Annual Zoo Trip

This past Monday was the annual Zoo trip with The Crew. No, not the Columbus Crew. The Otterbein 'Crew'. Between the 5 of us we've got 10 kids and that includes Miss Pepper - the only smart one that hasn't added any children to the posse yet. (...yet). The above picture has 8 of the 10 children. On the left is Kyran, Grace, Rachel, Kruz, Emma, Kori, Tyson, and Laine kneeling in the front. Missing are the babies, Trevor and Jaxon.
Here's Natalie and Trisha pretending they weren't wishing this was just a girls trip that consisted of pedicure's, margarita's, and no kids.
.....and Chantal and I thinking the same thing.

Soon our annual trip to the Zoo will evolve as the kids age. Hopefully to Water parks and roller coasters and no more screaming for carousel and train rides or for face paint and jungle gyms. Or for petting snakes and holding Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches and changing dirty diapers in crowded under-cleaned public bathrooms.

The Crew has been together since 1994 when we all were freshmen at Otterbein College. We've seen each other go from unsure newcomers to best friends, bridesmaids, wives, and Mommy's. We've made some memories that still to this day make me cry and laugh and laugh until I still cry. I love you girls. You've been a part of my life since the age I first realized I was actually living.

All the Latest....

I apologize for not posting as often as I should. My digital camera is broken and without pictures to share my life and times seem much more uninteresting. I have taken some pics with the camera in my cell phone but honestly, it takes terrible pictures. Regardless, I'm posting with my cell phone pics. Some are cute but would be great if taken on my digital....oh well!

This past week the kids and I went to Nana's and Grandpa's to visit for the week. The kids had a blast swimming in the pond and spending time with their cousins.

Sunday was Father's Day and Nana's Birthday and our monthly family dinner so we went to church with Nana and Grandpa then had a family get-together to celebrate.

Here's the 3 latest additions to the family. Bailey on the left, Zachary in the middle and Vinny on the right. I've never seen such perfectly rounded heads!!! Aren't they adorable?!?!

After stuffing our faces at Mom's the kids and I left and headed up to Pickerington for a Father's Day with Kelley. After eating more food we took the kids to run it off at JFK park in Reynoldsburg. Fun!

Happy Birthday to Nana - the church announced she was 29! That makes me.....um, lemme do the math....oh, 5!!!

And a very, very happy Father's Day to all the Father's I know and love.

Dad - there's no words to express my gratitude, admiration, and most of all love. If I can only manage to put my big toe into your footsteps I'll be known as a great person...

Kelley -we've been through thick and thin and up and down and every which way imaginable. There's no one else on this earth I'd rather have by my side. I love you. Always and Forever.

My Babies

In honor of Mother's Day I'm posting some of my favorite pics of my 3 favorite children.

I am so blessed to have such wonderful, happy, loving, adorable, sweet children.

Here's Kyran fishing last weekend - he caught 6 bass!!

...and my little performer/diva/entertainer/etc.

The kookiest, most entertaining duo ever - two peas in a pod!

AND

OF COURSE

I CAN'T FORGET

MY HUSBAND

THE MAN I COMMITTED

TO SPEND THE REST OF MY LIFE WITH.

SO I CAN SEE THIS FACE EVERYDAY

FOREVER

AND

EVER!

I love you all. All 4. You fill my life with love, laughs, and never-ending special memories.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KORI!!!

GIRL......

You are S-P-E-C-I-A-L!!!

Easter Celebration

We had a great Easter this year at Grandma's.

Poor Mom. She ALWAYS has Turkey duty.

The kids love their Easter Bags from Nana.

I have this exact same picture from 25 years ago with me and my siblings and cousins.

Doesn't turkey have a way of making us all feel this way?

But gotta love those Peeps!

It's been a long time since we've been able to celebrate Easter with Auntie Kris! She made it lots of fun for the kids!

Time to go. We're Turkey'd out.

Thanks for a wonderful dinner, Grandma!

Pics from Megan's Baby Shower

Meg had her Baby Shower a few weeks ago and these pics are courtesy of Auntie Kris.

Everyone wrote notes of advice for the new Mommy and as usual Kori was ready to give her opinion. She wrote "When the baby is sleeping, don't wake him up."

Here's Kruz with a balloon in his shirt letting Aunt Meg know he feels her pain.

Can you believe by this time next year there'll be two more little rugrats?!?!

Baby Bailey's and Baby Vincent's Baby Bumps. Due four days apart, I wonder who will be here first.

Here we all are heading home on the 'bus'!

Kelley in the Making........

.

.

.

We found out this week that Kyran was selected for the All-Star Team this basketball season!!

Shoot the Ball!!

Here's Kelley hitting one of his SIX three pointers during Sunday's game.

Notice the background - their gymnasium is outdoor. Pretty wild!

KNOW WHAT THIS IS??

It's what the Doctor found in our throats this afternoon:

!!! STREP !!!

It's Official

I'm a single Mom again. Kelley left on Saturday for Venezuela. He's in Caracas. It's heartbreaking to know that the average temperature there is 84 and we're in the middle of a cold winter storm. Negative 4 the night before last. And with no heat, still, I might add. I can't believe we've made it through (almost) and entire winter with no heat except for the fireplace and a few space heaters. Amazing. This spring we're selling the house and moving south!! Dallas sounds nice....Tim and Sanja here we come! :)

In the mean time Kelley's on the beach, wearing shorts...It's hard to believe him when he says he'd rather be home with his family. I'd choose nice weather any day over my spouse and kids! Ha!

New Edition

!!WELCOME BABY ZACHARY!!

Born January 21st - 8lbs. 15oz

He joins 4 brothers, 1 sister and 4 cousins - must be tiring!

...More Blah's

Well, still no heat but Kori has finally gotten the chicken pox. She was insanely jealous of Kruz's spots and then when 2 of her cousins got them but nothing on her she was very distraught. Finally, a few days ago she woke up with a few spots and they gradually multiplied throughout the day and the following day and yet again today. Needless to say, she's totally over it and just wishes the dang itching would go away! She's very high maintenance with them too. She needs a benadryl every half hour and the Aveeno cream every five minutes. When I got the cream out for the first time and told her it was anti-itch cream she about panicked, thinking I meant the cream would intensify the itching. Pretty funny. It doesn't help that her Aunt Nellie had her baby and she's not allowed to go see him until the spots go away. Seeing a picture of the baby on the computer just isn't enough. She needs to poke him and hug him and touch him.

Speaking of babies - Kori and I dragged out a couple of totes of her baby clothes. (Girls clothes are so much cuter than boys clothes, by the way). We'd looked at them and got a few ideas of what to pass on to Aunt Nellie in case she had a girl. Kori was disappointed at first when Zachary turned out to be a boy so I told her not to worry that maybe we could pass some of her stuff on to her cousin Jasmine. The child instead developed a case of baby fever and is insisting Mommy and Daddy give her a baby sister to pass her things on too. She informed me this morning of her decision not to share with Jasmine - only her baby sister. Big sigh....

Winter Blah's

Okay, so I know it has been FOREVER since I have posted on here, but there has been a lot going on!! For one, who has ever heard of Cat Scratch Disease or Cat Scratch Fever? Yeah, me neither - 'cept for the song! Let's just say I was shocked, to say the least, when an ER doctor at Children's diagnosed Kruz with it. This poor child - he's been through too much. Presently he has the Chicken Pox and a nasty cold. To top it all off we have no heat. The stupid 'free gas' that enticed us to this place has gone down - 2 winters in a row. With the snow on the ground today we're at a roasty-toasty 52 degree's downstairs and a warm 64 upstairs. We all sleep in the same room - the one with the fireplace. Sickening, considering the size of this place. We've known since about the first month here that the house is too big because everyone ALWAYS congregates in the same room,(warm or not). We might as well live in a one room pioneer home!

Anyway - I'll try to to better posting. I promise.

Happy New Year to everyone!!

Kyran and the Giants - what we've been doing all summer:

Kyran's #9
Daylan's #7
Courtney's #36

My First Haircut

BEFORE
AFTER