Young Authors Night 2017

 Joey amazed me when he read his detailed account of our dolphin cruise we went on over spring break in FL.  He - and all of his classmates - did a great job with this project!

Ready to read "When I Went on a Dolphin Cruise"

Mel's and Joe's books side-by-side

Easter 2017

Melanie's annual Easter dress picture with Grandma

Very Eastery

Happy 7th Birthday, Joey!

For Joey's birthday, we had planned to ride around Purdue's campus in the Boilermaker Special, which Laura Mullen had arranged a gift card for his end-of-treatment celebration.  Unfortunately, the weekend turned out to be stormy, and we had to take a literal rain check.  At the last minute, we pulled together a party at Pinheads bowling center, and it turned out great - they gave us a private room, and the kids had fun bowling on a rainy afternoon.  Happy 7th birthday, Joseph Pierce!

Birthday lunch at school

The two friends - Ryan and Evan

Molly

Charlie

Olivia & Mitchel Koenig

Grandma & Papa

Spring Break 2017

For Spring Break 2017, the kids and I went to both St. Louis and Englewood, FL.  I'm not sure where the Englewood pictures have disappeared to, but here are a few highlights of our trip to St. Louis with Kate's and Gretchen's families

Happy 9th Birthday, Melanie!

For Melanie's 9th birthday, we sent the boys to Grandma & Papa and she had a sleepover at the house.  Olivia, Olivia, Lydia, Akshara, Sammie, Molly, and Maddie were able to help Melanie celebrate in style!  Happy 9th Birthday, Melanie Grace!

The Pinterest fail that I PAID for...pretty amusing; the top is what I asked for, the bottom is what I got

Alexa couldn't attend the sleepover, so we did birthday eve nails & dinner!

They LOOK like they're ready to go to sleep....

All Emojis all the time....

Baumann Wedding!

We made the plunge and decided to spend Christmas in Englewood, FL with Gigi & Poppy.  We were there December 23-31, and had the bonus pleasure of celebrating Julie & Brant's wedding on December 30 on the beach!  We had excellent weather the whole time we were there, and took a side trip up to Orlando to spend a day at Legoland and a day at Give Kids the World, the resort we stayed at on our Make a Wish trip in 2015.

Legoland!

Free ice cream alllll the time at Give Kids the World!

Ready for their big flower girl duties!

Joey was the ring/train bearer

This was the only day that wasn't 80 and sunny; the kids are a little chilly.

The happy couple at the post-wedding dinner

Halloween 2016

80s girl and Pikachu at the Colts Kids event at Lucas Oil Stadium

On the big screen at Lucas Oil

Olivia & Mitchel Koenig came to our neighborhood this year for some trick or treating!