We fished, we grilled, we gobbled...

The twins have been fascinated by the idea of fishing since they saw it on one of the cartoons they like to watch. But with no fishing paraphernalia, or real fishing experience what's a mother to do?

   The answer: Rainbow Ranch

So Tuesday we packed up the kids, invited the cousins and made a day of it. They supply the bait, tackle and four stocked ponds. It really is a little unfair to the fish.
 

They clean the fish for ten percent of your bill, and since I have no clue what to do with a whole fish, I happily let them do it. Watching the man clean the fish was fascinating, he regaled us with fish stories and other interesting info. We brought home eight beautiful fish. I marinated them and grilled for dinner and they were delicious. I can't wait to go back again!

Sweet Saturday

A Close Shave...

Speckle has been getting so many sores and hot spots lately, we decided to have her shaved. We dropped her off at Petsmart to have it done. She also had her nails clipped and her stinky ears cleaned. We were going to have her whole body shaved but there were some sores on her ears that we hadn't noticed, so they didn't shave her head. We thought she might look like a rat but she doesn't. This is what she looks like:

                                                  Before

                                              After

She looks more like a puppy now but not a rat. Hopefully her coat will be easier to take care of !

    

Baby Esther is Born!

 Our baby sister was born on the 5th! ( Our Dad's birthday!)
Unfortunately the birth had to be an emergency c-section. Our mom was induced on the 4th and she was having contractions and then (we think) she had a uterine rupture. She was in a lot of pain and had to be given 3 units of blood after and surgery.

Esther was without oxygen for about 16 minutes after the uterus ruptured and because of that had to be given oxygen and went through cooling treatment for 72 hours.
The cooling treatment helps reduce any brain damage that might of occured, because of the lack of oxygen. Her treatment went well and we are praying that there are no serious problems.
Esther is breathing on her own, she is moving all her limbs, sucking on a pacifier and at this point we can't tell if and how much damage was done. Our Mom was able to try breast feeding today with Esther and within twenty seconds Esther latched on and started sucking! They will be doing a MRI, Monday on her brain. (Later on an ear and eye exam.) It has been a difficult, faith growing, experience and God has given us much hope and comfort. Our mom was in a lot of pain and is slowly recovering from the rupture and surgery.

God has been so good to us and we are so blessed to have our precious baby Esther!
Our friends and family have given us lots of support and prayers, which helps so much.
We keep counting all the beautiful blessings God has showered upon us through this trial.

  Commit everything you do to the Lord.
      Trust him, and he will help you.
                 Psalm 37:5

This bible verse has been a great reminder to our family. This is a true statement of our faith.
With every situation we should commit to Him, trust Him with the results, and He will help us.

Our trip to Florida... Part 2

After the girls's friends' house, we drove to our resort. It was pretty late in the evening and we were feeling pretty blah. But the next morning was fresh and bright. We were ready to SWIM! The resort had seven pools and a big lazy river.  We ended up swimming almost every day.

On Thursday, we went to the beach instead of the pool- finally! We decided to go to Cocoa Beach which was  a little more than an hour away. The kids had a good time playing in the waves.                                                                                 

                  

There were a lot of dead jellyfish.

                                             It was fun but- oh the sand! It stuck to everything. Thankfully there were showers. And bathrooms. Pretty good for seven dollar parking. We ate a delicious lunch of sandwiches and grapes there.



                                  Another neat thing was a sky writer. It was near enough so we could see it from our resort.

                    

                                                   We left our resort on Sunday and spent the whole day driving home. Boy, were we sick of the car when we finally arrived. In spite of the fun, we all glad to be home. The whole thing was a relaxing vacation.

         

Our trip to Florida... Part 1

We got back this Sunday from our trip to Florida! Our trip was quite relaxing overall and we swam everyday at the resort that we stayed at.

We decided to take a two day drive to Kissimee Florida which worked out well.  Saturday (Sept. 4th) we drove most of the day and stopped at a hotel for the night. The only down side to hotels is having to be so careful about bed bugs. But thankfully we didn't have any extra tagalongs. There was a beautiful sunset when we were driving to get dinner (at Crackerbarrel). It was MUCH more beautiful in real life.

On Sunday we went to visit Abby and Maggie's pen pals that they have met twice at our house. We had a fun visit with them including a yummy lunch, super fun jeep ride in the woods, and a rescue of a baby squirrel. They live in the country and there seems to be much excitement at their house.

 The girls took a jeep ride with their friends and their friend's father which felt really fast (even though they were only going about 20 mph)! Later mom, dad, and the boys took another one which was a little more of a "safe" ride.

                                                           The sweet baby squirrel

                                               Mina, Maggie, Marelle, Abby, and Leah
 

                                            Click back to see the part 2 of our vacation! 
                                   

                                           

Fun without Naps,Rocks!

I really liked having the sand box on the porch for the ease of monitoring the boys' activities. But I really did not like all the sand getting walked into the house. So this week the sand was replaced with pea gravel. They like it just as well as sand and I like it because now I don't have sand on the bottom of my feet! The rock box will work as the weather gets cooler too. Unfortunately, the water table only works while it is warm. The twins have spent at least a hour playing on their water table everyday. But fear not I have one more idea that will work in any weather. To be posted soon.

My Grandma

We had a surprise visit from my Grandma on Tuesday. It's hard to believe she is 98. She was stopping by on here way to Walmart. Yes, she still drives. I have so many fond memories of her reading to me as a little girl. Here she is reading, The Little Engine that Could, to Sam and Joe.

We are so blessed to be able to see her every week. We take piano lessons from a lady in her neighborhood. So we hang out with her while the girls practice. The boys are always so excited when I tell them we are going to see her. I want to be just like her when I grow up!

Trip to the Tree Farm

We took our yearly trip to the tree farm today. The place we go is in Lawrenceville and they have goats you can feed, a hay ride, and free hot chocolate and animal crackers. We love cutting our own tree and its nice to support a local family business. Plus it's lots of fun!



Our tree freshly cut.

Hayride!

Joe feeding the goats.
Sam feeding the goats.

Reformation party

Left to right Abby, Maggie, and Leah and in back Martin Luther and Pope Leo.



We went to a reformation party at our church on Friday. They had game booths and we all dressed up in Medieval costumes. We dressed as Serfs or Peasants. They also had a table with a bunch of German food to sample. It was quite enjoyable.

New Portraits

Today we went for our yearly portrait session. We have been going to Target and I was happy with the results, but last year they were not as good. So we tried a new place this year Portrait Innovations. They did a great job and it was much more relaxing. Plus you get the portraits 30 minutes after the session. Of course as always I spent more than I planned. Here are a few of the photos. I'm sure you can't blame me!

Sister Sunday

Dinner on the Patio

Last night we enjoyed our dinner outside after some workers came and built a railing and fence around our patio. We are thankful to the Lord for such a luxury!

Yee! Haw!

We had an exciting evening on Friday. We went to a fund raiser for the home school program that the girls attend on Mondays. It was a BBQ and square dance. It was held at the home/estate of one of the families from the school. We ate BBQ catered by J.R.s and danced the night away. They even had real plates, flatware, and cloth napkins. We don't usually eat out at places that fancy.
Mommy, Leah, Abby, Maggie, Grandma, Mattie & Elizabeth all squared up!


Grandma and Abby


Leah and Mattie


Frick's and Bevin's at dinner

Baby Six on the Way!

We are pleased to officially announce the exciting news that we are expecting our sixth child. After the birth of Maggie 10 years ago, Sherri had a tubal ligation. We decided to have it reversed after much thought and prayer in August of 2006. We got pregnant with twin boys a week after surgery. We never dreamed that God would bless us so richly and so quickly.

The boys are now 18 months old, and we are amazed and grateful to God for this new addition. He or she should be born the first week of May. (10 weeks down, only 30 to go!)

Libby's party

We went to our cousin Libby's 4th birthday on Saturday
here is a picture of her cake and her all dressed up.
( It was a princess party.)