HOT HOT HOT HOT

It has gotten HOT here in Kansas. To make matters worse, the first year we decide it would be economical to buy a pool pass for our family, the pool has been closed for mechanic issues! :(

Malachi left today to spend a few days with Aunt Laurie.

I took some of these pictures awhile back at Taige's 5th birthday party. I can't believe he'll be in kindergarten soon. Here is trouble waiting to happen:

Miss Treya loves her aunt Shauna:

The birthday boy, now 5 years old.

Football Camp 2011

Zach and Logan had football camp again last week. Can you find them in the crowd????

It is a two day camp for 1-5 graders to learn about football and also get to meet some famous NFL players.


Here is Logan's team: (he's the one in the very middle, shortest one)

Here is Logan running to get the ball from Jordy:

Jordy Nelson (Green Bay) and Logan and Jon McGraw (formerly with KC Chiefs):

Zachary with the players:

Getting some autographs:

This banner will look nice in Logan's soon-to-be K-State room:

Jordy was showing off his new SuperBowl ring and necklace: BLING BLING!


Logan and his bestest friend Casey:

Logan and Torin showing off the autographs (the helmets are both Torin's):

Zach with his bud Jarrod:

Zachary getting autographs, or as he calls them, "scribbles":


It is nice to have great role models from our home town. Go Riley County!!!! (and maybe K-State!) :)

Logan's Questions

Sometimes when we are in church, Logan thinks of questions. Logan's little mind thinks of the most interesting things. These are from some of the discussions we've had this week with our devotionals, but I always tell him during church to listen and write down questions for Pastor Erich after the service. (Something about other people answering questions besides mom and dad that makes kids believe.)

Today, Logan wondered, How did God make people? and Did Adam have a belly button? (we had a discussion about this earlier in the week as Zachary likes to be very logical about things)

Hope you are enjoying a restful Sunday afternoon. I'm resting and then trying to catch up on some homework. I can't believe June will soon be over. :( Where oh where does summer go!? :(

My Boys

Today, I had to go back to work for a meeting about the new standards we're getting across the state. Shawn had a rough day with the 3 boys, which is highly unusual. He usually has pretty good control over them, fearless most of the time. Today was not a great day. They boys are busy, bratty at times, and boys. . . . they wrestle, fight, smirk, and are getting attitudes. :(

They love trying to join other families:

or adopting siblings.. . . (we might get to have Brienna this weekend! that would be a blast!)

But, they are brothers and they love each other, deep down.

And they love their cousins very much as well.

I love my boys.  . . . ornery, spitfire, rambunctious, little babies that they are.

Someday, I'll miss this.

Someday I will feel better and I will truly enjoy the beauty of being a mom.

Father's Day

I am working feverishly on my case study reports to finish up my masters degree. Oh, I will be so happy to have this past me! :) Father's day came and went without a lot of hoopla. It kinda mimicked how Mother's Day was. :( However, Brienna was dressed for Father's Day, so I had to get some cute pics of her after church.


She is such a pretty girl and she definitely has a lot of people wrapped around her finger. She's such a fun baby.

Happy Father's Day and Treya's Baptism

We attempted to get all 7 grandkids in a picture after church today. You know me- no editing- what you see is what we got! : ) If they were all smiling and looking directly at the camera, it would look so fake you would beg to see the original! So, to save the effort, here we are- the 5 boys and 2 girls. . . so far. :)


It was a delightful day at church with family and friends we haven't seen for awhile. Treya got baptized and we celebrated Father's Day. Zachary made it back from camp safely and in a happy mood. We are BLESSED.

Hope you enjoyed your weekend and were able to enjoy God's blessings.

A lot of Busy Things Lately

We've been busy. Zach has found a new interest for books - especially if he can drown out the brotherly screaming and listen to the audio version. I'm really impressed with his desire to keep reading this summer. He is enjoying it. . . . most days. Right now, he's at boy scout camp for the first time away from us and he called tonight ofr just a little bit. I miss him so much. The past two nights have had storms down in that area and I worry about him in a tent, not sleeping well, but he sure sounded happy today.

Malachi has been busy watching the neighbor and "helping" him with the bikes. Malachi is all about learning about bikes and how to fix and run them. He is Steve's little side-kick.


Logan had another tball game tonight. This time, no dancing on 3rd plate, but he did do a great job at being a 1st baseman and staying in one place rather than running with the rest of the team for the ball! :)

Weekend in KC

Zachary has been playing ball as well this summer. Shawn is his coach, along with several other great guys. The team is such a good team with good-hearted and energetic players. They all have such neat strengths and together make a great team that is fun to watch. Zach's 1st game was in Fort Riley and it was stormy, so I put my camera away. This game was the warm-up before his 2nd game which I had to miss because of Logan's game, and tonights game would have been his 3rd but it was canceled (which was fortunate because he left this morning for BoyScout camp.) I miss him terribly. He was in a REALLY grouchy mood this morning and I knew he was trying to put on a front of not missing us or anything but we miss him and I'm sure he's missing us as well. This is the first time he's been away from us for this long without family. :(


Last weekend we headed to KC to spend the weekend at Jarin & Brendan's. Grandma Pam handled the kids (all 7 of the grandkids) while we all tried to help with the garage sale. It was a pretty steady flow of customers and we did pretty good. Here is little Miss Treya sleeping. She is getting big for being 6 weeks old!

Jarin and Brendan live close to a lake, so Shawn took all 5 boys on a nature walk. They came back with lots of snails, 1 frog, and a few ticks. YUCK!!!!! Poor Malachi would NOT let the frog along and so it died and took the fast track to heaven. :(


Zachary enjoyed finding the snails.

Taige and his snail:

Miss Bri getting her beauty rest:

Miss Bri and her reunion with her daddy (who had been in TX for about 5 weeks I think):

It took her a little bit and being plummeled over by Bella, but she realized who it was and warmed up to him fast. And, of course was up most of the night to make sure he was still there. (Trust me, I slept in the room next door!)


Bella was ESTATIC to say it nicely. Its a good thing she's small or she could have done some damage to get to Brendan.



5 of the grandkids- We couldn't get them all in a picture. One of the babies was sleeping or eating or being changed constantly so no pictures yet.

Bella bear with her gma time:

Malachi with a snail as consolation after his frog died.

Trey has puppy dog ears!

Tarin loves babies! :)


Bri after I tried feeding her a little bit.


Overall it was a great weekend and fun times with family. I'm sure the house got instantly quiet after we left. If you are ever in the Lee's Summit/Independence area, I highly suggest you check out Mardel. It is a teacher and Christian store and they have AMAZING deals on books, etc!!!!