Mom comes back! ... with Dad!

Lucky for us, the fun didn't stop at Jason's wedding.  Mom and Dad decided that rather than fly back home to Kentucky before their preplanned Maui vacation, they'd just hang out with us for a weeks.  Dad set up a temporary office in our living room, and mom continued her time hanging out with me and the kids.  I am amazed at how hard working my dad is.  Every morning, he was up at 5 am to work east coast time hours and when he wasn't doing that, he was either hiking or building.  By the time two weeks was up, we had new shelves in our garage and a much needed cart for my dance floor.  Our now organized garage feels amazing!  The highlight for me was taking grandpa out for a bowling night.  It was strange saying a final goodbye after a summer full of visits.  David told my mom, "Grandma, this is always your home."

Wedding!

Jason and Anjali were married September 30.  It was such a joyous occasion!  Both bride and groom were stunning.  The flower girls were also pretty cute.  It was especially wonderful to have all the family together.  We did a lot of eating, laughing, and topped the night off with a huge dance party.  Can't think of a better group to celebrate with!

 

Mom came to town

We always joke that mom comes to visit at the most chaotic times in our lives.  The timing of her visit during Johnny's debute was no different.  We all knew that new house, new neighborhood, and new baby would be challenging, but at two weeks postpartum the house nearly flooded with a slab leak.  Suddenly we were also dealing with home warranty calls, plumbing calls, and no running water for five days.  I truly felt like I was going to die.  Sweet Mom had the best sense of humor the entire time.  She did every thing she could think of to cheer us up and made sure when she left that we had ample supply of food in the fridge and homemade cookies. She was my ministering angel that week.  I hope that someday I can do the same for my daughters.

Johnny at two weeks

Getting used to life with a baby

monitoring the fight over who gets to hold him next...


making sure the second youngest still feels important..


embracing slow mornings with pajamas on until noon..


trying every imaginable method to find the perfect sleeping method with hopes that baby will sleep longer at night!

Disneyland- California Adventure

Ruth and David were both gifted Disneyland tickets for their birthdays, so of course, the anticipation for the big day was torture!  Finally, the day after I brought Johnny home from the hospital, Joseph loaded the three older kids and gave them a day to remember!  Since it was the middle of the week, the first week of school, and over 100 degrees, the park was quite empty.  As I review these pictures, I am quite stunned to see how much older these three are getting.  Seems like the entrance of a baby always spurs a growth spurt in the rest of the family.

Creative or Crazy?!!