Bitter Sweet

I was taking some time today to go to some blogs and catch up on the lives of some of my relatives. It makes me sad to think that I am a stranger to so many of them. I wish that I could be closer and be a part of their lives but I have such a wonderful life here I wouldn't give it up for anything. It's sad that we have to choose.

I think about my Mom and her moving off to Hawaii. I remember I was so mad when she first told me but then I realized she was doing the right thing going with Ken. He is such a wonderful person and those two are so happy together. My Mom would have been miserable if she hadn't married him and gone away. I pray every day for God to bring them back when the time is right. I want her to be a part of my life and know my children. I don't want her to be a stranger to them.

On a happier note, I now have my sister close. Misty moved almost a year ago and it has been a year full of getting to know each other. Her little girls, Macy and Mattie were strangers to me when they got here, but now they love me! I'm Aunt Kristie, and my kids are their buds. She just had another little baby boy. So now Taylor and Morgan (the new babies) will be able to grow up together and be best friends.

I love my life and I have been blessed by God with such a spectacular family. I try not to take that for granted. Even when I'm missing everyone I try to remember it's all in God's plan. I'll trust him he's never failed me yet.

Emily Gayle

Logan & Brett

Me & The Flowers

Logan & Morgan (Misty's New Baby) Baby Morgan

The Lost Boy

We were goofing around today with our school lessons. We were learning about what to do if we get lost.... See for yourselves.

BABY HAMSTERS!!!

Our 4H group has a pet hamster which our family is caring for this month. The hamster is named "Hammy" and we now have some little "Hamlets." The hamster was very pregnant and we've been watching her since Tuesday to see her have those babies but we missed it cause we woke up today to find little hairless wonders under the mamma Hammy. Here's some pictures we took. She is pretty protective of them right now and wouldn't really let us get a look at them. She is hovering over them as you can see but we have a couple shots where you can just see the babies.

Doctor Logan, Baby Taylor

Logan dressed up playing the Doctor to work on Daddy... I think it is so funny when the kids dress up. They always come up with the funniest looking outfits.

I took these pictures of Taylor the other day when Misty and I were making Salsa! He is growing way too fast!
Taylor has a hat just like Daddy.

Hot Summer Fun

Well it sure has been hot the last few days. We finally got our heat wave in August. I'm not complaining at all, we've had a nice summer. It's not been hotter than 95 so far. That's not including humidity but still we've been blessed. We've had tons of rain so everything is still pretty and green. We took the kids on their first camping trip last week end. They had lots of fun sleeping in the tent, roasting marshmallow's and swimming in the river.

Chris Setting Up The Tent

Logan In The Tire Swing
Emily Brett Me & Logan At The Campsite
Emily & Logan Jumpin Off A Log In The River
Emily & Logan On The Log

Blackberries & Babies

The last few weeks we've been picking blackberries. We got three gallons on this day and the kids are proud as you can see. I've been canning blackberries all night!

Taylor see's his little friends on his car seat. He's starting to notice things more and more. He's almost two months old.
Ooo look at my little friends...
I wonder how they taste...
Not good...

Happy Days!

Life is good I just thought I'd post some more pictures.

Grandpa Jim with Brett and my nephew Damon who is hold Taylor.

Damon really likes Taylor :)
Brett really likes Taylor too and he's a big helper!
Little Taylor James
Emily turned 8 this month! It doesn't seem possible! This is her with her little cousin Mattie and Emily's little bunny she made at the Build a Bear Workshop.

I love my kids!

God has blessed me with some great kids. I haven't posted any pictures of the new baby. So now I have :) Here is Emily Logan and Brett and then a few pictures of Taylor James.

Happy Easter 2008!

Happy Easter 2008!

We had a sunrise service at church this morning. This is an awesome picture Chris took of the sunrise. It was cloudy this morning but God parted the clouds in the Eastern sky to give us a glimpse of the sunrise.

As much as I try to avoid pictures while I'm pregnant Chris insisted on taking our annual Easter family picture. So here I am looking fat as can be with my lovely family. Hey I rhyme!

Chris planned a treasure hunt for the kids. They had to follow clues all over the farm to find their treasures. They had a blast.
Logan & Brett enjoying a ride while cousin Devin drives with Emily riding shotgun and cousin Damon in the middle.
Brett even found an Easter Egg... see he's showing you!

Emily Art

Bowling

Here's some pictures from our latest adventure. The weather has been NASTY but we were able to get out of the house last week and go bowling with another group of Homeschoolers. The kids had so much fun and since we went with a big group it was only $6 for them to bowl for 2 hours!!! You can't beat that price. This was the first time bowling for the kids but Emily won on her side. Brett won on his but I think that's cause I was helping him :p

Kiddy Hangover?

This is what happens when you stay up too late the night before watching Power Rangers!

Goodbye Ice Hello Sunshine!

Well another ice storm has come and is now going, thanks to the sunshine and warmer temperatures today. Praise God we didn't lose power this time. There were quite a few power outages South of us but nothing like last year. They are calling for more ice possibly snow coming in on Friday so we'll just have to prepare for that one. I won't get too worked up until it get's here cause you can't trust the weather man ;)

I VOTED! Did you???

Well today was the infamous SUPER TUESDAY! I can't believe how much media coverage the political race is getting. It's almost non stop. Hillary Clinton and Barak Obama are covered more than Britney Spears. Anyway I don't expect that we'll be seeing less election coverage after Super Tuesday but I can't wait to find out the winners. The Associated Press is already claiming that Mike Huckabee won the first contest declared in West Virginia. I have to say that pleased me since he's my hopeful candidate for the Republican party. I'm not necessarily a Republican but I do like Mr. Huckabee and I voted for him today! Yee Haw Go Mike!

Anyway it's good to see lots of folks getting out and voting. Nothing bugs me more than hearing people gripe and complain about our government when they don't even vote. My first question to anyone with any gripes is always... "Did you vote?" When they tell me no I just tell them they really don't have a right to complain if they don't bother to vote. But that's just me jumping on my soap box so I'll get down now ;)

I can't wait to see the results on the news this evening. Go Huckabee! ;)