Our Family......

Our family size grew last week!  We went from having ONLY five kids to having nine kids!

 We had a grand time ~ seriously!  Our play room (pictures coming soon, I promise) was a life saver and the beautiful weather was wonderful so they could enjoy the great outdoors.

On laundry day, I did the laundry and we dumped it onto the playroom floor and all gathered around it.  We made a pile of towels, socks and tights, undies and hang-up things. Then we went pile by pile until the job was done and it didn't take that long.  8 loads done in about 30 min.  I was SO proud of all of them!!!

Murphy also decided to visit and he took our fridge with him. : /  Not very thoughtful of him, was it?  So we asked the pastor if we could use the church bus and we headed out for the mall to shop for a fridge.  We found one at a Sears Outlet store, paid cash and have a great fridge sitting in our kitchen.

 The kids did great at the mall.  We had 3 in strollers, one in the sling and the others had a buddy to hold hands with.  I threatened them with their life if they even thought of letting go of their buddy's hand. :)  Not really!  They did SUPER.  My dad asked if I got any weird looks.  I told him I didn't know, because I didn't make eye contact with anyone. :D  Heehee - just kidding!  We got some kind comments.  We ignored the rest. :)

 One 7 year old, two 6 year olds, a 5, 4, 3, 2, 19month and 3 month old.  GREAT kids!!!

 Here's the Mom and Pops of the clan. :D

 Playdough time.

 Kara got to spend time with her favorite uncle and buddy. :D

Sweet kids!

I took them back home this morning, so now we're down to only our five again.  Our family seems small for some reason.  We are the MOST BLESSED parents and Aunt and Uncle in the world!!!!

As a side note, paper plates are my new best friend!!

:)

Happy Birthday, OWEN!!

Yesterday, Owen turned FIVE years old!  It's so hard to believe that our little man is that old already.  He said he wanted a construction cake for his birthday. So I tried my best to make his little dreams come true. :)

 Many thanks to Graham Crackers and Oreo's.

 See this really cool load coming out of the bucket into the dump truck?  Keith cut a Graham Cracker just the right size, I iced it and we dipped it in Oreo crumbs.  Turned out perfect. :D

 A neat card from Grandma and Papa.

 A DOLLAR!

 This is just what I wanted.

 The smile says it all.

 He is a good helper and most of the time a willing worker

 See his shirt?  He told me he wanted a birthday shirt (thanks for the idea, Janie).  So he designed it himself with scraps of material we already had.  We cut out the five and I sewed them on.  He loves it!

I told him Saturday:
"This is the LAST day that you're going to be four years old in your whole life."
He replied:
"Yeah!  I'm really gonna miss you and I know you will miss me, too."

Happy Birthday, Our Sweet Little Man!!!!!

Guess what I got today!!!!

                                   Courtney Faith                                  Clayton Kenneth

I got a niece and nephew!!!  I'm SO proud of them and my sis!! 

:)

I Am Amazed!

These beautiful creatures were feasting on an unfortunate hog today.  Keith's uncle called to say they were out at the farm, so off we went to see them.

 I know this picture is way out of it's border-thing, but I just think it's beautiful!

 

 Then along came this black eagle.

 Not quite an eagle, but still cute. :)

 Keith guessed this eagle's wing span was about 8 feet.

 It was HUGE!!!!!

We were so happy to see these beautiful birds.  The kids loved it!  I could have sat out in the snow for hours watching them.  (there was about 6 of them)  Their graceful wings and loud screeches were just amazing to me.

Because I'm so.....

   

 Prrrrrrrreeeetty......

 and chubby......

 and quirky....

 and attentive.....

 and talkative.....

 and happy......

 and squirmy....

 and adorable....

and just plain Funny,

My mom decided to take more pictures of me.

Slowing Down...