She should've been mine

I don't think anything in the world brings me more joy than babies.  I love em.  I don't love being pregnant, but I love the babies.  Which makes being pregnant more bearable.  Kind of the Lord's way of having women with not so glorious pregnancies do it again and again.  I'm not pregnant.  And, for the first time in 3 years, neither are any of my sisters (that I know of, well, I take that back, my sister-in-law Shannon is pregnant.)  Anyhow, my sweet sister Melanie gave birth to a beautiful baby girl on August 18.

Isla sat in the hallway eagerly awaiting the arrival of Bebe, Poppy and the big brother

 Timmy couldn't wait to see his new sister

 We affectionately refer to Isla and Timmy as "the twins"

Same height, weight and hair color

Running a muck in the halls of the hospital

The staff loved us

 Cruz cuddled with Wuzzle while waiting patiently

 Any Poppy took a turn too

Sweet boys

 And for the announcement

 Julianna Deborah

 Look at all that DARK hair!

 All three grandmas

 And finally my turn

Dark hair, dark eyes

Sweet baby girl

I can't believe Melanie had my baby :)

Welcome to the world love

Rewind: 4 months

My Cruz buddy

Back when he was 4 months old

That was a long time ago

 He's as sweet as he is cute

 Thanks to Jeff and Elaine for allowing us to have our photo shoot at "The Cottage"

 I love this picture of Isla

 Just so much love to give

A Reeeeaaalll Nice Time

There are some friends that you would do anything for.  And that would do the same for you in return.  So when the DeKornes told us they were moving for the third time in 6 months, we thought we should pack up the minivan and take a road trip to New Orleans.  My mom, affectionately referred to by the others as "Geha" was kind enough to come with us and was a total lifesaver.  I barely photographed the trip except for a few treasures below.  These were from the 4 hours that Geha and I watched all 5 kids in a hotel room during a rainy morning in Mandeville, Louisiana.  Once I had sang every song in my repertoire, we resorted to toilet paper fashion.

Ava

Kaiya

Reese

Just a simple statement piece

Cruz also took his first shower there

After we returned from our big road trip, Cruz started solid food.

And he's been eating us out of house and home ever since.

At least he gets his appetite from me.

We were thrilled that Britt and Reid "Breid" decided to tie the knot the weekend after we got back from New Orleans.  They even asked Isla to be their flower girl.  The DeKorne's came back for a fun-filled weekend.

We kicked off the weekend with the rehearsal dinner at Matter of Taste.

So the big day was upon us.  After weeks of practicing "walk and fro" with her flower petals, 

our little flower girl started down the aisle forgetting her basket altogether 

when she saw her daddy at the front of the church.

Everyone giggled at her cuteness...

 and then she quickly retreated.

 Fortunately these two made it down the aisle without a hitch.

And we just hung out with the coolest usher in the church nursery.

 After the recessional, Isla was more than happy to take "her tuwn" and walked down like a champ.

At least she's cute and Breid still loves her.

 We took her back home to enjoy some quality time with her friends

God bless the babysitters including Geha who came back for more.

 The reception was lovely.

The DJs were amazing

 and the photographer even posed for a picture with me

 Lots of lovely ladies in attendance

 and many partied till the break of dawn.

These two are truly a once upon a time

A whirlwind of about 10 days, many states, a lot of fried food and the best friends ever.

Sitto's 3rd Annual Summer Splash

After a small protest, my mom convinced us to head up to Traverse to celebrate "Sitto's 3rd Annual Summer Splash" at the Great Wolf Lodge.  It was a short, but fun-fillled event.  We got there late on Wednesday night.  Dave and I left Cruz with my mom and gave Isla to Dana to lodge with Brookie and Jenna.  We headed to the Red Mesa Grill, but Dana was the one who needed the margarita.  She finally broke down and barricaded Isla in the pack n' play after a failed attempt in the bunk beds including Isla trying to get in Jenna's crib.  Dana is a saint.  Thank God I have sisters.

The next morning we woke up bright and early.  And I mean that.  Dave and I shared a room with my mom.  She was attending a seminar and set her alarm for 5 a.m.  Cruz still was not sleeping through the night at that point, so after finally calming him down, I was quite startled to hear a fog horn at 5 a.m., and 5:10 and 5:15 and 5:20....you get the idea.  But we are still grateful to mom for sharing her room with us :)  We headed to the lazy river to begin the morning.  Isla isn't a huge fan of the slides or the huge bucket of water that dumps out every 10 minutes.  In fact, she would hear the bell ringing for the bucket and immediatley started crying and saying "no bucket! no bucket!"  The outdoor pool didn't open until 11 a.m., so we would just stand at the door and wait.  

On Friday night, it was my turn to stay with the girls in hopes they would fall asleep.  After Brookie started her animal light show for the 3rd time telling Isla and Jenna about all the animals at the circus, I had little hope of them being sound asleep.  It ended abruptly when Brookie told Isla they were going to go to the circus to see the animals at which point Isla popped out of bed saying "Ok!  We go!  I get my coat on! I get my shoes on!"  We ended up dragging Isla back to our room and all four of us slept in one bed.  Ahhh the memories.

 The lazy river

 Wahoo for the outdoor pool

 We went to our local favorite, The Blue Tractor" for dinner.

Jenna loved the ranch dressing.

 Startin early with pool basketball

 Can the outdoor pool open already?

 We got some cute family pictures of everyone's family except for ours.

But they sure are cute

 Where was Cruz the whole time?

In his basinett.  Sleeping.  Bless his heart.

 I couldn't help myself

 Thanks Sitto for another great Summer Splash