South Dakota

While in South Dakota for the funeral, we got snowed in. Jude had not yet seen snow. He has now!

The wall of snow outside on the deck. Can you believe it?

Kate and her cousin Bryanna. So nice to reconnect!

My handsome son with Aunt Dona. It was lovely to see her again.

More of my handsome son all dressed up.

Christmas in Houston

Pictures from Easter Sunday

We spent Easter Sunday in Houston with family. This was the first holiday since my father-in-law passed away, so it was nice to be together.

So much fun!

We were so excited to have my Mom, my sister, Amber and her 3 children, Madison, Isaac and Hannah come to visit us. We had a wonderful time! The 9 days went by WAY to quickly. Each day was full to the brim. Amber has documented it so well on her blog that I will just let you check it out. Why reinvent the wheel? :-) I will post some of my pictures.

Jack and Madison are within 1 year in age and best buds! They played non-stop!

Sand, sun and family - what more can you ask for??

Mary and Isaac - 2 months apart had a love - hate relationship. MOSTLY love, though!

Isaac, Madison, Jack, Kate and Mary

That wave was too close!

You can see by the wet sand that the water hit them and Jude looks none too happy about it!

Jude and Hannah are 9 days apart. I hope they will be as close as Jack and Madison. They get along well so far. What cuties!

Sorry, Amber, for stealing your picture ( and a few others!) This was taken at "The Crab Trap" in Ft. Walton Beach, as was the one below. So much fun!

Amber, Madison,Isaac & Hannah

Grandma Mary with Isaac and Mary

Thank you Mom & Amber for driving 3 DAYS!! to come visit us! We really appreciate it. It was a lovely time. It was fun to get to know my nieces and nephew better. They change so quickly. They are sweet, funny children and I look forward to watching them grow.I so, so wish that we were all neighbors. What fun we would have! Oh well, we will have to be satisfied with some great visits and nearly daily talks! I can't wait until the next time you come down, but I guess, it is my turn now!

The end of the road

More solitaire.......
Poor Mary, she was pretty miserable! On the last leg of the journey (Chicago to New Orleans), we sat in front of a couple from Fargo. They were continually commenting on the kids behavior, so when Mary started to get near meltdown mode, I warned the lady of what might be coming. This was an shortly before the very end and she replied, "Well, I'm about ready for a meltdown too, so you better put us both in the naughty chair!" They were a very fun couple. Made the trip more enjoyable!
I could not have made this 2 day trip without my helper, Kate. She was indespensable!

After 2 full days, it felt mighty good to get off the train. We had passed through 8 states, eaten endless snacks and endured a 5 hr layover in Chicago Union Station (Fun! Not!!) The kids were awfully glad to see Daddy - almost as glad as I was!

All in all, I think the trip went well and I'll be ready for another go at it in a year or so! Maybe.

The long road home cont.

Jude did well. He also had a cold and looked pretty rough. He would scoot back and forth between our two seats. He loved looking out the window.
Like I mentioned, Mary was not feeling well. This was her first attempt to smile.
Better!

The long road home.

We had a wonderful time on our visit with friends and family. It was great to see so many different family members. I love visiting ND. I love being in a small town. I love the wide open spaces of the praire. I just wish it could have been longer. What I wish most of all is that it wasn't 1800 miles from us! But,well, it is and we did have to leave. Here are pics of the long train ride home.
The kids love Amtrak! They can play games (Jack was playing solitaire), walk around, lay down to sleep, not have to sit in a car seat. Lots of fun! Well, at least for the first day. Two days gets a bit long!

Mary had fun playing with her toys on the floor or seat. She did pretty well inspite of having a very bad cold. Oh, yes, I'm sure we were a big favorite with the other passengers! Traveling by myself with four young children did get attention continually, but, thankfully, people always commented that the kids were doing so well, were well-behaved etc. Thank the Lord! It was long for me but it could have been worse.

And more.....

Kate (mine) and Aunt Karmen. At 16, Karmen is a big hit with all her nieces and nephews!
Lia (Levi's) and Violet (Bekah's) having fun. They are only 5 months apart.
It is such a challenge to get a good picture of everyone! My sister, Amber took much better ones and posted them on her blog (see my list of favs) In between naps, bedtime and who knows what else, it is always hard to gather them all at the same time.

More cousin pics.....

The birthday girl Chloe (Levi & Rachel's)

Cousins and friends, Lily (Laura & Joey's) and Abby (Bekah and Dale's)

Little Mr. Man, Eli (Levi's)

Little cutie, Lia (Levi's youngest)

Cousins cont.

It was such fun to watch the deer each morning. We counted 11 one day! They would come right into the yard and lay around like pets.

Jack, Madison, Ruby, Isaac, Kairan, Abby, Mary, Viotet, Jude, and Kate.

Here you can see what they were watching. Three mule deer in plain site and more lurking nearby.

Mealtime got rather crazy when everyone was together .Here we were missing more than half of the kiddoes.

Cousins, cousins!

I am very happy to come from a big family. We love to get together, though it happens too seldom now that we are spread across several states. The grandchildren total 20 at last count. Pretty impressive when you consider that the oldest is not quite 11. All but one (Jesse & Julie's Ira) made it up for this visit. I think Grandpa & Grandpa might be glad we don't all live in the same town with them! It was great fun for all the cousins. A bit hectic, as you can imagine, but great fun over all! Each morning my Mary (3) would wake up and say "Let's go see the cousins" Pictures will follow as I am having trouble adding them to this post.

Sweet Home....North Dakota?

This is our second winter in the sunny Gulf Coast. It is at this time of year that we are especially thankful the the Lord has brought us to where it rarely dips below freezing. Having spent the majority of our years in the Midwest where winters are filled with blizzards, shoveling snow, icy roads, and freezing extremities, we are still amazed whenever we can go outside in short sleeves this time of year. That being said, I'm sure it will seem strange that I picked January to visit my family in North Dakota, but that is just the way it worked out. I'm not wild about sub zero temps, but ANYTIME is a good time to see family. Thankfully, we were blessed with great weather the whole 2 weeks. What a great time we had! I have to say, I fell in love with North Dakota again and maybe these photos will show you why.


The lovely view from the front yard. We were excited to get some snow!
The backyard view was just as good!
Nothing like a North Dakota sunset!! Really!
My camera definitely does not do it justice.