Celebrating today ...

Wishing a very happy birthday to my daddy today!  We love you so much!

And thankful for all those who have and do serve our country, and the families who love, support, and sacrifice for them.  Thank you, to Papa, Grandpa, and our many friends and family who have served.  And a special thank you to Uncle Cameron and the men who serve with him in the Marine Corps around the world, to Nana and Grandpa and Uncle John and Aunt Linde who loved and supported him through deployment and war, and to Aunt Amanda who loves him enough to marry into the service and sacrifice of being a Marine wife.

Our cowgirl ballerina

I had to get some pictures of Miss Molly in her favorite outfit - not only is it hilarious and super cute, but also represents her personality pretty well. I saw a very pretty photo of a little girl in her tutu and cowgirl boots on etsy that I wanted to get for Molly's room, but it has since disappeared. =( Oh well, Molly is cuter and has cuter boots! And since I don't have Amanda or anyone here to take a beautiful picture for me, I decided I needed to just take some myself, even if I'm a lousy photographer, to remember Molly at this age. Some of them are pretty cute, despite the photographer - yay!

{I'm not sure how to crop this one for printing - her face is so cute, her hair, not so much.}

pirouette

Elijah gets in on the dancing fun, too. I think he's an airplane here.

More pictures with Cam & Amanda

Hey look, I found some more pictures!

So glad we got this one, even with Elijah's awesome silly face.

Crazy blanket monsters

Beautiful kid pictures

Amanda sent me these beautiful pictures of the kids, taken on Sunday when they came up to visit. The kiddos are hot and sweaty - we had so much fun playing outside, but it was humid - but the photos are fantastic anyway. =)

Love them!

A fun visit

On Sunday we had a wonderful visit with my brother Cameron and his wife Amanda. They came up from Virginia for the day - we didn't do anything exciting, but we had such a good time just spending time together and catching up. The kids were very excited to have Uncle Cameron and Aunt Amanda here to visit, and played hard all day. I'm not sure who got more worn out by the end of the day, but everyone sure had fun! Patrick made really yummy burgers stuffed with cheese for lunch and we all ate until we were stuffed! We're really glad that we could spend some time together before Cam & Amanda move to Japan this summer!

Playing with chalk - love those chalky jeans!
(It was really humid, and the kids got pretty sweaty playing outside.)

Loving Uncle Cameron

Elijah reading for everyone.

Visitors from Colorado

Yay! Nana came out to visit and spent her whole spring break with us. The kids were so excited! We had a great week. Patrick and I got to have a just the two of us overnight excursion, and I got to leave the house on my own a few times - what a treat! Nana and the kids loved every minute of just reading, playing and spending time together. Mom and I also got a lot of fabric shopping and quilt design done for my new little niece, who John and Linde are expecting in April.

Some of the fun things we did during the week:

finger paints - always a favorite

A recent hobby - Legos! The kids are starting to get the idea of creative building. I love seeing them spread out all over the table - it reminds me of being a kid and building with my brothers on our huge basement table. =)

On Thursday evening Dad arrived, to spend a day with us before both he and Mom headed down to Alexandria for a quick weekend of quality time with Cameron & Amanda (we all have to get in as much as we can now, before they leave the country for a while). We all went out to dinner at the Olive Garden - Grandpa and Elijah totally agree on the greatness of the Olive Garden - and had a wonderful time.

sharing animal cracker "appetizers"

Both kids ordered - what else? - fettuccine alfredo ("noodles and white sauce"), and requested that they add red peppers. We had a very helpful and understanding server. =)

Reading with Grandpa

The kids really enjoyed having a day with Grandpa (Molly's favorite "silly guy," who she is now calling "Gramps," since she has to have a nickname for everyone she loves - her other grandparents are "Nan," "Bob" and "Pops"). We had a lazy morning with lots of reading with Grandpa, took Nana & Grandpa to Patrick's office to see the campus, and stopped to look at the house we're currently in process with. We had a great week with Nana, and a great day with Grandpa, and we're so glad that they could come out to Pennsylvania. We can't wait to see them again soon!

Some pictures

Sorry about the lack of posting and pictures lately. Nothing very exciting has been going on, the kids were sick and we've just been busy with everyday things. But here are a few of the random here-and-there pictures we've taken since our last random photo post:

This one was actually taken last October when we stopped to visit Cameron & Amanda. Amanda took this very cute picture of me and my boy. (Can you tell that we had been at the beach? Holy freckles, Batman!)

Valentine's Day lunch - heart-shaped PB&J

This is Molly's almost daily uniform - her tutu and her beloved pink hat. With her favorite rain boots, she's a super hero. Without, she's a ballerina. Here she was dancing for Daddy.

Two little dancers, showing off their twirling skills.

Playing - she loves her Jessie backpack, too.

They both just love to do puzzles.

Part 2 - The Wedding!

(photo taken by Samantha Sorbello)

The wedding was beautiful. It was a very pretty day (a little hot) at a very pretty place. The bride was so beautiful, the groom was handsome in his uniform, and they were so happy! Elijah did a great job - he even carried the real rings without mishap! He and Piper marched down the aisle like old pros. Tallie walked down as well, and Molly went part-way ... and then turned around and to come back to me. So I ended up carrying her down, which was fine.

Our handsome guys

Almost all the groomsmen (missing Ty on the end)

John and Patrick managed to play daddy and groomsman quite well through the ceremony.

The kids all sat with Mom and Dad in turns, too.

Linde, reading scripture

with Miss Tallie

Me, reading scripture, with Molly screaming behind me. She only lasted a few minutes into the ceremony before I had to take her out.

Piper had a great time being a flower girl. She spent most of the ceremony gathering up petals to refill her basket, then tossing them all again. It was so cute!

The happy couple

Big kiss!

Cameron built the cross in the background for the wedding.

Married!

The wedding party (except we cut Justin off this time)

Waiting for more pictures

My cousin Jen and her family

The little cousins had a great time together at the reception. They played and danced together for hours! (Except for Molly, who spent the entire night in my arms.)