The Day Before Luke and Sarah's Wedding

Relaxing in the hotel room before the rehearsal dinner.  The boys had just gone swimming in the pool and were pretty wiped out I think.  Also, none of us got much sleep on this trip because of the odd hours traveling and staying up late, but it was definitely worth it!

Brothers at the rehearsal.  Luke is on the left and Jonathan on the right.  My two little bros...I love 'em and it was so good to see them.  Jonathan was best man.

Love birds at the rehearsal dinner.

This wedding in New Jersey was the first time all of siblings had been together I think since our wedding, which was 12 years ago.  In past weddings/reunions, it seems there was always someone missing.  Such a great time seeing all of my siblings and other family!

Our Time in DC (three weeks ago)

Evelyn posing on the bed in the DC hotel room.

Lounging on the bed in the DC hotel room...loving life as a temporary only child...

Out to eat with Evie

Max and his two commanders (current and former), both supported him (squadron paid for it) in ELDP for the past year.

Dressed up for the graduation at the Arlington Westin hotel.

Evelyn talk

Evlelyn says "yes" to curly hair and
"no thank you" to going in the pool.  She's afraid of water at this point in her life.  This was in a hotel room in DC when Max and I and Evie were there for Max's graduation from ELDP.

12th Anniversary pictures

Max broke his arm the day before our anniversary, so this is the next weekend when Gramma Shell was around to watch the kids.  Thanks Gramma Shell!

Can you get much cuter than this?

Fun with Ducks in the Pool...

Benaiah imagining roast duck for dinner...

JB swimming with a duck...

Getting ducks out of the water.  I like the splashes and water droplets...and Benaiah's face.

At a near-by small-town amusement park...

Evie near the go-karts.  She only got to watch...

I really like this picture of JB and I'm not really sure why...

JB having A LOT of fun with his Dad on the go-karts.  JB also loved the bumper cars, but I didn't get a picture of that.  Gloria made three new friends (her "best" friends...for the day:0)) and went on the rides.  Benaiah had a blast too.  They all did surprisingly well on all the spinny-rides, no puking:0).  Evelyn did go on a couple of rides in my lap and didn't enjoy them much...

Max got up Evelyn before leaving for work...

Kitten Compound...the birth and getting bigger

Pregers...who knew she had 7 in there!  She did get pretty big, now she's skinny again.

Birthing the kittens...at first I thought she only had three, but she kept popping them out and I concluded that she had 6.  About a week later I was able to count them better and discovered she actually had 7!  What a nice number...

Maybe a bit overwhelmed...this was when she was shaking, which I remember from my labors, so I wasn't too concerned.

I'm so glad she decided to have her kittens right in our breezeway (between the kitchen and the garage in a semi-outdoor area).  This is where Gramma Shell and the kids set up a box for her a couple of months ago in hopes that she would choose to have her kittens close by.

Nursing/sleeping time.  Good thing she has 8 nipples.

10 days old!

The tiger-striped one is the only one of its kind in her litter.  The others are either mostly grey or black.

About 3 weeks old!  They are getting cuter and more playful.  Sleeping less, still making their mom tired and more skinny.  They are starting to wander around the breezeway more and "run" to the kids sometimes when they come out of the house.  One doesn't seem to have a voice because it doesn't meow when it opens it's mouth.

Evelyn and a Kitty, Almost Ready to Pop

Ready to Pounce

Buds

We knew she was pregnant, but we didn't know she was carrying seven kittens...

Evelyn happy to be out and about with the kitty trailing her.

The chicks when they were still peeps...

Their brooder box.  It was convenient having them right in the backyard.  A little messy, but easy to water and feed them.  We got 24 chicks.  Later we got 5 ducks, but one duck died.

We got a variety of chicks, including 4 guineas, which are really big now and getting bigger.

Evelyn was the only one allowed to go all the way in the brooder box (with adult supervision).  She was actually able to catch a chick back then, now they are way too fast.

Petting a Left-behind Calf

 This calf was just on the other side of the barbed wire fence from our property.  I saw it laying with a cow next to it in the morning.  Then in the evening I went for a run and the calf was still there but the mama had left.  Max and I and the kids went to check it out and the calf could not get up and walk, but still cute and fun to pet.  We called our neighbor who owns the cows to the northeast of us and he came out and got the calf.  The mama had left the calf because the calf had a bad hip and could not walk.  The kids named her Charlotte (don't even know if it was a boy or girl).  Now Charlotte is wobbling around with the other cows and doing fine after being nursed backed to health and put back with its mom.  I'm glad the kids can get cool experiences like this.

Older Fishing Pictures

 Gloria with her Barbie fishing pole and Benaiah with his Cars fishing pole.

This was one of the colder fishing days.  The kids and I never caught a fish, Max always caught them, but we still had a good time outdoors and trout is one of my favorite fish to eat!

 Evelyn curious about trout.

Fishing in February in Oklahoma