Leo's 3rd birthday celebration!!!

The birthday boy enjoyed every minute of his family party!

 Sister Etta had a good time watching all the activity from her Grandpa Joe's arms.

 The excitement was nearly too much for Zoey, who lifted her cousin off the floor to give him a birthday hug!

 Sweet Ruby doesn't like it when we take too many pictures of her, so I'm thrilled with this treasure.

 Miss Maggie is very cuddly and had a good time on Grandpa Joe's lap.

 Zoey and Baba (Grandma Kit)  playing "Fight Footies!!" brought back a flood of memories. When we were children, my sister Lisa and I used to play this on our beds at night when we were supposed to be sleeping.

 Leo was telling Zoey how happy he was that she was helping celebrate his birthday.  I'm not making this up!

The Wiese 4 getting ready to blow out Leo's candles. What a fun family time!!

The Cribbies are home, the Cribbies are home!!

You will all be delighted to hear my whining is over.  At least for the next 9 months.  Jenni, Dave, and the girls returned home late Tuesday night--to our great joy!!  It's so wonderful having the 3 little ones back in our lives and not hundreds of miles away.  We had an emotional reunion Wednesday when Jenni brought the kids over to spend the day, and we also spent part of the day with them yesterday at their house while Jenni started the massive unpacking process.  3 months may not seem like a long time, but with kids as young as Zoey, Ruby, and Maggie, a lot of changes take place in 3 months.  They 2 older ones are tall, brown, smart, and funny.  At 7 months Maggie is a cuddly little doll with a tooth and the ability to sit by herself.  Well, here.....see for yourselves!!

Wednesday at our house the 3 older cousins were able to spend some quality time together.  Leo came over for the morning and lunch before heading home for rest time.  L to r: Ruby (2 1/2), Zoey (4 1/2), Leo (almost 3)

 After rest time we had some pool time.

 I love Ruby's sun-kissed pink cheeks!

 Zoey is quite the fish and loves to swim underwater.

 Maggie is just cute, chunky, and fair.

 On Thursday Papa and I were at the girls' house for a while to play.  Ruby had fun exploring the top bunk (with supervision).

 While Ruby is the family clown, Zoey is the very grown-up firstborn.  She can be very funny, too, but she takes her responsibility as oldest very seriously and is very motherly.

 And Mags is just her sweet, precious, pink self!

  Oh, yeah!!  Grammy and Papa are super glad these angels are home to stay!!

Happy 4th birthday, Millie!!

I've had these pictures of Millie from her 4th birthday (July 28) photo shoot but forgot to post them.  Here's our pretty girl, getting sweeter by the moment.  She loves her mommy!!

The Leo Curse, Part Deux

A few weeks ago I wrote about our rolltop desk fiasco.  Long story short, as they say, things turned out fine after all.  It was a bit complicated--bought desk #1 which turned out to be too small for my needs; listed desk #1 on Craigslist and ended up selling it for more than we paid for it; purchased and picked up desk #2 which turned out to be perfect.  Here are pictures of the new desk. 

                                      Pretty, isn't it?

                            Lots of neat cubbies and drawers.

                                The piece de resistance........

                               .......my 17" laptop fits.  YAY!!!

Ready for the next Leo Curse crisis?  Stay tuned--I'll keep you posted!

Is my face red!!

Last night my daughter emailed to tell me that one of the blogs I follow on "My Blog List" had an--ahem!--inappropriate picture and some writing in a foreign language.  When I checked it out, I almost died of embarrassment.  In the place of what had been an interesting and informative political blog there was now a sexy picture and something written in Russian.  I clicked on the link just to see if perhaps it was a joke, but it wasn't. It was some kind of Russian pornography site.  Ick!!  So I quickly logged in and removed the link.  I have no idea how long it was on my page, but I do want to apologize if anyone saw it and was offended.  Lesson learned: check blog often!!  You never know when you're going to be hacked, or when a Russian pornographer is going to co-opt one of your links.  :-(

Early Summer Fun

I just thought I'd add a few pictures of Leo and Etta being cute this summer so far. They both love the pool, and since summer came so early this year--temps in the 100s from early June--we've had lots of opportunities to enjoy the water. Leo will be 3 at the end of August and is smart as a whip, and Etta, who will be 6 months old (I cannot believe it!) July 7, is growing and flourishing like a little weed. We can't wait til the Cribbies return in August from their summer at Kanakuk so we can get all the cousins together again!!

Here's Etta showing off her pink tutu bathing suit.

 

                                  Can she be any girlier??

                      Leo, of course, is all boy and all fun.

                Etta, sporting her sun hat before a dip in the pool.

                What a life--floating in a dolphin with mama nearby!

     Leo is really into water noodles.  He likes to line one up with the pool jet so the water flows through to the other end.....

                                           ....like this.

          After a refreshing swim, what could be more fun than playing 2 recorders at once?

Or showing your flexibility by sucking on your own clean feet?

The saddest day of the year

You may be wondering why I'm so sad with this beautiful trio to delight and amaze me on a regular basis.  Today is Wednesday, and 3 days ago these sweet angels left with their parents for the annual 3-month stint at Kanakuk Kamps near Branson, Missouri. It's a wonderful experience for the kids, and Jenni and Dave absolutely love working there.  Kanakuk summers are the reason Dave gave up a career in aerospace engineering to become an AP physics teacher.  That move was engineering's loss and education's gain.  He's a wonderful teacher.  There is a multitude of good reasons for their commitment to Kanakuk, and they look so forward to their time there every year.  But with every passing summer and each new addition to their family, it gets harder and harder for those of us they leave behind.

I know, I sound like a whiney puss.  So many of my friends' kids live across the country from them, and I am so blessed to have mine close by.  Still, it's a jolt to suddenly go from easy access to the kids whenever I want, to Skyping with them once a week.  I always pray they'll remember us when they come back at the end of summer.  Zoey will, and maybe Ruby.  We'll have to get reacquainted with little Maggie, though.  A lot of changes take place when one is growing from 4 months to 7 months of age.

An unexpected turn of events caused the family's normal 7-hour trip to turn into a 27-hour nightmare.  As they approached the last leg of their drive, the giant storm that caused all the destruction and death in Joplin, MO engulfed them in northwest Arkansas.  It was so bad they eventually had to find a hotel for the night because it was getting dark and the weather was making driving hazardous.  It's a good thing they took shelter, because there were tornado warnings for the entire area.  The next morning, after a relatively good night's sleep, they were able to continue on to Kanakuk, and while the weather was still pretty bad, driving in daylight wasn't quite so treacherous.  Needless to say, I was more than relieved to hear they had made it to their destination.

The following are some recent memory-making photos and videos of the girls to help Grammy get through the summer.  Enjoy!!

                                           Zoey

Ruby

 

                                                  Maggie

                                   Decorating cookies with Grammy

                                          Chatterbox Maggie                            

                                      A tender moment between sisters