It's All Relative

We have been fortunate to be able to make a couple stops during this vacation to see even more family, most of whom haven't met the boys before. There will be more of that tomorrow at Grandma D.'s birthday party, too, as Jeff and I both come from large families.

So far, three of my brothers and their wives and a few of their kids had a chance to greet Sam, Isaac and Alex in person. And, we finally got to meet Clare and Isabel, Amy and Dave's twin baby girls, who were born September 1. Having all five babies together was a real stitch!

Here are a few pics of the family, and many more to come!

Isaac and Uncle Dave check things out.

Aunt Sheryl and Sam

Aunt Teresa and Alex

Uncle Paul and Isaac

(For those of you who know Uncle Paul, this photo worries me, too. And for the rest of you, don't worry. No babies were harmed in the taking of this picture. The cold can was just convenient for soothing teething gums.)

Cousin Matt and Sam show off their red hair.

Amelia and her cousin Taylor

Babies! Clockwise from top: Isaac, Clare, Isabel, Sam and Alex.

Destination Vacation

Three almost-nine-month-old babies.

One three-year-old.

One THOUSAND miles. One way.

And we arrived with all of the children and most of our sanity.

Everyone traveled very well, even on the first day when we went nine hours with only one stop.

Alex, Sam and Isaac take to the road like seasoned pros.

Amelia crashes out.

Of course, we attracted a lot of attention along the way with our triple stroller strapped to the back of the van. I wish I had a nickel for every person who passed us and tried to peer into the van to see what, exactly, we were carrying. We'd make a nice dent in the kids' future college costs!

Isaac, Alex and Sam dine al fresco at a rest area.

Amelia is enjoying vacation immensely. She's all about McDonald's on the road and has had lots of fun playing with her cousins. The morning after we arrived at Jeff's parents (our final destination) after three days of driving, she woke up and the first thing she said was, "Where we going next?"

Now THAT'S a real trooper for you!

On The Road

We are heading out on vacation, so expect posts to be a bit spotty in the next few days. In the meantime, here's cute photo to tide you over!

Sam, Amelia, Alex and Isaac (clockwise from left)

Fifteen Years Together

Fifteen years ago today, Jeff and I got married.

Christy and Jeff ~ June 25, 1994

We were young.

(Would you believe I was only 13? No? Well, it was worth a shot.)

We were in love.

And life was very, very good.

Little did we know what God in store for us when we joined hands and said, "I do" on that day.

OK, we're married. So now what?

Since then we've lived abroad, each earned an advanced degree, owned two homes, built careers, traveled a lot, had a family, and dealt with both good times and bad. Fortunately, the good has far outweighed the bad.

If you ask anyone who came to our wedding and reception, they will tell you what they most remember is the "Bag Dance."

In fact, a friend of mine from college sent me an email just the other day saying the she thought of that and laughed at the memory. (Hi, Donna!)

"What," you ask, "is the Bag Dance?"

Well, it looks like this:

This is one of my favorite pictures from my wedding day!

My brother-in-law Kyle pulled this one on me. He'd only been married into our family for a short time, and since he wasn't a blood relation, I TRUSTED HIM. That was the last time I made that mistake!

WARNING: Do NOT try this on a bride or groom who do not have a sense of humor. You will not have fond memories of the day that make everyone laugh. And I do not want to be responsible for the ensuing umpteen years of, "Remember that awful joke..." that you will be subjected to.

So, back to the dance. Kyle had the wedding party all come to the dance floor. We were all given brown paper bags, and the rules of the game were that we were to put the bags on our heads and dance around until we ran into another person. Then we could take our bags off and sit down.

I thought it sounded like fun! I'm sure the champagne may have had something to do with my enthusiasm.

The music started and we all did as instructed. Except everyone else had been briefed beforehand to remove their bags and walk off the dance floor, leaving me to groove on my own.

Which I did.

And did.

And did.

The whole while I was under that bag yelling, "Where is everyone?"

I couldn't hear a thing over all the screaming and clapping from all our guests. I thought that was just to throw off the dancers.

Finally, I figured that if anyone could cheat, it was the bride, so I took my bag off and realized everyone was screaming with laughter.

Check out everyone's faces. We are all howling with laughter!

I love that everyone who was there had a great time and that Jeff and I are still married and laughing about this 15 years later.

So many things have changed in 15 years. Dreams have been realized, priorities have changed, waistlines, hairlines, and hometowns have shifted. But so many things haven't changed.

We are still young.

We are still in love.

And life is still very, very good.

Alex, Amelia, Isaac and Sam with Mom ~ June 2008

Amelia and Her Brothers

When we announced to everyone that we had three boys, more than one person said, "What is Amelia going to do with three brothers?"

I'm sure they were thinking well down the road when the boys want to play rough-and-tumble or when Amelia's dates come to the door to pick her up (poor girl!). They may give her trouble in the future, but for now, Amelia's definitely got the upper hand.

The other day the answer to the question "What is Amelia going to do with three brothers?" was ... play dress up!

I think everyone had fun, except maybe Isaac, who got dressed in the feather boa. Sorry buddy!

Alex, Isaac, Amelia and Sam

Fairy princess Amelia

Alex knows just how to wear that cowboy hat.

Isaac: "You can't be serious."

Sam shows off his angelic side.

Splishin' and Splashin'

This weekend we put the boys in the baby pool in the backyard for the first time.

They LOVED it.

They've only ever been in the baby bathtub or the sink, so this was a BIG upgrade.

Sam

Isaac

Alex

Amelia has always loved her little pool, too. And now she has "wobble goggles" (Thanks, Imagination Movers, for that piece of vocabulary!) so she can "see underwater." Or just wear as a random accessory. She and Daddy picked these out. I love the cat-eyed effect.

Amelia and her "wobble goggles."

It looks like next summer we'll have to upgrade to something bigger to hold all the little people!

Happy Father's Day

To the World's Best Husband and Father: Happy Father's Day, Jeff. I'm so glad that you are sharing this adventure with me!

Love,

Christy

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