Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Cape San Blas 2009

Wow, have we had fun! What a jam-packed summer this is going to be. We just got back from a week at a our annual family gathering at Cape San Blas, Florida. There were at least 40 family members there, at one time or another. What fun. I had so many pictures, I have tried to put them all into a slide show for you. A new trick! If it starts and stops on you, you can click on the pause button to give it time to load before you watch it... Let me know if it works for you...



Just a few more days till we get to Nebraska!! We can't wait!

Saturday, June 6, 2009

Birdies, Swimming, Farm Trip & MORE

Well, the days keep getting away from me. I have tons of pictures to show you! First, William lost his first tooth! He was very proud, and after reading "the Berenstain Bears Visit the Dentist" he was determined to have a visit from the Tooth Fairy. At bed time, he tried to make me promise that I would leave him a 5 dollar bill...or a 1 dollar bill...or a quarter... (a future sales-man?). In the end, the tooth fairy left him a 50 cent piece. (Contrast to Trevor, who was so upset at loosing his tooth that he wanted no part of any tooth fairy business.)


Bird Watch

Although persecuted, both the mother and father wren have been busily feeding their family. Here we have Indi eagerly peering through our flapping screen at the bird perched just outside...

The mighty hunter...
The brave father/mother (I'm not being politically correct, I just can't tell which is which unless they are both there...) has made it with his/her bit-of-something for the babies...
Babies: Day 3
Day 6: eye slits
Day 8: Open eyes
Day 9: Eager Eaters!!

Day 12: Getting a little big for their nest...they are starting to pile up! Notice there is a toe sticking up in the air...

Swim Lessons

Trevor and William started swim lessons this week. They go every day, Monday through Friday, for 2 weeks. Here's William practicing floating on his back...
Trevor is at the very end of the line of kids, practicing kicking. Both boys are loving swim lessons, and are really doing a great job! Sam and I watch from the observation deck up above.

The Farm

Last weekend we trekked out to our friend's farm to pick blackberries. Here's Justin (whose farm it is) in the straw hat, and his 2 blond headed girls Morgan and Paige, my brother-in-law Neal (in the red shorts) with my nephew Judson, and Tim and the boys. Before the berry picking started, we checked out the garden (although it looks like we are making an organized attempt at stamping out every little seedling, we are actually trying to be careful. Me: Boys, be careful not to step on the plants! Them: WE ARE!)
Here, Morgan appears to be giving Samuel a lesson on carrots, or weeding, or something...
Morgan, looking cool with her tasty yellow squash:
Judson picking a squash, too:
Ta Da! Judson found a nice one too!
We loaded up in on the "Cub Cadet" (that's what it says on the hood) to ride out to the berries. Unfortunately, this is where I put my camera away. Darby (Justin's wife) stayed home with her baby, as did Tami (Neal's wife) with her baby...so Darby sent her fancy camera with Justin. I commandeered it. The pictures I took with Darby's camera are on her really fun blog: Fly Through My Window. Click HERE to see her blog and pictures about the rest of our berry picking adventure. We had a lot of fun!

To wrap up, here are some other events from our week.

Here's Trevor, chillin' in his bed with his NEW sheets! In an effort to teach Trevor to sleep in between his sheets, instead of on top of them, I let him pick out new sheets. He rated these Wall E sheets an 8 out of 10. When I tucked him in, he said his new sheets kept making him want to lay like this: (arms behind his head). That's when I ran for the camera.


William (finally) had his T-Ball trophy party last night. Just the 2 of us headed out to Adventure Land, and had fun using up some game tokens together.

I put my fears behind me, and made my first trip into a Blood Mobile. The boys waited VERY patiently while I made my first blood donation. Are you proud of me, Mom? It was really easy, and we all got free snacks!


Lastly, I want you to be aware of one more reason to thank our Wonderful God today. A couple days ago, Samuel and William were playing in their bedroom. When I heard a snap, crash, and cry, I dashed in to investigate. The blinds were up, and the blind-cords were swinging. Apparently, Samuel (in typical boy fashion) had climbed to the top of his 3 ft bookcase, tied the cord around his waist, and jumped! I guess the cord whipped up his little body (he didn't have a shirt on), and scraped up his neck as he went down. I don't think he got caught up at all, but there was definitely the potential that he could have. We have been praising God, ever since, for sparing his precious life! I know, I know, those cords are dangerous, and while they were tied up short, that doesn't help if the kids pull them down. You can be sure I have put them up better now, though I don't think the boys will be eager to repeat this experiment...

Here's the scrapes 2 days later...