Birthday x 2

Happy Birthday Joseph! For those of you that do not know, his birthday is May 1st. Happy Birthday Bethany! She was born on May 2nd. This post is for them.

See that light in his eyes? That boy knows a tool when he sees one. This is just a cheap double a run screwdriver. We let him have some screws and some wood to use with it. As soon as he opened it he decided the laundry room was his work room. You may notice the small tool on the table in front of him. That is a fork, knife, spoon combo. The Knife had a bit of a run-in with my file. Now it is just barely butter knife quality.

What good is a tool kit without a flashlight? This one has a lanyard to hang around his neck.

Here he is with his entire horde from his birthday.

This was the cake. It was quick and messy, but it at least mostly resembles a wrench. Joseph told his grandma K. "That was a good tool birthday."

One day later...

Doesn't she look happy to be born? She has only cried once since she has been born, and that was when they drew blood. She will fuss quietly when hungry, but that's it.

Isn't she beautiful?

The kids all came to visit at the hospital. They were sure fascinated by that baby.

Abby loves her own bellybutton, so, when she saw the baby she justbarely glanced at the face, but could not get over that cool umbilical stump.

Emma and the baby. It is nice that she can hold and feed the baby unassisted.

Joseph loves her too, but requires more careful watching.

Ethan more than any of the others is excited about taking care of her. He is such a tender hearted boy.

Abby Blog

Well, we got so many good pics of this girl today, that we decided to do a blog just about her.

She loves 'bawberries' this one. You have to be careful not to leav any stems or ends on the table after you eat one because she will go back and try to pick off pieces you missed.

I got her to run to me by showing her where her tricycle was. She had just been trying to turn over the neighbors trike (the red one on its side in the background). When she saw hers she came a runnin'.

She is so funny. A more cheerful girl you will never meet. She loves climbing in laps, or up into beds and sitting on people and saying "Hey there!". Her favorite song is "Happy birthday". She tries to sing it and whenever anyones sings it to her she lights up. Laura was pretending with Emma and had sung it, but to Emma. Abby said, "Abby! Abby!" When Emma's name was used.

Don't worry. She peed on the floor, not the chair. We figured that since she had already evacuated her bladder and looked so cute we might as well get a couple of pictures.

This girl, any time she sees an animal says, "Oh! Cow!" often followed by "Raaaar!" It doesnt matter if it is an elephant or a duck. It's a cow to her.

She loves stuffed animals. They are all bears. I think it is because we have this really old board book called 'Me and My Bear' that she really enjoys. All these different stuffed bears, you know.

Well, that's it for now! Ty

New Baby

Well, here she is. My lovely wife and the one that has struggled valiantly these past 8 months with a baby growing inside her. Fortunately, the last ultrasound we got some great pictures and video.

This is the face. to the left is a hand and the chin followed by lips then nose surrounded by a dark area that has her eyes. Although this picture does not show it, this is definitely a girl.

Well, I may have put the same video up twice, but everybody loves a great re-run, right?

Happy Easter!

Yessiree, its here and gone!

EASTER!!!!!!

Ready, set, go! The kids had 3 egg hunts this year and the pictures are all out of order. This is from the one in our back yard on Saturday. It was just a little one.

Here we are at our friends house. We were invited there for egg dying and a hunt. We had the hunt indoors because we were likely to be blown away if we tried to do it outdoors.

Isn't this girl adorable. Note the sand in the corners of the mouth. That is rather common since the installation of the sand box.

Yep, the master at work. This guy is our expert finder. At Todd and Sandy's house he found 17 eggs. He still hasn't come down off that sugar high.

Emma found a few eggs at the Potter's house. (That would be Nathan and Jenny -they are trying to edge out Thornock as the most popular last name in the Ward with three families of that name.)

The End. Joseph enjoying an egg before getting ready to go home.

We had a great Easter weekend. Hope you had one too!

Here comes the neighborhood.

Well, Disneyland, we're givin' y'all a run fer yer money now. Well, it'll be a while yet until we have quite their resources, but we have just put in a sandbox and a see-saw in the back yard.
Here is an update photo of Laura and company. Thankfully, in just about a month (a bit more really, but don't tell Laura) they will be parting company.

Here is Joseph. In the background you can see the teeter totter and the play structure. It is able to withstand them, as I have had it Missionary tested and approved (I don't have those pictures, unfortunately). The play structure had been given to us a year ago by Chad's neighbor. The kids love it.

Here is Ethan in the new sand box. The kids have had fun. Tomorrow I imagine Ethan will be excited. We just had a bit of rain today so tomorrow the sand will be slightly damp. Great for building sand castles.
All the neighborhood kids love to come over and play here now. One day Laura looked out and 4 neighbor boys were in the sand box, but all our kids were inside the house.

Well, That's it for now!
Ty

Super Heroes!

Yep, here they are. I know, they look just like ordinary kids, but come 7:00 or later (that is to say past their bed time) and their minds become somewhat droopy and agitated they become superheroes!

Here is Abby. The older 3 were all practicing karate in the living room and Abby decided that she wanted to join in on the fun. Note the unzipped pajamas. That is so that she can access her bellybutton. If she has any power at all I believe that it must be associated with that button.

Next up, Joseph. Getting this guy to pose was difficult. I caught this pose just a split second after he shot that yellow balloon at me that you see in the top picture. When he is a superhero he is always Superman, Spiderman, or Batman. The only ones he really knows, although he has not seen any movie of them (except, maybe a highly edited version of Superman IV).

Ethan, as you can see, has the pose down. He is sane enough to not really try to fly like superman. An that is who he pretends to be. No muckin' around with second best.

Emma is hilarious and really the whole reason for this posting. You see, she has a really very original alter ego. She is TISSUE GIRL. That's right. With lightening speed she is able to shoot toilet paper out of her hands. (Just beware the enemy with a spray bottle) She has gone around the house from time to time rescuing people and performing small acts of kindness all in the guide of Tissue Girl.

Faithful mascot #1. Actually, I just was excited that I caught a picture of a bird actually doing something interesting. Not just sitting there, like, umm... most of my pictures show.

This little guy is the last of his kind to hang out here. Our neighbors cut down their walnut tree last year and all our squirrels high tailed it except for this one. He must prefer juniper berries or something. Anyway, we are glad to have him around.

Ty

A Rummy Tumm Tumm

Well, this has been a week full of bellies. As you may know, Abby's favorite body part is her bellybutton. When she found a pen, well, what else? She kindly displayed her artwork while I took a picture.

Here is Joseph's belly incident. Apparently food tastes better if it is first transfered to the skin. I don't know if her was successful in his attempt or not.

And finally, here is the belly we have all been waiting, and waiting, and waiting for. Laura officially reached her third trimester this week. Yeah! We can feel little kicks and things now. Barely.

This picture was just too cute to pass up. Emma and Abby were taking a bath together (don't ask me why the hoppy ball was taking a bath too, I haven't a clue) and this was one of the pictures that Abby was smiling in.

Yes, love hurts. As do knives. Ethan has borrowed my pocket knives on occasion throughout the past year and has show himself to be very responsible. Nary an incident due to carelessness or to foolishness. So, we gave him a pocket knife. He did wonderful for 2 weeks. Always put away or in his pocket. Very responsible. Unfortunately, he did something foolish (our fault I guess). Against our warnings, he stuck the point directly into a piece of wood and it closed on his fingers. Much blood and crying and 3 stitches later he is fine. But it still hurts. Now what do we do about the knife?

Bye.

Ethan's Birthday!

Well, This isn't Ethan, but I got the picture out of order. Isn't Joseph a handsome kid? I don't know why he had a zoned out expression, probably one too many shots of the flash gone off.

Here he is! The birthday boy! He wanted a tool birthday, so his cake is in the shape of a toolbox. Lucky for me that just means a decorated rectangle. At least it wasn't a dancing elephant party.

One, two, three, blow! I dont remember if it was one breath or two, but because of all the little kids, I would not be surprised of it was more on the line of 12 breaths.

Emma had given Ethan this Nerf flying disk thing that is supposed to turn into a football while it flies. What really happens is that as soon as it touches anything with any amount of force, it explodes into a football with wings. Not an easy thing to catch, unless you're Harry Potter.

We went to the park after the festivities, played on the play equipment, etc... Emma decided to show off for the camera. Funny how she can be an utter goof-ball and still be pretty.

Abby. Cute as ever with her main source of nourishment. I am sure that she was on her way to get it replenished when I took this.

At the party we painted bird houses, opened presents, pumped the kids full of sugar and sent them home to their parents. They (the kids, not the parents, except for us) had a lot of fun.

That's it!

Ty

Ode to a camel

Oops. Wrong picture. Not a camel.

Oh Camel! Noblest of creatures! Mighty and strong.

Friend of man, docile and calm.

You who befriends us with a smile.

A rather towering friend at that.

Hey! Do you see what that dirt bag is doing to my daughter!

True story. We found this camel just outside of Grandview. I had to stop and get some pictures, and it seemed friendly enough, so I let Emma out to pet it, with somewhat disastrous results. Luckily, I got a hold of Emma before she got over the fence. Both she and Joseph were hysterical for about 5 or 10 minutes. The camel had claimed her hood as spoils of war, but I drove the van down about 40 feet and the camel stood in front of it, allowing me to hop out of the car and run back, reach my hand under the fence and get the hood.

Now it seems funny. To everyone but Emma that is.

Here is Abby last night (or maybe the night before) sharing a tortilla with the dog. Disgusting, but funny.