Our New Additions

After weeks of window shopping, the girls have adopted 2 kittens. Their names are Jodie and Pippi. Jodie is the black and gray tiger stripped tabby, and Pippi is the black and brown calico one. They are staying with their foster family until we get back from our Christmas trip, but everyone is quite excited about getting them home.

Christmas Piano Recital

Sorry for not posting in a while, but here is a video of Kimmy's performance at her Christmas Piano Recital yesterday.

Kimmy's Recital

Kimmy had her spring piano recital today. Her first song was a duet with her friend Makenna (Penguin Parade). Her second song was Fur Elise (hope I spelled that right). The video from her recital is below. Enjoy.

Spring Activities

Well, I haven't posted anything in quite some time so here are some pictures of our recent spring activities.

Everyone dressed up for church on Easter Sunday.

Good stuff from the Easter Bunny:

Grandma Brooks came to visit. She made bunny cake with the girls which is always a much anticipated Easter activity. She seemed not too frazzled with 7 girls around so we figure we'll see how she can handle 10 next time.

Softball season began. Kimmy tried her hand at catcher (aka the girl who gets hit a lot by the pitcher and doesn't really catch anything).

Leah preffered to catch some rays next to the field:

Kimmy and her friend Makena getting ready for the big day:

Kimmy also decided she was going to try a kids triathalon (75 yard swim, 1 mile bike ride and half mile swim). They wore timnig chips and everything so it was very serious. Kimmy was quite nervous. Here she is before the start at the pool. I think all 7-10 year olds have the same nervous finger biting habit before a big event.

She made it out of the pool and is getting on her bike. Still looking pretty good.

Rounding the final corner from the run. She was getting pretty tired at this point but she ran all the way through the finish and did a good job. We'll be in Hawaii next year for the ironman I'm sure.

One last funny picture. Kimmy felt the need to try curlers. Of course this lasted only until she put her head on the pillow and realized that it might not be entirely comfortable to sleep in.

New room and new ears

Kimmy has been upgrading her style lately. We just finished redecorating her room. She chose a two tone color pattern with a fancy horse border in the middle. It looks quite nice and is probably the best decorated room in the house at this point. We also went to the mall this weekend and she got her ears pierced, which was very exciting. She looks good with her new ears (little difficult to see in the pics below).

Christmas Preparations

We're getting in the Christmas spirit and are getting ready for our big trip to Kentucky to visit family and friends. We just hope Santa can find us back in the hills of Kentucky.

The girls after decorating the tree.



Baking sugar cookies to give to teachers and friends.

Decorating the sugar cookies (I think more icing ended up in their bellies than on the cookies...oh well!)

A sugar cookie Masterpiece! The wine helped the whole process go much more smoothly (for Mom and Dad of course).

The Thanksgiving Cruise

We had quite an adventure over Thanksgiving. Grandma and Grandpa Stansberry treated our family and Brian's to an awesome 4 night Disney Cruise. We all had a great time. There were too many fun things to mention and provide pictures for all, but here are some:

Oh my gosh, this is a really big boat!


The whole crew waiting to board on Wed. afternoon.



Meeting captain mickey at the cruise terminal before boarding.



Having a blast at the going away party at the top of the ship.

Carrie successfully navigating the giant Mickey slide at the ship kids pool.

Grandparents and the grandkids all dressed up for formal night.

The desserts are really good on the Disney cruise.

Look, we found Mommy roaming the halls in a blue dress. No.... It's just Cinderella.

Leah won the golf chipping contest in the lobby of the ship. She beat 20 other golfers including Grandpa Stansberry and won a keychain flashlight which she was very proud of.

At the pirates in the caribbean night. The teeth make the outfit.

I don't care how much fun he is on a cruise, we are not having another!

My biggest princess doing the limbo at dinner.

With goofy on Castaway Cay (Disney's private island).

Building sandcastles on the beach with Cousin Katy.

Kimmy with Captain Jack Sparrow.

Chillin in our room before dinner after a big day of adventures on the high seas.

The only rough part of the trip was getting home because of big weather delays. This is the girls at the Philly airport at midnight. I think after staying up late every night to see the great shows, the fireworks, and dancing that the girls need a vacation to rest from their vacation. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for a great trip!