Aint they cute?





Grace discovering the garden. Now let's see if we can just... get... over this... bar...



Well there's some green ones. It didn't take her long to figure out those aren't the ones to pick.



Got it!

Something new - Pictures of Grace :)

I found this swing at an antique show a few weeks ago and it brought back memories of the swing I had as a little girl. Well, I had to get it (even though I have three baby swings at home). The lady who sold it to me told me to hang it where I could see it from my window and put a little plant on it. Well, I was kind of planning on putting a baby in it.

And boy, does she enjoy it! Courtney was pushing her and letting her kick her when she came back toward her. Court gave a good "Oww!" and Grace squealed in delight. Again... and again.. and again...

We meant to take a trip here last Wednesday but we spent it in the hospital instead. So this morning we got up early (well, early for me) and hit the road. The kids had no idea where we were going so this was a nice surprise for them. The rain was also a nice surprise halfway down the trail. I spent half the time with my camera wrapped up in a plastic bag, clutching it for dear life so no water would drip in. I didn't get a whole lot of pictures.
I forgot Grace was even with us, she was so quiet, just enjoying the ride. She didn't seem to be too impressed with the view.







Jacob was amazed when he turned the corner and saw this. "Maaaama! Is this the city of liverty!?"

Rain Rain Go Away!

We have had a lot of rain latley, but it's the good kind of rain - warm and short lived, great for playing in.

My Sick Baby

Well, I'm sure everyone has heard the story already, but for those of you that haven't...
By your 5th child you are pretty relaxed about things like fevers. When Grace woke up from her nap warm, I said "hmm, must be teeth" and gave her a little Acetaminophen and we headed over to Amy's for a walk. Grace is always so happy even through illness that it was hard to see the seriousness in it. But in my defence - I really don't think she was feeling too bad at this point. So we took a nice long walk in the summer sun, came home and put her down for her nap in her nice hot bedroom (well, I turned the fan on)and I left for work.
5 o'clock rolled around and I got a phone call. It was Tony but I could barely hear him.

Static... "Grace" static static "emergency room" static "need to get over here" static...silence. I lost the call.
I quickly called home and Courtney answered, crying hysterically, "Mommy, I don't know what happened, We were outside and Daddy came home and Grace, I don't know! I don't know what happened!" Then Paige took the phone "Mommy (sob,sob)" "Paige put Me ma on the phone right now!" "She's not here, She went to the hospital with Daddy."

You can imagine what was going through my mind.

What had happened is that while taking her nap, her fever came back too quickly and it caused a febrile seizure. When I arrived at the hospital, that part of it was all over. They kept her there for a few hours until the pediatric ambulance from Strong came. I told the driver that this was only my second time riding in an ambulance. He said "Yeah? This is my first." Pretty sure he was kidding.

All the nurses at Strong loved Grace. Well maybe they act that way for everyone but they sure made us feel comfortable. One nurse came in and said "Oh, Becky was right! She is super cute!" Another told us that there was a note on her chart calling her a "darling baby girl". She was amazing through all of the testing and weighing and measuring and poking and prodding. They came in at 2 in the morning and woke her up to give her a catheter. The nurse urged us to leave the room (yeah right) but to every one's surprise, she never made a sound!
"Is she always this good?"
Yup, she sure is.

The only trouble we had with her is trying to keep her hands off those wires, especially the one with the red light on it attached (not very well) to her toe. I woke up once and looked over at her in the crib, she was sitting up, her face illuminated by the red light, concentrating on it as she waved it slowly side to side, while the monitor ding, ding, dinged for the nurse that the connection was lost. Several times I looked for the silence button for that machine but I don't think it has one.



Wednesday during the day she spiked a fever several times. We came home in the late afternoon with instructions to keep the Tylenol and Motrin going for a few days until she was better. She slept very well that night at home (right next to me, of course) and went all night and all day today fever free! Now she's pretty much back to normal, giggly and playing with the kids. We all are thankful to God for bringing our Grace home safe and healthy.

Thank you everyone for your prayers.

Walk to the playground

Just look at these teeth pokin' through!


They're great for chewing pretty much anything. Even rocks.


By the fistful!


So what's better than eating rocks? Well, I'm sure we can think of something.

Blueberry Picking

This was the first time we have gone blueberry picking. Thank you, Amy, for the idea!

Cooling off

Nice hot day today, we needed to take a little break and go for a swim.




This was our nature hunt find. See it HERE













It was all just too much for Grace, who found a comfy spot and fell right to sleep.

A few more from the 4th

One of the highlights of the picnic... the kickball game.

Paige, you throw like a girl!


We had two second basemen. They were doing a great job!


"AHHH! There's a hole in the outfield!"
We laughed so hard at this picture, the camera caught it just right.

Fourth of July

What an absolutely gorgeous day for a picnic! We don't have a very big house so we can never host any of the holidays at our house(we are fortunate to have lots of family around us!) but our yard is big enough to hold us all so it has become a tradition to celebrate our 4th of July at our house. This year there was not a cloud in the sky so we didn't all have to cram into the garage (like last year). I had a great time and I'm pretty sure everyone else enjoyed themselves, too.

This Spring, we got one side of the family together (19 kids) for a nice picture for the grandparents but we never got a chance to get together with the other side of the family for my parents with their 11 grand kids... until today, yeah! Um, well this was our best shot. Frame worthy?
Just kidding, mom and dad, I'm still editing, be patient.



Grace found an abandoned deviled egg under the picnic table. This kid will put anything in her mouth.



She even tried to eat the napkin.



Grandma goofing around with Jacob.



Grandma goofing around with Joe.



And, of course, Grandma goofing around with Grandma.





Quackers came along to join the picnic, too. The kids were so excited!


Even Grace was interested.


Until she nibbled at her face.


Amy posted her pictures of the picnic, too. Check them out HERE!