Our trip to San Antonio

Last week we returned home from a great 2 week trip to see family and a few friends in San Antonio.
The kids did beautifully in the car. We left at 6:30 in the morning and arrived at the Judisch household at 2:30 in the afternoon. Lillian only cried for a total of 15 minutes!

Grammie and Grandpa meeting Lillian for the first time

This was our first time meeting Cambria; who is only 5 days younger than Lillian.
They are being called the "twin cousins". (Cambria is the one on the left with all the hair!)

Checking each other out.

We went to the zoo with Mom and Dad J. and the May family.
Big kids on the lions.

Aidan on the big lion.

Flamingos.

Bears?

It was very hot and we did not get to see many animals. So, we went back to the Judisch house for dinner and swimming.

Evelyn and her bangs...that she cut herself...AGAIN!

Madeline jumping in.

We had a nice time just hanging out around the house relaxing and enjoying each other's company.
Grandpa coloring with the girls.

Grammie pushing Aidan and Evelyn on the swing.

All 10 grankids!
Top Left: Grandpa, Carson, Valie, Grammie
Bottom Left: Avery holding Cambria, Ian, Aidan, Moira, Evelyn, Madeline holding Lillian.

We also had the opportunity to go out to the Macaroni Grill with just the adults and the two babies. Grammie and Grandpa holding their two new grand babies at the resturant.

While we were there, Valie turned 3!

We got to go to her party at Inflatable World where the kids had a blast bouncing...

and sliding, for hours!

The second week there we moved over to the Hawthorn house. We started off that week by throwing my mom a surprise retirement party at Mamma's Cafe.
Some of her friends throughout her years of teaching came.

Of course, family was there too!

My mom has had an amazing career as a special education teacher for 31 years. We were thrilled to honor her with this party.

Over with the Hawthorn clan, we had the joy of meeting another cousin for the first time.
This is Melissa and Jonathan's baby Avery (yes another Avery!) with Lillian. She is 3 months older than Lillian.

Head to head.

It was fun to catch up with everyone.
Gran with the girls.

Grandaddy with Lillian and the play gym that every Hawthorn grandchild has played with.

One night Elizabeth and Jonathan stayed over for a slumber party.
Here are the kids watching "Enchanted".

They became inspired by the movie and danced along.
Madeline and Jonathan.

Elizabeth and Evelyn.

Bedtime.

We got to go to Lucia's first birthday party while we were there too!
I think we had more fun than she did...it was a bit much for her...
but Julie did an awesome job on the cake!
We were also able to meet up with our friends the Greens!
We went to their house for a delicious dinner and the next day, Stephanie brought the kids over to swim.
Evelyn, Madeline, and Emma.

Garfield, Stephanie, and Elizabeth.

We did a lot of swimming at the Hawthorn's.
Elizabeth and Madeline.

The group...Lillian did not like the water...

Aidan and Neal.

Lillian decided it was time to impress everyone with her great skills and started supporting her head up very, very well for a 6 week old baby.

She continued to amaze up by rolling over from her tummy to her back...again, at 6 weeks old!
In addition, she won everybody's hearts with her winning, dimply smile.

The trip back home also went very well. We again left at 6:30 in the morning and arrived in Norman at 2:30 in the afternoon. Lillian did not cry once! It was hard to leave our friends and family in San Antonio...in fact we extended our stay an extra day, and would've stayed longer if we could! However, we are thankful for our parents' graciousness in opening up their homes and feeding 6 more people.
We had a blast!

10 Years!

Yesterday, Neal and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary! I can't believe it has been so long. We were reminiscing over our marriage last night, the good, the bad, and the ugly times. Through it all, God has preserved us and blessed us more than we ever imagined He would. Most of all, I have been blessed with a man who fears God and who loves me unconditionally.

To celebrate we went to an art exhibit opening, "Tradition in Transition, Russian Icons in the age of the Romanovs" located at the University art museum. It was very interesting and quite fancy with wine and cheese offered in the gallery before entering. Afterwards, we went out for dinner. We had a wonderful time together. For pictures go to Neal's blog.

We had a WONDERFUL weekend!

School was over for Aidan on Friday, so our summer is beginning!

The Rey family came for a visit Friday evening and left Monday morning. We were thrilled to show off our new little addition, and we had a fun and eventful visit with our family.

Meeting Lillian

On Saturday, we all went to the Natural History Museum here in town. It is really quite fascinating and one of our favorite places to go.

They have a very large prehistoric exhibit with dinosaur skeletons of all eras and sizes.

Here is Aidan being squished by a Mammoth foot...he came up with this pose all on his own!

After wandering around the museum for a couple of hours, we took a picnic lunch to OU, let the kids run around on the lawns, and showed Michael and Julie where Neal works.

Picnicking kids

On Sunday morning, we all headed off to church to celebrate Lillian's baptism!

Isn't she beautiful...

And now it is time for an announcement...for those of you who may not know yet, we have found a church home! We are very excited and thrilled that God has brought us to this church. Two Saturdays ago, at the Vigil of Pentecost, we joined the congregation of St. Thomas More Catholic Church...yes, I wrote CATHOLIC! For a couple of years, Neal has been struggling with some theological issues. After much, much prayer and study, he has found the answers in the Catholic Church. He broached the subject with me about 6 months ago and although I was COMPLETELY shocked, I heard him out, listened to his arguments and did a lot of study on my own. ( I trust my husband as the head of our home in EVERY WAY and I know that he would not lead us into apostasy.) Together we have gone through a transformation that can only come from God. We have learned a lot about the Catholic Church and have learned that we had many misconceptions concerning it. Neal has set up a blog to explain our journey. In his words, "for those who'd like to know why, [his] blog is dedicated to explaining, bit by bit, how a couple of card-carrying Calvinists who at least looked as though they had their wits more or less about them managed to migrate their way across the long and arduous path from Geneva to Rome." I have added the link to the blog role on this site. I am going to keep this blog as an update on our family doings, so if anyone wants to discuss our conversion then please, call, e-mail, or comment on Neal's blog. We will be more than happy to talk to everyone about this change in our lives!

So, to continue on with our weekend...Lillian was baptized by our priest Father Ray...

...and Julie and Michael are her proud Godparents!

After the baptism, we went out to lunch at BJ's, a nice pizza joint, then back to our house to relax. We all had a wonderful time catching up and the kids had a blast playing with their cousins Turner and Lucia.

After they left Monday morning, we had a family day together relaxing and grilling burgers.

Hope you all had a great long weekend too!

Aren't Babies Wonderful?

This morning while folding laundry, Lillian was happy in her cradle. She started fussing, so I looked over to see mustard-poop oozing out of her gown. I take her to her changing station and begin the tedious process of removing the gown without getting any more poop smeared on the baby. (I have found that rolling the garment to trap in the poop works best.) Once the garment is off, I begin wiping her down and she decides it is a good time to spit-up the rest of what was left in her tummy. I take a break from wiping down one end to wipe down the other - so she doesn't get puke in her nose. Once that is cleaned up, I finish wiping up the yellow stuff. As I am reaching for a new diaper, a large grin appears on her face as she pees all over her legs and changing pad. Needless to say, the laundry is in the machine now and the baby has had a nice morning bath...Good times!

Happy Birthday Neal!

Eleven years ago today, Neal asked me to marry him. I had planned a fun birthday date for him and he ruined it all by proposing to me! How could I top that!? I guess my saying "yes" was a good enough present...

Neal is an amazing husband. He has loved me through all things, at my worst and at my best - which still isn't all that great. He is also a wonderful daddy. His kids adore him!

We are so blessed by this man!

Happy Birthday my love!

At Home with Lillian

Our first 2 weeks with Lillian have been great. The kids just adore her and the only arguments around here have been "who gets to hold her next". Lillian continues to be a sweet baby - she is content most of the time, nursing has been going very well, her sleep pattern has been quite newborn-ish, some nights have been great, some not so great, but that is OK.

Last week I started back on my daily routines, trying to get things back to normal around here and fitting Lillian into our daily lives. I also started school with Madeline again and we are wrapping up the school year.

Here are some more pictures of Lillian and her adoring fans.

All four kids

Bath time pictures...

...everyone wants to help!