Leavin' on a jet plane...

Daddy's got a balanced load!

My 2nd cousin Carson was born in March - he's a real wiggle worm!
Seven great granddaughters in VA! (Madisyn (Alex's), Lilian (Kimberly's), Toriana (Jill's), Caroline (Kimberly's) and in front L to R Makenna (Alex's) and Nadia and Camille (Eric's)
Talking with Camille about our shared birthday! She explains all about having to "do your hair" since I haven't had this experience yet!
Newlyweds Jamie and Kara
When in Rome (or, Blacksburg) do as the Romans (Hokies) do and wear your VT gear! Thanks for the shirt, Papa!

We had a fun trip to VA and Toriana proved to be a pretty good traveler ... now if we could just get her to like a few more people... ! She's still a bit upset by crowds. We got to see most of my cousins and all of my aunts/uncles ... also were at cousin Kara's reception. The weather was warm and the humidity low, Trev caught a few fish and we all loved our time on the front porch swing! Other East Coast highlights were a thunder storm ... and lightning bugs!

Bring on the watermelon!

Just in time for summer, somebody's got her first tooth! After weeks of slobbering and chewing, tooth #1 broke through yesterday, 5 days shy of 5 months! (Yikes!) We plan to hold off on baby food until 6 months since she's clearly getting enough calories from nursing - her unofficial measurements today were 26" and 16#! We're glad to have such a healthy girl.

Important things ... versus all the rest!

So convention came at a good time for us. Our house was broken into last week, just a couple days before we left ... So, it was good to leave our thoughts of stolen "valuables" and go to Chelan to receive some TRUE valuables! We had pleasant temps, lots of willing babysitters, and a semi-happy baby. Most of all, we had wonderful bread shared and even though I was in/out of meeting a lot, there's time now to be quiet and reflect on the notes I jotted down. Toriana definitely was out of her routine and wasn't a huge fan of being passed around, much to the disappointment of many! Maybe she'll be more friendly by Milltown. It would've been fun to get a picture of Brielle, Kaitlyn, Spencer, Jonathan, Wade, and the other babies sharing their first convention together, but unfortunately that didn't happen. I sure enjoyed the camaraderie of the other "Mommies on duty"!

As for the break-in, my laptop was stolen and so that's a huge inconvenience. If you are one of my email correspondents, would you please send me a quick note so that I can make sure I have your address again? I have re-captured some of them but at least 50% are gone. Also ... please, please back up whatever is important to you on your computer! Luckily Trevan has been really good about backing up my pictures so I still have almost all of them on our external drive.

Here's a hug from me saying thank you for being a friend ... and encouraging you to stop and hug those people near and dear to you, today! They matter way more than "things" or "to do lists" or "deadlines"!