Happy Birthday, baby!

Yesterday was my husbands 35th birthday, and my nephews 1st birthday.  Happy Birthday, baby Dane! And yes, in case you were wondering, that is me giving Dane his bottle in the 2nd picture.

Here are some beautiful pictures of my husband posing like a male model while hiding Easter eggs on Easter Sunday.  Notice his Easter shirt had already been taken off because it was 'too hot.'

In honor of Carl's 35th birthday I thought that I would write 3 things that I love about him and 5 things that he does that make me laugh.

3 things I Love:

1) I love his extreme love for Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and the Bible

2) I love how much he loves me and the kids

3) I love what an amazing man of God and hard worker he is, and the integrity that he radiates inside and out as a result.

5 things that make me Laugh:

1) His 'uniform' shirt.  Jodi and I laugh because Carl can't stand to be hot, so he always wears Under Armour shirts - button ups, t-shirts, it doesn't matter, as long as it 'wicks' away the moisture and heat and keeps him cool he'll wear it.  He has a different one for every day of the week - and every occasion.

2) His jokes - especially his sarcastic humor

3) His dancing - specifically when he's playing Just Dance on the Wii with the kids

4) His and David's hunting and fishing stories - seriously, if they didn't have video proof of so many of them I don't know if we'd believe them all

5) His inability to handle messy things - rooms, children, dishes - if it's messy, he panics.  And that is so hilarious to watch.  Especially if it's a baby that just ate some spaghetti!

Pammy's Pics

Attention, ladies and gentlemen!  As promised:

Normal

Everyone has gone home.

Heidi and her kids are safely back home with Andy. (Yay! by the way!!!!!!)

My house that has held 7 children and 3 adults for the last two weeks is completely empty.

All of us are sad.  There's no hustle and bustle, or big family meals, or the sound of squealing and laughing from the creek in the backyard.

It is quiet and a little bit lonely.

Funny how getting things back to normal can be a little bit over rated.

Stealing Heidi's Thunder & Making Pammy Mad at Me But Not On Purpose

So, Jodi took some pictures of Heidi and the kids (here's a sampling) and when I was looking at them I realized that I still have Pammy's family pictures!  I am so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so.........(insert a whole bunch more so's here)................sorry.  I will get the CD, email you some samples and mail it ASAP!  Meanwhile, enjoy these gorgeous pictures!

Sea World

This past Friday we took the kids out of school early and went to Sea World with the cousins.  It was so much fun!  We fed the dolphins and sea lions, Uncle Carl and Aunt Heidi each took turns riding roller coasters with the kids, we watched all of the shows, and overall had a great time.  We did learn a few things, however.  

We learned that Marcus and roller coaster's aren't exactly the best of friends.  

Uncle Carl learned that you should never take the use of your neck for granted (he's had a crick in it for 2 days).  

We learned that Luke's favorite 'movie' at Sea World was the Clyde & Seamore show and that the Shamu 'movie' was boring.  

We learned that Anneke and Noah aren't afraid of ANYTHING, and that Carlye can be either the best or worst partner!  

Here are some pictures of our day.

All the kids posing at the front of the park:

Luke & Carlye feeding the dolphins:

Mallory, Luke & Aunt Heidi on the Carousel:

Anneke, Noah and Mallory watching the Sea Lion show:

Baby Shamu!

Aunt Heidi and all the kids (except Mo) on Journey to Atlantis (can you see Marcus hunched over on the front row, far right?  First two rows are us):

The kids posing with the performers from Azul (Anneke's favorite show)

A totally different day, but Mo fell asleep with her barrette in her mouth.  It was such a great picture that I had to add it!

Only 3 more days and our time together will be through!  So, so sad!

Oh - and yesterday we went and watched Mirror, Mirror with all of the kids.  We loved it!  Julia Roberts did a phenomenal job.  Here's the clue - go in expecting nothing and you will not be disappointed!  Super fun movie!

Bahlmann Trip thus far

My sister and her 4 kids are visiting us for a few days.  Here are the trip details thus far.

Day 1:

On Thursday night the kids thought that it would be fun to sleep outside in the tent.  Everything went well, until very, very early in the morning.  I heard panicked children running across the porch and saw Luke running inside closely followed by Marcus and Carlye.  Right about that time Carl came running out of our bedroom holding his cell phone (the kids had my cell phone so they could call us in case of an emergency) with Anneke saying 'I have to go potty really bad!'  I ran to the door just as Luke came through and grabbed him and held him close because he was crying so hard.  I felt something wet on my face right at the moment that Carlye said 'Luke threw up all over the tent.'  Resisting the urge to join him in his extracurricular activities I cleaned both of us up and he and I snuggled in on the couch for the rest of the night.  Here's a couple of pictures before the carnage:

Day 2:

On Friday we went to Queen B's Tea Room.  (I forgot to upload the pictures) So on Saturday I made it up to the boys by bringing everyone to a Hibachi grill.  After the initial fear of the fire everyone loved the show!

 Later everyone came over so that we could dye Easter eggs.  Sadly, the older kids thought that it would be fun to play catch with the eggs, and Luke and Mallory forfeited their favorite eggs to the cause.

Isn't Mallory's egg amazing?

Day 3:

This morning was Easter (for those of you who live under rocks).  Here's a picture of Anneke on the hunt for Easter eggs after waking up this morning.  There are other pictures, but they are mostly of little blonde blurs running around the room.

The Bahlmann children:

 Bahlmann's and Pfiesters

 Oldest Boys, Nathanael & Marcus

Our incorrigible 3rd borns, Noah & Luke

Pretty Princesses, Carlye & Anneke

 My 3 angels.  My angel on the right (Nathanael) refused to allow anyone to touch him during the pictures, and didn't want to smile.  Of course, later on in the day we used the tactic that all good parents do on special occasions - 'Smile or I'll spank you!'  You get such real smiles when you use that tactic.  And has anyone ever really followed through on that?  I mean, who spanks their kid for not smiling?  They know we're bluffing, so it's not like it actually works.

Except for Bella, Evie, Dutch & Dane, this is a pic of all of my nieces & nephews at Nani's house after the Easter egg hunt (3rd one of the day - Carl & Heidi & I have some awesome candy to eat!)

My beautiful sister, Heidi, and her munchkins, Marcus, Anneke, Luke & Mallory

 Family picture

*All these pictures are courtesy of Heidi.  Thanks!

HEB Foundation

Well, we have done it again.  65 kids and 20 adults later we have survived a 3 day weekend at HEB camp Linnet's Wings.  Our theme this year was "Stuck Like Glue" Hebrews 13:5.  Jodi and Carl did an awesome job with the theme song - maybe not so much the motions that went with it (ahem, Carl).  We went hiking, fishing, swimming, our camp craft was "Gak" or glue, borax and water, which the kids LOVED!  Seriously, this craft catapulted me to rock star status.  All of the children were in awe that I could think of a craft that was that fun.  Hilariously enough, a lot of the kids named their blob's 'Bob', after Bob the Blob on Monster's vs Aliens.  We had campfire services, made s'mores and even had ice cream for breakfast (and lunch and snack and........).   Of course, to get the ice cream they had to say the Memory Verse, but let me say I have never seen kids memorize scripture that fast!  It was an incredible weekend.  We are now home, I am exhausted and I feel as though I have been sun burned all over my entire body haha!  I know the other leaders feel the same way, but they did a fantastic job this weekend.  Even if they are diva's (haha!)  Who requests Perrier for camp?  Well, other than Carl, Jodi and Kristen? Of course, they did request a masseuse and a chiropractor for next year, so......

I am now preparing to head to the airport to fly to Vegas!  Yay!  And no, I'm not going gambling!  Once I'm there I'll get to see my sister, Heidi, and her husband Andy and all of their adorable munchkins.  Of course, with Marcus getting so grown up he might not appreciate me calling him adorable.  Or a munchkin.  The next day Heidi, the kids and I are starting on our road trip to Texas.  It's gonna be so much fun!