slideshow is done!

it took me awhile. it took time to go through all the images and video and pick out my favorites. and then the music. i had the first two songs-but it wasn't until this week that i heard the 'my darling' song by wilco. it was the right choice-so i was able to finish this project.

 i can't thank the people who helped make this happen enough. i am so grateful to them for capturing these images that i will treasure forever. the story behind the operating room pictures is filled with drama. so thank you to jami combs who stuck by me through it all. thank you to angie mcdermed for shuffling her kids and schedules around so she could be at the hospital when grant, emily and anneliese first met ben. thank you to rebecca scheihing who drove all the way from oklahoma on the weekend after we brought him home. she was supportive and understanding (and an excellent photographer!) and without her we would not have had a photo shoot of us as a family so soon. and thank you thank you thank you to my amazing mom who took care of us the entire time and took pictures!

so happy 8 weeks to ben!
watch the slideshow here

a real father's day

june has been a dream life-especially compared to the craziness of may. bobby and i are both home with all the kids and enjoying going to the pool, library, and lots of hanging out at home. one night when bobby was at band practice i got the kids to change clothes and head up to the meadow for the annual father's day photo shoot-complete with balloons. we started off with 4 and did a count down as one popped, one flew away and one shriveled. anneliese was the only one with a balloon at the end. ben cried most of the time-i sat and fed him a few minutes at a time-trying to get him happy enough for the kids to hold him. at one point-i was sitting in the big wicker chair feeding ben while the other kids sat in chairs next to me. emily asked "why are we just sitting here" and grant replied "we are feeding ben" i loved that it was a group effort-and i stick with my philosophy that i would rather have real pictures than a 'perfect' picture. 

father's day was a real day too-bobby insisted that a day at home is all he wanted-but we made it to church and then out to his dad's for some fishing. in the middle there was a lunch that he served while i fed ben. i was apologizing that he was serving himself leftovers on fathers day. and like he always does he said it was his kind of perfect day. this is what being a dad is about he said. 

i love you :)

memorial day

summer is here. everyone is off from school-including me since i'm still on maternity leave. the weather has been fantastic and the kids (and i) have loved the break from getting up and getting out the door early in the morning. my mom came up to help out before memorial day since bobby had to go to wichita for the state track meet. we had a very nice couple of days here before heading down to oklahoma. the kids played in the water slide, did puzzles, made meals out of play dough and just had a great time being together. when i picked up grant and emily from their last day of school i asked them what they wanted to do most this summer. their response was "go down to nana's and play with roy and dale". i love that. 

(trying out a new way of doing photo collages)

last day of school

t-ball

emily's t-ball season opened this week. she was very excited about the whole ensemble of the uniform. she has another game this evening and told us she was going to "try even harder to do a good job this time". she has plenty of experience running around a ball field and it was an interesting role change for her to watch grant play tag with the other boys while she was in the dugout.
i love when she is proud of herself-confidence produces a great smile :)