Having awesome hor'devoures in lower flour of Nyack Seaport before the reception in the upper part.  As you can tell, the kids were hungry!  Max seems to be taking his "Daddy tax".  The kids are used to it.

Gloria being silly.  Or maybe it's a new eye treatment to keep her from getting bags under her eyes...naa, she's just silly.

Benaiah's all out of wine...and full of "whine".  I don't blame him, he was an extremely good sport during the wedding and the whole trip and only had this one episode.  Not really sure what he was upset about.

Gloria...almost always smiley.

Gloria has a Shirley Temple and the boys, a Roy Roger, both fancy (for the kids), but non-alcohol drinks.  They deserved a treat.

The Showalter sisters (we should have tried to get a pic with Irina and Sarah too!).  I have my arm off to the side letting Evelyn play with my phone (a really cool app called "Toddler Lock" where they can virtually "draw" on the phone without messing it up) to keep her happy.  She did pretty good too considering the overall lack of sleep for everyone.  So worth it though to see my brother and Sarah marry!

During Ceremony and After Ceremony

Most of what Max did during the ceremony when he had the camera on was video, not pics, so that's why I don't have many pics of the ceremony.  I'm sure their photographer got some good pics of the ceremony though.  I love this picture of my Dad (who "officiated" the wedding, the pastor), Luke (the groom) and Jonathan (best man).

 

Beautiful Gloria and Irina, Jonathan's wife, my sister-in-law (now I have two!), bridesmaid

Gloria and JB got to ride in the limos to the reception, which was 20 minutes away at the Nyack Seaport.

Gloria was the flower girl, as you can see.  When she came down the aisle spreading the petals on the ground, it was as though she was born to be a flower girl.  Let's just say it seemed to come natural to her.

Benaiah's cute, snarky look.

Benaiah wasn't in the wedding, but we dressed JB and him the same because it was just too cute.

Bride and her dad.  Gloria standing with bridesmaids.  I think Gloria had the time of her life.

Pre-Wedding Ceremony at the Church

A perfect photo opp in front of a bull dozer at the church.  I'm sure they left it there for picture taking at the wedding.

Sisters and Mom of the Showalter Family.

A decked-out Benaiah sniffing a lily.

The handsome boys hanging out before the wedding.

The Day Before Luke and Sarah's Wedding

Relaxing in the hotel room before the rehearsal dinner.  The boys had just gone swimming in the pool and were pretty wiped out I think.  Also, none of us got much sleep on this trip because of the odd hours traveling and staying up late, but it was definitely worth it!

Brothers at the rehearsal.  Luke is on the left and Jonathan on the right.  My two little bros...I love 'em and it was so good to see them.  Jonathan was best man.

Love birds at the rehearsal dinner.

This wedding in New Jersey was the first time all of siblings had been together I think since our wedding, which was 12 years ago.  In past weddings/reunions, it seems there was always someone missing.  Such a great time seeing all of my siblings and other family!

Our Time in DC (three weeks ago)

Evelyn posing on the bed in the DC hotel room.

Lounging on the bed in the DC hotel room...loving life as a temporary only child...

Out to eat with Evie

Max and his two commanders (current and former), both supported him (squadron paid for it) in ELDP for the past year.

Dressed up for the graduation at the Arlington Westin hotel.

Evelyn talk

Evlelyn says "yes" to curly hair and
"no thank you" to going in the pool.  She's afraid of water at this point in her life.  This was in a hotel room in DC when Max and I and Evie were there for Max's graduation from ELDP.

12th Anniversary pictures

Max broke his arm the day before our anniversary, so this is the next weekend when Gramma Shell was around to watch the kids.  Thanks Gramma Shell!

Can you get much cuter than this?

Fun with Ducks in the Pool...

Benaiah imagining roast duck for dinner...

JB swimming with a duck...

Getting ducks out of the water.  I like the splashes and water droplets...and Benaiah's face.

At a near-by small-town amusement park...

Evie near the go-karts.  She only got to watch...

I really like this picture of JB and I'm not really sure why...

JB having A LOT of fun with his Dad on the go-karts.  JB also loved the bumper cars, but I didn't get a picture of that.  Gloria made three new friends (her "best" friends...for the day:0)) and went on the rides.  Benaiah had a blast too.  They all did surprisingly well on all the spinny-rides, no puking:0).  Evelyn did go on a couple of rides in my lap and didn't enjoy them much...

Max got up Evelyn before leaving for work...

Kitten Compound...the birth and getting bigger

Pregers...who knew she had 7 in there!  She did get pretty big, now she's skinny again.

Birthing the kittens...at first I thought she only had three, but she kept popping them out and I concluded that she had 6.  About a week later I was able to count them better and discovered she actually had 7!  What a nice number...

Maybe a bit overwhelmed...this was when she was shaking, which I remember from my labors, so I wasn't too concerned.

I'm so glad she decided to have her kittens right in our breezeway (between the kitchen and the garage in a semi-outdoor area).  This is where Gramma Shell and the kids set up a box for her a couple of months ago in hopes that she would choose to have her kittens close by.

Nursing/sleeping time.  Good thing she has 8 nipples.

10 days old!

The tiger-striped one is the only one of its kind in her litter.  The others are either mostly grey or black.

About 3 weeks old!  They are getting cuter and more playful.  Sleeping less, still making their mom tired and more skinny.  They are starting to wander around the breezeway more and "run" to the kids sometimes when they come out of the house.  One doesn't seem to have a voice because it doesn't meow when it opens it's mouth.