Holly's Family Bridal Shower

My Aunt Debbie and my cousin, Megan, hosted a family bridal shower for Holly in Albion.  It was held at the Brick Ark Inn, a beautiful bed & breakfast just about a block or two from the town square.  Albion holds a special place in all of our hearts but is especially more so now since it is the place where Holly and Brian met.  So it seemed fitting that we were gathered there for her wedding shower.  :)

 Everything was so lovely!  The cupcake stand was made by the Siebers.  Megan even got a woodburning kit and engraved Holly and Brian's initials on the bottom of it.  It was too cool!

 Our cousins Lyndsay and Abby with our other cousin's daughters, Eva and Amelia. 

 Jonny's girlfriend, Lindsay, gave Holly and Brian this custom-made set of pint glasses.

 Our cousin, Stacy, gave Holly a Control-a-Man remote control.  :)  I love how you can press buttons to talk about shopping, feelings, and shoes, and press other buttons to turn off snoring and belching.  Oh, if that only worked in real life...

Deb and Megan had a cute little skit for their gift.  They gave Holly a large basket full of household products and incorporated the name of each one into a cute story about marriage.

 This book was my great-grandmother's, I think.  ;)

 Brian came to the shower at the end, thinking he was just going to help load up some of the presents.  Instead, this was waiting for the happy couple outside:

 Deb had asked her good friends Dale and Becky to come and give the couple a ride back to her house.

 Aunt Nancy, Libby, Jenny, and Anna

 Sasha, Megan, Deb, and Lindsay

 Kelly and I with our beautiful grandma!!!

Reese's First Concert ~ Taylor Swift!!!

Reese's Christmas present from us was two tickets to see her FAVORITE singer/songwriter, Taylor Swift!!!  She was so excited as she has been a fan of Taylor's for years.  We were even more happy to learn that her best friend, Taylor, and her mom were going as well!  We decided to ride together to make it even more fun for all of us!

 Reese and Taylor*  (*Note: This is not Taylor Swift.)  :)

 I was SO excited to take Reese to her first concert!  Plus, I love Taylor Swift just as much as Reese, so I wouldn't have wanted to miss it!

 Kathryn and Taylor -- Love these two!

 

The concert was at Banker's Life Fieldhouse (formerly known as Conseco Fieldhouse).  We had dinner inside together, then went to our own seats for the show.  Taylor came out and blew us all away.  Reese had the best time just singing along to all of the songs.  She even said a few times, "Mom--thank you SO MUCH for buying these tickets and bringing me here!  It's the best night of my life!"  :)  It made me so happy to see her so happy.  I didn't get any pictures inside the show because I didn't want to lug in my huge camera.  But I found these on Google Images, and they were taken at the Indianapolis concert:

 Source

Source

 

As I said above, Taylor Swift put on an absolutely amazing show.  She is quite the performer!  I couldn't believe all of the theatrics she put into all of her performances.  I would definitely take Reese to see her if she came again. She was phenomenal!!! 

Play Ball!



It's spring, so do you know what time it is???  Time to play ball!  Ryan is on the Yankees this year, and he is really enjoying his season so far.  Last year he was on a team with a bunch of his friends from school.  It was great for him--and for me, too--but I think he played around too much.  This year he seems more focused and intent on playing the game.  ;)

 

I snapped these pictures on opening day:

Getting some tips from Coach Mike.  I am always so impressed with the coaches Ryan has been blessed to have. Each one has seemed to have a wonderful way of relating to the kids and helping them learn about the game.

Baseball is a little hard to watch when this guy is around.  He is here, there, and everywhere in between.  I can't wait until he's old enough to play baseball so at least I'll know that he's fenced in on the baseball diamond...

Go Yankees!!!

Carmel Marathon 2013



Joel ran in the Carmel Marathon a few weeks ago, and the family couldn't be more proud of him!  Unfortunately it was on the same day as Opening Day & team pictures for baseball, so that threw a small wrench in the plans.  I had hoped to go support Joel at a few points along the route, but we couldn't get there until the end.  (Thanks, Dad, for taking Ryan for us!)

It was a freezing cold day here, and the kids and I were frozen just waiting for Joel.  I kept thinking about how he must have felt being outside for more than 5 hours!

Lookin' good!!!

Giving Dad the big high-five! (Not sure if he had any feeling in his hands...)

Crossing the finish line!

So proud of our dad!!!

Joel, I am so proud of your dedication and commitment to your training.  I could care less how fast you are--I am just in awe of what you are able to accomplish!  I also appreciate how you work to fit your runs around what we have going on.  I know it wasn't fun waking up at 5:30 a.m. in the winter when it was not even above freezing.  Congratulations!!!

Spring Break 2013: {Day 5 1/2}

For my half-birthday in February, my class surprised me with a gift card to Disney.  At the time we were thinking that we might go to one of the parks for the day, but decided to save money since we are buying a house.  We agreed that the next best thing to do would be to go to one of the Disney resorts for a nice meal, so we made reservations at the Kona Café at the Polynesian Resort. 

 

We took a moment to take a few pictures outside before dinner.  All I wanted was ONE nice shot of my three kiddos!

I couldn't believe that all three kids were in a good mood at the same time!  :)

 I am so proud to be the mom of these three!

 Yes, even THAT guy.  :)

 One of my favorite things about dining at Disney is how accommodating they are to Ryan's food allergies.  In fact, they were willing to clean out one of the fryers to make him fresh French fries--just to make sure there was no contamination.  It would've taken too long, so we told them to not worry about it.  Still, Ryan was THRILLED that he could have gluten-free bread before his meal as we were enjoying our Hawaiian bread.

Reid was awfully fond of the bread himself. 

 Here is another great part of Disney dining: the great dessert options!  How about ice cream with cotton candy, sprinkles, and chocolate on the side?  Um, yes, please!

 

 This guy was starting to get really tired, but the Mickey Mouse sundae sure perked him right up!

 

 We had some money left on the gift card after dinner, so we walked to the hotel gift shop.  He fell in love with these stuffed animals and could not be talked into anything else--except trading in Goofy and Pluto for Mickey.  I didn't get a picture of him with Mickey, but he just loved him.

We decided to leave early the next morning to get a head start on our drive home.  We had a lot of work to do that weekend to get our house ready to put on the market, so we didn't want to have to drive through the night again. 

It was a l-o-n-g day of driving, but the kids did extremely well.  I'm not sure what we would've done without the rear entertainment system.  It was a lifesaver!   Reese and Ryan would've been fine with books and games, but it was mainly to keep Reid entertained. 

Joel and I were so thankful to be able to sleep in our own bed that night.  Don't get me wrong--we had a wonderful time and stayed at beautiful places--but there is always something about being home.  We created so many wonderful memories with our family on our vacation.  I was so worried about going without cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents to help, but we survived!  We look forward to many more wonderful vacations with our kiddos!