Spilled Milk

She looked a lot cuter before she took the bowl, looked straight at me, and poured it on the floor.  Maria, you little urchin!

First Day of School!

These are my three full-timers.  Isaiah will attend pre-school this year.

My brother-in-law snapped this picture of Madeleine greeting and hugging Father this morning.

My brother-in-law (also Noah's godfather) snapped this picture of Noah waiting for his teacher on the first day of school.

Summer Fun & Family Reunion

Everyone should have the family that Jeremy has.  His mother is one of 13 plus spouses, there are about 33 first cousins plus their spouses and at least 37 second cousins (the category into which our kids fall).  Since someone is always planning a wedding, having a baby, and fostering/adopting children, these numbers fluctuate.  The point is, there is a huge extended family on Jeremy's mother's side, and we love to be a part of it.  Every year, we gather at the family farm for Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas, and we have a summer reunion at a state park.  Whomever can come, comes.  Since we are of Czech descent primarily, there is always lots and lots of food.  Everyone should have a family like this. 

Madeleine

Noah bears the marks of a recent bike accident.  Since he had a helmet on, it took the brunt of the fall and his poor nose took the rest of the impact ... and his forehead and upper lip.

Jeremy & his dad

The Platte River is swollen!

Grandma, Isaiah, and Maria play in the cupboards (in the cabin).

Noah eats a plum.

There is so much food and so many people to provide it.  I laughed when someone walked by, dumped a pint of blueberries into a tray on the table, and kept walking.  The bottom of the tray was just barely visible, but someone is always watching, always cooking, always refilling.  Uncle Steve prepared his amazing ribs, Chrissy made her kolaches, Franny made fried zucchini.  There are always coolers full of soda, water, and beer.  Even when it's not meal time, there is fruit, there are junk-food-snacks, and food, food, food everywhere.  Did I mention that we're Czech?

Maria & Grandma

Grandma & Isaiah

There are swimming pools set up, water guns, bikes, and games, and PEOPLE.

Noah rode this trike up and down the hill, in spite of having fallen off of his own bike just 24 hours earlier.

I love grubby-little-boy pictures.  Love them.  Can't get enough.

There's a reason Isaiah never gets in trouble ... he looks just like his father.

He rode the trike too.

Maria Maria will not walk.  She is a beautiful princess and does not have to.  Grandma and Daddy walked her around all Saturday long and she was happy.  Go, princess, go!

Jeremy's sister Jessica was in from California.

Oh, Maria, WALK ALREADY!

Maggie, Morgan, a Texas cousin whose name I can't remember, and Mikayla

Did I mention that there is a lot of people?  There is always someone to talk to, always someone to watch my child(ren) for a minute, always someone to help a newbie with names, always someone with whom to take a walk, shoot water guns, play baseball, or just talk.  In fact, there's always a dull roar inside and out.  There are always at least 20 children running around screaming and laughing, and everyone loves it.  Everyone there loves children.  I love it.  There are verbal jokes and jokes played on people, there is a lot of laughter, a lot of fun.  You couldn't know by looking what this family has been through: deaths, cancers, and other troubles, yet there is so much joy.

Oi, Maria!

She's my daughter, after all.  Of course she's gonna reach for Grandma's soda.

Isaiah toted a water gun most of the day.

Why does Isaiah rarely get into too much trouble?  Because he's too stinkin' cute.  When I look down, this is what I see.  Who could resist the blue eyes (mine) and the face that looks just like Daddy's?  And the 4 year old lisp.  Love the lisp.

Mychal helped the little boys play baseball.

There is always an aunt or uncle handing out treats, candy, popsicles, sodas, cookies, kolaches, chips, and treats, and snickering as they get away with it.  Even Isaiah's older cousins pulled blueberries out of his ear, a plum, and an apple.  I think he really thought he had an orchard in his head.  Everyone loves children here.  In fact, they were urging us to go for six!  (I hope so, someday!)  There are many, many laps for children to climb on and the adults are happy to provide laptop time.  There are grandmas and grandpas everywhere, and aunts and uncles who just adore the children.  There are bigger cousins who are happy to play with the littler cousins, take them fishing, or just tickle them.

They would swing....

... then run around the tree and head for home plate while Mychal followed them slowly with the ball, as if he was going to tag them.  There was lots of giggling.

Oh, for the love of food!  This picture shows only the kitchen island, not the bread table or the junk-food table!

Oh, for the love of people!

Uncle Steve and Aunt Judy (brother and sister) took the school-age kids down behind the cabin where...

... the children wrote their names on the cabin's foundation in chalk....

... and listened to a story about the people who used to inhabit this land....

... and were made part of the secret society and given special rocks and arrowheads.

Look at Isaiah's face (center, by his cousin Ethan).  It's soooo serious!

This is Maddie's treasure.

Maggie blew bubbles.

Jeremy talked with his mom while Maria reprogrammed the television.

It's Summer!

It's summer; school is out. A couple of weeks ago, we decided it was time for an outing.  Naturally, the first place we head for a day-trip is to my grandparents' acreage. I "borrowed" my friend Sarah's son Thomas, and so brought a grand total of six children that day. I'll let the pictures tell the rest of the story!

My Grandpa took the kids on a hike around the pond, first thing.

My grandma said she'd watch Maria in the house, so I hustled to catch up with them.

Noah gets lost in time when he's in the pasture and around the pond.  He loves his time here.

Grandpa stopped to show the children the cotton fluff that was floating everywhere (from Cottonwood trees).

Thomas and Isaiah scared frogs into the pond.

Thomas was excited when he found out that children are allowed to throw nearly anything into the pond.

The boys disappeared together ... and ended up in Grandpa's shop (he is a carpenter) with scrap wood and sawdust.

Oh, and antlers.

Grandpa nailed scrapwood together to make swords for the boys.

Thomas and Noah then disappeared together to swordfight.

It wasn't long before they were pretending to be St. George and St. Michael the Archangel.

My Grandpa sat to monitor children who wanted to play on the dock.

I followed Isaiah around the pond and into the "tunnel" of cedar trees.  My Grandpa had cleared a path between them.

And Grandpa had laid scrapwood against the trees to make a resting spot for the children.  He even made a campfire there, in the morning, before we came!

The boys ended up on the dock and were poking sticks into the water, convinced that there was a snapping turtle hiding beneath the surface of the water.  There wasn't.  But Grandpa figured out the mystery ... a wheel filled with cement--which had previously been used to anchor a shade-umbrella--had slid off the dock and into the water.

It wasn't long before the shoes came off and feet were put into the water.

Then there were hot dogs to grill.

Noah

All the while, this little baby princess played inside on the carpet, venturing out only a few times with Grandma or me, and she even took a three hour nap in the afternoon!

::
My grandma made lunch and supper for us and had things to eat that the children love.  The kids came home with swords, scrap wood, mussel shells, were dirty and tired, and had a great day!  Thanks, Grandpa and Grandma!