Walkin' down Melanie lane

More sweet memories from the decade of Melanie...

little jaundiced girl...

I finally got to dress one of my kids in pink...it is definitely NOT overrated.

sweet baby

Bright eyes

Check out my birthmark....it has since lightened up

Little Lassie at the age of one and a half

Mel with Duncan...our May babies

Just a few more Mel memories...

Hope you are having a wonderful day...

While I'm at it, this one's for you, Mel-Mel (a.k.a "Kate")

Guess who's turning 10 this weekend? May 31, 2008...go Melly, go Melly, it's your birthday, it's your birthday...

July 31, 2004...with your cousin, Piper....you are so gracious with
the younger folks in your life!


"Laughter through tears is my favorite emotion..." can anyone tell me what movie that is from, besides you, Beck? This is Mel's quote to describe her life with 2 older brothers...they constantly pick and harass but she handles it like a champ. mostly.

Six going on sixteen

Princess Leia hair

Sweet sand castle building 7 year old!

Happy 10th Birthday, Miss Melanie Kate!!



Melanie joined us on the last day of May in 1998...I labored all thru the night hours, which, to me, is kinda spooky for some reason, and while David slumbered ever so peacefully next to me on the bed, I prepared to welcome our 3rd child...unbeknownst to us, our first daughter!



For some reason, the 2nd phase and her actual delivery took a while...because her little chin was up. After what seemed like 2 years of pushing and crying...down into the canal she came...bloop, bloop, bloop...when her little head, loaded with lots of dark hair, came forth...the midwives noticed a loop of cord around her neck...yikes. scary yet praising the Lord that she was ok! When she actually came out...and I discovered her female parts, we were in some shock...why? because I just didn't think it would be a girl...I loved my little boys but longed for that little slice of pink heaven! On the videotape that Beck was in the midst of making, she started crying and sniffing while doubting my looksee.



She looked like she had been beat up when she was out and settled...blood shot eyes, herniated belly button, splotches on her skin, which one ended up being a big, bright strawberry birthmark on her arm...but to us, she was the most beautiful little girl and gift from God!



She weighed in at 8 pounds, 2 ounces and was born at 4:06 in the morning...Thank You, God, for such a bright, well-adjusted from the get-go kinda gal! We still aren't sure, to this day, how we ended up with her...if we hadn't been there ourselves, we would definitely wonder. But she is a replica of her father's sister so that does help.



Thanks, Mel-Mel, for your good attitude, sweet, patient spirit, help with the younger sibs...you are invaluable to me anyway but your mothering gift has been such a nice gift to our family! You are intuitive, compassionate, helpful, caring and tender-hearted. Kind, funny, energetic and smiley!



You are one Decade old...double digits...ahhhh. 3 years from teenagedness!

I will try to dig up some earlier shots of Miss Mel-Mel...We are so blessed to have you in our lives, MKY! You da bomb!

Happy Belated Birthday, Duncalunker

crazy boy...like his father before him

Legomaniac

agile as well...

Christmas 2006...handsome dude!

Before I let anymore days pass, I need to shout out a



Happy 7th Birthday, Duncan...



To my sweet nephew, who is on the west coast!!



I hope and pray that your special day (which just happened to be Memorial Day this year) was one full of many happy memories! May the Lord bless your 7th year on this planet!!



We love you Dude!! Wish you lived closer to us so we could celebrate ya up the right way!! :)

Blessed Family Gatherings...

Good evening friends in blogland!! a quick weekend update for ye!


My big guys stopped chucking their water bombs long enough for me to get a group shot! Thanks fellas!




Molly loved said water bombs! They kept her really happy in the hotel room! (speak this next sentence in a Scottish accent)...lookit the size of that great heed...it's like Sputnik. (It does look rather plastic-y does it not?)

this boy is funny...he hung out in the hot tub most of the time!

enjoying my half caff Americano. I did take photos of the kids and their drinks but will have to upload those at a later date!

Watching the trains coming down the pike...woo hoo! chugga chugga

Hanging out over the Wabash...ooops, almost lost ya there Jeff...

David and I credit this dude for teaching our kids all the crazy, daredevily things they do...like climbing rock buildings, jumping off of stuff, hanging over bridges like they are falling in, etc...Thanks Jeff! ya daredevil you...

proof that I was there...my feet above speeding train

as always, I make such lovely faces for the cam...D. you look good, fella!

Levi and Pa

Posers posing for the Poser Queen (B)...see below please (and I have so many more where these came from)

I was trying to take one of "those" shots that all the scrapbookers get...ya know, the ones where you get your loved ones walking away, a shot from behind perse, and lo and behold, I get this...which just happens to be one of my new favorites...her hand is even spread out behind her. I mean, what agility? she is gifted...

The "vacationing" crew, minus my dad and momma, Beck and I...and even Tom skipped out on this one as well...stinker!! he actually managed to sneak out of most of my pix...and I think it's because he is busy taking so many pictures of his own. My dad's aunt, Mimi, (my great aunt) was like that...always snapping pix of us as youngsters. So that is my new nickname for you, Tom..."Tomimi"

Piper, Princess Poser

Mel (aka "Kate", which just happens to be her middle name, and she informed us on the way up to Lafayette that she would like to be referred to as this now...)

Guess who likes pasta salad? dang it....there was a really cute shot of her licking the bowl...he was NOT feeding her fast enough!

I attempted to put these pix in order but alas, they are not!

Hi. How are ya?

I hope and pray that all is well with you! Lots of weird things are happening lately....scary things that make me so glad that I rest in the Lord...I won't name any of them because this is supposed to be a cheery, family post..so maybe another time! when I'm all melancholy and such...:)

these pix are from our very nice, very relaxing Sunday evening get together in Lafayette, Indiana. The Hilton Garden Inn is so lovely!! Whatta nice get away for all of us! (see May of last year). We ate at Panera after a nice walk thru downtown Lafayette...then hung out at Borders for a bit before everyone except for Dad, Beck, Pipes, Nora, Mollsy and I went to see Indiana Jones. B. and I tended to our young girls and visited some blogs on her laptop (lovin', LOVIN' hi-speed, ya know??) nice to be able to watch little video clips on blogs I visit that I don't get to see on my backwoods contraption...though I am very thankful for the backwoods contraption that I have!!

Sorry Momma, for not making sure you were properly represented in any of these pictures! That is just NOT right!

I don't have too much to say...we worked our bums off on our outside project this very day...so I'm exhausted to say the least! (I made 4 trips to Menards or Lowe's) Let the above pictures speak for themselves. There are so many more where these come from, but it's taken my computer all evening to upload the few that are here...so maybe I will get some more on tomorrow and also bless you with a few pix of our progress out of doors! I know, calm down, chomp at that bit, comment to me just how much you are dyyyyyyyyyying to see our progress. C'mon, I know. :) you will be amazed though. amazed at what these country bumpkins (well, I'm not a country bumpkin...but all of my kids are) can accomplish.

Good night folksies! God Bless you and thank you for visiting my bloggishness.

He's just not that into you, soccer

Levi, bringing up the rear, as usual.

Mid game, he notices a plane overhead...forget the soccer game, folks!

He's done...

Levi had his last soccer game for the spring season this past Saturday and boy, was he glad. I know he's only five, and that with older sibs that live, breathe, eat soccer that we all have high expectations for his abilities and drive, but I thought he would like it maybe a bit more than he did. That's ok...we'll keep at him...I may give him a season off...and I'm betting that his coach will be sure not to get this kid on his roster again...there was only one other little boy on his team and the rest were girls...the little chicklets definitely had more aggression and ability, which was really cute.

Otherwise, I will be posting some pix really soon from our weekend getaway with my family...it may take a while because, as always, this dial up internet just takes too darn long. (Beck, I be lovin' yo' high speed set up). We had a really nice, relaxing time and it flew by! back to life, back to reality (deck/ground project, pool set up, school/science starting full swing tomorrow...and just general life). Good night, all...be back tomorrow! Happy Memorial Day!

funny pix of some of my main girls & me

interesting!! soooooooo, now do you think we look alike?

pretty self-explanatory...Beck and her 2nd born child!

Love getting to mother with you, Beantzy!

My mom has always been easy to fall asleep on! of course, I don't do that anymore.

Levi loves his Grandma!!

a rather interesting picture of myself...Becky was trying to snap a pic of me and this is the result...too bad I'm in it!! hee hee

Ok, just a quick post on a few pix that I thought were kinda funny...so gonna leave ya with pix of some of my main peeps! Love you, Mom and Beck! I'd be almost completely lost without you!

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!!

My Guys and such!

I can't buhleeve that I actually got this dude to make a "normal" face!
He usually pulls some kind of Dick Van Dyke face (think Burt from "Mary Poppins")


E. of the round face!! whatta jolly fella! He did some kick-butt work with his dad yesterday! Thanks for your good attitude E!!

The new wall will curve around and meet the brick pillar...a good place for an ornamental tree or something! Now, I need to find a good place to put my container tomatoes!

this newly extended wall is awesome!! it came together so fast and really pulled this project together!! we finally feel like we are getting somewhere with this deal!

David doesn't have a milk moustache...he has such bad allergies that all the skin around his nose is raw and sore...so he put some of my chapstick on his nose and lip. man, he looks weird! The hat is not a fashion statement...he simply sunburns quickly due to his thinner hair and ruddy complexion! awww. He looks so worn out because he is...this porch/pool project is taking it's toll on him! Thanks for all of your hard work on our house, hon! You ROCK!

A boy and his monkey. You should hear the conversations Levi has with this spider monkey!

I love these dudes! They have all worked so hard around here lately. Seems like the older they get, the busier and crazier it gets around here...I feel like we are always asking something of them. And they take it so well...they have joined right into our hectic lifestyle! well-rounded young men!

Not that Mel hasn't worked her tukus off...for she has. She is such an incredible help with Molly! I would be totally lost without her and I'm not sure how I raised all these other kids with out her! (I'll be posting more on her in a bit...for her 10th birthday is on the horizon...May 31).

It has taken me all day to get these few pix uploaded. something is up with blogger!

Time to give Melanie a spelling test...gotta check the status of the kids and their schoolwork for today! Hope you are having a successful day!