May is Almost Over

Another week is ending, and another month has drawn to a close as well. Tomorrow will be June 1st. Can you believe it? Here are photos of the last few days. Elle and her Daddy; Elle holding Tipsy (Conlee's kitten); Elle, Mommy, and Dayton with Tipsy (Conlee is racing by in the background); and last, but not least, Elle and her brothers having fun on Aunt Ann and Uncle Larry's trampoline.

We look forward to June, although, it will be as busy as any other month has been. Ken's students will take their EMT State Boards in the next week - hopefully, they will all do well. Elle's first REAL haircut is scheduled for next Saturday. We have an American Legion flag disposal ceremony on Flag Day. My great-grandmother will celebrate her 101st birthday. Our church will have VBS. We will celebrate a 40th wedding anniversary with a family gathering which will be great fun. There are Conlee's baseball games too - two evenings each week. And, probably most importantly, wheat harvest will begin before the month is over. We pray for a bountiful crop and safe time for our family.

Thanks for following our journey!

Memorial Day 2008

Ken's American Legion group had their usual five cemetery tour this morning. We went and watched them do the service where my dad's dad is honored, and then, we went to Granny's house for lunch. We attempted to do a neat grandkid group photo in the wheat field, but the bigger boys were even less cooperative than the little kids. Grampa will stroke when he goes out and sees how bad they mashed things down! Here are some pix from our day, so far (minus the wheat field photos).

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Right now, Elle and Daddy are taking a nap on the living room floor, Bryant has the four-wheeler and is down in the creek working on the paintball course, Alex is doing something noisy in his bedroom (not sure I want to know what). We'll have to see what else we do today!

Another Twinkle Twinkle

Crazy on the Swings

The wilder the better, as you can see here!

Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star

Here is her new favorite song, "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star". This was taken this morning. Daddy and Bryant were in the Community Building getting American Flags to put out at the Cemeteries this afternoon. Elle, Alex, and I were passing our time in the car, waiting for them to return.

Sunny Sunday Afternoon

After church, Elle and Alex played while the rest of us tried to finish mowing the yard. She's taking a quick nap now... probably just getting her second wind for more fun later today! Here are some photos of other iris colors we have along with Elle's afternoon adventures.

Hula Hoops & Bubbles with Conlee & Dayton

Here's some of our fun from Saturday evening. Do you notice which child is absent? I'll give you one guess as to what he was doing instead. :-) ENJOY ANYWAY!

Wild Wooly Week

Well, we spent Thursday night in the dirt hole under our house because of dangerous storms in the area. The first picture is Alex and Elle "enjoying" the time down there - Trust me when I tell you that their smiles are very, very deceiving. It was not fun! The next two photos are of an accident we worked last night, in the rain.... The last two photos are from this afternoon.

It will be a busy weekend, with more pictures likely to appear on the blog at any given moment. Stay tuned!

SCHOOL IS OUT!

Today was the last day of school. The grade school kids had their annual "track meet" with the three-legged race, softball throw, 100 yard dash, sack race, long jump, and other such events. Ken's students (sixth graders) were part of that. The junior high students and a few high school kids helped keep things running smoothly by doing the tape measure and stop watches. Elle went along with Ken and had a great time. She told me about eating her lunch outside - on the grass :-). The first photo above is Elle with one of her special buddies.

Tonight, Alex had a dance to celebrate the end of school. Bryant and Elle are with Grampa in the tractor, spraying weeds in a small field behind our house (there are pix of their return to the house). Ken had yet another EMS class. I am here in the silence (for probably fifteen minutes) and thought I'd take the time to do a new post. Here are the nine WILD kittens that we have. This is about as close as you can get to them. I also thought I would take some photos of the iris and other flowers here on our yard. Its so exciting to see the warm colors emerging into the world!

Starting this fall, Ken will have a different job within our school system and will be leaving the sixth grade. He will be doing grades 5-8 science and 8th grade keyboarding. We have not had subjects split like that for students younger than 7th grade before, so this will be a new experience for everyone. Ken is always up to a challenge though. I know he will miss the sixth grade, as he still misses his first graders sometimes too (the age he taught for his first job). He will do well and the students will learn a lot from him!

Elle will spend her summer with Bryant, Alex, and Ken. That will be wonderful so that we can get through the rough periods a little easier! They will go to Grampa/Grama's every day which she loves too. We are looking forward to her first wheat harvest in the midwest - it will be here before we know it!

A Beautiful Start to a Warm Weekend

Tonight, we counted the new baby kitties that were hiding under the shed. Ken and I took Elle for a ride on the 4-wheeler. We saw six deer, a duck, fish in the pond, and of course the cows in the pasture. We chased the bunnies out of the yard when we came home. We had a semi honk his horn at us too. Now, Elle is enjoying the swing set while Daddy and I sit on the porch. Alex helped her for a while, but now is back inside on the PS2. Bryant isn't feeling too well this evening, but hopefully, he'll be on the mend soon - AND nobody else catches the bug. He's sitting on the porch, wrapped in a blanket, watching Elle play. Tomorrow is Conlee's last soccer game of the season, so that will be a good time too.

We are hoping for a wonderful weekend at our home, enjoying the warm sunshine and the fun of celebrating it with our family!

Made in China

Please ignore the messy house in this video clip, but we wanted to share Elle's enthusiasm with you. This has been her "cheer" for the week, along with the Karate moves. If you look closely, you'll note that she even has on the right shirt for the exercise. We talk often of China, but we've discussed it even more frequently since the horrible earthquakes. The people who have been effected by this disaster are in Elle's bedtime prayers as well as ours. We hope that they find peace, comfort, and aid very soon!

Elle, Dayton, and a Gator

ENJOY!

Mother's Day 2008

Mother's Day.... A day filled with all kinds of bittersweet emotions. I used to hate Mother's Day - mostly because of insensitive people, not because of the holiday itself. I think back on the years of infertility we experienced and feel sad for other women facing those tremendous emotions of pain and grief. Our first baby was due in mid-May and we had such big dreams for that first mother's day.... which didn't come to be. So then, Mother's Day was reliving the time when he should have been born. Mother's Day improved with the arrivals of Bryant and Alex, but that soft spot has always been in my heart - for the woman who doesn't have children and wanted them; for the child who has few good memories of their mother for whatever reason; for mother's whose children are serving in the military; for all those sad situations in this world.

Today, was our first Mother's Day with Elle. We celebrated with Bryant and Alex first as they were Confirmed at church today. Then, we went to my sister's for a wonderful dinner with her family and my folks. It was a good Mother's Day for a change - with only a tinge of those sad thoughts. I pray that God blesses each of you today - with warm memories and happy thoughts of those we love - whoever they may be!

May 9, 2008

Here are some more photos - These were taken tonight on the way to Alex's Junior High Awards Banquet.