With Sunshine's Boys

We love going to visit Sunshine and her boys, and we got some GREAT pictures this time around.


Cowgirl Hannah


Hannah and Ezekiel


Gideon


Gideon, Elijah, and Leah


Hannah and Ezekiel putting together Legos


The little boys at lunch


Sunshine and Brooke look at photo albums full of childhood pictures (yikes!!)


Dress up time!




Chatting


Princess Hannah

Christmas Tree Pictures

We put up the Christmas tree today at Momma and Papa's house. Mom wanted to get a picture of the kids sitting in front of the tree, but I thought maybe we could get them (the big girls at least) laying UNDER the tree.

I honestly don't know how my mom got this picture! We were both snapping away, and Leah kept crawling away, laying her head down, and being generally uncooperative during the picture taking.


Then I talked Drew into stuffing ourselves under the tree for a picture.


Then Mom decided that she and Dad should do the same.


Parker even dropped by before he went to work so we took a picture of him as well.

Leaving Early

Due to a ice/snow storm that's due to blow through our travelling route, we are leaving a full 24 hours early for our Christmas vacation. I had not made ANY preparations when we changed our plans at 1pm today... This afternoon and evening have been full of laundry, cleaning, and packing. The kids are over excited and therefore grumpy. I was extra grumpy this afternoon as well. Other than the last minute things we need to get in the morning and loading the car, we are READY! Now, I hope everyone sleeps well tonight.

Children's Museum in Seminole, OK

We went to the Jasmine Moran Children's Museum while we were in Oklahoma (on Leah's birthday!). I just got the pictures from my mom today (our copies got accidentally deleted, oops!), so that's why I'm posting them 2 weeks later.


How cute are those sunglasses?? I just noticed that they MATCH her carseat :)


The kids are ready for the one hour trek to Seminole.


Hannah and Bailey outside of a real ambulance.


This exhibit was really cool, the stationary bike is hooked up to the skeleton and as you pedal the skeletons legs move like yours.




I thought this was a great picture of cousin Bailey.


I wish I had a mirror like this in my bathroom!! I could pretend that I was tall and skinny.


Elijah flying an airplane


Elijah drives a Model T.


Mr. Entertainment puts on a puppet show.


Leah and myself taking a bit of a break.


Hannah inside an airplane cockpit.


The day was topped off by a visit to the EVIL EMPIRE which my kids thoroughly enjoyed.

Coming Home

We drove home to Indiana on Monday, and I decided to snap some photos on the way.

Here's Leah playing with her toes. She was NOT happy much of this trip, but 12 hours in the car is a long time for anyone.


Hannah was an angel during the entire trip.


Elijah even managed to entertain himself for the majority of the trip! He's playing with a Transformer that he got from the Evil Empire (McD's).


Once we hit Illinois, this is what we saw out our window... corn, followed by corn, and then some more corn.


Not too much farther!


Our exit!! Hooray!!! We made the trip in 11 hours and 45 minutes, a record! While we thoroughly enjoyed our three weeks in Oklahoma, we are really happy to be home.

Leah is ONE!!! - July 16, 2008

Hannah wearing her Abby Cadabby shirt.


And Leah in hers














Mmmm... She had more cake on her hands than she got in her mouth. Cleaning up was fun...

***
Dear Leah,

Today is your first birthday!! I can’t believe how quickly the past year has flown by. You have turned into quite the little character, and you love to show us your personality.

Your 7th tooth came in a few days ago and the 8th is just under the surface. Your toothy grin is SO cute!! Hopefully you won’t start working on your molars for several months, we could use a little break from teething for sure.

You are quite the talker as well. It seems that you are significantly more verbal than Hannah and Elijah were at this age. You just started shaking your head ‘no’ this week, and you love to tell us NO. You started saying something for dog and Elijah this week as well.

One of your favorite things is to have Daddy carry you around to look at pictures on the wall. You point, and he says the names of the people in the pictures. You love to get into everything, and we’ve dubbed you ‘destructo-baby’.

You now pull up to a stand all the time, and you can even balance in a squat position. You can stand for about a second, but you have no confidence in that ability. I have a feeling that you are going to be a climber, but I thought the same about Elijah and I was wrong about him.

We’ve been at Momma and Papa’s for a couple of weeks now, and we are really enjoying it. You like the pool some of the time, but you like me to hold you mostly. I bought a new baby floaty for you since Elijah likes to use one too. I think the water makes you sleepy, and that doesn’t thrill you.

We celebrated your birthday yesterday, and we decorated with Abby Cadabby stuff. It was really cute and girly. Momma made some yummy chocolate cupcakes and we let you destroy/eat one by yourself. I don’t think you ate very much, but you certainly made a mess!!

Today we are planning on taking pictures of you and going to the Jasmin Moran Childrens Museum in Seminole, OK. It should be a great birthday!

I love you Leah Miriam! I’m so glad we know you, and I can’t wait to see all the things you do in life.

Elijah's party in OKC

Elijah got a bean bag toss game.


And some roller skates...


And a helmet...


Impressive!


Gideon, Ezekiel, Hannah, Bailey, and my legs.


Elijah and Uncle Steve discussing their ages


Slam Dunk!! Compliments of Uncle Steve