For My Eyes Only

This is the style of my frames, the color on mine is slightly lighter.After 36 years, I broke down and went to the eye doctor. I actually think I went one time when I was in junior high, but that is beside the point. I have 20/30 and 20/40 vision. I also have an astigmatism in both eyes.

Hopefully this will help my headaches.

I got glasses on Saturday. I am still not sure that I like them, but I haven't had a headache.

Road Rash

One Sunday I was ready to leave church. We were missing Claire. Caleb went back into the church to find her. I was sitting in the car with Eli and Emily. They decided to take off down the edge of the parking lot and go collect nuts from a tree. They left as Caleb was coming out of church with Claire. Caleb came directly to the car while Claire went to the tree with the other monkeys. I was tired of waiting (it took me a while to get them out of the church to the car) so I decided to start driving away. Emily saw us first and started running. Eli and Claire saw us and they started running, too. I drove a little ways away, and finally let Emily in. I looked back and Eli and Claire were walking pretty slowly. When they got to the car, Claire was nursing a bloody nose as best she could without any tissues (basically letting it drip in front of her and on her as she walked to the car). Claire was crying and Eli was trying to comfort her. I let them in the car and started nursing Claire while I found out the rest of the story.

Claire was having a hard time keeping up so Eli decided to give her a piggy-back ride. BAD IDEA! He started running and fell. Claire took a tumble and landed head/face first on the ground. It gave her a bloody nose which was slightly crooked and road rash on her head. OOPS!

Everyone felt bad about what happened and we had a good discussion about choices and consequences.

Gangstas

One evening I was fixing dinner and the children were playing. I turned around and saw Claire come in wearing the shorts Eli had on for the day, a muscle shirt of Eli's, and a hat. I thought, "how cute." Then Emily came walking through the kitchen wearing a pair of Eli's shorts, a muscle shirt, and a hat. Finally, Eli came through with shorts, shirt, and hat. They were very pleased with themselves. They said they were a gang. I just thought they were funny. Silly kiddos!

Happy, Happy Halloween

This was one of the best Halloween nights ever. I picked the children up from school and then we went to Brett's work. The children went from cubical to cubical and got way too much candy. After that we went to the mall and they all danced. Following the dancing at the mall, Brett and I sat in the center court while the children went around trick-or-treating. When we were done there, we took one of Caleb's friends with us and went and picked up another friend. We went to Arby's and got some sandwiches, came home, ate "dinner," and then gave the children a safety lecture, ie. stay together, don't go in anyone's house or car, don't eat any candy until you get home, don't run across the street, say thank you, etc.

Finally, we sent them out the door - all six of them, with a cell phone and a, "Have Fun!" wish. Brett and I were home alone!

They took Claire to about 10 houses and then brought her back so they could go to more houses and not worry about her. She sat on a stool in front of the door and watched for visitors.

When the children got home, they dumped their candy in the middle of the floor, and then we sorted it. Brett was the most excited. He was giddy. Halloween is his favorite holiday of the year.
After the sorting the children went upstairs and started throwing their glow bracelets off of the banister. Brett made a game of it and started giving away candy and then he even put a $5.00 bill out and told them if their bracelet landed on the money - it was theirs.

In the middle of the game, one of Caleb's friend's mom came to get her. The mom and little brother joined in the game and tried to win the money.

I think they were worn out. Everyone except Claire fell asleep in the living room. It was a great evening.

Caleb asleep with a bag on his head - I don't know why.

Eli asleep on the couch.

Emily fast asleep.

7th, 8th, 9th, & 10th

7th of 7...

Emily, taken April 2005.

8th of 8...

Claire - taken April 2006

9th of 9...

My granpa, aunt, cousin, and uncle.

10th of 10...

Picture of Claire while Brett and I were in Mexico. February 2007.

5th of 5 and 6th of 6

I can't do the 5th of 5 because it only has two items in there. So, her is the 6th of 6.

This picture was taken in April of 2004. This is Eli on his brand new bike. I have a hard time believing he was that little.

3rd of 3

This is Emily posing in her winter boots and her dance outfit - April 2006. Her boots were her shoes of choice because she could get them on and off very easily.

2nd of 2

This is one of Caleb's pictures. He went on a canoe trip this past summer and had a couple of pictures to burn ( I sent him with a disposable waterproof camera), so he took a picture of a building at the Nature Center.

1st of 1

Here I go. We'll see what we come up with, and how far I can go before I get called off.

This is Claire on her 4th birthday. I think I miss the long hair. I do, however, love the short hair.

4th of 4

My sister did this and I thought it was cute. Here's what you do...take the 4th picture from your 4th folder in your My Pictures and post it. I might even do the 1st of 1st and the 2nd of 2nd, etc. I wasn't sure what I would find. Anyone who wants to do this can do it!

These are our hermit crabs. Several summers ago the children really wanted a pet. I had them do a "research" project to find out the cost and maintenance of a bunch of different pets. We finally decided on hermit crabs for cost and convience. I don't remember all of their names. I just asked Caleb and he reminded me. They are Sand, Harry, and Marco. They were good pets.