Relay for Life

For the last 5 years, Dustin and I have participated in the Relay for Life event supporting the American Cancer Society. This being their first year, the kids seemed to have a good time. The Duke Energy team theme was Star Wars..."may the force be with us to find a cure." (Clever, I know.)

Lilly and Austin enjoyed playing with the light sabers most of the day.

As you can see, we wore them out by mid-day.

We even talked cousin Brian into being the "Miss Relay" for our team. (Each team has a man dressed like a woman walk around the track. The wo-man that collects the most money wins. All money collected goes to the American Cancer Society. What a good sport!!)

All in all, the event was fun and so far our team has raised about $16,000 for the American Cancer Society.

~Side note: there's still time to donate! There's a link to the donation page in the top left corner of the blog screen. Feel free to check out our sight and donate! :o)

Show Off

Lilly tends to be quite the show off. As many of you know, she's always striving to be the center of attention. You can tell by the look on her face.

Austin is more laid back and tends to go with the flow.

New Things

Lilly recently discovered that she likes to drink from a straw (sort of)...

and she LOVES lemons.

Austin likes straws too but not a big fan of the lemon. He'd rather have puffs.

Year in Review

This past year has been a crazy one. As most of you know, many things in our lives have drastically changed recently. The one thing in life that seems constant is change. Life doesn't slow down for anyone or anything. We have to try to push through it and take one day at a time. The kids are adjusting as best as they can (like us.) One thing is for certain...Lilly and Austin are truly a blessing to us. When our lives seem like they've been turned upside down, all we have to do is look at the smiles on their little faces to bring a bit of cheer back to us. They are what we live for each day.

Happy 1st Birthday!!

Austin was ready for his first taste of cake.

Lilly just did not want to wear her birthday hat. (She's pretty good at throwing fits nowadays.)

Lilly wasn't too sure about the strawberry cupcake, but she seemed to like the chocolate.

Austin mainly liked the icing.



They were pretty worn out by the time the party was winding down.


All in all, I think they're 1st Birthday Party was a success. :o)

Guard Dog

As much as Sassy doesn't want to admit it, she loves the babies. I walked in on her while she was "guarding" Lilly as she napped.

Happy Easter!

Their first Easter was complete with baby ducks, an easter egg hunt, flying kites and of course a nap.



They really liked the baby ducks.

Lilly enjoyed petting them.

Austin just wanted to show them some love with a big kiss.

The kids had fun hunting for eggs at the annual Alyea Family Easter Egg Hunt on the farm. The family is getting so big, I heard a total of over 300 eggs were hidden this year!

They enjoyed a wagon ride to go watch everyone fly kites in the beautiful weather.

Austin kicked back and relaxed in the sun.

And of course a nap was in order after a fun filled day.

The many faces of Lilly

It's not all smiles all the time. This is usually the face we get when we tell her, "No."

This is the face when she's still not over the shock of "No."

This is the happy face again when she remembers (thinks) the world revolves around HER.

Playtime

Like Father, Like Son

Dustin's trying to get Austin into the ink business a little early in my opinion. Austin went to work with him one Saturday and came home with ink on his thumb. Dustin claims he's not sure how it got there...likely story. :o)