Friday, December 27, 2013

Christmas

We didn't get very many pictures of our Christmas trip east, but here are a few of the highlights...
 
 
We tried for a nice family picture after mass.  Cecelia slept through the second half of mass so she wasn't very receptive to the picture.  She also almost missed out on Santa because she was sleeping.
 
 
Christmas ice cream. p.s. Grandma the remnants of this may still be in your freezer. 

 
All this excitement for...wait for it...a pencil sharpener.  And it's not even electric.

 
H and the big guy.

 
Oliver somehow just knew to wear this shirt.  He even had a sweat shirt over it until just before he opened this tractor.  Perfect timing.

 
We tried for a grandkids shot with Santa.  As I mentioned earlier, C was asleep.  We did wake her up just before he left so she could sit on his lap.  She was pretty out of it.

 
H and I.  They were talking to each other and holding hands like best buds.  Next year they'll be fighting.

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Hudson

Warning!  This post may be a little graphic.  It is not for the faint of heart.  As we mentioned in a previous post, Mom did not want to publish pictures of Winston taken shortly before Hudson's birth.  Because of Hudson's heart condition Mom's body produced excess amniotic fluid and her belly was quite...well gigantic.
 


Aunt Jenni insisted on a profile view one day.  She may have been blinded by this shot and we're quite certain may still be recovering.
 

 
Did we mention graphic?  Natalie insisted on coloring Winston  and Mom finally relented.  There are no words for this creation.

 
Our last family portrait as a family of six. 

 
Hudson's first photo op.  No Mohawk yet.


He opened his eyes for a quick peak before the nurses did too much.



His first diaper and all the other new attachments.
 

 
All wrapped up and cozy warm.  Headed for the NICU.

 
Holding Mom for the first time.

 
Holding Dad for the first time.

Threshers Convention

While Mom was off working, or at least that was her excuse...who wouldn't want to walk around the hot, dusty fairgrounds at nine months pregnant?, the rest of the family took in the excitement that is the annual Threshers Convention.  Grandpa had to tag along to keep tabs on all the kids, that he may have had a hankering for a sausage sandwich.
 
 
Oliver posing with another Oliver he met along the way.

 
Mom really did miss out.  Tessa's cuteness won everyone a ride on a real steam engine.  Grandpa had to stay behind and look after C.  He just must not have had enough cuteness for the high schoolers running this monster.

 
Since they missed out on milk shakes at the fairgrounds they stopped at Sunday's Market for some ice cream on the way home.

 
It's old school and super yummy.  C hold tight or Grandpa may have to use his belt to hold you on that stool.

My confetti

 
For the past few years Dad has left us for a week every summer to attend Catholic Heart Work Camp with our youth group.  One year he met a guy, Michael Mette, who was the musician for the week.  Michael offered to come play in Archbold anytime  and we took him up on it this summer.
 
 
This is his family and their home.  They converted an old air stream to suit the seven of them so they can tour the country promoting God and the Catholic Church. 

 
Oliver was impressed with Michael's sense of style and insisted on a Mohawk the next Sunday.
 
Shortly after Michael's visit while riding in the van Oliver asked Dad to turn on "My confetti".  It took him a few minutes to get through to Dad that he wanted to hear Michael Mette's cd.
 
If you'd like to read more about the Mette family, check out their website at: http://michaeljamesmette.com/

Random spring fun

 
 
These two are buddies.  You have to be to crawl in a sleeping bag with somebody.  They can't deny each other either.

 
Evie and Annalise came to visit in June.  Grandma needed some entertainment to keep them busy so she invited us to go along with them to the Sechler Pickle factory in St. Joe, IN.  We all had to wear hair nets, even C. 

 
Afterward we had lunch in the driveway before heading home.  C finished her popsicle in the garage.

 
Goofball.

 
Oliver chose to play baseball this summer instead of soccer.  It was a little more competitive than t-ball, but still pretty low key.  The coaches were high school kids and one practice involved a slip and slide.  Unfortunately for Oliver we're thinking he got his baseball playing skills from Aunt Becky.  He may have a future as a cross country runner though.

 
The next few pics are from Father's Day.  Great Grandpa's little tractor was the entertainment of the day. 

 
Everyone took a turn pulling.

 
After that we went back to Grandpa's and rode around in his wagon.  He even let Natalie drive the tractor...by herself.  Everyone survived.

 
C may have had a little too much fun or ice cream and maybe not enough of a nap that day.  Some days are like that C.

Preschool Graduation

I'm going to try to go back and update on our spring and summer, at least the high points.  Blogger has been upgraded since I last updated so hopefully I can muddle through without too big a headache.  Here goes nothing.
 
 
Do you think she was excited?  She was literally a block ahead of everyone else.  This was no surprise as she generally did this everyday on the way to school.  If she wasn't running she was dancing her way into school.  I pray she maintains this enthusiasm for education.

 
The parade of graduates.

 
The family photo op.  We did take a whole family pic, but Mom felt that Hudson was looking a little too big in that picture.  She chose not to share that with the world.

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Our February Post

In our slow progression from our last blog, here's basically what we were up to in February.  For our more astute readers you may notice, at least in February, we seemed to favor our two blond-haired, blue-eyed short people. Not so sure what the other two were up to all month...
 
 
One of our favorite neighbors stopped by with an extra lemon miringue pie one day.  Oliver gave it a thumbs up.

 
Mrs. Warner is always coming up with fun crafty projects for her kindergarten class.  One day they came home as little Statues of Liberty. 

 
Aunt Becky...it still fits!  Dad dressed C in her C shirt one last time before we officially retired it.  It's a 3-6 mos. onsie and she was 17 mos. in this pic. 

 
She has a thing for shoes.  Maybe this is why our internet monitoring software was giving me so much trouble downloading pics for the blog.

 
She is finally willing to sit still long enough for a fountain, at least occasionally. 

 
This little monkey was up late one night.  She decided she would rather enjoy a game of soduku than be in bed.  Watch out Grandma someone might be borrowing your book.

 
She also thinks she's one of the big kids.  She often finds the stool in the bathroom and drags it around the house, usually to "help" Mom in the kitchen.  She hasn't quite figured out that even standing on the stool the counter is still only eye level.

 
Sharing some of Dad's birthday torte.

 
Our preschool celebrated pajama day.  Tessa came home with monster feet.  Yikes!

 
Aunt Becky the body art crayons are a big hit. 

 
Some sort of fort was erected between the dining room and living room one day.  Mom missed out on all that fun.  Maybe next time.

 
Yum!

March

Since we have some catching up to do we thought we'd start in the most logical place and work backward.  This is what we did in March, or at least what we've taken pictures of.
 
 
The Arcbhold schools celebrated Read Across America week with a Dr. Seuss theme.  Here is one of our Cat's in the Hat.

 
We visted the Taller's in the sprawling metropolis of Atlanta, IN where we found corn growing more than 6 ft tall in March.  Hmm...

   I guess this is what I get for trying to rearrange my pics.  Oh well.  It's all still here.
 


Of course George managed to also find a tractor for all that corn.  We did also get to see a helicopter and a sweet chopper.
This little turkey thinks she's big stuff and is often found on a dining chair.  She also loves things with wheels and even makes "vroom, vroom" noises.

 
 
Sometime late this winter we were told she was too little, in medical terms she was deemed as "failure to thrive".  So we started fattening her up the best way we know how.  Please don't get too alarmed she does also consume some fruit and veg occasionally, but she does prefer cake, cookies, and chocolate.