August is Almost Over!

With all the excitement of starting school, I had to skip a few pictures last week. Here George is having a good time playing.

And an even better time in Dad's chair.

Becca is not to be out done in the cuteness department.

Patrick, still cute, seems to think he's too old for such silliness.

My beautiful children in a rare quite moment. They do really love and take care of each other.

On Monday while Pat was at school, George was overwhelmed with excitement.

Becca took the opportunity to play with her princess mat.

Here is some of the work Patrick has been doing at school. I love his peop





This is a note the teacher sent home the other day. I'm glad to read he's being a good boy.

Patrick really loves going to school and I love our morning walks to get there. The rest of us have adjusted to life at home without Pat, but the noise level jumps up again when he get's home.

Patrick's 1st Day of Kindergarten

This morning was Patrick's first day of Kindergarten. Per Grandma Jan's request, we took a picture in front of the door. I have no idea what Patrick is doing.

With George already in the stroller, I got a shot of the other two before we left.

Here Grandma Jan, a nice smile on his face NEAR the door.

You can tell he's thinking, "Enough with the pictures already Mom. Let's go!"

After a brief walk, we made it to school. We saw Sam and had to stop for a picture.

Here's Patrick next to his coat hook. He was ready to go by this point so the smile is not so great.

Back outside, Becca and George are ready to get home.

I'm so proud of Patrick. He went to school with a smile on his lips and excitement in his eyes. I just picked him up and he's hungrily eating lunch as I type. When I asked how his day was, he said "It was the best day EVER!" which he means every time.

Venia's Visit

Most of the Venias came to visit us last week. Here Becca, Clara and Pat are all dolled up for church.

George was later pulled in.

Liam was looking pretty spiffy himself.

George enjoyed not wearing pants for awhile.

After church the race track was out and the games were on. There is a lot of back lighting in these pictures, sorry.

Liam was busy with the cars but Clara gave me a big grin.

Becca too.

The boys stayed focused on the cars


Grandma and Grandpa also made the journey to our house. Its just too bad they don't enjoy their grandkids.


We went to the hotel to swim and Becca managed to wack her chin on the side of the pool. If these pictures look familiar, Patrick gave himself a similar injuring in May 2010. Don't worry, she's fine.


Thanks for all those who came to visit. It was great to see you all.

Welcome to August

As some of you know, when our oldest niece turned 7 (March 2010) she asked her parents if she could donate her lovely hair to help kids who had lost theirs. Erin's selflessness made me decided to do the same. Last Saturday, my hair was finally long enough to donate. Here is the before front shot.

And from the back.

Here I am after the cut. I didn't get a picture of the hair because I took it right to the post office and mailed it to Pantene's Beautiful Lengths.

Here the kids climb on Dad. What a beautiful family I have!


Yesterday we took George's 18 month pictures (coming soon) and Becca needed a family picture for school. Mike was trying the light on the swing and voted against it.

We then moved to the steps, which had better lighting.

What a nice family.

I hope you enjoyed our pictures. Patrick starts Kindergarten next week so there will be more pictures soon.

Paint Job

For those of you who've never seen our house or simply didn't notice the paint, this post is not very exciting. For the rest of you, doesn't our house look great?

The transition from the house to the garage was one of the worst parts.

Here is the bay window on the east side of the house. After our neighbor cut down the tree in the front, you could really see how bad the house looked.

The east side of the garage with some of the new siding Mike put up in June.

The upper west side of the house needed a lot of scraping.

Here you see the rest of the new siding behind the tree.

The upper back side. I feel sorry for the guys who climbed up there in the heat to paint. Don't worry, the double doors are going to be replaced.

The east side from the back of the house.

The house looks great and it only took 4 days for the three college kids to paint it. Sorry there are no pictures of the kids in this post.

July Catch-Up

Today is our 8th anniversary. I'm celebrating at home while Mike is in Kansas. As part of the festivities, I thought I'd post some pictures from the past month.
After the 4th, Grandma Jan sent home all the fixin' for s'mores. So we tried roasting on the stove (don't try it, they don't taste nearly as good) and enjoyed the messy treat.


Here Becca is wearing my shirt from 1980-something.

When Grandma was down here a couple of weeks ago, she let the kids do her hair.

George took a ride on his favorite horse, Dad.

George can't have all the fun so Becca and Pat decided to join in.

My Hatton men.

Becca tried on my glasses from middle school the other day. She looks like Sally Jessy Raphael.

I recently let George try a folk and he doing pretty well. Please note it's in his LEFT hand. His lefty mother is very proud.


Please keep some friends in your prayers, the Godlewski and Jenkins families. Both are fighting cancer, the first breast and the second possible leukemia (2nd grader). I can't begin to imagine what these families are dealing with right now and thank God for our health with every breath.