You Can Take What You Can Carry!

Jack and Molly went five times to Lake View Farms just to ride the train. Hey--it's local and cheaper than the zoo train. Jack is all about trains!! A little boy's dream!

This is our trip as a family. It was a beautiful sunny day and no one had a melt down. Success in my book these days.

Rule of the Day: You can have any pumpkin you want. As long as you can carry it back TO THE CAR by yourself!! Jeff and Hannah switched pumpkins about 4 times.

What should we be?

So many choices and only one Halloween. We had a hard time choosing. These are just the few we got pictures of . . .












and yes, we are your 37 year old girl scout and 35 year old boy scout. (Thank you Suzi for pointing out we're both older than orginally posted. I'm losin' it!) Lovin' Ben's knees!

Ocular Inferior Oblique Something or Other

The day has finally arrived for Jack's eye surgery. It was early . . . 6:00am. He had great docs and fabulous nurses. It went really well. He came out of the anethesia a bit crazed, but eventually calmed down. He was a bit lethargic and thirsty today. His eye swelled a bit and it will be black for awhile. I'm grateful it's over and we really appreciate all the prayers, thoughts, and kindness.

BEFORE

ALL MOST THERE

Jack told the nurses in recovery, "I done. I bye, bye."

Faith, Trust and Pixie Dust ONLY!

We are happy to report that there are no "Molly's" on their way this time. I made absolutely sure it was not happening again.

Molly and Jack also made sure I never sat longer than 2 minutes, never ate a meal without 10 interuptions, never made it through a show or movie without taking one of them out, never took them to child care without them screaming for so long they had to page us back. They were at the WRONG age to take them on this trip. WRONG!

But we did have some fun times with the fam.

Daddy and Baby Girl!

Keepin' it cool!

My Family!

Me and My Sisters!

St. Thomas

Hannah showing off her jelly fish sting . . . very sad!

He wouldn't go to child care . . . what's worse??

A girl just needs a little beauty sleep!

The Crazed Couple



Our "shi P" as Molly would say.

St. Croix



Those are our boys!! They provide for us???

My monkey boy

The whole fam damily (minus the swine flu victims)



The food was awesome! The service was so kind, patient and accomodating. The company was hilarious! Mickey was adorable especially when Molly would scream, "Mickey". It was warm, sunny and I didn't have to cook. But I have NEVER, NEVER, NEVER been so happy to be home. That flight was LONG!!

Max

Max was my part of the deal when Ben wanted to get a motorcycle. He got a motorcycle, I got a cat. Hannah and I found him at Shute Park in Hillsboro at a concert. A cute family was giving away free kittens. We picked out the orange, short haired one of course. It's family tradition.

He is great with kids and very patient. All four kids tote him around and he is always available for a warm blanket, a rub and some TV time.

When we moved into our current house, 4 years ago. Max went missing for many days. We were all panicked and Hannah said a prayer for his safe return. He showed up in the middle of the night scratching at Hannah's window. It was a real testimony builder for us all, especially Jeff and Hannah.

Just recently, he went missing again. Jeff said, "Well prayer worked last time. Let's try it again." Hannah said the prayer and within 10 minutes he showed up." No lie! The kids and I were shocked and relieved.

Tonight, Max was crushed in the garage door and died. It's been a rough night with the kids. Hannah burst out in tears immediately, along with her mother of course. Jeff kept it in till bedtime where he poured his heart out to Ben. It was a great teaching moment about the resurrection. Jeff said the family prayer tonight. "Please bless Max to be happy in heaven. Please help him to find Jake so they can play together." Amen.

Thanks Max for all the fun years, great mousing and warm cuddles on the couch. You are loved.

Cut, Split, Stack, Repeat

Another winter is upon us, so there is wood to cut, split and stack. Our neighbor had 4 trees that had died, so Labor day we got an itch to take them down. Who doesn't love a good tree fall??? We loved it! Started with a little one, then a little bigger, and then 2 big ones to finish it off. Jason and Ben brought out their inner logger in them and took them down.

Ben worked during the week to cut the rounds. Friday the "team" went to work. We finished cutting and splitting 3 trees. We started the stacking process. This would end up being a VERY LONG process!!

Saturday Ben and Delbert finished cutting and splitting the fourth tree. I have to stop and appreciate the splitter. It is AWESOME!!! I can't imagine having to split each round with an axe. Ahhhhh! It takes a log and splits it like butter. We all adore the splitter!! I also have to pause and say a big "thank you" to Jeff for being on baby duty. He was great with the kids. They played outside for hours and he kept them entertained, fed, clean (kinda) and happy! Thanks Buddy!

We stacked and stacked and stacked for the rest of the afternoon. Before we started this adventure, Ben had ordered from a patient 4 cords of wood. So we stacked 2 of those 4, plus we cut another 2+. People . . . we have a LOT of wood. We won't be running out this year!! The beloved "Dragon" will be fed and happy. When the Dragon is happy, mommy is warm and happy.

We finished stacking around 4:30pm Saturday. Feeling oh so proud of ourselves. Cleaned up everything, nice and tidy. It looked so good. Then the patient with the wood showed up and dropped off 2 more cords of wood. It made us tired. We walked away and went swimming.