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.

Father's Day 2009 at Mimi & Grandad's new house that's almost finished!

My Parent's Property

I know it's been a long time since I've blogged anything. I've just been enjoying the summer with the kids. I would like to say that it's been a lazy summer, but we've been keeping busy with swimming, playing with friends, free movies at the Boardwalk, VBS, the library summer reading program, and more. For those of you who didn't know, my parents are in the process of moving here from Pinville (2 hours away). They bought 3 acres in Haughton, and are getting ready to build a house. My dad has been here for a couple of months now living in his RV while working on it. We've enjoyed having him here, and will be glad once my mom is here, too. She is still working at her job in Alexandria. So here are some pictures of the property. The property is a long long strip with a small creek running through the middle of it. They are building their house behind the creek, so here you can see they are clearing the driveway. There are lots of hardwoods, and a few really big, beautiful oak trees.

Pink Deer Antlers, My Dear??

Yes, you read that right....who ever heard of a deer with pink antlers? For those of you who read our "Christmas letter blog" Kathryn was asking for some pink antlers to hang on her wall, because John Paul wanted to hang the antlers from Steve's 5 point in his room. Well, thanks to "Uncle Randy," she got her wish! Randy Mitchell works for DOTD w/Steve and when he heard about her request, he just couldn't help himself. She was ear to ear grinning when she saw them. She kept touching them saying, "they're so beautiful!" So I guess I'm just outnumbered now. I used to say "no animal products hanging around the house." But, who can say no to that

face?? Who knows, maybe next year she'll want to go hunting with Daddy in search of another "pink mama buck" as she calls them.

Laissez Les Bon Temps Roule!!

This past Saturday, we took the kids to the Krewe of Gemini parade. We met several other families who had set up a place on Clyde Fant Parkway. We got there around 3:00 and played around until the parade rolled around our spot at 6:00. Of course, the first thing our big 2 did was take off their shoes and run around barefoot the whole time. They had a blast!

Here's Andrew having a cupcake while we were hanging out waiting for the parade to start.

Here is Kathryn, and her friend Anna Grace, playing with sidewalk chalk on the parkway after the roads were closed.

Andrew caught several beads while sitting on Daddy's shoulders.
He also had fun putting the bead around Mommy's neck (and his, too).John Paul definately got into the Mardi Gras spirit. He caught all sorts of toys, beads and cups!

Let the good times roll!!

Math U See

I am in LOVE with Math U See. Well, I'm not the one that loves it so much, John Paul LOVES it. He is having so much fun!! So, for all you homeschoolers out there, I highly recommend it, especially for very active boys - LOL!

Hi Mimi & Grandad

I'm just playing around to see if I can upload videos. So here goes...the kids are missing Mimi & Grandad and want to say "Hi."

My Sewing Blog

So I've finally created it! I've been saying for a while that I was going to start a blog for my sewing and I finally took the time to do it. Of course, there's not much on it yet, but there will slowly be more to come. Check it out at http://kathrynsboutique.blogspot.com/ . I'm going to steadily add my burp rags and children's clothes to it and take orders. I get lots of phone orders and I hope this will make it easier for me to show what all I can offer.