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!!

I HAVE CALLED YOU BY NAME AXEL AND YOU ARE MINE

On Sunday Novemeber 21st, we celebrated the baptism of Axel David. Other than the weather almost putting a damper on things, (we woke up to very icey roads), everything was perfect. All my family from Alexandria made it down, they are such troopers and I love them all. There was one close call though. My mom and Steve watched the trailer on the pickup in front of them start to fish tail and then roll several times into the ditch. They drove into the ditch (on purpose) and out again to avoid hitting anybody. Everybody was o.k. but very shook up.

We chose our friends, Tim and Melissa Hansen to be Axel's godparents, and what an excellent choice it was. They both love him very much and are always willing to help out in any way they can. We are certainly blessed to have such great friends.

.......And It's Out

After many weeks of wiggling, we have a tooth so loose that it's barely hanging on by a thread. The time has finally come to get it out!! Ella had decided that she wanted her dad to pull it out, which really surprised me. Is this the same little girl who thinks changing her earrings is going to hurt? Yep, it was, but after a little wiggle and a gentle tug, pop, the tooth was out. Now this was very exciting for all of us, as this is the first tooth to be lost in our house. Ella was right, she told us at the beginning of the school year that she can now lose her teeth because she is in kindergarten...too cute!!

Here she is, the toothless wonder! And just a side note, it won't be long till the one next is out also, as it is quite loose. Way to go Ella, and we love you lots!