Happy little flower girl!

Let's try this again . . . it worked! Or sort of worked, at least we got two pictures up. Alaina was SO excited to be a flower girl for Uncle Kenny & Aunt Emily! She did a wonderful job too! Here she is in all her finery.

I think we'll be playing wedding for quite some time!

Frustration & Photos

 

Does anyone know what to do when your blog won't upload pictures? Every time I try I get this message: "Server returned an invalid response"

??????

Tonight I finally got it to accept some pictures . . . one at a time. Well, better than nothing! The first picture was not recent, but this one is! James at 6mo:

Now it won't let me load any more! If you know what to do, leave me a comment! I'll try again later . . .

Cuteness Update

A certain Aunt has (rightly) complained of blog-neglect. There were extenuating circumstances . . . yes, there were. But now tis time to update.

Since the complaint was directly related to a lack of James-ness, here are some mug shots of our almost six month old Mr. Smiley.

Dangerous looks aside, Alaina really does love her brothers!

 

 
This is something we're not going to see anymore - James has moved to the Big Baby Crib!

Gettin Big!

I had fun making the cake for Stephen's birthday! It's been a while since I've made one. It used to take me almost a whole day to bake and decorate a cake, but working on this one a little at a time over two days worked out really well!

We didn't do his "party" until the Saturday after when Kyle could be home, so on the day, we had jello jigglers and a special breakfast.

We asked Stephen on the actual day what he wanted for breakfast. He said, "Cake." So we gave him some options, "You could have eggs or pancakes or french toast."

"Cake."

We decided pancakes were close enough.

I think the cake was worth the wait.

We three older ones had as much fun with the celebrations as he did!

Happy Birthday little man!

24 Hour Vacation: Train Museum

Right now, trains are BIG. Alaina and Stephen both love them, Stephen most especially, of course.

Imagine the excitement when we stopped at a train museum and went on a real train ride!

Stephen was so engrossed that he could hardly move! He was just soaking it up! Everyone loved riding the train.

Well, almost everyone! Poor little James complained for about half the trip, then fell asleep on my shoulder.

The whole Museum was perfectly set up for young children. The kids loved playing with the train tables set up at both depots.

On the return journey, Kyle and the kids rode on the open air car. It was a hot day, and the breeze felt GREAT.

Such fun! Alaina liked sitting on the brown "couches", and Stephen added a railway crossing sound (ding-ding, ding-ding) to his repertoire of noises. They still talk about it even a month later!

Today is a certain WONDERFUL someone's birthday!

The longer I live with this man, the better I love him.

You'll have to excuse me now. I've got to go finish that Key Lime Pie.

24 Hour Vacation

More summer catch-up. Last month we took a whirlwind trip while we had our house sprayed for bugs. Insects and spiders of all kinds (including dangerous ones) have been really bad in our area, so it was nice to get that done.

Our first stop was at a Minor League game. Kyle was beyond excited to be taking the family!

I think he's been dreaming of this since he was old enough to want children. :-)

I was pleasantly surprised by how well things went, how kid friendly the park was, and how many other families were there with little ones! We watched the game for a while, then tried out the in-park playground.

Between the game and all the people, the kids had plenty to look at! We enjoyed our evening together and, all in all, I'm glad we did it.

We ended our very late night with popcorn in bed. Now that's a special treat!

Just us.

Isn't he getting cute? I know I keep saying this about my children, but James really is such a good baby! So easy going and very content. He loves to be held, but will play happily by himself too.

Love this shot. Stephen's hair is short now (I cut it yesterday), which makes his eyes look even darker.

We love shucking corn! It's the perfect chore for the kids, and makes them feel so big!

Eating it isn't bad either! :-)

Enjoying Summer

. . . and Daddy's special treat!

Kyle has a way of adding fun to normal days. I love that man!

Once Upon A Time . . .

. . . not all that long ago, there was a little girl. This little girl loved Jesus, and talked to him about a lot of things, including what she wanted in a husband. She knew what she wanted, so she was quite specific. This little girl grew up into a lovely young woman. She studied, worked hard, and gave generously, and she waited for the Lord to fulfill the desires of her heart.

On the other side of the ocean, there was a man. He was intelligent, diligent and adventurous. What he wanted most in the world was a very special and godly woman to walk by his side. His path took many turns and surprising twists until it led him to . . . her! And they both found exactly what they wanted - in each other.

My brother Andrew has asked the beautiful Miss Fiona to be his bride!

And she said: "Yes!"

I am SO excited to be getting a new sister! I can't wait until she gets here to the states and we get to talk in person! We are rejoicing in the goodness of our God, who delights to fulfill the desires of our hearts. :-)

Horse Show 2

Now we come to the climax of our day. Can you tell by that face that this was the crowning moment?

Alaina got to choose her mount, and they both felt so big!

The children have been into ponies, so getting to ride one was SO EXCITING.

It's been over a month,and they still talk about it! It was the perfect way to round out a very fun day.

Horse Show 1

Next to our itty bitty town there is an itty-er bitty-er town, which has a yearly horse show. This year we went and it was wonderful!

What is Stephen looking at? The huge Fresians getting a wash? No, the train tracks. Trains are big right now. ;-)

It was such a fun laid back event, and we were able to talk to folks and get right up close.

Yes, very close.

Nothing like a huge, jingling, rattling wagon three feet away to keep your interest!

Daddy got us right up close, and the kids were pretty much like this most of the time:

No wonder, best seats in the house. :-)

More to come . . .