Drought - no more......

Well with our heavy winter snow this past winter and our monsoon rains all spring....Pactola Reservoir is full for the first time in many many years.....

This was Pactola in Aug. of 2006 - notice the water level in the background......well and of course Ana at 7 months old with Grandpa Ron and Mary


Pactola currently.......these pictures were taken from approx. the same spot.

Father's Day......

A Father's Day Re-cap.....

Our day began at 2:22 am - to the beat of the neighbors music and again at 4:15am and yet again at 5:20am - only this time our doors and windows were rattling to the beat of the music also. I then kindly proceeded to call the police in hopes of getting even just a couple hours of sleep before our children arose - but alas the first child greeted us at 5:57am and we were all up from there!
Thankfully we truly had a day of "nothing".....and Eric got to enjoy (hopefully) a Twins game on the TV while the rest of us napped.
We had a "crock-pot" dinner and a culvers treat followed by a nice Sunday evening drive.

Happy Father's Day Eric - We love you very much and are so thankful for the husband and father you are to us all!! Hope you had a great day - despite it all.......

A here is a re-cap in pictures.....

We took some time outside after naps to let the kids ride their bikes and play on the swing-set - Eli on one of the many riding toys that adorn our garage - unfortunately our children do not how to put them away in a proper place and today I backed over one of there most precious riding toys - the tricycle.........


Ema is pretty content being strapped into this car...I am sure it won't last a whole lot longer - she is on the move these days.....


Ana with her bike that she has learned to ride so well this summer......now we just need to teach her to turn corners just a tad bit slower and she will probably stop tipping over....



Ema is so funny in the grass - she does whatever she can to keep her feet off of it.......


This has become a favorite activity that I am not sure will ever get old for these three - they could be pushed on the swings for hours.....at what age do they finally learn to "pump" for themselves??



The kiddos and Eric on Father's Day.....


We let Ana have a crack at taking a picture....not too bad......


After dinner & ice cream we took a drive up to Pactola Reservoir......it was such a nice night.


Ana is hunting for rocks to throw in the lake....


Like father......like son........


Getting a lesson in "skipping" rocks....


Check out this form.....


And this tongue.......sticking your tongue out when you throw always makes the rocks go further......



We were hard pressed to convince these two it was time to leave.....but it was 8pm......

Baby Names......

So we began discussing at dinner tonight names for the new baby with the kids.....not really because we feel we "need" a name now - but rather for conversation and a way of I guess telling them we were having another baby - Ana is really the only one that "gets it" - and then again does she really?? - because she then told me to go to the hospital on Friday and have the baby.......so........back to baby names....Here is the list of names suggested by our 2 talking children tonight....

Ana's List:
Oaks - this is the name of one of her imaginary friends...
Lissa - also another imaginary friend

Eli's List:
Ace - not sure where this name came from??
Thomas the Train
Ema-has-a-belly-ache - ????? - not just Ema.....

And together they came up with this original list:
Ana
Eli
Ema
Daddy
Mommy

The real question will be will we be able to live up to our "vowel" lettered children names and maybe even keep it at 3 letters - when we set out to name our kids neither of these were things we discussed - they have just sort of worked out that way....but it's becoming a hard trend to continue......

4 x 4

No this post is not an announcement about our new 4 x 4 vehicle - although I wish it could be - maybe!!

This is to let you all know that at the end of this year we will have managed to have 4 babies in 4 years!!!

YES - BABY NUMBER 4 IS ON THE WAY!!!

Now to answer a few of your burning questions......

1. Was this planned?? - well I guess that depends on how you define planned - we had decided a fourth child in our family would be a nice addition - we hadn't thought however that RIGHT NOW - was the perfect time! So yes this was a bit of a SHOCK!

2. When is the due date? - 12.30.09 - that's right we'll just make the tax deduction cut off! - So that makes me right at about 12 weeks pregnant.

3. Will we find out of the sex of this baby?? - Well I can't imagine why not - we have for everyone else so why would we change now.....

4. What do our other kids think? - They don't know yet!

5. What are we hoping for (boy or girl) ?? - Overall we just pray for a happy healthy baby - but we could maybe hope for boy - after watching Eli attempt a little ballet in the last video - he definitely needs a brother for a playmate to distract from all the "princess stuff" around this house!

6. So how many months HAVE you been pregnant? - good question - I sat down today and did a little figuring...I've been pregnant 30 of the last 50 months - IT'S TIME TO STOP!!!

7. How far apart are your kids? - NOT FAR ENOUGH!! Ana and Eli are 14 months - Eli and Ema are 18 months and Ema and this baby will be 15 months!!! Heaven help us all!! Come December Ana will not even be 4 yet - so that means 4 kids under 4 - ahhhhh!! Good news is Eric and I heard that both of our parents will be switching off months living with us --- right!?!?!

8. And the final question you are all dying to know - Will you have any more kids after this one?? - ABSOLUTELY NOT!!

Box o' sand.....

Eric built this sand box a couple weekends ago for the kids.......the final task was figuring how and when to get sand for it....Thanks to our good friends Jason and Denise buying too much sand for there new sand box - we scored a pretty good deal on some nice sand this last weekend....and so the sand box is now complete.



And I am happy to report that every tub in the house now has sand in it from cleaning off sand filled feet!!!

Ballet.....

Ana gave us one of her many many dance performances tonight - between her dancing and all her made up songs - there is never a quiet moment in our house.....Eric and I find ourselves just pleading with her at times to either stop dancing or stop singing - just even for 5 minutes!!! But we do love it none the less - ENJOY!!!

The SUN is out.....

As I had mentioned before - today was the first day since Wed. Jun 3rd....that we have been able to get outside because it is finally not RAINING! And we spent the majority of the day outside....



Eli ready for a sword fight with his 2 bubble wands...


Swings, swings and more swings....


Eli really was the only one willing to get off the swings and play elsewhere in the backyard - hence why the majority of the pictures are of him.....

9 months and counting....

Ema is 9 months old....and has A T T I T U D E......(is that possible at 9 months??)

My tactic used to be at meal time - get Ana and Eli settled first and then feed Ema - well that is no longer working - Ema is ticked off if she is last to receive her food and she will let you know.
She has a set of lungs that scream with the best of them and she will proceed to bang on her tray until something is given to her......ahhhh just makes meal time all the more interesting!!

She has gotten really good at putting up a good fight over a toy and will no longer stand for something being taken away for her (watch out Eli) -

She is on the move - army crawling where ever she needs to go and has just recently decided this week that baby food just isn't cutting it anymore.

And she finally just cut her first tooth this week.....




Ema - showing her love of sitting in the grass...



Take note of the lower lip - this is a common face for Ema these days....


And finally after about 10 straight days of rain (and I am not exaggerating) we finally were able to get back outside today and enjoy the swings and the sunshine!!

Ema just so happened to have her 9 month check-up today too...and the results are in.....going to be tall and skinny just like her daddy!!

Weight: 19.5 oz (75%) - okay well I guess she still isn't incredibly "lite"
Height: 29 1/4 inches (92%)

Daddy's Girl.....

Ema is a definite daddy's girl.....she could be content in his arms/on his lap for hours on end.....me holding her is never good enough.

Every morning when Eric leaves for work he walks around and kisses everyone goodbye....I dread him getting to Ema every morning - because once he kisses her - she just loses it and is sobbing until he is out the door and no longer in sight and I am left consoling a child that just doesn't want to be consoled by me!