Catching up . . .

Well, I've got quite a bit to catch up on from the last 6 weeks. I won't do it all at once, so I'll post a few different things in the next day or two.

We've just returned from a trip to Missouri, but a few things preceded that trip.

Our local IGA grocery store had their annual kids fest. Much was the same as last year, but they did have "cold blooded animals" this year. It's not every parent that takes pictures of there kids playing with alligators (or crocodiles - I'm not sure which this one was).


John and Grant are waiting in line for the obstacle course.


I thought this was a good picture of John and Grant. As you can tell, "boys will be boys."

I'll close this one with something quite pleasant. I've often mentioned how much I enjoy Carol's playing in the evening. I recorded her a couple of weeks ago (without her knowing) - remember it is practice, but her practice far exceeds my playing!




One more thing, little Gardner brings all of us joy, but especially Carol.



More to follow in a day or two.

The bookends of my boys

This picture was taken on Tuesday when Joel and I went to open a savings account for him.



All is going well. Gardner has adjusted pretty well with eating and sleeping patterns. All of the kids are enjoying their time off school and plenty of play time outside.

Did you know that cedar trees have an acid in them that makes it difficult for grass to grow (if not impossible)? Did you know that where no grass is, there is dirt? Did you know that where there is dirt, there is also a magnetic attraction to little boys? Did you know that when little 3, 5, and 6 year old boys have seen their oldest brother play baseball and slide into 2nd base, they see no reason why they can't do it at home in the dirt, where there is no grass, where the cedar tree used to be? Yes, it looks like what you can imagine . . .

I was at the bank earlier in the week. On of the tellers said of an acquaintance, so and so "has three boys. Can you imagine having 3 boys, I think I would pull my hair out!" I interjected, "I have five boys." She and the other two tellers looked at me with huge grins of almost disbelief. A few minutes later, the same lady walked backed by and said, "wow, 5 children!" I answered back, "no, I have 7 children total, 5 boys and 2 girls." From now on when I go into the bank, I'll be known as "the guy with 7 kids!" I smile thinking of it - and I'm glad; I can think of little else that I would rather have occupy my time than my family.

The following picture is Laura's handy-work. She likes to dress Kara up; I'm still not sure if Kara likes it.


Just had to put this video on here. Gardner is learning to "coo" and smile.

It is about 2 minutes and he smiles real big at the end. By the way, "cheese sticks" is not a nick-name for Gardner - Carol had asked me what I would like for a snack :-).





I'm not sure that the video loaded correctly. If it didn't, someone let me know and I'll try again later.