I LOVE that picture! I am so disappointed because for some reason the red eye fixer on my computer can't fix these eyes! Maybe if I take it in somewhere they can do it. Oh well, it's still a great picture--clown and all. Mrs. Gan' sent a note and some candy home with Luke from school yesterday. She thanked us for being so generous and said that Luke is still one of her favorite students! He was pretty proud to read that!
Josie loved looking at the animals. She was literally squealing with delight! Everyone around thought she was the cutest thing and of course she was :) Daddy tried to help her touch the animals and yeah, not-so-much. That upset Josie. A lot. Look, but DON'T TOUCH apparently. We headed off to play games. Here's the kiddos taking us down the hallway:
Kaden and Gabriel doing the "pop walk", Gabe just won!
Ball toss:
I called "Josie, smile for Momma!" and this is what I got:
Hmmmm. Not much of a smile. After working the games we had a quick pizza dinner in the cafeteria while we watched the auction for the desserts and bid on some silent auction baskets. We ended up winning one of our baskets, Looney Tunes DVD's, lots of popcorn and movie candy. Yum! :) Up next was the "pie in the face" auction. Last year we won the bidding so Luke could put a pie in his Kindergarten teachers face. Would the boys get to do the same this year?! You'll have to wait and see but I'll tell you I have lots of fun pics to share :)
Seats that fold down into the floor! (the middle seats are stow 'n go---I know you've seen the commercials!)
Light gray leather interior:
Fancy console with a touch screen that works all the audio/video stuff. Very cool :) It's got a 20G hard drive in there, we can save like 25,000 songs on it :) 
Cool feature, a mirror that shows the inside of the van. GREAT for Mom's to keep an eye out:
It's has power doors, power liftgate, rear heat and air, all 7 seats are heated :), it has the back up camera that automatically comes on when the car is in reverse, oh goodness, too many things to list. The part the excites my hubby the most...it has 3 dvd screens. Yep, 3, one for each row! Pretty cool:
Well thanks for looking. We are excited, maybe overly excited. I have cried over it like 3 times already. I'm such a goof. Come down for a visit and I'll let you drive it! :)
Words from the memorial:
When the Cards game ended it was time for dinner, we ate and then dyed our eggs. The kids really enjoyed this. I striped down the boys because I didn't want anyone to stain anything. Not a problem, I don't think we spilled a drop! From my family's tradition growing up we write names on the eggs with a crayon before we dye them. There is always a "Jesus" egg, always an "Easter" egg, and always an ugly egg--this one has no name but is dyed in all the colors. This year we didn't have too many eggs (Luke and I are the only ones who will eat them) and of the few I have 5 didn't make it through boiling so no one is to be offended if your name didn't end up on an egg. We went very generic this year but I promise you were mentioned by name! There were our family's 6 eggs, Jesus, Easter, God, Grandmas, Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, Friends, baseball (uh, yeah!), Air Force, Buzz Lightyear, and the ugly egg. Yummy fun! Here are the pics:
And even though Michael didn't make it into any of the photos, I promise he was there. Did you see his green "Darth" egg? Now you know I wouldn't have made that egg! I'll be back soon to post some pics of Easter morning. :)
She had already started calming down because the candles were gone. Her next move? 
Yeah, that's my girl. Yummy cake. She put her hands right in the top of it. I'm glad she was excited for that part. Here's the fam and the cake:
Gorgeous baby:
Josie enjoying her Daddy's labors:
And are you ready for some of the cutest pictures ever?! Here they are:
Josie is such a sweet, sweet baby. Look at her beautiful hair, Grandmom I know you are loving it!! I am still overjoyed at having a girl. Every night when I lay her in bed and each morning when I lift her out of the crib I thank God for my angel Josie Claire. Happy 2nd Birthday sweetheart!
Oh yes, we went to the doc yesterday and Josie was 25 1/2 pounds and 33 1/2 inches. She is now ON the growth chart, right between 15 and 20%, we're SO excited! Way to go big girl!!! :)
Luke had another game on Sunday and man was it cold! It was in the 40's and the wind was insane! I had all the kids there because Michael left earlier that day to go spend a week in sunny Vegas---bummer! The only reason I stayed and watched the game (as opposed to going and sitting in the van) was that Josie fell asleep---it was her nap time---and I was able to completely cover her with a heavy blanket. I snapped a few quick pics at the beginning of the game:
Last night, Kaden had a game and it was pretty miserable weather for that one too. Thank goodness there was sunshine!!! This time I was more prepared, I brought extra blankets, winter coats, hats, and gloves, the kiddos had on 2 pairs of pants! Poor Kaden-man, he was wearing a 2 shirts, a jersey, a sweatshirt, and his Yankee jacket, and of course extra pants! But I did my job and he stayed warm! We knew that he if won this game he would play another one. I was hoping for them to lose so I could take the kiddos home, it was too cold to be out there, it would be passed their bedtime, and I am still a little sick, I did NOT want to stay. Well, we came back and won the game. Darn! It was now 7:20, my kids go to bed at 7:30...Kaden had another game. The other team was already there and ready to go. Well, the umps disappeared. We didn't start the second game until 7:50 meaning it wouldn't be over until 9! 9, no way! I was too sickly, it was too late, I had 2 pretty stinky boys with me, and Josie was cold! Kaden played the first inning and then I told his coach we had to go, I tried to make it but it wasn't happening. He understood and we left! (Kaden did get to bat first in the 2nd inning so we stayed for that!) I maintain I did the right thing by leaving (don't judge me Thaddeus!!!) It was 45 degrees when we got in the van with some 30-40 mile an hour winds. TOO COLD FOR T-BALL!!! Here are some cute pics from last night despite the cold:
Don't worry I will not forget Gabriel's t-ball story. Craziness last Wednesday, here's the short story: Kelly (friend from high school) was over at the house visiting me. We had AWANA and Gabes had a game. I was counting on Michael taking Gabe to his game because I help lead at AWANA. Well Michael went MIA and so thanks to Kelly Gabriel was able to go to his one inning (big surprise to me!) game and receive his first ever t-ball trophy. Thanks Kelly for your help and for taking this super cute pic of Gabriel:
There are more photos of Josie and her b-day weekend coming, they are too adorable!
