playing with brothers

Kaleb has always been so good with our babies, he is such an awesome, attentive Bubba.

Gabe has always liked Emmeline and enjoyed making her smile, but he's having more and more fun with her now that she can play back! Check them out after dinner tonight on this video!

Kaleb's (bad) adventure

The week that Mom was here, we had a cookout with some of my friends one evening. We had lots of fun! Then, as we were cleaning up, getting ready to go in, Kaleb suddenly fell to the ground, crying. I ran over and he was saying he had a splinter that he couldn't get out. I thought no big deal, until I felt it (it was almost dark, so I couldn't see it very well.) I hollered for Heather's husband, who carried Kaleb in to the table and tried to get the "splinter" out with tweezers. No dice. Off to the ER!

Mom and William stayed with Gabe and Shiloh, and Heather came with me to help Emmeline so I could focus on Kaleb. Kaleb was understandably scared and obviously in a lot of pain. We got seen fairly quickly....X-rays and then it was time to get it out! Some numbing shots, and then out it came.....

Here is Kaleb's "splinter." it was straight up in to his foot, the end flush with his skin....




He had to walk on crutches for a week (got off of them 2 days ago), and is taking antibiotics until tomorrow, but all in all, he is all healed up with a good story to tell! They let him bring the wood chunk home and everyone that comes over is made to look at it!

oh, emme

Imagine my surprise the other day when Emmeline did this all by herself...



And then this...

And this today! (Taken on my phone, hence the quality)

Oh, Emme! Slow down!

zoo trip with mom and william

We went to the zoo with Mom and William when they were here.

GASP! I *forgot* the sling and Emmeline had to ride in the stroller! She did fine, though!

Gabe and I went up the firetower, this was our view of everyone else

Kaleb and Shiloh playing while we were in the tower

Gabe in the tower

Our little zoo is perched on top of the mountains, so it's a great place to take visitors to show them our area!

Mom and William, just walking alone the path

Looking for bears!

more pirate days with mom and william

Mom and William came to visit for a week, and it was awesome. I had so much fun and it was amazing to see Mom for the first time in a year and a half and introduce her to Emmeline. We went back to the last day of Pirate Days and had a little fun...


Balloons...

And more playground...

he

He is growing up, getting big. He reads, and swims. He gets moody, and he gets insanely, hysterically giddy. He has big dreams of flying helicopters, and is quite opinionated about his future...no kids, no wife! (Sorry, Mom, maybe Gabe or Shiloh or Emme will have kids! he says)

Sometimes, when everyone is playing or watching cartoons while I clean the kitchen or cook, he'll sneak in the kitchen too. He'll ease himself up onto the counter top, and keep me company. He is good company. He'll tell me things...things he read about the Zulus or dinosaur fossils. About how he's afraid 3rd grade will be hard. About the bugs he played with out back. And he'll ask me things. He's big on "what would happen if..." "What would happen if the oven could get 1000 degrees? What would happen if we had ice cream for dinner for a year? What would happen if I had a million dollars?" I like to turn these around on him....because he has better answers than me! "I don't know buddy! What WOULD happen?"

I love our firstborn in a way that makes my heart want to burst. I never knew an 8 year old boy could be so incredibly awesome.

my new fav sister pic

r&r flashback

pirate days

We went to our local Pirate Days today with Dawn and Josh. We had so much fun!!!

First up, we went to the craft area and got the makings for a pirate ship craft that we did later at home! The kids were still trying to get a feel for what was going on, and we hung out there for a while

I don't know WHAT is wrong with me in this pic, and I almost didn't put it up, but I very rarely get a pic of me and all of my babies, so here it is, anyway! This was right on the water...we would be back here later!

Then, we took a break to eat and discovered the most WONDERFUL pizza. I WILL be going back there!

There was some down time until the next event, so we got some ice cream...

And went to the playground on the beach.

Then was the main attraction! A pirate raiding party landed, got the "villagers" all riled up, and was confronted by the town militia!

The kids were soooo into it!

The militia got the best of the pirates!

We all marched with the captured pirates across the bay, where they were going to be "taken care of"

Emmeline slept through a lot of it!

The boys LOVED every second

And this is Shiloh yelling "TAKE THE BAY!!!" to the pirates....over and over!

To the right, you can see the cannon smoke, and all 3 of them are covering their ears!

Shiloh clapping for the action!

The full invasion! They came to the raiding party's rescue!

The pirates won! The made the mayor hand over the key to the city, and then he had to walk to plank into the Bay! Quite entertaining!

It was quite the wonderful, exciting day!