Another nephew on the way!!

My sister Crystal and her husband JD just found out they will be having another boy! This will be their third little guy, and I'm so happy to be getting another nephew! When she called to tell me the news, I could not stop laughing...of all of us, I ALWAYS assumed Crystal would be the one with the girls! Life is funny... They are very excited, though in a little shock I think :) Emma, on the other hand, was a little unhappy that it's going to be a boy. She is surrounded by boy cousins (except for Isabella on Dave's side).. As I was talking to her about all the good things about having another boy cousin, she looked at me and said, "Mom, you get what you get and you don't throw a fit, right?" Oh, I gotta love the things she learns at school :).... Anyway, this past weekend was crazy, we had a lot of things going on. We had our big Walk to Defeat ALS at the Salem Riverfront, and the Peters Family reunion in Dallas. And we actually survived the weekend with 8 people (4 of them kids uner 5) in my moms house and we mostly got enough sleep (I think) :) Anyway, here's some pictures from the weekend.. As you can see , both Dave and JD are missing from the pictures, both the guys had to work... we did bring them home food from the reunion though :)

Just hanging out

In the midst of a crazy weekend, we did have a little time to just hang out. here are some of the quieter moments :)

Emma and Max

Benny

Nana taking the kids for a walk

Benjamin and Jackson in the sandbox

Austin and Jack on the carousel with Aunt Nikki!

Jackson and Emma with some treasures they found in the woods

Peters family reunion :)

What a fun time catching up with family at the park! Even though it rained we had a great time, and of course, this group ALWAYS provides some awesome food! Here's a few pictures..

What's a picnic at the park without some good watermelon?? :) Benny just dug right in..

Look at all these boys! The guy cousins, and one more little guy on the way... this is Tanner, Cody, Austin, Jackson, and Benjamin

Some of the gals

Some of the guys

3 generations- love you girls!

Walk to Defeat ALS/ Lou Gherigs Disease 2008

The Walk to Defeat AlS was awesome this year, and our team had definatley grown! There seemed to be a lot more people overall too, and we had a great time. Our team got second place in the fundraiser, and afterward we had a big picnic at the park...what a fun time and for a great cause...Good Job Sandy's Striders!

And off we go....



Nana and Jack


The kids watching the ferry...Austin, Brandon, Jack, Connor, Emma and Ben


Jack and Ben are ready to go...

Ben

Sometimes Ben flies under the radar at out house because Big Sister demands most of the attention. She talks all day :), sings, puts on "shows", does tricks, and likes to "help" little brother as much as she can. Ben kinda just does his own thing and basically just tries to keep up and be involved :) So, I thought it was time I posted just some pictures of Benny, because he is growing up way too fast for us. Yesterday he got his first haircut at a real barbershop! I took him to the Barbers, which is where Dave goes, and they treated him like a king. This place is totally for guys, no girls allowed :) They have Sports stuff everywhere, TV's, popcorn and some manly toys, of course.... Ben LOVED it, and he sat still the whole time, and i think his favorite part was the shoulder massage he got at the end :) This haircut really made him look older, a little more like a boy than a baby... I think he's very handsome! Here are a few pics of him with his new haircut....




He's trying to talk a lot, mostly it doesn't make sense but he's sure trying.. He loves trains and cows, and copies everything emma does. He does not like to eat very much right now, but will drink most anything. The only way we can get him to eat vegatables is by drinking V8 Juice and munching on corn on the cob :) He loves to organize things and rearrange the stuff in all out drawers, which makes life really interesting... but this little guy can make us laugh so hard, i think he's going to have a pretty funny personality. So, there's a little update on Ben, below is a video of him saying a few words...

Benjamin talking

First day of School

Well, I can't believe it but today was Emma's first day of Pre-K! So exciting, and she did awesome... I thought she might be nervous but she went right in the classroom and we found her seat and she said "Bye Mom" ... I didn't want to be one of those moms that just kept hanging around wiping their eyes, so I left pretty quick :) Anyway, she had a great day and can't wait to go back on Friday!




....And here she is at school sitting in her assigned seat :) Is she her daddy's girl or what? This is such a Dave face. The minute we got into school Emma was not all about me taking her picture (I wonder who that's like :))