Family Gathering

Here are a few (well, more than a few....) pictures from our family gathering that we had in TX earlier in the month - most of them taken at the Ft. Worth Zoo. I think I've already said this, but Michael is 1 of 8 kids - "Brady Bunch" style. All but one sibling was able to be at Pat and Jim's home in Ft. Worth. Nine grandkids were present (plus one on the way). And, three grandkids were not able to be there. Not a bad turnout for such a big family. You can imagine that a gathering like this is never quiet or dull. :)

Sarah and Katie

Dalton and Andrew - the boys are 7 days apart.

Joshua and Sarah

DeAnn's boys

Cousins

Most of the crew.

"Is this thing a two-seater?"

Tomato sauce = shirtless dining!

Andrew with Aunt Janet

Girl cousins and Katie's B-Day cake

Got milk?

M.I.A.

Wow! Life has kept me away from blogging lately. :) It might take a few posts to catch up. Our kids unfortunately caught whatever bug was going around town the same week Michael lost his mom- which definitely made for a long week. I stayed back with the kids while Michael went to Fargo for the funeral. Ironically, the last time we went to Fargo (to adopt Andrew) was the last time that Sarah was really sick. She had a high fever the day Andrew was born and we didn't have a choice but to travel with a sick child. This time we opted to let the kids stay home and mend. Andrew never ran a fever, but had a lot of upper respiratory congestion. Sarah ran temps of more than 104 degrees for nearly 3 days and then remained lethargic and irritable for several days after the fever broke. You know you have a sick puppy when a toddler tucks herself in bed during the day and wants to go to bed at 6:30pm.

Not even Dora could make her smile with a 104.3 temp.

A raw nose and chapped cheeks.....

Last week we traveled to Texas for a family gathering. All but one of Michael's siblings were at his parent's house (there are 8 kids between Pat and Jim). I think there were 10 grandkids there. We took a ridiculous amount of pictures, so that'll have to wait until another post.

Out for a cold, but sunny winter's walk.

Over the weekend, Andrew turned 10 months old. In a matter of a week or two he learned how to do many things including: Get into and out of a crawling position from/to a sit, pull up on some things, cruise some things, clap his hands, use the more sign to request more gram crackers, and my personal favorite - pester his sister. :) He still isn't crawling on hands and knees, but he is getting around just fine using the low crawl. He has officially become an "ankle biter." Andrew has also become a regular chatter box. We hear "dada" all the time, but no "mama" yet. Every time I suggest to him that he should say "mama" he cracks up. He also is experimenting with making lots of other sounds. Sarah is also becoming quite the chatter box around the house. We started speech therapy and I think it is really going to be a great help. She is much more willing to try new words and request the things she wants.

cruise control

pulling up

The reward for using the potty.....toilet paper.

bed head

In Memory....

Michael wrote a really nice piece on his blog about his mother, Doris, whom he lost last week. I hope you'll take the time to read it. I'm sure many families can speak to the complexities Michael addresses in his post. Michael left one thing out in his post that is incredibly touching -Michael was the pastor that officiated his mother's funeral.