Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Surprise!

Labor Day weekend at our house brought a special visitor to town. Joe's longtime friend, David Larson, flew in to surprise Joe. We greatly enjoyed his company and Joe was very surprised, indeed.

I had no idea this picture was taken until preparing this post for the blog.

On Sunday, Joe and David headed into the city to take in a few sights. They visited the Air and Space Museum, the Smithsonian Castle, and the Spy Museum.

No, this is not our storage shed. It's actually a picture of various things that have been in the different Smithsonian Museums over the years.

The girls really enjoyed having Mr. David for a visit. He brought a big book, Richard Scary's Biggest Word Book Ever, as a gift for the girls and Xandra has been telling me that he forgot his book everyday since he left.

The weekend was far too short and went far too fast, but we enjoyed chatting, exploring, and gaming while he was here. Thanks for visiting, David. Come again soon!

Monday, September 21, 2009

Rub a Dub Dub...

three girls in a tub. Aliyah's first bath with the big girls. I think she liked it!

Sunday, September 20, 2009

A Real Charmer

Aliyah at nearly 6 months:

She's rolling over front to back and back to front, smiling, squealing, playing in the exersaucer, putting everything she can find into her mouth, chewing on things constantly, and carefully studying her big sisters.

Saturday, September 19, 2009

Butterfly in her stomach

Xandra's request for a birthday cake this year was that it be a butterfly. The end result is a butterfly on the outside in pink and purple and green (Xandra's favorites) and pink strawberry cake on the inside.

Happy, Happy, Happy Birthday Porcupine!

Note: All photography provided by Andrew and Naomi Glenn. Thanks Glenns!!!!

Friday, September 18, 2009

Birthday Bash, Homestyle

For Xandra's birthday party we decided to invite friends and families from our small group for an evening of fun in our backyard.

We started with homemade pizzas.

Friends Jillian (left) and Faith (right) work with their daddy, Brad on their pizzas.

Friend Madeline, her baby brother (inside mommy's tummy) and mommy Naomi .

Waiting on the cooking pizzas.

Finally he gets to eat!

The birthday girl is happy with her pizza.

The kids played in the yard and enjoyed the sprinkler.

Jillian (right) and Ava (left) are two of Xandra's favorite people.

Madeline and Andrew sharing secrets.

A fun time was had by all.

Note: All photography provided by Andrew & Naomi Glenn. Thanks, Glenns!!!

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Birthday Bash, Midwest Style

While we were at both grandparents' houses we celebrated Xandra's birthday with the families. Unfortunately, I've misplaced the pictures from the party at Grandma & Grandpa DeShon's house, but we were able to find pictures from Grandma Mary & Grandpa Tim's house.

At the Pull homestead, we had a double birthday party with cousin Cora, whose birthday is just 9 days before Xandra's birthday.

Cake, ice cream, presents,

and of course,

party hats,

were all part of the celebration!

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

This Should Be Illegal


The deals have been so good at Target lately, I must interupt all this vacation posting with pictures and posts about free stuff from Target. In the last two weeks, I have scored all of the items in these two pictures for $1.01.

Here's the breakdown:

Trip #1: $ .93

8 boxes Special K Cereal, 2 Travel Hungry Hungry Hippos, 6 bags Chef Michael's Dog Food, 12 Cans Chef Michael's Wet Dog Food (our neighbor Carol has lots of doggies), 4 boxes Special K Cereal Bars, 5 Cheerios Cereal Cups, 10 Market Pantry Cheese Sticks.


Trip #2: $ .08

16 Glade Candle Tins, 8 Candle Refills, 7 Glade 2 oz. Soy Candles, 1 bag Chef Michael's Dry Dog Food, 2 Cans Chef Michael's Wet Dog Food, 5 boxes Fiber One Cereal, and 2 Market Pantry Cheese Sticks.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Reunion Time

After a visit to Nebraska, we met Joe in North Dakota for a week of family fun with the Pulls. We started the week by attending the wedding of friend Troy Viland and ended the week with Joe's 10 year high school class reunion.

In between we enjoyed some beautiful, sunny days

with lots of swimming,



talking (albeit usually to each other and not our cell phones),

floating,



Timmy (baby #7, is floating as well)

and sprinkling.

We also enjoyed lounging,

reading,

eating (lots of this!),

and lots and lots of silliness.

With six kids (seven, if you count Grandpa Tim), 10 adults, 2 cats, and a baby on the way, there's rarely a dull moment. There's also rarely a quiet moment. It's a fun kind of chaos to experience, and one we remember fondly when we're apart. In 3 1/2 months, the chaos will resume in full. We're counting the days!