The Baby Beaver & Other Interesting Facts

We use to affectionately call Summer the baby princess, but since her two top teeth have come in that has changed. Her top two teeth are so cute, and she smiles so much, we think she looks just like a very happy, baby beaver. She's celebrating her 6 mon. b-day today. She started pulling up a few days ago, and trying with all her might to figure out the crawling thing. She's got the hand part figured out, she's still working on the leg part.
Things have been pretty crazy around here. The New Years's mtg. is going on, and Jessi moved Jeremy down about a week ago, and she's been here off and on since then. Three of my kids have been vomiting like dominoes since last Friday. The ones that aren't sick still want to go to the mtg. and of course to the gym afterwards to socialize, so Zach & I are doing alot of juggling. Last night I was already in bed nursing the baby when Nina vomited "buckets" as Zach put it. I'm so glad he volunteered to go clean it up. And I am so glad the Lord saw fit for mankind to have 2 parents in the home. This last week would have been pretty hard without Zach around. He's a keeper.

Sitting Pretty

You guessed it. Baby Summer is sitting up! And boy does she think she's big stuff. She won't lie down on her back any more. She immediately rolls over to her tummy, and starts scooting around.
She'll get on her hands and knees and rock back & forth, like she's getting ready for a big race. I predict she'll be crawling in the next month. She is constantly moving. Jessi thinks it's because I drink too much caffeine:)

Christina Update

For those of you interested in how things are progressing with my sister's long awaited pregnancy,
I have an update. Christina had an ultrasound this week, and got to see her little baby for the first time. Can you imagine the joy of seeing the baby that you've been waiting on for the past 12 yrs.
The baby looked great, and had a strong little heartbeat. She is 11 weeks now. Thanks to those of you who having been praying, keep it up!

PaPa & the Kiddos

A Great Day with the Grands

My parents spent last weekend with us. This was only their 2nd time to see Summer. There was lots of excitement & presents. My parents can't hardly see the kids without giving them gifts.
Justus got a bow & arrow set, Meagan & Allison got some new clothes, Summer got a worm big enough for her to ride on, Nina & Gretch each got puppies that they could dress up and a bug making kit. You actually squeeze this gunk into molds and pop it in the oven. After 8 minutes, you have a rubber bug. The kids just thought that was really cool.Saturday night we went to Shogun and watched a nice, Asian man cook our food right in front of us. When the cook was first starting he poured some oil on the grill and lit it, well it made a big fire and Gretchen thought it was time to panic and hopped out of her seat and started to run. I had to grab her and re-assure her that he wasn't going to burn the place down. Anyway it was a fun weekend. Hopefully these pictures will download and you can see some of the excitement.

5mon. old Cousins on Turkey Day

An Insanely Busy, Yet Fantasticly Fun Holiday

A revolving front door would have been very handy at our house the last 2 weeks. We had Shawn & Brandy Hanson and their 4 kids with us for about 10 days, My sister Christina & her family, Zach's parents, Jessi & 4 of her kids, Vanessa & her family, and finally Michael Ashlock. Now everyone wasn't here all at once, although many of them did overlap for our Thanksgiving festivities. At our house Tuesday we celebrated turkey day a little early so Jessi could be here. We tried some new Jewish recipes, Played a few rounds of musical chairs-backwards, and a game of Sardines(backwards hide-n-go-seek). Lots of fun & laughter. In the middle of all this we had a week long mtg. with Raymond Stiner & Paul Collins-which was very good. Several of us got a cold, including Summer, but we trudged on. We went to James Traylor's new gym, 5 times over the week. (My kids are going to go thru fun withdrawals this week). And finally finished 2 weeks worth of fun. It was hard to get back to the daily grind on Monday.
During our time with family last week, the 2 new cousins got to spend some quality turkey time together. Here are Summer & Noah trying to roll, eat, and slobber on each other. Great memories:)

Update...

Christina called this morning, and said her bloodwork came back. She's not as far along as she thought.
She's about 4 wks. Again, please pray for a healthy baby.

Exciting News!!!!!!!!

After 12 yrs of marriage, my sister, Christina and her husband, Jesus have conceived their first child! Christina called me last night with the exciting news. We never knew if this day would come.
But it's finally here and we're all thrilled. We think she's about 10 wks, due at the first of June. She'll get some blood work back today, and that should give her a more accurate due date. Please remember to pray for Christina, Jesus & Naomi during the coming days. Lord willing, the next few months will be a beautiful, long-awaited experience for all of them!

Nina Chalane 7 yrs.

Gretchen 4 yrs.

Summer 4 Months

Recent Pix

I'm trying to get current pix of all the kids. Here's Justus & Meagan. Stay tuned for the other kids.

Happy Birthday, Allison!!!!!!!

Well, she has arrived-Allison turned 13 last week. Zach & I now have 2 teenagers in the house.
Allison has had a great week. Last Thursday we had a special dinner for her, and she had a photo shoot with Meagan. Then the next day Allison & I did some mother-daughter shopping, that was really fun. Now tonight Meagan planned a sisterly slumber party to celebrate Allison's birthday. She surprised Allison with a formal dinner-there was lots of giggling and fun!

Bithday Pix

Meagan played photographer, and took 116 pictures of Allison-here are a few.

Celebrity Baby

Most of you know Diane Bounds. And if you know Diane you also know she's famous for wearing out of the ordinary clothes. Diane bought this adorable little outfit for Summer. Summer wore it last Sunday to church, and you would have thought she was a little celeb. Everyone who came by her had to say how adorable she was. She was a little chip off the old Diane block, at least for the day:)

First Solids

About a week ago Summer ate rice cereal for the first time. She was very unsure about this new taste & texture. She got about half of it down, the other half she spit back out at me:)

Babies Are Fun

5th Place at the Fair

Just thought I'd let everyone know that Meagan entered an adorable picture of Gretch at the fair and won 5th place. There were quite a few entries. The picture was suppose to show our western heritage, and her picture was country but not really western. So we were really excited about her placing!

Happy Birthday Nina & Gretchen!!

Last night me celebrated Nina's 7th & Gretchen's 4th birthdays. We went to the park and had lots of food,friends and fun. Jacey Perryman made the girls beautiful princess cake. We had a pinata and water balloons. The kids had a blast and got way too many toys and too much candy. But I guess birthdays only come once a year. Zach & I got the girls a large dollhouse, a couple of barbies, and clothes. Nina & Gretch played with those dolls and dollhouse all day last Saturday, literally 10 hours. Nina said she loved every single thing we got her. They were so excited about their new toys-it was worth the expense to see their eyes so lit up!