"Will Nana be sad in heaven?"

That is what my wise-old soul 6-year old daughter asked me tonight. She was sending a balloon up to Heaven to my Mom and she asked me if Nana would be sad in Heaven this week watching Papa Marry someone other than her (my dad is getting married on Friday - my wonderful Mom passed away in an accident two years and 5 months ago). I told her that Nana would be very grateful that Papa was not lonely anymore and she said "Yeah, I know, but I bet she will still be kind of sad." And there you have it, a taste of what this week will be like for our family.....

Today was an AMAZING day filled with love and laughter as we visited The Beckham family who is in Chicago for my Dad's wedding AND we played softball tonight with my Mom's brother and his family from Colorado there to watch us. I was told how well behaved my children were (which fills be to the brim with pride and gratitude) and a Mom told me she and other moms were in the stands tonight talking about what good, fun, happy coaches Mari and I are for our softball team. I am so happy they think that and they even asked if they could get their daughters on our team next year.

So, amidst a week of happy and challenging moments, I have found SO MUCH JOY. I was given a photo of my Mom today that I have never seen before. She looks so happy and so real in the photo. It was a very kind and thoughtful present. This next couple of days is going to be a challenge, and we will all have very different lives than any of us anticpated in my family.... but, we will still be surrounded with JOY daily, and I pray we always know to look for it.

Here are just a few JOYFUL photos that I stole from Shannon's site.

Milkshake Mix Off

Auntie Shannon surprised me with a new blender that I totally needed, and we christened it tonight with a Milkshake Mix Off. It made me count my blessings... my children totally ROCK, I have such a cool best friend, I finally have a blender that chops ice, and we do lots of fun things that will become traditions that we do over and over.... How did I get so lucky?

Our New Aussie Friends

We were so lucky and blessed to host two amazing women from Australia in our home. Cathy and Natalie were fun house guests who truly loved our children. It was so fun watching them dance and sing and play with them. The girls loves teaching them the happy dance and Kalli LOVED all Natalie's shoes! It was cool to see our kids learn about another country. I always want them to realize just how big and wonderful our world really is. Natalie paid our family a huge compliment when she told us she has always wanted to have kids, now she just wants to have OUR kids because they are so kind and funny and well behaved. She called them her "chicken chops" which I totally loved. We hope they enjoyed touring the US a little and arrived safely back home in Australia.

Life is busy and GOOD

Here are Kalli and Kaya and our dear friends the Steinhardt kids. Sydney and Anthony were SO NICE to the girls when they watched them while the rest of us walked or ran the mini marathon. It was a great day with great friends....

It has been so fun coaching Kalli's instructional softball league. The kids are good listeners and strong little players. I love that Kalli always looks a little different and more spunky than everyone else.

We also are preparing to lose the first tooth in our family which is QUITE the big deal. We took some final photos of Kalli's mouth with all teeth in it - of course, now Kaya thinks she is losing her teeth, too. Ahhhh, we just LOVE spring and everything that comes with it.

We are off to INDY to walk/run in the annual mini-marathon. Kalli's real birthday was fun with family at the mall as well we her dress fitting for Papa Vern's wedding. Her and Kaya look like living dolls in their dresses. We brought MONSTER cookies to her class. She wore mismatched socks and her Hannah Wig to school. She LOVED opening all the surprises from Mimi and Papa (Kaya loved her Pooping on the potty surprises, too!) We ended her fifth year with a birthday bake-off between her and her sissy - it was a BIG MESS but super fun, too.
I tried three times to upload photos - the the site was busy.... will post awesome photos later....
Have a great weekend. Enjoy every moment!

A wonderful day...

Today we had Kalli's 6th birthday party at the mall with just a few friends. It was INCREDIBLE and so much fun. It was a Hannah Montana party at Libby Lu in the mall, and all the girls put on rock star outfits, a wig of their choice, make-up, nails, and lots of glitter. There was dancing in the mall followed by a ride on the merry-go-round and ice cream at Maggie Moos. Libby Lu gave the kids amazing gift bags that included a webkin (which you know the kids went nuts over). It was just the girls having REAL girly fun. I was so proud and excited to simply BE THERE and watch it happen. I took over 300 photos (yes, I realize that is a problem) and most of them take my breath away. Even little Kaya picked a stunning Sharpay (from High School Musical) wig and LOVED IT - she stole the show because she was so little with all the big kids. When they danced in the mall, everyone stopped to look at how cute they all were. It was awesome. One of those days you just feel blessed to be a part of. Happy 6th birthday party day Kal (she really turns 6 on Thursday which means Hannah plates and napkins with PINK Monster cookies for the class). My life changed forever to the good the day I became a mom.

Happy Belated Easter Photos

The Rotary Easter Egg hunt was really cold, but we had a good time anyway!

We had an incredible time at my brother's for Easter - just a happy, peaceful weekend and the kids were SO EXCITED that the Easter Bunny delivered all their Easter surprised to Uncle Matt's place, and she also left the best note under our room door. Very cool. We spent the night at a hotel with an indoor pool, and the kids LOVED it!



Kalli loved standing by her AGE in the pool, and so did little Kaya!


We colored eggs, hunted for baskets and eggs, ate well, and simply enjoyed spending time together. Rahul is the BEST cook and we all ate a little too much, but it was TOTALLY worth the extra Weight Watchers points.