Natalia at 11 months!

Natalia's favorite things to do at this age was climb the stairs on the slide and say new words. She is very entertaining and fun to watch grow. I was happy she was not walking at this time.

Natalia learning to climb

She is always attempting to get where she should not be. In this moment she got herself stuck. She put one leg on the table and then the other leg moved because she was standing on the sit and spin. Instead of helping her down right away I ran for the camera.

Curiosity killed the cat

This new thing in the yard caused quite the stir with the cats. They all came to check it out.

A huge snapping turtle came to lay her eggs in our yard. She dug a big hole right where Vince had just planted some new grass.

One of the cats just couldn't get enough of looking at this strange creature. He pawed at it a few times and must have realized how dangerous this creature really is. Let's just say curiosity doesn't always kill the cat. He walked away safe and sound with all nine lives still intact.

Grandpa's 39th Birthday!

Cordelia had all sorts of questions for Grandpa. "Why are you old?" she asked. Grandpa said, "I have had too many birthdays." Zach, Alex and Jadin wanted to know. How can you be younger than our Dad? We told them grandpa has had too many 39th birthdays. Everyone was excited to celebrate grandpas 32nd, 39th birthday. We all had ice cream cake and thanked grandpa for making the trip so we could celebrate with him.

Congradulations Graduates!

Alex and Jadin have graduated from the sixth grade. They both started school out here in a brand new charter school. They enjoyed their time there and are ready to move on to the High School. We picked out a great small school with the open enrollment that they are excited to attend. They will play all of their summer sports through that schools community ed to get to know the kids. They are growing up so fast. We are blessed to have them in our lives.

Natalia can play the piano!

I was cleaning up my bedroom, when Cordelia came bursting in. "Natalia can play the piano!" Cordelia, said. Fortunately what I envisioned was not what I saw. I thought Cordelia had some how gotten Natalia up on the piano bench. I came running out of the bedroom and saw Natalia holding on to the piano. She could finally reach it. Cordelia helps her stand up so she can reach the keys on her own.

It is so sweet to see her help her little sister. They love being together. They couldn't do it without Cordelia giving me a nice scare first.

It all adds up for Zach!

This was a proud moment for Zach. He won the math masters competition for his grade. This is his favorite subject in school.

This is for the birds.

Cordelia loved putting them out everyday. She always wanted to catch them in a certain order. None of them have names yet which is better in case some don't make it.

Cordelia's favorite is the smallest in the bunch.

Most of these chickens are a Polish breed. The kids all like the feathers that pop out of the top of their heads.

This one looks like it has hair instead of feathers.

New additions

I can do it by myself!

I can't believe my first time with my own spoon and I almost have it.

I got it and some food was on it too.

Oh, look I really have it down now. I even have it in the right direction.

Uh oh, what happened to the spoon?

Look at my new trick. I can wiggle the spoon in my mouth.

Yummy!

Wow! I am hungry. Eating with a spoon is hard work. It's time to dig in with my hands.

Thank God I'm a country girl!

What can I do on a warm spring day? How 'bout a dance in the hay!

I can climb on top of the bales and see the world from a whole new perspective.

This is such fun; I wonder why no one ever thought of this before?

Thank God I'm a country girl!

Zach's Birthday!

Zach turned 11 today! He spent part of the day with his friend Drew. Drew's Birthday is tomorrow. They went to a movie and out to eat. When Zach got home he opened his gifts and we went to DQ for a treat. Happy Birthday Zach!

Natalia is 10 months old today!

Natalia has learned and grown so much in the last month. She crawls, scoots, walks along furniture, rocks in my chair, and babbles constantly. She is just so much fun right now! Natalia follows Cordelia everywhere. Unfortunately, Cordelia is not always nice to her now that she is on the move and getting into her stuff. They do love each other very much and play well together as long as I am not watching. I just peek every now and then and have learned not to comment when they are playing nice. Natalia also enjoys being outside. She loves watching the cars, cats, chickens, and dog. She likes the horses too but is intimidated by their size. The cats and the baby chicks are her favorite right now. She struggles in my arms just to try to get closer to them. With four teeth and two more on the way, eating is more fun too! No more baby food for this girl! She wants Chicken! More Avocado! How about that other kind of chicken too, or some Cheerios?!?

Cordelia in the lime light

I don't which is most funny: my mom's commentary in the background, my niece singing along to every song, or Cordelia. You will have to decide for yourself.

Grandma sprung for the water park

Cordelia started out worried about getting her face wet as you can see she got braver.

Lily helped her to shoot the big water guns. She had fun crusing the pool with Lily.

The older kids Alex, Zach, Noah, Jadin and Kristin all played ball in the water. Looks as though Kristin is having a hard time managing all of those balls. I never could get all the kids in one shot.

They had a little pool that swirled around and around Cordelia and Sean seemed to enjoy this the most.

Jadin took Cordelia, Emily and Lily down the lazy river. They liked the freedom of hanging out with the older kids. They got to be more on there own.

Here Jadin and Kristin are coming down the water slide that they named the toilet bowl. This slide goes down a tube and opens up into a big swirling bowl with a hole in the middle. You swirl around and around until you get sucked down the hole. The older kids still talk about that slide and laugh. Everyone had a good time. The only complaint was that the floor was pretty slick in some spots. I would have the kids wear water shoes next time and bring our own life jackets for the kids 42" and under. Thank you Grandma everyone had a great time!

The mad dash for eggs.

The kids are ready and waiting. Everyone is getting the cameras ready for the second annual egg hunt at grandma's. The kids could see eggs while we were waiting so as a distraction we had them wear the Easter baskets on there heads.

Zach is off and running trying to keep up with his cousins and little sister. Cordelia and John are quick.

Everyone posed at the end with their full baskets. There are still more eggs inside that nobody told them about. They will be off and running again in minutes.

Holy week and Pascha

Natalia enjoyed the services for Holy Saturday. The rose pedals and bay leaves were her favorite part.

The boys enjoyed serving during holy week. Pascha night is their favorite time to serve.

Over the week we had fun staying with the Bassetts. The little girls liked playing together. We got to see what it felt like to have only two children. The older kids stayed at the Lotti's, played games, and had a blast with their friends. We met up with them for all the Church Services of Holy Week.

I Love Potatoes

Mom and Dad like putting me in this silly Potato Head outfit and then they let me have at these Potato heads. I thought I was sitting down to eat potatoes but these were all just toys. Next time maybe they will understand I like the real stuff.

Getting a little love

There is almost nothing Emily loves more than babies. She loves her cousin Natalia a little more than just any baby. Every time we see her cousins she get to get some love and experience new things.

Moving to the beat

Cordelia is moving to the beat. I know it doesn't look like it since the girls are doing completely different things. Cordelia is just moving to her own beat.

The little girl next to her is doing the dance perfectly. Cordelia a little taken back by all of the parents watching is still doing her own thing. We are still so proud. By the recital I am sure she will have it down.

Fun times with the Knockes!

In October Katie and Annie came out to visit for a week. We enjoyed our time by going to the State Park near our home. We hiked around the whole lake and spent time playing games and visiting. A fun time was had by all.

During Holy week we went to visit them. Our family spent the night and enjoyed visiting and walking around Cannon Falls. Jadin and Annie went on an adventure of there own. Joan got to rock Natalia to sleep; something she had been hoping to do.

Firing up the grill!

It is back to our favorite time of the year: cooking on the grill. Vince fired it up for the first time in the end of March. Since that time he has grilled at least three more times. Even more exciting is that he can cook meat now that Great Lent over. The cats are extra nice to Vince hoping for a scrap or two to be thrown there way. Better luck to them next time.

Science Fair! It's just not fair!

Alex worked hard for about two weeks building his catapult. We were using delicate basswood carefully notching the wood so we wouldn't break it. He glued it together and clamped it making sure it was level with every added piece. Then came the waiting. We waited for 24 hours and then worked some more. This being his favorite homework it took a lot of patience on his part and Cordelia's (who was also learning patience waiting to see what Alex was building). In the final hours before his project was due we only had to test his Fling Thing, run the experiment, and finish the poster board. We tested the Fling Thing twice and decided to move the swing arm up. Then the side of Fling Thing one broke. We could still fix it but not in time for the science fair.

Alex had thought for a moment that his whole project had gone up in flames. No, no only kidding Alex is working on bending the medal rod. In the a moment of desperation and looking for a fix we found some more wood that would work for the project. We would be able to screw it all together this time.

A couple hours later and with a little more help from Mom Fling Thing Two was born. The project went well into the night (remember that my kids usually go to bed by 8:00pm sharp) trying to finish the poster board and running the experiment. Alex is happy with his final catapult or is he? He mentioned building a bigger and better one after the science fair.