Artwork 'n' such

I'm not quite sure what this is or what they are doing...but he did tell me that it was ME!

He did recognize these letters and told me their names with NO prompting and told me that this was a family reunion...cute kid! this is kinda how I always envision family reunions also...

A little bit of lizard art from Will...he drew these for Levi..I had to draw over my lizard because it was done in light pink (but notice the black shirt...do my kids know me or what?)

Levi got inspired and decided to do some drawings (or as they say in England, drawrings)...

Yes, I understand that at the age of nearly 6, he should maybe be a bit more advanced in his drawings, but until this past year, he had absolutely no interest in drawing, letters, numbers, anything like that...so this is nothing short of miraculous for us!! I think his artwork is fabulous!!

Ok, well I have some more pix from our last day with my family yesterday...but I gotta go find my camera...so check back later for some funny pix...Hope you are having a lovely Monday morning! The breeze down here is magnificent this morning...and even a bit chilly...such good coffee on the porch weather. Fall, c'mon!!

Family Ties

We had suuuuuch a nice time with my Michigan family last night!! (but when this posts, it will have last night's date since that is when I started this)

I know, I didn't get any pix of my parents. I tried. my dad kept putting his hand up...and telling me to get pix of the people that aren't always here...so for once, I obeyed him. hee hee. just kidding Dad. love ya!

My aunt brought down some handmade pies from MI...see if you can read this...it was fun to hear how we thought the pie co. name was pronounced. Think Jackets.

Oh. MY. Gosh. Becky made the Pioneer woman's sheet cake....and it is heavenly....hope there is some of that left for dinner today!! Beck, put that up at the top with your mac and cheese!

this pic is important because Tom didn't know I took it...he usually puts his hand up in his face. Ha ha.

Aunt Darlene and Aunt Nan...fun gals!

David took them on a tour of our yard. and this was before the mosquitoes got worse! youch!

Uncle Frank always was good with the kids...here he's playing animals with Levi...whatta guy!

ouch. what an ending for this post...she definitely has the biggest peepers I know of!

So, here's a little glimpse into our evening with the fam! We had such a lovely time...Mom's lasagna was delish...mmm mmm good, momma. Salad was bunnylicious (ya know, bunny food) and desert was the bomb on all fronts.

It was so neat to have my dad's side in our house...they've never been to our place so that was cool and kinda psychedelic all at once! Thanks for coming over folks!

I'll be back later on with more pix, hopefully, but first off, we are going to the church service, then late lunch at Becky's with the fam today! Hope you have a blessed day!

Hee Haw

I know you've been dying since my yesterday post, to know exactly what my kids were up to...


Yehaaaaaaaaaa!

trying to stay afloat...o dear. I'm not sure exactly what his expression is...fierce?

Mel's turn and she was actually quite frightened. (I didn't realize how clunky our makeshift rail looks...but just imagine, if you will, how pretty it will be next summer???)

E. was trying to help her but ended up only helping her sink faster...

soooooooo, this is what happens when you leave your kids to their own devices for too long (among other things)...They find the fountain tub, which used to house our little kids under the umbrella fountainy thing, which then graduated to good soil holder that we used to have in our raised garden beds (before we took those apart to have a swimming pool)...to this.


It's been bleached out and stuff. It needs some Lime-Away. I still wouldn't ever use it in our pool. but they've made up this fun game where they push each other in and see how long they can keep it afloat before it's overtaken with water. Nice.


Levi calls it his pool and Molly's pool. the kids call it the Jacuzzi. they provide the bubbly.


sheesh. I know, I know...we are so classy, you are dying to come hang out with us...if you're lucky, the neighbors will have their gangsta rap playing while they all take a spin on the 4 wheeler while letting their big, nursing dog poo in my yard.


Come on over, we'll leave the light on for ya!

Have a wonderful Friday, folks!

Pressed between the pages of my mind

Quiet thoughts come floating down and settle softly to the ground, like gold of autumn leaves around my feet....


I touch them and they burst apart with sweet...memories...

Dad with Andy (Golden Boy #2), Tom (Golden Boy #1) and me...dork-faced girl...just happy to be surrounded by all these men. hee hee. just kiddin'





this pic was taken shortly after my world changed forever...we are at Becky's baby shower...my mom is sitting with me and my dad's sister, Nancy is to my mom's right and my dad's brother's wife, Darlene, is to my mom's left...these, friends, are the aunts that are coming to visit us this weekend...they will have my uncles with them. They let them out of the house from time to time.



I'm not sure if this was the Easter that I hid chocolate in my lovely white gloves or not but didn't we look snazzy? Only thing is, Beck was nearing 15 here and still wearing a bonnet. What gives, Joanie? :)

My mom's mom, Christine...Florida girl every winter...I think I thought I was pregnant in that little dress...look how I'm holding my tummy...had issues with that back then.

same trip to Florida, no Becky...I got my picture with Minnie, Becky, and you were probably napping. Don't I look like I could have been one of the boys? (I'm on the left, in case you didn't know)

Dad's mom...always stressed good posture, look at me posing for her. I am loving my coppertone tan in this picture. This is one of those houses I blogged about back in June, in Canadian Lakes...this is where my "love" for spiral staircases was spawned...if you will look on the right hand side of the pic, there is my first set...they are fun on vacation, but having them in your house is a different story completely. (e.g. being pregnant, forgetting something on the other level, falling, dizziness...etc.)

same trip to Canadian Lakes (see pic above of Gma G and good posture)...look at us, cool kids, in the way back seat of the stylin' station wagon...remember those seats that faced backwards?

Easter 1991...right before we all moved to Indiana....I was a senior, Tom was a stud, Andy thought he was Steve Yzerman (captain Detroit Red Wings) and Becky was cute but her glasses weren't.


I have always been an Elvis fan...the quotes at the top of this post are from one of his 1970's songs called, appropriately, "Memories".

I wish someone would've stressed more to me to enjoy the little kid moments...that you won't always be 6 or 7 and that you need to hug your grandma's more because you don't know how long you will have them. I promise, I'm not going to get mushy but I look at those pix of me and my sibs, and it flew by...

I mean, heck, my parents took us to Disney World...and some place fun in the summer time, and had us involved in our families...Thanks Momma and Dad. You guys mean the world to me and I love you.

Nuff Moosh.

How are ya today? I can hear the naaay-borrrs riding their 4-wheelers...grand. I could make fun of them...but you know what my kids are doing right now? Can't tell ya, but I will blog it later on....pure class.

Time to do my Jillian Michaels video...wish me luck..she's tuff!

Levner loves his mummy

head to toe shot.

head & shoulder shot

the top three pix will be in his "All About Me" book...




Do you like my new shirt? It says "I love my Mummy"...in Egyptian at the top and in English on the bottom...

Levner, you ask? Yeah, it's a horrible nickname that E. has bestowed onto poor Levi. We aren't sure where it came from but it has stuck...and Levi is not too happy about it, either.

This mummy shirt is way cool. When Tom took the kids to the art museum's Egyptian artifact exhibit this past Saturday, he couldn't resist getting this shirt for Levi, since Levi couldn't go with them.

Soooo, that's that...we are out the door to help grandma straighten up the place for the coming relative visit...Peace out, y'all!

**Edit**After much debate and a few good suggestions, the votes are in and the nickname that made me laugh the most and is most descriptive of Levi is................drumroll..............Levmealone.......sent in by dear cousin, Tory!! Love it. classic and oh so true! Levner IS quite horrible, and we only call him that when we want to torture him, which, I guess, is quite often where his sibs are concerned! Thanks guys!

Three little beauties from the West Coast...

Duncan ~ 7

Charlie ~ 5

Phebe ~ 2.5

Is this supposed to be a rose between two thorns?

Lovely children

Andy, you did a good job getting your kids to the photo place and they look good too...I'm very impressed!

Give him a hand, folks...he got three kids to the photo place, in matching, nice clothes, with hair combed and smiling faces...Good JOB!! Hands up!

Duncan, Charlie, and Phebe, just in case you ever read this someday, know that your family back here in Indiana loves you each so much! It is so nice to see your sweet, smiling faces. I love you three!

Piper Heads Back 2 Class

Pretty K4 Girl!!

such a beauty...holding her little pb & j sammich for dear life.

1 entrance into the building down, 179 to go...ahhh. um kid? your backpack is almost as big as you! looks like all she's wearing IS that back pack..

Piper with her new teacher, Mrs. P., who is actually the sister to Piper's K3 teacher, Mrs. H.

Big girl! Can't believe you are four, girl! You are such a dollie!

Just wanted to share these pix that my sister just sent to me...Miss P headed back to her preschool classroom today! Where did the summer go?

Piper girl is growing up so fast and is becoming such a little lady! Love you, girl! We are blessed to have you in our family! Levi would be lost without you, though he'd disagree, just because he can.

Not much else going on...downloading some pix that my kid bro sent tonight also, of his three kids...so when this dial up dinosaur finishes up on THURSDAY, I will put 'em on this here bloggypoo.

Until then, nighty night!

some little blasts from my past...

Gaines and Jean...not sure what the date is...my dad's parents. I can so totally see my nephew Duncan in Gpa's face...

Here they are, three kids later...John, James, and Nancy...my dad is, obviously, the youngest and was a bit of surprise, since he was born 13 months after his big sister....oops. For some reason, they look a bit overwhelmed!

Must've been a church day...or maybe a first day of school??



Hangin' with the family pooch. Not sure if this is the same dog that jumped out of their picture window but on the back steps leading to the lake behind their house, they all signed their names in the concrete and they signed their dog's name as well...wonder if that's still there or if time and weather has eroded it.

if you know me, do you think I look like any of these folks? I probably don't much resemble my uncle John in the back but ya just never know...it's funny because if you heard my uncle talking but couldn't see who it was, you'd probably think it was my big bro Tom...they have the same inflections in their voices and mannerisms...

Grandpa, Nancy (who was named after Gpa's mom, I do believe) and my loving father, who looks dead on like my little bro, Andy...it's almost eerie.

This is a family favorite of my Gramps...taken at my Aunt Mimi's retirement party. I will have to get the dates from Aunt Nan when she's visiting this weekend.

I am not sure what prompted my nostalgia this morning...probably the fact that I'm starting Levi's Kindergarten this morning, taking the set of pictures that I take for each kid's school career start...they then make a little "All About Me" book. Pics of them in front of their house, doing one of their chores, with their pet (oops, we have none really, except for Liz), with a favorite toy etc. That has to be it. Man, I'm all over the place today. Forgive me.

It's a special tradition and time in our family.

I have had these pix that Aunt Nan gave me back when Aunt Mimi died, sitting on my incredibly messy desk for too long now. With the coming visit from Dad's siblings and their spouses this weekend, I figurued I should get them scanned and copied so I can give them back to the family.

I so enjoy walking down memory lane...it's good for my kids too...to see where they came from and to appreciate their heritage, which just happens to be very English, Scottish, and Swedish (from my side anyways). David's side is a mish mash of lots of things but mostly Irish and German (emphasis on the German, hee hee). Maybe that is why D. takes it so personally when I call him Hitler. I dunno. Ok, so that is what we are doing here today...I will be back later on with some charming photos of my fourth child, I'm sure of it! My big Kindergartener!! sniff sniff...

Happy Monday to YOU! Have a wonderful week!

Best Pals and a boy after his father's heart...

this boy is a south paw...and notice how he holds the cord in his right hand...

ok, so he dropped the cord in this one...

Look at that concentration, as he vacuums each piece of crud and fuzz off the living room floor...amazing.

Yes, I know, two posts in one day...I'll lay this out...Will, Ethan, and Melanie went to the Indpls Museum of Art as I had said...(thanks for the culture, Uncle Tom..You ROCK)...Levi helped me clean up the big ol' mess he had made in the living room and then felt the need to vacuum...all by himself. No prompting from me or anyone else...it's an inborn trait...he gets it from his daddio. David is a vacuuming fool. Always has been, as long as I've known him. One of the things that drew me to him.

What was awesome was that I showed Levi how to hold the cord in his opposite hand, so as not to vacuum it up...and he picked that up like a champ!!

one of my new summertime faves...these two share many faceted relationship...

It has been such a mild August, by Indiana's standard...and so the pool water never gets too warm...nothing stops these kids from swimming...doesn't matter that the water is probably 70 degrees or so!

We had Piper over Thursday night. Her Nana is her usual caretaker and she had some outpatient surgery yesterday (hope you are well, Mrs. C)...so P. came for a sleepover (which I had promised her at the beginning of summer and now she returns to preschool on Monday) and we took care of her yesterday. I felt like the old lady that lived in a shoe, though it was only one more child. She is such a smart kid and knows exactly what she wants, at all times! A funny line from that evening..."Hey, Aunt Loooooorie, I need to take a bath in your big tub because I pooped today!"...Ethan said, "You pooped your pants?"..."No, I pooped on the toilet but I need to take a bath"...I guess it was funnier when she said it but she was so matter of fact! Ya gotta cute kid there, Beck and Scott. Even if she and Levi spend a good portion of their time together bickering or crying. We love you, cousin Pipes.

The big kids have their friend, Luciano, coming over tonight. Maybe I'll get some pix of that. We may try to do a bonfire.

**EDIT**We did indeed do a bonfire last night...Stickers came over, Luciano came over...the kids made some home videos, and we watched "Dear Frankie"...but I failed in the picture taking department. Bye then!