Bunting Family Pictures

Since we were all together, we decided to have family pictures.

(or I persuaded everyone else that we should have family pictures)

Heather's friend Dixie took these for us and did a fantastic job…

The whole familia

Grandma & Grandpa with the grandkids

Mom & Dad with their kids

A good one of Mom and Dad together

The Newlyweds!

Not so newlyweds--Chad & Jordan 

Garrett looks super excited and Luke not so much 

Paul, Me and our kiddos

And Troy, who's flying solo

(maybe he could use this for a dating profile picture)

All the cousins 

(lots of personality here!)

Happy Birthday Cousin Jacob!

Jacob and Matt are the oldest boy cousins

When the Walker side gets together,

Matt is always glad to have a sidekick!

They love to do Legos, bug the girls,

play wii, and ride bikes.

We hope your day is great Jake!

Cousins Weekend

The cousins came to stay over the weekend.

While their mom and dad had some time in the city,

the kids played and played and played some more.

The sprinklers were a big hit...

They posed just long enough for a quick group shot.

I bribed them with a sleep-over in the basement

It was a good thought, but the kids were too excited.

They ended up on their own beds.

(So we could do it all again the next day!)

We will miss having cousins close enough to visit for the weekend

(They're moving back to Washington in June)

Thanks for coming to play!

Christmas Week

Our week turned out to be a lot of fun--

celebrating Jeffery's birthday, Winter Wonderfest at Navy Pier, watching movies, playing in the snow and having good times with the cousins

(Halle loved meeting--and touching--new cousin Emily)

(lots of fun rides at Navy Pier--the kids loved them--me, I barely fit on them)

(Nora just liked to hang out with her dad)

I made a big Christmas Eve dinner and we had a family program of music and stories

the kids changed into their matching jammies right after dinner!

Jacob played a few Christmas carols on his violin

Ruth Ann and new baby Emily

And, of course, Christmas morning spent in our own home.

How fun it was to listen to the kids in the morning as we trooped down the stairs

All he wanted were Legos--good thing you can never run out!

Halle let out screams of joy when she saw her new doll house

Nora will be getting some exercise--we're trying to get her to use her legs

Afton loves her new Hannah Montana house and guitar--she's our budding rock star!

To sum it up, I'll just quote Afton:

"This is the best Christmas ever!"

Merry, Merry

We thought we would have a quiet Christmas since we were staying home for the first time.

It made me a little sad to miss all the noise and excitement with our families...

Jeffrey, Grace, Emily, Nora, Afton, Halle, Matthew and Jacob

Instead, we had a joyful, boisterous time with our cousins--

8 kids under 8 bring a lot of excitement and fun during the week of Christmas!

More pictures will come when we have recovered from all that fun!

(Thank heavens for Grandma and Grandpa who flew in today--

They'll play with the kids while Paul and I nap!)