First Day of 1st Grade

It's that time of year again, back to a normal routine that is! Yep, school has started and we now have ourselves a beautiful 1st grader in our house. Can't even believe it. I've said it before and I'm saying it again now and I will keep saying it, but "where has the time gone"? Seriously, how in the world do we have a 1st grader already, didn't we just bring her home from the hospital last week.

I brought Ella to school today in hopes of getting a picture of her in front of the school, her locker and at her desk. The only picture I managed to get was one of her in front of her locker with an annoyed look on her face. Apparently I was embarrassing her!! She would have been happy if I would have slowed down just enough to let her jump out of the truck. I love you too honey!!!

Dear Ella,

I hope that you enjoy this year of school

to the fullest. Make lots of new friends and keep

in touch will all your friends from Kindergarten.

You are so delightful to be around and bring a

smile to the faces of those around you.

I love you Ella all the way

to the stars and back!!

Hugs and Kisses,

Mom

This is What 8 Months Looks Like!

Wow...8 months already, I don't think time could possibly go any faster, it better not anyways. Axel is growing up so fast and he is just pure joy in our lives. He is such a happy and very busy little boy. Let's see, so what does 8 months bring us? Well, I will tell you, Axel loves all his fruits and vegetables that we make him, (but you can already see that by looking at his beautiful little face and big chubby cheeks)! He also gets around the house, and very quickly I might add. He doesn't do your typical hands and knees crawling yet, instead he looks like a little sea lion scooting around, using his hands and feet to propel him along at a rather high speed. Speaking of animals, he also does a very good growl. In fact he is always growling, we may have a little tiger on our hands. And he absolutely adores his big brother and sister. He tries so hard to follow them around the house, and when I can't find him, he is usually locked in the bedroom with them playing, (they take such good care of him). All in all it has been a very busy, (and loud), time at our house, but I wouldn't change a thing. Tootle-loo, and I will update again soon!

It's Summa Time!

This is what sweetness looks like!

This is the sunshine in our lives!

We also have a cute little monkey that lives with us!

Summer has finally arrived in full force. As I sit here by my computer in my air conditioned house it is a balmy 99* outside, wow! Ella has finished kindergarten and is moving on to 1st grade, really, where did the last 9 months go? She started t-ball last night, it is twice a week for 6 weeks, and she loves it! Owen continues to make us laugh with everything he does. He is such a little ham, and most of the time doesn't even know he's doing it, that is just his personality. And on to little mister Axel, he is going to be 8 months already on the 10th, holy cows that went fast. He is keeping us on our toes, as he is into everything already. With two older siblings, he thinks that he has to keep up with both of them, and indeed he does.

Struggling Community :(

Our community here in New London - Spicer is in some desperate need of strength and prayers for our youth. I am writing this with a sadness in my heart. Just in the last week there have been 3 suicides and two suicide attempts. One of them was a 29 year old originally from New London, then on Tuesday night a 15 year old freshman, then today another student from NL-S. Also, there were two suicides attempted, one yesterday and another this morning. I am just sick with sadness over this. This needs to be stopped. A friend of mine even received a phone call tonight from the school telling her to keep her kids home and keep and eye on them all weekend long. This is very serious and we as a community could use all the strength and prayers you can give to get through this. The school here is frantic and trying to figure out what to do about all of this. I'm sure that I have just rambled on and on, but I wanted to get this out there. Thanks for listening.

1st Taste of Cereal!!

I can't believe that the time has already arrived. Lately we have had Axel sitting at the table with us during supper time. He has really been watching us and taking everything in. I took this as a cue that he might be ready to start on some solid food himself. So last night Axel had his first taste of rice cereal. It actually went better than I thought it would. Not too many funny faces. He even opened up his mouth on his own just like he was an old pro at this. He did way better than the other two did when they were first introduced to cereal!!

Our Pretty Little Lady turns 6!

Six years ago today I met a pretty little lady that would change my life forever. Her name is Ella Hope!! Today our beautiful little girl turns six. Seriously, where have the last six years gone? She has grown so fast, and grown into such a remarkable little girl too! This past year has been a big one for Ella. She graduated from pre-school in May, started Kindergarten in September, welcomed another baby brother in October, AND lost her first tooth!! I'd have to say she has had a pretty good year, make that a fantastic year. I feel very blessed everyday to have her in our lives, she truly is a gift from God, and I love her to the moon and back.

We will be celebrating her birthday this Sunday, December 19 with friends and family here at our home. She has her church Christmas program in the morning then the party will follow. Can't wait to spend another day with family and friends, I enjoy every chance we get to be together.

Editor in Training

I love this one as a pencil sketch.

I am kind of behind the times when it comes to editing pictures on the computer. Last week I found this new program, picasa 3, and thought that I would take a shot at it. I would have to say that I think that I did a pretty good job, (according to me anyways). Now I just need to figure out to get a better quality picture, (resolution), because when I go to have any of these printed it will only do a 4 x 6 and anything other than that says to use a better resolution.

So if anybody knows how to do that and wants to let me in on the secret I would really appreciate it. I have so many ideas in my head of photos I would like to take, (one in particular) and edit so that I can have it enlarged a great deal.

I love how this one turned out!!