Mother's Day in Pictures...

Today was my first Mother's Day as a mother of four! Last year, we had just found out about Claire and I could only long for the day that I could hold her and bring her home. Well, this year was a wonderful celebration of being a mom to all of my great kids. I love them all. Thank you, Gary, Brianna, Nicholas, Hunter and Claire for making my day so special!

Mom and her favorite boys!

Gary and his Daddy's girls!

I just love how she is squeezing my neck and signing I love you!

Oh, how I love these kids! I must say they are the cutest kids around as well!

Thankful Thursday

This Thursday I am thankful for...

~My new niece born to my brother and his wife in Nebraska. Little Riana Joy has joined the family and we are thrilled. Can't wait to meet her!

~We have our van back!! After 2 weeks in the repair shop and $4100 in repairs, it is as good as new! Again, I really don't recommend deer hunting with your family vehicle!

~We have car insurance (see above!). :)

~The hawks are back in our backyard. Every year around this time we have a couple of hawks that hang out in our yard. It is fascinating to watch them. They are a magnificent bird. I took these pictures last year. The hawks are even bigger this year. I haven't been able to capture their picture yet this year.


~We are all still healthy with all of the Swine flu scare that surrounds us. My kiddos schools remained open but the schools surrounding us have been closed for a week and a half. Just a little side note, on Tuesday I had to go to the base clinic and as I walked in they have someone at the door with a mask and gloves on. This person precedes to ask me if I have come for the flu and all I can think is "No, I really don't want the flu but thanks for asking". I realized he was asking if I thought I had the flu but it came across to me as "we are having a free give away at the clinic so if you came to the clinic for the flu you are in luck!" I don't know why my brain translates things like that sometimes! It must be the weird sense of humor I inherited!

Catching up..

Wow, where has the year gone already? I can't believe that it is May. We move again in 2 short months! Aagghhh! We have moved so many times before that we should be used to the chaos that goes along with it. However, you tend to block it out once you are settled until it is time to move again. With this move we are really trying to simplify and get rid of a lot of things. Which means going through each room of the house and deciding what stays and what goes, what will we donate, what will we try to sell, etc. We try to do this on the weekends since during the week it is too crazy with school and work schedules. We haven't gotten a lot done yet but I'm confident it will get done before the packers come!

I thought today I would catch up on some pictures from April that I haven't taken the time to post yet.

The first picture is of Brianna at the Regional Honor Band Concert. Area schools had Honor Band tryouts and the top students were selected to participate in the Honor Band. They spent one day with the kids from all the different schools learning the songs and then that night they put on a concert. We were so proud of Brianna, she was the 3rd chair for the flutes in the concert band! We took this picture from the balcony before the concert started. She is in pink in the front row!


The next pictures are from my birthday. I was surprised with a cake and a pink boa. I thought we were going to our "adopted" parent's house to play cards and fellowship but when I walked in they had a cake and were singing to me. How sweet is that? Boy, am I going to miss them when we move. Yes, the cake says Go Big Red, I am a big football fan and they know that about me (and no the candles don't indicate how old I am!).


These were taken after the kids and Gary had given me my birthday presents. We waited a day after my birthday because Brianna was gone the day of my birthday at a youth retreat. We had just gotten home from evening AWANA. They got me some beautiful jewelry from James Avery. I love it!!!


These pictures are of our Easter basket fun. We did Easter baskets before we hit the road to Nebraska. We left Good Friday for Nebraska and didn't know when we would be home so we gave the kids their baskets early. We did an Easter egg hunt when we got home but I didn't get any pictures of that. We love to give the kids gifts but the most important gift we can give them is an understanding of Easter and why we celebrate it.
Here, Claire is checking out her new pink basketball. This girl loves basketball. I have got to post video of her dribbling the basketball. I am amazed at her ability at 3 years old!

Hunter was so excited for some more LEGOS!

Nicholas wanted LEGOS too and he had it built in record time!

Brianna got HSM 3 on video and new jammies. Sounds like the makings for a movie night!
These last pictures are from Nebraska. Claire got to color Easter eggs for the first time at Grandma's house. She loved it! She showed such concentration! She also loved eating them later. Have I told you that we have an egg eater? She will eat them here or there, she will eat them anywhere!




Well, this post became much longer than I intended. I guess that is what happens when I don't post in awhile! I'll try to keep up to date better but with the upcoming move, end of school, etc, etc. no promises!

Thankful Thursday

Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

This Thankful Thursday post is going to be dedicated to updating you on Marcia. On April 23, the doctors went back in Marcia's lungs to see what they had saw when they put in her tracheotomy. What they found surprised everyone. She had an 80% blockage of her left bronchial tube! What a surprise because she had 2 CT scans that showed nothing! Thank goodness the doctor insisted that he saw something and fought to check it out. They biopsied it and it is benign and will be removed sometime later. On April 24, Marcia was transferred to a rehab hospital 2 hours from home. She is doing really well. They are teaching her to walk again and to eat again. She doesn't need the feeding tube any longer! They also taught her how to talk with her trach. Gary has called and talked to her twice this week. He was thrilled when he got off the phone with her. He said she hasn't sounded that good in years! We can also send her emails daily that they will print off and take to her. Most amazingly, she is still breathing on her own - even at night. We were told that she would need the breathing machine at night permanently. Well, all I can say is Yippee Jesus! She hasn't needed it since Easter Sunday! Thanks again for all of your prayers!

Thankful Thursday

Well, since it is almost Friday I had better do my thankful Thursday post! We were without internet for the majority of the day and then busy tonight which has left me no time to post. So, I guess the first thing I am thankful for tonight is an internet connection! I can't really post to the blog without a connection!

However, this week the thing I am most thankful for is noise! I know you are thinking, she needs to go to bed who is thankful for noise? Well, I am thankful for noise! This noise we all take for granted Claire is hearing for the first time! Just think about how many sounds that go on around us all day long that we don't even pay attention to. Check out the sounds that Claire is indicating to us that she is hearing..

~the rain hitting our umbrella
~the neighbor dogs barking
~the car radio playing music
~the velcro of her shoes
~the airplanes that fly around our house all day long
~her toy cell phone
~traffic
~the birds in the yard

I just want to yell, Yippee Jesus, each time she responds to a new sound! Have I told you how much I love this girl? What a joy it is to see (hear) the world through her eyes (ears).


What are you thankful for?

9 months!!

We love you our tree climbing...

Rope swinging....

Basketball playing girl!



How could it have been only 9 months ago that we held you for the first time? It seems we have known you forever and perhaps in our hearts we have.

Oh glorious day!

"Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it." Mark 10:14-15

Yesterday, was a big day at our house. Hunter was baptized at church by Gary. He had been talking about being baptized for awhile but we wanted to make sure he understood the decision that he was making. About 2 weeks ago, Hunter approached me and asked again about being baptized. We talked for awhile and I knew he was ready but I told him he had to talk to his dad about it too. When Gary got home that night, he immediately talked to him about it. We both agreed that he was ready. Hunter has loved Jesus for a long time and being baptized meant so much to him. He was so excited, Sunday morning he was the first child up and ready to go! He even wanted to wear a tie! He had a constant smile on his face all day. He later told me, "it feels so good to be baptized". Gary felt honored that Hunter wanted him to baptize him.

The family after the church service..

We let Hunter decide where we should go after church to celebrate his baptism. He chose Incredible Pizza. After eating, we had fun in the game area. Claire loved the bowling and the big kids loved the go-karts! Nicholas even won the race! What a day of celebration we had!

Hunter like Dad said yesterday, we are so proud of you but you have a father in heaven even more proud of you and the decision you made! We love you!