Spangler Shower

August was CRAZY busy with pre-wedding fun!! We had the Spangler Bridal Shower, the Tigulis Bridal Shower, Sahsha's Bachelorette Party and Jason's Bachelor party... WOW!!

We started off with Sahsha's side, the Spanglers, throwing the shower. It was good food and good fun... and Sahsha got LOTS of good stuff!!

Andrea and I went together and got her stuff for her guest bathroom... we really liked it and wanted to keep it!! :)

See the woman in the red on the right side of the picture? That's Sahsha's good friend Brooke who's in the wedding. What's the big deal you might ask... She lives in FLORIDA!!! She COMPLETELY surprised Sahsha by showing up for the shower!! It was AWESOME!!! We were all crying when we found out who it was... WAY TO PULL IT OFF BROOKE!!

This is an afghan that Sahsha's late grandma made. Jacque saved it for this shower... again, not a dry eye in the house!!

Here are the sisters with the sister-in-laws!! :)

Huntertown Heritage Day Parade

You all know my mom LOVES parades big or small, so of course we were at the Huntertown Heritage Day Parade. This parade qualifies as the small parade, that's for sure, but the kids still loved it.

The Grand Marshall of the Parade was Phil Ginder. He is the "main man" of the Huntertown Ball Diamonds. He is over there EVERY NIGHT from beginning to end working TIRELESSLY at helping kids have GREAT experiences playing ball. He SO DESERVED it!! And in a typical Phil Ginder move, he asked any kid who played at the ball diamonds this summer to walk with him in the parade.... that's just the type of guy he is!! :)

So here's Cora (on the far right) walking with Phil!! :)

The Etter family came too, so Eli got LOTS of loving from Keenan, Nick and Ella... He loved it!!

Dinner with the Ankenbrucks

With busy schedules, getting together with friends sometimes is difficult and it took a little shuffling of plans, but we were able to go to the Ankenbrucks for some dinner and play time... for both the little boys (they have TONS of fun toys) and the big boys (mock draft)

Johnnie and Eli right away hit it off. They played and played and played... you get the point. We played outside, in the living room, in the basement, in his room. Eli LOVED this horse and how great is it that they have a cowboy hat to go with it!!

As we got ready to leave it was night night time for both boys so with pj's on they decided to read some books together... one of my favorites!!!

Fun Spot Park

So it's a tradition in the Hendricks family that before we all go back to school, we take a family trip to Fun Spot. It's ok to laugh... we do, but we all have a great time. This year, Eli could actually ride some rides and he LOVED IT!!! Don't know what he loved more, the rides or being on the rides with Cora and Keenan.

Here's Eli and MawMaw on the Merry-Go-Round...

Then Nico, Eli, and I rode the Farris Wheel (thanks to a very generous Fun Spot worker who let Eli who was too short by an inch, let him go on) I was more freaked out on it than Eli was!! :)

They had big people rides too, so Kenny, Nico and I rode some of those. I let the boys ride together...

As always, its so nice we are able to spend time with the entire family. WE LOVE YOU GUYS!!!

It's been too long...

since I've actually posted anything. Can you tell school's started??!! :) So now I've got to catch everyone up on the month of August. When I look back, I feel like August has been the LONGEST month ever!!! I am SO ready to move on to September.

So here's what's coming up, starting with the beginning of August to today!!
Fun Spot Park
Dinner with the Ankenbrucks
Huntertown Heritage Days Parade
Sahsha's Spangler Shower
Sahsha's Tigulis Shower
High School Volleyball Coaches Party
Tigulis Boys
Bachelorette Party (I promise.... they are all family friendly :)
Bachelor Party (again, family friendly)
Carroll vs Marion
Labor Day Trip to the Zoo


Phew.... I better get on it!!
But what would a post be without a picture. So here's us at the zoo today!!

Unofficially the Last Week of Summer

We really don't start school until Aug 14th (which is still ENTIRELY TOO EARLY if you ask me) so technically we have like 2 and 1/2 more weeks of summer left. But Nico starts 2-a-days on Monday, so basically our summer is over when those start!! :)

So we thought we'd take a family trip to the zoo. We went early enough so there was very few people and it wasn't too hot. I love to watch Eli and the zoo. He's gets the biggest kick of out of the littlest things... the birds on the path, the ducks in the water, and he LOVES to just watch the little kids around him (I'm turning him into a people watcher like his mom! :)

I also love to watch Eli and Nico together... it's my favorite type of people watching!! :) They are just 2 peas in a pod!! :)

This one is one of my new favorites!! :)

Tomorrow we all are going with my family to Fun Spot Park... should be lots of fun. Don't worry, I'll take lots of pictures!! :)

Keenan's Birthday

Before I talk about how great Keenan's birthday was, just have to comment about how much I LOVE this picture of Keenan. Just in case that AWESOME Batman cake is getting in the way of you fully appreciating his smile here you go:

That smile... LOVE HIM, LOVE HIM, LOVE HIM!!
Ok, back to the party...This weekend, Keenan turned 4. In some ways I can't believe he's only 4, it seems like forever ago when Amanda VERY pregnant at our wedding, and have you ever talked to him... you'd never believe he just turned 4. But then in so many ways I can't believe he's already 4... he's grown up so quickly. He's already talking about going to Kindergarten. :)
He had a Batman themed party. Batman decorations, Batman cake, and lots of Batman gifts...It was great!!

While all the kids LOVED all his gifts, one of his non-Batman gifts was a big hit.

Here's some pictures of the kids playing with it. Even Eli got in on the fun!!

Not a surprise to anyone that I tried to teach him swing the right way :) :)

And not surprising at all, he hit it when he did it all on his own!! :)

Keenan, we hope you had a WONDERFUL 4th birthday. Know that your Aunt Abby, Uncle Nico and Eli love you VERY MUCH and can't wait to see you grow up into an AWESOME big boy!! :) LOVE YOU!!

Welcome to the Neighborhood!!

This weekend Jason and Sahsha closed and moved into a new house. It is BEAUTIFUL!! And if that's not enough good news... their subdivision is attached to ours... how LUCKY are they!! :)

If I was a good sister-in-law I'd have lots of pictures of the house instead of Jason opening the champagne and our families just toasting to the new house... sorry guys!! :)

After lots of packing, hauling, unpacking, and lots of sweating, their house is looking like a home. We can't wait for it to keep filling up with all the cool shower and wedding presents. But we REALLY can't wait for it to fill up with cousins for Eli and Ava!! :)

Love you 2 and are SO HAPPY for you both!!

Lunch with Heather

Heather and I used to work together and we try and meet up to catch up. But it had been a LONG time since we'd seen each other, so we had LOTS to talk about... and we had Eli with us... talk about a challenge.

No but really, he didn't do too bad, considering we had like a 2 hr lunch!! :)

Here are Eli and Heather together:

We just love Heather to death!! She is one of the most genuine people I know. She's such a caring person with a HUGE giving heart, she's just a joy to be around... I only wish it could be more!! :)

Lots of love to you... until next time!! :) :)

Little Big Town

A few weeks back one of Nico's football coaches was talking about Little Big Town coming to the Elkart County Fair for free. Him and I talked about what a good concert that would be. THEN he was nice enough to invite Nico and I to go with him. :) :) This was Nico's 2nd concert ever... the first being "The Oakridge Boys" :) :)

Here are the boys before the concert.

Clint's sister was nice enough to go early and get us FANTASTIC seats. Thank you,Thank you, Thank you!!

Nico said he only knew 1 song they sang "Boondocks" It turned out he knew more that one, but he was waiting, and waiting, and waiting for that one. We tried to tell him it would be last, but he didn't believe it, until it was the last song. Nico was the first one standing!! :) Here's some video of it. You can here Nico telling Clint to get up!! :)


Then this is my favorite part of the song!!

HANG WITH ME, STILL WORKING ON THE VIDEO PART!!

It was a GREAT night!! Thanks Clint for inviting us!!

Jackson MI Cascades

This summer, we've been doing a lot of things that we did "when we were kids"... the parade, junkfood alley, fireworks, lake, and now Jackson Michigan Cascades. When I was little my Grandma and Grandpa Jones took me (this was pre-Kenny) to Jackson MI to see the Cascades. You might be asking.... "What are these Cascades?" Short definition: a man-made waterfall with big fountains in the middle and mood lighting. But when you are 4, it's like the coolest thing ever... or at least it was to me. :)

So we made the trek up there with all the kids. Nico and I were lucky enough to have all 3 kids in our jeep on the way up... but seriously, they did great!!

Now remember it's been like 27 years since any of us had be up there, but we thought we'd try it. Mom found a program called "Christmas in July" so they were singing Christmas songs and Santa, the Grinch, and lots of other "Christmasy" character were there.

We got there right at 7:30 when the program was to start. It ended up that the Pre-dark program was one man singing Christmas songs, lounge style. So we had some time (under statement of the century... like 2 hrs) to kill. Luckily there are stairs leading up to the top and some HUGE hills to play on.

and some HUGE hills to play on. The Cora, Keenan and I rolled down the hills while Eli tried to run down them with Uncle Kenny.

So between that and about 6 trips to the concession stand,

We made it. It was worth the wait!! :) But the kids were tired by the time the lights came on, so we only stayed for a bit... but it was enough.

We stayed in a hotel with a pool, so the kids did some swimming before we left and the next day. They had a ball!! :)

It had been a long time (since the lake) that we had all been together, so it was nice to spend time together. The kids have a great time together, but so do the adults!! :) I know lots of people whose family is so far away that they don't get to spend much time with their own nieces, nephews, brother's and sisters. We are very blessed that they all are close and we get to spend lots of time together!!