A lot can change in a year...

First day of school, Fall 2010


Last day of school, 10 months later...

Our newest addition

No, I'm not pregnant, and I didn't have a baby. (The baby factory is closed!!)

But, our family did grow a bit in the last few weeks. We got a dog. Her name is Dusty. She's an older lab, older than we were originally told in fact, but so far she's a great dog. She's well trained, great with the kids and she completely ignores other animals. She wasn't living in the best circumstances, the previous owners couldn't keep her anymore, and she was living in a back yard of an empty house. So, because I can't seem to let any critter or small child suffer, we talked to the owners, Jeff took a day off work and went and got her. (Did I mention she lived 500 miles away? Luckily the owners met Jeff halfway.)

I'll miss you!

The last week has been a challenging one for me. On Monday I found out that my Grandma Ruby had passed away. She was sick, so it wasn't a total surprise, but it's still hard. It stirs up a lot of stuff for me as she was my Dad's mom. I swear sometimes that I miss my dad more, not less, as time goes on. I can't believe it's been almost 5 years that he's been gone. Anyway, I wanted to talk about Grandma Ruby. She was such a strong person. She had 6 kids in 7 years. She took care of everyone. When I was little, maybe 4 or 5 years old, Grandpa built them a house out in Surfside to retire in. It was at the end of a long dirt road. They'd lived there in a trailer first, an airstream. I remember stories of Grandma cooking in the trailer with the door hanging open. She came out of the back of the trailer to find a bear checking out her food. I guess she startled him though and he took off. The summer that Grandpa built their house, I remember when there was only a foundation there, and I got to go roller skate on the foundation. I thought that was the coolest thing ever. I remember going out in the woods behind their house and finding an old rusty coffee can full of army men. I thought I'd found a treasure, but really my older cousins had left it out there years before. Grandma didn't tell me that though, she just went along with letting me think I'd found some great treasure. :-) I could write all day, but I'm going to stop before I get myself all sad again. I know Grandma is in a better place now. And, she's got my dad, and Aunt Cathy, and Uncle Bill and Grandpa to keep her company...



I borrowed the picture from Grandma's facebook page... lol

Vacation!

I know, I know. You're all shocked that I'm posting again. Me too! :-)

We just got back from a visit to Portland to see my family. It was so nice to see everyone, but it was kinda sad that my sister wasn't around. It was weird to see my brother in law and the girls on their own, but it seems that they are mostly doing pretty well. I think in the long run they'll be so much better off. Sad. Okay the point of this was not to be sad. The point was to post some pics of the trip. Jeff went up with us for the first week. Unfortunately the weather wasn't great for the time he was there, so we didn't get to do a lot of outdoor stuff, but we still had fun! :-)


It's hard to get five kids to sit still and look at the camera simultaneously!


Having lunch at Grandma's office

Wordless Wednesday Turning Two

Go here and here for more Wordless Wednesday posts.

Look how small she was!

Disregard the blank look in my eyes, we had just got home from the hospital. She was only 6 days old.


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Mama and Yeah-yeah

Jeff took this of Amelia and I earlier today. I can't believe how quickly she's growing up. (If you click on the picture you can see it a little more clearly. I'm too lazy to upload and edit right now... )