Time to Catch Up!

Whew! What a crazy past 2 weeks! Fun and fast let me tell you. I'm going to put our adventures all in a slide format again ~ there's LOTS of pictures (and it's rather fun to do). We continued to celebrate Robert's birthday; we saw REO Speedwagon and Ted Nugent; Tabitha sang at the NW Washington Fair (thanks Leslie!); I judged 4-H presentations; me, Amber & Tabitha went to Education Week and the O'Brien girls came with us (I was totally sleep deprived ~still haven't caught up yet); Rob & David went to the pool almost everyday while we were gone; and today Amber & David started school. Whew! I'm tired! But what fun we've had!

This coming weekend is going to be a difficult one. First Rob & I have been asked to speak to the Single Adults group at church. That consists of singles, widowed or divorced men & women ages 30+. Talk about being nervous!!! Prayers for us on this one :O)

For those that haven't heard, Robert & Jessica are moving to Brigham City, Utah. We knew they would be moving but thought (and hoped) it would be after Lizzie was born. Not to be. They will be moving out of their apartment on Friday and come to our house for a few days and leave on Tuesday. I can't draw enough sad faces to express how much we will miss them not being closer and being able to babysit Lizzie. I guess those trips to Utah will be more than we ever thought we'd visit that State.

My 1st Baby is 22 years old!

AAACCCKKK!!! That makes me sound old doesn't it? I could say I was only 12 when I gave birth to him?! But I won't. Seriously it really doesn't seem like 22 years ago today I was holding my 1st baby. Of course while you're in the middle of it all you never think this time will EVER come. Truly time has flown by. And now my baby will have his own baby here in about 2 months. It makes me feel a song coming on! - "The Circle of Life". Okay forget that!

Over the past 22 years he has made us grow in ways we never expected. And we know the same is coming to him & Jessica. You know? Thee old "what goes around comes around"! Can't wait! And Grandma & Grandpa will be there to love little Lizzie completely unconditionally and spoil her rotten as all Grandma's & Papa's should. Sugar 'em up and send them home!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ROBERT!!

We Love You!!

Prepare to be embarrassed!

Finally found one!

I knew there was a picture somewhere that Tabitha & I have the exact same expression. I finally thought of it. And she has waaaaay better hair than I do!

ME

Here's Tabitha!
You know? She still gets that same look on her face when she's overwhelmed! Here's a cute one that shows how Robert has ALWAYS been (and always will be) a very protective big brother. Tabitha did not like the photographer and was actually scared of the whole ordeal. But that's okay, Robert was ready to stare down the guy if he was going to do anything to his baby sister.

What's going on?!

Dealing with some odd emotions the past few days. It seems like trials are happening to our friends BIG time. Not that we aren't having any of our own, we are but these are actual physical/health trials.

Good news that Rick VanderVeen is finally home. But a time of adjustment for all there and all the medical appointments that Kay has to keep track of is a full-time job in itself. Then at Church on Sunday we saw some friends we haven't seen for a few months and his lower leg had been amputated. Their faith and positive attitude were just amazing. Then when I checked my email on Sunday I read about our friends. Her husband was really sick and was in the hospital. He has bacterial meningits! As of last night he was returning to his old self except (and this is a BIG except) his legs are paralyzed. The nerves have been tested and that is okay. They are hoping that the inflamation on his spinal cord will decrease with the anti-biotics and other meds. Prayers please!!! The medical staff is puzzled as to what is the cause of the meningits. Hopefully that can be discovered very quickly. It has been wonderful to see how Heavenly Father has blessed all of these people. HE truly does love us!

And Rob is on a business trip. I just hate it when he leaves. I just don't sleep well when he's gone. And if that isn't enough, a co-worker of Tabitha's that is 6 months pregnant called at 8:00am on Monday needing her to come in for her. It seems over the weekend she started spotting. How scary is that?! Of course she went on immediate bed rest. And for the past few days when she rested she was fine but once she stood up to do things, the spotting returns. Prayers for sweet Brittany and her baby.

So I've tried to be semi-productive today and keep busy. We've already done 3 loads of laundry and put them away. David's is sorting his clothes that are too small to make way for the new clothes we bought last week to start school. Made a batch of cookies to take to piano/voice lessons tonight. And we have swimming lessons in a few hours ~ last lesson tomorrow. And try to finish our Star Wars Marathon. We're on Episode V!

And here's a little bit of "eye candy" of what David's playing with today.
And he still has MORE cars upstairs!

Yes! That's toilet car!
Seymour from CARS just makes me smile!
Everyone take care of yourselves and love each other!!

A Thoughtful Moment - a long one :O)

I got to thinking! (A dangerous habit ~ it know). What started on the Scrapjammies message board as us posting our baby pictures turned into a discussion of things in the background of our pictures. Example ~ I posted these pictures of me.
Do you LOVE that red hair? There were no such things as car seats in the early 60's.
Talk about attitude. And look at that car! This picture was taken in 1966. If it was taken now, how many of us would crop that car out of the picture? To me the car in the picture is classic and I would never dream of cutting it out.

Then Kelly posted this semi-challenge. She said "Now the real story is....how many photos do you have of your girls that look just like you and your "attitude"? I bet you have a couple!" So here's what I found.
ME

AMBER
I'm still trying to find one of Tabitha and me. I know one is there somewhere :O)

Now this is what led me to thinking of these old pictures I have. The story behind these photos. I literally discovered this photo album about 6 months after my Mom had died. It was in the back of her closet. My brother or I had NEVER seen this book ~ EVER!!! You can imagine our surprise because we thought we've seen everything. Some of the pictures date back to 1909! It was obvious that it was my Dad's side of the family. It's the distinct DeWees nose ~ yup, I got it. Thank goodness my Aunt Marge (my Dad's sister) was still alive when we found it and she was able to fill in some of the blanks of who these people were. Next time you come over to my house look for the 1912 picture I have out and in a frame. It's really cool!


This picture reminds me of the Norman Rockwell "Waiting on the Shore" painting. This was taken in 1910 in MarbleHead, Mass.
LOVE those swimsuits?!
Both photos taken in 1911 in Long Beach, CA

So the next time we start to crop our photo's let's stop for a moment and take a step back to look at it though the eyes of our grandchildren and great-grandchildren looking at them 97 years from now.