~ Van Dyke Mania ~: October 2007

Our Football Star Eddie

Eddie plays football, his 3rd year in a row. He loves it. He's now in the 8th grade and is enjoying having a lot more time on the field. He's amazing to watch. #33 - he has improved so much over last year and the coach loves that he can play so many different positions, both on offense and defense. He plays safety, linebacker, kickoff return, wide receiver, and a few others that I can't remember the names of. He's looking forward to playing in high school. He's grown so much in the last two years - wearing a size 13 shoe at age 13, he grew 7 inches and gained 35-40 lbs in two years....and he's only 13...yeeks!

Surprise, Honey

Ok, so I go away for a few days and what do I come home to? My honey surprises me with new flooring. First are the before pictures and then after. My house is a construction zone right now but that's ok. With five kids, two dogs and four cats I was really wanting to pull up the carpeting and put down flooring. Too much work having to shampoo the carpets all the time. I just love my honey. The entire front of the house has the laminate flooring and he's building an office with french doors. Can't wait to see it when its all finished.

Trip to Connecticut

Hey everyone, we are back from our trip to Connecticut to meet my nephews. We had a really good time. The weather was great, 80's or 90s, hot and humid. I forgot what the humidity was like...took me a day to adjust. I finally got to hold my sweet nephews and oh what a joy they are. They are such easy going boys...my sister is so blessed. I fed, changed, bathed them all, gave them lots of kisses. Wished they lived out here in the Northwest so I could see them often. On Saturday we had a birthday party for Connor / family reunion. It was a lot of fun seeing everyone. Below are lots of pictures. Kristina was our photographer for the day and boy did she enjoy it. She got some awesome photos. My cousin Evette loved the attention and called her the paparazzi so she'd drag Kristina around to get her picture with everyone. Enjoy the photos.

Happy Birthday Connor

Our Connor turns one...he's getting so big. He's also teething a lot lately. He's taking lots of steps and will probably be walking here in the next month. We love him so much. His smile and cuddles just melt our hearts. Thank you Jesus for giving us such joy.

This is my sister with Tyler....she's doing so awesome with the boys. I am so proud of her. Its great to see her smile! She's been so blessed and its so amazing how God has touched her heart. I love to hear the excitement in her voice when she tells me what the boys are doing. She doesn't feel overwhelmed with three at all. But she does say that as long as she keeps their things organized and you stick to a routine, its pretty easy.

My brother Stephen meets the boys

I love this picture of Joseph

Check out my Tyler...gotta love that smile....doesn't he look handsome in his haircut? He has soooo much hair that I trimmed around his face and now we see more face than hair....he's sooo cute!

I love my sweet nephew Joseph...he is soooo cute! I call him Mr. Flirt because he just loves to talk with you and smile.

Here's my cousin Klemy's little girl, Isabela. She's sooo cute!

Here I am with one of my sweeties, my Mason dude! Check out his haircut...I had to get rid of his grandpa Munster look...doesn't he look handsome?

Sisters in the house....we laughed so hard because here we are with little kids outside and we are in the kitchen getting the food ready. It wasn't long ago that we were the kids running around outside while our moms were cooking in the kitchen....how weird.

Ok everyone, for those of you that don't know Klemy, this is a sight you don't see very often...Klemy in the kitchen with a utensil in her hand. She's trying to help make a potato salad. She has no idea what she's doing...but hey, she's figuring it out.