes pretty well. :-)


My mom suggested this shot, I thought it was pretty cute.


Em had a great time doing circles, not caring a bit if she fell down at the end of it. She was a crazy, laughing, little girl that night.


We took her shopping and this is towards the end of the day. She did a great job all day.


And we wore her out. I love her little knee up and her shoe is untied. Funny girl.

I had a lot of fun with Emma its been about three months since I saw her last, so it was nice to get a little time with her.

End of Summer fun....

Wow, its hard to believe that it is already the end of the summer. School is starting next week for all my kiddos. I am not a parent, but I have to tell you, I can commiserate with those mom's who hate to see their baby go off to kindergarten. I am so excited for Kaelah because she is so excited, but I just don't want her to be that old. It happened in the blink of an eye. I am so thankful that I am still going to be getting her half a day. I would be an absolute mess right now, if I this was the end of the road for us. I was tearing up every day a couple of weeks ago, just thinking about it, but then her mom asked if I could still watch her before and after school and it has made my day. No more tears. :-)

Kaelah absolutely adores Elizabeth (Brent and Rhoda Miles'). She plays so well with her. Whenver we meet up its funny to watch Lizzie Bit, because she can hardly take her eyes off of Kaelah. She was pretty unsure of riding this ride, so I put her in front of Kaelah and then she was all smiles.


Driving the cars


Check out Allys huge heeled clogs. We had her wear these so she could be tall enough to ride some of the rides. ;-)


Ally is a cheerleader at her school. The outfit is pretty cute.


Ally and Kaelah hugging Blue's Clues. Ally had to be convinced, I think she thinks she is too old for Blue.

Finally some pics from home....

I am finally able to get home this weekend for the first time since Jade was born. I have been bugging my sister to send pics for months and she has sent one in a span of 3 months. But, wouldn't you know it, this week, when I can go home and get my own pics, I finally get around to getting my mom to do it. It was so nice to actually get some pics, though. Here is little miss Emma all dressed up for church camp.

And here is Jade. Such a serious little face!

Emma has done really well with not getting jealous of Jade, but she will do whatever Jade is doing to get attention. Its pretty funny. Jade was on the bed crying so Emma got up next to her and started fake crying. Crazy girl!!

This is the funniest pic of Jade. Check out her belly. Can't wait to see her.

Hot day with the kids....

Kaelah and Ally played dress up today. They came out of their room like this, and I thought it was so cute. They have the best imaginations.



I took a quick shower today to get the pool water out of my hair, and I heard some unearthly noise coming from Ryan's room, where I made the boys play until I got done. I immediately called out and asked them what they were doing, and the answer coming back was, "We are making music!" They said it with such a "DUH!" expression. It was so funny. Trust me the explanation was necessary because it did not sound ANYTHING like any music I have ever heard.


Kaelah and Ally are both habitually scared of the water. KK doesn't like water in her face or ears, and Ally is positive that she CANNOT swim. But the other day something clicked and they both took off swimming together, and it has been a different story ever since. They run and jump in, swim under water, on top of water and whatever else you could think of. Of course they are still really concerned about not going over their heads, so that makes things a bit easier for me.

So, all in all, our first day without Teresa went quite well. We stayed busy and had some fun. But we still missed her a lot, and will continue to do so.

More goodbyes....

I also had to say goodbye to Teresa's dog, Callie. Callie has lived with me since Teresa got her about a year and a half ago. She is such a sweet doggie and I am going to miss her very much.


We took one last pic of us before Teresa got in the car and drove way


Everyone had to give her big hugs.


For those of you who know my brother, here is a pic of him and his wife, Mary. They are due to have their baby girl in September sometime.

Busy day..

I had a busy day yesterday. I stayed up until three in the morning making a cheesecake for Teresa's going away party. Then got up and went to church, and then had a wonderful dinner at my cousin Ashley's house. Her little guy Sam and I had some fun. He likes to have pics taken and then he wants to look at them. After we left Ashley's we went to Teresa's boss' house and had the going away party. It was fun.


At our going away party for Teresa, Ally and I had a good time sticking confetti on our faces. Ally especially thought this was great fun. I didn't think my nose being as prominent as it already is, needed a huge star stuck on it, but oh well..... ;-)


Sam wanted me to see his new sleeping bag that he got. Its pretty cool. Thomas blanket and an air mattress all attached. I sure wish I had a sleeping bag like that when I was at boot camp! Isn't he just the cutest thing?

Goodbye Liz!!

One of the many reasons I am so extremely busy and worn out these days, is the fact that I play a lot of volleyball. It took me a good six years of living in the Cincinnati area, to finally find a place to play the game I love so much. I play on a couple of women's sixes team, and a coed 4's sand team, and a coed sixes indoor team. We have lots of fun, and I have met some really nice new friends through the whole experience. One of those friends, Liz (the girl with the curly hair), a fellow Michigander, has gotten engaged. Her fiancee lives in Michigan, so she is moving back there. I am so sad to see her leave. She was one of my favorite teamates. A group of us went out to dinner with her the day before she left. Good times! Oh yeah, as you can see, I am the shortest one of all them, by several inches....no fair!