Sunday, October 3, 2010

Where Did September Go?!

Good question!  Take a look and see ...



The girls LOVE hanging out with their friends:  Lillian, Joel and Caleb!!





Lillian recently started taking piano lessons!  She loves her teacher, Mrs. Romportl.  Lillian is doing an excellent job!





A couple weeks ago we attended a nearby Apple Festival.  Here the girls are learning what life was like before washing machines.  Thank you, Lord, for automatic washers and dryers!! 





Daniel taking his little date out on the town  :)





This was taken right before heading downtown to our Fall Festival (different from the Apple Festival!)...





... digging in the sawdust for money ...





... showing off their balloon creations made by Lillian's piano teacher's son (small world!)!





Reading to her little sister





After 3 weeks of Lillian practicing piano on a sheet of paper (I drew a life-size keyboard for her!), she finally got to practice on the real deal!  My DEAR brothers and parents hauled my mom's piano to our house and managed to make it up all our steps without ANY injuries (Daniel helped, too!)!





Almost there!!






Success!!  Lillian loves playing on her new piano...





... and so do her sisters!





Four future pianists!  HA!





After I took that last picture of the girls sitting at the piano, it reminded me of this picture!  So I dug out the picture from a scrapbook and took a picture of it (we don't have a scanner)!  Dan (aka: "Boy"), me, and Mike (aka: "Buckey") from back-in-the-day... 1982ish.  Cute!





Rachel: "Boy, I sure wish Lillian would finish up school so we could go outside and play!" ...





... "YIPPEE!  We made it!!" 





We took our first "Field Trip" to Underwater Adventures at the Mall of America.  They were having a super great discount for home schooling families, so we took advantage of it!!  Grandma Lucy came along as a chaperone!





Lillian finding Nemo  :)





Rebecca found a little creature 





Fascinated by the jelly fish





A girl (well, in this case, 6 girls) can't go to the Mall of America without hitting up a few stores, right?!  I caved in and let the girls get a little something at American Girl.  That store is way too tempting! 





Rachel helping out her big sister with some schoolwork





Some fun pictures of our four giggling girls...























Today Daniel was busy working outside all day, so... Lillian put up signs all around our house for Daddy  :)  The girls sure do love their daddy!





I had a last minute idea of getting some pumpkin pictures today.  It was such a beautiful fall day.





Here is their personal clown at work, helping to get them to smile for the pictures...





Too cute!





I can only imagine what their clown is doing here...

















Lillian took this picture (I did a little cropping to center it, otherwise, not too bad!)





There goes that clown again!!











Chuckle being silly...





... there's that smile we love!!

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Happy October!!






Friday, August 20, 2010

Rebecca's 3!!

Rebecca is THREE!!  She had such a fun birthday filled with lots of smiles, giggles and Dora!



About a year ago Rebecca received some Dora hand-me-down pajamas from friends.  Ever since then she's always liked Dora!    




She reminds me of Dora -- full of energy and always ready to explore!  She even looks a little like Dora...




Her first ever Dora doll!!




Thank you Grandpa & Grandma Birx!




Grandma Lucy made Rebecca her very own Dora blanket  :)



Happy Birthday to you...
Happy Birthday to you...



Happy Birthday dear Rebecca...



Happy Birthday to YOU!!
We Love You, Rebecca Lynn!!!  :)



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Last weekend my parents went to a nearby threshing show with us.  What a fun and MUDDY time we had! 






It rained the night before...




Watching the men work the thresher



So many tractors (and so much mud!)




Having fun milking a cow




Showing off their little trinkets from the blacksmith




After a long, hard day's work



Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Rachel's ONE!!

Hard to believe that our little Rachel turned ONE already on Saturday!  I've always been amazed at how much babies change in their first year of life.  They go from being totally innocent and helpless to crawling (and sometimes even walking!) and feeding themselves all in only 12 months!  Rachel IS crawling and scooting around on her bottom a lot these days -- trying hard to keep up with her 3 big sisters!  She also likes to "talk" and smile with her cheesy 6-tooth grin  :)  We all absolutely LOVE Rachel to pieces (and sometimes I think she's going to fall to pieces after her sister are done lovin' on her!)!!



 
I kept with tradition and made a "bear" cake for her 1st birthday.  Rachel got a ballerina bear!









I think Rachel liked her bear!




She was being so silly...



What a goof!



The big birthday girl



She wasn't quite sure what to do with her cake!



Happy FIRST Birthday Rachel!!
We love you!!




Thursday, June 24, 2010

Family Trip (part 1)


Here starts our 2 week vacation out to see Daniel's family in Maryland.  We took a few days along the way to see some sites with our girls before heading to West Virginia to go camping.  We camped with Daniel's brothers, cousin, and parents for 5 days and then headed over to Maryland where we stayed with Daniel's parents for a week.  I've created 6 blog posts to cover our entire trip.  We had such a great time!  Here are ALL the pictures to prove it --




Our first stop was in Chicago at the Legoland Discovery Center.  That giraffe was made entirely out of Legos!









The Chicago skyline made out of Legos




Daniel, Abigail and Indy




We watched a 4D movie -- I guess Rebecca didn't want to watch it in 4D!




Daniel and Lillian about to start their ride




Abigail sending her Lego car down the track




Lillian's turn




Rebecca cheering on Lillian's Lego car 




We drove by the Willis Tower (formerly known as the Sears Tower) and spotted the lookout windows that stick out from the building located near the top.  They are made entirely out of glass -- floors, walls, ceiling -- not something I plan on visiting any time soon! 


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We also went to Mammoth Caves in Kentucky.  It is the longest known cave system in the world with 370 miles of known passageways! 




Here we are about to enter the unknown...




We went on a 2 mile tour that took about 2 hours.  The girls were a little worried at first but quickly decided that they liked it!  It was a nice 54 degrees in the caves.




This area was called "Fat Man's Misery" -- I think you can tell why!




Daniel said I should never dress the girls the same again!  He got tired of ALL the comments from by passers!  They do look pretty cute though if I say so myself!




What a rough life...