Happy 2nd Birthday Lila!

Ken's mom and her husband, Gene, graciously hosted a wonderful birthday party for Lila.

We had a plastic bug hunt and everyone took home a bug catcher and some plastic bugs as a goodie bag.

Lila enjoyed it all-her cake, presents, friends, and family.Here are some of the kids who were at the party (Brad is missing from the picture because he was inside crying about an earache):

Two days later we went to a walk-in clinic and found out that Brad did indeed have an ear infection and Sky had walking pneumonia! They both felt better after the antibiotics started working.

Sky really enjoyed her time with my friend Jessica's daughter, Julia and cousin Ayla.

Ken's mom had so many fun things set up at her house-bubbles, water table, swingset, slip and slide, etc. The kids (and grownups) had a blast. My dad and his wife Jeanne had bought a bunch of balloons for Lila on her birthday.

My grandparents were even able to come to the party!

Thanks Mimi and Grandpa Gene for a wonderful party!

Fun at the BP Ways

While in CT, we were able to spend a bit of time with Ken's brother Brian and his family. Brian has created marshmallow shooting and potato shooting guns which we had fun trying out.

The kids loved playing with their cousins, Bryce age 9 and Ayla age 6.

Their yard is amazing with a playset, trampoline, kiddie pool, fire pit, and much more.

Brian also has a zipline in his yard and Sky enjoyed going for a ride on it. Lila wanted to go but was too small and Brad wanted no part of it.

After a dinner of delicious CT pizza, we had ice cream and s'mores for dessert.

Messy but good!

Our time in CT is never long enough and I wish that we could have spent more time with Brian, Tammy, Bryce and Ayla!

Wedding Fun

We just returned from a whirlwind trip to the east coast. There will be many blog entries of our adventures there but I thought I would start with my cousin Jamie's wedding. Sky was the flower girl and Brad was the ring bearer. Sky got her hair curled for the occasion. When she returned from the hair place she stared in the mirror for about a half hour.

I was nervous that Brad would decide at the last minute that he didn't want to walk down the aisle, but they both did fine although Sky clearly was enjoying things more than Brad. Sky LOVED riding in the limo to the church with the bride and all of the bridesmaids. Brad complained a lot about his feet hurting, etc. and was really being difficult during the service.

The reception was lots of fun. Sky couldn't wait for the dancing and Brad couldn't wait for the food. It was quite a job to keep Sky from eating anything that would spill on her dress before the pictures were taken.

Brad felt quite better about things once the party started. We were able to stay in a fabulous bridal party room while the photographer was taking pictures outside. Brad took this opportunity to tell his jokes.

Brad and cousin Jim and Uncle John hit it off and were having a great time together.

Sky was completely enamored with the bride, bridesmaids, and beautiful flowers. She was so excited to be a part of it all.

Meanwhile Brad continued smoozing with whoever would pay him any attention.

The reception was held at a beautiful place in Monroe, CT called The Waterview.

The rehearsal was our first time meeting Mike, the groom. He seems like such a great guy and we couldn't be happier for my cousin Jamie.

Thankfully we made it through the pictures without any incidents. Sky kept wanting to snack on the strawberries and watermelon which would not look so good on her dress!

However, when we went up to the reception, Sky and Brad were playing with some little cars on the floor and, apparently, Sky had tried to crawl in her dress and the top of the dress separated from the bottom!!!!! Thankfully my Gram had 4 safety pins in her purse so my sister-in-law Katie and I worked on pinning it back together. Sky was so sad and sorry about it. She was especially worried that she wouldn't be able to dance.

Sky and Brad were each given a Build-a-Bear animal as a gift for being in the wedding party. Sky got a bunny dressed in a bride's gown with silver shoes and even a garter on it's leg. Brad got a dog dressed in a tux as a groom. They both LOVE their new animals.

Brad was kind of a pain for the pictures but we pushed through and got them done. I love the ones of he and Sky together.

I have no idea what Brad is doing in this picture but it looks like he's practicing his dance moves.

Thankfully Brad's T Rex came to the wedding with him. He provided some entertainment at the reception.

Sky and Grandma B got to sit together at the reception. Unfortunately my mom's husband Bill came down with pneumonia and couldn't be there. Also at our table was my brother Gary and his wife Katie, and my Gram and Gramp. Sky and Brad had a kid's meal of fries and chicken nuggets while Ken and I enjoyed the amazing prime rib. For dessert, there was a sundae bar, chocolate fountain, and, of course, cake.

4 generations are represented in the picture above.

Now for the twirling. Once the music started, Sky started her twirling. She loved every minute of it. I did think it was odd when she passed up dessert because she had a stomach ache. She fell asleep in the car on the way home but when she woke up, she threw up all over her bed. Other than that, I would say that it was a fabulous day for Sky.

Sky went out with all the single ladies when Jamie threw the bouquet. It landed on the floor in front of everyone and Sky pounced on it. So, she ended the day with 2 beautiful bouquets.

Above she and Brad are dancing with my mom and sister-in-law Katie.

Where was Lila during all of this? She was at a funeral with my dad and his wife Jeanne. My dad's Uncle Roger passed away while we were in CT and I was so thankful to be able to stop by the wake after the wedding rehearsal. I knew Uncle Roger pretty well as he visited often when my Memere and Pepere would stay with us during the summers. The wedding and the funeral were on the same day at the same time and my dad and Jeanne had agreed to watch Lila while we were at the wedding. So, Lila represented our family and went to the funeral with them.

Happy 4th of July 2011

We've begun a tradition of getting together with our friends, the Denhams, on the 4th of July and shooting off fireworks together. In our town, ground fireworks are legal but shooting fireworks into the air is illegal. Their neighbors across the street were shooting off air fireworks anyway (as were LOTS of people all around us). Well, an unmarked police car came along and fined them $1,000 for breaking the law!!!

The kids seemed to enjoy the fireworks except Benjamin Denham who preferred to stay in the house.

The sparklers were great fun and Ken also bought a family pack of fireworks that we enjoyed. We're definitely sticking with the legal fireworks, that's for sure!

Family Fun

So I had seen this contraption in Family Fun magazine and thought it would be a great option for staying cool for our family this summer. I didn't want to have a pool around with Lila on the loose and this spraying sprinkler is super fun.

It was decorated as a "car wash" in the magazine. Ken built it in about an hour yesterday afternoon. The materials cost him about $20 from Home Depot.

If you want to see more detail, go to www. familyfun.com/funshop

Saying Good Bye to New Friends and Hello to Old Friends

This past week we said good-bye to our friends the Jensens. They are from the UK (England)and came to Talbot the same time we did. They were both students and have graduated and are returning to the UK to do ministry. It's been so much fun hanging out with them over these past 4 years! When we first came, Sky and Eve were 3 years old, Brad was a baby, and Lila not even born.

Last night we were able to see our dear friends from Cincinnati, the Gardners (wish I had taken some pics-we were too busy talking!). They were in So Cal visiting Roxana's family (she grew up here). It was so awesome to see them and catch up on life with them. When we left Cincinnati, we had baby Brad and 3 year old Sky and they had a 1 year old, Abby. So we got to meet Zoe, their latest addition and they got to meet Lila. They went to Crossroads with us and introduced us to such life-changing things as Settlers of Catan and Stargate. Abby and Sky hit it off and Sky even cried when they left. It's so nice to have friends that we can pick up right where we left off with even after 4 years.