My Secret Pal Strikes Again!

Today, I got these cute things from my secret pal! I love the pop beads, especially, because my grown kids used to play with those when they were babies. I'm getting such a stash of goodies from her that I am running out of places to put it all. Maybe one of these days we'll get Kaelin's room finished so I can display all of these wonderful gifts!

DVD Swap!

My fellow "Precious Panda" sent Kaelin these cute DVD's.

Justin, Marie, Adam, Sarah, and Marcus all grew up watching these! I can't wait until Kaelin is watching them too! Thank you, Kathy!

Happy Birthday, Adam!

Today is Adam's 23rd Birthday! I remember his first birthday like it was 5 minutes ago, he got a little Fisher-Price record player and a yellow dump truck. Sighhhh! Where did the last 22 years go! I can't believe how old my kids are getting, for that matter I can't believe how old I'm getting!

Happy LID Anniversary!

Once again, we have made it to the 23rd of the month, our log in date anniversary. It used to be kind of exciting because we knew that we were getting closer to our little girl. Now, it's just like, "Eh, whatever" another month gone by, "big whoop di do!" Sooner or later it's gonna happen! It has too! One of these days things will be totally different and we'll be celebrating our "gotcha day" anniversary! Hallelujah!

Happy Father's Day!

Today we honored the "Big Man"! To start his day, we had blueberry pancakes, bacon and eggs! Then we went to church and the service was, of course, all about dads. It was really good, they even rode a Harley across the stage! The whole thing reeked of testosterone! After, Gary and the boys went and played 18 holes of golf. We ended the day with a cookout by the pool with Gary's dad and brother and his family.

The kids got Gary a movie called 'The Greatest Game Ever Played" and we all watched it after everyone left. (I only pretended to be watching, I was really goofing around on our family blog. he he!)

We really wished Marie could have been here, we all miss her so much!

Amazing Chinese Dancers (all 21 are deaf)! (Click off music video on lower right to hear this video)

Happy Birthday Storm!

Our English Setter, Storm (appropriately named), turned 1 year old today! When we brought him home last September he was so little and sweet. Since then, he has grown into a 73 lb slobbering bulldozer! We have really grown to love him, even though he gives the cat hell and has chewed on nearly everything we own! He didn't like his birthday hat very much, be we made him wear it for his picture.

Happy Birthday Marie and Justin!

Our twins, Marie and Justin, turned 25 years old today! I can't believe that I am even saying that! What's really weird is they are 5 years older than the age that I had them. That day was truly one of the most memorable and blessed days of Gary's and my life. Even though they were born premature, they were incredibly beautiful and healthy! I wish they could have been together for their birthday, but I guess that's life. We celebrated Marie's birthday while we were in Chicago with her and we are celebrating Justin's tomorrow, when he has "time"! Gary took him on an all day golf outing for his birthday and they won't be back until later tonight. What a crazy life we all live, but what are ya gonna do!

Swimsuit Swap!

My Precious Panda friend sent me this cute swimsuit with matching flipflops and sun hat. I can't wait until next summer when Kaelin is wearing them! Thank you so much Laurie!

Our visit to Chicago

We went to see our daughter, Marie, in Chicago over the weekend. We had so much fun with her! On Friday we spent the day with her 2nd grade class. We played games with the kids and painted pictures. Gary was so cute painting a picture with one of the little girls. We also learned some spanish in science class! Part of their school's mission is to encourage the children to be bilingual in many of the subjects. That is so cool! I wish I could post a picture, but I can't do that without permission from all of these beautiful kids parents, oh well! We had such a great time and her class is amazing. Not only are most of them bilingual, they are all so well behaved and smart! She is doing an incredible job with these kids, and it really shows. We couldn't be more proud of her! I was able to post a few pictures of her classroom and some of her with her good friend, since high school, Stephanie. Who is also a teacher in Chicago where they share a really cute apartment together. I wished we had more time to visit, but we plan on coming back again this summer.