Friday, July 29, 2011

July 29th 365 challenge


7/29/11

Emilie and Harry George Bristler, the Giant Leopard Moth caterpillar (larvae).

We've been doing research after finding this fuzzy guy meandering across the patio.  Emilie said, Mom, can I keep him?  I said SURE.  We don't want him in the garden, and we already have 10+ ladybug larvae in the house for Michael's Insect Studies merit badge...

July 28th 365 challenge


7/28/11

Caught him!  He was trying to escape the range of the camera.

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

July 26th 365 challenge

7/26/11

Christopher came running to me and said, Mom!  Take a picture of me in Timothy's tent!  So I did.  The face was just great.  (and this is Timothy's tent in his bed.)

July 25th 365 challenge


7/25/11

Love this smile.

Monday, July 25, 2011

Kansas City Missouri temple- July 24th, 2011







It's neat to see the fenceposts going up.  The front big window is there on the truck.  The temple president's home is going up, too.  And a good picture of the stake center building... things are still coming along at the temple site!

July 24th 365 challenge


7/24/11

Sure, it's just a phone.  But it's 2 of my kids and their dad sharing something fun, too.

July 23rd 365 challenge

7/23/11

The prodigal sons, I mean Boy Scouts, have returned.

Friday, July 22, 2011

10 years ago this week...

This is what was happening...

This might have been only minutes before haircuts... Michael and Benjamin, July 2001

Emilie, age 15 months... and bouncing in the baby's bouncy seat (Joseph was being held...)

Michael, age 4

Benjamin... almost 3

So very tired.
SOFT, Emilie.

And these are my 3 youngest now... that remind us so much of our oldest 3 10 years ago.


Christopher, Liberty, and Timothy, ages 3, 1, and 4... a few months ago they were the sames ages as my oldest 3 above.



 
 Here they are in February, when Christopher was almost 3, Timothy was 4 and a few months, and Liberty was 15 months.

Lots of memories!

July 22nd 365 challenge


7/22/11

Contained and entertained...

Is there a downside to this picture?
Still not seeing it.

July 21st 365 challenge





7/21/11

Onward, Jeeves.  Liberty and Christopher with a Lego container as transportation...

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

10 years ago today...

I brought an angel into this world.  With a lot of help, of course, and the usual doctors, nurses, and this time adding a NICU staff as well.



I've shared his story a lot, but what better time to do so than his birthday?  Of course, in a week and a half or so there is another, more silent, milestone, where I try to keep myself busy around midnight so I'm not laying awake in bed remembering a child dying in our arms.  However, even that memory is sweet knowing where Joseph is now.

As the years have gone by, I find myself wanting to go visit his gravesite again.  Maybe soon.


Here is the link to his family site with all his pictures. 

On this blog, I've also written multiple times about him and the memories we have.  You can click on "Joseph" in the list of words to the top right of the blog posts.  Here is a link to a blog post with lots of pictures in better quality than on the website (we made the site 10 years ago, it's time for an overhaul!)

Here is a post with more of our memories of him, his birth, his life, and his death.  I wrote it 2 years ago.



So many people were involved in his life, our church members, our friends online, around the country, and truly all over the world, as well as family who never got to hold him or see him.  This is truly a time of wonderful memories.

Monday, July 18, 2011

July 18th 365 challenge

7/18/11

Timothy got a pencil yesterday in Primary and couldn't wait to get home and sharpen it and draw with it.  I just love how happy he looks here.

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Kansas City Missouri temple- July 17th, 2011





We saw some new fence posts, a window waiting to be installed... and work starting on the temple president's house.  :)  We found out tonight that the stake center should be done by October... in time for our Stake Conference.

July 17th 365 challenge


7/17/11

Tired baby girl on the way home from church.  It's in the 100s, will be all week, has been off and on for a week... thank goodness for A/C.

Saturday, July 16, 2011

July 16th 365 challenge

7/16/11
After her bath tonight, when she was all dressed, Liberty got her towel, wrapped it around her and went walking around the house all tangled up like this. 

July 15th 365 challenge


7/15/11

I don't think this has ever been a sight from our backyard before... and we're in Kansas City, Missouri, not our little backwoods place in Pennsylvania, or the small town in Ohio!   As long as she doesn't eat our garden...

Thursday, July 14, 2011

July 14th 365 challenge


7/14/11

So proud of my boys.  This was actually yesterday, but they left early this morning for their 10 day Boy Scout camp.  Michael is just a requirement or two away from his Life, and Benjamin has a lot earned, just nothing awarded yet plus he is enrolled in a First Class program to pass off a lot at camp for advancement.  They are both signed up for 7 merit badges as well... I think.  It was a bit difficult sending them off for that long... we'll miss them.  They'll have a blast.

Emilie is 11... and 3 months...

Well, 3 months have gone by and I never wrote anything about Emilie for her birthday.  Granted, things have been slightly crazy, but when is it not around here with 8 kids ages 14 through 1, church, homeschooling, Scouts, spelling bee, garden, etc...

Emilie is our 3rd child.  She was born in Kentucky, and we joked for a long time that we wouldn't get another girl unless we moved back to Kentucky.  She was praying for a baby sister from the time she could pray on her own.  She talked early and hasn't shushed since.  She walked at 10 months and hasn't stopped getting around since, either.  

She is beautiful on the inside as well as the outside.  We love her very much.  She can be a little confused at times but will keep trying until she gets something right.  She has a great memory for some things.  She is a great big sister to Liberty and sometimes to her little brothers, too.  She has a little trouble with cleaning her room and sometimes with sticking with chores until they are done.  She loves to cook but only new recipes, and wants do a lot of different things when she grows up, like design clothes, be a farmer, make pizzas, ride horses, plus many more... and be a mom, too.  She loves to read and play computer games, too, and can keep up with anything the boys try.  One thing she's done in the last year is read all the Harry Potter books.  For a while she didn't want to do anything Michael and Benjamin enjoyed, and that included anything Harry Potter.  However, with the last year of movies and excitement, she decided it was too fun to pass up and now has read the entire series several times and can enjoy the books/movies with the rest of us.

I can tell it is going to be another great year with this great little/big girl who is fast becoming a young woman!  (as physically evidenced by the outbursts and tears we get to experience from time to time!)  Next year she'll be 12 with all that that entails.






Cow Appreciation Day 2011

For the third year in a row, we went to "Cow Appreciation Day" at Chick Fil A where we dress like cows and get free food.  The kids made it a huge tradition from the start.  We have fun being creative, painting, cutting, sticking, coloring, and making ourselves look somewhat like cows for a free meal.  This year was even more interesting as it was to be the first part of a trip to Illinois for Tom's 20 year high school reunion.
Samuel was the first dressed, did all his own spots, taped on with help.  A lot like 2 years ago.
Here's Nathanael, all ready to go.
Liberty is just getting into animal noises.  Needless to say she was mooing for the whole day.  Here she is looking at herself in the mirror...
Emilie is a pink strawberry milk cow!
Benjamin is a gangster cow... or a cowboy cow?
Michael's black spotted wonder.  And Tic Tac Toe we painted on there for fun.
Liberty's shirt was a little big, but she was thrilled.
There goes the little cute cow.
Timothy got into it after we convinced him it was for fun.
Christopher loved that there was a C shaped spot on his shirt, however, he didn't like how long the shirt was and it took him a bit to get used to the idea.
Liberty laughing.
All of us waiting for our food, having fun with all the other cow dressed people at the Liberty Chick Fil A, which, incidentally, is the same one we went to last year when we didn't live here yet.
Michael, Christopher, Benjamin, and Liberty enjoying free food.
Samuel, Timothy, and Nathanael.
Emilie and Tom... yeah, we didn't even sit at a table with a high chair this year... or even toddlers!
No Tomato girl.

 It was a good day... and a good start to a weekend trip to see Grandma and Granddad, too.