Blessed Baby

How very fortunate I am to have such a loving family. Andrew, Caitlin, Miriam and Molly all came to Rexburg when we had our sweet baby blessed. DC and Anjelica were supposed to come also, but a wrench was thrown in the works so they weren't able to make it. Only one of Tom's siblings could come, Danny, and his famly also. Of course, my wonderful in-laws were there, as well as some very good friends. I know, we are so blessed to have so many great people in our lives who love us very much. Here are some pics from the weekend together.

Accident Prone

Poor Andrea. She is 2 years older than Sam, but she is a wisp. She's got great core strength for her size, but she's still very wispy. Sam weighs only a half pound less than she does. This may explain why Sam can walk up to her to hug her, then decide he wants to wrestle instead and down she goes--nothing she can do about it. It also becomes a problem when she happens to trip; again, nothing she can do but fall, it seems. Well there's a program for kids to have a free lunch for 2 months in the summer at the park. The kids had been wanting to go for a long time, so I finally took them a couple of weeks ago. Everything seemed to be going along fine, until we were getting ready to go. I unlocked the van so Peter and Andrea could get in, which they did, while I was saying goodbye to a friend who was about to move to Hawaii. Well, I heard a scream-cry and looked over to see my sweet "Andrina" holding her elbow and taking in a deep breath, ready for the next cry. It seemed that she had tried to get back out of the van and fell, or just plain slipped and fell after getting in and then ended up in the gutter and a little bit under the van. I figured we might have a fractured elbow or something, but when I moved her hand so I could look at it, I saw the blood. There was a big piece of concrete that had broken off of the curb and was in the gutter and it cut a slice just above the bend in her elbow. The only clean thing I had in the van to stop the blood was some dried up wipes, so that's what I used. It was just under half an inch wide, but it was deep enough to see the fat and muscle. So, she got four stitches and was very brave through the whole thing. The saddest part was when she finally looked down and saw the blood. She didn't do a total freak out, but she did look at the little puddle in her hand, and with wide eyes and tears said, "Mom, that's MY BLOOD!" I just said, "Yes, but you are alright, you're alright." She had bruises all down her shins and scraped up her knee pretty good, too.

That's not even the all of it...2 days after that, she and Peter were supposed to be cleaning up their room, right? Well, they were almost done when they decided to play with their bedroom door and Andrea got a little split on her forehead. It may have been a good idea to get one stich, but Thomas just pulled it together with medical tape. We're putting her in dance this Fall, so hopefully we will improve balance as well as strength...poor kid.

Happy Birthday, America

Here's my Fourth of July Family!

Pete got to be in the Fourth of July Parade down Main Street with his peewee ballroom team. The older kids were in it, too. Andrea was upset because she wanted to be in a parade also. We were having trouble getting to the parade in time, so we didn't sit at the first corner like we do every year. Instead we were a few blocks down, and when Pete got to us, they had just performed at the beginning of the block, then basically ran by us to the other corner of the block and started their routine again...that was very sad for me. However, my in-laws got there and sat in the usual place, so at least they got to see him do his thing. Here's the only picture we got of him as he is running by. He's the boy farthest to the right, in the front of the line.

We had Tom's parents over for dinner for steak (tube steak for the kids) and other yummies. I made a poke cake (for those of you who haven't ever had it, you make a yellow or white cake, let it cool for an hour, make gelatin--reducing the water by 1/2 cup--, poke your cake all over with a fork, then pour the gelatin all over the cake, chill for 2 hours and then you have poke cake! Top with whipped cream and/or fruit that goes with your flavor gelatin, or nothing at all!) and decorated it so that we had a "flag cake". Oh man, I love cold poke cake. I used cherry gelatin, though it was topped with strawberries Very tasty.

Aside from the fun stuff of the day, I really am grateful to a loving Heavenly Father that we have this country to live in, despite its many problems. I hope we can pull together as a nation by doing what we can to make this country great on an individual level and give thanks for what good we have.

Her Papparazzi & adoring fans

Baby & More

Pete had his last tball game today, so I finally got pictures of him playing. His last time at bat, his coach told him to try to hit right into the green. He told the coach he would hit all the way into the green and run home...and he did! Although, it may have been good to stop at third, but he did it. He's such a cute kid; then again, I think all 4 of my kids are cute, in general. :) It's been outside water weather, so the kids have been out a lot recently. Here's a couple of videos of the baby--the last one was seriously 5 minutes after the first one.