The Woodard Family

Christmas and birthday goods in use

2012-02-02T19:14:00.000-06:00

Gideon wearing his super awesome overalls, all of them in their footy pajamas with Gideon wearing his coal miner's head lamp. Also Gideon has new transformer wall stickers and the girls put up Tangled, Rupunzel wall stickers

babysitting babies

2012-01-31T19:06:00.001-06:00

Here are new pictures of the babies I watch. Laila is the one eating the pillow and crawling all over. Ruby sits and yells alot b/c she refuses to even attempt to crawl but doesn't like sitting in one spot for too long. Ella is 2 but I don't have a picture of her in this bunch.

Leftovers, put in the fridge by a 4 year old

2012-01-29T19:03:00.000-06:00

I asked Sydney to put her macaroni in the fridge for later, and this is her version of obeying. Then it's her version of cleaning it up, by scooping and dropping with her hand. Very funny

new Do, Yahoo!

2012-01-27T18:20:00.003-06:00

I had Gideon take the first couple of pictures. My ponytail that was cut off is going to Locks of Love again. This is at least my 4th time, maybe more. I've lost count. Still having emotional upheaval over the radical difference, but I know it looks good, it's just different from anything I'm used to!

More Christmas with the parents

2011-12-31T14:50:00.002-06:00

Here are more Christmas pictures with my wonderful family

basketball and Christmas

2011-12-29T14:42:00.003-06:00

Isabelle is number 6 on the Red Diamonds. We really find her basketball games VERY entertaining, funny even, and mom and dad were able to come down and see one for our Christmas weekend.

Christmas tree pics

2011-12-17T16:26:00.002-06:00

Gideon and Sydney were being their version of ballet dancers. Can you tell we have NOT invested in lessons yet?

babies

2011-12-15T16:21:00.001-06:00

visiting baby Piper in the hospital. She is the firstborn of our very good friends Nick and Jenny. Plus just cute pictures of Syd with Aaron and me with the kids

Sydney's 2nd half of bday

2011-10-27T13:55:00.000-05:00

After daddy got home from work we had dinner and cake and presents. Besides her booster chair, we got her a princess kit with dress shoes, crown, etc. Grandma got her a tiny flashlight which she has litterally been praying for for a month now. She wanted Santa to bring her one, but I think it's okay from Grandma =) Plus a teeny Polly Pocket doll with little rubbery clothes that she also loves. She got $5 in the mail but hasn't spent it yet. After that we went swimming at the Y with the cousins and one friend from church met us there. It was a very nice relaxed day, and it's amazing how their growing up just creeps up on you after so many days feel like it will take forever!!!

Sydney's 4

2011-10-25T13:42:00.003-05:00

Sydney turned 4 yesterday. She got to eat her favorite cereal, take a bubble bath with her brother and put in water color changing tablets, then we went to run errands where she got to ride in her new booster seat for the first time. She loves to ride in it! Got her a special drink while we were riding around, then came home and she picked a movie. Ryan had made her cake the night before and Sydney was telling him how to decorate her white cinderella princess dress. The second half of the day will be in the next post =)

house after pictures

2011-10-13T09:34:00.000-05:00

My beautiful new welcome mat from Laura (yeah!) and the kids in their raincoats playing bare footed in the rain, which was TOTALLY an Oregon rain. I loved it!

The teen's room, which I gotta say, not too bad for a 17 year old girls' room, right Laura? =)

Tobie posing in the basement with barbies spread all over the floor

The girls's bedroom

Gideon's room

These two are the master bedroom

Our new Craig's list couch set in the living room. Can't say we would have chosen cream, but it's stain guarded and we just aren't eating on them or shoes on them. That kind of couch is in the basement =)

Here's my man in the dining room. the door you see in the background is the open front door, which is covering the master bedroom door

the open space on the left looks into the living room and the piano is straight to the back of the picture. to the right of the piano is the short hallway with the kids' room and the bathroom in the middle

first day of riding the bus to school

2011-10-12T09:20:00.000-05:00

Both of the kids loved riding the bus and were very excited to do it. Sydney cried like crazy after Gideon left b/c she was going to miss him and she was so sad he had to go to school, etc. Very sweet. It was also hat day

Isabelle was just relaxing waiting for the bus in the morning. Yes, she is laying in the driveway waiting. Let's hope this enthusiasm lasts through high school

before pics of the house

2011-10-10T09:13:00.003-05:00

Here are some empty boring pictures of our house when we first started moving in. Not too impressive, I know. But it gets better! The first picture is the basement room, the master bedroom, the bathroom that's attatched to the master, and my closet door is open covering the door to the toilet room, then the kitchen/dining room combo and you can see the pantry laundry room off to the side, then the living room lastly

babies

2011-09-28T18:10:00.004-05:00

Here are the two babies that i babysit, Ruby and Laila, and then pictures from the baby shower i just threw for my friend Jenny. It was a vintage baby shower (why not something easy, like frogs or something?!) I made a rose ball out of streamers and hot glued it onto a styrofoam ball. It took HOURS so I told her I'd hang it in the girls' room if she wasn't going to use it. Her mother in law made a diaper cake, friends made cupcakes and another the ducky punch. It was really fun how it all turned out, but I'm very glad it's over!

First day of school

2011-09-26T17:55:00.004-05:00

This is Gideon on his first day of kindergarten. Then the family tattoo night

the toothless one

2011-09-22T12:22:00.001-05:00

for those of you with weak stomachs, WARNING. There are pictures of Isabelle's tooth before and after THE YANK (which was really more of a gentle nudge and the thing fell out). Also Gideon with his turtle that he caught fishing with Grandpa this summer. One week from today and we move!!!

summer pictures

2011-08-22T15:52:00.003-05:00

Isabelle's lemonade stand, Sydney wearing a dress as she tries to do almost daily, Gideon in a swimming pool at a friend's house, all 3 sitting on the stairs playing a DS b/c it's too hot to play outside!

Isa's b-day

2011-08-21T13:22:00.003-05:00

The closing date for the house is 8-29, so we have several weeks before we can move in but we're already getting the packing itch. Isabelle's birthday was fun. It was a Tangled theme, though the cake was a butterfly b/c it was pretty and we couldn't aff0rd to buy her one this year. She doesn't care about that stuff though so it was fine.

We had it in the gym at church and set up a giant tent/fort for the kids to climb through and they could climb the "tower" at the end. One of the pictures is Alyssa wearing all of the Repunzel hair I made for the kids. Sydney kept grabbing the frying pan and dragging Alyssa up into the tower. Unfortunately she was true to the movie and kept hitting people with the frying pan so I had to take it away =) I drew a wanted poster of Flynn Ryder and the kids all got to draw their own noses on it and take it home plus they threw Rupunzel's "hair" into the frying game. Those brilliant games took all of 12 seconds, then they went back to playing. After cake and presents Ryan projected the movie on the wall and we could sit and watch it like a drive in or go play on the other side of the fort. She had fun, which I just threw it all together a couple of days ahead of time, so I'm glad she's easy going =)

We're buying a house!

2011-08-17T21:16:00.001-05:00

Here are several pictures of the house that we're in the process of buying. I'm very excited!

Ring Tailed Lemurs

2011-07-09T19:46:00.001-05:00

Here are the long awaited pictures of the ring tailed lemurs which is the most "famous" part of Tanganika. They can climb all over you but you aren't supposed to pet them. You just sit down or walk around and hope that they want to jump on you. The kids loved it and we spent a lot of time here so the kids all got a chance to get close to some of them.

Tanganika petting zoo

2011-07-07T19:24:00.002-05:00

The camel was $5 to ride (yikes!) but free to pet, so BARGAIN! Sydney was enthralled with feeding the chickens food through the cage wire, even though the rest of the kids were petting bunnies and tortoises. You had to feed the tortoise (again, for money) attatching it to a clothespin b/c they can bite really strongly and get your finger. Also goats and llamas. Alyssa and the boys shared their food that they bought with their cousins, and they all helped each other pick some off of the ground (food for the animals, not for the kids to eat.....just to be clear). Then came penguins, and albino aligator, and white tigers. Next and last Tanganika posting....Lemurs

Tanganika part 2

2011-07-05T18:03:00.003-05:00

This was the lorakeet cage where you can feed them (which cheapo me didn't of course) but we could walk around and get right up in their faces. They would land on you and climb on you if you had food for them. Also the kangaroos which were too snooty to get up from their naps to let us pet them, but we were close enough that I could have leaned over to pet them if I'd wanted too. Also the cute 4 month old porcupine. My son decided of all the animals in the park to break rules with, THAT was the one he was going to pet! We were all eating lunch and he went over on his own and the lady watched him bend over and pet it, so I guess it was okay. But then we talked about NOT petting animals w/o permission. Oh, and Gideon got his first bee sting today. The cousin picture cracks me up b/c Sydney is playing with Becka's hair, which she loves to do when I or her new big sister is holding her.

Tanganika part 1

2011-07-03T17:45:00.003-05:00

Thank you Durhams for letting us tag along on the free Tanganika Wildlife Park day. It was great weather, great company, and neato animals that the kids got to get really close to. Very unique kind of zoo. These are babies from the nursery, plus a giant Indian rhino, which looked like it had armor on. You could feed that thing!!! When it opened it's mouth I got a little bit nervous for that little boy who was giving it food!

ice cream and sprinklers

2011-07-01T17:35:00.004-05:00

Playing outside in the special sprinkler that Grandpa bought the kids for Christmas is our common time filler this summer if we can't go swimming at the Y. This was my sweet Sydney taking her break in the shade with the ice cream sandwich treat I gave the kids. If you look closely, she is making sure that Tobie gets to enjoy a special treat as well. I did tell her to stop feeding the dog so he doesn't get sick (after the pictures were taken)

Vacation Texas Style

2011-06-29T17:23:00.000-05:00

We visited the Robison family for a quick weekend vacation and had big vacation fun =) Angie made great food for us all weekend and it was wonderful to of course relive our Italy trip with them. The girls are growing up so sweet and it's wonderful to let our kids get to play together. Arabella and Kaewyn are good friends for our kids and Bella and Syd are about the same age, so that's good to figure out what's normal for the age and what is just our kids' personality! But dress up was the big winner for the girls all weekend and outside playing in sprinkler was also nice as it was HOT down there. Sydney was obsessed with a little umbrella and the blue sleeping beauty gown. She still talks about it!

summer play time

2011-06-27T17:13:00.000-05:00

we have stray neighborhood cats that moved in under our house. They have provided hours of entertainment for the children.....until they got fleas. The cats not the kids. So we moved to just petting and not picking them up. So their creative minds decided if you hook 2 helmets together and carry/swing them in the hanging one, then that would be a good compromise. The kittens have since moved out from underneath our house. Any guesses why? But they are still around in the area so we see them a lot and it always causes great excitement with the children (and Tobie). When it's too hot to play outside we read books, play games, watch tv, yell at each other, fight, and the ever popular,..... Nintendo DS

carnival and Dora

2011-06-25T17:01:00.000-05:00

Neighborhood carnivals are lots of fun in the summer, especially really small ones. The kids kept playing games over and over and didn't have to wait in lines very often. They love bounce houses of course, as any self respecting child would, but when it comes to a giant Dora, Sydney is only a fan on television. It does NOT extend to personal meet and greets

Isabelle's 1st grade program

2011-06-23T16:55:00.002-05:00

Here are a couple of pictures of Isabelle's music program from the last week of school. The video is much more entertaining I'm sure, than just pictures, but here they are.

Tea time with Syd

2011-05-05T14:35:00.000-05:00

Sydney has been asking to play tea party almost every day. She sits at the table with her water, sugar bowl, and plates of peanuts, raisins, and marshmallows for hours. well, maybe one hour. But that's a LONG time for her to keep herself entertained all by herself. The pink dress she's wearing in the bottom pictures used to be my dress when I was little I think. I know that I used to dress up my dolls in it and it's been in my hope chest since high school. She's in love with dresses

Baby powdered bedtime

2011-05-03T14:07:00.003-05:00

So the kids have been having a hard time going to sleep at night as that's the PERFECT time to play and talk. After all there are no parents to stop Sydney from asking Gideon to dump baby powder all over her from the top bunk.

photo class 2

2011-04-14T14:51:00.003-05:00

more cute pictures

photo class

2011-04-12T14:35:00.003-05:00

Well our teen is taking a lot of pictures on our camera lately, so I'm putting up some of the cute ones I like. Thankfully my kids are a great prop to practice on! We made it through prom which was a big night around here.

Good morning

2011-03-29T10:54:00.003-05:00

Well this is my son's version of brushing his teeth. "Mom I ran out of toothpaste, can I have some more?" Have you brushed your teeth? "Not yet" and then I saw this in the bathroom. >=( I made him collect it in a baggie and save it to use over the next few days. HA! Mom is smarter than the 5 year old. At least today.

Sydney and her friend Ella in the background, whom we babysit on Tuesdays. Her mom is Isabelle's teacher. She ADORES Gideon and says his name constantly, though now that we have a puppy she has something new to chatter about. She's super cute and pretty good too.

Tobie likes to lay on the blankets under the computer during our teen school time. Only if I'm not walking around for him to follow though =)

Pullin a "Mary"

2011-03-24T18:30:00.002-05:00

Well, my sister is apparently not the only Garrison daughter to inherit spontaneous genes when it comes to animals!

This is our sweet puppy we adopted from the humane society named Tobie. He is a cockapoo (cocker spaniel/poodle). He is 1 1/2 years old and doesn't chew much, already house broken, etc. He was raised in his last family with children, so he's pretty much great at our house! He's 18 lbs. so he's well under the weight limit for animals. He has a bad habit at barking at nothing though, so we're not sure how to discipline that. It would help if we knew WHAT made him bark. Guess we'll have to get creative. He's very sweet though and we'll love to introduce anyone who wants to meet the little guy!

New house pictures

2011-03-22T18:48:00.004-05:00

I know there aren't many, but here are just a few inside pictures from moving in. It looks better now that we have some pictures on the walls of course, we are never low on those (painted, or photography kind). It's small but cute and fits our needs very well. Our neighbors are not storybook kind of people, but they could be worse. It's hard going to a duplex where what they do in their house affects us on our side and vice versa. We'll adjust though. =) God is good to have brought us to this house and I'm greatful for it. I know almost nothing else we saw would have given us as many benefits as we get from this place. So praise God for little blessings and big, and I'm glad I have noisy smoky neighbors as long as God let us have a house to have our teen come here too!

I'M NOT HAVING A BABY

2011-02-01T20:28:00.002-06:00

Moving houses and adding a 6th member to our family DOES feel like I'm having a baby, but I am NOT pregnant. Just to be clear. Ryan and I have spent much time in prayer over one of the residents here who we (Carpenter Place) have been looking at finding a host family for. Once we decided to move on from Carpenter Place we wanted to be the ones to provide that for her. She is very special to us and has been here about 3 years, with a couple of tries at home that didn't go well. We love her and want her to be part of our family, and honestly she already feels part of it. Our children, parents, etc. have all rallied to support us and her in this choice. But it really does feel like I'm choosing to have another baby. I never thought I'd have an almost 17 year old child at 31, yet here I am. I can't put her name on here, but those of you who know us will soon get the details. Feel free to give me a teenage baby shower!

Moving On

2011-01-28T14:29:00.003-06:00

As several of you know we have announced our resignation at Carpenter Place. Ryan has accepted a position at a different company and we have found a small duplex not far from here. It's just up the road from Isabelle's school, and our family is going to bring a 6th member with us. Here are pictures of the house.

Old pictures

2010-12-11T19:28:00.003-06:00

It's my anniversary and my husband gave me a big picture of our 3 kids mounted on a canvas. It made me sentimental for the wonderful children we've had because of this wonderful marriage God has placed me in. Here are some pictures of the kids about a year and a half ago. These are the sweet faces of an 11 year commitment and counting.

Syd's birthday

2010-11-21T10:40:00.003-06:00

Happy 3rd birthday!!! We had the neighbor Keegan over and a couple of Sydney's friends from church to come play (it was beautiful weather) and eat some of her princess castle birthday cake. She had a good afternoon and really liked her gifts. For those of you who've seen them and weren't sure about them, pillow pals are very cool! Syd got a lady bug and she loves it and sleeps with it every night.

no special day

2010-11-19T10:35:00.001-06:00

These are just some cute pictures of our cute kids

Twilight fans + Carver Cafe

2010-11-17T14:40:00.002-06:00

Laura took me to Carver Cafe which is where they filmed all of the Diner scenes for Twilight. I sat at the same table as Bella!!! I drove on the same road as Edward!!! It was a beautiful experience. This is the last of the Oregon posts. What a wonderful trip I had!

First days in Oregon

2010-11-15T14:03:00.000-06:00

I know I've sort of posted everything backwards, but this was my first few days there. Mt. Hood was absolutely perfect as we flew past as you can see, and we ate at New Port Bay restaraunt which was AMAZING. The food, perfect weather, and perfect company made that the best restaraunt experience I've had in a very long time. Plus we had a mini adventure right after that involving a long steep ramp and a wheel chair. If you haven't heard the story it's too exciting to type, so you'll just have to ask me.

Oregon coast

2010-11-13T13:53:00.002-06:00

Have you ever stood at the ocean, with the white foam at your feet...?

Have you ever stood at the ocean, with a dead seal at your feet....?

Friends are friends forever if the Lord's the Lord of them!!!!

Some more of Oregon

2010-11-11T13:40:00.003-06:00

These are pictures of wonderful friends and a wonderful camp Yamhill! Oregon's beauty is proof that God is an artist. He works beauty in our world and He works beauty in our relationships with friends that we love.

HALLOWEEN

2010-11-09T13:26:00.002-06:00

Took kids to some halloween parties and trunk-or-treats. Only went to 2 houses- Isabelle's teacher and other houseparents. There is way too much candy involved in just a few activities! Isabelle was Tinkerbelle, Sydney was an angel (don't be fooled, this is TOTALLY a costume. NOT based on reality!) and Gideon was a ninja. What's funny is cousin Jacob was a white ninja! They got a kick out of that.

Pumpkin Patch

2010-11-07T12:58:00.000-06:00

I went with Isabelle to her pumpkin patch field trip a couple of weeks ago. It had a huge slide, giant bouncy jump, pumpkins of course, and playgrounds. Lots of fun for the kids.

Oregon

2010-11-05T12:51:00.002-05:00

Here are just a few pictures from my wonderful Oregon visit. I'll put more on soon.

Pictures by a Professional

2010-09-25T19:18:00.002-05:00

So my friend Jenny has just graduated with a graphic design degree and is starting up her own photography business. As I have some of the cutest kids ever she of course wanted to practice taking pictures of them for her portfolio =) Here were her favorites.

Last of Hot Springs

2010-09-11T17:41:00.001-05:00

These are the last of Hot Springs. There is a picture of the pipes that are used to pump the hot spring water up into the bath houses for use, and a small area that is behind glass but otherwise exposed for tourists like us to see what the natural spring looked like. Of course they added some pretty glittery rocks to make it look a little bit more special! =) But it was neat to see the actualy stream running below ground. No vacation for our family would be complete with out some miniature golfing, which we did at Pirate's Cove, and the kids came away with a bunch of Pirate treasure as you can see.

Pretty kid pictures

2010-09-09T17:22:00.001-05:00

Not much to this, just good pictures from Aransas

Bath house row

2010-09-07T17:31:00.000-05:00

These are pictures inside one of the bath houses. There is only one left in use, but this one is open to tour. There are special tables, tubs, and a steam box that you sit in and only your head sticks out. It was very interesting and creepy to think about. There was a fountain out front that was steaming and on a 100 degree day it was still hotter than the temperature and felt too hot to touch.

Arkansas playtime

2010-09-05T17:13:00.001-05:00

We went to Hot Springs for Vacation right before school started. The picture above is the pretty view we had from our living room. We had fun, though we discovered had we been here during the mining days where people made their life from that, we most definately would have starved to death! We gave up after an hour because, we had no idea what we were doing for one thing, plus, we were SUPER hot. It was just a big dirt pile and we had to look for teeny little diamonds, but there were brown and yellow diamonds, so they look like other rocks that aren't worth anything! so we picked up a few pretty rocks off of the road and left. But we DID find a yummy mexican restaraunt on the drive home, so it was worth it. =)

Family birthday

2010-09-03T17:02:00.001-05:00

Ryan's side of the family came together in the name of Isabelle's birthday at our house (though I'm sure Shane moving to Alabama had NOTHING to do with Grandma suggesting we invite everyone over) =) It was very good to see everyone though and baby Addyson has changed so much! I'm glad I got to snuggle her just a little bit, though I did feel obligated to share with the Grandmas. Isa was very happy to see everyone too and share her birthday with her baby cousin. We'll miss you Karin, Shane, and Addyson!

first day of school

2010-09-01T15:42:00.000-05:00

Gideon on his first day of preK and Sydney along for the ride

The sign says 1st grade, though you can't read it very well. I asked her the other day how her day was and she threw her arms in the air and said "GREAT!". I asked her why and she said well a girl in my class fell off her bike and BROKE her HEAD OPEN! And she's in the hospital, so we made cards for her. I'm hoping the card making is why her day was great, otherwise I need to have a talk with her!

Summer fun on campus

2010-08-30T16:49:00.000-05:00

Outside sprinklers were a great source of summer fun when we couldn't leave the house. Dad got the kids a special sprinkler for Christmas, and Ryan got them a whale that uses his blow hole to spout water out. we used the splitter and had them both hooked up at the same time all summer. The others are the baby squirrels Ryan found under a tree outside of our house. We nursed them for a night with warm milk and droppers then put them in a shoe box under a hot desk lamp. It was the best we could do, and 2 out of 3 made it! =) the other 2 were taken to a wildlife rescue place.

6 year old hula dance

2010-08-28T16:12:00.004-05:00

Isa's party with her friends was lots of fun. We had 3 hula dancers come and teach all the kids hula dances, plus Isa got a CD with a bunch of hawaiian music on it for her to listen to it. She had lots of fun with her friends and learning the dances. It was a great party!

Grossology

2010-08-05T18:39:00.001-05:00

At our local Exploration Place, which is a learning science center mainly for children, they have added a section called "Grossology" which is all about the gross things that human bodies do. There were giant noses with nose hair, shoot the "boogers" into the nose, bottles you squeeze and guess which offensive smell you've just voluntarily sniffed. The kids thought it was hillarious. The top picture is one of those static electricity balls that makes your hair stand on end.

Dinner happiness

2010-08-03T18:33:00.001-05:00

A quick story that has nothing to do with this picture....Nick was talking to Gideon at church, who told him that he has a dinosaur costume at home that makes him want to eat people. He also has spider man pajamas, but he can't climb walls in them. It's not that kind of costume.

Return to blog life

2010-08-01T17:59:00.003-05:00

Yes folks, it's actually Leann here. This post is to prove that I'm still around, though I've been missing for about 1.5 years on blog time. At least that's how long my husband's been updating this! So the first picture is a tribute to how hard my hubby works. =)

These are "Annie's baby puppies" which Isabelle prays for EVERY NIGHT

This is just because Sydney is so cute. She always has a baby doll, which now they are always crying, "getting mad", or getting in trouble. Apparently Sydney experiences a lot of that herself....,

These are Isa and Eon playing some games at VBS this summer. Isabelle had to see how long she could keep the balloon in the air, and Gideon had to empty the kleenex box one kleenex at a time with only one hand.

A visit to Cottonwood Falls KS

2010-06-21T17:39:00.003-05:00

Well, last weekend we visited a little town in Kansas that has the oldest operating county courthouse in the state. We spent about 3 hours just wandering around at the festival. It was full of crafts like broom making (see picture) as well as other skills people needed to know back in the day.

Above is the courthouse picture and below is the jail inside the courthouse. It was very dark and creepy.

Kindergarten Graduation

2010-06-17T23:07:00.003-05:00

Did you all know that Isabelle, like many other kids of our friends had a graduation this year. Here are 3 pics from that. Obviously she studies something in school - even if it is silly faces.

Don't give up yet

2010-06-17T23:04:00.000-05:00

Apparently Leann tried to log on the today. Don't give up on this just yet.

Why

2010-04-29T21:16:00.001-05:00

Why do I have this blog? Oh yeah, Leann started it.

Putt Putt at the Condo

2010-03-21T08:00:00.002-05:00

The kids have really been asking and asking to go and play putt putt. We finally gave in, though it was freezing outside. They had a blast and I didn't get stressed out (which is unusual) because I didn't have to pay for it. "Go ahead, whack the ball across the field and then throw it and then just put it in the hole - who cares" was basically my motto for the event. It worked well. Enjoy the video.

Visiting Friends in Tx

2010-03-20T08:00:00.000-05:00

We visited Titus and Angie in TX before we took off to Branson for our vacation. We had time to walk up to the park and play and it was great for the kids to get out a lot of their energy. We have a few pics of Kaewyn and Arabella, so make sure to see those cute kiddos! The rest are of our fam and them playing.

Moscow Circus

2010-03-19T08:00:00.000-05:00

We were able to go to the Moscow Circus while in Branson (THANK YOU KIRA) and here are pictures of some of the preshow stuff. Sydney was asleep except for the first picture (which was actually taken last). The kids were really really excited about all of the stuff going on.
This guy had a little squirrel thing w/ a spring inside that jumps and the kids were petting it when it flew at Gideon, which he thought was hilarious.
Isa hugged her first stranger EVER!!! Kind of, well, it was a bear, but I still thinks that counts. She won't hug Santa Clause, so this is a big deal.
Picture of the kids w/ the guy on stilts in the background.
The guy on the left is juggling (below).

Right before the show starts (above) and sign below.
Both of the older kids got to ride a little motorcycle and they thought it was great. Both were just smiles ear to ear.

Sorry about the quality, they were moving and we were using our phone instead of camera. Enjoy anyways though!

From TX to MO

2010-03-18T08:00:00.000-05:00

We traveled from TX to MO and stopped at a ton of McDonald's play places along the way (as it was 8 hours long). Here are some pics of those.

Flying w/ Friends

2010-03-17T20:13:00.002-05:00

About a week ago, right after my birthday, I was able to go flying with a few of my friends, Josh and Josh. We left Wichita and flew down to Ponca City, OK, where we parked by the runway and went out to dinner at Enrique's, a Mexican restaurant there. It was great fun and I learned a lot about the controls of an aircraft. Did you know that in small plains, they actually have an airbag built into the seatbelt by the door???? Really, airbags in planes? Don't you just count yourself dead if you crash?Above is a picture of the control panels. Below is just getting ready to enter the clouds and the last look at the sun before we go up.
Below, we just broke through the clouds and they were spectacular looking. Notice the rainbow in the first one in a circle, it was cool.

Below is our landing descent into Ponca City where we just had a great dinner w/ lots of stories and fun! Hope I get to do it again some time.

Umm GROSS

2010-02-23T12:03:00.001-06:00

Well, I have this video so I figured I might as well post it. We went out to eat at Subway and Sydney has a unique way of eating there.

Watching the Olympics

2010-02-22T18:58:00.002-06:00

So, Sydney is totally fascinated with figure skating. So much so that she will try her best to do everything that they do. Hope you enjoy.

A new hope

2010-02-11T20:01:00.002-06:00

So, just a few things to update you on.

New house parents came yesterday!!! WOOO HOOO!!!

I cussed Leann out in my dream because she drove us off a cliff wanting to take a shortcut. (We died as I was cussing and the car was plummeting down.)

Vacation starts Feb 24th!!!

Kids are famous

2010-02-07T15:52:00.000-06:00

Snow Time

2010-02-01T20:23:00.004-06:00

During the last snow storm, just a few days ago, we went outside to play for a while and it was just good old fun. You know, the kind where you think that your fingers and toes are going to fall off because you are having so much fun.

Sydney just loved all the time outside and it had no effect on her little hands and toes, because she never wanted to come in. Enjoy.

Swimming at the Y

2010-01-20T12:00:00.001-06:00

We went swimming at the Y a few days ago and Sydney just had a blast. There was a little frog slide for her to be able to go down the entire time. She spent about 30 minutes going up and down the slide. I thought it was going to be a little deep for her, but it was only about up to her hips at the deepest so she had a great time and was able to do it mainly by herself. She just wanted to just keep going again and again. We will try to get there more often, but with as fast as she takes off towards the slide, I don't think many more pictures will happen.

Skating w/ Friends

2010-01-19T12:00:00.000-06:00

Isabelle had a skating party from school and she was able to go. Her friend, Marissa, was there and she was able to play with her to her hearts content. Isabelle wasn't great at skating, but I don't think that that mattered at all. She was just wanting to have some fun and fun she had. Hope you all enjoy the pictures.

Jousting

2010-01-18T22:10:00.003-06:00

Ok, well, I broke down and let the kiddos play the Wii the other night. They had a great blast and I was champion of all the games, well, all but one. Isabelle and I were jousting on the Wii and the first round, I let her win to feel good. The next round I tried to win and lost. The next 3 games, I tried to win and lost again! I can win if I use the block button, which she isn't using, so that feels like cheating. I had Leann come down and play her too and here is what happened. Isabelle dominated!

A Christmas Post - at last

2010-01-12T13:23:00.004-06:00

Well, for all of you poor souls that didn't get a Christmas Card from us this year (which would be everyone), I apologize and here is a little post to make up for it. Hope your year was full of blessings and that you had just an amazing insight into God's love for each of you.

McDonalds

2010-01-11T23:20:00.001-06:00

Well today was another one of those days where we just have to get out of the house so we don't go crazy. We loaded the kids up to go to McD's w/out telling them where we were going. (It was only Syd and Eon.) So we drove all the way there and it is right outside a Walmart and Sams. Eon in the back seat pipes up "Mom, can we go to Sam's for pizza?" totally oblivious to the McDonald's out the opposite window from which he is looking. We didn't say anything and drove around the McD's actually (it is a weird parking lot). When we had got about 345 degrees around the building, Eon finally looked out the other window and saw the McD's for the first time. He says something to the effect of "Wow! Dad, I love you!" knowing full well we had chose this McD's for the playset and the hour we would spend there letting him run. What a good day!

Just another post - I am getting good at these

2010-01-07T21:33:00.002-06:00

I had a few minutes before a movie started to show you a few things from what has been going on. Hope that you all enjoy. - Have to get to the movie. Sydney had a great hairdo the other day and it is just so stinking cute!!! Thought you would all enjoy.A picture of all three kiddos over by the tree this year.
Rock Bank with the family.

Gideon turns 4

2010-01-05T12:41:00.004-06:00

Well, this year has definitely been an interesting one for Leann and I. We have finished up our second year as House Parents and are onto our third. It has been an interesting ride and we enjoy working with the girls. There are challenges, but many rewards as well. God has certainly been good to us this year, and for many before that.

Christmas was good fun this year and we enjoyed having all the family at our house. We are very thankful that they are so understanding of our job and what we do - Thank you! Here is a picture from a tired out Sydney in Grandma's arms.
Right after Christmas is Gideon's birthday. He turned 4 this year and certainly has been growing. I don't recognize it looking at him, but we watched a home video the other day and he was soooo tiny just a year ago. He has been learning a lot and is very excited about almost everything. He loves to talk in numbers, but has no clue what they mean - or maybe I don't. He walks around saying stuff like "Well mom, thats a forty two three hundred one seven and I'm not scared of it." Maybe this is a code for something, but I just haven't figured it out yet. We weren't off for Gideon's birthday and are getting no time off right now, so he only got a 5 minute birthday party. We went to our room and opened presents and ate some cake afterwards. When singing to him, he decided he didn't like all the noise so he covered his ears. He gets very shy when there is attention on him and he realizes it.

Finally, the kids are watching Eon's new show while eating popcorn and drinking on their new tv trays that Grandma got for them. What a blessing we have in our three young ones. God bless you and your family as much as we have been blessed and even more.

Amazing Pictures

2010-01-02T11:00:00.000-06:00

Well, we had a fantastic holiday season. My parents are coming here tomorrow with my brother Shane and his wife Karen, so there may be some more pictures to come with them coming up. Here are a few that were snapped around the time of Leann's parents being here. The first is of the girls. Can you believe how old they are getting and how much Isabelle looks like a teenager?
Sydney below is ready for Christmas. She seems to be charging the camera screaming, "Why are we wasting our time?"
While the Garrison's were here, it was time for some scarfs.
Gideon loved very much his new tool set from Grandma and Grandpa. He has been running around fixing things around the house. I am beginning to wonder if he hasn't taken the remote control from downstairs and secretly torn it down and used the parts for something he has concocted somewhere around the house.
Sydney got a little kitchen set for Christmas and has enjoyed playing with it almost everyday.
Well, hope that you enjoyed a few more pictures that I was able to get up on the blog.

Video Entry

2010-01-01T22:27:00.003-06:00

Well, I did it!!! I finally got a video up and on the blog. Hope that you all enjoy. This is from a Branson trip where we fed the fish and some swimming. This was about 6 months ago. Yes, it does take that long to get some things done. :)

Pics of the Baby

2009-12-30T13:54:00.003-06:00

Well, Our baby is growing up and here are few pictures to prove it. I haven't been able to post things lately but finally I have gotten a spare moment just to throw up a picture or two.She is so adorable and we just love having her in the family. I have downloaded more pictures ans hopefully over the next few days, I will get some up from the past month or so.

Halloween fun

2009-11-25T07:51:00.000-06:00

Well, I am just a little bit behind with all the Halloween stuff, so here are the pictures from that. Eon and Syd had a party to go to that they got to dress up for. Eon was a dinosaur and Syd was a puppy. They both had a great time playing at the gym at church with all the other kids that were dressed up.
The kids got to do play-do crafts and enjoyed every bit of it.
Isabelle was of course a princess for Halloween, how could we expect anything else?
For trunk or treat this year, the kids were able to see their cousins and enjoyed the trick or treating there. Here is a pic of all the kids together.

2009-11-24T07:56:00.001-06:00

Here are pictures we have had lined up for some time. There are pictures of the zoo, Sydney's birthday with her great grandad, and then one of Gideon and his buddy, Keagan. There are also some shots of just each kid by themselves. Enjoy.

Pumpkin Patch

2009-11-23T07:31:00.003-06:00

So, I am pretty late getting these up here. Here are pics from the pumpkin patch that we went to. This was my first one ever that I had gone to and the same for the kids. We went as a big group with members from the church. Of course, Nick and Jenny were there. :)
Above is Nick & I on the bails watching everything going on. Jenny took Syd down a huge slide that they had there. It was one of those old ones you would see at a school that tons of kids fell off of and broke their arms...(Shane). They had piled up tons of haybails around it though.

All the kids enjoyed the slide and loved all of the things at the patch. They had a tractor there for the kids to enjoy as well, which is the next picture.
Finally, a picture of the girls and their spoils at the pumpkin patch. What cute girls!!!

Flowers & Friends

2009-10-30T16:53:00.003-05:00

As we were moving in and setting up the new house, we decided some flowers would be wonderful. Our preacher and his wife donated this sign/flower pot to the cottage. It had great flowers in it, but they died, so Leann decided to put some fall flowers in it to keep it going without all the work. We also had our first bloom on the plant we have been raising for 3+ years now. We didn't know it would bloom, but one day there it was. The next day it was gone because one of the residents ripped it off!!! I was a little upset. We don't know who did it or why, and it really doesn't matter. It's just a plant. We thought about blowing this picture up though and putting it on canvas just because it is so beautiful we think.
A random picture of pre-school morning activity. There must have been enough time this ONE day to get everything done and snap a quick picture.
One night when Nick & Jenny came over, they decided to do piggy back rides for the kids. They get asked a lot for them now and I don't think they mind a bit. It is amazing the friendships your children form with your friends just because they are around them all the time. Gideon consistently asks when Mr. Nick is coming over so he can tell him the food is "tasty" (a word he picked up from Nick). Sydney always asks for Neck and Jenny to come over too. It is so cute how excited they get to see them when they can.

First Haircut

2009-10-26T15:11:00.003-05:00

Hello everyone,

So I finally got the pics uploaded and had a chance for about 15 minutes to sit down and get this accomplished for the day. The is the new house, Mom Bolin, that is now complete. We had the open house this weekend and it just exhausted us. It was a good turnout I think and the house was in spectacular form thanks to the girls. Here is a picture of the outside of it with the new grass and the trees.Here is one of the rooms in the house and it is great. The decor is really good for the house and we are very pleased with how it turned out.
There was also a first in the house in the last month. Sydney got her first haircut. She was really good with it. She decided she didn't want to sit still for a while, but when distracted, decided to sit just fine and let Leann do her thing.

This is the first pic.
No, not too mad.
That one looks like she may just let out a yell any moment, but instead she decided to just smile.
How sweet and innocent she looks there. Don't be fooled. :)

Also, Syd turned two on Saturday, but we are celebrating it on Halloween this year. So those pictures should be coming.

blug

2009-10-22T21:55:00.001-05:00

Sorry everyone for not posting stuff. We are super busy and will post something next year. Maybe sooner, but only maybe. ;) I need to get pics downloaded first from the camera so I have stuff to share w/ you. Maybe next week.

A Cute Picture

2009-10-03T20:29:00.002-05:00

Here is a cute picture from Branson! I thought everyone would like to have a new picture up here, but I couldn't find a new one yet, so oh well, here is what I got. I have some pictures to download here pretty soon, so I will see if I can get those up here pretty soon.

Death is Spinning

2009-09-25T15:04:00.003-05:00

So, ever wonder how you may die. I have determined that my way will be by spider - particularly one that is spinning a web outside our front door. Her name is Widow Black!!!!!!! We are having a big problem here on campus with them. We have never seen one inside and they have all been in the bushes so far, but today I found this one over our front door. I am not thrilled and am thinking strongly of bombing the whole campus if that is possible!!! Anyways - if you can't get ahold of us for days on end - send someone to knock on our door to see if we are alive. Thanks.

Airplane!!!

2009-09-06T11:47:00.000-05:00

So, every once in a while in a parents life, scolding is just not the first thing you think of when you walk into a situation. I was cooking in the kitchen when all of the sudden, Isabelle comes running out and says that the airplane is stuck. Where? I ask. Response - In the room. So, we walk into the room and I am looking around but can't find it. Can you?

Apparently, Eon decided that this plane really could fly. SO, he chucked it at the wall. Better yet, it stuck ABOVE the door. Talk about a good arm for a 3 year old. Needless to say, after the pics were taken, a brief "don't throw toys in the house" comment was made, and then I put the plane away for a while. I was so proud.

Visitin Uncle Shane's

2009-09-05T11:35:00.003-05:00

OK, so back in June we went to Shane and Karen's house and here are some of the pictures from that week. There really wasn't much that we did, just enjoyed the family.

We went to the KC Zoo while we were in town. I wasn't as impressed w/ it as I was when I was a kid. I much more enjoy Omaha's and even Wichita's. Here are all three kids piled into a stroller.
Our kids and their sun tan lotion faces. Gideon really enjoys lotion junk on his face!
For that matter - so does Sydney.
Hope you enjoyed the pictures.

2 and a half weeks later

2009-09-01T14:03:00.002-05:00

Sorry for not blogging for such a long time. We have been a busy family. I thought about emailing everyone, but this will be faster and everyone who looks at this would be the people I would email anyways.

The last two weeks have been kind of a blur. Isabelle started school this year, as you know, and her first week of K was great. We took her out for ice cream after her first day of school, just the 5 of us, and proceeded to ask all sorts of questions. As all you parents know, she said "I don't no" and simply "no" throughout the entire conversation without taking her eyes off of her ice cream cone practically. Duh to us I guess. Later that night though, she launched into a story about what happened at school, so that was fun.

This week, she has been loving school. Last night (Monday) she broke into tears because she didn't want to have only 4 more days of school left and then a weekend. We didn't mention that it is Labor day and she will get an extra two days off next week too!!! She loves going to school. She tells us all sorts of stories and sings us all the songs that she learns. It has been one of the greatest experiences of my life to see her changing so rapidly. Someone remind me of this when the conversations turn to boys. On that note, Isabelle had her first boy approach her at school. Of course, it was at recess. We don't know his name or age, but he told Isa that she is the nicest girl in the whole school and he likes her because of that. She doesn't remember his name either, so apparently I need not be worried.

Gideon has had a altering two weeks as well. He has become even more emotional and clingy. I feel bad for the poor kid because his ali (how do you spell that) in everything is now gone. He has done well switching and playing w/ Syd but she isn't the happiest with all the attention focused on her. She has resorted to swinging at Gideon anytime he is within arms length basically. Anyways, Gideon has quieted down a lot during the daytime when Isa is gone. He plays games alone (or w/ Syd if she will cooperate w/ him) and just seems to be doing ok. When Isa comes home, he turns into crazy child and his volume increases, speed of movement doubles, and amount of tears and cheers triples. Needless to say, it is tiresome in the evening now. (Not to mention that Syd has caught on to the "NO" word and runs after Gideon shaking her finger screaming NO at him and even stomping at him sometimes.)

Sydney has learned so many new words lately, including, lights, soap (which is soda), swing, play, outside (seeing a theme here?). She adores swings. She will sit on the swings outside for 20 minutes just rocking back and forth if we would let her. She refuses to wear shoes longer than 15 seconds - which is a problem in a home where we are REQUIRED to wear socks or shoes (which she won't wear socks either). Everytime we put them on her, she takes them off, points to her toe, scrunches her nose and furrows her brows, and simply says with a questioning tone "Owie". This stemming back from about 3 months ago now and there is no owie anymore, but the shadow effect of the wound must still be there.

Leann and I have been mondo busy as well. Our family has lived in 3 different houses in 1 month now. We moved out of Nelson, into Bolin. We moved out of Bolin (because it isn't licensed yet) and into Harrold to take the girls during a week. We moved back to Bolin for 5 days to move furniture in and continue setting up the residence. Finally, we moved back to Harrold and have been here for 5 days or so working with the girls again. Oh, in 3 days, we move back to Bolin for our time off. We are REALLY ready for the new house to be up and running.

The state came out the other week and looked at it and signed off on it finally. We have to get a whole bunch of signatures though from the state before we can move girls in. We are hoping that in the next 2 weeks that will be taken care of so we don't have to move again.

On Wed, our furniture came in for the house and some new furniture for another house. There were 100 pieces of furniture to off load on the semi. The driver just kind of chuckled when I told him it was just us. Luckily, we had some volunteers from our church come out to help us, which was great! We spent three hours unloading the furniture almost and the next 7 unpacking it all. We ended up getting our whole house unpacked in on day/afternoon, so we are no longer waiting for any furniture to move in. The furniture is amazingly beautiful too. Leann and I just love to sit in there (which we were able to do for about 1 hour on Thur because we had to move on on Thur afternoon back to the other house). We are pleased with how the house finally ended up.

As for Leann and I personally, we have had some work problems that we have worked through in the last couple weeks and things seem to be settling down there too. We just made our voices heard and that was enough for us to know that someone knew how we felt. We have been trying to make the adjustment of having 7 girls, a kindergartener, an on campus school, and a lot of extra running around. We have managed so far and in a few weeks, hopefully some kinks will be ironed out in the process.

Now as for myself, I have never been so in love w/ Leann than I am right now. We will have been married 10 years in December this year. I just can't believe that it has been that long. Today, I was just smiling because as she was talking to me, she was making faces exactly like Gideon's, and it thrilled my soul that he has such a unique part of her in him. Also, Leann is one of the best Christian women I can think of. Her grace and patience w/ me and the kids always astounds me. Even in the midst of her anger, she can control herself to the point of trying to honor me and the kids. She has become more beautiful with age and I catch myself staring at her just to admire her. (Usually her response is a Gideon face and a "What?" comment, to which I just chuckle.) She has been God's greatest blessing to me.

Well, I have gushed and sputtered enough for now, so I will go do some work. Next week, hopefully we will get some pictures up on here and maybe even a video or two - don't hold your breath though.

Happy Birthday Isabelle

2009-08-13T08:00:00.000-05:00

Our little Isabelle isn't so little anymore. On August 9th, she celebrated her 5th birthday. It is hard to believe that it is already here. We had a Tinkerbell treasure hunt for her party so that she could run around to the different places here on campus and show off her outfit and get lots of "Happy Birthdays!!!" She really enjoyed it. The cake was her choice, over all the princess, butterfly, & Dora cakes, the simple chocolate cake below won out in her choice. I guess you can't keep a girl from chocolate. Finally, a picture of Sydney's activities when the rest of us were singing and watching Isabelle and her cake. See the cupcake, well, she was eating all the sprinkles off of it. She was simply sweet about it.

Isabelle had a great time and says thank you to everyone who got her a present and made her day special. Thank you everyone and have a great weekend. Leann and I are headed off to Branson tomorrow a.m. to go on a company trip with the girls and everyone one else. We will probably have some pics of that when we get back. Write to you all later!

Happy Graduation to Mary

2009-08-12T17:16:00.003-05:00

Well, as many of you may not know, Mary took a break from having kids for a while and decided to pursue a degree in Psychology - better known as Psycho-ology. She graduated a few weeks ago with her B.A. and we threw her a little party to commemorate the event. It was supposed to be a surprise and it kind of was, but she knew something was up when Nick's yellow car was out back. Who else drives a bright yellow XTerra??? Anyways, here are some of the pictures.
We went for a Luau theme, since it was July and all the graduation stuff was gone in May, basically. The thing on the bottom right is a Tiki Bubble Blower. The kids really liked it.
For some reason, the ladies decided to make it like a wedding - where Mary was to cut her own cake and such. I am not sure if that actually happened, but here is a picture of the server at the party - - - woot woot!!
Mary's fam - and mine too I guess.
Margaret couldn't let us sneak out without a picture of Nick, Jenny and the two of us.
Anyways, here's looking at you Mary. Way to go, Good job, GREAT WORK, Fabulous stuff, and now get back to making some more kids.

Pics from July

2009-08-10T22:07:00.003-05:00

Well, I figured I would put a few pictures here from July. There really aren't too many stories to go with it, but I will let you konw what I remember form the pics. We got new shades for the fourth of July. Sydney just loves glasses and always wants to wear them around.
Just snapped a shot of Gideon wearing his hat from Venice.
Sydney showing off for the camera below.
Leann and Mary got to go to the New Kids on the Block concert and here is a picture from it below. They both loved it and were soooo happy to get to live out a childhood dream - even if it was 15 years later. Leann just keps talking about putting pictures on here of the concert, so I will leave it to her to get that done.
Finally, we just got to go to the grandparents a while ago and here was Sydney soaking up her grandpa time. Grandpa has become her favorite word basically. She is constantly asking where the grandpa's are and why. It is cute.

McDonalds and Our Buggerfly

2009-08-07T17:29:00.003-05:00

Is this a butterfly or a moth??? It looks like a butterfly but the colors were just weird. Also, this thing was just huge!!!
Ok, so the pics below are from our trip to the McD's to play in the play area. Since Leann wasn't around, I decided to let Sydney up into the play area with her brother and sister. She was enjoying it and having such a blast that when I wanted her to come down, she miraculously became deaf and was unable to hear me talking to her. I spent about five minutes walking around the area trying to get her to come down and she kept ignoring me. Finally, I cam up with a brilliant idea. I walked ournd the area with soda in hand asking Sydney if she wanted a drink. She immediately stopped, looked at me, said "Uh Huh" and started to come down. Crisis averted and another lesson learned - I am not above bribery.

Branson

2009-07-30T23:44:00.002-05:00

Here are some pictures from my quick trip to see Laura in Branson. Laura and I, Mary holding a crying Sydney, and if you couldn't tell, that is Isabelle and Gideon ON A JET SKI!!!!! Wow I have gotten trusting. Also they loved swimming in the lake, thanks to Laura and Matt who took them in.

Visiting Waddle Grandparents

2009-07-30T22:50:00.003-05:00

Well, we took some time last week (maybe two weeks ago) to go and visit the grandparents. We had such a good time and I really really love them so much. It is great to have spry grandparents that jump off of swingsets, listen to rock and roll, and watch LA Ink!!! They just make me smile. Here are a few pics from the weekend that we got.
Sydney insisted on giving people chalk pedicures while we were there, so we had lovely pink toes during our visit.

Grandpa above is working the puzzle with the kids. Best thing is that when the kids left the table, Gpa continued to do the puzzle all by himself.
Grandma playing with Syd. What a great memory. (Grandma, are those the sunglasses you had when I was that young??? They look really familiar for some reason!)

Sorry we haven't been posting at all. We have been moving and just got internet today again. So, we will start back up here soon. I still have to get pics downloaded and such, but need a good brother to help me figure out how to network my computer and create passwords and share information - etc., but with all the family a-twitter over the expecting couple, who knows when I will get a chance to snag him for a half hour to help me out. :)