Stay tuned....

Pictures will be posted soon!

We just got back from a 10 day vacation to Mackinaw Island, MI and Minoqua, WI. I took 400 pictures so I have a bit of sorting and editing to do. We all had a great time and I cannot wait to show you some pics!

4th of July

4th of July: Spent the afternoon swimming, then took the kids to the Petunia Festival in Dixon. They got their fill of carnival rides and so did Dusty.

Oh how sweet - our 2 little blond hair, blue eyed punks!

Their first ride together!

Dusty could not handle the hot air balloons, he was sick all night. Lightweight.

Greta's look of terror, not too fond of this one! We couldn't help but to laugh!

Sparkler time - Here's Atticus trying not to burn himself. No accidents, thank goodness. As always, Derek did a little show for us. It was a great night for the fireworks. Both kids passed out on the way home, which was nice too!

6th Anniversary

Genesis 9:12-16

And God said, "This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth."

Rainbows have always been very special to me. I can remember as a child singing "Somwhere over the Rainbow" to my Mom as I played it on the organ. I absolutely love it. Israel Kamakawiwo Ole's version is amazing from Meet Joe Black. Dusty and I can play that over and over and never grow tired of it. It's probably one of my favorite songs. Greta and I watched Wizard of Oz last night and I sang it to her. She liked it, although she enjoyed the witch saying "Come here my little pretty!" much better.

Here's us on our 6th Anniversary. It ended in a double rainbow. How awesome is that! God is great! We spent the day at Morton Arboretum in Lisle. If you have never been there, I would highly recommend it. We plan on returning with the little ones very soon. This is on the interstate on the way home. We HAD to pull over and take pictures before it disappeared. It was an awesome day with my husband. I will admit it was nice to be alone without the children. We rarely go out by ourselves. We almost felt guilty. Sometimes I forget how we were together before Greta and Atticus. What did we do with so much free time? Weren't we bored? Wasn't the house TOO quiet? Now, I cannot imagine my life without him or my children. He is such a great husband and father.

Father's Day Pics

Father's Day at my parents house. We spent most of the day outside watching the kids play. Dusty and Matt are on this cigar kick lately. I think, they think, they look cool or something! Love the farm in the background with Dad and the grandkids. Lots of memories for me - we rode our four-wheelers across this field daily, several times, back and forth to Grandma and Grandpa's house. We played with legos, played atari (my favorites = yars revenge, river raid and pitfall, my Grandma's favorite = Circus atari) She could beat us at almost any game. She practiced LOTS while we were at home! We also swam, played lots of rummy, watched game shows with Grandpa (Let's make a deal, Whammy something and Card Shark) and had crossword puzzle and word find races with Grandma. Both are gone now and some new family lives in their house. It's sad. I will always remember those summer days. The farm won't be in our lives forever - however the memories will always be with me.

OH MY GOODNESS!

OH MY GOODNESS!

So much has happened in the past few weeks. Can't believe I have not posted since June 7th, it seems like yesterday. Well since then we've got our little guy a new look for summer, survived 2 terrible storms, had a Rainwater gathering and a great Father's Day.

In the midst of all that, I had my first real anxiety attack and I thought my chest was going to explode into a million tiny pieces. I was able to sleep only 3 hours Monday night and then headed back to work for another 11 hour shift. Crazy. I terminated my first employee ever in 7 years with about 10 minutes notice. Then I scrounged to find coverage for the next three weeks out until I can get someone hired. So, now I am a pharmacist short as well as a full time awesomely (if that's a word) trained technician. 80 hours of manpower short. I could just cry. 250-300 prescriptions a day is wearing me thinner and thinner each day, literally. Matt says I need to eat more donuts.

Back to happy thoughts.......

TADA! His long locks are gone, but boy does he look so cute. He reminds me of Dennis the Menace (acts like him too!) especially when we spike it up! Dusty is a fan of the faux-hawk. Who knew you could have so much fun with a little boy's hair! I think he likes it too.

Rainwater family gathering. It was great to see everyone again. The kids got to swim in freezing cold water and we also got a few games of volleyball in before the rain came. Dusty took some pretty hilarious photos of us in action! Too many to post!

Need to get to bed, will get the rest up tomorrow. We are heading to the zoo in the morning. Hope we have nice weather.

From a 3 year old's perspective.....

We were watching Happy Feet this afternoon when Greta shocked me.

During the scenes below this was our conversation:

Greta : "Mommy, that is where Jesus lives."

Me: "Where Greta?"

Greta: "In Heaven, with the penguins."

Me: "Is that because of the beautiful colors in the sky?"

Greta: "No, because they are all singing to Jesus."

Greta: "Yep, that's where Jesus lives, in Heaven."

Me: "You are exactly right!"

The most fascinating thing about this to me is that we are currently studying Revelations in bible study! This was a great visual for her and me too (on a very small and animated scale!) what Heaven will be like. We will all be praising, singing and worshipping God because of His power and His holiness. "Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God, Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come." Greta will say things once in a while that will just blow you away. This was one of those instances. She amazed me when she said this with such confidence.

The Shriner Circus

We attended the Shriner Circus yesterday afternoon with Matt, Audrey, Anna and the Gensler clan. We got wonderful front row seats from our neighbor, Verle. The kids were very attentive and did well for a 2+ hour circus. Greta wanted to see the clowns and "jigglers" (jugglers) -

Matt, Jim and Dusty wanted to see them too!


Dusty snapped this one. She was directly over our heads. Still figuring out this camera in low light and darkness - so not the crispest, but still cool!

Audrey and Anna!