learning to let go...just a little

This picture is a great example of why I should always take at least 4 pictures of each shot I want. What a perfect lake day, cute kids, cute suits, awesome back drop of the lake....and then you have brothers squirming and fussing, Isabella with her arms in funny positions, and everyone pretty much has their eyes squinted shut.

Last Wednesday we were invited by a friend to come to her parents lake house. This is where she babysits for 2 kids that are neighbors with her mom. The little girl my friend was babysitting for was 8, and her brother was 7. The same ages as Isabella & Jack. The four of them asked to go to the raft across the bay on kayak's. Well, hmmm....I've never been asked that by my kids so I wondered what the right responsible answer would be. Isabella is a good swimmer, Jack can swim, but not strong. But this is one time I thought...I need to practice letting go. They wore life jackets and had the time of their lives!

This little dude however wished he was in on the action. He had a hard time pulling away from this chair. He was having a little protest I guess. After a while he went and jumped on the trampoline, played in the sandbox, and played in the lake a little.

This girl too, was a little unsure of letting her big sister go. Then again, how calming and fun just to watch the lake and all the activity on it.

Here they come, only to get a rope to tie the kayak's up to the raft....and head right back out.

Loving this stage of my kids life, where they can be a little more independant.

And then Isabella came up with the idea of towing one of her brothers behind her in a tube. That girl was worn out by the end of the day.

Loving the high dive...but not sure about doing it without a life jacket. I love that Jack worked up the courage to jump. He was hesitant at first.

And then Suzy gets a ride....she looks like shes doing the rowing, I assure you she is not.

Here is Meghan with her little boy, Keean and William. Thanks Meghan for a great day spent at the lake, and for the delish lunch!!! We had so much fun!!!

quote of the day:
Me: "Suzy, Where is Jesus?"
Suzy: "In my heart"
Me: "That's right, He's in your heart."
Suzy: "But I can't feel Him." (as she touches her heart)

loving summer

Saturday we went to Bonneyville Mill Park. We have been there many times, but never while the mill was running. It was very interesting and the man running the mill was having so much fun explaining to our kids they way it used to be done in the good ol' days.

He showed us how the corn looked at different stages of the milling process. And then asked what brought us there to the park for the day. We told him we were taking pictures of the kids for their birthdays. He then gave us a free bag of cornmeal, that he had just ground. In a cute little bag tied with twine. I love free!

This summer is going by so quick! William celebrated his birthday in April...so Yep! I'm a little late on his birthday pictures.

Suzy turned 3 on July 5th and Isabella is getting ready to have a birthday on July 23rd.

It seems so easy to catch the innocence and fun of the littlest one in our family.

She had a lot of wonder about this place she had been to the previous summer...but had no memory of.

Jack my 1st son....had his birthday in June. The boy doesn't really like his picture taken he will say. I think deep down he does. Very deep down he likes the attention. But on this day he wasn't feeling the camera energy. I may have to re-do his pictures if I decide to re frame my pictures in the kitchen.

It was hard to get a casual looking picture from someone who kept asking, "Are we done yet?"

To add to the summer business....Our house has sold! We had an offer last week, counter offered, they counter offered, we counter offered. You know the game. Well we came to an agreement and felt good about it....So let the packing begin...well maybe next week. It looks like if everything goes well, we will be closing around the 3rd or 4th week of August. Moving that same week. We are excited about this new adventure and how it's moving. I'm also excited about the cute couple who are getting the house. They are married with no children and seem so happy about our home, which makes it exciting to see their joy in what we built here.

Let's skip the quote of the day and move onto....
flavor of the week:Vanilla bean
which I bought in powder form from E & S and added cream and milk. It only had to sit for 3 minutes before mixing in the ice cream freezer. I highly recommend for the time factor! It was very delish!
Other flavors we've enjoyed this summer...
chocolate
vanilla
cheesecake
and coffee
Here's the requested recipe for the cheesecake ice cream...
labor intense but worth it.

8 c. milk, divided
6 eggs, separated
3 c. sugar, divided
3 T. cornstarch
1/4 tsp. salt
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 c. whipping cream
1 3 oz. box instant cheesecake pudding

In a large saucepan, bring 6 cups milk to a boil over medium heat. Remove from heat and set aside. In a mixing bowl, beat egg yolks; add remaining milk and mix well. Combine 2 cups sugar, cornstarch and salt; gradually add to egg mixture. Add to hot milk and bring to boil. Cook and stir for 2 minutes or until slightly thickened. Pour into a clean mixing bowl; set aside. Beat egg whites until soft peaks form; gradually add remaining sugar, beating well after each addition. Beat until stiff peaks form. Fold into warm milk mixture. Beat in vanilla, cream and pudding until well mixed. Refrigerate at least 5 hours or overnight. Freeze in an ice cream freezer according to manufacturer's directions. Yield: 3 1/2 quarts.

fire wood & golf carts from Jesus

Last weekend for the 4th we went camping, with our small group. Our friends Jason and Rose announced they were going camping and invited any of us who could go to come along. We decided we wanted to be near Warren Dunes so we could take one day there to play on the beach. We borrowed a camper from some cousins of mine and off we went. However everyone else in America thought this was a good idea too...so we ended up finding nothing at the beach but 30 minutes from the dunes. We camped in New Carlisle. Which really was just fine. Except for there were 3 of us families & only 2 campsites next to each other. We were the smallest camper so we were put about 6 sites down from our friends. We set up but the whole time thinking...this is not going to work well. So we went to the camp office and asked if we could park our camper on our friends site. There was no one at the office so we asked some permanent campers that stay all summer if they thought it would be o.k. The all summer campers thought that Fred wouldn't mind. So while our camper was fully set up (a pop up) Donovan hitched it up and went around the block. I'm sure this is in the "you might be a hillbilly" book somewhere. But he took all the stare downs from the all summer campers like a champ. Donovan got the jacks down and all set up just in time to have Fred (the campground owner) ask us what we thought we were doing. OH GREAT! So Jason and Donovan schmoozed like no ones business and talked the owner into putting 3 campers on the 2 camp sites.

Our first full day of camping it drizzled all day long. But what a great excuse to sit under our awnings all day long and totally be lazy. I love my friends and love to be lazy with them. We also had a visit from this guy in the above picture. A traveling minstrel. He just walked up to our camp and asked if it would be o.k. if he sang a few songs for us. The kids enjoyed it...Donovan filled in on the imaginary drums, Rose did some back up singing, and Julie did some dancing on the picnic tables. It was a hoot.

We would get up every once in a while to work on the next meal...here Julie is marinating some of the best steaks I have ever had in my life. We would get up to do an occasional chore and have to sit right down and relax from all the energy we just used.

The kids enjoyed riding bikes, going to the playground, playing corn hole, and playing in each other's campers. It was so awesome how well these kids did playing together!

Be fruitful and multiply. That we did. Here are our kids.....Man I love them. I love how they could go into groups and then change it up, and play with others not their age. They seemed to acclimate to each other so well. I am loving this stage of our parenting where our kids can be more independent on a weekend like this.

I couldn't believe they were walking around holding hands. Ryan is 4 and Suzy is now 3! They were playing so sweet and then I got the camera. They both got this sheepish look. They seemed a little like "deer caught in the headlights" in this picture if you ask me.

Chillaxin'

Sunday we had much better weather for the beach.

The guys took the some of the older kids to a clay pit about a 10 minute walk from where we parked our beach gear. This is how they came back to us.

On Sunday we celebrated our Suzanna turning 3! How fun to see her excitement of her birthday cake and her birthday!
By Sunday night we were running low on firewood, so my professional Personal Relations husband went next door to our permanent camper friends and asked them if they knew where we could get some fire wood. He came back after about 30 minutes of talking with a wheel-barrow of free wood from our friendly full time camper neighbors...with an invitation to come back and get as much as we needed for cooking breakfast the next morning. And then "the all summer" (deck on the front of the camper) friends came over again and offered 2 of their golf carts to the guys to take our kids on golf cart rides. This was the best. The kids loved it!!! The most interesting part of this neighbor was that on the front of his deck he built on to the front of his camper was a wooden sign that read
"Jesus, , and Caleb"
The wife's name had been cut out of the wooden plaque hanging on the front of the deck. I realize this is not funny that him and his wife were split up...but really - to cut her name out of the family plaque with a saw?? Now that just cracked us all up!! And that is some anger management classes waiting to be taken right there. Just take the sign down Jesus. Just take it down. The part where you cut out her name is just too much.


After breakfast Monday we packed up camp and headed to the camp pool, the guys were wrapping "things" up at the dump station and we took the kids to the pool. So sorry Jason and Ed for the splashing that went on at that station!

What a great weekend. I'm blessed to have friends that love to camp and spend the weekend with! It's a memory our family will have for a long time!

Quote of the day:
William this morning driving past a golf cart that was for sale.

William: "Oh dad that is so awesome, there is a golf cart for sale. We should buy it for when we go camping."

the 5th of July

July 5, 2006 we added Suzanna Faye to our family.....

she was 8 lbs. 3 1/2 oz.
20 inches long

We arrived at the hospital that morning at 5:30 and by 7:54 I could finally kiss her cheek.
She was born by c-section (like the other 3) and I remember thinking during surgery, "Why is this taking so much longer?" or am I just so impatient to meet this new baby girl? We found out after surgery that the Dr. had a little bit of a hard time getting her out of my ribs...she was wedged into them.

I loved watching my other 3 children meet their new sister for the first time ever. Everyone wanted to hold and touch this new little miracle!

grandma khankeo
One of my favorite parts of having a baby is all the friends and family who come to join in the excitement! I love when people come to visit and it's so cool how many people came to welcome Suzanna Faye.

grandma & grandpa g

Aunt Melissa & Uncle John

Aunt Holly & Makayla

aunt arlene & uncle jon

Kevin, Sherri, Caedmon, & Kaiya

Crystal, Madalyn, Travis, Kristin, Lauren, & Lawson

Lyndon & Krista

Our neighbors and friends Erick, Amee, Abi, and Aden

There were many other visitors...just figured you are getting weary of all the pictures.....

Our second night in the hospital, we let Isabella stay and help with Suzanna. She was so excited! We were not sure if the hospital staff would allow it...so we just did it, and hoped that no one would make her go home. I loved how she hurried through her shower so she could get back to my bed and hold her new sister. Isabella had been praying a long time for a baby sister, and now she had her. It was so neat to see those 2 bond. Isabella was a great help while we packed the next day being my legs and getting things for me while Donovan filled out paper work and got everything ready to go.

After we arrived home and got settled Great Grandma & Grandpa came to see our new little girl. We had so much fun settling in and putting our new baby in her new room. We had spent one night at home....and the next morning we woke to the biggest scare of our life. I had gotten up once during the night to feed Suzy and at 6 a.m. I thought it was kind of weird that she hadn't yet cried to eat again. I got up and went to her crib to find her shaking, arching her back, and she looked as if she was choking. Her eyes were also rolled to the back of her head. I was so scared and panicked, with no idea what so ever to do for her. I took her to the bathroom and got a cold washcloth to put on her face. Hoping to stop what ever was happening to her. I kept looking in her mouth to see if she was choking on something. She was not. I called for Donovan who caught just the tail end of "this." "This" thing that was happening lasted for about 45-60 seconds. Uncle Jon who lived down the road came immediately and Donovan and I rushed her to the E.R. I kept thinking the entire way there that she was dying. She was very un-responsive and lethargic. I tried to feed her all the way to the hospital and she would not nurse. She laid in my arms with no response. But she was breathing. Praise GOD. We arrived at the hospital where they did a CAT scan, a chest X-ray, blood work, a urine analysis, and a spinal tap. They determined that Suzanna's blood sugar was too low. They ruled out that any permanent damage was done. And that the low blood sugar was the only thing that had caused the seizure. However we needed to be admitted to make sure that she would maintain her blood sugar on her own.

She was hooked up to an IV with a blood sugar check every 3 hours. Around the clock. It was so sad to see her little heels and arms turn black and blue. It was so sad to watch and she got poked so many times.

We kept track of her blood sugar on this chart...one time it dropped below 60 and we had to up the IV fluid....preventing us from being discharged. Her blood sugar had to be maintained for 6 hours in order to wean her off of the IV fluid...in order to be discharged. It was so discouraging and tiring. After being in the hospital for 2 days we were discharged with her. She had maintained her blood sugar with out the IV for several hours. The Dr. said this is one of those newborn things she hadn't yet figured out to do on her own. Kind of like when babies have problems with Jaundice. I was still so scared after all we had been through. What a journey. I am so thankful that God put me in her room at just that right time to see her seizure. And thankful that he had the best Dr. ever to help us when we arrived in the ER. Someone willing to admit she didn't know and call the Children's Hosptial in Indy. Willing to transfer us if we were not comfortable with the care we were getting. A doctor willing to walk us through all the steps to make sure we understood everything happening with Suzanna.
That Dr. didn't "happen" to be working that day. God put her there.
We came home again...and this time for good. We came home to meals and more friends coming to see this little miracle.
my friend, Beth.

I will never forget that week of our lives, and I'm so glad for pictures....to keep fresh in our minds God's faithfulness and answers to prayers on the behalf of our daughter, Suzanna Faye.

My cousin, Rosetta Faye...also named after my mom.

Happy Birthday my sweet, sweet daughter. I have loved you before I knew you. It has been an amazing 3 years getting to know you & your adorable self.