On the Saturday before Easter, Lisha invited a few little ones over to her house for brunch and an Easter Egg hunt. It was a rainy, windy day and a few weren't able to attend, but the rest of us had a great time! It was fun visiting with each other and watching the kids get into the whole "looking for eggs" thing. Thanks, Lisha for having us over!
(All the pictures can be seen here or here.)
Last Saturday we got together at Sean and Lisha's house for a baby shower! It was a great time with friends, family and food -- our three party essentials! Everyone enjoyed the lunch buffet and it was great fun watching all the little kids play. And, we all got to see the preparations Lisha and Sean have made for the (home)birth. Very exciting stuff! The best part was celebrating the greatly anticipated arrival of Lisha and Sean's second son in just a few weeks. We can't wait to meet the precious little guy!
After the dedication ceremony, the festivities began. There was, as always, lots of yummy food, much good conversation and lots of entertainment provided by all the kids in attendance. Actually, some of our time was spent not getting plowed over by all the kids as they seemed to have great fun running around and around and suddenly engaging in impromptu wrestling matches in the middle of the floor (those pictures to follow soon). Here are a few some shots...
Proud grandfathers Pete (Grandpa) and David (Poppy). I love the way Joshua has a hold of their fingers!
Janice (Grammie) helps Reed with the mother of all cupcakes.
This cupcake was big enough for two!
Yum!
Beautiful little Olivia (in her Pilgrim dress) left the Pilgrim Voyage Day celebration at her house for a few minutes to say hi. Here she is (held by her Grandma, Sherry) greeting Kyle.
Our adorable guest of honor.
Joshua with his wonderful Aunt Kathy.
Jesiah and his mom, Keira, in a quiet moment together.
Caleb and Sean enjoy being together so much. I wonder if it's because they are both so goofy??
Caleb was completely smitten with Kaia. Can you blame him?
Another beauty! Can you believe those blue eyes? Rachael is all recovered from her tonsillectomy and none the worst for wear, obviously!
Caleb in a rare quiet moment.
Kaia had great fun on this little bike. Don't you love her outfit?
A few shots from our first day at Sesame Place. More to follow...
Yep, another Super Bowl has come and gone. But what a special one it was! Our family is loaded with Giants fans -- it's a genetic thing, although there are a few rebels in the group (but we won't tell PopPop!) -- so this was crunch time. We had some believers, we had some doubters, we had some worriers, but in the end, we had us some WINNERS! It was a fantastic game (not all Super Bowl games are so exciting) and there were many LOUD outbursts that sent some of the littlest party goers into tears. Since we have so many great cooks in the group, the food table tables were filled to the brim with all manner of yummies! And, in true Super Bowl tradition, we had the requisite pool. Sam, Heath, Jenn and Caleb won the 1st quarter, Lisha and Tommy took the 2nd and 3rd quarter winnings and Phoebe and Christopher nabbed the coin for the 4th quarter. Check out Jenn's pictures over at Caleb Nation if you haven't already. My offerings are less sports oriented and focus more on cute. Well, except for one or two maybe (love ya, guys!)...
Yes, this is the same face (with minor variations) Noah gave me at the Bender's football party 2 weeks ago. Better be careful, Noah. Don't want your face to freeze like that! ;)
Thought you'd like a peek at the "happy chaos" of Seth's first birthday party.
A beautiful day for the beach, so off we went. We had quite a crew there, too. (They didn't call Westhampton Culvertown for nothing!) Sean and Lisha were there with Reed; Emma, Jonah and Sabine came with Sherry; Lissa arrived with her five (Noah, Sam, Phoebe, Micah and Seth - if you recall); and Bob Bender showed up with Emma and Chris. The kids found plenty to do, so the adults didn't spend too much time sitting! ; )
A few more pictures here.
Yesterday, David and I met up with Heath, Jenn, Caleb and their friend Michelle at the Metro NY Balloon and Music Festival. This very well attended weekend event had all the usual attractions of rides, vendors and food plus some Monster truck and biking shows, military equipment, fancy cars and balloon rides. Seriously folks, who could ask for more? David was interested in a balloon ride -- until he discovered that the line was about 2 miles long! So, setting that dream aside, we found some other stuff to do to while away the evening...
(Bet you didn't know you could find the path to Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance at www.FalunDafa.org, did you?)
David demonstrates his prowess with a cork shotgun by winning a very cute stuffed giraffe for Caleb! Then, at another booth, he successfully popped 3 balloons with darts to win Caleb a stuffed koala bear. Good job, Poppy!
Enjoying the sights
David and Caleb in line for the giant slide
As you can see, this was all Caleb's idea and he loved every minute of it...
...especially being done! 
Did you know that yummy roasted corn can cure GST (giant slide trauma)?
This one's for Amy...
C'mon, Dad! Please? It's only $215,000.
Caleb, Giraffe and Koala...
Poppy and Caleb had fun looking at all the really neat cars.
Caleb wasn't too sure about this "dummy" working under his van!
"If only I could figure out how to get up there."
Check out more pictures at my new web gallery. There are controls in the lower left for different viewing options. Try them out. You can also download pictures from here if you want. Let me know how you like it!
After the church service, we headed back home to change into something more casual and pick up a couple of dishes of food for the reception. The reception was at the Air National Guard Base in Westhampton at the Officer's Club. (We all had to stop at the gate, give our name to be checked against the "official" list and show ID, then zig-zag around the road blocking barriers to get to the club. Cool, huh?) The reception was very nice with plenty of food and music. The kids had a great time playing with the jukebox and dancing all around the room.
The bigger, "cooler" kids preferred sitting at the bar, watching the game on TV.
It was lots of fun visiting with everyone -- between trips to the buffet table! ;)
In addition to the delicious food, the fun music and the socializing, there was also a video montage of the guest of honor (who was sound asleep through most of the party and only made his appearance as the montage was ending. Talk about making an entrance! Perfect timing.) If you would like to kill a few minutes watching the montage, it's here.
Sean and Lisha had a great time showing off their little guy and posing for a few pictures. Can't let those coordinating outfits go unnoticed! (You can't see it in these pictures, but Lisha was wearing a yellow and white sundress ;))
After the party was over and the tables cleared away, Reed was able to spend some quality time with his walker zooming around the big empty room. He can get going pretty fast!
All in all, a great ending to a fun -- and very full -- weekend!
