Pancakes and...I'm an aunt!!!

Growing up, one of my favorite memories of my grandma's house was her "all-over-the-skillet" pancakes. Yum, they are sooooo good! (they are basically like a crepe). So this past Saturday, grandma did a "cooking class" for her granddaughters! It was so fun! We are going to try to think of another food that she can teach us, just so we can get together again:)

Grandma in action!

She made all of us try to make one...mine actually turned out pretty good! It stayed in one piece, anyway:)

All the ladies of the family (minus Halle and Layla, of course!)
mom, me, grandma, amber, joyce, jill, amy

Then, we went to Jill and Aaron's house to celebrate my beautiful mother's birthday! If I look as good as she does when I am her age, I will be very thankful!

Here is mom with Halle. Halle just LOVES her grandma!

A beautiful pic of our little love:)

Halle with Aunt Jill. Jill is AMAZING with our kids!!! What a great aunt!

Halle with her crazy look:)

Jill and Halle again. I am starting to feel bad, because all these pictures are of Halle! She is at such an amazingly cute age right now, that she is just a magnet for my camera:)

Kaine and Halle are becoming very good friends! We are so thankful for how well they are getting along and playing together lately!

Trying to get a good group shot:) My three cuties!!

My beautiful, big-blue-eyed Layla with a little bit crazy hair:) She is such a SWEET baby!

And...in bigger news...(drumroll please)...

If you are wondering about the title, Jill and Aaron are in the process of adoption and they just found out they have been matched with a baby! Yay! So I will be an aunt! And our kids will have cousins--they are very excited! Aaron and Jill, we love you guys so much and we know you will be AMAZING, godly parents! We are so excited to meet your baby (not due until October 30). We love him or her already! And we love you guys!

what an amazing daddy!

Natie, you are such a wonderful dad!! What a Godly example you are for our kids! You play with them all the time and you thoroughly enjoy being with them; you teach them sooooo much Scripture and about living a Christian life. I appreciate all that you do--you are truly a fantastic daddy! We all love you!!!

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!

loving the summer!!!

We are loving this hot weather! We have gotten out the little pools, and Kaine and Halle are just loving it. (they are enjoying our little pools so much that so far, one of our little pools and also the cool elephant slide on the other pool have both popped! after only 2 or 3 days of use! bummer.)

Anyway, here are some pictures of the kiddos enjoying the weather. Plus a couple of indoor shots that are just super cute so I am including them:)

Our sweet little Layla is growing up so fast! I can't believe she is already 6 months. She is such a joy, to all of us!

This is a classic silly dance that Kaine does:) He is such a funny kid!

And speaking of funny, I caught Halle in this pose! She looks like she is modeling...yikes!

Halle sliding into the really cool pool that we don't have anymore:)

...and Kaine riding on the whale of this really cool pool that is no more. Seriously, though, doesn't this pool look like so much fun? And even better, we got it for $2 at a garage sale! So sad that it didn't last:(

This is very classic. I say, "okay, guys, say 'cheeeeeeese'...and Kaine, put your arm around Halle!" And this is what I get. They are saying "cheeeeeese", but it also looks like Kaine is choking Halle...so she ends up with this expression on her face. Happens quite a bit!

Another classic Halle face:)

Finally a good picture! (and by the way, this is the cool elephant slide that popped...blah)

Flexing for the camera:)

Halle has been enjoying the outdoors so much lately, this is where I randomly found her one morning last week. Not during her nap time! She was so tired:)

We were so excited when Amy called to see if we could watch Hudson one day! Kaine and Hudson had a blast. Turns out they share a love for swords, playing "soldier", etc....they had lots of fun together:) Herre they are pretending they are soldiers in the Israelite army:) So cute!

My beautiful Halle:) She is such a sweet, fun girl!!

Layla also loves this weather. She loves the swing! She is content to just sit in it.

We are hoping this wonderful weather lasts! It is so great to get out of the house:) Have a great week, everyone!!

a few recent pictures...

I thought I would post a few pictures from the last couple of days...

Kaine is feeding Layla a bottle:)

Layla's first time eating cereal! She seems to like it.

Kaine and Halle playing in the puddles with their friends:)

Kaine and his best friend, Marlee:)

The other day I heard Layla was crying, up from her nap. I asked Kaine to go in and talk to her while I made her bottle. So when I went in there, Kaine was laying in bed beside her, just talking to her. She was really happy! It was adorable:)

Layla was LOVING the swing today! HUGE smiles!

They are getting to be pretty good friends:)

Love you all!

Pokagon, etc.

This past weekend we had our 4th Gateway Pokagon retreat! It was great. Kaine is at the age that he is beginning to LOVE the pool! That's all he wanted to do. We had a good time hanging out with other employees, plus it was nice because Nathan's mom and dad went, too.

Halle is ready to swim!

Mom babysat for Layla in her cute little swimsuit:)

Layla kind of liked the pool. She lasted about 5 minutes:) Maybe next year.

Halle with Grandpa Dave

She had a blast!

Kaine was so cute swimming around with his orange water wings! He is such a little stud!

Kaine and Nathan with their water guns

Swimming made Layla tired!

Our 3 kiddos

Going on a walk--carrying 2 daughters is good exercise!

See? I told you he is a stud:)

I love these kids

Back home, the 2 sisters hanging out in their chairs

Layla's first time in a swing!

This was a few days ago. I know it has been pretty nice outside, but really...swimming in a pool filled with hose water? I don't know how kids do it.

Halle and Gavin are becoming friends:)

Layla, lounging on the trampoling

Here is a cute picture of Halle in her Russian-looking coat/hat combo

Gateway's Baby Boom!

Some people say it must be in the water here at Gateway...haha. Well, whatever it is, these are the 6 newest additions to the houseparent staff here at GW! Starting back in July (I think) we have had a slew of baby girls born to houseparents! Thanks to a great idea from Stef Beer, we decided this was a great photo opportunity! I'll tell you, it is tough to get 6 babies to cooperate at the same time for a picture! But I think they turned out cute:) Layla didn't enjoy the photo shoot much, as you can tell in the second picture!

In the first picture:
(back row): Kylie Drayer (Bruce and Heather's), Talise Eisenmann (Darren and Britni's)
(middle row):Olivia Beer (Shane and Stefanie's), Layla (ours)
(front row): Josie Hodel (Dustin and Mandy's) and Madeline Suvar (Paul and Nichole's)

Happy Birthday Halle!!

Today is Halle's 2nd birthday! Wow, time flies. Halle is such a sweet girl, with such a fun personality! We love you, Halle!