Aunt Cindy

Anyone who really knows me knows about my mother and my childhood. My mom had two sisters with one of them being my Aunt Cindy.  Aunt Cindy had kept in contact with my sisters and me when we were taken away from our mother and put in foster care and then onto being adopted. Ever since I can remember, I remember getting birthday cards, Christmas gifts and little things along the way in the mail from her. She lost contact with my mother when we did, almost 18 years ago. Hard to believe it has been that long. But once I graduated from High School, and saved up some money, I went out to Florida to visit her. For the first time I got to meet Aunt Cindy, her husband Tom and my sweet little (who is not so little) cousin Glenn. I even got to meet my grandma and great grandma too!! That was a surreal experience being able to hug someone in my extended biological family.  From then on, Cindy and I had bonded and have kept in close contact through emails and phone calls.

The week before Thanksgiving she called me up and asked if she could extend her trip from Nashville to come see us the first week in January!! You can imagine my excitement as my last family member who was here was my sister Lisa back when Jackson was only 3 weeks old!! 

When I first saw her at the airport I could not believe how much she looked like my mother! She had dyed her hair blonde, and you can tell they were sisters if not twins!! Cindy's visit was the most relaxing visit I've had in a long time. She always was smiling, always wanted a Bud Light and was always making great conversation.  The kids LOVED her the second they met her. They showed off quite a bit. I'm sure she loved it but also was happy to get back to peace and quiet!  I cannot wait to get back down to Florida to see the rest of the clan. We miss you Aunt Cindy! 

My beautiful Aunt Cindy!

One our first things we did in Charlotte was I took her to The Tipsy Paintbrush!

We had the best time! Here is Cindy's Owl and my Gremlin Turkey. :)

One of Great Grandma's "things" was making homemade gnocchi for the Holiday's. Cindy took over this tradition and showed me how to do it. 

It was so fun and it tasted absolutely AMAZING! 

We went to my favorite place....The winery!! We had a great day. 

Jackson found my stash of chocolates in the freezer and he was calling me out!

MONKEY JOE'S!

We went to see Frozen in the theater. It was really cute but to be honest it was girly! 

Grandma and Pop Pop invited over for dinner one evening. It was so nice to have them meet. 

Hummm..I wonder where Jack gets his humor from? 

I pretty much think he is the coolest. I love you Jackson O'Hare.

We had a Wii Dance off and it was FUN! 

AND the boy's exhaust me. I swear I can not lay on the floor without them on top of me in .2 seconds! 

A few of my friends were able to have lunch with Cindy and finally meet someone in my family! It was really nice on both ends. 

Our last hurrah at The Mellow Mushroom on our way to the airport. I loved our visit!

Jack's New Pose

So pretty much every time you take a picture of Jack he strikes a pose. I have no clue where he got this from but he keeps us laughing! Here are a few of our favorites.

Good Bye 2013!

Our New Year's was SO fun! The Koehler's always host an awesome sleepover and a memorable night with our kiddos and this year was no different. The kids made their own pizzas, danced like crazy and banged pots and pans louder than I have ever heard. Cheers to 2013 and welcome 2014!!

Making our own pizza's! 

Silliness!

Limbo time! Molly was very frustrated at the end. Playing with babies or just Brecken is difficult!

The calm before the storm....

Getting ready for Kid Night!

A few sips before...AND Uncle Paul is giving them pointers on how to bang on pots! 

When Jackie post a picture on Instagram, her location at her house is called Happiness. That is exactly what her home is. You can see it on everyone's faces! 

CHEERS! 

K-I-S-S-I-N-G

Let's make some noise!!! And we hope the WHOLE neighborhood heard us!

These girls LOVE their mama! And so do we. 

Love them!

Love him!! 

Rocking out to OLD country music! Great way to end the New Year!!

Merry Christmas

Making cookies for Santa. Jack asked me about every day to make cookies. 

Take a look at Brecki's suspenders! 

Brecken decided to take a bite of the dough...Not so good. Jack's thought he was nasty!

LOVE this kid!

Masterpieces!

Christmas Eve at Grandma and Pop Pop's!! Love Richard's Cat shirt. :)

Jack looks like such a little boy here. 

Pretty much the coolest castle ever! The boys were SO excited to open their gifts. 

Our Christmas tree's! Kevin and I had our Christmas a little later in the day in the piano room. I miss my trees already. 

Jack is acting like "pop pop" with his cane. Except for "pop pop" doesn't use a cane to walk with. 

 Christmas Morning! Grandma and Pop Pop came early to watch the boys open their gifts!

Check out Jack's new batman boots!

 They have SO many toys!

Just Dance has become a fun event in our house on a daily basis! Kevin is particularly good. 

Brecken is so obsessed with Fireman Sam, a Welsh cartoon. He was very happy to get these figurines from the show.  However, he was not happy once all the presents were opened. Once he realized he did not get a firetruck (which he never asked for and we have three of them upstairs) he cried and pouted. I brought down one of his other firetrucks and he threw it across the room. So much for a happy Christmas morning! 

I wonder what Baby Ziki is doing??

When my mom sent us our Christmas gifts she had them shipped directly from the company she bought them from. When they arrived, they had included an awesome "free" gift with it. I mean I could not resist but  to"re-gift" it to Kevin for Christmas. He howled in happiness. 

Even Jack loves the wolf blanket. I'm thinking of hanging on our wall.