Monday, September 22, 2008
Sabrina turns 5 and the big party.
The pinata was a smashing success, the banana splits (with homemade strawberry and vanilla ice cream, homemade caramel sauce, crushed pineapple, chocolate sauce, whipped cream and banans) were fantastic, as were the root beer floats and all of the delicious food that was brought to share.
You will have to imagine the rest. We haven't had the family celebration of her birthday yet, so she has yet to open the family's gifts for her. I will try to get pictures of that. :)
Monday, September 15, 2008
Elkhead reservoir.
Pictured above, back row l-r: Brian, Maria, Adam, Ellie, Thomas
bottom row l-r: Nicholas, Sabrina, Joseph, Matthew, Ruth
When we got to the bottom, we found a little beach (I mean little) and sat down to enjoy the sun and the water. Adam found a few rocks and decided to taste them. Isn't he just too cute?
Yes, they are quite hard.
"Oh Mom! Don't you just love me?"
"Yes, honey, I do"
The short version is that the kids wanted to swim and we didn't have any swimming suits. The longer version would include things like swimming in their underwear, drying off on rocks, perhaps a 30 second skinny dip (carefully planned in the murky water so nobody was the wiser) and an afternoon of splashing, skipping rocks and gut renching laughter. What a blessing to be able to spend the Lord's Day basking in His sun, splashing in His water and enjoying His creation all around us.
After all the swimming and drying off, the hike back up looked a little daunting (at least for Mom). In my defense, I was also carrying Adam in the carrying pack which added 20 lbs. So up we went. We were breathing pretty heavy when we reached the top and were thankful for the air conditioning and cool water waiting for us. We headed back home and ended the evening with a few games of foosball. Our beds were calling so we retired early. All in all, a fantastic day.
Brian's 14th Birthday (September 12, 2008)
A second gift is pictured below. I couldn't resist buying it for him. He has such a quicky and funny sense of humor and immediately appreciated the fun in it.
Nicholas (fingers only pictured on the left and right) thought the shirt needed a little help, or rather that all of you needed a little help in order to read the entire thing. Thanks Nick! Brian got a kick out of all the comments he received all day. Happy Birthday, dear Brian!
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
I'm an official soccer mom.
Here are Ruth and Sabrina always have a good time.
Look at those sweet sisters.
Here he comes!
Nicholas is in the bottom row, second from the right.
Here is the whole team pictured after the last game, eating pizza. The coach is top left. What a great group of kids! Nicholas thoroughly enjoyed himself and plans on playing again next year.
Gypsum days parade.
During the parade, a few of the older kiddos rode on the float for the Gun Club. They were up in the log cabin. After the parade, the fire trucks shot out multiple streams of water to shower anybody who wanted to get wet. Now that's a parade!
Above, Joseph peeking out the back window.
Some of the Dade kids and Law kids were also on the float. Some of the pictures are too shaded to see them, but they were there!
Gypsum Days 2008
His hair looks like it's on fire!
Mr and Mrs Law (Jerry and Lara) holding the youngest Dade, Dathan.
Jerry and Lara with Cathy Dade and Dathan.
fun with fire
Maria's 12th Birthday
Above, Thomas and Maria and other children not looking at the camera.
Above from left to right, Ellie, Thomas, Joseph, Nicholas & Maria.
Thank you for the birthday money!
Some beautiful scenery.
This sunset picture was taken by the children and doesn't capture the beauty of that night. What a sweet thing to know that tomorrow night God will paint another picture just for us. The whole world is a museum of God's handiwork.
Huck Finn Day '08 (June 7th)
Below is a picture of Maria and Joseph trying to fish.
Below are some of the kids trying to fish. Brian on the left, Thomas standing with his hand on his hip, somebody elses kid standing, and Ellie sitting on the ground in the white sweatshirt.
Maria running across the stream on a "bridge". There is a very nice bridge that crosses the stream on one end, but on this end there is only this pipe.
And here below we have Brian. Doesn't he look enthralled? He is such a constant, level headed young man and often in times of quiet he sits pondering all sorts of things. All of those facts rattling around in his head are probably bouncing back and forth right about now. He sure snapped into action when he caught that fish!