Trip to Bird Park

There's this place...'bout 20 - 25 miles or so away from our house called "Bird Park"...It's got a really nice little pavilion with a little fireplace and everything. It's almost always empty, so it's a lot of fun going up there and just relaxing. It's really quiet (except for the birds) and it's full of trees and flowers and grass and everything. We went up there this evening and cooked some simple foil dinners, did the s'more thing...and then just sat around and enjoyed being together as a family. It was a lot of fun. It's evenings like this that I just want to hold on to and savor for forever :)

It felt so good to be out in the fresh air! I'm glad the kids enjoyed it too (it got them nice and wore out for bedtime ;) - I won't deny my alterior motives!)

You know, it sure seems like this next one deserves some creative caption...but for the life of me, I can't think of one. I feel slightly braindead. I'll blame it on all the s'mores :)

Yay! we got a smile!

Elli really loves Gage (she loves Keith too...it's just harder to show it when he's trying to wrestle with her while she's reading a book or play with her doll). It's so nice to have such a big helper!

I love foil dinners. My favorite is brocolli, onion, potato, garlic, mushrooms, and a little bit of bacon :). Zucchini's not bad in them either. The kids actually ate most of theirs too...I was quite impressed :)

Y'know...it's been a while since I've had s'mores...and tonight I rediscovered the joy of crispy graham crackers, melting chocolate, and a golden brown marshmallow with creamy white oozing out the sides...all smooshed together. It was quite the taste esperience.

Anyway...it was a great night...gave me a great 'pick-me-up' for the week!

Guilt

So...I've been feeling extremely guilty at not having any pictures of gage. Especially after looking through elli's photo albums. I was a first child though...and I look through my albums and there's like...20 pictures of me wearing the same clothes, standing by the same apple tree as a three-year old striking different poses. None of my brothers ever had quite so many pictures...they just had more nude pictures than I ever did (go figure?). So...the kids and I had some fun taking pictures the other day. :)

He will be 5 months old on July 2nd.

I pulled this jumper thing out of the attic the other day...and he absolutely loves it.

As I was watching him kind of rock/launch/scoot on his belly the other day I was thinking about when Keith and Elli crawled. It's interesting...with Elli, we were so excited...took pictures...etc. etc...With Keith it was still pretty cool...now with Gage...I just keep remembering all those times that I swear I vacuumed the floor several times over...and the crawlers still managed to find something icky gross to put in their mouths. I really do love being a mom...I wouldn't trade it for the world...my kids bring me so much joy...most of the time :) And I do love as they get older 'cuz their personality starts showing and all that...eventually they stop eating dried up bugs and lint and week-old cheerios :)

Elli kept saying, "take a picture of me!"...and Keith kept trying to pop his head up and be in the picture too...for the most part they do well with the attention Gage gets...but every once in a while they want the spotlight :)

I absolutely love this next picture :) anyway...gotta run... ;)

A few more...

i don't have any real good recent pictures of Gage...poor third child. I'll blame it on our broken camera. I will try to get some more soon tho'...

So...we made this pinata for my brother's graduation...do you like our one eyed alien? It was way fun...but I don't think I've seen Keith that confused and shocked in awhile. I mean, think about it...Elli and I spend DAYS making this thing...then we all hit it with a bat...and then the thing breaks and candy and twinkies and waterguns and all kinds of goodies fall out of the sky. talk about one confused 2 year old. (Notice Sam making away with all the twinkies...)

These next few were from our trip to Arkansas...I sure do miss that neck of the woods :). It was a lot of fun. This is Tommy's folks backyard. Pretty cool, huh? Anyway...Elli loved going fishing with Daddy...in the first picture Tommy was actually trying to get a fish I had caught. The darn fish swam under a log and wouldn't come out. Eventually the line broke and the fish got away with my hook (that I baited all by myself with a live squigly little worm from the compost). I was so bummed it got away...I'm telling you it was huge! ;) *grin*

Elli scaling the fish DJ caught.

Well, I suppose that'll be all for tonight...I can't believe it's only 9:30...I might actually get to bed before 10 tonight. I really will try to get more pictures up. Things are going good...we've been busy...but I suppose that's good. I'm trying to think if there's anything else exciting going on that I can write. Gage is getting so big...it seems like the time goes by faster and faster with each child. I'm getting the hang of having the three of them...but not to the extent that I actually have free time...just to the extent that I'm not going totally insane. Today I went outside and Keith was building something very carefully with some scrapwood in the woodbox and he looked up at me and very seriously said, "I'm working." It brought back so many memories of my brother Paul...it seems like just yesterday paul was two years old and talking about how he was a "hard worker". They are so much alike. If 18 years from now Keith is "working" as a missionary like Paul is...I will be one happy mommy :). Anyway...I'm exhausted...goodnight online world :).

some more pictures :)

ok...here we go again...*grin*...i'm using my old laptop...that seriously runs slower than molasses in winter :)

We had a bunch of the Heinzen side of our family over the other day. They were on a Hawaiian cruise and their ship docked in Hilo...it was a lot of fun to see everyone!

. . . "Love at Home" . . .

I love this picture of Keith...I'm not sure why he looked so bored...he actually loves being down on our lot...

Daddy and Elli...

This is Tommy's addition ...he built a basket/cage thingie that goes on the front of his forklift...it has been worth it's weight in gold in this whole building process!

(p.s. I am the world's biggest dork. While uploading these pictures, I realized that there was a "upload another picture" link. Up until now I was uploading one than clicking submit or whatever...then doing another one...it seemed so tedious. Maybe I can blame my lack of blogging on that. Perhaps my newfound knowledge will lead to a more productive blog. Maybe. )

i am so lousy at blogging...and some recent pics...

i really am lousy at this whole blogging thing. *sigh* so...anyway...here are some random pictures from the past few...ummmm...months? :)

this is so sad...these pictures are like...3 months old. he looks way different now. he's got big chubby cheeks and thighs...and he smiles more and looks confused less :)