Two

My baby boy turned two yesterday.

He and my dad have birthdays eight days apart;

we had cake together last weekend

and Abram got to blow out two candles.

 The first attempt left one candle lit.

 He was mesmerized by the flame

and then purposed to blow out the other.

Success!

 Grandpa needed help with his candles.

 Abram and Grandpa Wayne

Easter at Grandma & Grandpa's House--With LOTS of Pictures

 Daddy and Ruby

 Grandpa hid eggs for the grandkids to find.

 Ivy Joy with her collection.

 My dad's 63 birthday fell on Easter Sunday so we had

more than one reason to celebrate.

It was a beautiful day and Abram loved being

free to roam on the grass and sidewalk.

After a delicious dinner,

Grandpa and Linnea got the horses out.

 Elizabeth loves the "ee-hees" (horsies).

All of the children have no fear being atop the horses, whether they be 

big or little.

Ruby on Dusty

Even Daddy was able to help with the handling & riding today.

Christopher helped to keep tabs on Elizabeth.

She wants to "go see" everything and doesn't always 

take heed for her personal safety.

Christopher willingly served as her guardian.

 Uncle Mike and Uncle Aaron

helped little girls with little ponies.

Christopher is quite the young horseman.

Here he is helping Ruby with a boost on to Holly, his pony.

Abram's and Grandpa's birthdays are a week apart so they blew candles out together.

Grandpa kept Abram's inquisitive hands out of the flame. :)

Elizabeth and Auntie Bethany 

Abram got to open gifts from aunts & uncles and Grandma & Grandpa.

 There was a rubber ball at the bottom of this tall gift bag

that he was determined to get to by himself.

Oh, how we laughed to watch him nearly climb inside!

Success!!

He also got a drum and knew just what to do!

Lucky Ducks

 Little kids who get to ride little ponies at Grandpa's house--

lucky ducks.

LOVE

You can see it, right?

 How much she loves him?

And how he loves her?

'Cause I sure can.

My Labor Day Baby

My Ruby-girl...

She was born September 1, Labor Day 2008.

The first time I've ever "celebrated" Labor Day!

This year, her fifth birthday, was a very special weekend for her--

she got to be the flower girl in our friend's wedding

and this handsome guy was the ring bearer

the bride's brother said to me as Ruby walked down the aisle,

"she was born for this..."

She did SUCH a great job!

(and so did Elijah.)

We had her birthday party on Sunday at Grandpa Wayne & Grandma Cindy's house

so the kids got to ride the horses and ponies.

 Ruby and Grandpa Wayne

She's Got Style

 She's got style, alright.

And so does he.

(My dad is a good sport--he'll do just about anything to make the kids smile!)

Hard Working Men

Have I ever mentioned how glad I am that my husband doesn't have soft hands?

Or how it doesn't bother me that sometimes his hands look dirty, even when they're not?

His hands are roughened by the work that he does,

stained by grease and oil because of the machinery that he repairs and maintains.

I remember as a child, my dad's hands looked the same way.

I never thought anything of it--I thought that was just the way all dad's hands were.

Both my grandpas had farmer's hands, too.

I must have been in my early teens when I shook hands with a man--I don't remember at all who it was--but I do remember thinking, "His hands are so....soft."  

It actually kind of creeped me out.

I know now that that man just had different work to do than my dad,

just like the men I know now who have soft hands.

Soft man hands aren't bad...they're just different to me.

I'm glad that my guys have work-worn hands.

Hands that are willing to get dirty, to just jump in and do

even if they're in clean clothes!

I remember my dad used to do this, and Dennis does the same thing:

He'll come in with some gash/scrape/bruise and I'll ask,

"What did you do?"

And he will look at it, as if noticing it for the first time, and say,

"Hmm.  I'm not sure."

(What????  If I had an owie like that, I'd definitely remember it and I'd probably want some attention for it!)

These farmer's hands may not be pretty, 

but they do work pretty hard.

They Like to Walk With Grandpa

Serious Business

On the day of my grandpa's funeral,

Ivy sat with my dad while he visited with a cousin of his.

Ruby was also sitting nearby and when my dad's cousin asked Ivy to tell her her name,

Ivy decided to try to put one over on her:

she answered--with this deadpan face--that her name was Ivy Kathryn,

which is Ruby's middle name.

Teasing looks like serious business to Ivy.

Ivy kept it up for a moment, then her face just couldn't hold back how funny she thought her little joke was!

She and Grandpa Wayne always love to tease--

each other & anyone else!

 The picture could be easily misunderstood--

the cousin was not trying to strike my adorable daughter,

she was going to "beep" Ivy's nose for teasing her!

Look at the twinkle in those eyes!

We say she's sugar, spice, and a little cayenne pepper. 

She keeps things interesting, that's for sure!

North Dakota--Day One

 The six younger kids and I ran away from home took a trip to visit my brother

who lives near Bismarck, ND.

A dear Christian lady that God put in our path

packed us a little lunch so when it was time for something to eat

we stopped at this park in Lisbon, ND.

This trip was rather monumental for me because

I. don't. drive.

Well, I drive the1/2 hour to the grocery store

but I DON'T drive in any city.

I'm a big chicken.

For this trip, I stayed off the interstate

and took any alternate route I could,

using my map and trusting that all roads eventually lead somewhere!

My dad drives a delivery truck for a John Deere dealership

and his route takes him through Lisbon every day.

I called him and he suggested this park.

Though it had some new playground equipment,

the kids were drawn to the giant slide that looked just like the kind we used to play on at school when I was a kid.

 They spent about a 1/2 hour just going up and down

on this slide!

For fun, I even went down.

I was feeling ever so independent.

The kids about split a gut laughing at me going down

and when I reached the end,

Christopher kindly informed me, "Mom, I don't think it really fits you."

I'm not exactly sure what would make him say that,

but it could have had something to do with the screeching sound

made by my hips and the backs of my abundant thighs.

I'm just guessing on that, though.

 My darling baby who always makes me feel like I'm her favorite person

sat on a blanket and soaked up the fresh air and sunshine

and giggled at her brothers and sisters.

 action shots!

 all lined up!

 as the kids piled out of the van stepped out of the van,

I noticed Ivy had no footwear.

We found these shoes packed away in the suitcase.

 Ruby, however, was dressed to the nines in her sparkly shoes and ballerina skirt.

 WOW--do you see that??????

All six of them are looking at the camera and have decent expressions!!

Let me mark that on the calendar.

 There was a pavilion sort of thing so they ran circles in it.

I was all for that, as I had hours of driving ahead of us and I wanted to wear them out.

 The kids didn't know, but I was also secretly keeping them busy.

Remember that route my dad drives?

He was coming to Lisbon soon and when I called him,

he said he's stop by to say hi for a few minutes.

When the kids spotted a John Deere truck drive by

and a man who looked an awful lot like Grandpa...

boy, it didn't take them long to put two and two together!

 One thing I love about my dad is that no matter what,

he always greets the kids with open arms and gets down on their level.

They know how much he loves them!

 As a matter of course, the kids then had to show him all the things they had just been doing,

including the teeter-totter.

 (Can you tell it was a bit warm?)

Ruby and Boppa

Since that was a ton of pictures from just the first leg of our trip,

I think I'll split this into a few posts!