The Adventures Of Our Family!: April 2008

Chick-Fil-A Date

Can you see why Noah and I love our Chick-Fil-A dates with the Villanueva's?? I mean how cute are these babies...

Cassi makes it look much easier but here I am trying to juggle Maggie and Micah while Noah drinks his fifth glass of chocolate milk.

A Day for firsts...

so i wanted to post a picture when I wrote this but i can't figure out how to get the picture from my phone to the computer. Last Sunday was Catholic Youth Day at Six Flags. It was a great day. Barrett and Aimee helped chaperone my teens and we had a blast! And actually my dad suprised us and brought Noah to Six Flags for the day. It was great, i got to ride a little kid roller coaster with Noah!! His very first roller coaster at the same park I rode my first roller coaster...very cool!! He was a champ at it too...he was scared to death and held on to me for dear life but actually had a smile on his face when we got off. I asked him if he liked it and he said yes and then I asked him if he wanted to go again and he said NO! haha. BUT that was not the only cool thing that happened that day. As many of you know, my dad worked at Six Flags most of my life so I have been there many many times and somehow have NEVER been on a coaster with my dad. I swear to you he told me he didn't like them..hehe. But as we walked by the good ol scream machine, my dad said he wanted to go on it so he and i rode it together...in the very front!! It was awesome!!! When i figure out how to post the picture, I will!!

Retreat!!

One of my favorite parts about being a youth minister is taking teens on retreat. Last weekend I led a weekend retreat with 17 teens on it. Of course, I had awesome help with some of the most amazing adult leaders on the planet. In fact, they are the real reason the retreat was so great because they willingly gave of their time and talent (not to mention gave up their weekend) to spend time with the teens, give a talk, and pray with us. Below is the group picture of the amazing group (minus a few chaperones).

Here are some of the adult leaders that helped out for the weekend. Also, a big thanks to Cassi, Cherie, and Father Michael (who aren't in the picture but drove up for Saturday!). Yes, parents actually trust to send their teens away for a weekend with this group...

I love this picture of myself and some of the girls. As you can see in the background, Covecrest Retreat Center is the most beautiful place to have a retreat!

A Special thanks to Lauren for driving all the way from Auburn, Alabama to help chaperone the weekend. I was so blessed to have her for the whole weekend!!

It was a great weekend and I can't wait to do it again in the fall!!

Day at the Park

Today Noah and I met up with our bestest friends Cassi, Maggie, and Micah at the park for some lunch and playtime. Noah LOVES playing with Maggie and Micah almost as much as I do.

I am pretty sure that since I have become a mom, other moms are heros to me because I know how hard it is to be one...but i have a new hero and it is Cassi because somehow she juggles twins and makes it look easy. Here I am holding Maggie and pushing Noah on the swing. Noah was much happier with Cassi pushing him because she pushed him higher and faster. I was trying, but have not yet mastered the "2 child juggle"

Aren't the babies just the cutest things ever? Here I am holding Maggie.

Cassi has it down...holding Micah and pushing Noah high and fast.

we decided to give the babies a turn in the swings...Micah did great!!!

and Maggie did a little face plant into the swing...and she didn't even cry...what a sport!

Conductor Cassi with the twins on board..chooo choooo

Noah is headed down the slide with Cassi behind him to try it out herself

But she opted for the big slide instead...(don't call Defax on us, they didn't really go down, just posed for the picture..hehe)

Micah wore me out so I decided to take a nap..haha

But I guess I really wore him out cause he fell asleep while I was holding him

I caught the cutest picture of Cassi making Maggie giggle...it was so cute

Noah strapped Micah and Maggie into the car seats all by himself...what a big helper!

We can't wait to go back!!

Our Trip to Washington, Missouri

We just got on the plane and Noah is watching all the men outside getting the plane ready to take off

The Plane is getting ready to leave...how exciting!

we walked through the town of Washington and Noah and Vincent found a nice spot in the shade

Here is Nonna and Noah and Vincent...Noah got a haircut as you can see

I got to see my friend The Walsh's and their twin girls, Nora and Ella.

Here we are having lunch

we stopped for some Gelatto (Italian ice cream) after lunch...yumm

Mom and Nancy with the little Italian woman who owned the Gelatto store

Noah and his best friend in the whole wide world...Murphy

Noah is feeding Murphy a treat

Noah was crawling around on the floor pretending he was a Murphy Dog

Noah was playing with Murphy and was hiding under the table

Noah and I were practicing the piano

Noah and Nathan fell asleep while we were driving out to my Uncle's farm...

The 2nd Half of the Trip

We went to My Aunt and Uncle's farm to check out the cows and the calf that was born that day. Here are some pictures of the day and the rest of the trip.

Noah and I are checking out the very wild cows

Noah was very excited about the "hay ride" we had to take to go see the calf

Here we are before the "hay ride" and before the big cow chase...

having fun on the "hay ride" before the cows starting chasing us.

I am not kidding when I tell you the cows starting stampeding us...it was the craziest experience I have had in a very long time. We were all a little freaked out and yet I managed to get a picture cause I knew no one would believe us.

Nancy, Noah, and I safe from the stampede of cows and ready to check out the calf

The Mamma Cow and The new Calf born hours before...

Me, Noah, and Nathan out to eat at The Pasta House...yumm

Who's Meghan and Noah just before we saw Horton Hears A Who for the 2nd time...

Dominic, Joey, Vincent, and Noah playing outside in the driveway

this is how I found Noah watching cartoons...

Vincent and Noah showing off their new shirts...

haircut...

Noah, my mom, and I flew to St Louis this past week (pictures to come soon) and Noah got a haircut...

before...

after...

Meredith's Wedding

Meredith and I grew up across the street from each other in Chimney Lakes. She got married last weekend and here are a few pictures...

haha, Barrett actually was having fun and was not alone all night even though he looks so sad here...