A morning at the farm

Spring has arrived and for my friend Heather that means baby goats and kittens. For us that means a visit to the farm!

Milking a goat is harder than you think!

Ryan is struggling to pick up the baby goat. He mostly did a lot of chasing!

Peter figured out real quick how to pick up the babies. That's my friend, Heather, in the background. You can't see but she is carrying her 4 month old in a carrier and holding back "Amos". She has my utmost respect and vote for "mom of the year"!

The egg was so fresh that it was still warm!

All 6

As one could imagine, it's a bit tricky to get 6 children under the age of 8 to remain in one place, look at the same person, smile and get it on "film".

Here's my favorite! Hard to believe but this was actually my first shot!

Out takes:

Park time!

It was rather chilly at the beach. I think my sister and I were on the same wave length when we packed- hopefully unprepared. It's March; we're going to the beach; it should be warm. Unfortunately, it was warm but chilled by a constant breeze. Although the kids never seemed to be bothered by the chill in the air, us grown-ups had to keep our coats zipped up. It was definitely too cold for the beach so we headed to a park on Tuesday morning.They figured out pretty quickly that they could slide faster with more people connected.
This they called the catepillar ride. It topped highest amongst the most favored memory.

6 great grandchildren

My sister, her husband and their 3 children (8, 6 and 4)and myself and my 3 children headed down to my parents home on Monday. We stopped at our grandparents place to spend some time with them. It's not often that my grandparents have all 6 of their great grandchildren with them!
My grandmother hadn't quite made it out of bed yet when we arrived. Hey, when your 88 you deserve a little extra time in bed. She was reading to the kids from her guidepost and they were thinking up songs to sing. We're missing one great grandchild in this picture, Sam; he's on the floor!
My grandfather counted and recounted numerous times to make sure that we didn't leave any little ones with him by mistake!

The belly

I have gotten a few requests for some "belly" pictures. So in honor of the baby's 29th week-iversary you have what has been requested.Yes- those are my jammy pants. This isnt' the most flattering of pictures but it does mark the begining of our time with my sister and her family. I was reading the night-night story to all 6 kids!

Spring has arrived!

I am not sure it was the official day of Spring or the beginning of my nesting tendencies or just being insane but we spent the last few days doing some major spring cleaning! Thursday the kids and I tackled the inside of the house. We cleaned windows, dusted, put away winter coats and accessories, cleaned out as many broken toys/happy meal toys/ projects and cleaned our muddy shoes. Then Philip joined in on the fun Friday. We weeded, raked, cleaned out the garage, sprayed for weeds, cleaned the rest of the house, then hosted a party with about 20 adults and 10 kids. All in honor of the glorious arrival of Spring. Needless, to say when I awoke this morning I was really feeling my pregnancy. Not only was I very sore but I was shocked when the temperature at 7:30am was 32 degrees.

I think I have finally began to feel my toes again! I think this spring cleaning stuff is not for women who are 7 months pregnant!

Birthday videos

The kids and I had a wonderful time hanging out in Cary today. We got to spend the day with my grandparents, my aunt and my mom. We also had a sweet ride!




I took a few videos of as we had a big time celebrating! It's 89 yrs for my grandfather and 3 yrs for Ryan. Ryan was having a hard time understanding that he had to share his birthday with Grandpa Hink. My grandfather took the chance to do a little teasing.
My parents got Ryan a pair of "skateboards". He's so excited to join the ranks with his sister and brother now!

Initiation!

We will initiate "Silver Surfer" this morning with a trip to Cary. My grandfather and Ryan share their birthday. What better way to spend the day then to spend it together!
Here's a few oldies but goodies of the birthday boy!
May 2007

December 2007

Spring Break

We had a great time on Philip's spring break this year. We headed to the coast as soon as church was over on Sunday and stayed until the game finished the following Sunday. We absorbed as much sun as we could and even got a bit of a burn on the Monday. Here a few highlights.

While in downtown Wilmington, we did a drive by of the Battleship.

Yes our children were in the water while Philip and I were bundled in beach towels.

It's amazing really how long they worked together to build this pool. The beginnings of it was left by other children so most of the hard work was done for them.

Goodbye and hello

Again, time has slipped away and I have neglected my blog. Yikes. We have actually had quite an emotional two weeks. Our beloved "Jet" died. Yes I cried; Emma cried and finally Philip even admitted to being a little sad. Jet has been in my family since my dad brought home the brochure back in November of 1994. This was the first year that Dodge was putting out the car so he hadn't even seen. I started driving it in probably 1997 and then Philip took over in 2003. The only time we even considered selling the car was when we bought out van. Carmax offered us about $200!

We have come to grips with our loss and moved on this afternoon! Philip and I bought a 2005 Dodge Grand Caravan. The children have already named him "Silver Surfer". He is silver and very shiny! That was the selling point for Emma. I feel very blessed to be the recipient of such a nice car. "Rocket" will now become Philip's car as we become a two mini van family!

Emma

I get asked frequently, "Do you do anything school related with Emma?". My typical answer is "yes" with some sort of explanation. However if you don't believe me, try having a conversation with this little girl or see what she chooses to bring with her for quiet time.

snow videos

In case the pictures don't tell enough of the story here are a few clips:
This is Peter's new trick!

Ryan is calling his bike a "snowboard bike".

Snow days

There's probably no better way to start off week than a snow day. We awoke to a good 4 inches of snow. I think I might have kept the kids inside until 8:30 then it was outside to play.