Happy Anniversary Kim & Mike!

Kim and I have been friends since our Freshman year of High School and I was lucky enough to be her Matron of Honor at her wedding in Florida. It was a lovely wedding & Kim was a gorgeous bride! Happy 3rd Anniversary!!!

p.s. Xavier is in the picture also. Can you see him? I was 21 weeks pregnant and had just found out I was having a boy! :)

A Fun Hoynacki Family Weekend

What a busy, but very fun weekend. On Saturday Xavier and I packed up and went South for a day with Aunt Tina. We went to her parish picnic and Xavier loved the rides! He went on these cars at least 8 times. The blue car was his favorite. Towards the end, Aunt Tina just stayed in line to ensure we got the blue car each time. Now that's what I call a good Aunt! This is just total Yates blood running through him right now.

There also was a train...so you know Xavier was all over this. We spent most of the day going between the train and the cars.

On a funny note, we went on the Carousel and Xavier hated it!! He clung onto me and cried the entire ride. Needless to say, we only rode that one once.

Xavier also had fun playing some of the games. His favorite "prize" was a red sucker which was a consolation prize for actually loosing the game. I never knew loosing could make Xavier so happy. All in all, it was a very fun day with Aunt Tina!!

Then, Sunday most of the family went over to my Dad's for a Bar-B-Q since my Aunt Jane (my Dad's sister) is in town. After the rain stopped, it turned out to be a beautiful day!!

Here is Dad cooking up some yummy eats for all of us!!!

Here is a great picture of my 3 nieces; Michelle, Kaila and Angela. Then there is my brother Kent in the background. This is a little game we like to play called "Let's see how many pictures you can get into" which all started about 14 years ago at Disney World when we were trying to get into as many people's pictures as possible standing in the background smiling away like we were supposed to be there. Some things never change...

Here is Kate, Xavier and Paul on the swing...

What a great day!! I love my family!! They are so fun to be around. I sure am a lucky girl! The only thing that could have made it better was if the whole family could have made it! We missed my brother Mark and family and my sister Judy and crew. Maybe next time...

On a side note...Michael leaves for Germany early Monday morning. He said it is about an 8 hour flight. I will write more as I know it!

Michael's an American Soldier

This is a video that I made for Michael before he left that I thought I would share with everyone. I hope you enjoy!!

On the roll again...

Mommies friend, Nicole, gave me this bike since her nephews out grew it! It makes all sorts of noises and sounds. It's so cool!! I had so much fun tonight having mom push me around the backyard. Thanks Ms. Nicole...I love it!!!!

Daddy's Home!!

I was so excited when I woke up on Saturday and my Daddy was home! I had missed him so much!! He had been telling me that when he got home he was going to tickle my belly and that was one of the 1st things he did (after I was smothered in kisses).

On Sunday, we had a lot of family come over to see Daddy. I loved it because we played outside the entire day!! Mommy was happy that everyone helped take the pool cover off the pool. Once she started to use the hose to fill the pool up, she went inside for a moment and heard a waterfall in the basement. Apparently, the pipe froze over the winter and broke when it was turned on. Thank goodness there was not too much water to have to clean up. Besides that, I think it was a perfect day!!! Beautiful weather, great company and a fun time...we could not have asked for more. Here are a few pictures...

Grandma Barb came over Monday night and we hung out for a little bit, but besides that we did not do too much. I was happy because that just left more time for me to play with my Daddy! We played trains and cars...but mostly played outside. I made sure I did not get too far away from Daddy the entire time he was home. I sure do love my Daddy...

Tuesday afternoon Daddy had to go back to being a Soldier. It was so hard saying good-bye. I will get to talk to Daddy on the phone and see him over the computer, but I sure will miss those hugs and kisses!!!

Happy Mother's Day

As I sit here and reflect on how my life has changed in the past 2 ½ years since I was blessed with Xavier, I can not help to be a little sad because my Mom is not here to share in the joy. This Mother’s Day she not only would have been celebrating 6 children, 15 grandchildren, and 1 ½ great-grandchildren…today would have been her and my Dad’s 51st wedding Anniversary. She was such a strong, beautiful, generous, funny, and loving person. I can only cherish the memories and strive to be ½ the woman and mother she was. And when I wish she could have meet Michael and Xavier I just have to know she is looking down and smiling because even though she is not here, she knows I am surrounded by equally as great women and mothers in my life.
I marvel at my 2 sisters all the time. Not only have they stepped into the Mom roll for me when I have needed it, but they themselves are raising remarkable children. They are so involved in all aspects of their children’s lives and are constantly on the go, but do it because…that’s who they are…and that’s what mom’s do.
I also have been blessed to have married into a family with a lot of strong, loving women and mothers that I also view as roll models. While the word mother-in-law usually has a negative perception …and to think I have 2 of them…that could be a one way street to disaster. But that could not be further from the truth. I am so lucky because they both openly welcomed me into their lives and have adopted me as one of their own. They stand aside as spectators and let us live our lives, but are there to “pick us up” when we need it and are some of the loudest supporters/cheerleaders when we do something right. I can only hope and pray I have the sort of relationship with Xavier that they do with their sons.
Then there are all of my friends. Most of these women I have grown up with, partied with, gotten into trouble with, and now are mommies with. It is amazing to think of the transformation we have all made. I look at how they love and interact with their children and I am proud to call them friends.
I have taken something from all of the mothers in my life. Cheers to you all!! Happy Mother's Day!!
Love, Jill

Slugger

I have been having lots of fun playing T-Ball. Mom and I played outside most of the weekend. She is trying her best to teach me, but she is a girl. You know how it is. None the less, I love hitting that ball!! (and Lilly loves to fetch it and bring it back to me!)

Ghost in the graveyard

Ok, things have been crazy around here lately. I have been so busy and gone from the area I have not had time to write, so where to start. First for about a week we were at a place called Muscatotuck. This place is in Indiana also. Let me start by saying the complex was built in the 1920's and 1930's. Before the state closed it down in the early 90's it was a huge hospital complex for the insane. The building we were in was a former children's treatment facility for the insane. The lore of this building is that it is haunted. While at Muscatotuck we perform a lot of different training. We learned crowd control, riot control and non-lethal combatives. By going threw all of this we were tazed with a tazer and sprayed in the face with pepper spray. THAT STUFF REALLY SUCKS!!!! So I can now scream "DON'T TAZE ME BRO!" I am including some pics and vid clips. WARNING the vid clips have sound and contain foul lang so be careful of it.