The Not so Human Race

Ok, yes, they are human, but I couldn't think of another riveting title. Below you will find pictures from the Father's Day Four that David participated in with our friend, Jeff, and Juan, who is a guy David has met through his job. They have become friends and enjoy getting into spiritual/Bible discussions. The little piggies that you see in the bottom right hand of this pic belong to our fifth child! I like the blurry image of the old folk running behind the guys. I was really surprised and rather impressed at the amount of older folks that participated, and did quite well, if I do say so myself! Yes, David was one of them. hee hee. just jokin'. though one rather old guy smoked my loving husband!







Here are David and Juan...

Hanging in there with a happy smile. Go David! He finished the four mile spectacle in 36 minutes...he did 2.5 miles in 25 minutes, running with a friend, and when he realized that he was behind his usual pace, he ran ahead. I still don't get why people do this for fun. seems quite torturous to run on the road...David felt it that night and for the next few days. We just aren't as young as we used to be. waa waa

The church that hosted this event had a little kids race...Levi wanted to run (center)...they gave each kid a little medal...pretty cool!


Hopefully, tomorrow, I will have some pix of the deckage to post...I spent some time staining today, finishing the lower deck. Man, it looks sweet! Man, is my body achy and miserably sore!

Otherwise, that's all I got...I'm outta here! hope y'all enjoy the pix of my running folks. And don't look for any pix of me running any races...I've got better ways to waste my time. :)

Outta here! Much love!

What's up?

Here are a few pix from our June 9th Science, where we (Sherry) taught the kids about gravity and stuff like that...look at this slew of kids smearing up Donna's picture perfect Better Homes & Garden Living room!! it was quite hot this day!!

Are those barefeet? yes, they are...just think old days...Little House on the Prairie

Levi and Drew watched some Elmo while we did experiments...aren't they cute with the Elmos?

Here are our kids, eagerly awaiting Mrs. Robbins bravery on the rooftop...the lengths some people will go to, to teach their kids!

She's pretty, even up high!!

Watching paper and a paper clip or something like that, fall...to see which goes faster, why and all that good stuff. Hope my kids were paying attention...i was trying to take pix and make sure Molly was taking her nap!

Good Morning...hasn't this weather been absolutely fabulous? I'm a 70 degree kinda girl!!

I've been a staining fool....in the midst of staining our two new porches (decks)...we realized how neglected our lower deck had become...so I got it all bleached, scrubbed down and ready to accept some lovely new cinnamon colored stain...and I must say, it almost makes me want to sit down there again! I feel bad for the deck...it used to be a big deal to us. But it's right down near the wooded area, so it's always mosquitoey and unbreezy in the swamp days...and when it gets hot hot hot, it's really hard to want to go out there...but the new stain looks really nifty! almost back to it's glory days (short-lived though they were, those glory days, I mean the deck isn't even 7 years old yet). I will get some pix of that today, for I know you are anxious to see my progress...(staining is actually hard work...I'm old...and I realize just how old because I was worn out last night...creaking and achy from being down on my knees and tukus all day)





That's what has been up with us, and the kids have been doing what kids do best..."When are we gonna eat, what are we gonna eat, he hit me, she's leaving her stuff in our room, can we go to the library, can we go see Grandma...blah blah blah!" David has been working long days so we look forward to some down time with him. When something exciting happens, you will be the first to know. :) :) it's so weird that at this time last year, I was eagerly, anxiously anticipating Molly's arrival...and I still only had four kids at this point! Now that chicklet has us on a carousel of fun...make sure the gate is closed, what does she have in her mouth, ooops she's unrolling all of the toilet paper AGAIN, and on we go! Never, ever a dull moment around here.



I've been trying to upload some of our science pix all morning all ready, and blogger just won't cooperate with me! so this may be outdated by the time it actually posts. darnit.



Ok, gotta go stain some more before it gets too muggy! hope you are having a great day!

Some cool pool pix

what an amazing action shot, huh? go Melanie...so agile



My little sea monkeys

so much for the idyllic scene...this was David's first time in the pool for this season, he wanted to make a splash!

Not much to say here, just wanted to post these pool pictures for your Monday viewing pleasure. So while you are at work, or going about your business, whatever it is that you do, maybe these splashy pix will cool you off.

I do have to say, though, that we are so thankful for this pool! I grew up in Michigan. The Great Lakes state. I would swim in lakes occasionally but preferred the family pool that was strategically placed between my mom's parents house and her brother's. We didn't have any air conditioning in the summer, it gets hot and muggy. We spent a lot of time in that pool. I thought everyone swam everyday, all summer long. I thought everyone had a place that they could cool off in! Needless to say, when we moved down here to Indiana, we didn't have that luxury anymore. Having a pool makes all of those hot, sometimes mundane outside chores and activities a little more tolerable (have I said this before?)...because you can get the job done and jump in the pool. We are so happy to have this pool...and as we probably will be every year that it's running, thanks to Becky's in-laws, for giving it to us! It has not been without our share of hard work, sweat and money but it's been a great gift! gracias!!

So, come on down to swim!

Molly Monday

Good Monday Morning to you! Hope this post finds you enjoying some milder summer weather and amazing good health!


She loves to play with this necklace..she kept whapping herself in the face with it!




seriously




Um, can I get a little help here? My mom and I love when she sits on her legs like this

sweet little baby face...I think someone is teething!

Cheesecake

I took these pix of Molly this past Thursday...sometimes she just appears ready for a photo shoot. She is getting to the point now where she will ignore me when she knows I'm snapping pics of her...I have to make weird noises, noises she's never heard, in order to get her attention sometimes. She is so much fun to take pix of...this face ROCKS!

It won't be long, and I think she will be walking (ish)...she is pretty much into everything, pulls up, and will stand up out of the blue. I could be wrong though, she could wait till 13 months to walk like E. did or 18 months like Levi did...it's all good. She's going to get into everything either way, so bring....it....on!

In other news...I will have to blog later on in regards to our weekend. got some good pix of David at his Father's Day Four mile race...and the annual group of kids in the pool (with the newest addition in it this year as well as a surprise visitor). Over and out! LY

Friday Foo Faa

Good Friday morning to You! Hope this finds you well!

I'm a sleepy girl, for I had to be up and at our mechanic's garage by 7:50 this morning, and if you know me, you know that I sleep till at least 8:30 or 9 if I'm lucky. (darn that late night lifestyle we love so much)...so....yawn....I'm foggy!

I know this much, though...these pictures will float your boat...the top pix are just plain cute...I love that Piper refers to her uncle David as "Davey"...(her dad has a brother named David as well but I'm unsure what she refers to him as...). I love that even though Piper and Levi bicker and fight like little cats and dogs, they still love each other like nobody's business...and when they are apart, and talking on their play phones, they talk to each other! awww.

I love that Nora and Molly crawl around on the floor with each other...and bonk each other on the head with their toys, sit on each other, and get into trouble with each other! They are going to be such tight little friends!

Ok, so those are my deep Friday morning thoughts...and that is only with one cup of coffee!

The bottom 3 pix are from the corner of our yard...where it washed away...it is hard to really grasp what it's like...but that bottom pic of it is pretty eerie! it's like our ravine is working it's way up into our yard! weird to think I used to mow that area and it's gone.

It's raining here...what's new? we get a few days of nice sunny stuff and it's back. David is at work, the kids and I are supposed to be doing our science and math...but I can hear Legos downstairs! hmmm. they must think I'm new. choose your battles.

This weekend holds many exciting moments for us! Tomorrow morning, David is running a 4 mile Father's Day race with Jeff and Juan...(a guy he buys his work supplies from) and the kids and I are planning to go along, so I can get some pix and support him, for he is afraid he may die. He is a regular ellipticaller/runner but running on the earth is a different story. Soooo, that will be interesting. Then we have great plans to get some sort of makeshift gatey thingy on the deck by the pool...we have a way to go on our outdoor project but money always seems to go quickly on that kind of stuff so we will make do! Bible Study Sat. evening. Church Sunday morning, where I will be on nursery duty...and on Father's Day no less! We are going to go see Prince Caspian on Sun. afternoon with a group of peeps (if you live near us, and want to come along, let me know) and finishing off the weekend with a Father's Day evening with my family! So...wow, sitting here thinking about the weekend, I feel as if I need to take a power nap!

I can't believe how long it is taking blogger to upload my flippin' pix. OMGoodness!

Have a super weekend! God Bless You!

A bit more from the weekend then I'm done

Scott and David on Molly Patrol


Jen did some mean braids in Jayne's hair

This kitchen used to be Lanie's...it's a bit different now but it was kinda weird to see her standing this way

one of the joy's of motherhood, atleast in my opinion, is the option of scaring our kids with harmless objects...I put Beck to the aunt test...she passed with flying colors...Molly was not fond of this deer head on the wall...

this is a significant picture because the house in the background is my late grandma's...my sibs, cousins and I spent a good part of our childhood in her home. (it is right next to my cousin's place, since his dad built on the same property as his parents) I stalked around the old homestead, took some pix and felt all sad and weird that Gma. wasn't sitting in that old living room watching "Murder She Wrote"....These are my boys with my cousin Ken's boys...

Ok, I'm done with the weekend recap...for now. I have more but a break is in order! I have some yardwork to do, to recover from our bit of flood damage, and we got a good part of the deck done up to the pool yesterday (well, D. and the boys did) so there is some more work to be done to make it a bit safer in the meantime! so I hope to get some pix of that up on here today or tomorrow!

I gotta go though, cuz Sesame Street is calling me! Hope your Thursday is spectacular!

cousins, cousins, we got lots of cousins

Cousin Ken with my momma..they were both so "pretty in pink"...sorry Ken, you can definitely pull off the hot pink!


Grillmaster Scott T...is that spittle on my burger?? hmmm...thanks for the delish meal!


Dawn with Taylor

Molly and I, Jen and Evie, Beck and Nora, Dawn and Taylor (which sounds funny to me to say this, since her maiden name was Taylor)

Great Gma Christine Taylor would be so proud of all of these great grandkiddies...though after a minute or two, she would have been all bojiggity with all the commotion....ahhh. the only other great g-kiddies missing here are my brother, Andy's three kids!

almost got them in birth order, if I'd been thinking about it, we would've switched Molly and Evie. O well. here we go...Molly (7/9/07), Evelyn (5/6/07), Taylor (8/12/07), and Nora (8/26/07). Definitely was the year of the girl for our family.

Molly's Grandpa siesta.....awww!!

These women are NOT our cousins...they were chatting with Molly at breakfast that day...that evening, when we got back from our family visits and such, they were sitting right outside of our room (a fluke for sure), slightly drunk I do believe, but still so nice. They saw David and were asking him about Molly...so when I walked by, they were cooing over her, asking if they could hold her (I did let them and only left for a sec to run into my room to get my cam.) They were an interesting bunch because they've been BFF's for 40 years. (looking back at my blog, I just realized how much this picture does NOT fit on this post...so sorry for the inconsistency...I had forgotten what pix were on here, it was taking so long....my bad)

Ian, Jenna, and Jon....my only cousins on my father's side!! Jenna is definitelya rose between two thorns. just kiddin' boys...you are pretty swell as well!

I caught Ian smelling this rose, ever so delicately, so he had to make up for his sensitive moment...see below...

grrrrr. must eat flower....he is one funny dude!!

Will and Mel with Aunt Nan (dad's sister) and Ian, her son!!

Here are some more pix from our weekend adventure...even though my mom was only one of two kids and my dad was only one of three...each side had 7 grandkids...of course, my sibs and I made up four of each on either side...whoa. Dad's sister, Nancy, had one daughter and two sons...and my mom's brother, Bucky, had two sons and one daughter as well...Aren't you glad to know all of this? I know your day is complete now. Glad I could help out with that.

Although our visit was quick and busy, we had a nice time with each side...always so thankful to be able to get together with our Michigan families...thanks to Scott and Jen for a nice evening with dinner at their homestead...it was so cool to have all of our kids together...I have pix of that for another post...some that I just couldn't get on this one for today, since it was taking such a long time to upload...Lanie, I haven't forgotten you!!

There is more that I could say, blab about or whatever, but Molly is getting into everything so off I go....stay tuned though, for I have more pix...it has taken me alllllllllll of this day, Wed. to get these pix up...I am crying for some high speed!! waa waa. ok, I'm done.

Hope you all are having a most blessed week! Until next time...LY

sorry for the blah blah post...I can blab with the best of 'em. and since it's my blog, das ok.

We put the fun in funerals

These are not as deep as I would've thought they should be.

(check out Will...left side of the picture...he looks like he has a little potbelly)

Graveside service

kind of a sad moment...but it was neat to be able to see how it happened.

Observing the interment...

I have so many pictures from the past weekend that it may take me a few days to blog them all. Just so ya know.

We had a really nice time/trip up to my hometown in MI! Yes, the circumstances were sad. But it was a nice celebration of Mimi's life and we are blessed to have been a part of it! Thanks, Mom and Dad, for all of your help, gas, lodging...We really do appreciate it and we hope you know it!

It was really quite blazing hot while we were up in the Great Lakes State. I could always do with out that...I am a refrigerated gal! (ice queen? heck no!!) and memories from my scorching childhood came flooding back at different times, mostly when I was in places with no air. that's cool...not really. :) One of the places we visited was my childhood home on Anderson...and what really stunk was that I had forgotten my camera in the hotel room. My cousin, Ken, his wife, Jayne and their three boys, Noah, Caleb, and Luke, currently live in this house...so that is why we were able to visit the homestead. Can I just tell you how strange it was to be in that house after 17 years?? even though it is filled with their stuff, it was like transporting back in time...and memories came back in ways i was not prepared for...it was so strange to be in that place with my kids...when that is the very place I always dreamed of my future family, what they would be like, how many girls vs. boys I would have...etc. So THAT was wild...I am so nostalgic anyways, and I know Ken, Jaynie and the kids thought I was a bit of a freak, walking around, showing my kids where this or that picture of me from my childhood was taken...sorry guys!! I am so sad that I didn't get any pix but I know my brother did so I will have to steal from him.

The pix from the funeral...ahhh, that steamy funeral. Beck and I missed the actual funeral service because Nora n' Molly wanted to eat and make a lot of noise, stinkweeds! It was a nice memorial and burial...I know it may seem weird that I have posted a pic of my Aunt's burial plot...but the kids and I were quite fascinated with the whole process...we got to watch the gravedigger dudes put her casket into the "vault" thingy...and then bring it to the burial place...it was so sad..and final. But she is right behind Grandma Greenhill and Grandpa, as well as right next to her parents. so that was comforting and neat to see. it was awesome to see the headstones of deceased relatives on dad's side, and to see where they were all laid to rest! My Great Gpa, J. Victor Johnson, had such a cool name...Victor...if I ever had another boy, I think I would have to implement that...for family reasons and for the Victory that we have in Jesus Christ! But alas, no more boys OR girls for this cat....so maybe I could convince one of my kids to use that awesome name. ay? (check out my returning MI accent, back for a limited time). got off on a rabbit trail there, didn't I? forgive me!

Well, there is just sooooooo much to update on here...if you've watched the news at all...you will have seen that the midwest was victim to some serious storms and record rain/flooding...we got some phone calls while we were away from dear friends checking on us...(you rock, John, Dale, whoever else called that I'm forgetting, and thanks to my neighbors for the updates)...to see if we were floating away! We were a little apprehensive to get home last night and see exactly what we had received...some serious washouts, and all the ground work we had just done around the pool is damaged! We are so thankful, though, because if we hadn't done that, our pool would be in the White River. sooooo, nothing too, too serious...I will post those pics another day! we lost a big chunk of our yard and that is a bit freaky! the pics will speak for themselves!

I could keep going but I'm exhausted beyond words so I'll do bits and pieces tonight!

God Bless you, wherever you are...praying that you are safe and dry...and feeling thankful for good health and safety! sorry, so sorry, for the blah, blah post! I have toothpicks keeping my eyes open right now! and dontcha just love all of my exclamation points? sheesh!!

***edited*** I have been trying to post this for over 12 hours now...dunno what blogger's problem is. keeps telling me that

This one's for you, Cousins Linda & Tory!

Aunt Betty: "Be sweet, fight nice"

Major family memory flooding back right now...Dorothy Boers, my Gram T, Aunt Betty, and Dorothy Hewson...

I was digging through pictures tonight to find pix of Mimi...and stumbled onto these pix. Aunty Betty was such a cool lady! She was my Grandpa Taylor's half sister (right??) and when we lost her, we lost a truly rare gem! She had an infectious laugh...o was she the life of the party! Miss this lady...something fierce.

And oh, how I wished I was more of a picture taker as a kid...it saddens me that there just aren't that many pix in my possession! if only I knew then what I did now...

Linda and Tory, hope you enjoy these pix of your mom/gram...we loved her so much!

Good night! God bless you this evening!

A Tribute to my Great Aunt

Mom, Dad, Beck and I visited Gram and Mimi at their Gulf Shores Condo in 1990...check out that Gulf of Mexico in the background!

Proof that this lady was the shutterbug...Tom and I inherited her picture-taking gene!

One of our trips to Canadian Lakes...with her camera in hand...with my bro, Andy.

Hanging with some of my kids...2000

This is a pic of Mimi with meme...this is how she is frozen in my mind most of the time 1973

On yet another trip to Canadian Lakes...this was the Octagon house...with the big pit in the middle of the house...it was sooooo cool!

1995, Mimi with her good friends, Phyllis and Henrietta...they are all gone!

It seems hard to believe that my Aunt Mimi is gone. We grew up near both of my parents families, and neither one of them have an exceptionally large family...so when we moved down to Indiana from Michigan in the fall of 1991, both sides essentially froze themselves in time to me. In my mind, sometimes, I imagine things they way they were. Grandma Greenhill still lives on Indianwood Road...Grandma with the Lake. Mimi lives on the same road as my Grandma Taylor...Grandma with the Wolfie...Mimi was the last of the oldest generation to pass away. It's sad to me.

She was born on March 20, 1919 and she left on June 1, 2008. She was the family shutterbug...always snapping pictures of all of her great-nieces and nephews...in fact, that infamous Wonder Woman pose of mine, that I posted here sometime back was taken by her. Many different times I would go for a weekend visit when she still lived in her old, way cool house in Detroit (before she moved to her condo in Lake Orion)! She took me to the Renaissance Center (RenCen for those Michiganders), dinner in fine places, circus and I was with her when I met my first weather man, Sonny Elliott...I was at her house when Princess Diana married Prince Charles and she woke me up so I could watch the fairy tale. She bought me my very own pack of that zebra fruit stripe gum, which was a big deal for me! She had such a cool back porch, glassed in, and we'd sit out there and eat our breakfast. (the coffee memory is fuzzy to me...was it her that drank it or my Gram G?)

Gram. G (my father's mother) was her younger sister and every summer, they would rent a different place in Canadian Lakes (still couldn't tell you where that is, exactly), we'd all visit them, stay in whatever cool house they had gotten that summer, eat in nice places, take walks, swim, sing group songs, etc. Ohhh, memories. I am a kid again. transported back in time to her attic, where she would keep toys and coloring stuff for us...I think I can still smell it. She was a classy lady, always so put together, nice jewelry, perfect hair. She had a job with GM as an executive secretary.

I could go on but I need to consider packing some stuff and doing some laundry...I'm sure I'll get some pix this weekend! Stay tuned folks!

Thanks for letting me remember Aunt Mimi! pray for all of us as we begin our trek up for the visitation and funeral!