The exciting new addition to our extended family

My twin sister, April and my brother-in-law Joel had their baby on Thursday, May 26th at 6:09am.  She weighed 7 lbs. 12.5oz. and 18 3/4" long. They named her Mae, not intentional to go with the month of May or to have it be a funny coincidence of "April and Mae".  Rather, Mae holds a lot of meaning on both sides of our families (you may have read in a previous post that April and I are married to brothers).  Ernie and Joel's grandmother's middle name is Mae.  And, my father's mother and grandmother's middle names were Mae.  It seemed so perfect for them to give her this name, so that both sides of our families could be honored.  

Here is a picture baby Mae taken one day after her birthday, which was 5/26/2011:

Today, my daughter, Natalie, turns 6 years old.  I woke up this morning at 2:45am, the same time 6 years ago that I felt my first pre-labor contractions.  We spent the afternoon at our property where we were building our house, just below my grandmother's home.  By 4:00pm, we decided to head home to my mom and dad's house, where we were living while our house was being built.  We arrived home around 5:00ish, and my parents asked if I was hungry.  I said yes, and so my dad drove into their town to get a pizza.  We had pizza for dinner, and around 6:30pm I said we needed to leave for the hospital.  It was a good hour drive to the hospital where I had to deliver, and we arrived around 8:00pm.  At 10:02pm, Natalie was born at 8 lbs 4 oz. and 20 1/2" long. 

Here is a picture of Natalie taken 2 days after her birthday, which was 5/28/2005:

There is a definite resemblance; as there should be since their mommy's are identical twins, and their daddy's are brothers!  I believe April and I determined that Natalie and Mae are genetically 3/4 siblings. 

April and Joel will most likely be arriving home today.  Natalie will be excited to again see Mae, this time on her birthday!

Kahlua and Bear

Kahlua and Bear are our two dogs.  Kahlua is nearly 1 year old, and Bear is the old fart at 8 years old.  They both a love bugs.  Yesterday, while Natalie and I were enjoying an afternoon in the warm sun, Natalie decided it would be fun to put her sunglasses on the dogs.  Here is the result:

This is Kahlua.  Doesn't he just look like he's saying, "yo, Natalie, whatcha doing?"

This is Bear.  I'm thinking he's saying,"this sun is hot!"

Enjoy your SUNday!

Money

Natalie loves playing with her coins from her piggy bank.  Here's one piece of art she created: