I'm coming

There will soon be a new post here. I'm working on my 'family' blog. I started another one for the grandparents. I wanted to get that one up and going for them. And, I need to work on the kids' report cards before we start school back up either on Wednesday or next Tuesday (I'll decide on Wed!!). But, I should be able to update this blog sometime this week with pictures from November. So, by the time all the snow has melted and the flowers are blooming, you should see pictures from Christmas :) Actually, I'll put one on here right now--it turned out pretty well.

background

Ugh!! I'm trying to change my background and am having a terrible time. I'll work on it later--when I'm not changing diapers, feeding babies, doing school, etc!!

part 5

Are you impressed yet?? How many days is this now in a row that I have updated my blog?? WOW! However, it would be nice to know if anyone is actually enjoying this or am I just wasting my time?!?! Well, while you think about that, here are 5 more pictures.

Little silly boy

Ethan teaching Haven how to play trucks

Haven would rather play a board game

Sweet baby girl

Here is the first of many of these pictures!

So, that basically ends October. Well, I do have a few more pictures from a different camera that I haven't sorted out yet. I'll try to go through those quickly (most of them are junk pictures that the kids took) and post them. I have no idea why someone thought it would be neat to take 25 pictures of Rachel getting her teeth brushed, but obviously someone saw the need :) The kids just like to have a camera in their hands and click away. Some of the pictures are um, truly, um, interesting. Most will find their home in the recycle bin :)

I'll try to get the rest on here soon, but it may be a day or two.

*Haven's 6th tooth popped through yesterday (Monday, Dec 5).

**Tom is pretty much back to normal--whatever that is :) Thanks for praying.

Still more

The boys started taking piano lessons this summer. They love to practice (um, that's good, I think. They're doing well; I'm going crazy. But, there is hope that they will actually learn to play a recognizable song!!)

Andrew's hands

Andrew practicing

Guess who?!?!

Just too funny :)

Ethan being a goon :)

part 4

I know these are all basically the same picture, but Haven's just sooo cute in the leaves! It was hard to only choose 5 from all of the ones I took--a couple of day ago at the beginning of October :)

I LOVE this picture!!!

More to come soon--time for school right now!

part 3

5, 10, 15

Haven trying to sit up
Ethan and Sarah

Ethan

Cute Ethan

Sarah, Rachel, and Ethan

part 2

Five more!

Andrew and Peter in the backyard--
I have no idea what they were doing!

Haven and Ethan making plans ;)

Looking somewhat guilty

Daniel with his 2 babies!!

Haven with her cool new vest--
thanks, Bethany's neighbor!!

If I have time and don't fall asleep at my computer, I'll add 5 more before I go to bed.

*Tom update: he's doing better, but still aches all over. He said he can feel every muscle and they all hurt--even his hair hurts :) Thankfully, he doesn't have much to worry about in the hair department!!

October, part 1

Well, here we are in, um, October, right??!! It really can't be December already. My blog pictures tell me that it's the beginning of October. So, you have your choice--you can believe the calendar and the weather and go with December or you can believe my blog and what you know to be true and go with October.

I just spent an hour getting my October pictures ready for publication!! Instead of spending another hour sitting here uploading them, I'm going to upload 5 at a time until they're done. Five shouldn't take too long and I should be able to do them at different intervals throughout the evening.

**For my baby book for Haven: cut tooth number 3 (upper right) on November 29, #4 (upper left) on December 3. She has at least 2 more coming on the top and possibly 2 more on bottom.

**Disregard that note if you're going with the *fact* that's it's October. The above note will make absolutely no sense in that case ;)

Well, here are the first five pictures from October (um, the beginning of the current month)!

Ethan with a light for his fire truck

Ethan on his bike

Ethan on his bike going around the block

Sarah and Rachel on a walk

Haven after a walk

**I would add a picture of Tom, but I'm afraid that would be the last picture I ever took. He's in bed right now with the stomach flu--YUCK! I won't go into details, but please pray for him. He's over the worst of it right now. Please pray, too, for the rest of us. I don't want it spreading through the family. Ethan got a hold of Tom's cup and drank out it, so please especially pray for him. That will not be a fun time for any of us. (I don't like barf.) Thanks!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LITTLE DUDE!!

Today is Ethan's 3rd birthday!!!! I really do not like birthdays because they remind me how old I am and how quickly the kids are growing up. But, the kids like them :) Ethan has been looking forward to his birthday for a couple of weeks now. This is his first birthday to actually know what's going on. Too bad I don't have any presents for him :) jk

Here is a picture of the birthday boy!! He's such a cutie :)

I'm a bad blogger

Sooo sorry for the lack of blog material. I had planned to put up another zillion pictures tonight, but instead I organized a lot of them. I'm almost done and then I'll put them on here. It looks like I need to finish the very end of September and then work on October's pictures. I will try to put those on here sometime this week. I should be able to get back to the blog here sometime soon.

UGH! Talk about tooth decay...

We had a feeling that something wasn't quite right with Rachel's teeth. Good thing she went to the dentist today. It should only take about 27 more visits before she's looking better :)



Rachel chose these teeth as her 'prize' :) She was so excited to finally be able to go to the dentist. Today was her first ever visit and she did great!! The dentist told her she was the "most patientest" (those were Rachel's words obviously!!). She had a good time and was so happy when the dentist told her that her teeth were the cleanest of all the kids!!

We had appointments for Nathan, Daniel, Peter, Andrew, and Rachel and were there from 2-5pm--WOW! I figured it would be fine since it was Haven's nap time. Hmm, I must have forgotten to remind her. She slept for maybe 10 minutes when we got there, sat in her carseat and played for about 15-20, told me that it would be a good idea if I picked her up, and proceeded to be the bestest baby for the next 2 hours!! She fell asleep for about 30 minutes in there sometime and I fed her before we left. Other than that, she just let me hold her and was perfectly fine. I am so thankful--it could've been utterly miserably if she had been fussy.

The other kids did well, too--they were very quietly "fussy"!! They brought their school to do, but the books and toys that were there proved to be too much of a temptation :) That's fine--we can do school tomorrow. Rachel and Ethan liked playing with the play food, Sarah read, Peter complained, Andrew walked around, Daniel and Sarah played checkers (Sarah won!), and Nathan read and did homework.

Bottom line: no cavities for anyone and we were able to have 5 kids seen for less than the price of one at a 'normal' dentist!!!!!!!! (These were dental students.)

If a picture is worth a thousand words,...

then, here are about a zillion words for you. (I really can't believe a whole month plus has gone by without any pictures. On a positive note, school is going well, papers are getting corrected, dinner is getting made, dishes are getting washed, the kids are getting attention, the house is still a mess, ...)

Andrew's 9th birthday--Sept 1

Pull, Andrew, pull

New shirt

Ethan's cute face

Ethan sleeping inside his pillowcase!

Raspberry picking
Dad and Haven

Tom, Haven, and Ethan

Ethan

Rachel

Sarah

Ethan with his new football

Haven

Andrew

Ethan

Haven

Nathan

Rachel

Sarah

Daniel

Peter

Studying hard!

Matching shirts

Nathan and Daniel before first soccer game
Alison and Hannah (with Haven) at the first soccer game

Dad and Haven

Daniel in goal!!

My parents with Ethan

Sarah and Rachel playing at the soccer game

Nathan in goal--bored to death :)

Haven in Bumbo seat on kitchen table while I cook :)

Peter down to Ethan "working" in garden area

Haven

Rachel put a barrette in her hair :)

Apple picking time!!
Andrew

Ethan

Ethan and girls

Haven

Nathan and Sarah

Peter

Peter and Andrew

Muscle man Daniel

Rachel and Peter

Sarah

Tom

Sweetie!!

Birthday cake for Andrew (9), cousin Carson (10), and Peter (11)

Lovely sign at church for me

No explanation needed

Well, that gets us through the 21st of September. I don't have any other pictures ready to put on here. I'll try to get them on here soon. (I know you've heard that before, but I really will this time, I promise.) But, anyway, these pictures should be enough for a little while :) I also want to put on some more pictures of Tom and me as little people!!!

*Haven baby book addition: first tooth on my birthday--September 21; 2nd tooth one week later. She weighed in at 18 lbs and was 26 inches long on September 25--the size of an average 7 month old (she was 4 1/2 months). She rolled over for the first time on October 11--she went from back to tummy and then tummy to back within 15 minutes or so. (I think she's my latest one to roll over.) She loves to roll over to her tummy--she's a little wiggly thing now :) She's still the SWEETEST baby around :)