One my greatest heroes...

Today is especially SPECIAL. My littlest sister, Rachel, is 12 TODAY!!! We're so excited for her! And we know she is SUPER excited! So Rachel, here are 12 things we LOVE LOVE LOVE about you:

1. Rachel is a published author and excellent photographer.
2. She gets along with everyone.
3. Rachel is super fashionable! (Learning from the best:)
4. She's got the body of gymnast. (We're all jealous of her calves;)
5. Not only does she love animals, she LOVES elephants and knows all about them.
6. She loves to read.
7. Rachel likes home-schooling, and taking field trips to my house.
8. My kids love going to "Rachel's house." Olivia prays for it everyday!
9. She has GREAT phone etiquette.
10. I gave her the nickname, Bonitita, when she was a baby, because she is!
11. She has great ideas- they're unbelievable! She's awesome! (from Katherine)
12. Rachel is SO excited to go to Young Women's!!

Rachel, we are SO GLAD you were born! Thanks for being such a special young woman!

Cousins, Cousins, Cousins

When Sarah came for our reunion, we got to visit in Vidor for a few days. We lined the babies back up on the couch and took their 6th-ish month pictures :)

There they are in age order, again. Notice the two little "bookends". Since Bryn is too mobile, Katherine held her for the pictures. Thanks Katherine! Aaliyah was feeling a little sluggish, and those boys sure are charmers!
Roman, Ella, Bryn and Ethan
Khalil (pronounced Ka-lel)Khalil with his Uncle Johnny- so sweet.

Melissa was so nice to let us swim in their pool while they were on vacation. In between (distant) thunder and rain, it was lots of fun!


This is Travis's baby, Aaliyah. Isn't she precious!? her shirt says, "Social Butterfly" and lately she's had to be, sweet girl. After my reunion I took her and her brother, Khalil, home with me for 5 days. Their mom was in a car accident, separate from Travis's, and she broke her leg and collar bone, so our family has loved taking care of them.




The next day, Lia (aka Olivia's BFF), got to come for a few days while her mom was at Girls' Camp. Brandon came too- which made Travis and Khalil really happy!


Brandon and Lia were such big helpers with all the babies. Can you believe we had 9 kids for a few days! (4 of which were in diapers- lol)

This is probably the only "sleepover" our kids will ever have, since we don't do sleepovers as a rule. They look cozy, huh?

Katherine, Travis, Brandon, Bryn, Olivia, Lia, Aaliyah, Ella, Khalil- say that fast! Or just say, Livy, Lia, Aaliyah, Ella, Khalil :) Quite a tongue twister huh?:)

Poor Aaliyah was not feeling well when we got here, and she got worse. Before we took her home, she had been to Dr. Packard's office twice- finally being sent to the hospital for a chest x-ray: pneumonia. The original plan was for Monica to take all four of the kids home after camp, but we had to take them home a day early. Aaliyah was admitted to Baptist Hospital in Beaumont (she's home now, but with lots of breathing treatments, etc. and Khalil is on breathing treatments too.)

We had fun having so many cousins come visit and we're glad Aaliyah is feeling better.

Ketchup

One day, a few weeks ago, I was working out in the living room and Ella was in there playing. Halfway through, during the 30 second break, I stopped to blow my nose. Ella was watching me and she said, "You're nose walkin'?" She cracks me up!

Anyway, I realized there are a lot of things to blog to ketchup on... Here are some highlights:
I trimmed Olivia's hair; she wanted it to look like Ella's. Katherine and Travis had their LPM recital and we took pictures until our battery went dead- sorry! Johnny finished this semester for college so we took the kids out to eat at Cheddar's to celebrate. Last Friday, my mom and my sisters Rachel and Marianne, and Marianne's baby, Ethan, came to visit! It was sooo much fun and we loved getting pictures of the kids all together.

Well, enjoy the show!