cousins and sunshine :)

Here is Carissa, Noah, and Micah on their bikes. Joey is pushing the lil car coupe. He doesn't ride in it (unless being pushed) which I think is funny. But he'll push it around everywhere! In the distance you can see cousin Alex on a scooter!
Cousin Matthew is giving Josiah a ride in the coupe! He'd take off running and Josiah would just laugh and hold his feet up!

Classic youngest child - Josiah trying desperately to be a big kid and keep up! He just can't quite swing that leg up and over the seat!

Eric - always a kid at heart! He played with the kids outside for over an hour. Katie and the boys had come over for the afternoon to hang out. Eric's stepbrother, is in Iraq and we miss him. Matthew made a comment to Katie that "Uncle Eric was kinda like a 2nd dad and he even has the same name as my dad too..." Aww man.. way to tug at those heart strings. We sure wanna do more together much more frequently!

Alex on Carissa's scooter! I took this for Erik B (bro-in-law) cuz I knew he'd be so proud of his boy riding in style!!! HA HA

Carissa...diva girl in pink. :)
Eric got a workout letting Joey practice slam dunks! Micah's in the foreground on his bike.

Kid's a playin! We looked like a daycare with 6 kids, 7 years old and younger, running around!! And between the 3 bikes, 1 scooter, 1 coupe car, 1 riding toy, and 2 baby strollers... there were many kinds of wheels to choose from!

Noah figured out how to use the dog leash to keep the top down so he had a cave like box. Ingenious kid and good with problem solving!

Earlier in the day the kids entertained themselves outside with some big boxes! They took crayons out and drew and wrote inside their boxes. I love cheap entertainment! :)

And can I just say again how much I love our backyard! Thanks God.. what a blessing!

The New Addition to our Family!

So... we are the proud new owners of a puppy!! Hooper is our black lab mix pup that we got last week. He was abandoned with his sister and locked up in a shed. He was discovered by some people that live not too far from us. They couldn't keep them so they put an ad out on craigslist! We went by to take a look at the 2 of them and came home with 1.

Hooper is about 7 weeks according to the vet. He's good and healthy, except for the lil mites that are living on him right now. He's got the meds for those now and should be good to go and "flake" free soon. He's a sweet dog - full of LOTS of energy but also so eager to please! He's adapting to our family well and the kids love him.

Tomorrow, Eric and I head out for a weekend away for just the 2 of us! Eric's mom, Pat, is going to come watch the kids AND Hooper for us. What an amazing blessing! So if you read this between now and March 31st say a prayer for Pat! She'll have her hands full. :)

I will update when we get home... hopefully with some cool pictures! We got a new lil camera and we're looking forward to taking some scenery shots this weekend while we're on the island!

WINDY March days

It is SO windy here today. The wind is just whistling through the valley! Carissa's hair proves it! :)
Joey's snotty nose proves it too!! He loves that basketball! I couldn't capture him in the crouched position like he's gonna throw it. But it is cute!
Sibs... what could be better?
He actually left the hat on while outside. Much to my surprise!

FAMILY FUN

Alexander (nephew) and Brea and her boyfriend, Matt.
Matthew and Noah got to play the Wii Lego Star Wars game. They were MORE than contented! HA HA
All the girls were doing our cheesy smiles and big eye routines :) Mom Bombard thinks were nuts!
We wanted Carissa in a picture with us... she was quite resistant, despite the smile you see on her face. It was in fact quite traumatic for her.... oh well.
The 4 sis-in-laws... from L-R: Brea, Charity, Katie, and Michelle
Brea and Michelle... sweet sistah's
Auntie Brea and Carissa. These 2 look so much a like to me.
Josiah was jumping off the couch to Auntie Brea. She's the "fun" adult in the house!! HA HA HA!
Michelle had her lap full! To the side of Michelle is her boyfriend, Luke.