eleven months.....

holy cow.....this handsome little guy is eleven months old! can you believe it? it is insane to me how fast the time has flown. he is such a joy in our lives. only one more month till we have a full blown 1 year old on our hands!! we love you chubbers!

Ironic??

Natalie is knee deep in a home improvement project, scraping wall paper in her living room..... once the wallpaper was removed she discovered names of people that lived there before. In 1956 they signed the walls. The ironic thing is that Warren McElwain was our judge over the adoption process.......the same little boy that grew up in Natalie's house 52 years ago. So, we had to get pictures of that before she painted. Life has a crazy way of bringing people together. Who would have thought that the little boy, (only 8 years old) that lived on Cherry St in Cameron, would grow up to be a Judge? It makes me wonder......what life has in store for my kids. What will they decide to be.....where will they end up? hmmm

i won the life lottery.....

when i married this guy! he is the kindest guy i know. he is the best dad in the whole wide world, and i have at least 5 witnesses to that. i struggle to put into words how i really feel about him. he is everything. my everything. and i look forward to a million more years with him.....happy birthday, seth. i love you.

One night last week.....

my bestie friend brandi called....she has this husband, and he's a farmer. well, he needed some pictures of his cows for a sale book. and what!?!?!? i take pictures!?!? uuh, never of cows.....but ok. so we got over there.....and brian and travis had to catch said cows, and groom them.....it took longer than we thought.....got too dark....so i went back the next day. look at that pretty heifer. she is for sale. you know you want her....and lets just say that photographing cows is not an east task. they are BIG. they are SCARY. and they don't stand still and smile (dang things)....but i did actually enjoy it, and hopefully i will hone my cow-picture-taking skills. brandi's man told me their was some big money in cow photography......hmmmm, time will tell! maybe i will keep you posted....maybe i won't. (i may want to keep all of that cow photography money to myself!!!) back off... :)

oh and ryan has some mad cow-patty-dodging skills. i will be taking lessons!

Everybody was kung foo fighting...

ok, so not really kung foo, but we are involved in karate! the kids are in love. seth is in love. we go two nights a week, and are progressing well. the kids are practicing and learning their moves so they can pass the yellow belt test. seth is a little crazy with it as well. he has always wanted to do martial arts and now he is just eating it up. not literally, of course.

Let's just say.....

he has a few new tricks!! Jason has been walking more than crawling since August 4th. I kid you not. My little 10 month old baby is a walking fool! He loves that he can climb on things, and 'run' to, into and after things! He is a major dare devil, and delights in completely freaking me out! He wants to be big so bad. I can hardly believe that the big #1 is sneaking up on me so fast!!! Aren't his thighs amazing?? You just want to squish him, no??

5-3=2

jason and ella were a little confused this morning as to what was going on.....they were sad to see their 'friends' leave. don't worry though, we had a great morning and got lots of things done! I still can't believe that school is already back in session. I am SO NOT ready for the fall. Usually I am all about it, but summer just went by way too fast!

Katelyn 2008

name: Katelyn
grade:1
teacher: Mrs.Creekmore

must haves: LA Gear shoes, shoes and more shoes. Katie is all about accessories this year. new headbands, earrings. she is loving the baby doll shirts as well.

Katie just loves clothes. She is all about fashion. She said today was awesome and hoped that tomorrow would be a full day. She absolutely loves her teacher. She says "Mom, she is so pretty and nice."
She also is ready for homework, crazy girl! This is going to be Katie's best year yet!!

Jared 2008

name: Jared
grade:2
teacher: Mrs.Cox
must haves: Skechers Z-straps skater shoes. tony hawk t-shirts. or skulls and rock band t-shirts. and karate.

Jared was all about the shopping this year too. it was actually really funny to me. he was so obsessed with the Z-straps I just figured I would give in. they aren't as bad as the ones I talked him out of last year. :) (skechers aerators, UGLY)
Anyway, he said his first day was great. He likes his teacher. Kyle is in his class and he likes that. Also, after school he had 4 friends over today! Yikes, for me....the best day ever for him! :o) (noah daul, lane horinek, kyle galbraith and levi smiley!)
I look forward to what he says about tomorrow...a full day!

Annie 2008

name: Annie Galbraith
grade:5
teacher: depends on the day. now that she is in 5th grade she rotates classes. she has gold days and blue days.
must haves for this school year: DC Skate shoes. new hair cut. a trapper keeper. and locker accessories.


the shoes were the big deal again this year! why do clothes and shoes have to be so expensive?? we had a fun time shopping for everything though.
Annie loved her first day. it was only a half day, so her schedule was condensed. she is very happy because her and her bff Liz have almost the exact schedule, and they are locker partners. we predict a great year for Annie!

Swinging at Grama Jenny's

Mom put this swing up and Jason LOVES it....he was so tired one day and I couldn't get him to sleep, so we took him out to the swing.....three pushes later he was out like a light.....it was pretty cute. heck, he's pretty cute!! :)

Back to School 2008.....

where oh where did our summer go?? it can't possibly be over??? it is. sad, but true. the kids were pretty excited this morning, but jared said to me 'mom, i am a little scared.' i was surprised, because he usually just goes with the flow, so we talked about it and he is fine. it is just one of those bitter-sweet days for me......i love having the kids home and doing fun things with them, yet i also enjoy the quiet of only having two kids home, keeping the house clean, and being able to get a lot of extra things done! i am completely shocked that annie is a middle schooler now. 5th grade! i have very vivid memories of 5th grade. (i may or may not have had a 'boyfriend' that i may or may not have held hands with at recess, in a large circle with my friends) YIKES! jared is in second grade....CRAZY. and katie is a first grader!! i will post individual pictures of them after school, with the highlights of their day later......here are the crazy ones from this morning.


also, i KNOW i am WAY behind on my blogging and am going to try to catch up our summer as soon as I can. thanks for the patience from you all. hopefully you won't get sick of the next few posts! :)

The one and only.....

hahaha remember this????

08-08-08 Happy Birthday Little brother! You are quite the character.....you have traveled more, SAID more, and generally played more than anyone I know.....you are a great person and I adore you. I enjoy chatting with you, agreeing with and disagreeing with you. I look forward to all the great things we have in store.....Love you man. Have a great day!