Merry Christmas!

Gabbi's 3!

Our "baby" turned 3!  Sniff sniff...  We had a little princess party with the neighbors to celebrate.

Some of the pretty princesses dining.

 We love this girl so much!

 There might be an extra candle on the cake, the queen was never really good at math:)

Some of the princesses (and a prince) were inspired by the recent Olympics and decided to change into leotards.  I believe this picture depicts a group floor routine.

Sweet Emery sporting a backwards power ranger mask and a vintage leotard, circa '94.

The girls "helping" Gabbi open presents.

 Gabbi's bestie, Zoe.

 Everyone whacking the princess pinata, which made the birthday girl a little sad.

The pinata aftermath.

 Someone (finally) got moved to her big girl bed.

We are super thankful to have such great friends/neighbors to help "fill the gap" of not being near to family anymore, we had a great night celebrating.

Summertime

Daddy-daughter dance.

 Bern and Bella's roller skate birthday party.

 Bella with her teacher and one of her besties.

 Gabbi always gets swarmed when we're at school.

 Bern gets the ravenous reader award (he's embarrassed).

 We loved Mrs. Mclendon

 Brian got a new car, the geo is finally being retired.

 We got to celebrate Bella's birthday with our families in IL.

 My dad, stepmom, and kiddos.

 And finally met Milo, our newest cousin/nephew.

 We're all a bit smitten with the cutie-pie.

 We also celebrated the 4th of July, and some lovely weddings.

Our sweet niece, Elyse, and a silly Indian doing a rain dance.

The gang at cousin Jess's wedding.

 My mom saying goodbye to the kids.

We had such a lovely visit home, it was so relaxing, yummy, and great to spend time with our families.   We returned home with very happy hearts.

Happy Birthday Bernard!

 9 years ago Bernard joined our family.  He's a huge blessing to us, and we are so proud of the little man he's becoming.  He's matured so much this year, and has just blossomed at his new school.

Getting some love from Dad.

Getting some love from classmates.

Spring!

Easter

Checking out their loot.

Spring break at VA Beach

Bernard was a sand castle machine.  The city behind Bernard was someone else's.  Had a friendly competition going.

Sisters.

Portsmouth children's museum.