Happy 9th Birthday Liam!!!

Liam wanted to pick out his "own pet" for his birthday. On the Saturday before his birthday, I took him to our local pet store Paws and Claws to pick something out. I think he really wanted a rabbit but they didn't have rabbits so he settled for a guinea pig;) She has red eyes and red (orange) fur so he named her "Red". He LOVES Red...all the kids do! BUT...guess who is allergic to him?! LIAM!!! He breaks out, sneezes and his eyes get itchy. UGH!!! I moved Red out of Liam's room. I believe if Liam is careful not to hold her directly on his skin and to wash his hands afterward...I think all will be fine and Red should be able to stay;) Liam planned and REALLY wanted to have his party at Paige's Crossing this year. He invited friends and it was all scheduled. But the darn weather did not cooperate so we had to improvise and take the kids to play lazer tag at UltraZone instead. They had a GREAT time!!! It was a couple of the boys first time and I think they are hooked;) We returned home for a Dairy Queen ice cream cake...Liam's FAVORITE!!! The boys all LOVED it too! Several of them had seconds and one little boy had 3 pieces...bet he wasn't very hungry for his dinner;) Oops! Liam enjoyed all his gifts and got quite a bit of money...with which he chose to buy a gift for each of his siblings too. SO proud of him for being so generous! I think he enjoyed his birthday weekend. And on Monday, his actual birthday, Levi and I picked him up from school for lunch out. He chose to go back to the Great Wall for China food again;)

The boys...right before their first game;)

Actually reading a card;)

Opening presents...Levi put this one together for him;)

Sneaking a lick of his cake...

Liam with Red...

Hard to believe my little guy is 9 year old!!!

Last Track Meet and Awards:)

Track season is over;( It went by SO quickly. Landan had a GREAT first year! He did very well and he REALLY enjoyed it. I did not get to attend the last meet, since it was my turn to take Levi and Lorelle to soccer but I did send my camera with Lance to take a few pictures:) Landan got some personal bests during this big meet...including a 16ft jump in long jump;)

I did get to attend the Track Awards Program a few days later. Landan received an envelope full of ribbons, that he earned throughout the season and he was also awarded the Mental Attitude Award! What a good boy:) SO proud of him!!!

Receiving his award...

Landan with the other Mental Attitude Award winners...this picture was to be in our local paper:)

Pictures from the last meet...

Landan and the other 4x100 relay boys...

SO focused...

Can't wait until next year!!!

Bahamas!!!

On May 10th, my BFF Regina's Birthday, we headed south to the sunny, warm Bahamas for a few days. It was her 40th Birthday and we wanted to do something special to celebrate. We invited a few other girlfriends along but only Sheri ended up joining us;) We flew out of Ft. Wayne thru Atlanta and were sitting poolside by 2PM. We stayed harbor side on Paradise Island...at the Paradise Island Harbor Resort. It was a small but all-inclusive hotel. The pool area was decent but the beach was small and the rooms were in desperate need of a makeover (especially the bathroom). The hotel also had some electrical issues and the power was out several hours a day during the time we were there. The food was pretty good and most of the drinks were tasty;) It was so relaxing just to be away for a few days with NO schedule, cooking, cleaning, homework or any other activities. I really appreciated the break and time to be with my girlfriends. We had such a great time together. The most fun thing we did was took a Party Cat Snorkeling Cruise. It was a big catamaran that held about 50 people very comfortably. They took us out to private Rose Island where they cooked us a traditional bahamian lunch. We also snorkeled, swam in the gorgeous, clear, blue water and just relaxed. They served us plenty of Bahama Mamas and after about 4 hours of FUN in the SUN, we started our cruise back. We did shots, sang and danced our booties off on the way back to our hotel. It was a SUPER fun day!!! PARTY CAT!!! WOOOO!!!

View of the harbor from our room...

View of the pool area from our room...

The Party Cat...

Us...in the beautiful, blue ocean!!!

A rainbow over the bridge to Paradise Island...after a light sprinkle out by the pool:)

We took a walk to the oceanside beach one afternoon. It was really windy, with huge waves, but REALLY pretty!!!

Us...at the lobby bar waiting for the nightly entertainment and karaoke:)

Love you girls!!! Good times:)

On May 9th...

We celebrated 4 years with Liam! He has changed so much since that first "Gotcha Day". He is my sweet, fun, handsome boy with the BEST laugh EVER!!! Levi and I picked him up from school and we went to the The Great Wall chinese restaurant to celebrate with his favorite lunch...egg drop soup, egg roll and steamed dumplings:) I sure do LOVE my China boys!!!

PROM!!!

My BEAUTIFUL niece Becky, also had her senior prom on May 8th. I was not home in time to do her hair BUT I did have my Mom take my camera to go see her and take some pictures:) She looked SO pretty!!! I guess her long-time boyfriend Wade looked OK too;) I actually graduated with his dad 21 years ago. I can't believe my little Rebekah is a senior and graduating SOON. Why does time have to go by so quickly?! She will be following in our Lauren's footsteps and attending Ball State University in the fall. We are SO proud of her and the AMAZING young woman she has become. I love you my sweet, smart, fun, gorgeous girl!!!

Indianapolis 500 Festival Mini-Marathon!!!

On Friday afternoon, May 7th, Lance and I headed down to Indy to pick up our race packets. We enjoyed an early dinner at Buca di Beppo and just relaxed. This was my first mini-marathon. I trained but was a little nervous. I had never even been to watch such a large event so I didn't really know what to expect. I was to line up to run with 35,000 other people!!! How crazy is that?!

We ran into a few people from Warsaw the night before at the convention center...including one of my girlfriends Erin, who was also running for the first time;)

Lance ran last year so he knew what to expect. It is truly amazing how many people pack into downtown Indianapolis to run in this event. You can see some pictures and video...just click HERE! I must say...it was SO MUCH FUN!!! You run in a pack of people the entire time. I enjoyed people watching...the other runners, fans and the bands/music that lined the streets. We even got to run around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway! Some people even stopped to "kiss the bricks" like the winners do after the Brickyard 400 race. I was too busy waving at the camera overhead to even notice that I ran over the bricks...LOL!!! You can see this entertaining video of me online;) It was a leisurely jog/speed-walk effort for me and I really enjoyed every minute:) I finished the 13.1 miles in 2 hours and 36 minutes. Lance finished in 1 hour and 42 minutes. He was happy to improve his time from last year. We had a meeting spot after the race and had someone snap a quick photo of us. Then we walked back to the hotel, showered, checked out and headed home. We did stop for lunch at the Kona Grill. I had never eaten there before and it was REALLY good! As soon as we arrived home...Lance signed us up for next year's race:)

We did it!!!

Also....the weather was PERFECT for a PERFECT day!!!

Happy Birthday Grandma Linda!!!

On May 1st was my Mom's special day:) We celebrated with a grilled steak dinner along with all our favorite sides, baked her a cherry cake and even got her some flowers. We hope you enjoyed your day Grandma. We love you!!!

Grandma Linda with her "Sensational Six":)

Some of the "littles" Projects...

My 2nd graders each had an "All About" project to do for school. Liam and Lorelle each made books. Lilyan made a book and a posterboard. After the projects were complete, they had an open house where the parents, teachers and other students could come view their finished work. They even answered some questions about their research. They all did a great job and were very proud of their projects:)

Liam wrote his book about Bears...

Here is Levi standing beside Lilyan's Koala poster and book. Lilyan didn't want her picture taken...

Lorelle also wrote about Koalas...

Below are a couple of Levi's recent projects. I LOVE the family tree he made at school!!! It is very detailed...including some of us holding computers, phones and coffee cups. He even has Lilyan holding a drawing and Lorelle with lipstick on. I was just glad to hear that the thing I was holding was a purse and not a megaphone for yelling;) LOL!!! He did such an AWESOME job on it and he had lots of people to draw. He even included Chip:) LOVE my precious China boy!!!

Levi also wanted me to take a picture of this large chalk drawing he drew on the driveway one afternoon...

He draws such cute people:)

Yah...my kids are pretty GREAT!!!

Easter 2011...He is RISEN!!!

We decided to go to our church's Saturday evening Easter service this year. We took all 7+ kiddos and afterward went to the Boathouse restaurant for dinner. Below is a picture we took before we left. I LOVE this picture because it is the only one I have of all of us together since Levi has been home:)

It was nice to be able to let the kids sleep in Easter Sunday. We invited family over for brunch. We had ham, cheesy potatoes, biscuits with homemade sausage gravy, monkey bread, homemade chocolate chip waffles, fruit and mimosas;) We spend the day just being together. The kids painted and hunted for eggs. They also enjoyed their Easter baskets left by the Easter Bunny;)

7 little baskets all ready for morning...

Liam and Lilyan checking out their goodies...

The lovebirds...or bunnies;)

Lorelle and Grandma Linda...daddy even made Lorelle a mimosa with sparkling grape juice;)

The kids waiting patiently on the steps...for me to give them the "GO!" to start hunting for eggs:)

Searching for their eggs...

Love the boots Miss Lily:)

Lilyan painting eggs...

Levi, Lorelle and Liam really concentrating...

Trying to catch some fish...NO luck;(

It was such a relaxing, BEAUTIFUL Easter Sunday!!! Thank you Jesus!!!

Soccer!

Soccer is ALSO into full swing. Between Lorelle and Levi we have 4 soccer games a week on top of Landan's 1-3 track meets a week. We are just a little BUSY but it is SO much fun to watch the kids compete and do what they LOVE!!! Lorelle is on an all girl team this year and this means she is much more aggressive. Her team is pretty good and she even made a goal last game. Levi is also doing good. He is definitely into it and keeps moving the entire game. He seems to especially like defense and is very good at it. I think he is still a little afraid to be real aggressive on offense but I know that will change with age. He LOVES every minute of his time out on the field and he is always smiling:)

Look at that tongue;)

Athletic and BEAUTIFUL...

Smiling for the camera...

SO happy...

GOAL!!!

Always smiling:)

Track!

Track season is in full swing. This is Landan's first year to ever participate in track and he is doing GREAT! I think he has surprised himself more than anyone;) He is doing the long jump, 400 relay, the 100 and either the 200 or 400 meter dash each meet. He almost always either places 1st or 2nd in each event. I think he did get one 4th place only because he was struggling with bronchitis:( He works very hard and it is paying off. He always gives everything he does 100% and I am SO proud of him for that. Here are a few pictures I have taken...when I remember my camera;) He is really enjoying track and I have a feeling he is hooked. YES!!!

Running and WINNING his first 200!!! This was my FAVE:)

Doing the long jump...I think his best jump so far was a 15' 3"

100 meter dash...

He runs the first leg of the 400 relay...

Yes...the meets are long but I LOVE watching my boy run!!!