Today we went to a party...

The best kind of party.

My best friends were there, my sisters, bonded by that extra special chromosome.

We had an amazing time.  The occasion was to celebrate life, the life of our special almond eyed wonders who have enhanced our lives in countless ways.  One of them being the new family that was created along the way of this extra special journey.  These girls have become my rock, it is a sisterhood few understand. 

Below is a great picture.  For the first time we were all able to be at the same place at the same time.

The host of the party was Erin, many of you know her as mommy to Gabriel over at Gabriel's updates.  Her little Bella turned one this past week giving us one of many reasons to have a party.  Thank you Erin for inviting us all over!

You also see Dina and her little man Tyce, Tyce is the youngest in our group.  He is quite a cutie pie.  Dina blogs about their new journey at Entyced.

In the middle is Kaitlyn and I and Angie and her pretty girl Lily.  Both our girls have had amazingly similar paths.  Our girls are only 5 months apart and we only live a couple miles from each other. 

Next over to the right is Cathie and her little guy Ian.  He is a doll.  He is the oldest in our group of 6 turning 3 this Spring.  He was so much fun to watch, he is a smart little guy.

Right below Cathie is Jen and the beautiful Abigail.  Abby turns 1 next month.  Kaitlyn and Abby are soooo similar.  From their chubby little fingers and thighs, to their cute little grins.  I love those girls!

The Beautiful Abigail

Little Tyce

Gabriel with his award winning smile!

 

The signing time genius, Ian!

 

The lover and hugger of the group, Ms. Lily!

My beautiful baby, Kaitlyn!

 

Kaitlyn, Abby, Tyce, & Ian

 

Lily & Ian

Kaitlyn & Gabriel

The birthday girl Isabella

Erin gave me the honor of making the treats for the party today!

She wanted an owl and monkey theme!  So this is what I came up with!!!

It was a G-R-E-A-T Saturday!

I am very thankful for these girls, their babies, and their whole families for being in our lives!

Happy Valentine's Day from Tennessee

This week we are in Tennessee visiting my parents!

Here are a few pictures of my Valentines from this morning!

Happy Valentine's Day!

The Blizzard of 2011: Our Snow Day

Wednesday, February 2 was to be the Blizzard of the century. The Meteorologists were predicting snowmageddon. Locally in West Michigan we were told to expect 17 inches of snow in a 12 hour period with 35 mph winds.

We were excited, Brady, Bryce and I that is.  Blair had to drive to work in the middle of it all so he didn't share our excitement.  But the boys and I knew this was going to be a guaranteed SNOW DAY!

The plan was for a lazy day in our pajama's.  Movies, playing inside and out, a little baking, and some hot chocolate!  I think we pulled it off!  We had a great day together...

We went to bed Tuesday evening and barely an inch of snow had fallen.  When I woke up the next morning, this is what we saw!

Well I don't know exactly how much snow we got.  It was a lot though!  There was so much blowing and drifting it was impossible to measure!  Blair made it to work just fine.  The babies stayed warm in the house and so did we the majority of the day.

The dog, our Koda Bear LOVES the snow!  She can barely sit still in it.  The snow makes her crazy.  The only reason she is sitting still for the pictures is because I am bribing her with a snow ball.  She loves to eat snow balls! 

FYI, Koda's breed is a Dogue de Bordeaux, you know, the dog from the Turner and Hooch movie.  The verdict is still out as to whether or not we will breed her.  We planned too buuuutttt (sigh) we've been a smidge busy.  We will see.....

As soon as Blair got home from work it was time to dig out from underneath all that snow.  The boys could not wait to get out there!  I'm pretty sure this is the most amount of snow the boys have seen.

Bryce is counting the days until he can use the snow blower, drive the snowmobile and do ALL the other stuff "mans" get to do.  Love him!

Despite the major storm we had it left as quick as it came.  By mid afternoon it was nice and sunny.  We don't see the sun much during our long Michigan winters.  The boys had fun playing with their shadows.

They are so goofy.  They loved standing right under all the snow Blair was blowing.  Brrrrr...

When they came in it was time for hot chocolate, marshmallows, and cookies.

They love making it themselves.

We had a great day.  We still need to get out ice skating a few times and then I think our winter activities will all be checked off our list.  Then the snow needs to leave and Spring needs to come...