A "three/fer" one

There was a graduation at Mom's barbeque this past weekend. I surprised the girls by having some certificated printed for them. Here is Georgia (and her mom looking like a goof). She passed second grade!!
There are the graduates. Josie is a first grader now!!!
I'm so proud of you girls. You kept me busy and really gave me great satisfaction.

The three/fer as mentioned above was for Stacy and Brad's birthdays and Margie Sue's baptism. We are singign to Stacy. (You'd think we were singing to Emmy)

Pretty Stacy.

Now we are singing to Brad.

Stacy reading her cards. All of the kids LOVE to make cards.

As part of their graduation I brought along a box of important, impressive "stuff" that the girls did throughout the past year. Sort of like an open house.

A dirt eating Brendan giving me a BIG smile. I have never seen him do this before.

The kids broke out into a softball game. I wish I had watched to see just how exactly they managed to play with 4.

A Blessed Event; Margie Sue's Baptism

My Margie Sue was baptized today. She was really good. She smiled and acted like she was very happy with the decision.
An angel. We have used this gown for each of the girls. It was a gift from my Grandma and Grandpa Smith when Georgia was born.

Thanks Grandma B. for snapping some pictures for us!

Father Bryan enjoyed getting to know our Margie Sue. He said she was the cutest baby EVER!

The whole crew.

She is very fortunate to have great Godparents. Thank you Ben and Lori. Margie is in good hands! We love you. You are both very special people to us.

Stacy's birthday!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY STACY!!

Happy Birthday Babe!!

killdeer babies

We have hatchlings. Mama and Papa killdeer must be very proud.
Can you see the little baby lying down beside the unhatched egg?

She or He picked a great spot for their "nest". They are very camouflaged. Here is one running away from me.

This is where it was running. Mama screeched and the little bugger ran and hid it's head in this groundcover. Very well behaved!!

Later that day all but one were hatched. There were five eggs. The 4th baby was running around.

I keep looking for them as we drive down the driveway because the two parents are hanging around down there. We spot them every once in a while. Here is one in the creek.

Here is another. There are two to the left of center. We have counted all four which makes me very happy.

Here is the one I mentioned earlier about running around in the grass. It was so small it kept tripping on blades of grass. It's mom or dad was calling though and it was doing every thing in its power to get to him or her. What a joy it has been to watch them.!!

One of the eggs didn't hatch and the kids asked if they could look at it. I said "sure but be careful because the shell might be brittle" (something I have learned in the past!!). Sure enough they were bringing it in to show me and it cracked as soon as they got in. YUCK the stink- they couldn't believe it.

Our son / brother

We do have a son you know, and the girls a brother. This is a recent picture of Kebin we just received in the mail. He is our sponsor child from Guatemala. The girls refer to him as their big brother. He is getting quite handsome. We had another boy that we sponsored from Guatemala a few years ago named Merlin but he grew up, became as self sufficient as he could be, and was released from the sponsorship. We hope he is doing well. It is amazing to read about how little they live with. It really puts things into perspective and becomes a wonderful lesson for us all.

Ava is a graduate!

We had the pleasure of attending Ava's Kindergarten graduation yesterday. Here she is patiently waiting to be called.
Ava and her teacher when she received her certificate.

Here she is receiving her Phys. Ed. certificate....

....and here she is getting a bookmark from the library. Her class read over 1,100 books this year!!! Way to go!!!

After the graduation Stacy treated us to a picnic lunch at Tibbett's Point Lighthouse. Here are some of us in the fog horn house.

A magnificent day!

Here is the lighthouse. Isn't it beautiful?

The girls were very excited about looking through the telescope out over the lake so we hung around to make sure they could use it. When they did however, they didn't have much luck. I was holding Margie Sue and each of them were just short enough that I had to lift them up so that they could see more than the sky. If Georgia stood on her tippy tippy toes she could just see the horizon line. Needless to say Jenny couldn't hold each of them up there steadily for too long! Sorry girls! Thanks for the great day Stacy, Ava and Brendan!!

A wonderful father's day!

A wonderful daddy rubbing the sleep from his eyes because his girls just woke him up for breakfast in bed!
Look at Emmy looking at her Daddy.
Josie is proud of what she wrote.

Can you read that card. Josie wrote "Dear Daddy, I love you so so so so so so so.... much"

This daddy rocks so we made him some rocks.

Later we met up with the Greats, and some aunts and uncles for a picnic at Selkirk Shores.

Dad and three of his girls.

Margie Sue finally got to meet her namesake. I think she liked her Great Grandma and Grandpa.

Can you tell my mom is cold. It was really cold, almost unbearably cold. The wind was blowing like a minor hurricane and then it rained and then the sun came out. We made it through, and it was most definitely worth the discomfort.

You can't go to the beach without making a sandcastle.

Me and my Margie Sue. I wish I was looking up, and the baby wasn't so bundled. What a nice background.

After the picnic the party wandered down to the water for rock throwing fun.

Russell and Aunt Joann/Uncle Pat's Luke.

Rick soaking up the view.

What happened Georgia? Josie, Georgia and Kimberly.

Uncle Pat keeping everyone in line (or are you being kept in line by that lifeguard again? ;) )

Aunt Joann/Uncle Pat's Kimberly.

It looks like one of them had a nice throw. Isn't that moment cute?