Last couple weekends

Well the past couple weekends have been pretty busy. We had our out-of-town potluck last weekend. I didn't get any of the adults, but we had good food and conversation. Always great to be with all of them.

Josh and Smudge enjoying their ice cream.

Avie is such a doll.

Will and Creed wrestling on the floor.


Pretty Faye... look at those eyes and those curls.

Then this last weekend, all the cousins in central Illinois that could make it went to Indiana for the weekend. It was Jason's parents' place. So fun...what a great time.

We got to spend more time with this great couple.

Jarod took Will skiing. Yes...I was pretty nervous, but Will seemed to enjoy it and Jarod was pretty proud of him.

After dinner...great steaks Jason and Rach!

Always great hanging out with this girl!

Will on jetski.

These girls are so beautiful and so much fun...we missed you Kate!

Will thoroughly enjoying the water and the tube.

(I did 'borrow' some of the pictures Tara took of the weekend....thanks Tara!)

Then finally, today, Will and I went to visit the boys I used to nanny for. Tom and Harry...what little men they have become. I remember them when they were Will's size. I started watching them when they were just a few days old.

They were so sweet to Will.

Have a good week!

Joy for a day

A couple weeks ago I had Joy R take Will's 2 year pictures. Her website is Vintage Blue.

She did a great job and we had so much fun.

She said I could post the pictures from her blog...so here they are.

This was from a couple days before with Joy when she did Jarod's Family.

Thanks Joy! You're awesome!

Thank Goodness it's Friday

I always look forward to Fridays, but yesterday I was not so anxious. I had to do all my Saturday cleaning, because we are having out of town potluck today. However it all turned out to be a good day.

Will took a 4 hour nap, which was great, because otherwise, there was a little boy lurking aroud every corner wondering where I was and what I was doing...

When he was awake and not in my way, he kept busy with McQueen.

We even had time to get a fish at Meijer's. Will always wants to see the fish, and yesterday I decided to get him one. He calls it Nemo...all fish are Nemo.

Hope you like your new home Nemo.

We love making cookies...which I don't do very often, but decided to do yesterday...

and they turned out perfect.

Enjoy your weekend.

A day in the life of Job...

...well, maybe not quite that bad.

A couple weeks ago, I got a rash that started on my hands and feet and worked their way up my arms and a little on my legs. I went to the doctor and he told me it was 'Foot and mouth'. Which if you have ever read James Harriot's books, they slaughter all the animals even if they haven't gotten it yet. Believe me, by time I was in full blown, I was ready to have someone do away with me. It was on the soles of my feet and the palms of my hands. I almost got out the clay pots and started scraping myself in the midst of a pile of ashes. I was not so humble as to get a picture of it, actually we had family pictures with Jarod's family, and I wore a full blown sweater in 80 digree weather.

I woke up a couple times in the middle of the night so itchy. I ended up praying in my misery. My prayers were something like this...(shows how out of it I probably was)...'Lord, I really think my life would glorify you more without the rash. I am just consentrating on myself with my rash. Help me glorify you even with my rash, but please take it away if I can glorify you more without it'. I was pretty much bribing the Lord don't you think? I don't think I was glorifying Him much, because it's gone now, other than dry skin it left behind.

In my distress, I had not three friends, but one came and instead of asking where I had sinned, she brought me these...

my dear friend was my sister TAMI.

So, if any of you are still reading, there's not a point to this story. I wish I could come up with some spiritual analogy, but it's just me and a rash story.

Two for 2

Since yesterday was Will's actual Birthday, Jarod and I decided to celebrate with just the three of us. We were at my cousin's wedding all day and so when we got back at 7pm, the party began. I ran to Schnuck's and got him a cake...that was still pretty much frozen when we ate it.

Here are the boys waiting for their cake. Will was still in his Sunday outfit.

Will did great blowing out his candles...only took him a couple tries on both.

I was going to get the knife, when Will suddenly leaned forward and started knawing on the side of the cake...here is Jarod with him.

This is what he looked like for about 20 minutes...just eating and eating the cake.

I love his little hand.

Here's he's trying to cut the frozen cake and saying 'it's stuck!'.

He looks like a little animal with the frosting on his nose.

We got him a basketball hoop. I lowered it at one point, because it was so tall...

but he was having none of that.

Jarod, helping with his stance.

I love my guys!

Such buddies.

We are going to celebrate with my family too...but so far that's two for 2.

Happy Birthday Dear William!

I can hardly believe this little guy
is going to be

tomorrow!

He got his first card from Great G and G Rink. with baloons in it.

That's as far as he got.

Admiring his card

Love you so much...you have brought so much joy!

Make your life so full!

Yesterday I went over to Rebekah's to have her watch Will for a couple hours. While I was there, I got a couple of boxes of my old stuff. Little did I know that I would find some jems in it.

It was six years yesterday since my Mom passed away. It was on a rainy day like yesterday and brought back the day very vividly to me. I wasn't feeling overwhelmed, just an underlying sadness. When I got home, I decided to go through the box to throw out things that weren't important. While going through, I found many letters from my mom and Grandma. It was such a sweet time. I spent a couple hours going through reading these treasures. I thought I would post part of one of my favorite notes from my mom.

"I respect so much who you are and am confident that God can and desires to keep you and draw you ever closer to him. I can release you to him because I can trust His protection and direction for your life and when I see that you willingly and quickly submit your will to Him. If you go in the strength of God's Spirit, He will make your life so full"

One down...more to come!

Yesterday we had our first party/get-to-gether at Mom and Dad's new place. It was a great success. We celebrated Seth and Will's Birthdays, since they are a day apart.

The gracious Hosts.

Brandon and Mindy

Candice and Jeff

Kristen and Mark back from Phoenix for a week.

Mesmerized by the candles.

Will looks like he's thinking 'I can't believe I'm that old!'

Our singing 'Happy Birthday' almost brought Will to tears...I don't know if that was a good thing.

Will got a slide among a bunch of cars and tracks.

Sethers got a lot of army stuff...such a cute kid!

Ashley in her tutu.

I love this picture of Erin and Seth! So cute.

Mark wearing the gas mask that came with Seth's Army helmet.

Elle eating her cupcake.

Erin. She doesn't usually dress like a Diva, but they were going to put on a show, and she had to wear this costume for it.

EJ and Kelli. EJ was in the middle of taking a bite, but still looks cute.

Such good buddies. You can't tell, but Will has his arm around Jarod's neck.

Uncle Mark and Elle.

At the end of the evening the kids put on a show...which is a rare occasion around here. They had two dance numbers.
Kelli and Seth...they had everything choreographed. They both look so intent on getting every step right.

Erin's dress makes her look like quite the showgirl!
Erin and Kyle

Ta-da!

Great first party in the new house!