Almost a teenager...!

In less than two months Matthew and I will officially have two teenagers in the house....throw in a toddler and a couple other kids and it makes for quite an interesting mix! On Father's Day Zachery will turn 13 and the years that make parents tremble will have begun for child #2. But we know that Zach knows the difference between right and wrong and we continue to pray that as he begins to make the transition from boyhood to manhood he will on his own choose to do right. It is so much fun for us to start becoming not only parents, but friends with our oldest two. We trust that our relationship with our kids and with the Lord will continue to be the glue that keeps us all together walking in His way. And now, here's the hansome guy I'm talking about...

Our little girl...all grown up!

I've just had the yearly pictures done for Monica, Zach, and Logan. Alana and Jesse's birthdays are in October so theirs will come then, but I thought I'd show you some of my favorites over the next couple days starting with Monica. It may be pretty lean posting for the next week or two. My parents arrived last night for Kendrick's graduation and there is more company to come before the week is over so things will be busy, busy! Anyway, here's our fifteen year old beauty!

Lonely Night

Since yesterday afternoon I've been counting the hours for Matthew to get home. He's gone to a mens retreat with some other guys from our church and I'm glad he could go and have a good time, but I sure am ready for him to come home. I look forward to Saturdays as they usually mean we get to spend the day together but I have a few more hours to go before he comes back. It's not that I can't handle things while he's gone or that I'm overwhelmed with our 5 kids - I just plain old miss him. Anyway, guess I just thought I'd whine for a while.... Miss you, honey....hope you're having fun and you're coming home soon!

George

With spring trying to make up it's mind to come or not the weather has been very wet - be it snow or rain. That, in turn, makes for some wet shoes and paws! One of my big pet peeves is the kids and the dog coming in and out of the house with muddy feet. Well, George is the one that is usually the dirtiest so a little while ago Matthew gave him a bath...it is not one of his favorite things to do (George's or Matthew's)! But he endures it like a trooper, even if he is a pretty sad, pitiful looking trooper=)Once it's over with have a clean dog with a 'wet-dog' smell....Anyway, I couldn't close without showing a picture of him when he was looking a bit more handsome so he wouldn't be embarrassed.

My weird little girl

Here is something that happened a couple weeks ago - if you have a weak stomach you maybe should skip this post! After lunch Alana wanted to drink the pickle juice....
Since it is something that falls into the 'gross category' Zach and Logan were both quite interested and wanted to do it too. But neither one of them, with their few sips, could hold a candle to their little sister who finished off the jar! Say it with me, "DISGUSTING!!!!"

Our days with nine...

Our blog, Stories of Seven, is so titled because there are seven people in our family. Well, for a couple days last week we got to see what it would be like with nine. Our friends, Tod and Tarin, had to leave the state for the funeral of a family member and we watched Damon, 5, and Torianna, 3 while they were gone. (Did I spell Tori right?) Anyway, our kids had lots of fun and we had two very busy days! We went to the library, played Nintendo, baked cookies, ate cookies, watched two movies, played in the sandbox, rode on the tire swing, put on make-up, took naps, got out every match box car in the house, ate more cookies, went to visit the horses, played dolly, climbed trees, had a birthday party, took baths, did lots of laundry (ok, that one was just me), played catch....and I can't remember what else. In the end it was a good time but required some serious naps for them all to recuperate=)

LIBRARY TIME:

INSIDE TIME:

OUTSIDE TIME:

THANKS TO MONICA TIME:

As usual, when things get busy (and when she finishes her schoolwork) Monica pitches right in and helps in whatever way she is asked to AND, here's the cool part, she helps in a lot more ways where you don't even have to ask, she just does it. I was glad, yet again, to have her here to help out last week.

Logan's Birthday Party

Friday was Logan's birthday and we celebrated with the two popular uncles, Chad and Kendrick, as well as the little kiddos we had staying with us for a few days. We don't go to overboard with birthdays but still try to make them special so Logan got to choose the menu - clam chowder and shrimp....! I added some tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches for the 8 people who did NOT want clam chowder but Logan, Kendrick and I had all the yummy chowder we could eat! There was also cake and Kool-Aid, which when Logan saw it said, "Wow, I've never had Kool-aid." He and Alana chose something else to drink=) Yes, my kids are sheltered...from sugar water! As I'm writing this Logan is at the birthday party of another little friend, my baby is growing up! Well, here are the usual few, blurry birthday pictures. I can't begin to tell you how bad our birthday pictures usually are....

Outside before the party, showing off his tree climbing and tire-swing talent.

The candle-blowing.
Fuzzy picture but I love the look on his face - that's what a Bionicle will do for ya!Enjoying another favorite present - an animal dictionary.The birthday boy - cool shirt, Grammy and Grampy! PS - Kristi, thanks for the extra soccer decorations, they were a hit - as was the card!

This is what our house looked like for a couple days with two extra kids running around. Sometime over the next week I hope to catch the blog up on a lots of things I've wanted to write about.

Happy Birthday Little Man!

Dear Logan,
Today you are six! Wow! Your 'little boy days' are pretty much over and you are growing up to be a young man. This past year you have changed a LOT! You got a few inches taller, you learned to read so well, you finished two AWANA books in your first year of Sparkies, you learned to take care of your baby brother, you can run really fast, you're getting strong arm muscles from wrestling with Zach...so many things! But my favorite thing about you is just plain you. Mommy's heart has a spot in it that only you can fill. Logan, there are lots of things that I want you to know but most important is this - you are not just my son and Daddy's son, you belong to God and you are His child as well. You trusted Jesus as your Savior and your Dad and I will continue to pray that you will always be faithful to Him and choose to do right! We love you soooo much!

Thanks for being my little man=) Here are some pictures of Logan over the years....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

A lot going on....

This has been a busy week continuing on from a busy weekend. Matthew has been doing a lot of work on our bathroom downstairs and I've been mostly watching and keeping him company. I've made some trips to Rapid and just seem to have a lot going on....maybe more in my head than in actuality. But from last night until Friday evening we are babysitting the two oldest kids of our friends Tod and Tarin Hartman. Their ages almost perfectly match our kids ( ages 5 and 3) so there is a lot of activity and noise going on right now. Hopefully I'll have some good pictures soon! Tomorrow is Logan's birthday and then in a couple weeks we'll have a houseful of company again for Kendricks graduation and then a few weeks after that Matthew leaves for Uruguay and then we'll have more company and then.....! I love summer! Anyway, I'm rambling but it was mostly to give an excuse for not blogging much in the last few days.

Our new neighbors

One of the things we've enjoyed since moving out here is living right beside a horse pasture. Through most of the year they are in a different corral and we don't see them as often but in springtime, when the grass is finally green, they are closer to us AND they also have babies. That is the real treat! There are two 'mommies' and this will be the third set of two baby horses we've watched. Monica, of course, is the most excited and often takes the littler kids over to see them from up close and to feed the bigger ones some grass since it is always greener on the other side of their fence!This is the dad who does his best to eat all the treats and not let anyone else have any.One of this years babies....and this is last years baby.

Cute, but pretty grungy!