Layla's party

So, it has now been a week and a half since we had Layla's birthday party! But oh well, at least I'm getting to it...finally:)

As you see in the previous post, our amazingly sweet lovely Layla turned one last week! We had a party for her at my parents' house. It was really fun, although I guess it turns out that Layla hates cake! (see following pictures)

So...thanks mom and dad for hosting, and everyone else for coming! We (and Layla) appreciate all of you very much!

Halle was our little helper that day. She learned how to wash lettuce:)

and she helped Nathan decorate the cake!

Layla's cake (the one that she was supposed to dig into and eat...)

and the other cake. we are running out of girly ideas! this rainbow cake was pretty easy to make, so we gave it a try:)

Layla is wondering what in the world is going on...

and she grabs the cake! i thought she would like it, but i guess she didn't like having the frosting all over her hands:) this is what ticked her off, i think.

and she doesn't like it...

poor Layla:)

not a happy camper!

I think she was saying "get me out of here!" So we did:)

She really enjoyed her gifts, though!

And so did Halle:) Poor Layla, she has it rough being the youngest child sometimes!

chewing on the fish that Kaine got for her

Uncle Kyle is trying to teach her to walk...which by the way, she is getting so close! Hopefully we will have a blog post in the very near future of her first steps!!

What a sweet girl:) We love her so much!

Also...so awesome!! We did not think Aaron and Jill would be able to make it in time for Layla's party, which was so sad:( But they ended up getting their paperwork and drove all the way home from Florida, getting back home about an hour or two before the party! We were so glad they could come, and it was so so so neat because it was the first time any of us have ever met Ivy! She is such a sweet baby...we love her so much already:) I'm sure she will be showing up in many future blog posts:) So here is the first "cousin picture"!

Happy Birthday to Layla!!

Well, I actually forgot to post yesterday for Layla's birthday! But yesterday (November 23) our sweet baby Layla turned 1! I really cannot believe it's been a whole year since she was born. She is really such a sweet baby--what a great personality! She is a content and happy baby, even when being tackled by her well-meaning brother and sister:) She is one tough little cookie!

Happy Birthday, Layla! You bring so much joy to all of our lives. We are so thankful that God has blessed us with such a sweet daughter!

Ivy Elena

I am very very proud to announce that I am an aunt!! My sister Jill and her husband Aaron just adopted a beautiful baby, and her name is Ivy Elena. Ivy was actually born about a week and a half ago, but Jill just emailed me pictures last night (all that they have right now is a hotel computer). So I was so excited to post these and introduce Ivy to you all!

Ivy was born in Jacksonville, FL. Jill has now been down there for 3 1/2 weeks! They thought the baby might come early, so she went down about a week before the due date just in case (actually, my mom and I went with her! We spent a week in FL, just the 3 of us!). Anyway, Ivy did not come early:) I went home after about a week, and my mom stayed with Jill. Aaron was planning to catch a flight down there with the birth mom went into labor (he couldn't get many days off work) but he decided to fly down a little early to surprise Jill:) She was extremely, super excited to see him!! So Jill and Aaron just hung out in FL for a few days, and then Ivy was born on November 7 (about a week after the actual due date). Now, they are still in Florida, just waiting on all the paperwork to go through (the papers that let them leave the state, and also to bring Ivy to Indiana). Hopefully it will all go through soon--I can't wait to meet Ivy! She is growing so fast already, and I can't wait to hold the little sweetie. She is gorgeous (as you can see in the pictures!) Actually, a lot of you have probably seen these pictures, because I know Jill sent them to quite a few people yesterday.

Here they are, at the beach--what a beautiful family!!

This is so cute--Jill told me that Aaron is the BEST daddy--he and Jill have been splitting the night shifts with Ivy. I love this picture:) Aaron, we knew you would be a great dad!

I think this is my favorite:)

Or maybe this one...I love how she is sleeping so peacefully!

See what I mean about how she is growing up so fast? She is looking so alert in this picture!

What a cutie! I love her so much already and I haven't even met her yet!

Aaron and Jill, congratulations!! We are so excited to meet our new niece! She is just beautiful:) We love you guys!

my little flower girl:)

Halle had the honor of being the flower girl in my cousin Amy's wedding on Friday! It was a very beautiful wedding--Amy was an incredibly gorgeous bride and Halle was an incredibly adorable flower girl:) And a HUGE thanks to my Uncle Rick and Aunt Joyce for being so generous to buy Halle's dress!! We love it (and Halle is so proud of it:) )

Halle is all ready for the wedding...

These are the cuties that Halle walked down the aisle with. Avery and Atticus, my cousin Amber's boys. Halle (and Kaine) love being with these 2!

Halle and Amy:)

Halle receives her beautiful flowers before the wedding--she loves them!! They aren't real, so now they are displayed in her bedroom:)

Walking down the aisle! We were soooo proud of Halle. She is only 2, so I wasn't sure how she would do, walking down in front of the crowd. But as you can see, she did great:)

Our family at the reception (with a shirt over Halle's dress to try and protect it from spills!)

Halle on the dance floor!! She really wanted to dance! She loves to perform for people:)

Congrats, Brent and Amy! You guys had a really beautiful wedding. Thanks so much for asking Halle to be in it!

A new bed!

Well, we have finally graduated Halle from her crib! My extremely generous grandparents, the very good looking Dick and Lil Yergler (pictured below) gave us a really nice day bed with a trundle bed that pulls out! This is perfect for our situation, because the bedroom isn't huge, so during the day we just push in Halle's trundle bed and there is much more floor space. Perfect! Kaine and Halle LOVE their new bed. The other day they sat on it for probably an hour and looked through just about every book in their bookshelf. (It was wonderful! This is not a common thing!) They also love jumping on it--it is a great jumping bed, because they can jump from the top one to the bottom one. Probably not very safe, but fun:)

My wonderful grandparents:)

A picture of Kaine and Halle, their first night sleeping in their new bed. I just love sleeping kids--they are so cute!

Thanks, Grandpa and Grandma!

West Virginia

Nathan's sister Jenna was just home for a visit! We always love hanging out with her--so sad that it is only a couple times a year! We always have a great time. Nathan's parents took us on a short vacation to West Virginia. It is beautiful there, especially this time of year! We had a great time, and once again, there are a ton of pictures in this post! I tend to get camera-happy at times:) Anyway, here we go...

Kaine and Halle are very cozy and ready to go in our jam-packed van

Halle was fighting sleep just minutes from our destination! I tried to so hard to keep her awake, so that she could take a good nap when we got to our cabin. But as you can see, this girl was TIRED!

Nathan and Kaine with their "mean" faces (while doing "manly" things like lighting sticks on fire!)

Jenna, Grandma, and Nathan

Jenna really wanted to be in this picture, too:)

I am so glad Nathan's grandma came along! Our kids spent a lot of time with her, which they usually don't get. We had lots of fun with Gma!

Kaine likes to take pictures, and they are usually always tilted!

hanging out

This little sweetie got tons of attention! I'm sure she loved being on vacation (minus the long car ride!)

Layla with Grandma Terri:)

She is so much fun! What a great age!

Kaine's favorite game--hide and seek football tag (or something like that). Grandpa Dave is "it"--do you see Kaine hiding?

I love this picture! Layla and her uncle Kyle. I am really glad Kyle came with us, too, even though our craziness did drive him nuts at times:)

I LOVE this picture of Layla and Jenna! So cute!!

I also love this one! Layla has no idea what it going on:)

ready to go on a walk

Layla wearing grandpa Dave's hat

Kaine lighting something else on fire:)

Kaine and Halle play so well together! (most of the time:) ) They had fun playing horseshoes.

Gma feeding Layla--I had so much help during our trip!

Kaine speeding down the ramp (see his tongue sticking out? that means he is concentrating:) He gets that from his grandpa Dave!)

Kaine trying to feed a caterpillar

Another of Kaine's tilted pictures:)

One morning, Kyle and Jenna went on a walk and Kyle found a walking stick that was super long! Probably 6 or 7 feet! So later in the day, Nathan decided to one-up Kyle and dragged this tree out of the woods! He told Kaine to go in the cabin and tell uncle Kyle to come out and see a real man's walking stick! It was funny:)

Kaine loves to act silly!

Nathan took Halle on a walk, pulling her in this cooler! He is very resourceful:)

Layla with her grandpa and grandma

Our little sweetie:)

Another great picture of Jenna and Layla!

The whole family played miniature golf!

Halle soon got bored with golf and was thrilled to find these leaves to play in!

Like I said, thrilled!!

What a great trip! Jenna, we had so much fun with you! And of course with everyone else, too:) Thanks so much, dad and mom!! We love you!