Girls Night Out- Concert!

December 5th Kelly and I enjoyed a very fun girls night out with our buddies Kathy and Emily. Shawn had bought us tickets a while back to go to the Cheetah Girls concert in Milwaukee. What a fun time! We ate out for dinner before the show and then headed to the big concert. It was Emily's first concert so Kelly was excited to show and explain everything to her. Kathy and I had as much fun as the girls did!! The Cheetah Girls were awesome, very talented and very entertaining. A great night!

Fall Fun

Happy Birthday Kelly!!!

Oh yikes, my little girl turned 9 years old yesterday. She had a FABULOUS birthday for many reasons.

• Her dear friend Sylvia spent the weekend with us
• her Grandma & Grandpa H. drove up to celebrate with her
• her Nana is well enough to be with us
• she watched her favorite movie, High School Musical 3, with 12 of her favorite friends and cousins
• last night we celebrated some more with 19 members of our family
• her long list of presents included American Girl doll clothes & matching pajamas, new barbies, littlest pet shop toys, crafts, Amer. Girl doll books & toys, her long-awaited Nintendo DS player and games, fashion designer stuff, gift cards, jewelry, cash...
• plus more blessings I know I'm forgetting because it was such a whirlwind day
• oh yeah she spent the morning in the pool at her swimming lesson which she could do for hours, just swim back and forth (i think it is her own little sanctuary in that pool just doing laps)

Kelly, I am so very blessed to be your mom. You have taught me so many lessons over the past 9 years (plus 9 months before that). I wouldn't trade one day with you for all the treasures in this world. I don't know why God chose me to be your mom but I am so very grateful He did. I love you, sweetheart! You are such a blessing to your family & friends.

Happy Halloween!

The girls were too cute on Halloween. Kelly dressed up as her favorite movie star, Gabriella from High School Musical. Kaitlyn chose to be Tinkerbell and wore the same costume that Grandma H. had made for Kelly 4 years ago. The Sunday before Halloween we hit Grammy & Poppy's house then Kyle & Sam's neighborhood, it was a very windy day. Kaitlyn nearly blew away down Kyle & Sam's street.

Our trick-or-treating was Halloween night. It was a beautiful day & evening with really warm temperatures & sunshine (at least til it got dark out :). We visited Nana & Papa's house first, then did our little street. The girls were more excited to pass out candy that night but sadly we only had maybe 10 kids visit all night.

GIRLS NIGHT OUT!!

Oct. 25th was a great night out! I had the pleasure of spending it with my dearest friends Kathy, Janet, Jody, and Jenni. We started early (because you know it does take hours to get to the theater!) with a delicious Mexican dinner and adult conversation. Then we saw lots of familiar faces at the concert, especially more dear friends Toni & Kelsi. The concert was amazing, two of my favorites of all time, Michael W. Smith and Steven Curtis Chapman together. Three hours of the most amazing worship music & testimonies. I had the BEST time with you girls, thank you!!

Summer 2008

Precious Friends
Here are 3 of my greatest friends in the whole world! Janet, me, Kathy, and Jody (left to right) were co-workers at school many years ago. Before all of our kids were born, we used to meet each week at work for a Bible study and to lift each other up in prayer. Girls, I miss that time in our lives and wish somehow we could do that again. Below are our kids, the greatest blessings God has given us. Jenni & Cathy, we missed you that day!!

Happy Birthday Kyle!

Our cousin Kyle turned 8 years old! Yikes, you guys are getting too big. We had a good time hanging out at Uncle Scott & Aunt Jenny's house, swimming, eating, and being with our family. Happy Birthday, Kyle! We love you very much!

Six Flags with the Naber's

More fun at Six Flags! We are enjoying our season passes (thanks Daddy!) and spent the day with Toni, Tristan, and Ryley. Thanks guys, we had a great time with you!

My little pop star

Kelly was invited to a birthday party (for one of my student's) at Club Libby Lu. She was so excited to go because she is seriously contemplating having HER birthday there. Anyway, she picked out the "pop star" outfit and loved getting her hair, nails, and make-up done.

Kelly's First Piano Recital

This post is long overdue but recently re-found these photos and had to share because I am so proud of my Kelly! She had her first piano recital on April 20th. She definitely had butterflies and was quite nervous but she played like a pro! We were so proud! (oops think I already said that)

Photos below show her practicing at home right before the recital, with the greatest piano teacher in the world Mrs. Peterson, and Kelly's fan club. Nana, Papa, Uncle Tommy, Grammy, Poppy, Mommy, Daddy, and Katey were all there to cheer her on! Way to go, Kelly!

Happy Father's Day! Camping trip with the Olzewski's

Kyle, Nick, & Kelly posing with Yogi Bear. We walked the little girls over, too, to Yogi's cave to wake him up Sunday morning.

Happy Father's Day, Daddy! Kaitlyn loves you so much!

Love this photo of our 5 beautiful (and handsome!) kids!

Father's Day weekend we had so much fun camping with our dearest and oldest friends, the Olzewksi's. The kids had a blast all weekend hanging out, swimming, mini-golfing, and playing. It was our first adventure with our lovely little pop-up camper. Friday night was very rough trying to set it up and the camper did not cooperate, to say the least. Thank God Kim & John were there to help us, otherwise we'd have been heading back home.

It was a great time hanging out all together and kicking off our summers, celebrating 2 great dads, Shawn and John! Thank you guys for a great weekend!

Six Flags with the Pichelmann's

June 11th we had a blast at Six Flags Great America with our buddies Emily, Travis, and Kathy. It was a warm, sunny day so we hit the rides and the water park. The kids had a great time, so did the moms! Kaitlyn is so much taller this year and met the next height bracket to go on more "big girl rides" she called them. She even went on the Whizzer for the first time!!!! She begged me and finally I said yes. Of course I was more scared and she was so excited. That child has no fear!