christner home: Catching Up

Okay, so we've determined that I'm a (pardon my french) crappy blogger!! It is June of 2009 & we've done SO much between my last post & now. For those of you who keep us w/us via our blog, here goes! Summer 2008 we took a long vacation to Florida. We stopped off in Panama City to enjoy some beach time together for a few days. It was some much needed relaxation for our family. Then we headed on over to the Orlando area where our niece got married. The older kids were both in the wedding. John Paul made a handsome little ring bearer & Kathryn would have made the most beautiful flower girl, but didn't quite make it down the aisle. Of course, while we were there, we went to the Magic Kingdom for a day. The kids had a blast. One day when they're all older we'll have to make a full week of Disney - there's just too much to do there! Just when we got home and settled in from our 2 week vacation, we found out that we were expecting our 4th baby - yay!!! The kids were absolutely ecstatic! Fall of 2008, John Paul played soccer again w/Cabosa & loved it. John Paul turned 7 & we had a big campout at Lake Bisteanu w/lots of friends & tons of smores. We celebrated Thanksgiving with Steve's brothers family & parents, and Rachel & her new husband, Michael. Then we celebrated Christmas w/Steve's sisters family & parents. At the turn of the new year, my mom & dad (Mimi & Grandad) started building their new house.
In Spring of 2009, John Paul played soccer again & started baseball w/Bossier Dixie. He had a blast playing soccer again & is now loving baseball, too. We ended up with a wonderful coach & team. Just as the baseball season began, we welcomed Anna Elisabeth Christner to our household on March 11th at 12:31 a.m. We didn't have another homebirth this time because our wonderful midwife moved away leaving our only midwife option in east Texas. Steve didn't want to risk having an unattended birth, so we headed for the hospital again. The birth was okay - we made it to the hospital with 20 minutes to spare, everything went fine & we got discharged just a few hours later. The kids are all CRAZY about Anna. I swear I barely got to hold her for the first few weeks. Kathryn has assumed the mama role & can do just about everything except nurse her. In Anna's short little life so far, she has been to as many ball games as the rest of our family. Being the fourth baby, we just kept right on going w/a new baby in tow. In June, Andrew turned "free" (as he says) & Steve & I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary w/dinner and champagne at Kobe.
So far this summer we're doing lots of fun things w/the kids. We're enjoying the Summer Family Film Festival at the Louisiana Boardwalk, we're doing 2 library reading programs, and getting ready to start summer baseball with Bossier Parks & Recreation. Kathryn is getting ready to turn 5 in August, then we'll be back into the swing of school.
That pretty much catches everyone up to speed. Now for some pictures!

John Paul playing soccer for the Red Dragons - Spring 2009

Mimi & Grandad's new house

Happy 2 & 4th birthday to Andrew & Kathryn

Happy Halloween - Kathryn was Ariel, John Paul & Andrew were both Jack Sparrow's

Here I am just 5 days before my due date :)Welcome Baby Anna! The kids are getting their first glimpse of their new sister!John Paul playing baseball for the Cardinals with Bossier Dixie Youth Baseball.