Litton Reunion 2009

This past weekend, we met up with Jim's family for the annual Litton Family Reunion. Every year on Memorial Day, Jim's whole extended family gets together for a long weekend of fun, food, worship, and relaxation. It is always such a joy to be with everyone. Jim has a ton of cousins who are all close to the same age. Most of us all went to ACU at the same time, as well as the added spouses. So besides being family, we are all really good friends. I mean, Jim's cousin actually married one of his college roommates. All together, there were 20 adults and 9 kids under the age of 7...all staying in one house. It was a little more interesting this year, having an extremely fussy newborn with us, but still really fun. With everyone one year older, the great-grands had a ball together this year. Here are a bunch of pictures from our time together. You will have to excuse the amount...I just couldn't narrow them down!

Here are all of the cousins...well, as we are called, the "absolutes" and the "grafteds."

Grandmother with her two newest great grandbabies.

Grandmother with all of the great grands...

And the even better shot of the rest of everyone on the other side,

trying to get the kids to smile...

Anna Lee had so much fun with all of her cousins...especially the girls! Who knew the Disney princesses could provide such a bond?

On Saturday night, all the adults had a family trivia game. It was fun, loud, and competitive. A big thanks went to Jennifer for putting it all together for us.

Reading some Bible stories with Grandmother before bed

Brother and Sister with 2 new baby boy cousins...

Anna Lee enjoying some time with the men...

Matthew was quite the fisherman this weekend. I loved this shot of him.

Anna Lee with Pops watching the fishing

Briana was so sweet with all of the kids. She gave me lots of appreciated breaks from holding J.D. The kids all loved her too! We can't wait for her wedding in October! I loved how Anna Lee was looking up at Matthew in this shot.

One of my favorite parts of our reunion weekends is our family worship time. It is such a special time of singing, reflection, and prayer. We are so thankful to have a family that wants to spend time doing those things together.

One of Jim's cousins, Larissa, and her husband Kyle and daughter Shaye just moved to Peru to be missionaries. We are so proud of what they are doing there, and love them so much. We missed them being at the reunion this weekend, but the kids had fun getting to talk with them on Skype. Here is a shot of everyone gathered around the computer.

A bunch of us gathered in a bedroom one night while the kids were "performing" songs.

It was so fun!

This was a shot of Grandmother with J.D. I mainly liked the picture because you can see how much J.D. has grown!

I caught this shot of Matthew stealing some mint Oreos one afternoon after swimming.

I just thought it was funny!

And two other little mouths got into the Oreo bag as well...

Having fun swimming with Daddy

Jim's parents with the gang
We had such a great time! Can't wait until next year!

Family Portraits

A couple of weeks ago, we had a photographer come to our house and take family portraits. It was stressful getting ready for it, but Anna Lee and J.D. both did a great job...and the portraits turned out great! Our photographer, Steve, was wonderful, and was awesome at catching some great moments. Here are a few of my favorites...and a link to a slideshow he put together of some that he liked from the session.

www.poeticexposure.com/jamesdavis

What a great daddy!!!

Jim has been home with us now for three weeks. It has been so nice! I can't say enough what an amazing husband and daddy he is! Our 7 year anniversary is on Monday (that is so hard to believe!). As we look at our life together, I am so thankful for not only our relationship and friendship with each other, but the relationship he has with Anna Lee and now J.D.

Jim has certainly earned his keep around here the past three weeks! He has been cleaning the house, changing diapers, rocking J.D. during the middle of the night, taking Anna Lee to and from school, getting dinner, going to the grocery store for me, the list is endless. And he has done all of this without a single complaint. Thank you so much!

Besides all that he has done around the house and to help with J.D., Anna Lee and Jim have had a ball together! They have played and played...inside and out. Anna Lee has LOVED having her daddy home! And I have too!

Happy Mother's Day!

Let me just begin this post by telling you how much I love Mom-Mom and GranDee. My mom came the week J.D. was born to help, and Jim's mom came last weekend. I cannot say how much it meant to me for them to come! Because of my c-section and hernia surgery, taking care of two kiddos has been more difficult than I thought. But I was so thankful to have not only one, but two sweet moms who would be willing to come and help us. Thank you both so much! We love you so much and hope you have a wonderful Mother's Day!

Here are a few pictures from the past couple of weeks. Anna Lee is still loving being a big sister. She loves talking to J.D., kissing him, and holding him. I have been waiting for her excitement about him to wear off...but it hasn't happened yet.

"Hmmm...let me see..."

Look at those cheeks! As of yesterday, he got really bad acne on them. I am not sure what to do about this...especially since we are having his portaits made on Tuesday. I am hoping it will go away soon.

J.D. is one chilled out little fellow. When he is awake, this is pretty much his normal demeanor.

Until sponge bath time. This has been his least favorite part of the day.

But he seems to feel like it is always worth it...to get to be wrapped up in a towel at the end. I love hooded baby towels!

Well, Happy Mother's Day everyone!

I am so thankful to have these two little ones to celebrate this year.

Backwards

Middle of the night... Middle of the day...

J.D. has things kind of turned around right now...and the result is a lack of sleep at our house.

Any suggestions?