family picture day

We finally had updated family pictures taken!  These are taken from that day with our own (unprofessional) cameras.  I just LOVE this family!!!

PV Park

we went to the local lake part with my dear friend and  8 of our amazing kids...
it was a gorgeous day, as you can see.  little did we know that a week or so later this lake would be destroyed by hurricane Irene!

this was hysterical...it's WAY better if you know their personalities, but...

daniel, owen and micah posing as dudes...except, obviously, micah's not doing it 'right'

owen's trying to teach him the peace/gangster sign (i'm detecting a bit of resistance on micah's side, but maybe that's just me)

owen so sweetly trying to teach him...

but micah just figures that whatever he can do is good enough...high 5...perfect! ;)

isaac the scary...

micah the adorable...

daniel and bathany the moat-diggers...

in order for the kids to use the bouncy trampoline, you have to be able to swim to the water trampoline, keep your head above water, tread water at the trampoline for 30 seconds, then swim back to the dock.  every one of the kids who tried, passed the test.  

liv doing a head slide with jonathan cheering her on~true friends!

yes, buddy, you are #1 ;)

the excellent swimmers...the test-passers

i can almost taste the flat taffy from when we were kids at goshorn lake...
mom and norma windemuller (the only adult we were allowed to call by their first name) would us there.  ahhh...sweet memories!

on my tile today:

"May your {MY} life preach more loudly than your {MY} lips."
~William Ellery Channing

knowing my kids, according to mady

yesterday while having a convo with mady we were talking about a mother who wants to know every detail of her kids' life.  she said to me, "mommy, you don't need to know every detail about our lives, do you, because you know US, how we are deep down."  i fought the tears.  i deeply love my kids.  i love it when they tell me the details, but i don't expect, or need, them to.  God gives them friends, friends' parents, and in-laws (and aunts, uncles, cousins, etc.).  i rely completely on God, on knowing that HE gave them to us for a while and we are imperfect parents.  i will not parent perfectly.  neither will ed.  neither will those mothers who i look up to.  i have regrets, sure, don't we all?  but i have a responsibility and God is sovereign.  i rest in that.

tut-tut, it looks like rain!

who needs rain when you have cute umbrellas?
or cute rain boots for that matter

1st day of school

1st day of school September 7, 2011.  

Notice how many kids there are?  Three, Tres, Tre, 3.  Isn't that weird? (Why is that weird, Kathy?)  BECAUSE I HAVE 5 KIDS!  And I'm WAY too young to have 2 in college!!!  And it's just wrong that for about 14 years I've been yelling while TRYING to take pics on the first day of school, "Stop being a dork", "It won't kill you to smile", "You'll thank me one day when your kids want to see pictures of you and you're smiling so nicely", blah, blah, blah.  This year?  3 pictures.  And 3 children shockingly said, "IS THAT ALL?  SERIOUSLY?  CAN WE GO NOW?"  

Sure.  And don't forget to kiss your mother gooodd-bbbyyyyyeeeeee.......(echo, echo, echo)

Whatever.  I'm sure my grandkids will someday kiss me good-bye when they're teenagers.

  I hope.

OK, probably not, but a girl can dream, can't she?!!

Happy 15th, Livie!

Have you ever had a moment when you look at your family and just swell with pride? 

Ed and I had that moment this week.

We took the kids (and Kaitlyn, Liv's dear best friend) to The Chart House, at Liv's request. 

 {Just please tell me why 4 of them ordered steaks when it's a seafood place!!

(the spiced Ahi tuna ROCKS....just sayin')}

 a personalized menu, just for her Highness ;)

 aren't they gorgeous, these kids of ours?!

 dorks!

 our beautiful daughters

 liv & kait

 daddy & her mady

 two peas in a pod!!!

 sisters....friends

 these 2 have become such great friends in the last year...so great to see!

this was really neat!

a girl at a table across from us had "will you marry me?" written around her plate (with a diamond in the middle)...she said YES!!

 kayt was playing with her camera settings and got this amazing shot of NYC

 LOVE this girl!

 "I'm just SO excited that I get to start school in 2 days!!!"

seriously super sisters

And you wonder why my heart swells with pride? 

I love this family that the LORD has entrusted to us...

I am thankful beyond words!!



"photo shoot" 7-4-11

when the kids tell me they're bored, i tell them what every parent says, "find something to do or i'll find something for you to do".    funny how our kids usually tend to lean toward something with pictures.  this  is the result of one of those days...

 somehow I think that he was probably just along for the ride...he did NOT come along for the pics~or at least did NOT come along to have his pic taken!!!!!

when i look at these, i love how some of them are SO what their personalities are like...like Mady and the peace sign, and Liv with the pouty lips face. ;)