Easter 2012...hunts & four wheeling!

The first egg hunt of the year for my girls is usually at our church, St. Martin's in Whitfield..Kayla is old enough now that she is actually the one helping to hide the eggs! Below is Olivia hunting at the church w/ her friend Ella.

Danielle & Pop Fegan...Pop always helps to find the eggs that are really hard to find!

We went to the Martin Co 4H egg hunt & Danielle actually found a prize egg..a silver one at that so she received a prize basket w/ goodies inside. Here they are getting ready for the pic for the Tribune.

I had to post this picture..anytime Olivia wants me to take a picture of her, she does this crazy looking pose! What is this? She has a half-grin & puts her arms in weird position! She thinks her new silky pjs are fancy!

Well you can definitely tell my girls are growing up! Grandma Fegan bought them Easter clothes this year instead of the typical Easter dress so here they are in their style of clothes, ready for church! Olivia had on a dress though:)

I love Easter morning...that crazy Easter bunny always puts the baskets at the front door! I love the girls' morning faces too! Glad it wasn't raining this year because it makes for such a mess and a hard time on the bunny!

Here are the "Brown" cousins at Easter at Papaw Brown's...left to right is Haylie feeding baby Elyse, Kayla, Olivia & Danielle..love them girls!

Pop brought his "train" to Papaw Brown's for Easter and it was such a hit he never stopped! It has 4 compartments so all the kids young & old alike enjoyed rides! Yes, we did get pics of me, Josh, Levi & CJ riding too!

Olivia Jean found an egg at Papaw Brown's!

Gearing up for our big four wheeler ride--look at Hunter Lee on his green four wheeler---cracks me up!

Golf cart, 4 wheelers & lots of fun!!!

This pic is of all of us on our four wheeler rides, the 1st pic has my Dad in it and not me and the 2nd pic, my Dad got off and let me on mine LOL...so we each are in the pics you know!

Landon loved riding w/ Josh because they got muddy! If there's a mudhole to be found, Josh Ed will find it!!!

Looking forward to out next big ride on Father's Day!!! Hope you all had a very blessed Easter season as we sure did! ~~~Jamie

Birthdays, Cousins & stuff...

We attended our cousin Hunter's 6th birthday party at the Skate Palace in Jasper and they had a jumpy-thing party...the floor was covered in blow-up things to jump and play on. The girls all had a blast! In this pic below is Olivia on the left wanting to ride a "turtle" and Haylie pushing Danielle on the trike.

Here's Olivia getting ready to slide down the bouncy thing w/ Hunter beside her...they loved it! What a cool idea for a party...

Every year the 4th grade classes have a "wax museum day"..this is where each student chooses a person from Indiana who has became famous or done something outstanding in one way or another...Danielle had Anne Baxter, an actress born in Michigan City, IN, and starred in "The Ten Commandments" and lots of other movies...this is her doing her wax figure pose! What a great job!

We absolutely love getting to babysit our gorgeous baby cousin Elyse Brown! Here she is w/ her crazy older cousin Olivia Jean!! Liv looks so old next to her!

Had to include some pics of our newest bunnies..we had 25 new kits born all together, had a handful die, but most survived and now our rabbitry is busting at the seams w/ 61 rabbits....this is our full-time pastime and we love it. Can't wait to attend shows, sell rabbits, buy rabbits, etc etc! Below is pics of English Spots & Dutch...love our little "Country Bunnies Rabbitry" and trying to get our barn built! It will be awesome!

I have been so busy...will post more pics later of Easter and more happenings! ~~~~Jamie

Rambling about Spring..mainly Easter!

Even though we got close to 2 inches of snow last night, I am so ready for Spring. My favorite holiday has always been Easter..love so many things about Easter. I love the reason we celebrate & going to Easter Sunday Mass. Don't foget new Easter dresses & outfits w/ pretty colors of lilac, pink, yellow or green. I love coloring the eggs to help out the Easter Bunny on Sunday morning. (I've learned many techniques over the years such as dipping my fingers in bleach afterwards or having colored fingertips for many days). I love watching the girls, fresh out of bed, hunting for the eggs outside that the Bunny hid in special places & then circling around to find their baskets on the front porch. I love the fresh green grass, the sprouting Easter lillies, the buds & flowers just poking out on the trees & bushes. Cadbury eggs & jelly beans & peeps! Our Easter Sunday tradition for many, many years has been a long 4 wheeler ride in the afternoon while having a get-together at my Grandpa Brown's house. This is our annual first ride of the year also so we have tons of fun w/ lots of four wheelers & riders of all ages. I hope to take Olivia this year. The little ones usually end up falling asleep before we arrive back home.

Looking forward to my annual egg hanging in the tree in our front yard too. I have started standing on the ladder in some spots as the tree has grown over the years. It's a flowering crabapple so usually by the time Easter is over, the pretty leaves & flowers have started taking over.

Mainly, Easter is the start of Spring to me. The start of warm sunny days, quit running the furnace all the time, and more playing outside til dark days!

Olivia turns 4!!!

Olivia Jean Abel turned 4 yrs old February 12th...we celebrated w/ a Scooby Doo birthday party of course since he is her HERO! The cake was marvelous and was by Heather Arvin again of course...the bottom sheet cake was white & the Scooby on the top was removable and all chocolate. Here she is posing w/ her cake..........

Some of the guests having pizza & cake...




Olivia eating her cake....she only had a few bites. She had too many guests to entertain!



Her and some of her buddies opening gifts..Kayla is behind her in the window w/ a friend.



She opened up 3 Smurfs from Uncle Josh!!!!






She liked her card from us which was Rapunzel from Tangled singing one of the songs from the movie & a Leapster w/ 9 games! She knew how to play it already..she taught us!




Olivia w/ her friends...(left to right) Lilly, Olivia, Madison, Ava, Ella & Landrey;)






I just had to post this pic...this is her in her Velma outfit she received at Christmas from Santa!!! How cool is it that he knew to get her that?? She was in heaven!!!

Cousins are fun!

Well what's better than cousins in life when it comes to family? I don't know what I would've done in my childhood w/o my cousins..I was soo very close to alot of mine growing up and saw them all the time. We spent summers swimming together, four wheeling & even vacationing. Thought I'd share a few photos of some new cousins that are so adorable I just had to share! This first pic is our newest cousin born to my first cousin CJ Brown & wife Katie...she was born 9/30/11 and weighed 8 lbs 7 oz & given the name Elyse Rylie:) Here's the girls holding her at the hospital...



I couldn't get over all the beautiful black hair!!! My girls didn't have near this much! They had some, but barely!

Olivia liked her, especially her head & hair..she thought it was soft! Wonder if we could've took her home & no one would've known? She reminded me so much of my girls as a newborn....

Cousin Landon Mathies celebrated his 5th birthday a few weeks ago...he's surrounded by another one of our cousin's Hunter on the right, and the other are friends of his...another gorgeous/fun cake made by Heather Arvin!!!

I love this picture..this is Mr. Holden O'Neil Lingenfelter being held by his great-grandmother Norma Jean Ziegler. She is a sister to my Papaw Brown so Holden would be my.....4th cousin maybe?...it gets hard to figure this stuff out the further down the line we go. All I know is that he has roll after roll, black hair & cute as a button! He has 2 sisters at home just as cute too!

Labor Day Weekend 2011

We had a fun filled Labor Day weekend...first of all we attended the mass at St. John's to welcome the new Bishop..Bishop Thompson. Danielle & I greeted at one of the doors & then she was chosen to present him w/ his gift which was an embroidered shirt and my Dad was a Eucharistic minister. We had lots of good food & cake! Below is a couple of pictures from that event. First picture is Danielle after she presented his gift to him...

This picture is the Bishop to the right laughing after my Dad asked him if we could call him Bishop Chuck..LOL



Sunday of Labor Day weekend we went to my Uncle Joe's farm for a Fegan Reunion of sorts...lots of family from my Dad's side & we had a great time. The rain held off so we could have our hayride w/ Uncle Joe driving the tractor and my Dad & Eric trailing behind on 4 wheelers.. this first pic shows Olivia & Kayla playing ring toss...

Danielle had the best time learning how to hula hoop...she learned alot from cousin Glenda:)
The back of Uncle Joe as he drove the tractor pulling a bunch of us on a wagon..it was soo nice!


The Fegan Family....this pic shows youngest to oldest...my Dad, aunt Edith, aunt Barbara & Uncle Joe...Mary Alice passed away in 2007 unfortunately. She was the oldest of the 5.

Then on Labor Day my cousin Nikki was in from Texas so we gathered at my Aunt Peggy's place & they rode 4 wheelers & Haylie kept the golf cart hot!!! LOL... this pic is my Dad & Brett's dog Zeke riding at Peg's...
Here's the golf carting girls...Danielle, Kayla & Haylie..
Uncle Josh riding Olivia around..
Landon Wade Mathies riding his four wheeler. He's too funny on this thing. He spins the tires as he takes off. It's hilarious.
Haylie even got Papaw Brown to ride a couple laps on the golf cart. Wish we owned one. They really are lots of fun.

First Day of School 2011

The first day of school for my girls was Monday, August 15th.....Kayla is in the 7th grade which means junior high which means 7 classes/7 teachers & a new locker & combination...I think she is finally getting the hang of it! She so far likes her teachers & her classes and is doing really well.... Danielle is in the 4th grade & has Mrs. Megan Jones & really has alot of fun in class..she loves it! I couldn't be prouder of my girls!!!!

This is a picture of all 3 girls at the French Lick Resort the weekend before school started...we had such fun!!!! Aren't they cute?!