Whew!!!

Obviously I've been trying to catch up on the sharing of photos. I've got all these great pictures in my camera, but what good do they do if you don't share them, right? Well, anyway, I've added a bunch of pictures of the kids this past year, from Halloween, Christmas, Confirmation (Jason and Mallorie were both confirmed this year) and Mary Elizabeth's 2nd birthday party. Needless to say, we've been a busy group!

Growing up so fast

I cannot believe how fast Mary Elizabeth is growing up. We celbrated her 2nd birthday on May 1st and then had her official party on Sunday, May 6th. As you can see, she is busy trying to be all grown up in Hannah's shoes.

Christmas means music

Christmas Eve for us is always spent in church for the family service. With three out of four of our kids participating in choir, it is a time we really cherish. The music is beautiful and I wouldn't trade the beauty of Christmas Eve celebrating the what the true meaning of the holiday is.

The youth choir practicing

Hannah's solo

Jason's solo

Photos to share

The Kids Together

The kids are always up to something, and often with a companion. Every now and then I remember to grab my camera and capture the moment. Here we have a road trip pit stop; Mallorie and Emme sharing a fudge pop; Hannah and Emme reading a book; Jason, Mallorie and Hannah dancing together at the confirmation party and Mallorie and Hannah waiting for the 4th of July parade to start.

Dog days of summer

We are into another stretch of 90 degree days in the northeast, which, coupled with the dreaded humidity qualifies this as the dog days of summer. Did we come up with that term because even the dogs don't like to spend time outside when it is this hot. Rusty likes to wait until the sun goes down for his evening walk. That makes the whole "cleaning up after your god" a little more difficult --I'll have to remember a flashlight. Rusty loves his walk, and he is making sure I'm getting my exercise, too. We go every evening, and on weekends we try to go a couple of times in the day. He prances along, gets noticed by people and "reads the paper" in dog world, or simply stops at every bush, telephone pole, fire hydrant, bag of trash, etc., etc. I learned in puppy school that that is how a dog keeps up with what is going on in the neighborhood -- we people just sit outside on our front porch and watch the comings and goings and then ask our neighbors if they know anything about this or that if we need to fill in the blanks. I suppose when Rusty comes home he consults with Ruby because she eagerly awaits his return. Sadly, with Dobermans, they are not fans of the water, so that little wadding pool we have holds no excitement for them. They will lay in it if is dry, but add some water and it is off limits. It is as though they believe they will melt or something. Who knows. For now, we will just let them relax in the air conditioned house until the sun goes down.

Keep cool!!

Summer keeps keeping on...

View of Grandmom's beach

For the past couple of weeks Hannah has been speding some time with her grandparents at the beach. It is a win/win situation all the way around. Hannah gets some time with my parents, which she loves. My parents get their fill of Hannah -- enough to tide them over for a while, and our house is peaceful and quiet with a minimum of arguing --Jason's answer to conflict is mostly to go hide in his bedroom and Emme just keeps repeating herself until you agree. If you don't agree she throws a fit, you ignore her and eventually she gives up and life goes on. (I refuse to have a battle of wills with a two year old.)

During this visit Mallorie has been able to get closer with her youngest sister since she is not competeing with Hannah and Emme doesn't have to choose between the two. She has actually gotten pretty good at saying Mal-lorie correctly, which makes me proud and Mallorie sad. She was enjoying being called Ma-yee, which progressed to Mallie and now is a full blown Mallorie -- as was evidenced in the grocery store yesterday when Mallorie went off without her. Boy does that little one have lung power!

Meanwhile, Mallorie is teaching Emme to sing and dance -- the singing part is good, I'm not sure she needs to learn the butt wiggle thing they were doing last night.

Jason already had his visit with Mom and Dad and Mallorie's visit is coming up, which is how I'll be reminded that summer is almost over, capped off by a long weekend the girl's and I will spend at the beach. Mallorie's visit coincides with Hannah's birthday slumber party -- OH BOY!!! I don't know if I have ever expressed how much I dislike slumber parties (it borders on hate), but every now and then I suppose you have to give in to the experience. I'm sure I'll get through it -- maybe I'll pick up a bottle of wine, better yet, perhaps a cheesecake! See, it's looking better already.