Catching up

Man, it sure got stuffy around this blog. Who turned on the seriousness? :-)

In lieu of me being way behind on my posts, I threw together a bunch of photos to start getting me caught up. Unfortunately for JT, his birthday photos haven't been edited yet, so that post is still a ways off.

Derek & Justin play cards every morning. This particular morning we had an audience of all our "friends" cheering on the sidelines. The brown bear on the front row was my dad's from childhood. We pulled him out as well as the blue bear when we needed to take a bear to school...and didn't have one in the room. But at least we had a camel, a giraffe, a lamb, a puppy, etc.


Nothing like a good mow on an overcast weekend evening.


Always has to copycat Daddy, even if the play mower is a good foot to short for us now.


Justin decided to donate all the toys from his birthday party (more on that to come), but a few random gifts were given by neighbors, friends, etc. that we decided to keep. The Rasplickas, our wonderful neighbors, gave us some hand-me-down Lincoln Logs. For some reason everytime we took a photo with them we had horns on our head.


Not sure what the connection is, but whatever floats your boat, buddy.


We got this cool butterfly garden where we grow our own butterfly larvae into butterflies. Such a great idea, and we just got our larvae in the mail yesterday!


The ride of the day has been the plasma car. If you are thinking about getting one, then do. Costco.com has them on sale for $44 already put together - go get one now!

This looks like Ken & Barbie to me -


This toy has been every kid's favorite when they come over. I love how they can ride with two on at the same time. Always fun watching kids who weigh a bit less than Justin try to steer him around in it. Yes, my floors have taken a beating, but they did the moment we moved in the house.


The other day the Wilsons were back over and I helped them with the trundle mattress to make a fort.


After Justin and Luke dressed up in previous Halloween costumes, the three played cards by lantern under the confines of the fort. We read books every night by this lantern.


Before school started we went with the Lines & Bethancourts to the Children's Museum. Perfect considering the monsoon rainstorm we had getting there. John & Justin decided to play with the face paints after eating their lunch. There is something about painting the entire face that just whispers to Justin.


In August I got to celebrate my buddy Erica's (in the red) 30th birthday with a few ladies that her husband pulled together as a last minute surprise. It was an understatement to say that she had no idea. So much fun for the rest of us! Erica is such a treasure to me as a friend because of her passion for the Lord. Just another one of the many women in my Sunday School class the Lord has placed in my life as encouragement to strive for Him.


Uncle Ryan came to visit us Labor Day weekend.


Justin pulled out one of the toys we were going to give to the shelter from his birthday party for this photo. He really wanted to play with it, so we had to sit down and talk about the kids who had no toys and how excited they would be to get that one toy. He got over it quickly.


And these were taken the day before he turned 4. The final 3 year old photos. These were favors from Jake's party this summer. Justin decided to be a pirate. Earring and all. He was trying real hard to get the face down. We took this one with my flash, but I wasn't digging it.


So I turned the flash off, went down 5 steps to my front door's natural lighting, and got this one instead. I just love a photo without a flash!


Especially when you have a face saying, "Arrrr!"


Not a fan personally of the skull and crossbones stuff, but it's fun to play with. Justin wanted to trade costumes and hand off the camera as well. Here's the ladies of the house posing.


Man, what a great job I did in blending in the background on this one, huh?


Roxy got to stand facing the light for a solo shot. I think she was happy to be by herself and without a hat on.


But not for long - we needed a sibling picture.


Justin has such a gentle hand in helping Roxy look at the camera.


Well, that was all across the board, but I have to find a way to catch up somehow. And what better way to loosen up than a post with lots of photos...