Sunday update...

Becky got $ for the iPod she is wanting to get.

not sure if David got anything. ha ha.

Uncle Tom, flanked by his two blonde nieces. I think they were trying to take his birthday money.

this is how Molly digests her carbs.

Ethan, Will and Mel, trying to digest their delicious Grandma-made lasagna before embarking on the infamous Boyden's cake perfection! Love E's expression.

Beck just proves that being 33 does not require one to be serious and boring! (this is one of her famous "self portraits")

My very serious, nearly 40 year old husband. (he won't greet 40 till this coming Sunday, March 6th)...Hello Chief.

David wanted to embrace these two (I mean, they are employees of his and such...) and Beck thought it would be fun to grimace...David made us re-do it...see below

We gather together to celebrate the momentous births of these 3 amazing people! Three of my favorites.

This girl had a busy day...she went to church with Beck and her family...spent the afternoon playing with the girls and there was no time for her nap between pick up time from Becky's and heading back to Beck's for the birthday party. Needless to say, she was grumpy, frenetic, and over tired. We got home by 9 p.m., she got herself p.j.'d up and tried to sneak past me. I nabbed her, and amidst her protests of "I'm not tirrrrrrred", I pinned her down and she instantly fell asleep. it was niiiiiiiiiice. and quiet. whew. she is quite precious when she sleeps though. I'll give her that. :)

(notice I took her stinkin' paci outta her mouth...I'm trying. I really am.)

So, it's Monday again.

I will bullet point some of the things I'm looking at this week:

~Another month starts, which is cool in a way, and with it brings spring. Our beloved Aunt Sherry & Uncle John (remember the Great Adventure trip, Kansas stop) are MOVING here this very week. Tomorrow in fact. Today is her birthday!

~David will turn 40 this coming Sunday. That almost leaves me speechless. hold on...I need a moment.

~I am 23+ weeks today, can't believe how fast, yet how slowly this pregnancy seems to be going. I am trying to "live in the moment" and enjoy this, as it will be my last one (yes, I know I've said this before but now I MEAN IT. if you've been around me, you have to know I'm DEAD serious.) I enjoy feeling the nameless one wiggle around, esp. after I've eaten...and I'm really trying to soak this up. I just know I will miss it. but honestly, I will be really glad to live through another labor and delivery, au naturel. Can't wait to see this guy's face.

~I guess I didn't have as many things to say as I thought I would.

In other news, Melanie and I really enjoyed a Mother/Daughter time away yesterday morning. My sis took Molly for me and David had the 3 boys. We went down to the Edinburgh outlet, enjoyed browsing without Molly. The weather was really mild (though it's far from mild today, due to thunderstorms that rolled thru last night, bringing with them cooler temps). Mel got a cool new Gap sweatshirt and I found a Gymboree blanket for #6 (the same blankie brand as Molly's) with little crocodiles on it.

got me thinking as to how funny it is that baby girls clothing is all flowers, mermaids, and cuteness, while baby boys clothing is bull dogs, sharks, crocodiles, and earth moving equipment. Very non-cuddly. kinda funny to me.

I will leave you on that note...time to gather my strength for the next 3+ hours out of the house tonight. ugh.

Maybe I'll put the crib up.

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.

Mel gets schooled in fine arts...

looks like Tom stuck you next to the weird guy...nice. (what can you say though? he took you to see the show and the tickets cost $43)

Mel, your face doesn't look like your face in this photo...is it the camera phone playing trix on me?

___________________________________________
~Melanie had the pleasure (even as I type this) of attending a Patti Lupone show at Clowe's Hall here in Indy, with her Uncle Tom...

~These are pix that he JUST sent me from his phone...Isn't it fun and quite cool to have neat-o aunts and uncles? Mel has the cream of the crop on this one...heck, all of my kids do...blessed with a slew of "good'n's" but Tom, you are pert near the best! We love you and thank you for taking Mel with you (since Mom couldn't go)... what a fun memory!

Happy Birthday, Tom!!

With Grandpa & Grandma G and baby cousin Jenna...

Hangin' at the beach with yo' daddy...

awww, look at the cute little guy with his train set...

re-enacting a Star Wars scene...this guy LOOOOOOOOVED all things Star Wars...it's quite neat to see so much of Tom in my own sons...

in Gram T's trailer on a family trip to FL...

Graduate of Lake Orion High School, 1988....

we had a rare opportunity to meet Steve Yzerman of the Detroit Red Wings in the fall of 1990...I had a great perm and a freaky face because SY was touching my back...(no, I haven't washed it since)...and I'm loving my brothers' glasses...





Happy 39th birthday, Thomas!

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My big brother, Tom, turns 39 today!

A few bits of info on Tom:

*He and David are the same age for 2 days.

*He is a great uncle.

*He has a degree in journalism yet he works on David's Santarossa crew...he writes very well!

*He is super, duper smart...esp. in areas of politics and history.

*He is my mom's favorite. :) hee hee.

*He was also my Gram T's favorite...

*He is single.

*He loves a good musical.

I'm sure I will think of more as the days progress but this is all my Monday morning brain is capable of.

Hope you know how thankful we are for you, Tom! You are a rare breed! enjoy this last year in your thirties! (man, you are old!)

weekend continuation

it was his idea to smash his face in part of the cake...what can I say?
He gets funnier as he ages...

Nice.

Pipes and her Pop!

Nora Bean!!

Tom, David and E...Tom celebrates 38 years and D. celebrates 37

blurry mother and daughter photo...just the way I like it!


Tuesday:

I have a sick kid in my house again today! Poor Melanie woke up around 5 with the dreaded stomach bug...and proceeded to hurl all over my bathroom. (nice visual, huh??) That's ok. She handles it like a pro (as if :( :P) and is much more brave than I when it comes to that bodily function. She is now laying helplessly on the couch, watching some PBS with Levi. That's what's going on over here...pretty fun, huh?

These pix are a smattering of the rest of the weekend...I love, love, love my new camera, though I could use a crash course on all of it's functions and such...Kara? where are you? help me, help me! I know there are so many neat things it can do but the manual is written in Chinese. No, not really but it really is kinda tricky!

This coming weekend (Memorial Day, can you believe it??), we are heading up to one of our first of summer, last of summer new hotspots...Lafayette, Indiana...whodathunkit? that it would be such a neat place to hang! We'll be staying at the Hilton Garden Inn. My side of the family (Mom, Dad, Tom, Beck, Scott, Pipes and Nora) and our friend, Jeff, will be staying. It works out because David, Tom, and Jeff will be on a job at Purdue University, which is right up the road from said hotel...they are working that very morning (Sun) and then we will all head up after morning worship and have a day/evening/morning of good food, relaxation and fellowship. Can't wait to try out my new Canon!! Check out my post from last May, where I took reflection picture of my very prego self in a store front window, on our walk thru Lafayette...it's one of my faves!

Wednesday:

Will is the sick one today! 3 down, 2 to go, kid-wise...I hope and pray that it isn't David or I that is sick this weekend!! I usually don't get sick and with the kidney stone incident, hopefully that was my "time" to hurl for this year! (aren't you glad I shared that??) Ethan now tells me that he is starting to feel bad...great.

I have been trying, in vain it seems, to upload more pix of the weekend but not sure why it's taking longer than usual...which is long enough to begin with! I'm just about to post this even though all of the pix I had wanted to put on here will be absent! Maybe for another day!

Well, Blogger won't hurry up and post the rest of the pix so I'm outta here...I'll post more later...have a Wonderful Wednesday!!

I once was lost, but now I'm found...

Just a few pictures from the past week...

David and 18yr old kid sis, Natalie...from her visit last week! Thanks for coming, kids!

You make us old fogies feel .... older than you could imagine.

Levi is the little tike on the left side of the group...

Someone is making little binocular eyes at us when he should be playing soccer...

drinkin' my coffee...it keeps him going!

Levi and his good buddy, Stephanie...her big sister, Madison, is Melanie's BFF

Little red-nosed baby girl...after a week of 80 degree temps, that morning was quite chilly!! Notice her 0-6 month pacifier...

Thanks for coming to the game, Uncle Tom! (I think he took 80 pix between Levi and Mel's games)!!

This girl loves grass...doesn't mind the texture and rather liked the dandelions!!

this is my favorite picture from last weekend...possibly one of my all time faves! and they posed willingly!! classic...when they figured out why we were all laughing so hard, they were less than thrilled!! durh.

I know I've been MIA for a few days...but if you know us, you know that soccer takes up a good part of our time in the months of April and May.

Spring in Indiana...hmmm. a challenging thing! we go from 85 degrees (which I can honestly do without) to 45 degrees and a chilly rain today. ugh. it's hard to dress little people when the weather teases us like this! but I am NOT complaining. In fact, I am CHOOSING JOY! This is a nice little respite in the midst of the week...this li'l chill we are experiencing. It's all good!

Molly is into everything...so one of our projects this weekend, between games and stuff, was to brace our stairway...or as Stickers refers to it, "scarystairs". I will have to take some pix of our rigged up set-up as well as the porch as it stands right now...David picked out a cool blue stain...ages the boards nicely.

I have more pix to blog but I need to hit the hay...staying up until well past midnight is catching up with this ol' cat. So, hope you enjoy the pix, hope you are doing well and hope that you leave a comment. I live for your comments! You know that, right? ok, just checkin'. Be back later...love and peace!

Happy Birthday Brother/Uncle Tom!

with his 4th niece...Molly (she is #9 in his 10 niece/nephew combo)

He is quite famous for this pose when photos are being taken...

Whatta good uncle he is...walking with Levi on one
of our trips together. I think this was in Louisville, KY!


My brother, Thomas, was born on March 9, 1970. I missed blogging his birthday because on that day last week, we were en route to see him and my hubby in Missouri.

Sorry for the delay, big bro!

Tom is a really good uncle...always, always thinks of our kids! Beck and I tell him often that it's a good thing he is not married with kids of his own...so he can spoil ours! (but if he ever did find a good woman and settle down, we'd be quite allright with that as well). He is a good egg! We are blessed to have him in our family!

God Bless you, Tom, in your 38th year (man, that just sounds old)...we love you very much!