Jon's backpacking trip

Jon went backpacking in Yosemite with the Scouts. They wanted to hike Half Dome, so they made it a 4 day trip. This was his first actual backpacking trip, so I'm so glad he had a good time, (especially considering all the gear he got).

He didn't want to sleep in a bivi, so we made a tent. We invested so much time making it, I was sooo glad when we were finally finished. Even though I did all of the sewing, Jon helped me the whole time. He thinks this tent is great because it sleeps 2 and weighs just 2 lbs.

Our first trip to the ER

I knew this day would come, but I could have held out for it forever. Mathew has been pretty lucky so far--we've had a lot of near misses with him running around wildly. I had to call poison control, once, but fortunately everything he's ingested has been harmless.

Mathew and Emma were in the garage with Jon (over a week ago now) when Mat grabbed one of Jon's tools--a big framing level--and dropped it on his foot. He had his crocs on, but that tool is heavy enough that it smashed his little toe really bad. So, I took him to the ER. I love the way Mathew tells the story. He says "I dropped a yeyow yever on my foot so Mommy took me to a nicer hospital."

His toe was broken and needed one little stitch. He did well in the hospital though, he got to watch cartoons and play with stickers, he didn't even want to leave. We've since gotten the stitch removed and the doctor said he was very brave. Mathew didn't cry when they were taking it out, he just kept saying "thanks" to the doctor.

Emma wanted to match Mathew, or at least get the same attention.

June Gloom or Global Warming?

Last week I got to take the kids down to Southern California for my youngest sister's high school graduation. Twelve years ago, the first of 7 kids in our family graduated from GHS. It has never been anything but hot, hot, hot on graduation day. This year, for the first time it was actually cold enough that people were wearing jackets and coats at the ceremony. That does not seem like a "warming trend" to me. Not that we don't care about the planet, but we don't need to hear scary stories in order to realize that it makes sense to recycle.

We had a great time on our trip though, it's nice to have so many brothers and sisters to visit with, and to help with the kids. Lake Arrowhead definitely had June Gloom. It was foggy every day up there. I took the kids to a nice park at a little lake there. We had a fun. It's always good to visit family.

Thank you to my family for all your help with the kids.

Family Pictures

We were finally able to go get our pictures taken by our friend, Angie. I just love her photography, so we were thrilled to have her photograph us. She posted some pics for us at angielane.com

Birthday Girl!

Our little Emma had her second birthday today. She is such a doll--we adore her! She is starting to talk more, so we are glad to hear her little voice. Emma is a complete girly-girl: She loves wearing dresses, playing with babies and getting her toes painted. We love having her in our family!