Happy 9th Birthday Samuel

Samuel turned 9 today.  Wow, my babies are all growing up so quickly.  We cut back birthday's this year...as to allow us a few spiritual opportunities this summer together.

But Sam was still thrilled with his giant water gun to chase his older brothers around the house with.

Little Critter Time

May is on of my favorite months for two reasons.........end of mud season, and little critters are being born.  It is so neat to drive around, and see the baby calfs, lambs, and horses jumping around as they learn to run.  We decided this year wasn't good to get many animals, so we stuck with the usual chicks and ducks.  The feed store sells them in quantities of 12.  Well, that is great with the chickens, that works out to be an egg per person a day.  But who wants 12 ducks running all over their yard...........not me!!!

 The little boys were a little sad that I didn't bring home baby ducks, so they went out to the barn, and collected a few of our duck eggs to stick in the incubator. 

I figured we could try....I wasn't expecting it to really work.  We ended up with 8 little ducks altogether.  Although some didn't completely make it  in the end. 

They are adorable though. 

Jacob buried the littlest baby duck in the front flower bed of the house.  And gave him an appropriate cardboard tombstone.

cabin fever

It is now the end of March.  This has been (as my neighbor says) "a good old fashioned winter".  The snow started to melt and the maple trees began to 'run'.  Then it all shut down again...below freezing most days, snow building up again....It's times like these that remind me of airplanes and warmer climes. 

So anyway, here are some more pictures - enjoy!

Christmas concert at Bath School

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In December the snows began.  Some of us were pretty excited and wanted to see how snow felt on bare feet...it's cold.

Elijah and Zach found chasing a fox down the road to be great fun...until they got stuck in a snow bank!  No harm done and the fox got away.

Christmas is being together and loving one another.

Back online

Spent two whole hours putting a post together...then it wouldn't save due to some error.  That is fun right there!  Anyway, I will be adding pictures and such to get us caught up from July...alot has happened!

Sorry they're so out of order.



A pile of leaves is all you really need

 

Grandma middie's "Birthday" party...my guess is there's chocolate involved!



Boston Temple trip

 

First day back to school

  

Elijah letting go!



Over the banks in Lisbon

 

Second time was almost as good as the first time!



sam's baptism

 

Hannah's car had personalized plates...sweet!!

  

YM/YW - make their own 'cars' and went to the drive in theater.

 

Zachery's inner nerd!

  

'98 suburban replaces '01 van





Dela's sweet 16



dodge vipers

splitin' and stackin'

beauty abounds



picking up Dela at airport

 

Sam's Baptism

 

Sunset in Vermont at YM/YW hayride









 

Happy Birthday Willem

Today is Willem's 6th Birthday.  He has been counting down the days for a month now.  And he is so happy to finally be 6 just like his best bud Nathan.

Willem got a horn, water bottle, and a liscense plate for his bike.  He also got a set of knee and elbow pads, because he is a little "crazy man" on his bike.

And he got 2 little cute bikes to play inside when it is rainy and muddy outside.

And the big blue ball that he has been asking for since Brenna received a green one for her birthday.

I love my little goofy readhead!

With all the gear and stuff, I think he looks like an official bike rider.

And he loves it all.

Sewing Blankets

The other day, I took Elizabeth (Shannon's best friend from school.  We love having her smiling face and fun personality around.) and Hannah to Walmart to  pick out material to make themselves a Reading/TV blanket.  They both found really cute material.  Today Elizabeth came over for the day to get started on her blanket.  They got pretty far, but both girls somehow ended up jamming up both machines............so, till Wednesday the blankets sit unfinshed.  They are both anxious to have them done.

Last Nights Catch

The boys checked the trap this morning, and had caught this baby skunk.  Cute, yes............but he still smells.  The whole family with 5 babies lives under the crawl space under our breezeway.  I can't wait till they are all caught!!

Saturday

Saturday is a special day.

It's the day we get ready for Sunday:

We cleaned the house, and we washed our clothes.

We mowed our grass, and took away the trash.

We weeded our gardens, and shopped at the store.

We cleaned off our porch,

and picked our peas.

Then rode our bikes,

 

and fixed our cars,

So we won't have to work until Monday.

We checked our facebook, and got out our wiggles.

And we call it our get the work-done day.

Then we fed our animals, and we took our baths,

So we can be ready for Sunday!

Ok....seriously.........how many of you ended up singing the song, besides me!!??