Here's some more fun..


In February, Tracey & I took a road trip to Alliance, NE so I could judge a pageant. Even though it was FREEZING and snowy outside, we couldn't miss Carhenge!

In March, we went to the NAIA Division II National Women's Basketball Tournament in Sioux City, IA to cheer on the Doane Tigers. As you can see, Evan befriended some rather large Morningside fans. He sat with them in the row in front of us for about 20 minutes perfectly still! I wish I had that effect on him! :)

Here's our first and only snowman of the year in March. The kids had a blast sledding and playing in the snow that weekend.

Evan has turned into a bigtime goofball. He put his sunglasses on upside down, and then took a bite out his hamburger so it looked like a smiley face, then held it up to his face. What a silly kid.

We took our first long-awaited trip to the zoo and the kids had so much fun! As you can see, Madison is now the size of an emperor penguin.

Here's some pictures from Easter and WalkAmerica weekend. We had a beautiful flower garden this spring with tulips and daffodils. We spent "Easter Eve" at the Zouchas in Columbus and had an easter egg hunt. The next day, after the festivities in Crete, we travelled to Grand Island to visit our new niece, Grace Danielle Hill, born on April 15. Last weekend, we walked in the March of Dimes annual fundraiser WalkAmerica at Mahoney State Park. The night before, we had a barbecue, and Madison & Ava enjoyed a roasted marshmallow together. Evan officially threw away his "ninis" - pacifiers, so we congratulated him with a new baseball hat... :)

Birthdays

OK, again it's been awhile for me. We survived the holidays, and the kids (as usual) had a blast! Chad & I went to Chicago the week after Christmas for a basketball tournament that the Doane College Lady Tigers participated in and WON! It was really fun, neither of us had been to Chicago before. We hit the usual tourist traps, and I got to go to IKEA, which was great!

As usual, the birthdays hit quickly. Madison is now 5 and Evan is 2. We let Maddie have a "friends party" this year which she said was the best birthday party she ever had in her whole life. She is, of course, brilliant, and is quickly learning how to read. She's amazing. She's still taking dance lessons, and is anxious for soccer to start this spring.

Evan had a family party last weekend, and had a lot of fun. Almost all of the family came, and we had fun seeing everyone again. His vocabulary is rapidly expanding, although sometimes we have no idea what he is saying. He is starting to figure out potty training, which is fabulous for us!

Chad & I are still plugging away at work. Chad's team is doing well, now 21-5 and should be in the top 10 nationally, the rankings come out Wednesday. I've really been struggling at work, and am considering heading back to residency to pursue my real dream job, in obstetrics/gynecology. I don't really know what will happen, I've got a lot of soul-searching left to do.

Hope all is well for everyone, and take care!

Here's Madison and her friends at dance class:















Madison finishes decorating the tree:





















Our new nephew, Mason, born November 22, with his tired parents, Brandon & Laura.
















Our Christmas card picture:
















The Zoucha grandkids at Christmas:
















The holiday-tournament winning Doane Tigers in Chicago:
















Christmas with the Hill side on New Year's Eve:
















Playing with the parachute at "The Best Birthday Party Ever":
















The balloon train game:
















With the birthday cake:
















The birthday kids:





















Evan with his cake:

Halloween.....

Hey everyone... I wanted to share some pics from the fun we've had lately....

We took our annual trip to the pumpkin patch in Gretna with Abby & Ryan and Ava and Jeff... It was fun, as you can see, they're getting big... Hard to believe that last year, Evan couldn't even walk yet..

Here's Madison getting carried away by a pig at the "Pigtucky Derby" races, and the Saunders family (minus Griffin) in the guillotine....

When we got home, we carved pumpkins.... I have to say, I'm pretty proud of our diverse bunch of Jack O'Lanterns we made this year.... The kids had a blast helping clean out the guts from the pumpkins.

And.....here's our little superheroes getting ready for a night on the town, and then celebrating with all the "nanny" (Evan's word for candy.) I've heard "mo nanny" enough since then...He would've eaten it all that night if I would have let him... It was a great night for trick-or-treating, we didn't even have to put coats on over the costumes :)

The kids also helped to rake leaves in our yard last weekend...It's funny how a chore that adults don't like to do is the best thing ever to a couple of kids.

Sunday, we went to the children's museum in Lincoln... Madison practiced being a news anchor and Evan looked especially dashing in his Viking hat.

We decided to have the Warnes family over last night to make homemade pizzas...The kids had a blast, and it was delicious!

That's all for now....Have a great Thanksgiving everybody!!!

A new post...finally

OK, so I've been slacking lately. We've had a lot going on these past 2 months.

First, I hit the big 30 at the end of August, and we had a little birthday party at our house... It was really nice, and took the edge off of the "oldness".

Madison had her tooth pulled, and looked like a 7 year old for about a month. We did go ahead and have a semi-permanent partial put in. She's doing well with it, and when she really does lose that other front tooth, we'll take it out to let the real thing come through. It does look a lot different now that she doesn't have the black tooth. Here's some pictures of the old and new smiles...

Shortly after that, we took a vacation to California for my brother Jeff's wedding... We flew to Las Vegas, and spent a day there. Then we drove for hours to the metropolis of Twentynine Palms, California (Jeff's wife Christine is from there) for the wedding festivities, then drove back to Las Vegas for another night before coming home. It was all in all a good trip, but it's a little difficult to enjoy all the fun of Las Vegas with little kids. The time change kind of got to them, we were 2 hours ahead there, so they were exhausted and ready for bed at about 7 -8 o'clock each night. They didn't make it to stay awake for the wedding dance. I think they had fun on the adventure though, and loved flying on the airplane. Now I have a new sister-in-law, Christine Zoucha. She & Jeff went to Italy for their honeymoon, and just returned last week... Back to the real world I guess.

September 28, 2005

Waiting for the airplane at Eppley Airfield....

September 29, 2005

Breakfast buffet at CircusCircus Casino....Evan enjoys a powdered donut hole.

October 1, 2005

The wedding, at Roughley Manor Bed & Breakfast in Twentynine Palms...

The last of us takes the plunge.

For those of you who don't know, that's my sister Abby, me, my brother Jeff, and my sister Tracey.

October 1, 2005

Jeff & Christine take their vows...

October 2, 2005

The kids & I at the top of the Statosphere in Las Vegas....

October 2, 2005

And the best part of the vacation for Maddie, riding a gondola at the Venetian...

Other great news: Griffin made it home the day after we all made it back from the vacation.. He got to come home on October 4, a week before his due date... Ryan & Abby are glad to have him home, and Ava is enjoying getting to know her little brother. He's doing great, only on a few meds, and no oxygen...

Madison holds Griffin this weekend at Grandpa & Grandma's house. He already weighs almost 7 pounds!!!

And, as we all get ready for the big Halloween night, here's our kids with the neighbors, Ellie & Addie Warnes on their front step..

I'll update again, after Halloween...

See you all soon....Jen

Summer's end

As most of you already know, Abby's pregnancy didn't turn out as we all had hoped, but still things are better than last summer.. Griffin Jerrold Saunders was born July 17, 2005 at 27 weeks and 5 days gestation. He weighed 2 lbs. 2 oz. He was on the ventilator off and on for about a week, but is now breathing well with the help of a little added pressure through a nasal cannula. He's tolerating feeds, and doesn't even have an IV! Hopefully soon he'll figure out how to eat from a bottle, and get on the road to going home with his family where he belongs.... It really stinks for Abby & Ryan, but so far things look good, and he should escape this without complications.

Really not a whole lot new for us to report. The kids have been home now with Chad all summer, but will be returning to daycare tomorrow, I think everyone's pretty much ready for that.

The big news for Madison is that her black tooth in the front needs to be pulled. As you all remember, she face-planted when she was about 2 1/2 and one of her front teeth "died." Now it's infected, and will be pulled on Tuesday... We're trying to decide whether to let her walk around without one of her front teeth for 2 1/2 more years, or put a bridge in. I'll keep you all in suspense.....Of course we'll take some pictures of her without a front tooth and put them on when we can. Here's a picture from last summer with the black tooth.

We laughed at Evan the other night. He looked just like the Greenkeeper from Caddyshack...He got his bucket hat, flipped up the brim, and started carrying around a little golf club. "18th hole at Augusta....Cinderella story....."

He's really getting big, at his 18 month visit, he was 35" and weighed 28 lbs, 9 oz.... Off the chart for height, following in the family's footsteps. He's great at communicating, but I'm not sure that anyone understands his language but us:

Gook = drink

Nini = pacifier

He can also say a lot of things the right way, like "sissy," "poopy," "kitty," "ball," "more," and "mommy and daddy." It's so fun to watch him learn about things...

Much to Chad's chagrin, Evan LOVES playing with my old dance costumes. He's become especially fond of one black and pink ruffled skirt which fits him like a dress. He always wants us to put it on him.

Evan & Madison have a lot of fun trying on different outfits and dancing around in the basement.

Anyway, I'll sign off for now..... Take care!

Jen