Precious note from Amanda & random pics

Hey ya'll !!! Yesterday Amanda says to me did ya see my latest bulitan post on myspace. I told her no, that some certain little person was keeping me busy. She said well you should check it out. It is very sweet so I had to share. She really does love her sister! We love watching them together. I think this has been great for Amanda too because she knows she doesn't want kids for a LONG time.

Amanda's bulletin from my space;

so my lil sister (who will be 10 months on the 11th) has started to pull up on things a lil before i got up here, then about a week ago she started standing for a couple seconds then fall over. then today she was at the window seal (her favorite place to pull up) and she let go and was standing for like half a minuet. when i got home today from Walla Walla (the second time) she stood up on her huggies box and stood for the longest time without any one touching her and then caught herself back on the box, after that she went over to the lazy boy and almost took a step without holding on (the only thing that stopped her is that her pj's are kinda too big.after she almost took a step she sat down and started playing with the dogs toys but the dog took it away, she wasn't happy but she didn't cry (which is good) so she took one of her toys and handed it to the dogs then took the one that she was playing with and the dogs took! shes getting smart....its so cool being able to see her learning stuff and doing things that i wouldn't be able to see if i didn't come up here... we think shes gonna start walking soon and it would be so cool if she did before i went home shes also learning how to clap.... she loves to raspberry too lol im so happy that i get to see this (i know it seems kinda corny but i don't care!) well i just wanted to tell people that care about this kinda stuff and will read it

Very precious eh! It's true LeAnne is VERY close to standing on her own in the middle of the room. I hear once they do that walking is very close. I hope Amanda can see it before she goes home. Oh how we'd love to have Amanda living with us! She has expressed interest into going to College here but we shall see. She's welcome here ANYTIME!

Now for a few pictures from Silverwood amusement/water park. I will also throw in a picture from the other day when LeAnne, Amanda, the pups and I went to Palouse falls. It was so beautiful and a fun girls adventure. Love ya'll !

Family Portraits/Amanda's extended stay

Yahooooooooo!! We are so EXCITED because Amanda wants to stay longer! She got permision from her mom who quickly added but you're not living up there. ARG! We'd love to have her here with us, she's thought about it but we know she'd miss her friends and her mom won't hear of it. So for now we will are thrilled with 2 extra weeks, her flight has been changed to depart Aug 16th.

We had a blast at Silverwood last weekend. It was a nice drive to Coeur d' Alene, Idaho. The amusement park was a blast. John & I went on a few rides with the girls. T***** & Amanda braved 2 really scary roller coasters. Then off to the water park we went. I can't wait to take LeAnne to the water park. The girls favorite slide was nuts but looked like lots of fun too! We got to the park at noon and left the park at 9pm. I have tons of pictures to upload so I'll post a few good ones soon.

In the meantime here are a few pictures from the family pictures we had taken at Sears yesterday. Our girls are beautiful and LeAnne was a ham for the camera just like Amanda use to be.

Where does the time go and why does it go so fast? John's vacation is over, and he's on his way to work as I type. It has been AMAZING having him home for a week and better yet on days for a month. I better wrap this up because I hear lil girl stirring and I need to wake up Amanda.

9 Month Dr Apt

LeAnne's Dr eneded up not being out of the office on her originally scheduled apt, which was yesterday. YEAH!! She was in such a happy mood and very very active! She is 28" long and weighs 18.3 lbs. Oh and her head is 46cm. So she's our tall skinny girl with a big head to fit all those brains in! :-) Dr says she looks great and is doing well developmentally too. She didn't even cry when they took blood for her anemia test. Her Dr did say now is the time we can start working on bedtime/naptime routines. This outta be interesting. I know..good in the long run so mama gets some sleep but I know it will be rough getting there. She goes back to the Dr in October when she's a year.


We then had a picnic lunch at Pioneer park, walked around a bit and then took some pictures of Amanda & LeAnne. It was a sister shoot/LeAnne's 9 month portrait picture. I'll post when I've had a chance to work on em in Photoshop a bit. We have a family picture apt at Sears on the 24th of this month.

Amanda, Grandma Marcia & I now know how to give CPR. It was a good class and fun to hang together! Daddy survived a few hours alone with LeAnne, although it was ROUGH! He said she napped then woke up SCREAMING and kept screaming for 2 hours. Both were glad to see mama walk in the door.

Please keep my neice S***** in your prayers! She tangled with a cow yesterday while working and is pretty banged up. Her right arm is hurt, not sure if it's broken, her back is hurt some, both legs and she has a big hematoma on her leg. She is home resting today. She is a very very hard worker and we are praying she has a quick recovery. We hope she can go with us this weekend to Silverwood but most important is okay.

Update on my prayer request for Mike S.

July 14th

*** Mike is back in the hospital due to high levels of potassium in his blood. Please pray they get his potatssium levels under control.

** another update -- As of Saturday Mike was going home! Wahooooooooooo!!! Praise God! Please pray for Mike's continued recovery! Also praises for the fast healing of Paul (kidney donnor) he is home doing great and was even at church Sunday!

I wanted to thank-you so much for your prayers for my dear friend who had a kidney transplant a week or so ago! Keep them prayers coming! PRAISE God! Mike is doing well. He had some time where they were not sure the kidney was going to work but as of yesterday afternoon he is doing great. They are still trying tro get the levels right on his blood thinner but hopefully he will be able to go home soon. His friend who donated the kidney is home and doing well. Thanks again for your prayers! God is so GREAT!!!

LeAnne is starting another month with another tooth!

Happy 9 months old my sweet baby girl!!! Your mama LOVES yo so much!! You have brought great joy to my life!! As I type I am watching you munching on your zweiback toast and sucking on your sugar free Kool-aid Popsicle. You've been a little crabby the last few days so I was none too surprised when grandma Marcia saw you were sportin a new tooth on top. Yahooooo! Go baby go! You are loving being able to feed yourself toast, cookies, Cheerios and Popsicle's these days! You don't like having to take time out to eat mushy baby food. My lil miss independent girl!! No more commando crawling for you! You are so fast crawling on your hands and knees. You love pulling up on EVERYTHING, can side step okay and when you're feeling brave tried to take a step on your own. You don't mind falling on your bum -- diapers provide a good cushion -- but when you hit your head oh boy look out -- you're a screamer! Mama can' wait to see how much you've grown at your Dr apt on July 30th. It seems lately you've been going through quite a grow spurt. Mama can't believe you're 9 months old already! WOW where does the time go. You'll be a year old in 3 months -- that doesn't seem possible. Mama has already started pondering themes for your party. I feel so blessed to have been able to stay home with you this long sweetie!! I wish I NEVER had to leave you. How I daddy & I didn't have debt to pay off so I could be home with you. Mama continues to look for work -- pondering ideas like selling Creative Memories, after-school daycare, and substitute teacher's aid. God has provided for our family so I have great faith He will keep on providing all we need. You are such a beautiful girl! You made mama's heart leap for joy!! Please be good to daddy on July 15th - Mama, your sister and grandma Marcia are going to taking a CPR training class that night. Your daddy loves you so much and oh boy do you try his patience sometimes. Watching you and your sister Amanda interact has pretty much made up my mind that yes we will have another baby, just not sure when. I want you to have a sibling. I know I love my brother and sister very much and I want to give you that chance too!! Okay well I need to finish feeding you your dinner. I have pictures today from our walk to the park I'll post later.

Sisters

LeAnne adores her big sister! She always give her BIG smiles and loves to play with her necklaces and bracelets. Big sisters are cool! Amanda is interacting with LeAnne so much more and we are LOVING it! She is a great big sister!!! LeAnne thinks it's pretty fun when Amanda copies all of her movements. The other day I was tickling LeAnne and Amanda says "I love it when she smiles so big her eyes disappear". How sweet is that!! It's a lot of fun having our family all together.

Family,Fun & Firsts

We've had a fun and busy 4th of July weekend. John worked his last night (for a bit) July 3rd so after he slept a bit we headed off to a picnic in the Tucannon Valley with some family and friends. It was a fun relaxing afternoon. LeAnne had fun swinging with Grandma marcia, playing in the grass and tried her 1st raspberry. She's not so sure about raspberries. Amanda had a lot of fun with her cousins. LeAnne enjoyed her first fireworks from the comfort of our living room and front lawn. She wasn't phased by the noise, unlike our poor puppies. Saturday and Sunday we had a garage sale. We made out okay and met some people that live near us. LeAnne got a special delivery from her grandma Elaine and Grandpa Larry -- her first pair of crocs. Then Sunday we picked up Amanda & T***** from the H****** tribes. On the way home we got a flat tire so Amanda & I got a lesson in changing a tire. That was fun...NOT! Amanda and I both took turns helping so if we ever HAD to we could change our own flat. Thank God this happened with John and the girls so we had plenty of help with the tire and keeping LeAnne entertained. John went to Walla Walla today to get me new front tires so the garage sale paid for 1/3 of 1 of my tires. LOL!! Must hurry and post some pictures -- little girl is up and one busy bee. Love ya'll

Splish spash

LeAnne played in her first swiming pool today. She had a lot of fun. She was splashing and sqealing. She especially liked that she could crawl in and out of it on her own. She looked so cute in her swim diaper and the tee shirt daddy got for her in Arkansas. The tee-shirt says "2 cute 4 timeout" Hee hee! Here is a picture and a short video I took:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REU1DBsX_28

Our girls

Join me for a sneak peak of summer life with our girl. :-) Amanda's first flight on her own went very well. She said it felt like a 20 minute flight. Daddy had to do a double take when we saw her walking towards us at the airport. She's grown up so much! The night she got here she drove with John to the Mexican restaurant in town to grab some dinner. John said she did well. We are both so excited with how much she is interacting with LeAnne. LeAnne thinks her big sister is pretty cool. Watching them have raspberry wars is priceless! It's been a little odd for me to balance time with LeAnne and Amanda. I am so use to focusing only on Amanda when she is with us but now lil girl demands a lot of attention. I look forward to spending some one on one time with Amanda when we have our girls day. We did leave LeAnne with Grandma Marcia a few nights ago so we could go to Walla Walla to do some shopping. That was fun but as always odd to be away from her too. She did well with Grandma, Auntie Katie and Nana. She's one busy bee and I am sure kept them on their toes. I know Auntie Katie has lots of pictures to share with everyone. Thank-you for all the hugz ~ I miss my Boeing family! John & I are really enjoying spending time with Amanda! John & Savana are hooked to Guitar Hero -- we may have a Wii in our future. John has 2 more nights to work then he is off for 7 days! Wahoooooo!! He and Amanda are going to rebuild our deck, we are going down to the Tucannon Valley for a 4th of July picnic and we are having a garage sale on that weekend. Well John just woke up Amanda and LeAnne is taking a nap so I'd better get some things done while I can. Today we are going to have LeAnne try out her little swimming pool. She is wearing an outfit her big sister picked out for her. (brown board shorts and a orange summer shirt with a tiger on it) We are one blessed family!

P.S. Please Pray for Pastor Mike & Paul Weaver. Mike & his wife were my 4-H leaders when I showed horses, Mike & his wife took us to the event where I accepted Christ as my savior, Mike is the ministries pastor at the church we attended in Renton -- Mike will be having a kidney transplant today at UW and Paul is providing the kidney. Thank-you!