Its a New Day

On Friday, Tristan celebrated his 5th birthday with a few cousins over for a visit. As soon as he came home he asked "Who is going to sing Happy Birthday to me?" and wanted us to practice singing before the cake came. :) How is this the only picture I got of the 5 year old? Eli The kids played a few games: place the soccer player on the ball (pin the tale on the donkey), Bingo, and their favourite - find the candy that Aunt Rachel just threw around the back yard. Julia and Analia checking out some candy that fell in the grass - but when you're 1 what's a little dirt? There was lots of playing in the sandbox too Hannah - the lonely girl with lots of boy cousins (until JAM came into the picture) Julia - the stinker - always trying to get people to laugh The little girls (aka JAM) just ran around and played as 1 year olds are known to do. It was funny to see them all interacting together. Amazing how different the group of kids looks from last year! This picture make...

Sunday is Rachel's 30th Birthday! Growing up we were never really close. With 6 years and 2 sisters between us, we really didn't spend much time together. I always thought that we were worlds apart in our thinking of things in general, but it turns out that we are very similar! Scarily so! I'm so glad for the years that I could spend with and her family and for how she makes me feel so welcome! Rachel is a fantastic mom and her kids love her dearly! Well... he loves smooches now! I didn't realize till doing this that I had the same picture with 2 different kids! We'll have to get one with Julia too! Hannah still doesn't really like smooches, and will often give on your hand or leg. Happy birthday dear sister!

This Sunday is Tristan's 5th birthday!!! Loving the camera Aren't I cute? Please!!! NO MORE PICTURES!!! What do you do with a boy? Well, this boy loves tractors and farms and gettin' stuck in the mud. He loves books and would pour over the tractor magazines looking for Grandpa's, Uncle Barry's, and Raymie's tractors and dad's truck. He taught me everything I know about farming, tractors and when the 'nanure' needs to be spread. Very early on he learned to be a sweet brother to Hannah and now Julia. He is so gentle and tender with little ones and all the cousins just love him. His is one of the first names that they learn! Because I was living with them, he quickly learned to call my name AAAAAunt Jen would be bellowed out. Then for a while it was Jen. On really occasions when he is feeling super sappy, it is Jenny Rose (not really sure how he came up with that except that we called Hannah Hanny Rose and maybe he made that connection). For a lo...

It is a bit late, but Happy Birthday to Mike! Mike is my only older brother! He was 'known' to our family - or at least to me - many years before he started dating Karen. When I was 16 I went to the youth group across the street from my high school. One night we were playing Russians and Christians (that tells you how long ago it was!). The point of the game was that you had a slip of paper that said you were a Russian, a Christian or on the fence. If you were a christian you wanted to get at least 3 other christians together to sing a song, recite a memory verse and pray. If you were a Russian you wanted to catch the Christians and bring them to jail (it was an area in the gym). Doug (the youth leader) was the judge and would sentence you to jail or let you go free. If you were on the fence you had to decided then and there if you were a Christian or a Russian. Sometimes Russians would 'pretend' to be christians so that they could catch them. Well, I was a Russian and ...