Pool Party

We all had such a fun time at our friends' bbq/pool party this evening. All the guys work at Agco, which means all the ladies are Agco wives, and all eight kids are close in age, so we all had a blast. Natalie and Max loved the water. I think we might have a couple fish on our hands. 

Party!

We celebrated Max's birthday with a big family party at the park on Sunday. Max had a great time, so great that he didn't really want to be bothered by cake and presents. He handed his cupcake away, and these two presents in the pictures are the only two that I didn't open by myself, but our little guy had fun, so the party was a success.

Super Natalie

We all had a great time at our friend Karston's super hero party this afternoon. Natalie was really shy at the beginning which was cute to watch since she is usually anything but. She warmed up to the group once she found her friends. We also went to a surprise birthday party for Karston's dad this evening. As we left their house Natalie said, "I had two parties today!"

Christmas Round 1

We hosted Christmas with my dad's side of the family at our house on Sunday. It was our first time hosting a holiday family get-together, so I was a little nervous, but it all seemed to go fairly well. Natalie and Max are currently (until April!) the only kids in the family, so they ate up all of the attention.

Natalie's Donut Birthday Party

We celebrated Natalie's birthday with a donut party yesterday. We all had a great time except for maybe Max who wasn't feeling too well. Natalie got all of the dolls, princesses, and cleaning supplies that her girly little heart could desire.

Maria's Wedding

Maria and "Big Jordan" (because Natalie and Max have a cousin also named Jordan) got married yesterday! The ceremony was beautiful, the reception was tons of fun, and we couldn't have asked for better attitudes from the kids.

When Natalie put her purple dress on in the morning, she said, "Maria will think so pretty!" but she was too shy to take a picture with Maria without her daddy.

The reception was in Lindsborg where the sidewalks are decorated with dala horses. Natalie had to try one out on our way in to the reception hall.

Max catnapped and showed off his smile to all of the friends and family that he met for the first time.

Natalie spent a lot of her time playing with babies. Here she is with cousin Adele and Mary's bride doll. She was so sweet with the doll. She swayed with it, swaddled it, and sang to it for at least thirty minutes. I love these pictures because this is exactly how I hold Max.

Just a few more pictures from the reception:

Welcome to the family, Jordan!

Fun at the Farm

We celebrated Grandpa O's retirement with a fun day at the farm today. Max modeled his new jacket, and Natalie danced on the trailer while eating carrot sticks, her new love. All in all, it was a great day.

O'Halloran Family Reunion

We spent the last two days with Chris' extended family for the O'Halloran family reunion. We spent Saturday at the farm outside of Pretty Prairie, and today the festivities moved to a park in Hutchinson with a small zoo nearby. We all had a fun time catching up with everyone.

The Fourth

I've always really liked the 4th of July, and this year's 4th didn't disappoint. We celebrated with good food and good company at my Aunt Janie's. We didn't last long enough to watch the big fireworks show because bedtime can only be pushed back so far, but we all had a great time any way!

Causes for Celebration

We had a great time this afternoon celebrating my grandpa's 80th birthday, Max's arrival, and cousin Charley's arrival. What a blessing it is to have so many reasons to celebrate! 

Charley is such a sweet little girl. She is six weeks older than Max, so it will be fun to watch them play together as they grow up. Big brother Platt and big sister Natalie had fun running around while everyone else played "pass the babies".

Lindy and Alex's Wedding

We went to my cousin Lindy's wedding up around Kansas City this weekend. The wedding was beautiful, and so was Lindy. Max got to meet everyone on my dad's side of the family, and Natalie got to hug Lindy in her pretty dress, so everyone was happy. 

I was kind of dreading the three hour car ride from Hesston to Kansas City, but it went surprisingly well. How we can easily make it to Kansas City when we sometimes have trouble with the ten minute drive to Newton is beyond me. Maybe the extra large stash of books and fruit snacks had something to do with it.

Christmas Recap

Christmas week was full of family time, delicious food, and traveling. We celebrated five Christmas's over the course of the week. We had so much fun and got to spend time with so many people that we don't see nearly as often as we would like, but to say that we're glad to be back to our routine would be an understatement. Being around so many new people and in so many new places brought out the very timid side of Natalie, but overall, she did really well.

We started off the week with the O'Hallorans. It was so great having everyone in town for a few days. Here are all of the cousins:

This is one of the few pictures we had time for before rushing off to Christmas Eve Mass. We had to sit in folding chairs in the lobby, but that fit Natalie's current church tolerance much better than getting there 30 minutes early in order to get a seat in the pews would have.

Since we didn't have time for a family shot before Christmas Eve Mass, we staged this one in our church clothes a couple days later. 

Santa was good to Natalie on Christmas morning. Here she is with her loot (and bed head).

Next Christmas Great Grandpa and Grandma Wilmoth will have double the great-grandkids to pose with. 

Natalie loves these little princess dolls. She calls them her "babies" and likes to carry all five of them at the same time. They get lots of hugs and kisses throughout the day, and last night she fell asleep with them in her arms. 

She is also pretty fond of her big "baby" and her Minnie purse.