Nine Months Old Already

I'm so pleased to be 9 for 9 in taking pictures of Emily on her monthly "birthdays". I think she's probably the first I've actually made it this far with no oopses. I know....the others could very well be in therapy one day thanks to this little detail. If not for this, there'll be something else I'm sure! :)

I actually have Liz to thank for snapping these adorable shots. Emily has the best smile these days! Tonight we were eating dinner and she was sitting in her chair at the table and would SCREAM just to get our attention and then give that terrific cheesy grin to the first person she saw looking at her. What a doll!

She does however have an official alter-ego. Her name is Schmemily Meeman.... and she is not pleasant to be around! We had a few hours of Schmemily this morning, until a nap brought our darling Emily back to us. Schmemily fussed and finally all out cried in her chair with her breakfast in front of her until I picked her up and fed her bites while I held her. She was happy about being hand-fed, and would have nothing to do with exactly the same food (egg, muffin and cantaloupe) that she could have eaten on her own. Oh that Schmemily!

So Monday was the official day ~ nine months already! She is hitting milestones and gaining strength all the time. Our awesome PT always has nice things to say when she comes each week! Em is showing more interest and motivation to change positions, giving us hope that she may actually crawl before she walks. :)

Schmemily or Emily ~ we are glad she's ours!

Dumb Box

Just when I was getting caught up on all things computer-ish, we are down again. The solution just may be a new system and that's not in the budget until November.

So we love you, we're fine, and would love to hear from you via some other mode of communication....darn those 44-cent stamps!! Cell phones still work as well.....for now!

Have I mentioned that in the last month or so we've lost the DVD player, the VCR, the picture tube on one of our two TV's, and now the computer?? Seems like this might be a sign that we are supposed to be doing something else this summer with our time but spend it staring at boxes with bright lights inside. hmmmm......

See you on the other side of this little hiccup in our technical-ness.

Doing What We Want To Do

I had the best of intentions to get a whole host of things done today. I was going to set my children to work and they would accomplish a lot, too.

As they say about the "Best Laid Plans"..... well, that is how things have actually gone.

I can't complain too much ~ we've all done some of our favorite things. The girls have caught up with their Webkinz a bit (Melissa informed me it had been TWO MONTHS since she played with hers. gasp!). Elizabeth has gone to a movie and shopping with her good friend. The little guys took looonnnggg naps (a great thing for them AND for us!). I have read AND cropped and mounted pictures. We are thinking of daddy, who is at work today.

We will head out later to pay tribute to a few of our loved ones who have gone before.

I've also been able to get pictures into the computer and organized. Here I am to get the blog updated. :)

Over the past few weeks...

We have planted the garden ~

Attended Kathryn's End-of-Season Soccer BBQ

Emily has eaten a pancake on the couch ~

and showed off her collection of pacifiers

How 'bout them apples?!

We also have watched Melissa perform at her school's talent show!

With summer just 2 1/2 days of school away, we are looking forward to more days like today and have plans for an awesome "What I Did With My Summer Vacation" scrapbook to keep track of all our fun.

More To Come!

Hello Again, Hello

Gotta love Neil Diamond songs for post headings, huh??

We are excited to be back up and running, with the exception of our email addresses. Ok, MY email addresses. Kurt's are still in tact, as are the kids'. But any message sent to me since the 11th cannot be accessed. I have a new one ~ if you want it and I haven't already messaged you personally, let me know and I'll get it to you.

Special thanks to Chris for his help in getting things working again. We owe you BIG!

(cookies are on their way over!!)

The kids have just a few short days of school left, and are SO excited for summer break! We have all kinds of fun things planned. Can't wait to share some of them here!

I will get to the pictures that have been taken and the events we've experienced as soon as I can figure out where to plug in the camera.

Hugs! Glad to be back!!

Please Stand By

We are experiencing computer challenges at our house, but are hopeful that a fix will happen soon. In the meantime, we're resorting to 19th and 20th century forms of communication, which include using Grandpa's computer for this post. :)

We'll be in touch as soon as we're back up and running!!

Four Weeks and COUNTING

Elizabeth has put to music her elation over how there are just FOUR WEEKS of school left. A mere 19 days ~ less really, because the last week has a few days that are halfies.

In writing what I try to make a monthly letter to Great Grandmas and Grandpas, I realized there are some significant items that I've not put on the blog as yet. And because our ginormous readership has nothing better to do than to read all about our lives, I didn't want to deprive anyone. HA!

Most recently, Kurt has completed a week long course in which he certified as a Car Seat Installation Technician. With knowledge sometimes comes misery, and life as we knew it has ended with the purchase of TWO new car seats and a total rearrangement of where the seats go in the van.

We have always tried to be careful, and I'd received some instruction from a friend in WA who was also a Tech, but if we weren't officially official, we certainly are now!

Emily was WAY too long for her baby bucket (she's 31-inches already!), so she graduated up to Nathan's seat that has been turned to rear-facing. Nathan bumped to one of the new seats, a backed version of a booster that still includes the 5-point harness straps. He's technically big enough for a booster with a seat belt, but age wise he'd be popping that buckle just as fast as he saw something he wanted that was out of reach. Obviously that wouldn't do!

Melissa, at 4'8" and just under 80-pounds is a hair shy of being big enough to just use a belt, so she got a booster, and was SO excited about it. (really, she was!)

As a side note for anyone with car seat now, or who might ever use them in the future: Anyone who is anyone in the car seat safety industry recommends keeping seats rear facing for as long as humanly possible. AS LONG AS HUMANLY POSSIBLE. The minimum recommendation is two years. Now I can hear the "yeah rights" coming from the crowd, and BELEEEEVE me I know that this could cause a lot of misery in the car, but I'm just sayin' what is the very very best we all could be doing for our short people.

Kurt's class ended with a big public car seat check at St. Al's in Boise. He's hoping to help organize one on this side of the world soon. We'll keep you posted on that.

April 16th marked Kurt's second anniversary with BFD. Hard to believe that that much time has already passed. Sometimes I feel like we've just been on a really long vacation and it will be time to go home soon. At the same time we're grateful that two years have passed, he's not one of the new guys anymore, and he's been able to do some pretty amazing things. He loves his job and as the side column of the blog reads, it is the Best Job In The World!

I have been working hard at getting our scrapbooks caught up. I finished Nathan's first year album just before my birthday, and have been working on Emily's now. Thanks to Gorgeous Stacy and her FABULOUS National Scrapbook Day event, I got (count 'em!) TWENTY ONE pages done. Here's the first page... *there's an error in the journaling ~ which should read "A sweet smartness", not "and sweet....". That mistake has since been fixed.

Next on the list will be to work on our family album again....it's still April 2006 there.

Other items of note:

*Liz had a great finish to her track season, nearly securing a spot at District's in the Shot Put.

*Kathryn scored an incredible long-kick goal at her second-to-last soccer game. As a mid-fielder, she doesn't get to shoot very much.

*Melissa earned a spot in her school's upcoming talent show with her audition of "Popular" from 'Wicked'. Her performance is coming up soon. Video to come!

*Nathan ~ oh Nathan ~ is still two. And really good at it. He snuck downstairs the other night and promptly fell asleep on the couch. Doesn't he look like he's doing the Crane Technique from Karate Kid? "ah Danielsahn ~ first learn walk, then learn fly". What a kid!

*Emily's sounds are maturing. I heard "ma ma ma" the other day. She loves grabbing noses and is spending more time on the floor lying instead of sitting. Our hope is that she will roll and crawl before she walks.

And there we are ~ at the end for now. Thanks for reading this far!

A First on the First

Emily's milestones have come more slowly but today we're celebrating a first!

some of the Cheerios actually found their way to her mouth

others slipped right off onto the floor


still others got stuck in between

She's got personality!