Jumpers, fingernails and friends from the past...

I didn't blog this last week did I? This is Beck, rubbing her finger nails on her lip...a sign that she is nervous, upset, comtemplative, thoughtful....she still does this! Love also that she looks like Piper here!

speaking of jumpers. (we were speaking of jumpers weren't we?) I went thru a jumper phase. David was really glad when I "outgrew" that phase...I'm on the hunt now for funny pix of myself in different ones...and there were a lot. who didn't love a good jumper? a no fuss outfit...find yourself some nice accessories and waa laa...fancy! this white with red polka dots above was one of my springtime faves. This houndstooth one below was one of my nice Lazarus (now Macy's) purchases right before I married David...I wore it into my pregnancy with Ethan...this is at my MI bridal shower with most of my aunties.

I've recently been re-connected with this friend from my past on good ol' Facebook...Lori J...she was a few years older than me but I always thought she was very cool and very sweet! Her hair always did the most perfect poof that we all tried so hard to perfect! She was also a great singer...always doing special numbers at church. Nice to be in touch with you again, Lori! (I look like a total dork in this picture but I had impetigo...and my face was all broken out in a painful scabby rash...ick. I've never had that again)

I've also gotten back in touch with this friend from my past, Candace...on Facebook. If you haven't joined FB yet, do it..it's great fun and a cool way to find some blasts from your past. Unless you don't want to find some blasts from your past. then you're on your own, I guess.

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It is a rather slow news day...we are just putzing around the house, cleaning out closets, doing laundry, working on math, English, whatever else we can come up with...I actually think I need to take a nap right now...I got tired all of a sudden....

Otherwise, things are going well...when something interesting happens, I'll be back, and if not? I'll be back anyways...I've got a bad case of the blogger blah's. maybe it's the weather shift...74 yesterday, 38 today. that will throw anyone into a dither.

Have a great Wednesday! see ya on Facebook?

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 Update Part One

It's in the way that you use it....

pool shark

My Father in law and BIL Aaron...handsome men!

Nathan...our cute little ringbearer...can't believe he's 22. it's just not conceivable!

Molly would've been kicked out immediately...see Rule #4

laughing over the funny squirrel card...it was pretty funny...

hooligans...:)

two of my three sister-in-laws...Natalie (she's the one getting married in Sept) & Emilie (she's the one that had a birthday last week)

I had a good time. Really, I did. No, really...the cake knife was just sitting there, so I had to use it as my prop...I have quite a sinewy neck, huh?




The ceiling above the pool table was decorated with the blue chalk...some poolers got quite creative...here we have a mermaid...wondering how they did that without getting a kink in their necks...talent.

chatting with the Mom...Em throwing up some ears...

what was left of the revelers...this guys with the wine glass was pretty funny...

We told Will that this character on his shirt looked a lot like him...so we had him pose...eerie, huh?

The birthday boys and company

emphasis on compact...

Matt's cool, quaint Urbana apartment...

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A crazy, busy, weird, tiring weekend...for sure.

Saturday was started with some serious YMCA time for E. and I before we left town for Matt's party....2.5 hours away.

David, Will, Ethan, and I made the trip over that evening...and though we thought we'd be bowling, we had fun anyways...Matt had lots of people show up for his party...I was really glad to have left Mel, Levi and esp. Molly at home with Mom and Beck...crowded, hot, and upstairs. it would've been a struggle!

We ate, played pool, talked, laughed, mingled...when it was all done, we took Matt home so we could check out his apartment...very cool! Urbana is a cute, tree-lined street kinda town.

In light of the time change, where we lose one hour, we got home at 5:30 a.m. Needless to say, we missed church, which I was very bummed about but it was good and necessary to sleep in.

Natalie, Emilie, I had a blast talking with you both...you are hilarious and quite lovely! (Em, we will look into that hotel idea...)

Just a bit more...

This is the man I love. I'm not sure why Jeff is in this picture...but maybe it's cuz he lived with us then and we felt the need to put him in our Easter pictures. go figure.

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He definitely keeps things interesting. to say the very least.

Most of the time, 99.9999999% of the time, I love that about him. that other li'l bit maketh me a bit nutty. but you aren't truly alive if you don't struggle now and then, right? (I do seem to be focusing on that a lot right now, don't I? there is no particular reason...).

Today is a great day...we are home...it's about 67 degrees out there...the kids are preparing to go outside and have a picnic...I'm catching up on a bit of scrapbooking, digging thru old pix and having a good ol' time. I've got some pix I want to post on my Facebook wall of some blasts from my past...yah! good times. watch out.

So, as we continue to celebrate this hunk o' mine...stay tuned...here and on Facebook...for the buckets of fun I'm sure to bestow on ya!

Happy Birthday, Frank. You are quite a catch!

This kind of dad....

...Prays with his children...

a most awesome place to be...bowed in prayer, before your Heavenly Father, with your earthly Father.

for this, I am MOST blessed.

I'm gonna marry that boy someday....

Have you ever found a sticker and said to yourself, "I could totally scrapbook a page around that sticker?" (I'm pretty sure most of you out there have NOT done this...but I am a dork)

I did just that when I found this cute little sticker that contains this title...up above...

I placed a cute little metal frame around it and found a darling pic of my husband as an infant...ba da bing, ba da bang...there ya have it...a cute, irresistible scrap page...with a cute, irresistible picture of my awesome husband, Daveyboy, as a tyke. Love it. Love the old pictures.

So, again, Happy Birthday, David! Whatta Guy!

Happy Birthday, Matt!

one of my favorite Matt memories...as the Pied Piper...at different family gatherings, all the younger kids flock to him

L to R: Matt, Aaron, Nathan, and David...on a brother's gathering in San Francisco, when Matt lived out there. Whatta handsome group of guys, huh?

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Ok, Matt, I have not forgotten to put a "just Matt" pic on here but there's always someone in the pic with you...I guess it would be kinda weird for me to be like, "Hey Matt, can I get a picture of you by yourself??"

so that's the struggle...though it is fun looking back at all these pix...

And it's true, over the years, we always wonder what Matt's hair will be like at whatever family function is coming next...whether it's the shaved look, or the wild and crazy long haired GQ model, you always keep us guessing! Thanks for making the Y family such an interesting place to be. emphasis on Interesting! fo sho

Happy Birthday, David!

Here's to the next 38+ years, hubby!

Going out to make the almighty (well, not so almighty nowadays)...dollar...whatta breadwinner! Whatta guy!

He's honking at me here...Happy Birthday, working, David! Thanks for being so dedicated and driven. Ambitious, goal-oriented, visionary...I could say a lot here!

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So, my only squeeze turns 38 today! Wow...does that sound old or is it just me? It's only two yrs older than 36, but it's just that much closer to 40, which is only a number, folks! You're only as old as you feel. (today, I feel close to 55)

David is one awesome fella. His intense nature only occasionally gets under my skin...:) He's as neat as I am not. He's as smart as I am not also. Can I get an amen? (amen...from David)...He's as great with $ as I am not. (another amen...from David)

David Franklin was also a twin...though he was born first...Matthew Richard followed the path shortly thereafter! How cool to have a fraternal twin...a womb-mate.

So here's to you, David and Matt...hope your 38th year is rich and exciting...

David, I am continually in awe of how God took such good care of me in giving you to me! or is it the other way around, me to you...anyways...I'm blessed to have you in my life! I love you!

more later...gotta wipe the snot off of David's 2nd daughter's face!

wonderful wednesday and Happy 15th Emilie Elaine!

What's goin' on in your neck of the woods?

yes, those are piles of blankets behind him...those lazy homeschooled children know that they are supposed to clean up after themselves before starting their days. when oh WHEN will this sink in?

little hands that looooove to play trains...

so glad to see that you have pants on, Mr.

This is Molly, in her class at the Y...with one of the girls that cares for her...Nicole. they are behind the big, smeared up glass window, hence the glare on Petunia's head. We really appreciate the girls that care for Molly, Nora, Piper, and Levi...they are all very nice and Amber (who isn't pictured here) always does Molly's hair...in the cutest little piggy tails. Thank you, folks! It IS fun to play at the Y-M-C-A!! o yes!

~~well, well, well......

really, there is nothing to mention...

no pictures have been taken, well, not ones that I'm able to put up on the Internet anyways.

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Ohhh, but I've forgotten...David's little sister Emilie turned 15 yesterday...we have lots of birthdays right at the beginning of March and they ALWAYS sneak up on me. always. every year.

So, Emilie, here are a few pix of ya, from the archives...I really need to dig up some really old ones...but I'll do that later....

This is Emilie, very left..dying Easter eggs with us almost FOUR years ago!

here she is with a good portion of her nieces and all of her nephews....

with brand-new Molly

Happy Birthday to you (belated), Happy Birthday to you (sorry so late), Happy Birthday, dear Emilie, Happy Birthday to you!!

Are you really FIFTEEN? that just doesn't seem possible.

She was born late into a Wednesday evening, early Thursday morning (3/3/94) in that year...in the start of our fourth month of marriage, and also, consequently the same day I took a prego test and found out I'd be birthin' a baby six months from then...I remember vividly all the feelings and thoughts that I experienced, being around her, meeting the midwives of my Mom in law, who would lovingly become my midwives...and it doesn't seem possible that I've gone on, since that day, to have FIVE of the most awesome natural birthing experiences, Five of the MOST awesome kids...

and I can't help but feel a tad melancholy because that season in my life is over.

don't get me wrong, folks. I'm relieved, blessed, glad that it is. but it's bittersweet.

that's all. Emilie, this is what I always "feel" when your birthday rolls around...it reminds me of birth and beginnings, journeys.

More later...gotta go plug in the diffuser of Eucalyptus for hacking, itching, coughing children. Oh, spring, please be around the corner.

Night!

Becky...

Canadian Lakes...Beck is the shorty on the left...

Welcome Piper!

I managed to forget my camer yesterday for B's birthday party.

Yeah, I really dropped the ball on the finale of the Becky Goodness! Sorry 'bout that, Beantzy.

Tom, when you get a chance, I will get your pix from you! You know I appreciate it immensely.

We had a lovely time at the Becky celebration...a delish dinner at Vito Provolone's (mm mmm good food....) and then Boyden's cake and presents at B and S' house. We did the (ever so cheesy) memory time...which will surely be a new tradition at whoever's party we are having....it was sooooooooo much fun, wasn't it family? such a nice way to reminisce and talk about something other than politics, sports, or the latest gossip...it was a great time! I love my family!

Becky, I hope your birthday was memorable...can't wait to see your charm necklace...I will definitely have to blog it, give the little etsy shop some advertisement...so cute!

On that note, I'm outta here...busy day...busssssy day...I'm joining Weight Watchers today! a little food incentive would be great right now...get me over the slump! Hope your Monday is Marvelous! Happy March!