Celebrating our 9th Anniversary

Our actual anniversary date is June 10th, but we decided to make a day of it on Sat. All 3 kids slept at my parents house Fri. night so we could leave early to drive down to the Temple Sat morning. It's been a while, so it was nice to start the day off right-where we started 9 years ago. After that we strolled around and had a picnic lunch. Thank goodness it wasn't raining...again! It's been raining almost every day the past two weeks, maybe longer, I can't remember. We drove back up to York to have dinner at Sam and Tony's in town, then I surprised Mike (or at least I thought I did!) with tickets to the Diana Krall concert at the Strand. She is his favorite jazz singer and pianist, and I really like her too. It was a wonderful evening, the concert was fabulous, we just wished she would have played longer. She was really funny, down to earth, talked about her kids and singing "Wheels on the Bus" all day long, and is a real family person. I wished we could have met her. She isn't in this neck of the woods very often. She had just gotten back from England and Spain, then to York, PA! Shouldn't that be the other way around!

I am very lucky to have such a wonderful husband, I count my blessings every day. Thank you Mike for another great year full of happy memories.

The Christensens

We said good-bye to our dear friends the Christensens yesterday. We have been close for the past six years and have lived just across the fairgrounds from each other. Now they are on their way to live out in Idaho to be closer to their families. I can't say I blame them, it's great to have so many family members close. But I hate change, and they have filled a spot in our hearts that can never be replaced. Thank goodness for technology. They have truly enriched our lives and taught us so much.

We had a going away party for them on Thurs. night-one last time to get together. The cake said "York PA won't be the same without you."

Jamie and I and several other friends put together a scrapbook for them to remember their friends and special memories in PA. They loved it-Josi cried. I was waiting to see the tears from Dave when he saw the scouting pages, but he held back. I bet he let lose later at home!

Men and their babies!

The girls at the party- (L to R)-Jamie, Josi, Amelia Phillips, Nancy Robinson, me and Jess.

Serena is a chip girl-I guess you know she's from York county! We had Utz chips because that's their favorite.

Some one had a cute idea to put all the kids on the steps for a picture. I thought I would include 3 of the many pictures taken of our 16 combined kids from just 5 families! You can kind of see kids starting to fall apart, and it was VERY noisy!

Quarto Maggio-Italian style! (Instead of Cinco de Mayo)

Stasera il pranzo includerà i funghi farciti, parmigiano dello zucchini, spaghetti, grissini, insalata, pizza per i capretti e gelato e tiramisu per il dessert. Stasera l'intrattenimento sarà fornito dai capretti Brandt, Christensen, e Coy. Translation: Tonight’s dinner will include stuffed mushrooms, zucchini parmesan, spaghetti, breadsticks, salad, pizza for kids, and ice cream and tiramisu for dessert. Tonight’s entertainment will be provided by the Brandt, Christensen and Coy kids.

Actually, the kids did a pretty good job of playing upstairs so that the adults could talk in peace. We had a great time. This was probably the last ethnic dinner night with the Christensens. Boo hoo.

The kids made their own home-made ice cream thanks to Jamie's recipe. It's really easy and yummy.

Easter Activities 2009

This was a busy Easter season this year. We started out the holiday weekend by camping on Thurs. night with the Coys and Christensens. This was a miraculous trip based on the fact that we finally got our three families together on the same weekend, noone was sick, and the weather was pretty good. It was probably our only camping trip together, but we made the most of it (as much as you can with 10 little kids!). Thurs. night the kids slowly dropped off to sleep till the adults finally had about an hour to sit around and talk. On Good Friday we set up an Easter egg hunt for the kids around the old ghost town.

It was a pretty relaxing trip except for a bad night's sleep (Serena!). Kids and adults had a blast. I wish we could do it again.

Fri. night we went over to my parents for Chinese food and painting eggs. This was Serena's first attempt at an egg. Actually the first time she grabbed the Q-tip it went into her mouth, which turned blue.Mike made some cool eggs. Saturday was the annual Easter egg hunt over at our park, and the McGladie's.

Sunday morning the boys woke up to find a jelly bean trail left by the Easter bunny. They ventured all through the house and outside to find their treasures at the end. Serena helped eat the jelly beans.

The boys got roller blades this year.

After church we went over to Wanda and Bob's house for dinner and I got some cute pics.

Brothers...

brothers.

Serena and Aunt Wanda.

Of course we had to go over to my parents house Sun. night for one last egg hunt and little baskets from the bunny. My mom has done a good job of scaling back since we have 3 kids!

April Fool's dinner

Yeah, it's been a long time again. I can't even say I know what I've spent my time doing except try to keep up with housework and take care of sick kids (I hope this season is over!). After reading this one, watch the video I just added of Serena taking her first steps! But I decided to make a fun dinner for April Fool's yesterday. Hayden and I really enjoy celebrating all special occasions. I made carrot cake for dinner!

It's actually meatloaf, with a frosting of mashed potatoes! Connor made an awful face when he bit into it, especially because he doesn't like potatoes!