Ben and Joni: March and April

This post is long overdue. Of course you all know that we had a tough month from the end of March to the end of April. We are so thankful for our friends and family who offered support. Your prayers, cards, and concern are so much appreciated. Here are some pictures of happenings in March and April. Enjoy!

We have discovered, and are so happy, that Linea LOVES to be outside! If she's a little fussy and we take her out into the fresh air, she calms down and enjoys herself. Here are some pictures of her playing with some gardening tools (thanks Shonda!) and pointing at birds!

Enjoying a visit from Grandpa and Grandma Fuller:

I took some pictures of her wearing a few of the onesies that were designed for her at the baby shower Mom, Heather and Holly threw for me.

I believe this one was designed by my cousins, Andrea and Olivia...

and this one by Miss Tara

Playing ouside with her daddy...

Linea used to enjoy pushing her wagon around the house. Her new favorite thing is to climb in the wagon, sit and play with some toys.

She saw Ben outside grilling and wanted to go outside with him, so we bundled her up and she helped with the grilling.

I am so happy to say that Linea loves to look at books. This is a favorite because it has flaps to open.

We celebrated Heather and Holly's 26th birthday in March.

Here are some of Linea's 1 year old pictures. It took a lot of time to get some good days for outdoor pictures, but she was a good sport about changing into different outfits and posing for me.

We celebrated Linea's 1 year birthday with lots of friends and family on a cold day in March. Since Linea's name is a flowering plant I decided to go with a flower garden theme.

Here are all of the little ones who joined us at the party. I thought this picture of 14 children under the age of 8 turned out pretty well!

Here Linea is with her cake that Ben decorated to look like the linnaea flower.

She was very ladylike and didn't really dig into the cake. She ate a little after Ben stuck her hand in it.

Some of the decorations:

Opening presents:

I am not sure what happened to the picture of the Fullers ( I know we took one!) so maybe it's on another camera card. But here is a picture of the Swartzentrubers.

Andrea and Emily were the only cousins able to come and we appreciated them being there.

I had friends from high school come to help us celebrate, too.

And Grandma and Grandpa Conrad were able to come up as well!

Unfortunately, we don't have pictures of everyone, but we want to thank my Uncle Gerald and Aunt LuAnn, Aunt Peggy, and many friends from church who came and helped us celebrate!