One of the best sounds in the world!

Christopher has been growing up so much lately that it seems he is a young man rather than a young boy. Of course with that comes work and responsibility which means that I don't hear him playing with the younger boys like I used to. But, tonight when I walked by his room to lay little sleeping Caylee down in her crib, I heard a sound that was instantly heaven on earth. It was the sound of pure laughter coming from Christopher's room. He was in there throwing Connor and Cade on his bed, and the three of them were laughing so hard. I absolutely LOVE that sound. I have been a little down about our kids growing up so fast, which has been brought on by Christopher changing over night. It seemed like I went to bed one night tucking in my little boy to waking up to a young man with a deep voice, hairy armpits, broad shoulders, muscle tone, and shaving---yes shaving. Where did my little boy go? Sometimes I wish I could freeze time and move my family to a deserted island where the bad things of the world can't find us and I can continually hear the sounds of my kids playing together--one of the best sounds in the world!

On the Way to Matthew's House

Here are a few pictures of our kiddos on the way to Matthew's house. We picked him up and brought him back to our house to spend the night and celebrate Connor's cowboy birthday. I know, I know, I need to post pictures of the party and the cake. I'll try to get that done soon. I didn't have my camera, just my phone so I don't have wonderful pictures. I need to steal Jan's camera and upload her pictures. I think she has some of graduation also.

So, a few weeks ago when Christopher was spending the night at Matthew's he called and asked if we could get a baby beagle. I couldn't figure out where that was coming from until he told me that Matthew's sister had some baby beagles. Anyway, check out the picture of Mariah's baby beagle. She actually has two baby females and an older male, but he's still a puppy. They are absolutely adorable!!

Can you tell we were getting ready to go swimming??

sickness...again

I truly don't remember it being this bad growing up with 5 kids in our family, but I'm sure it probably was. It seems every time that one of us gets sick, we spend weeks passing it around to each other and trying to get over it. So far with this round Christopher had a fever and sore throat, but was able to kick it; Caylee was the first to be put on Zithromax, followed by Cade--hopefully that will be the end of it, though Connor had a sore throat with a fever a few days ago. Dr. Seufer is such a good doctor. I don't think she has ever turned us down for an appointment; she always makes time for us. Plus, there have been several times where she has called us on her off hours to check on the kids, and has assured us that we can call her at home if we need to. What a good doctor! When I took Cade in on Friday, he was such a big boy! He was calm and knew exactly what to do. He never once got scared and he completely cooperated. He got to choose a sticker at the end of his visit, and he was VERY proud of his spongebob sticker. It was scratch and sniff after all. I am grateful that our sickness is minor and that I can be home with the kids to take care of them. Here are a couple of pitiful pictures of Cade when he was running a fever. Notice little sis--what a nurturer she already is.

Mmmmm, Oreos

All of my kids have loved Oreo cookies. Can you blame them? They're so yummy with a cold glass of milk, or in Caylee's case, forget the milk and wear them.

Sweet Lil' Sis

This is one of my favorite pictures of Caylee. Don't ya' love the hat?

Fun at the New Park

So, the town has been working on the north end of the park, just down the street from mom and dad's house. In fact, if you look at the picture of Caylee in the swing, you can see our car in front of mom and dad's shop. We were super excited to see the new playground equipment that they put in. Every morning on the way to school, Christopher and I would look to see what had been added. It is equipment for little kids and it has been pretty popular for all ages. So popular in fact, that they ended up putting up a sign that reads, "Toddler Park Ages 2-6". Well guess what, I'm still gonna let Christopher swing if he wants to because I have to admit that those new saucer swings are pretty fun! Here are a few pictures, before the sign was put in. :o)