Gilli's Pinkalicious 3rd Birthday

Gillian Claire Mishel is officially 3 years old!!! This year she wanted to have a Pinkalicious Party because she LOVES the book and she LOVES pink! This girly girl wanted pinktails, a pink dress, and pink lemonade for her party! I think she probably dreams in pink! I can't say that I mind either! After two boys, a pink party is a dream for this mom! We turned the house pink, and I think the pictures even all have a pink glare!

Our silly Gilli, a few days before her party, had the cupcake pan on her head!

And the house turns PINK!!!

Every girl had a princess to color pink and pink flip flops to decorate with pink balloons!

We had a pink pinata. I made a pink cupcake cake for her friend party, and my mom made pink cupcakes for the family party. The cupcakes were seriously beautiful with pink icing and pink glitter! My pink cake, however, looked like a child iced it! HA!

Pink flowers and a pink tiara!

The little girls were served watermelon, strawberry yogurt, pink wafers, pink M & M's, and pink lemonade.

The girls had such a good time doing crafts!

Gilli ended up pulling the pink string that broke the pink pinata... not planned!

Cake and present time!

The Pink Princesses

Gilli, Abby, and Myla had a great time with these masks while waiting on family to arrive for the next party!

The family party...

Happy Birthday Gilli Jello!

PINKALICIOUS!!!

Opening her dollhouse and Zhu Zhu pet, Jilly!

She also received some pretty dresses!

Heather,my wonderful and talented friend, made the invite again this year!
Moritz Fine Designs

In this last year, Gillian has completely broken out of her shell! She has gone from "attached to my hip" to asking me to "Go in the other room, mom!" during her pink party! :) Yep, she has become SASSY and SPUNKY and REALLY FUNNY!! She loves pink gum and pink yogurt! She loves to sing Jesus Loves Me and read Pinkalicious books. She loves to make her brothers laugh! She talks about her little sister Gianna and does NOT want a little brother! We love this little girl and her girly giggles! God gave us such a special gift 3 years ago! Happy Birthday Sweet Girl!

It's Back to School for the gBrothers

I can't believe that the summer is over already and it's back to school time! Grant and Grady got on the big yellow school bus today to go to second grade and kindergarten. Grant was ready to go see his friends, but he is not ready for the work! Grady was SO EXCITED and ready!! I hope he isn't disappointed if he doesn't come home with homework after school! :)

I love these handsome boys!!

Yep, they were done with pictures already! :)

They are getting SO big!!

I am praying that they both have a great day!

11 Years

11 years... being married to my best friend, building a family together, and discovering what God has in store for our lives. I can't wait to see where the next 11 years takes us!

Our attempt at setting the timer. We are enjoying an evening outside by the fire, which is one of our favorite things to do together!

Being silly together... He still makes me laugh!

Why I Can't Blog in the Summer

I just can't find the time this summer to sit down and blog! I really need to since we print the blog off to make our scrapbook! So, I will probably be spending the next few weeks blogging and back dating! I see "time" in my very near future as my boys will be starting school in 2 weeks! I still can't even believe our summer is almost over! Where did it go? It was busy!! But on the days we are not busy, the kids are all consuming and sometimes even in a little trouble. Like today.... As I was heading upstairs to take a shower this morning, Grady was asking if he could build onto the swing set. He wanted to extend it! Ummm, not a good idea buddy! Then he asked if he needed to wait on dad to get home, so I gave the easy answer of, "YES, wait on dad!" So, after my very fast shower I came downstairs and Gilli(who is quite the tattletale) says, "Grady is hammering the swings!" This is what I found... He used a piece of Gillian's wood pizza(he made sure to tell me that she said it was okay) to nail many different things into the wood of the swing set. He nailed in a water bottle, bottle lid, car seat manuel, board, rubber tile, and then some random nails here and there. Yep, he "added on"! This would never have happened if Grant had been home! On another day when Grant was gone, Grady used masking tape to tape around the entire play set SEVERAL times. He was making a spider catcher! I did not get pictures of that! Bummer!
And while I was outside for 1 minute taking pictures, the munchkins were helping themselves to popsicles. My ornery middle child who just lost his two top teeth, knew he was in trouble for the nails, so he made sure I knew that he got me a popsicle too! NICE!! I did have to laugh, especially at how happily they presented the popsicles!
Other things that are keeping us busy, besides the mini-vacations that I need to blog about, are the garden and this dresser that I bought for a steal at an antique store. Gerald has been stripping it and I am going to attempt to paint it with milk paint!
Decorating my house always keeps my mind busy. It's my hobby, and I am always looking for fun things to add here and there. I found the first three items at an antique store and the birds at a gift shop. They make me happy!
And here is a little preview of Gillian's Pinkalicious Party this weekend. When she saw the decorations, she said, "That looks awesome!" I can't believe that sweet girl will be 3!! WOAH!!
Goal for tomorrow... Shower before the kids get up!! ;)

It's a niece this time!

In September of last year and again in February of this year, we were at the hospital with my family visiting my two newest nephews. And on June 15th we headed back to the same hospital to meet our niece. This time it was Gerald's sister, Catherine and brother-in-law, Joel. Many of our siblings are having babies, and we feel so blessed to be an aunt and uncle again three times in the last year! Meet our newest family member, Elena! Now Gilli has a girl cousin to play with on Gerald's side of the family!

Proud daddy with his new daughter. Elena came via c-section after Catherine endured a very long labor of 40+ hours!

Gerald and I got to see Elena soon after she was born!

The little g's got to see Elena the next day after VBS! They love their new cousin!

A short time before Catherine had her baby, we had a family gathering at our house to celebrate Father's Day a little early. Gerald and his brother Dannie, stick out their stomachs to compete with Catherine's stomach size! Hilarious! Dannie's wife, Amber, is also pregnant and due in November! We are so happy for them too!

One Month on the Wait List

We have officially been on the wait list for one month for our Gia! This month went by very quickly as we ended the school year, took a trip to King's Island, and had vacation bible school! I think that having 3 busy kids will make the time go by pretty quickly, but let's see if we are still saying that at month 8! We love you Gia and can't wait to see your sweet face!

Grady wasn't feeling well, so he didn't participate in the rest of the craziness!! :)

Yearly King's Island Trip

The end of the school year means it's time for our annual trip to King's Island. Every year we stop on the way to visit our good friends from our days at TU, Jenny and Ben! And every year the time with them goes by WAY TOO FAST! Jenny and I talk on the phone every day and sometimes multiple times a day, so when we actually get to see each other in person, it's difficult to leave!
Jenny has the biggest heart! She got us our first gift for baby Gia, which is now sleeping in a little bed in Gillian's room. This little doll is so soft and will be so loved by Gia! Jenny got one for her little girl too as they are adopting from Ethiopia as well! It's been so fun to go through the process together!

Gerald and Grant are hanging out by the fire at Jenny and Ben's house.

The lovely hosts who fed us dinner and let us spend the evening relaxing by the fire, Jenny and Ben

Jenny with all the kids minus Beckett....

because I was lovin' on this little guy! This is Gillian's future husband, whom she has never met! Yes, we left Gillian again this year at the Nini and Papa Spa and Resort! This gave me time to love on Beckett! I just love him!!

Grady thought Lane was pretty! I hate to break it to him that she is a little too old for him! ;)

And then the next day we made it to the park! This year we didn't take many pictures because we spent a lot of time riding the big coasters! This was the first year that both boys were old enough to ride the big ones! Grant could even ride the biggest coasters and really enjoyed the Diamond Back! Gerald and I, on the other hand, felt a little dizzy after riding the Vortex more times than we could count!

The Burzy family joined us again this year! The kids get along so well!

Grady and Haydn still enjoy the small rides too and loved riding the cars!

Grant and Riley are a couple of old men and rode on the bench on the carousel! :)

On the third day, the boys enjoyed the water park. It was a little cool that day, but that doesn't stop the boys!!

It was another fun year! We can't wait to do it again! Maybe next year Gillian and Gianna will both get to go!!?? Maybe!