Dylan

Thursday, September 3rd, little Dylan Thaddeus

was born! He is our first, sweet nephew on Jeremy's side of the family! And the first cousin for our kids on his side!! He is a beautiful little man who had

6 proud family members waiting to meet him!

Heather and Gerry, congratulations!

Welcome to parenthood, you are a beautiful family.

8 lbs. 6 oz. & 20.5 inches

The cousin lineup... they could hardly wait to see him.

Beautiful new mama, Heather and her son.

And now, here is each of us getting the chance, to hog, um I mean hold sweet Dylan! I actually hogged him the longest which comes as no surprise... I'm a baby lover!!!

And last, but not least, little Annika doing her best to show Dylan some cousin lovin' by warming up and breaking in his new bouncy seat! She kept climbing in and out of this and his new swing!

You're a tad too big now, my dear... but it looks comfy enough!

We love you, Dylan!!

Girlfriends Day

What do you get when you have scenery like this...

3 friends like this...

...and 8 kids loaded up on cotton candy????

A gReAt day at the FAIR!!!

You can't just spend one day at the fair! So Rachel, Allison, and I spent Thursday together with our kiddos sans the Papas. It was a great empty day to go, plus the rides were buy one get one... the admission was the same. It's late, so I'll skip the explanations! Enjoy the pics!



Gavin's 1st fair game and his prize!

Drew concentrating on catching a big one...

3 proud new owners of a stuffed prize!!!

Thanks Rachel and Allison for being dear friends to me and for venturing out with 3 one year olds who had no nap and enjoyed the fair without a single tear!!!!

fair day!

We spent a long, full day at the Fair this weekend! We basically opened the fair and closed it down! The kids were fantastic all day long... Some of the highlights included the new reptile exhibit (which I was brave enough to go into... I was fine actually), 2 rides each for the kids, the Demolition Derby (Jeremy and our good friend Kep took all the boys to it!), and the Girl time spent with Rach and Savannah!

Annika loves animals! So I'm sure the petting zoo

was a highlight for her! She kept pointing and talking to all the animals!

The baby cow!

Savannah and Annika ready for fun!

Aren't they adorable?

Our middle children getting ready for a spin! As they got in line, they each were excited about being in their own car all by themselves. But as they started to get on the ride, Gavin jumped in with Morgan and yelled to me, "Mom, I had to ride with Morgan, she was about to go on it by herself!" He was really concerned for her! Cute guy.

All 3 crammed into one car on the much awaited "dragon rollercoaster."

Morgan participated in the race for 4 year olds!

She ended up placing 2nd!

GO MORGAN! She was pumping her arms and legs like crazy to the finish line!

Gavin the Fire Dog.

He was the only one that would
stand here for a pic! ha ha

Thanks, Kroons for a fun, fun day! We were so thankful the rain held off... it was raining at our house, raining as we drove there, and miraculously not a drop of rain fell on the fairgrounds all day and night. Thank you God!

gymnast buddies

Morgan started her first gymnastics class this month! She has been looking forward to this her whole life! :) It is her first organized activity/class... and to top things off, she gets to do it each week with her best buddy Megan! They are so fun to watch... Morgan lays out her leotard of choice each day before her class! She has received about 6 of them as super great hand-me-downs over the years that have been waiting to be worn outside the house!

Bunko Babies

I was scrolling through past years on our blog and came across this picture from my sister's last Bunko night before leaving the state almost 2 years ago. 4 of us were pregnant in the picture, and now... 9 of us have welcomed new babies since that day! WOW! With the newest being born yesterday... Welcome sweet Alistair Liev Brown! Congratulations you guys!

Oldest to youngest, they are: Nathan, Molly, Annika, Savannah, Leah, Avelyn, Jordan, Danica, and Alistair! Wow, loads of girls with boy bookends! Oh my word... and between us we have 36 kids!

Chef Drew A B

Drew is a budding chef like his Dad. He is constantly coming up with his own secret recipes and keeps telling me we need to start a family cookbook! Here's Drew making Mac & Cheese for lunch today for his siblings and friends. He runs for the chef's hat each time he's concocting something too!

blueberry evening

Father and Son heading back.

Just the girls

An amazing double rainbow appeared near the end of our night... Jeremy and Annie ready to go!

Last night we traveled up to the Willow side of Hatcher Pass to look for blueberries! We found some, not as many as we'd hoped, but had a great evening just the same.

My in-laws, Dave and Anita joined in on the fun... and Heather, Jeremy's younger sister came too! Heather is due next Thursday with their first baby!

Annika kept leaning over and snagging a berry from my bucket, saying , "Mmmm" before popping it into her mouth.

the school stop

See the sidebar on the right for an update about our upcoming homeschool year!

Sweaters, hot cocoa, coffee, falling leaves, and great books... Here We Come!

big girl & garden goodies

Our baby is 18 months old! I still call her the "baby" even though now she is officially a toddler... her new words/phrases that are popping up each day:

There you go!

thank you

please

all done

uh oh

more

bye bye

Da (Dad)

Mama

cracker

good girl (she claps when she says this, cuz we always do!)

She definitely is our earliest talker! She has a fun, playful personality with a touch of spunk if you know what I mean. :) Happy 18 month birthday sweet girl!

Annika is our outside girl. She bolts for the door anytime it opens and LOVES being outside in the garden with Daddy. Here, she is modeling one of our huge carrots!

Sugar snap peas... yummmmmy!

Ginormous green beans!

A rose from one of our Big Brothers Bushy Buckets plants!

We love the color of this one.

An evening's harvest recently.

The green beans are amazing. In one night, Jeremy picked a pile that was 2 ft. long and about 1 ft. wide. We tried canning them last summer... and they were kinda yucky in my opinion. (Fresh is best!) So this year, he blanched them and froze them so we can pop them out of the freezer all winter.


Our first run at tomatoes...

August projects

I have been absent from blogging lately, mostly because I lack pictures... And don't want to bore you with my rambling about certain subjects! Here is what I've been up to lately!

I spent 3 nights last weekend after the kids were in bed painting our entry and part of our living room the red I've been dreaming about for the past couple years. I finally did it! I assured Jeremy I'd do the whole thing myself... he really hates indoor painting projects, and I love them so I don't mind the work. He does enough outside for our family in the way of the garden and yard, so he was off the hook! Hooray for color in my living room!

These are a pair of booties I knit for my new nephew Dylan who is due to be born near the end of this month. They are so cute and tiny... the pattern was for them all to be one color, but that was too boring for this gal, stripes were definitely needed. They are pretty quick and easy too.

I love a good project... hmmm... what's next? A granny square baby hat with ear flaps for a baby shower this weekend! I'll post a pic when I'm done.

Emily & Mitchel are married!

Wow, another one of my youth girls is now married!

Emily & Mitchel tied the knot last Saturday with a beautiful wedding & reception, it was like God opened up the skies for them to reveal a long awaited beautiful day for us!

They are a fun, young vibrant couple that I couldn't be more happy for!

Drew stood up with them as their ring bearer... Mitchel was Drew's Sunday School teacher for a while a couple years ago and as Drew says, "Mr. Mitchel is my favorite adult."

4 of my beautiful former youth girls all in a row!

And the adorable Charlotte!!!

Drew and the men folk.

Wow, he's getting tall. He is a seasoned "ring boy", this was his 4th wedding!

The girls and I after a marathon morning of bridal party hair!

Emily's finished updo.

Congratulations you two! Soak up that Hawaii sun, will ya?