Jaden's Birthday

Jaden's party for her 4th birthday was on Father's Day, the day before her birthday. All her grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins came to celebrate. The kids played in the pool and in her new sandbox. Our basement was nearly finished- but having no carpet yet worked out for the best with wet, sandy little bodies running in and out!


Keeping cool in the pool. Jaden insisted on wearing only the shorts of her swimsuit like the boys.


A "marry" dress, with veil, from Grandma Margo (that matches her marry shoes.)


A pink princess dress (that matches her pink fancy shoes.)


In a new dress and jewelry, Jaden was pretty excited about her princess cake. (Mommy is pretty proud of this cake.)
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Jaden spent her actual birthday trying out all her new things.


Admiring her marry veil at her Dora vanity.


The Sandbox


Coloring


Of course she had to have a turtle shirt...


Jaden got a Belle dress from Mommy and Daddy.

Weekend Vacation at Trout Lodge

Jaden snuck into Ty's bed, too cute!



Mommy and Jaden have to fight over holding Evelyn.



Jaden snuggling with Great-Grandma Brown.



Jaden painting her superhero cape.



Daddy helping Tyler with his superhero cape.



At the "beach"



Jaden and Tyler with cousins Lucas, Allison, and Evelyn.

Our Busy Spring!

CHEEEEEESE!!








We love our new swingset Daddy built! Thank you Daddy and Grandma Seeley!


So much fun!


Are these not the two cutest kids you've ever seen?!?


Jaden graduated from "Imagination Station" Preschool at the YMCA. In the fall she'll be going to Preschool at St. Gertude's two full days a week.


Jaden and her teacher Ms. Karen


Big Momma at 30 weeks!


Jaden's first haircut! :( Mommy cut off an 8 1/2" braid to donate to locks of love!

Happy Mother's Day!

A friend sent this to me, and I had to share because it's so funny! And true to Motherhood!

So, we had this 10 year old cat named Jack who just recently died. Jack was a great cat and the kids would carry him around and sit on him and nothing ever bothered him. He used to hang out and nap all day long on this mat in our bathroom.

Well we have 3 kids and at the time of this story they were 4 years old, 3 years old and 1 year old. The middle one is Eli. Eli really loves chapstick. LOVES it. He kept asking to use my chapstick and then losing it. So finally one day I showed him where in the bathroom I keep my chapstick and how he could use it whenever he wanted to but he needed to put it right back in the drawer when he was done.

Last year on Mother's Day, we were having the typical rush around and try to get ready for Church with everyone crying and carrying on. My two boys are fighting over the toy in the cereal box. I am trying to nurse my little one at the same time I am putting on my make-up. Everything is a mess and everyone has long forgotten that this is a wonderful day to honor me and the amazing job that is motherhood.

We finally have the older one and the baby loaded in the car and I am looking for Eli. I have searched everywhere and I finally round the corner to go into the bathroom. And there was Eli. He was applying my chapstick very carefully to Jack's . . rear end. Eli looked right into my eyes and said "chapped." Now if you have a cat, you know that he is right--their little butts do look pretty chapped. And, frankly, Jack didn't seem to mind.
And the only question to really ask at that point was whether it was the FIRST time Eli had done that to the cat's behind or the hundredth.

And THAT is my favorite Mother's Day moment ever because it reminds us that no matter how hard we try to civilize these glorious little creatures, there will always be that day when you realize they've been using your chapstick on the cat's butt.

Evelyn Rae is here!

April 8, 2007 ~ 8lb. 4oz.

We were all very excited to see our new niece and cousin!

Easter 2007

This year for Easter we were up early (as usual) and had our basket and egg hunt and breakfast at home before church. We went from there to Aunt Jan's house in Troy for lunch and a Cardinal game with Jamyn's family. We were missing a few people because Jeff and Carrie were in the hospital waiting for their baby to arrive! After spending a few hours there, we went to Derek's parents' for Easter with the Eckelkamps. A very fun and busy day! We got a call from Jeff on our way home that baby Evelyn was here!

These are a few pictures from our egg hunt at home. The kids loved it, but I think Tyler ate his whole basket of candy in 5 minutes. (Don't worry, I had a feeling this would be the case, so there wasn't all that much candy.)


We only hid a few eggs and a toy for each outside, it was cold!

A family picture, this is the best we could get out of the kids.

The kids playing at Grandma and Papa's. Here Jaden wanted us to take her picture- go figure- she is her mother's daughter in that respect!