For your viewing pleasure

Matt chillin in the girls floaty

Gabe and Matt had the brilliant idea of putting the bottom of the slide into the pool and then sitting in a bucket and sliding into the water. It was really funny! I'll have to have Ben upload the video I took.

The first attempt at putting Sophia's hair in pigtails. She actually kept them in! I tried Anna's hair, but she pulled it out immediately. And it's too fine to be able to get a substantial size pony.

I love this one of David and Kathy giving the girls piggy-backs. (It was so nice seeing all the family and being at camp again. It's so beautiful!)

Matthew had the hose in his hand and kept telling Gabe he wanted to show him something. Then once Gabe got close he sprayed him. Evil kid.

Anna and Sophia didn't really like the sprinklers.

Gabe playing with bubbles at Grandma Putz's house on Memorial Day. We had lots of fun!

Yes, that's ANOTHER bruise on Anna's forehead.

Please keep Anna in your prayers, she was exposed to Hand, Foot, Mouth disease and we think she's coming down with it. Pray that none of the other kids would get it and that she would get over it quickly. Thanks!

Sweet Sophia.

Another matter of prayer......my co-worker, Karen, was just diagnosed with breast cancer. It's about the size of a golf ball and they want to do chemo, but she REALLY doesn't want to. She's pretty scared right now (both her parents died from cancer). So, if you could remember her in your prayers it'd be much appreciated. She is a strong Catholic and I've talked with her a few times about how her beliefs differ from mine, but haven't had the opportunity to have a really good conversation.

I have more pictures to put up, but I need to upload them first, so I'll Lord-willing get to it soon.

Boys and Girls

Here are the boys playing on our neighbor's fire truck. He doesn't bring it by too often, so it's a real treat when they get to play around on it.
Gabe

Matt

Gabriel in his new basketball jersey. The boys are both obsessed with basketball. Ever since seeing Uncle Max play they have HAD to wear basketball jerseys at least once every day. Gabe was in love with a jersey that was a size 12-18 months. Now for those of you that have seen Gabe recently ... he's not a little fellow. In fact he fits into Matthew's 4T shirts perfectly! So, getting this jersey on is a challenge and results in screaming and crying that he's hurt, etc. I saw these jerseys at Target for 50% off!

They love the new jerseys! Ben took the boys to a park this afternoon to go 'exploring' on the little trails that go off the main walkway. There had been a major storm that blew through earlier and the grade was steep up the path, and all three of the guys ended up falling. The boys got mud ALL over themselves and were absolutely devastated that they dirtied their new shirts. They wanted to come back home and get 'cleaned up', but dad convinced them to truck on. They had a great time! Now, I get to clean up the clothes!

Sophia sporting Scarlet Stitch.

Anna in her new duds.

Toesies

Anna on a walk

I can only deal with one child on the loose when taking walks, because they will both go in different directions and stuff all the rocks, sticks and leaves in their mouths that they can get their hands on. Also, when Anna is walking it takes FOREVER to get anywhere. She stops at any little thing she sees lying on the ground. Rocks are her snack of choice.

Sophia loves balls! She will hold onto balls a lot throughout the day. She will even try to throw it into the basketball hoop.

"Hewwwwooooo, wabbit!"

Anna tring to wash Sophia's hair.

And Some New Photos to Boot!

While I'm signed in to Kathryn's blog, I figure I should add a few of my favorite new pictures.

Here's an old one of Matthew that Amanda made super-awesome.

He loves basketball. Today it was about 65 degrees out, and they both wore their b-ball outfits--they just don't care! Incidentally, he doesn't look quite as handsome these days. Yesterday at church, Sam Putz was giving Gabe a piggy-back ride and Sam lost his balance. Sam fell forward and Gabe landed with his face on the sidewalk which resulted in his forhead and nose getting roadrash. What made the situation worse was that when Kathryn was holding Gabe, she went to go get a paper towell to wipe up the blood, but Sophia was in the way, so she knocked her over and poor Sophia's head landed on a strip of metal.

We brought the kids to see some ofthe flooding last weekend (3/22/08) with the hopes that they'd learn some of the power of God in nature as well as appreciate the story of Noah. When we pulled over to take this picture, a police officer asked us to leave. When I mentioned the cars already parked there (not in picture), he said that they were ferrying supplies out to stranded people. This is off MO-30 near 141.

This is the intersection of 141 and I-44.

Same intersection. My estimation is that the water was about 6 feet deep.

Not that we celebrate Easter, but egg painting is fun and the kits were on sale.

Best buds working together.

Here's the finished product.

We found Matt and Gabe sitting together watching a movie and Gabe had his arm around Matt. By the time we took the picture, the moment was just about gone, but this gives you the idea.

Two New Videos of Anna and Sophia

I'm not sure which one is better. What do you think? The one of them laughing, or the one of them eating?

Laughing

Eating

New Pics

Anna sharing her throne with Sophia -- she's such a kind queen.
Sophia in the stroller last week when it was in the 70s!!!

Anna's Profile -- funny, it looks just like it did in the ultrasounds.

Gabe racing Matt back to the house. Gabe has inherited Matt's old bike since Matt got a new one for his last birthday and LOVES it! It's all he will ride now.

Matt racing

Matt blowing bubbles. I was trying to get a shot of the bubble coming out of the wand, but my shutter is too slow. (BTW, Laura, my camera doesn't have a fast shutter....it took me probably 5 minutes to get the skateboarding shot and I had to take the picture a few seconds before it'd actually process the image. I'm trying to save up for a nice camera someday, maybe in the next 10 years. haha!)

Gabe blowing bubbles. I love how the bubble is still attached to the wand!

I'm trying to get better at posting pictures. I haven't been taking too many pictures lately because the kids have been ill, not the flu or anything really bad (thank God!), but still feeling lousy. The girls are going to be turning 1 year old in a month!!! We've got some vistors from cold country (Kathy) and beach country (Brian) coming out for the occasion and the boys are sooo excited. Plus, we're planning on taking a trip to NY in June, Lord-willing! I'm very excited about that! I've cut my work hours down to Monday, Wednesday and Saturday -- so it's nice to be home that extra day each week and I've been 'homeschooling' the boys. They really like it and I hope it stays that way. I'm so not the creative type to come up with all these neat projects to do for school, so we basically go through flashcards and a school book we got from Wal-Mart. Thanks to an awesome website (www.starfall.com) Gabe can do all his letters, save maybe 2 he's a little rusty on. Matt is the most inquisitive child EVER! He asks questions 24/7 -- it's amazing how his brain never stops. Well, that's all the time I have for now. TTYN

Fresh Photos

Anna found out how to climb up on the gate, and make funny faces while climbing.

Do they look like twins at all?

They are REALLY beginning to play together and have a good time with each other. However, they do their fair share of fighting over whatever toy the other has in their hand.

This is one of Kathryn's favorites.

Gabe jumped from the couch onto Sophia's head.

She's finally back to normal after a lengthy illness--lots of smiling and grunting.

This is sort of Anna's throne--she sits in it whenever she can.

Kathryn thinks he looks like a skateboarder. Only problem is that he doesn't have a skateboard.

Sophia is walking now. Anna would be as well, but right when she began taking steps she got sick and lost all energy for almost 2 weeks to really give it any more effort.

no captions for tonight.....

I did post...........

I posted something on Matthew, but since it was in my 'draft' file for 2 months it was filed under 12/23, so check there. ;)