13 Years

May 1996 Answering Machine Message by "I only do boys" Stan:

"I wouldn't believe it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes! We have a baby girl! Rachel Emily was born May 19 at 9am weighing 8 pounds even and 20 and one half inches long.

Mommy and baby are both doing fine."

Here's Stan's "Blondie" - hard to believe she had nearly black hair at birth. Wish I could show you come of those darling dark curls but I... just... couldn't... cut... it.
You can see that even at a young age she liked to help & was sure to dress for the occasion.
As my only daughter, she is my communicator! She's always been a social butterfly so was thrilled this a.m. when I let her open a facebook site.

Here's a sweet profile shot with her (at that time) favorite stuffed animal in the neck of her pjs. What a sweetie. Don't cha' just wanta pinch those chubby cheeks?
In TX at the Japanese Sunken Gardens this spring, not to be outdone by that engaged couple or graduating brothers, she made sure to pose for a few shots of her own.
She is growing into a beautiful young lady while at the same time doing a great job taking after her tom-boy mama by playing with wildlife & riding those horses.
Her highest goal & greatest achievement this year: growing taller than said mama. And she will be happy to prove it to you anytime you want! Happy birthday my sweet, talented, loving, helpful, friendly & fun Rachel. May your walk with the Lord grow ever closer as you learn to lean on Him alone for the desires of your heart.

Partying with the Big Boys

Here's the invitation:







It was my first time at GRG. It's the only rock climbing facility I've ever been to so I recommend it.
I liked the charts showing the difficulty level of the labeled climbs - not that I was doing any climbing. This time.
I learned how put on a waist harness & to tie the special knots - double figure eight & the circle round twice & thread the hole to make an X thingie. Mebbe I could be a Boy Scout now? :-)
I also learned terminology like on belay& belay on plus how to properly keep slack out of the climbers rope, how to brake and how to let them down. Fast can be fun. :-)

I liked that there were several different types of climbing available including this tunnel that Jacob tried to defy gravity within.






It didn't take too long for the climbers to begin examining the wall to plot their ascention rather than beginning their climb with no plan. They were also good at helping each other: "That green one to your left has a good hold."





Kings of the rock mountain: Caleb, Joel, Mitchell, John & Keifer.





Jacob climbs around a corner while Maryn watches. Matthew is belaying for Andrew.







Andrew & Matthew race up the beginner wall while Stan & I belay.


Stan belays Robert while Rachel waits for a turn. Matthew is belaying Andrew who is at the top. Can you tell how high the walls are?








Rachel skurries up the wall like a squirrel with Dad holding her safety rope.
Jared & Mitchell kept up a running dialogue: "Don't make me laugh. You made me fall!" "You can climb higher than that. I'm not letting you down until you go higher" "You have to climb as high as I can climb. See if you can beat me."

There are several walls to climb without needing to be secured. Notice the nice thick padding on the floor. Notice also how the wall curves overhead for the climbers. Keifer looks impressed with Jacob & Andrew's mad skills.

We told them that we wanted them to climb until they were exhausted then we'd take them to Cici's to pig out. Jacob said Mitchell had a comfy belly. I'll take his word on it.

I liked this photo because everyone is in it. L to R
Back row: John, Caleb, Robert, Joel
Middle: Rachel, Mitchell, Andrew, Matthew
Front: Jared, Keifer, Maryn peeking over Jacob's shoulder - how sweet.

Disembarking at Cici's Pizza, everyone was ready for the pizza eating contest.


Here's some hungry fellas (and Rachel) chowing-down big-time. Clockwise from bottom left: Robert, Andrew, Matthew, Stan, Rachel, Caleb, John (that's his "I just burnt my mouth!" expression) and Joel.
Andrew to Joel: "You can't stop at 29! You must eat just one more piece so you can say you ate 30!"
Joel later in the Beast: "Stop! When I laugh my stomach hurts!"
Scary!

At the older, more mature table, Keifer puts pizza in Jared's hair. Is he aiming for his ear? Mitchell sits back with no problems. Jacob & Maryn pig-out. I think they said Maryn ate 8 pieces. That may be a record for her.


Yes, a couple brought some extra bucks for the gameroom.

After having a big salad for dessert (I'll mention no names, Matthew), the last passenger was ready to re-board. We did stop at a Wallyworld to break-up the return drive a bit. Pizza produces unbelievable combustability humerous to teens sounds horrible smells needs to be walked off. They brought their laughter inside with them but Stan warned them not to get too rowdy or they might get to wear some shiny bracelets & we didn't want to have to explain that to their parents.

On the way home, we had the "adventure". When we were on a lonely patch of highway and 4/5 of the cell phones along for the ride had no signal, the Beast lost a belt. My dear hubby had already purchased a new belt which was in the back - we've dealt with this problem before - but had removed his tool box since we don't drive the Beast much anymore > costs too much to feed. Passengers had been toying with doing a Chinese fire drill all night. Playing around the broken-down beast beside the road seemed to fulfill that desire well enough. For some reason, several wanted to pull their arms into their shirts - not that it was COLD. Only breath smokin' weather. I actually think they just wanted to run around flapping funny arms in the hope of garnering sympathy with passing drivers:
"Look Martha! There's some poor short-armed handicapped youngin's thet think they can fly. Mebbe we should offer them a lift or just toss money."
"No, Herby! It's aliens! I know! I saw critters thet looked jest like thet one night on the X Files!"
Whatever they thought, no one stopped.

Jared came to the rescue contacting his dad & the dad his favorite (only) son-in-law. After Tim arrived with tools, he & Stan replaced the belt & the Beast was alive again within 15 minutes.

We didn't get everyone home when we expected but didn't have to camp along side the swamp. PTL!

Rock climbing & pizza with your friends? FUN!
An adventure you'll remember for years that will grow with the telling? PRICELESS!

Happy 18th Andrew!

I realize that this is not officially Andrew. However, being the family photographer, the photos of a pregnant me are few so since Andrew is the one causing me to look like an Easter egg, I figured, it counted! :-)
I believe I was at the top of the 7th here.




Can you tell I've been awake in labor since a little after midnight? Then had a C. Bummer. But healthy baby PTL!

Since Andrew was born on Oct. 30, the hospital had all the babies as little orange punkin' heads. That I didn't mind but I abhored the paper cut-outs of witches & ghosts which they replaced in his rolling crib every time he went back to the hospital nursery. One would think that they'd figure out that I didn't want them since I threw them away every time he came to me.
Nothing like a big brother to help you grow-up fast. Jacob was disappointed that Andrew wasn't born ready to roughhouse. I told him that when Andrew got bigger he would be able to walk. Jacob replied with a big smile, "And I can push him down!"



Andrew was the limberest (is that a word?) kid I have ever seen. Chewed his toes. Once I watched him laying on his side looking at a book turning pages with his foot. Very talented.


He was also an excellent eater. The best one. And eager to try anything, just bring it on FAST.
Some things never change. :-)

I included this photo as a "before his first haircut" shot. That's probably the bowl that held his first birthday cake batter.



Here's my sweetie after his first haircut. What a cute kid. He'd look up at you & bat those long eyelashes. Spoiled? Of course not. Wrapped around a finger. No way.
Just very loved.

Happy birthday, Andrew!

50 Surprises

Yeppers. Stan turns the big five oh on Friday. He said he didn't want a party so we are not having one. However, we did surprise him at church supper last night.

We started scheming planning on Monday. Jacob would purchase the balloons & put them in Andrew's car. Rachel would practice some of her new cake decorating skills.

These say 50 not "SO"! I think she did a good job. :-)

Here we are, waiting for the man of the hour to arrive. He's working OT the rest of this week (Well, through today since he took tomorrow off. Just cause it's his 50th birthday. Sheesh. You'd think it was a big deal or something.) so we knew he'd be late getting there. I was hoping for between 5:30 & 6 but time passed. Slowly.

We got our drinks.

We got our salads & deserts (Yes, I realize there are cupcakes in the Tupperware. Are you suggesting that 2 tiny deserts are too many? Fah!).
We paid for supper & brought our spaghetti plates with yummy garlic bread to the table to wait.

And waited.
Waiting, my mind wandered into realms of why he had not yet arrived. Ranger broke down? Possible. Traffic accident greatly slowing the drive home? Also possible. Maybe he'd arrive after supper was over? Bummer! Surely not. He's gotta get here soon.

I ate my salad. Mixed complete with cherry tomatoes & carrots & topped with some yummy vidalia onion dressing. Lip smackin' good.

FINALLY about 6:15, Ranger was sighted & the target my dear hubby approached the building.

Jacob stood-up in front of the doors facing the noisy, crowded Fellowship Hall.
He waved his arms over his head and projected well, "Excuse me!"
The room got quiet.
"My Dad is turning 50 and didn't want a party so we thought we'd surprise him here. When he comes in, will you help us sing Happy Birthday to him? Here he comes!"

Stan walked in and:



Then we took a couple more pictures & ate our supper.

I love it when a plan comes together!