Happy 4th of July

We hosted this year's Hottman Family Gathering for the 4th. We had a great day celebrating, despite the dreary weather. The only thing missing from our celebration was Aunt Rebecca, who was working. We were all very sad that she couldn't be a part of our day. 

Our original plans included sprinklers and swing sets, so we had to make some amendments based on the weather.  The kids loved working on some crafts together: 

And, Uncle Kip is the Hottman family's new self-proclaimed face painter. All the kids were thrilled to make use of his artistic skills: 

Eli, we're so impressed with your dinosaur! 

Cade was feeling particularly patriotic today: 

And, we were thrilled that Aunt Kay put together the cutest 4th of July parade in town: 

We were happy the girls figured out a way to enjoy the kiddie pool, in spite of the constant sprinkle: 

And, we think these are the cutest "Bat Men" in the history of "Bat Men": 

Lance & I think that this may just be the weekend we witnessed Cade's transformation from "Baby Bro" to becoming a little kid. He was so happy to run around with all the kids and to show off his newest skills. There was just something different about him today - watching him grow up is one of our greatest joys. 

 

"Baby" Emory is also becoming her own person. We love her!

And, the 4th was complete with one more Hottman Family Photo (minus Aunt Rebecca & her belly - next year there will be one more BOY in this photo!). Note the fam's newest addition: Baby Van!

It was a special day - we're so happy to create the memory in our home!

Cousins Fun Day

Today was Cousins Fun Day at our house - we had a great time getting everyone together for a day of fun, sun and a little water. Here is (almost) everyone - it's very difficult to get 5 kids under 4 in one photo, but we were successful here:

Here's another attempt - you can see that Lyla & Isabella are quite engaged in a pretty heated conversation here: 

Here's Van - the only cousin not in the picture - he's still spending most of his time with Mommy: 

Cade loves hanging out with Cousin Emory…well, he will love hanging out with her as soon as they surpass parallel play: 

Lyla loves nothing more than being with all her "Big Girl Friends". She had such a good day she really didn't want for it to end: 

Cade loves swinging on the swingset, and invariably, when he's in his swing and settled, he asks for his "owl". He loves nothing more than to sit in his swing and drink a few swigs of water in the sunshine:

Here are Isabella and Blaire attempting to swing on a baby swing that is much too small for them both:

What a magical day! We had so much fun that Lyla was disappointed we weren't doing it all over again the next day. Can't wait to do it again!

Happy Easter 2011

What a wonderful Easter Sunday!

The day started with a visit from the Easter Bunny, who brought a long awaited (by Mommy anyway) table and chairs for Lyla. Her first word when we came down the stairs this morning was “Goby” (Lyla for Broby, her favorite Yo Gabba Gabba character) when she saw the book on her new table.

Lyla loves her new chairs. She refused to get down when she got to sit in the chair, and it took her all of an hour to figure out how to climb on the chairs and table unassisted.

After a nice nap, Lyla got to go to Nan & Nonnie’s for Easter Sunday with her cousins. It was a great day – she had so much fun with Isa and Blaire. Here she is with Isa in Nan’s tent she set up in the living room for the girls:

Sweet Isabella:

And, playing with Blaire was another highlight of her day. They looked at books together, although Lyla wasn’t as willing to share as this picture probably indicates:

Lyla enjoyed playing with Isa’s sunglasses:

Her most favorite activity of the day was going outside with Daddy. In fact, she refused to eat her Easter dinner, instead demanding to go “..side” . She loves playing in the waterfall out back:

With the turtle:

The girls enjoyed an indoor Easter egg hunt:

Lyla was particularly fond of an apple sauce “drink” from Aunt Beccs and Uncle Kip. She loved it so much, in fact, that she tried to pirate the other girls’ drinks as well.

We’re all so very blessed. Happy Easter.

A Visit from Blaire

We were happy that Blaire stopped by after her Gymboree class today – especially when Lyla pointed at her and said, “Baarre!”. We’ve been working on her name in her pictures, and it looks like it worked.

The girls had a good time playing together, after prolonged naps, that is. Of course, it was also very nice to spend some time with Aunt Jen as well.

Here are pics of our sweet girls:

Happy Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving started a little early for us this year – we were so happy to have an overnight visit from Uncle Robbie and Auntie Shana who were on their way to Pittsburgh to spend the Holiday with Robbie’s brother and sister-in-law and their “new” baby, Logan.

We were all sad about Shana and Robbie not making it for the Watts’ Thanksgiving this year, so we felt really lucky to get to spend the night with them. Lyla was especially happy about it – we think she’s in love with Uncle Robbie. At one point, she clearly said, “Robbie..”, and at bedtime, she pushed Auntie Shana aside so that she could be carried upstairs by Uncle Robbie.

She was also saying, “Shana” by the end of the visit: "Nae-Nah”, and was whispering this as the two of them headed off early Thursday morning:

After Shana & Robbie left, our Thanksgiving Day began with a visit to the Hospital to see Grandma Hottman, who was admitted last night. It was good to see her, although we were sad she wasn’t going to be at the family gathering.

We spent Thanksgiving Day at the Hottman’s this year, and it was a lot of fun to get to see some of our baby friends. Lyla had fun running around the Hottman basement, checking out Grandpa Don’s 50s tree and eating her first Thanksgiving dinner. I think she most enjoyed the sweet potatoes – they were a lot different than the ones she regularly gets for dinner.

Lyla is also trying to say “Turkey” after discovering a crocheted turkey Carrie left for me after her visit. She also shared her toys with her cousins, who all enjoyed playing before dinner. We are amazed at how big Blaire is getting – she is officially moving around now! She’s definitely holding her own with the older girls – she’ll be crawling soon!

We left a little early so Daddy could get home to sleep before his 10 pm night shift. We felt very fortunate that we were able to spend most of the day with him. It was a rainy day, but we feel very blessed.

We love our family and were so grateful to be together.

Here are pics: