Here is Papa (my stepdad) with G on his shoulders up on Quincy Hill.














H and I were looking at an old train.














Here is J with his 'Bad to the Bone' face riding on the 4-wheeler.














My cousins boys, N & N. They're so adorable!

My cousin's daughter, P is a month older than my G. They are so cute together. Here they are giving hugs.














H is sporting a cowgirl look.














Here are my friend Jodie and I with our kids.














Here's G loving on mommy!
 

P and G had fun in the mud puddles while it rained at our picnic. It was a riot watching them. G was even sitting in them. Boy, was he fun to clean!



















I thought I'd capture their feet in mud in motion!











Some brotherly love between J and G.














Here's H holding Grandpa Larry's dog. She loves that cute little dog!

Digging into and devouring their Ice Cream Sandwiches.










H and I having a mommy-daughter moment.














The boys with Grandpa Larry (Zach's dad).














J playing at Kid's Cove, the park in Marquette. I would play at this same park while in college. The kids had a blast! This was the day we got to see Grandma Linda (Zach's mom).

A view from the breakwall at Presque Isle. In college I would go and sit on those rocks and spend time with God. It was so peaceful.














H enjoying the rocks.














My Dad, Pat and I.














My cousin, Darci, and I.
 

H with her friend A, my friend Jen's daughter. They send pictures, postcards and letters througout the year.














Here we are in front of the Arch in St. Louis.



















And again.














Here it is, the famous Arch. We didn't go inside because there was a long wait. But it was neat to see in person.



















*I wish I had gotten more pictures of visits with other people, but sometimes I just simply forgot to take a picture while visiting! 

Long Recap of our Trip

Whew. It is so nice to be home again. It is refreshing. This is the first time all month that life is normal and it feels so good. We had a wonderful time in 'da U.P.' visiting family and friends. It was a shorter trip than last summer, so we only had the chance to see some people only one time. But I guess once is better than not at all. I am one who really likes to spend time with people though, so seeing somebody for only 2 hours out of a whole year doesn't cut it! Especially when it is family! But, what can you do?

We had a great time with our family. My mom had a picnic for us one day with her family. My family is a bit crazy (whose isn't) and there are some disputes among my grandma and some of her children. Last summer was the same way and she didn't come to our family reunion activities because of it. This summer I sat with her before the picnic and told her how important it was to me that she be at the picnic. We all worked on her all week, and I was so excited to see her come! Maybe her heart is slowly softening. I can only continue to pray for her. Then, bless her heart, our last night there she wanted to come and visit us so badly but the power went out in alot of the U.P. and she couldn't get gas because of it and couldn't come and visit. I could tell she was disappointed. She has faults (don't we all) and tends to play favorites with her kids and grandkids. I am one of the favorites. I don't like it, but what can I do? For a long time I was the youngest grandchild. I practically lived at my grandma's house as a little girl. I have many fond memories of being with her and spending time with her. Anyway, I am getting off track here...Sorry. Our picnic was fun, despite the rain and thunderstorms. It was good to get together with the aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents. Well, on that side of the family. It is hard because both Zach's and my parents are divorced, so we have 4 sets of parents to see!

We got to visit with Zach's dad a few times and he had fun spoiling the kids with gum, ice cream sandwiches and the works! They had fun running in his sprinkler in their underwear and torturing his poor dog. On our last visit there when we left J just bawled. I have never seen him cry like that over saying good-bye to somebody! It was so touching! He wanted to stay with Grandpa Larry!

We saw Zach's mom only for a few hours. She lives further away now, so it is difficult to squeeze in a visit. We went out for pizza and took the kids to a park. It was good to see her. H had fun talking her ear off and riding with her to the park!

We visited with my dad, my grandma, aunt, cousins and kids for a few hours another time. While a short visit, it was nice to see them all. Like my other grandma, I have wonderful memories of this grandma too. I think she is the cutest old lady. I always have. She can be stubborn, I am told, but she is so sweet. It was good to see my dad and stepmom, Pat. I always love joking around with my dad. It was fun to see all the kids play together too.

We also saw Zach's sister, Rachel and her four girls. They had just moved into a new house so I got to help her unpack a few boxes and hang a few things. H had a blast playing with the girls! From the moment we arrived I didn't even see her until it was time to eat! It was nice visiting with Rachel too. Wish we would have gotten to see her husband, but he was off at work.

One day we played at my cousin, Jodi's house. My kids love going there. J got to drive a 4 wheeler (my aunt showed him how). He was having so much fun- until he ran over Jodi's son. Luckily he was ok, but I guess J completely ran him over! Good thing it was a child size machine. H was even getting in on the 4 wheeler driving! They all were cruising around the yard! The kids always have such a fun time together. Zach got to learn to play ladder golf and had fun doing that with the guys.

Besides seeing family, we also had some time to see some good friends:
*On the drive up we stopped in Milwaukee, WI and visited our long lost friend, Chris. She was my maid of honor. We lost touch for many years (I hadn't seen her since my wedding), and just recently began communicating again. It was wonderful to see her again and to meet her husband.
*Zach got to visit his friends, Harm & Jim (though it was a brief visit). They've all been friends for forever and Zach talks to Harm on the phone more than anybody else. Harm drove all the way from Wisconsin to visit with Zach only for 1 day! They're both Packer fans and as close as brothers.
*Another long lost friend of mine is Jodie. We went to church and youth group together. We tended to be the more rebellious ones of the group, though not too rebellious. I hadn't seen her since her wedding (almost 5 years ago) and we hadn't seen each other's children (although she did see H when she was little). We met at the Bridgefest parade and it was awesome seeing her and her cute kids. They were real shy, but after awhile her daughter warmed up to me.
*We went to Marquette where we went to college and I stopped in to see this lady I worked with. She was kinda like a second mom to me while in college. I hadn't seen her in years either. Last she knew I had two kids. Boy, did we surprise her! It was so fun seeing her!
*The couple we look up to the most, our old campus minister and his wife, John and Dorothy, were a stop on our trip too. It is crazy to see how much their children have grown! It was so fun to sit and visit and eat with them. Just like old times. They are such a neat family and we had a blessed visit with them.
*We also saw my friend from college, Jen and her family. (She sometimes leaves comments on my blog). She was a social work major too, but a year or two ahead of me. Then she got married and moved away. But we've kept in touch. She has three children (her oldest a girl and the younger two boys) just like us. She is so sweet and while we only visited briefly it was great fellowship for us all.
*Due to taking a wrong turn in Chicago on our drive back we went to St. Louis and saw the Arch. Then we visited some friends at Scott AFB (where I REALLY want to go next). Their names are Jamie and Jamie and they were our neighbors in N.C. Our last names even start with the same letter. We call the male Jamie James. They had twins 9 months ago so we got to meet them. We totally surprised them and it was a blast to see their faces!

It always amazes me that even though time may pass at a fast rate between visits, phone calls or emails, you seem to pick up right where you last left off with old friends. It's like years never slipped by, but only days. It is neat how friendships work like that. That includes friendships with family too. My cousin and I are real good friends, and I think of all of my family as friends, for we just pick right up and carry on until next time.

We had such a good trip, despite a few brawls with the in-laws and each other (it is always hard staying at somebody else's house). Not for me as much, since it is my parents, but Zach has a hard time of it, poor guy. I think I'd be in his shoes if it were his parents house too. But, boy there is no place like home and it is good to be home again! Will post pictures soon. And if you made it this far you deserve an applause!

Home Sweet Home

We are home- in Mississippi. We had a great trip and I'll have to blog about it another time. We took 3 days to drive back here and enjoyed ourselves along the way. I am already unpacked (have been home for 2 hours) and I am exhausted! I sure missed catching up on everyone's blog and will return to the land of normal soon!

Off We Go Into the Wild Blue Yonder...

Well, tomorrow we leave for our trip home. I am dreading the drive but I can't wait to see my family and friends. Zach wants to leave at midnight. I am not sure when we are leaving, I just want the drive over! It has been such a busy month of June already, with my friend Beth visiting and now our trip. We had a blast with Beth and her kids here. We went to the Science Museum in Mobile, went to the beach, played in the backyard, went garage saling, toured the area, got sunburned, watched movies and played and talked. It was a blast. The kids were sad to see her go. G kept saying, "Beshh" all day yesterday, looking for her. I am looking forward to spending time with my mom, shopping with her and of course seeing everybody else. It is hard to squeeze all our visits with family and friends into such a short time but we will try. I am sure I will update at least once while in Michigan. I will leave you with some more pictures. Let me just say that I L-O-V-E my camera! I haven't read the instruction book yet or had the chance to fiddle with it too much to see all of the features, but I am in love with it!
Here is G with the "Man" as he calls Ronald, getting all close and cozy.












Here he is again being silly.












Here's H along the beach. She had a good time running in the sand to the setting sun.












J had fun splashing in the water with his friend, Jacob.

Havin' Some F-U-N!

 

The Chosen One

This is what I ended up deciding on for my camera. It was the one I originally wanted, but I wanted to check reviews and all that fun stuff. I absolutely love it so far and have been using it everywhere! With my friend, Beth, here visiting I've been taking tons of pictures. Will post some soon.

A Milestone

A year ago today I joined the ranks and decided to have a blog. I can't believe it has already been a year! Time sure does fly! I really enjoy posting things about myself and my family. It is good for my family and friends to read up on the latest with us, since we don't get to see them much. Hopefully I will celebrate many more years of blogging! If you read me, thanks;) I appreciate you. And if I read you, I really enjoy getting to know you through your blog! Have a Happy Wednesday!

Random Thoughts

*G just cracks me up lately. He will say, "No, Mommy" or "Stop Sissy". His famous words are "Oh man". I have no idea where he picked that up from. I guess either Zach or I say that! It is so fun to hear his vocabulary increase.

**On another G note, yesterday was his well-child appointment. I saw a different doctor than last week, who questioned why I haven't immunized yet (and she must have looked on the computer to see that the other 2 have been immunized before coming to see us) and why I haven't taken him to the doctors. Well, he is a healthy little guy, and I see no need for the interference of doctors all the time. Let me tell you, H was at the doctor at every chance for those well-baby appointments. But, I have changed my mind/views on some things in 6 years. The more the doctors stay out of our lives the better. Of course, there are times when you need a doctor, and I would never deny my child medical care if he/she needed it. She also looked at his growth (at 9 months he was in the 50% percentile and now he's in the 10th percentile). Hmmm.....let me see.....the boy does NOT sit still! He wasn't walking at 9 months old. He eats more than his sister and brother. I remember when H was a baby the WIC people getting on my case about her. My mom said it was the same with me- that I didn't meet the 'standard' and they were all concerned. Geesh, its not like I'm starving my children over here! And he is the healthiest little guy out of them all!

***Today J got his pictures taken at Wal-Mart. My boy is growing up. He has always been afraid to sit on those tables and it usually is a chore to get him to cooperate. Today I was actually impressed and accepted the first picture!!!! That has NEVER happened with ANY of my children! I was so proud of him. Of course, he was smiling the biggest, goofiest smiles with his eyes all squinted, even when the camera was shooting his picture. But, we did manage to get some pictures without the squinting!

****Today H will graduate from kindergarten. I have been trying to get her done with school for the last week, but we have been incredibly busy with other things. Today she reads her last book and is done! Both her and I are excited about this! I think we both need a break! I will continue to do some things with her this summer, here and there, for review, but otherwise, it is summer vacation!

*****My body has been so wacked out lately. I had my 'friend' visit for well over a week at the beginning of the month, and it has started up again! Here I was hoping to get pregnant this month, but it doesn't look like that is going to happen! I'm not sure if it is because of nursing G so long and then weaning or what. I have never had irregular cycles. But I don't really want to go to the doctor. They'll probably try to tell me I need to go on birth control pills to regulate them and I will NOT do that! But, I found the BEST vitamins for women! I tell ya, I started taking them not even a week ago and already I feel a difference! What are they called? SuperMom vitamins! You can also go here to read reviews and order them. I am not sure if you pay shipping at Beeyoutiful, but at New Little Blessing you don't. I haven't been tired, even after all of the yard work I've been doing. I just feel energy and I feel good.

What a Week!

Well, I got most of the landscaping/gardening done. But yesterday I quit. I had enough. I was out there pretty much every night of the week working, then all day Saturday and I had it. I don't have much left to do, but I don't want to look at another weed or rock or dirt. I like how it looks so far. I will have to take a picture when it is finished. My housework has suffered tremendously. I am worn out from it all, physically and I think even emotionally. Digging up trees, pulling weeds, planting flowers, laying down rocks.... I would rather clean a toilet! So, I think my baby-sitter's brother may come and finish it for me. We'll see. All I know is it has got to get done this week and I'm not doing it. I am sick of sweating out there, getting dirty and doing it solo. I missed out on spending time with my kids, didn't cook much and didn't do an ounce of cleaning. Do I sound crabby? I have a right, don't I? It's my blog!

On to another note...H finished her science and math this week. She has only 5 lessons left in phonics and we are done. We plan to do things throughout the summer, but on a much more relaxed note. I also want to work with J a bit this summer and get him doing some things. It is a relief to be pretty much done though. I enjoy homeschooling, but I think I need a break! Our homeschool group had a skating party on Thursday. We had a good time. G put on roller skates for the first time. J, who was scared last time, was out in the middle of the floor!

I took the two older kids for well-child appointments this week. They hadn't been to the doctor in years and I thought I'd do a check-up. I'm not fond of doctors and don't normally go unless we need to. They didn't see their normal doctor at this appointment, and when I was telling her that H has glasses she asked if she reads them in school. I told her that we homeschool and as soon as that left my mouth you could SEE this wall go up. She then asked me what extracurricular H was in and made a comment about socialization! Hogwash!

I bought some rollers this week and have been experimenting with them. My hair is so poker straight, but when I sleep in rollers I wake up looking like a poodle! Zach really likes it, and I do too once I get it a bit tamer. It is fun to have my hair looking a bit different now and then.

This week my friend Beth from North Carolina is coming to visit with her 4 and 2 year olds. It should be a fun week visiting and playing! We are really looking forward to them being here. Then a day or two after she leaves we head to Michigan for 2 weeks. It sure will be nice to see family again. I really miss my mom and can't wait to spend time with her, go shopping with her, and just see her and the kids play.

I'll post some pictures of the week too.

G after church today. I thought he looked so cute in his tie. All he wanted to do was eat, so he looks unhappy.














H sporting her 'smart' look!














J when told to smile!

J on his Batman 'scapes' as he calls them.




















H having a blast skating, but not letting go!



















Brave G skating for the first time!




















My hair after wearing rollers all night.

Garden Daze

Well, Zach got me some plants for our anniversary so I have been having to haul my bottom outside to do something about them. We have been wanting to work on our garden/landscaping for quite some time but just haven't gotten around to it. Now, with it being 80+ degrees outside I am working out there. Hopefully it won't take too long and will go along smoothly. I really do not have a green thumb, but I guess I can plant a few flowers here and there. I am more concerned about the cost. And it is so hard to find perennials! I don't want to have to go out there every 6 months to a year to replant. I just want it done and over with! So, if you don't see me around for awhile I am knee deep in dirt and praying my job will look well in the end.

Shopping, And I Need YOUR Help!

Ok, I am in the search of a new digital camera. The one I have now was given to me, but now I can't get the dial to turn to turn it on. Back in February a waitress spilled water on my diaper bag, which had my camera in it. So, it didn't turn on for days after that. Then, it started working again. Now it is not turning again. I can only think that maybe a bit of sand got in it from the beach. I don't know. It is so frustrating! I don't know anything about digital cameras. The one I have now is Kodak and the USB connector I have is Kodak. I don't even know if that makes a difference! Anyway, please share what you have and what you love about it! I am thinking I will probably stick with Kodak, but I'm not sure. Thanks!

7 Years Ago Today...

I said, "I do" to my best friend. Today is our anniversary. I can't believe it has been 7 years. It seems like just yesterday. I remember so many little details from that day. We have been through alot the past 7 years- from babies, to moves, ups and downs. God is the center of our lives and marriage and He has seen us through it all. I am blessed with a husband who loves God and is committed to and loves me. He is a wonderful husband and father and I am so blessed. Happy anniversary Zach! I love you!