On THIS Day

On this day 8 years ago I married my love. I have no words sufficient enough to express my gratitude for him, my fierce love for him, and my longing for him. Always. This may sound completely cheesy, but he is everything to me.....my love, my happiness, my life. John has shown me the most faithful, selfless, and tender love. I'm not sure how to say this properly, but because of him I know very deeply God's love for me. Through John I am able to grasp God's love. I never imagined how that would happen, but it has. Through everything.

At the time, this day was the happiest of my life....the beginning of my life. Three short years later, this same day became one of the most excruciatingly painful days of our life. On this day, 5 years ago, my youngest brother Stephen was killed in a car accident. On this day, our family changed forever.

The bittersweetness of this day is like no other.

To my love, Happy Anniversary. I can't wait to see what our lifetime together looks like.

To my brother, ......... I need a hug.

4 Months

4 months of complete joy.
4 months of dimples and squishiness.
4 months of twinkling eyes and smiles that makes us all melt.
4 months of pure love and total gratitude for this stunningly beautiful daughter of ours.

Rita Joan, you bring this family so much joy and have captured our hearts from the moment you were born. We love you sweet baby.

And now for the smile that makes us all laugh.....

....she scrunches her nose and her smile and giggles take over her whole body like she just can't contain her happiness. Oh my do we love this baby!!!!

And Their Names Shall Be...

GARY. Gary is named after John's friend whose wife suggested it. John laughed and decided that it fit. Gary also happens to be a family name also (Uncle Gary). And so his name shall be Gary....

Baby #2 is MILO. Milo is a family name. I think I heard one of the kids suggest it at one point. Again, John smiled and said it shall be....

These boys are tearing up the pasture already. Though I wasn't able to snap any pictures of it, this morning they were literally racing circles around the adults. It was pretty funny to watch. Here they are sun bathing...

And I had to post this picture. Yvette, my farm girl. Dressed for the weather and ready for workin'. I've given up on keeping shoes on my kids. They honestly could care less. I've decided that I'm sick of reminding the kids to put their shoes on only to scold them for kicking them off and leaving their shoes everywhere and hunting for them constantly. It's one of those "pick your battles" at our house. So I just don't pick it anymore.

I just make sure they all get a good scrubbing at the end of the day. We live on a farm, after all.

Another Life

And baby boy #2 is on the ground and running  walking stumbling around. He's all black and SO soft and cute.

 baby meets Fiona...

 "the uncles" (thats what the kids call the big boys now) saying HI...

 this guy just looks huge compared to "blacky"...

 the whole herd

So we are brainstorming names and could use some suggestions/opinions. So far we have:

BamBam and Elroy (the original choices).....

but then we started throwing some new ones out there like:

Shrek and Donkey (with Fiona the dog)

Yogi and BooBoo

Fred and Barney

Alvin and Theodore (we've already got Simon the cat)

Got any suggestions?

Knitting in the Silence

There is something entirely soothing (for me) about rolling myself out of bed in the wee hours of the morning, grabbing a cup of coffee, doing my morning prayers, and then grabbing my needles and knitting in the silence as the sun comes up.
I used to be a late sleeper. Late nights - late mornings. But being married to John makes that kinda difficult. He's the exact opposite. Go figure.
Anyway, here is something I'm working on at the moment. Just a peek. I can't tell you what it is or who its for right now. Hopefully to be completed by the end of this coming week. Its a birthday gift that needs to find it's destination ON TIME.

And that beautiful fingering weight natural colored yarn I'm using is none other than CHESTER. Yup, we finally did it. A first round of fiber was sent off in March and returned to us as yarn. And what beautiful yummy soft yarn it is.

Awesomeness....

Hayden is sitting with me as I go through some pictures. "Rita is pretty awesome, Mom."

"I think so."