As most of you know, we had a rough 2017 when Mom’s mom died in Sept. We had a rough 2018 because Anastasia was born in April with severe disabilities, and died in December after 8 months of being a beautiful witness to God’s graces, but also being the reason behind a lot of sleepless nights, hard work, and stress for Mom and Dad. November of 2019 brought baby Mary Catherine Rose, whom we call Mary Kate. Mom and Dad think of 2019 as the year of recovery and of renewal.
We will throw in a few photos from 2018 and early 2019, so you can see Anastasia and get an idea of her brief life, and the aftermath of her death. Then we will send out a separate post within a few days where you will see a little more how we’ve grown and changed through 2019 and 2020, and include our recent family photos. Come along for the ride!
Since our last post was made in Mar. of 2018, and the very next month Anastasia was born, we will start with her surprising entrance into the world (yes, we had no idea she had disabilities until the moment she was born).
Here’s Mom at the hospital with her getting some kangaroo cuddle time in, followed by another hospital photo:
Kangaroo cuddle
All wrapped up, shortly before heading home!
Here she is after coming home (3 weeks in the NICU), and over the next few months. Video included below of her smiling and cooing, which she was unable to do after about 4 months, since her body was outgrowing what her brain could handle.
She gained weight quickly after coming home. She had to be on oxygen almost all the time.
With Sr. Monica, a “servant of Mary” who came and helped overnight several times a week.
Tiny Princess!
shortly after she died. 🙁
Little Angel in her casket.
collage of many who got to hold her.
early 2019, just about 2 years ago!
a couple months after Anastasia died, the kids had gathered to sing a happy birthday video for a friend.
Thank you to all who have prayed for us through the last few years! You will not be forgotten! Anastasia is watching over you all, and we have had Masses offered for you, and we pray for you.
Hi, everybody! Raccoon here! I turned six in September! I’m having a great school year, ahead in my subjects, and starting to read a lot better, which is making things easier for Mom when it comes to school and reading my own directions for assignments. And right now Mom is happy for a little relief, as she is expecting #8 in early May! We are so excited (and most of us are hoping for a girl)!
We last left off with Jan. 2017 birthdays, if I remember correctly, and it’s March of 2018… so… ahem! We are overdo on this update. A lot has happened, of course, since the last update. One of the hardest things is that Mommy’s Mom, Grandma M., died in September. We all miss her terribly, and things have been hard without her. Mom took her to San Diego (and Tijuana) for cancer treatment last May (photos of that below). Unfortunately, her nausea had already begun and only got worse, likely due to tumors forming near her stomach, so she was unable to swallow the necessary pills to help heal her cancer naturally. Despite everything, she had a very holy death, and for that we are grateful. Mom says to tell you all (everyone who knew and was praying) thank you for all the prayers, and for those who had Masses said for Grandma M. or contributed in other ways – THANK YOU!!!
Last Summer we got to go to Omaha twice to visit the Zoo and the Children’s Museum. Those are always a blast. Also, we had the first full family reunion (on Mom’s side) in about 15 years. Obviously most of the 38 grandchildren on that side have been born in those 15 years, so the final headcount was right at 50 with all the aunts, uncles, Grandma and Grandpa M. and Great-Grandpa M. We got some good pictures, so we will show off some those below. We will also throw in some Summer fun photos, birthday photos and a few random things, as well as a video or two. Enjoy the ride!
One of the things we got to do was go to Legoland, at Crown Center. It was so much fun! But we had a really good deal (a misprint on a coupon allowed ALL of us kids to get in free with 2 paying adults!). There were 3 rides, an indoor playland, lots of free-play legos, a laser maze, a karaoke machine and a lot more. We really had a blast. It was a mini vacation for us. And just for fun, here’s a picture of the “twins.” We all think it’s neat to dress alike.
Here’s Easter 2017 (so I hope the next post will be out soon with Easter 2018 upon us… probably not long after baby #8 is born).
Here’s Monkey with Dad and with Mom. He’s such a fun-loving guy. And just this month he potty-trained. He’s doing pretty well, very few accidents, though the first few days were rough!
Here’s Badger! He’s 3, going on 18 (always talking about what he wants to do when he grows up). We have all decided that he is possibly the most photogenic one in the family. We have several photos of him that just turned out amazing, even without trying to “frame” them or edit.
The next couple photos are also Badger – first with Grandpa C trying to make him look like a deer, and then a very patriotic one… I have to admit, Dad did set this one up and, not surprisingly, it was a success!
He sure loves American flags!
Here’s Rooster! He got to sit in the driver’s seat of the fire truck. The second photo is from the Omaha Zoo in the rainforest. He liked that parrot in the background. Rooster turned 5 in Jan.
You’ve already seen a few photos of me, so we will skip forward to Mouse, or Squeaker, as some of you may remember her. She smiles sweetly with Grandma C, and then smiles ABOUT a sweet that she got for her feast day. She has a great smile! She is just about to turn 8. Wow!
Bumblebee, AKA Turtlebee, proudly shows off some turnips we grew last summer (I guess we should have picked them a little sooner – oops!). The second shot is at the Omaha Zoo with a little tiny frog in the background. I can’t remember what he was called, but Turtlebee thought he was cute. She turned 9 not long ago, and can’t wait to be 10.
Dolphin, formerly known as Jr, took his turn being a deer. Then at the Omaha Zoo he tried to blend in with the tigers, stripes and all. He is 10, and starting to babysit one or two younger ones for very short periods every now and then. He’s really growing up fast.
Here are a few photos of Grandma M and family from last Summer, the first few taken at our house, the last few are from Mom and Grandma M’s trip to San Diego and Tijuana. As of this posting she’s been gone for almost 7 months. Hard to believe. We miss her so much!
Grandma and Grandpa M and every one of their progeny. Great Grandpa M, who just died in December at the age of 99, was also able to come, and is seated in front. He suffered severe trauma after falling and hitting his head on the concrete driveway. He died several days later.
In the first San Diego photo we were visiting the original Mission San Diego. Dad’s brother, who lives in San Diego and played chauffeur and part-time host to us while we were there, photo-bombed Mom and Grandma, and it turned out to be quite funny. The second photo is from the coast, an area called La Jolla. Mom says the fresh air coming in from the sea was so nice. The last photo was taken on Point Loma, and what you can’t see behind Mom and Grandma very well is Tijuana and a section of coast called Silver Strand. That carrier in the background is the USS Teddy Roosevelt, heading out to sea.
Next we will display a bunch of Summer Fun photos, some from the Omaha Zoo, some from the KC Zoo, a few from the Children’s Museum in Omaha, and some from our own backyard or local park. We are posting a couple that are actually from 2016 — we just like them so much we couldn’t resist (the one of all of us on the firetruck, the one with the big, black train, and the two following that).
Weren’t those fun!? And now for a photo with one of our new, favorite people! Miss P. She has been so good to us, helping with some school and watching us kiddos while Mom runs errands sometimes. We can’t imagine life without her now that she’s a big part of it.
Here’s one from Christmas, followed by a few of Monkey, who has an affinity for wearing Dad’s hearing-protection. He’s so funny!
Here are a few from the Johnson County Museum’s children’s area. It’s like a mini town – so much fun to go and play pretend. Turtlebee got to deliver mail, the little boys went fishing, and I was hauling produce from garden to Farmer’s Market. Mouse enjoyed playing maternity nurse at the hospital, Monkey was the dishwasher at the restaurant, and Rooster was a fireman!
And now for a couple videos…
Turtlebee built a tower at the JoCo Museum and Heritage Center and Monkey knocked it down.
Badger recites his letters at under 3 years of age (Summer of 2017).
I hope you enjoyed this lengthy blog post. We are going to try to send another out very soon with photos from our trip to Science City at Union Station and Easter photos. Then in another month or so we can send out photos of baby #8. Yay!
Howdy, everyone! Rooster here! We sure have missed you all… or is it you who have missed us?
Mom says she practically forgot we even have a blog, since we have gone longer and longer between posting things. It has been a busy year, that’s for sure! Let’s try to catch you up on some of what’s happened.
The most drastic changes of 2016 were Mom and Dad’s weight loss. Dad lost 65 lbs. and Mom lost about 43. We will spare the embarrassment of before and after photos, but trust me – they look and feel so much better! Other notables include a 36-hr. trip to Omaha to visit the zoo and the Children’s Museum, and Meg received her First Holy Communion in April and got to be a flower girl in a wedding in August. Also, Grandma C. turned 80 last year, so we had a big bash on Dad’s side of the family and got to see some cousins we almost never see. We also visited Legoland at Crown Center in late November, which was so much fun! Mom had a coupon that made it free for all of us kiddos to go!
Here are a few fun photos from Summer 2016, followed by a family reunion photo and some Omaha trip photos.
Farmer Badger at the Johnson County Museum
Dolphin (aka Jr) and Raccoon ride Dumbo at the Leavenworth Co. Fair
Dolphin, Turtlebee, Squirrel and Raccoon get to sit in a big Army truck at the LV Co. Fair
Dolphin and Turtlebee ride the Ferris Wheel at the LV Co. Fair
Monkey, showing off his fat rolls
Raccoon, Rooster and Badger, getting along!
The family with Dad’s parents, July 2016… about 1/3 of the way into Mom and Dad’s weight loss.
Goofy photos from a quick trip to Cabela’s. Dolphin can fit a lion’s head in his hands!
Ow, I have a splitting headache!
Eeeww, this one could use a kleenex!
We’re off to Omaha! Raccoon looks like he’s feigning car sickness. 🙂 Monkey’s just outside the photo in the front bench.
Ready or not! Omaha, here we come!
I think it’s fair to say we were having a better time than this guy.
Those of you who have visited the Henry Doorly Zoo are probably familiar with the rope bridge in the jungle.
Badger was doing his best to avoid sunburn. Thankfully mom remembered the sunblock! The young giraffe was lucky – he had a spot in the shade.
Dad, Dolphin, Turtlebee, Squirrel, Raccoon, Rooster and Badger pose near the tiger cage.
Squirrel says, “Help! Mine is too wild!”
Rooster and Badger were lucky enough to find a mild-mannered polar bear cub.
Dolphin, Turtlebee and Raccoon riding a polar bear – so dangerous!
Monkey looks at the polar bear statue, wondering if it will move.
Badger says – and points to – “Hoo Hoo,” his word for train — one of his greatest obsessions next to basketballs, trash trucks and semi-trucks. This was taken at Kennefick Park, on a hill by I-80.
The old-fashioned firetruck out in front of the Childrens Museum. We had a lot of fun posing for this one.
Rooster in the foreground and Turtlebee in the background try to catch the dozens of balls that fall from a trap door or one of the air tubes in the ball room. This was one of the highlights of the childrens museum.
Badger remained remarkably calm when he could not figure out how to push two mowers simultaneously. Mom was having a good laugh at this and finding it difficult to hold the camera still enough to take a photo between laughs.
Monkey caught a few Zs while the rest of us were entertained by the many things to see and do.
Badger absolutely LOVED the toddler ball pit. Mom knows these pits are usually full of germs and who knows what, but it was irresistible.
These next 3 photos were taken in downtown St. Joseph, MO, on our way home from Omaha. We stopped there for dinner at a neat place called Ground Round. The murals were on the sides of several of the buildings surrounding us. It was very neat to witness.
That was quite a trip, and we all had a blast! We hope to go back to Omaha for another short trip this Spring, while our memberships to the Zoo and Children’s Museum are still valid!
The next several photos are somewhat random, mostly from 2016, but the last few will be 2017, including a couple from a recent ice-skating trip.
Birthday treats for the three January birthday boys! Dolphin turned 9, Rooster turned 4 and Monkey turned 1. Yay!
Monkey is learning to walk. Soon he will be running!
Feast day treat – donuts from Judi’s Bakery!
“Hey, Hey, we’re the monkeys! And people say we monkey around…”
Trip to Legoland (late Nov. ’16) was SO much fun!
First time ice skating for these two. Turtlebee and Squirrel came too, but it was their second time, and I got photos of them their first time.
We will leave you with some links to videos for your enjoyment. Thanks for visiting our blog, and feel free to leave us a message!
You might remember me as Squeaker… or Squirrel… or Mouse… or any number of other names my parents have called me. I have been nominated my family’s “Girl Friday” for now, so I get to update you on all the happenings since… gosh, a while. Most importantly, I turned 6, but we’ll get to that later. 😉
Okay, other than a few photos my dad shared a few months ago, and then the photos from last Summer, it’s been almost 2 years since we last updated you. Sorry about that. Let me see if I can remember what’s happened in that time. I’m afraid I’m going to have to skip a lot of the birthday stuff and just stick to the main events, or this blogpost would go on for a loooong time.
Some people have said they’ve forgotten who’s who, so here’s a little “key” if you will.
In order from left to right: Junior (aka Dolphin), Turtlebee, Squeaker (aka Squirrel), Raccoon, Rooster and Badger (we finally settled on a screenname for him – he’s fun and feisty, so badger seemed to fit). And now for the newest addition…. Monkey! We wanted to call him Chunky, for obvious reasons, but since we are sort of on an animal theme and he is often called “Chunky Monkey” anyway, we figured that would suit him. Here he is while he was still somewhat slim, around 3 weeks old. Isn’t he cute!?
We will get back to Monkey in a bit, but let’s just go through some of the group photos over the last couple years.
Christmas 2014, when Badger was just a few months old.
Dad with the kiddos (2015). He must really like us. hehe
We visited the local Fire Station and they let us climb on the truck. It was a blast!
We got to see Sir Topham Hatt and Thomas the Tank at “A Day Out With Thomas” in Baldwin, KS, May of 2015. It was SOOOO much fun, we want to go again. 🙂
This was at the Wyandotte County Fair in one of the art competitions, Summer 2015. We couldn’t resist! Most of us just popped our heads into view, but Rooster thought he might climb all the way through – silly boy!
Here we are pretending to be pious… but we don’t fool Mom and Dad. This was for All Saints Day, 2015. From oldest to youngest we were dressed as: St. Martin of Tours, St. Philomena, St. Cecilia, King St. Edward the Confessor and St. Anthony of Padua.
Finally we have come to updating you on Monkey, who, as you know, joined us in January with a bit of a rough start. The following photos will show a progression of his week in the hospital, where he improved each day. The doctors and nurses said he would have been able to go home sooner had it not been for the IV of antibiotics he was on, as those took a week to administer. For those of you who don’t know, he aspirated meconium either in the womb or shortly after birth. The staff at Children’s Mercy in KCMO was very kind and encouraging during the stressful and initially scary hospitalization. We found out this “aspiration pneumonia” as they called it is somewhat common. Monkey’s healthy size (9 lbs. 10 oz.) and the fact that he was able to nurse and receive some highly nutritious colostrum before being hospitalized helped him get well quickly. Other than a couple colds he has caught since then he’s been great.
Monkey also has something called “Fabry disease,” a genetic enzyme disorder, but thankfully it is a variety that is referred to as “late onset” – basically a milder version. Someday, perhaps in his 30’s, he may face the option/necessity of having enzyme replacement therapy, but in the meantime we will just have annual exams starting when he’s about 3 years. The disorder showed up on the MO newborn screening that they did while he was at Children’s Mercy, and the main reason we bring it up here is to spread the news about it. There are actually a LOT of people walking around who have Fabry and don’t know it, mostly because it is a “silent” disease, where lipids in the cells build up over time and eventually can cause permanent damage to major organs – often outward signs of the disease do not become obvious until damage is done. Knowledge is power – we encourage you to look up Fabry disease to learn more about it.
Just for fun, we are doing a side-by-side comparison of Badger at 3 months and Monkey at 3 months. What a difference!
Mom is super excited to finally have a boy with some noticeable curls. Dad’s not so crazy about them. Monkey also has somewhat darker hair than the other boys. More like Turtlebee’s when she was a baby, except she had a lot more of it!
Well, thanks for sticking around with us. We will leave you with this video, just because it’s fun. Badger sure is proud of himself. Ciao for now!
Yaaaawwwn… Oh, Hi! Sorry, just woke from a nap. I like naps. Anyway, the froggers here– what’s that? Oh, BLOGgers, sorry. The Bloggers here said it’s high time we updated you on the goings-on around here. I don’t know about you, but I’ve sure been busy. I cut two teeth on Ash Wednesday – Mom says I’m the earliest to cut teeth (by a week) and the first to cut two on the same day! I started sitting up on my own not long after that. Then it was scooting and finally crawling by Easter! Since then I’ve been pulling myself up on things and walking along while holding on. If I’m really diligent I might be walking before my first birthday in August.
Mom says there’s a lot to catch up on, but for now we thought we’d share some photos we just had done, and hopefully she can get a more detailed post done soon, catching you up on 2015.
So enjoy the photos, and hopefully we’ll get to chat again soon! Oh, and I just thought I’d share one last thing… I’m going to be a big brother in January! Yay!!!
Let’s see if we can pick up where we left off… right after Christmas. Being the oldest, and now 6, I, Junior, will take over the blog for this post.
I hope Spring finds you all much better than Winter found us – too many colds, a couple stomach bugs. Yuck! It wasn’t until March to April that we were healthy for a whole month.
I will take you through some birthday photos for myself, Little Boy, Bumblebee and Squeaker, then some Easter photos and other Springtime photos.
These are from my 6th birthday and Little Boy’s 1st birthday in January. My Godparents gave me some really neat things, as did our Lee’s Summit friends. I got a big, farm, floor puzzle, a table-top puzzle, a John Deere dominoes game, a neat Saints book, an I Spy game, and a few more things. Little Boy’s Godparents were unable to be there, but they gave him a gift at the big family party another time, and mom and dad gave him a flashlight toy that sings a song and has different colored lights that flash, and our friends gave him some neat clothes, though I think he liked the box and wrapping paper most… well, and the cake.
Now for Bumblebee’s 5th birthday! She was SO excited to be 5, haha! Actually, Mom could only locate one video of her birthday, no pictures. If we ever figure out where the pictures are we can at least print them and put them in a photo book, but for now a funny video will have to do.
Squeaker was all too happy to celebrate her 4th birthday. She talked about it for the whole month of March. We DID find several pictures of hers, so here are a few of the best. The first one is with our neighbor, Mrs. H.
Can you tell she likes “Hello Kitty”? hehe.
Now for Easter. We didn’t really get the family photo we were hoping to get, but we have several of the 5 of us kids, and a couple where dad made sure to get himself and mom in the reflection of the front door, so they were technically in the picture too. So silly, Dad! Anyway, here’s just a couple of the good ones… try not to notice the faults with my new, big-boy tie. :-/
And now for some random Spring photos, including some from our visit to the N’s house in Illinois (DOGPILE ON MR. N!), a couple of us trying to look like Mom with a baby in her belly, our new wagon, some funny faces, prepping our garden, and a few early harvest shots. We have really had a lot of neat gardening experiences, and for our first year, I think we did great! Thankfully our soil is super!
Little Boy made a mess of the seedling plants. Mom was sad, but we did manage to salvage some, and despite everything we still had a lot to plant, though we had to order several organic starter plants to make up for the losses caused by LB… more than once!
Daddy tilling for the first of about 8 times before planting! Our garden measures about 50’x12’. We hope to expand just a little for next year, and with everything we learned we’ll be adding some other things as well… like mulch! And a soaker hose! And NO pole beans! And early squash-bug management, etc.
Being goofy on the loft landing. Somehow I don’t think Daddy would be thrilled about this, but Mom thought it was cute so she pulled out the camera.
At Cabela’s in the Legends… we had a blast… and I look like I have antlers in this picture, hahaha!
This is a heavy-duty wagon, meant for holding a lot more than LB. But he’s a good load for Cruz to pull.
I never thought Bumblebee would beat me to losing a first tooth, but she did… not long after Easter.
Another “not-long-after-Easter” event was the birth of a new cousin, almost 12 lbs at birth! Cruz was so excited to get to hold him. I think when our baby arrives Cruz will want to be the official baby-holder.
Early garden growth, some radishes (we ended up with TONS of these), and our first head of lettuce – romaine, and our first cherry tomato! Mom was SO happy to see good results early on.
Well, I hope you enjoyed the pictures and video. Daddy is working on the next post, which should be out very soon, as he wants to catch you all up on how our Summer went before we post about a new baby. Thanks for reading, and God bless you all! OH, and please keep praying for a healthy homebirth for our new baby, any day now.
Jr. here. I hope you all are doing well. We have had a lot of sickness come through over the Winter, but I’m glad to report that at present all are healthy. The best news is that we have a new bundle of joy coming in August. We’re very excited about that. We hope to even out the numbers with a girl, but another boy would suit us fine, too.
It’s been a long time since we’ve blogged. We have to catch up on quite a bit. We left off with the end of last Summer. Since then we have built a new fence in our backyard (well, our Uncle and cousins did all the hard work), celebrated our first Christmas in our new house, tilled a garden plot in the backyard and we have all turned another year older.
Since we left off with the end of Summer in the last post, we’ll pick up with Cruz’s birthday. He turned 2 last September. He was the first in the family to celebrate a birthday in the new house.
Here are a few pics of us playing in the backyard, which is about 20 times the size of our old backyard. We like to play a sort of train game, where we line up and hold on to a rope or string (or a gold ribbon, in this case). I was the engine in the picture below. Then you’ll see Squeaker on the swing and Little Boy in a walker – he didn’t get far in the grass.
And now for some leaf-pile fun!
That was a blast, being thrown into a soft leaf pile! Now how about some Christmas photos!?
It is taking Mom a while to gather all the pictures from different devices for Jan. thru Mar. She says she will try to get that done and post again soon, hopefully with a couple videos. At least this post will catch you all up to the end of 2013. Hope you all are enjoying a nice Spring so far. We are certainly glad it is here! See you soon!
Squeaker here. Mom and Dad said since we’re covering my birthday in this post I get to be the storyteller. I love stories. I love going to the park too. Anyway, it’s been a long time since we blogged because we have been even more busy than usual – we moved! And we got some pro photos done, so those will be included below as well. Even though this post won’t catch you up to November (the timing of this post), we hope to post again soon, but we all know how that goes. Haha.
Well, let’s go, shall we?
Here are a few photos from my birthday. I’m 3 now. That’s one more than 2, and one fewer than 4, just in case you didn’t know.
No, I’m not saying I’m 5, just showing you my frosting fingers and face. I like cake, too. Did I mention that already? Oh, and presents! I love presents!
Okay, enough about me… let’s see how our Spring and Summer went… kind of crazy since we moved.
That’s right! We finally got out of the duplex in south KCMO and into a nice house in the Piper area of KCK. We love the neighborhood, though we wish there were sidewalks. We have nice neighbors, a pond a couple blocks away, and a few different families we know from church within a short drive from our house. Anyway, here’s some of our Spring and Summer.
Above: Little Boy at 3 months old; and the rest of us with a couple friends, playing dress up. We LOVE playing dress up.
We took advantage of some nice Spring weather and went to the park one day in May. Cruz picked some dandelions while I begged to ride in the swing. Junior learned how to ride a bike not long before this day trip, and he got lots of practice in at the park that day. I can’t wait until I can ride a bike! Little Boy is about 4 mos. in the picture above with Mom.
Let’s hear it for the boys!
Minus one… Little Boy was taking a nap…… but we sure had fun without him.
A little fun time with Dad.
And now for some pro pics, taken in July. The whole gang, looking their best… except for Cruz, who refused to smile. Mom says she was a little surprised, considering everyone calls him Smiley.
Such a cutie! Little Boy is about 6 mos. old here, too.
Hanging out.
We took a little day trip to Atchison and visited the train museum… or at least some museum that had trains. The building itself was closed, but we were able to climb on the trains, so we still had fun.
Well, we will leave you with these two fun videos of me! (some of you have seen them already, if Daddy or Mommy had a chance to show you in person.)
We will attempt to catch up with Cruz’s birthday and Fall very soon. Email us if you want our new address. Until next time, God bless you all, and have a Happy Thanksgiving!
Isn’t it nice that the snow melted and warmer weather is starting to sneak into the forecast? Well, okay, for most of you it’s getting ready to snow again, and maybe a lot, but that recent day of near-80-degree weather has us excited to be able to get out and play in the sunshine more. Oh, Bumblebee here. Mom said I could have a turn at narrating the picture line-up this time.
Our new baby brother sure is getting big, and he’s such a cutie! We have decided his screen name should be LB for “Little Boy,” at least for now. If we come up with something better we’ll change it. He’s gaining a pound a week, and only wakes one or two times each night. I think I might like him better than the others do, but they say no way. Anyway, we have some more pictures of him, and a video of Cruz that’s pretty cute. Hope you enjoy.
The first set of pictures were taken at the Picture People Studio. We thought they turned out pretty well. It can be very difficult to get 5 young children to all smile at the same time, look at the camera at the same time, hold still for longer than 2 seconds and not throw any fits. By the end of the session mom was just glad to get this many to turn out well.
LB doing his best impression of Dad. hehe.
This video is from early December, but we wanted to show you, since it was pretty cute. At this point Cruz had only been walking on his own for about 2 weeks or so. Just like his sisters, he started walking at about 14 mos. old.
Here are some candid shots of birthdays, as Jr. and I turned another year older in Jan. and Feb. Squeaker will be turning 3 soon – she is so excited for her birthday.
Jr’s 5th, celebrated at his Godparents’ house.
He got cheesecake!
Here is one of LB at just a few days old, and then a few from his baptism.
With the Godparents, mommy’s brother and his wife.
…and one from the family Jan./Feb. birthday celebration. Lots of birthdays in two months!
Now for MY birthday pics! Okay, there are only two, but that’s because we don’t want to make this blog post REALLY long.
How about a few fun pics? Here are some of us including a couple with mom and dad.
LB’s need for a haircut is very obvious in this next picture…
…so mom gave him one! The lighting isn’t great on either one of these pictures, but you ought to be able to see evidence of a haircut, especially when comparing it to the previous picture.
More fun pictures.
We will leave you with one more video, of LB, trying to learn how to smile. I sure love him!
We will be back again sometime with pictures from Easter and Squeaker’s birthday. God bless you all! Have a Happy and Holy Easter!
Hello, family and friends! Jr. here. As you probably already know, we have another member in the family now. We haven’t decided on a screen name for him (you can offer your suggestions in the comments section if you like), so for now we will just call him Little Boy. Mom really thought she was having a girl this time, but she’s very happy to have her Little Boy – the first boy to have lots of hair at birth. We will keep this blog post short, but hopefully we can blog again soon after a couple birthday celebrations, when we have more photos to share.
And now… Little Boy!
These first two are from Day 1.
These next two are from Day 3.
And the following are from Day 5.
He had his one-week check-up and is already back up to birth weight – yay!
Finally, here’s one of me, holding my new baby brother on Day 2. I sure love him a lot!
That’s all for now. We’ll let you know when we blog again. Thanks for all the prayers! God bless!
Hello, all! Squeaker, AKA Squirrel here.
Mom was sad, but we did manage to salvage some, and despite everything we still had a lot to plant, though we had to order several organic starter plants to make up for the losses caused by LB… more than once! 
