More where this came from...

Washing the cake off at E's first birthday party...

When we lived up in the Great North Dakota...E was 2 mos. and Will was 18 mos. ahhhhhhh!

Autumn 1999

had to throw this sweet little reminder of Melanie in here as well...she has the same color hair in this pic that Molly has...

10/97...rascals

like I have said many times before, you can see who is more laid back (and apparently modest) here...E = exhibitionist

This might actually be where E. was introduced to sword play...our good friends, Vince, Janice, Megan and Emma, had this full armor of God set at their house...alas, E's love of all things weapon was born.....

Hangin' out in MI with Pa and Uncle Andy...back in the old days before Andy welcomed his own little set of boys...

Ahoy mateys...Pirate play...Heather, this really is what you have to look forward to...it's in their blood (or so I've been told)...they are lots of fun though. and yes, David knows his glasses were so cooool. (thought I'd get that out there before Stickers jumped on that one too..make yourself vulnerable and she smells it) :) see I'm smiling... that means I'm in therapy to cope with it.

~~Thanks, Stickers, for your encouraging words yesterday..."You WERE frumpy"...feelin' the love over here and feeling really good about myself...In hindsight, I'm really glad that I didn't totally stick my neck out there and put some even better ones on there. I'll save those for another day and obviously another friend. :)



~It was kinda neat to see my mom get all choked up when looking at yesterday's post. Not that I like to make my mom cry, but ya gotta understand, she is not emotionally easy to read...she didn't cry at my wedding (yeah, get outta here punk) and I think the only reason she cried at Becky's was because it cost so much. She isn't one to cry at a birth (she leaves all this tomfoolery to ME)...so when she said to me yesterday that these old pics of my boys were going to make her cry, I jumped on this bandwagon. Plus, it's fun to go back in time and remember these little dudes, how cute they were, fun, blessed, and how much I took it for granted. and I did.

I'm listening to the Steven Curtis Chapman CD (This Moment) right now (I did NOT plan this) but it's on a song about Moms...how we change the world one little heartbeat at a time...and how, even though we are home with our kids (or not), we are investing in the future. such a worthy calling to be a mother. I remember vividly as a youngster being asked by this relative or that relative what I wanted to be when I grew up, and replying "A mommy"...(and occasionally one of them would say "Is that it??")...but I had the best mom to want to be like...she gave us every bit of her and I thank you Mom! and Dad, because I know it was a struggle and your efforts allowed for mom to be home with us...and I appreciate every effort you made and continue to make for me! I love you guys!

Wow...someone is emotional.

Ok, just so you don't wonder and think something's happened to #4 and #5...they are fine...Molly has some Hand, Foot and Mouth illness goin' on and Levi is Levi but I figured I would focus on the 3 big ones for a minute or two. Give them a little spotlight!

Hope that your Friday and 3 day weekend are out of this world...We are going up to Holland MI on Monday so there should be some photo opportunities involved there...Later taters