Ketchup!

Charlie's a tenderhearted little dude and he was so cute with Molly.

Whatta good big cousin boy.

the FIVE handsome grandsons...some of them were looking at me, some of them were looking at Tom...I did tell them to keep looking at Tom till he was done but nonetheless...sorry Tom.

The FIVE lovely granddaughters

not sure if it'd make the Christmas card but it's in the running. wonder if I could photoshop the wooden spoon OUT?

as always, picture perfect.

Andy, Duncan, Phebe and Charlie.

All TEN of my parents grandkids

This is a miracle, in and of itself. 18 people, 10 of which are KIDS, 95 degree heat (not including the scorching heat index), tired and cranky babies and to top that off? we were too far back for the little remote to work so we all had to collectively scoot forward. I'd say this turned out pretty awesome! Hoot HOOT!

I have quite a bit of catching up to do...so I will start slowly.

My brother and his 3 kids returned to Cali this past Tuesday. Always sad. It was so nice to get to be with him and all of his kids. It's not wrong to wish they lived in the same area, is it?

I am so glad we were able to get the 18 family member picture above. That was no small feat...These pix were from last Sunday, August 15th (which was also my kid bro's 35th birthday)...we went to church with my parents and then descended onto their house to photograph.

On that note, my parents are on their way here, so I'd best get some coffee brewing.

Hope you are enjoying this overcast, rainy Saturday. I know I am.

Happy 16th Anniversary

we look like we are missing our eyeballs...

Happy Anniversary, David!

I am blessed to have such a patient, forgiving, loving, imperfect, funny, smart, caring guy by my side...it's been a definite growing year for us. God has been very good to us!

I love you, honey. you're so cool.

necklaces and too much time on my hands apparently.

my new dog tag....er, I mean, lovely necklace commemorating nearly 16 years of wedded bliss...that is no small feat. I took these pix while waiting for David to finish up some work calls and business last night.

Here we are, sitting in the Lowe's parking lot after dropping Will off at Phos/Ontos (youth group) and before COFFEE...I love that we've been able to really have some nice grown up time, thanks to the olders helping out with the youngers. Will, Ethan, Melanie, your Dad and I appreciate your willingness to watch and help so we can have some datey time. I don't think I ever thought we'd get to this point but here we are!

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Can I just say that I love how David smooshes up his face like that? That's how you know he's really working. Ain't no slacking going on there! He leaves that to ME!

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Ok, time to get this show on the road...here's to a productive, organized, healthy week!

Praying for David's big Lilly meeting this morning.

I'm a big kid now...

My hubby and I...in the elevator, on our way up to the seventh floor of a neat-o old bldg downtown...yes, I'm a dork.

thought this little detail above the elevator was pretty nifty...

love those old-fashioned turnstiles (or is it turnstyle)....

'twas a gloomy, nasty, rainy day....

and viewing this old, abandoned mental hospital fit right in with the dreary, depressing weather...curtains blowing out of opened windows. A downright spooky Scooby Doo mystery, fersure.

Ok, here are some pix from earlier this week.

I had the immense pleasure of going on a few job errands with David...here there everywhere.

These are just a few shots I took whilst out of the house...I could totally get used to being a grown up again. Not that walking around in work out pants, hair pulled back, no make-up isn't totally fun...it is....but it was fun to meet professionals.

I look forward to many more grown up outings. Whoo. (I am dead serious too, by the way)

Happy Weekend to you....soccer, dinner with awesome people, church, dinner with more awesome people, including the people we are hanging out with tomorrow night, rest, laundry, sun time....what do you have in your plans?

Be safe, have fun, praise the Lord for the beautiful weather, good people in your life and freedom to go to and fro.

Holly Jolly Saturday

Saturday saw me at home, all day, with Levi and Molly...trying to make sense of the holiday explosion that had erupted at our house...I didn't think I could do it, but with some coffee, Christmas music, and cooperation (I like to call them the 3 C's), I got the tree up, most of the deco here or there, and the house nicely ordered before David and the 3 big ones arrived on the stoop at 5 pm. Whew! 'Twas so nice to have them home...until E. threw up...but it was nice to have them all snug and back in the cubby...I slept better last night!

this was where I thought we would put the tree but it really hindered the elliptical use...now that we have 2 couches in the living room, we couldn't put the tree where we usually do. bummer.

Love the action shots of levi and molly here....

aforementioned explosion. what to do...


how magical...that little blob on the floor by the skirt? a tiny tree...that Levi put there and told us that it was the tree's baby. I didn't realize it was still there when I took this pic. We really like the tree in this spot!!

we've put this ornament on our tree for the 16th time...our first Christmas together...

these two mugs, taking naps while I did the tree stuff...how cute is this pic though?

David and I went out for some coffee last night...and Levi got to go with us...you can see him peeking thru...wait, there's one where he shows up...never fear...

David loves Panda Bear Express (his name for it)...

I know it seems like I take a lot of these self-portraits of me and whoever I'm with lately...but I figured it was the only way I'd show up in pix (that I could control anyways)...and since I don't have a lot of pix of my mom from my younger years, I wanted to reverse that trend for my kids. Though the pix are 99% of the time unflattering, that's ok. There I'll be. for posterity...

Off to take my walk/run...hope you are relaxing, kicking back, getting stuff accomplished, enjoying your day....hugs!

Couple self-portraiture

just a couple of goofballs that got let out of the house for a minute

my hair looks unusually greasy (or as they say in some parts of Indiana, greazy) in this picture...

weekend update

This picture is significant for many reasons, some of which I won't bore you with, but this girl is not even 15 months old yet. She watched the big kids for a minute or two, when we first got into the park...it didn't take her very long and she figured out how to go up the stairs, up the steps, to the highest slide (not high for us but for her? yeah)...she'd throw herself down and slide her buns down ... back around again, and again. Tom got a cute little video of it but of course, I know not how to get that on here and besides, with dial up, it would take me two days to upload it...it's taken me most of this day to get these pix up here. I find it's better to blog in the middle of the night...they upload in super high speed (for me).

I didn't take any pix of Levi in the park (loser) because he was hiding the whole time...

Monday, Monday. Can't trust that day....

I have no reason not to trust it, it's just hard to get going in the right direction again. ahhhh!

~Saturday was all soccer...Levi actually kicked the ball! Woo Hoo! His coach (Wendy) and I shared a moment of utter surprise across the field!

~Melanie had a double "header" and won both of her games...she played hard and did a good job! In her first game, we got to hear the referee threaten the other team's coach. "If I have to talk to you again, I will be kicking u out of this game, sir!"

~The boys won 2-0...and to think they didn't even want to be there. It was hot, and when you have 3 games to endure, it makes ya kinda bitter in the muggy September heat. We must not be cut from the soccer cloth...imagine if we were a part of a travel team??? We like soccer, but on our terms. Thanks for coming out to the kids' games, Beck, Piper, Nora and Tom...you guys rock!

~That night, David and I were planning to go to the Irish Fest with Jeff and Nicky...rain moved in and we ended up at Cheesecake Factory (David and I were first timers)...it was nice to get out of the house, away from inquiring kid minds (we love our kids) and to just be "grown-up" for a minute or two (that's how fast it went)...though, from the looks of some of the pix I took, I am hardly grown up. Couldn't let an evening pass by where I put chocolate on my teeth. David was thrilled...Jeff wasn't surprised either and Nicky was a bit freaked out. I'm a classy dame!

such a non-flattering photo of me, what's new? I need my hair cut really, really bad but I am not photogenic. David, on the other hand, is trying to look like this. He loves my chocolate on the teeth hillbilly impression EVERY TIME!

~We vowed to get to bed earlier that night, ended our date by 11:15, picked up Levi at my sister's house, rented "Unbreakable" (3rd movie in our M. Night Shymalan marathon)...got home to Mom and the rest of the crew and proceeded to watch said movie when we got home, well after midnight...great movie, doesn't do much for my sleeping patterns though. We had the windows open that evening, which freaked me out anyways, but then I kept "hearing" things, spooking myself with the woodland creatures around here...something was mewling outside the windows so I had Davey boy get up with me to check it out. It was such a Brady Bunch moment. "Mike, get your shotgun"...hee hee. different show.

~Amazing worship service yesterday...we really enjoy the 45-60 minutes of true worship, communion, to no one but the one true God. Good message by Pastor Randy on John 12. Great, caring people...we continue to be blessed!

~I'm adopting something that my dear cuz, Tory, does at the end of her posts ...Things I learned today include the following: It doesn't pay to stay up late on Saturday night...watching one of "those" Shymalan movies especially. Another thing? a "Christian" singer that I used to listen to back in the 90's, Ray Boltz (Watch the Lamb, Thank You, etc), came out of the "closet"...that bothers me more than I thought it would and it just doesn't match up...Lastly, when you get 9 kids together on a Sunday evening in a clean house, you CAN keep it that way. not without some diligence, but it can be done.

Now if my pix would upload. I love dial up. I love dial up. Choose JOY. Choose JOY.

update: It's now 3 pm, 9/22/08. I've been uploading pix one at a time all day...and now I'm over it...I've got to look into some form of high speed...David talks about it like it makes sense to him but it makes no sense to me whatsoever, what is available, how it works, blah blah blah. Help!! Hellllp. See ya later...much later.

Whatta Guy

Sweet baby David Y.
D. no longer wears these glasses, or any glasses for that matter,
Thanks to laser eye surgery!

This is a desperate post. Desperate in the fact that I'm so tired tonight and have not taken any pix over the past few days. I'll get back up on it. man, I have heartburn tonight...it's like being preggers again.
I love this guy! This sticker on the first page says I'm gonna marry that boy someday... weird to think I married that little guy in that flanner sleeper.
bottom pic was taken by Kara, loving cousin. We are overdue for some updated pix...but you get all recovered from your neck surgery, k, deary?? :) I still love my '06 pix!
this is a way rambly post but o well...this cat is going to bed and you can't say I didn't post for ya, B. now put that in your pipe and smoke it!
nitey-nite...

A totally random, pointless post!!

This is Debbie...Piper's stuffed bunny!! she's feeling a little abandoned!!
I look tired and haggard and David looks like he's up to something!
We played Apples to Apples last night and these were the cards I won...
A seriously goofy, challenging pic of Levi
All I have to say is if you haven't played "Apples to Apples" yet, you'd better. It is so fun, especially with an interesting group of people. If you've played, then you know how I won these cards shown above...we've determined in our 3 years of playing this game that the cards you win usually describe you very well.
Debbie...first picture, is Piper's BFF...We had Nora and Pipes Sat. night while Beck and Scott went to his work Christmas bash (Yes, I failed to take pix of the girls' time here but I DID get one of the stuffed bunny, nice)...I love my kids and my sister's kids but it cemented the fact for me that I was not cut out for 7 kids. All of you that have more than me, I have a deep respect for you. If you have twins? An even deeper respect. Nora is such a good baby...and Piper is a good girl...she fits into our mess very well! She is Levi's mother hen and I love the cute little relationship they have with each other!! She is so dang smart and cute! Nora spit up on her in the middle of our Bible Study group and Piper ever so calmly stated "Laaaaurie, she frew up on me!!" Boy, did that tiny little girl up-chuck...made a little pool in Piper's folded up legs. Beck, your kids ROCK! love 'em.
The pic of David and I was taken by Melanie..man, do I always look that old and tired? probably. I was in this pic for sure! David looks cute though! and last but definitely NOT least, Levi...making his signature photo expression. he has started doing this in a lot of pics!! I'm not fond of this look...he is such a poser!! Ok, enough randomness for this day. Thanks for letting me make no sense! Lots of love to you!