Let's Introduce **MaKayla Joy **

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MaKayla & JR (Mom-maws cat)

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(An older picture - but a favorite)

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Our Middle child --- MaKayla Joy --- thinks that it's her turn. So.... here we go. MaKayla loves to smile! She's has a beautiful smile & cheeks full of freckles. Of course she like other things too - swimming, animals, riding bicycle, exploring in the woods, catching frogs, and playing with friends & cousins! We recently took the girls to a local hotel , that we sometimes spend an "overnight" at, to use the pool & jump on the beds :) They're too big to jump on the beds at home now - so you can partially blame us for the conditions of SOME hotel beds. But then again.... maybe you've been there jumping too! The girls enjoy spending time in the pool. We've learned what times to go to avoid most of the people.

In the fall we will spend a long weekend up in Michigan with our family each year. There we spend time chasing frogs, riding w/ Uncle Brian in the boat to go fishing, playing in the water & generally just having the time of our lives!

MaKayla also enjoys school very much. She really likes her teachers & loves reading & writing. Gym class is everyones favorite - except for the "stretches". (That's how I feel too - except I'm not in gym class anymore.) She would like to start taking piano lesson soon. She loves to play her at home. Now she needs a better teacher :)

Nap time was NEVER something she wanted! She was always afraid of missing something. In fact.... she says she looks forward to heaven.... because she'll not ever have to go to sleep . Childrens Church & Sunday School are exciting times on Sunday. We're so thankful we attend a Super Church that have some great leaders for our children!

"Me & My Mom wish we had a four-wheeler! I love riding with Pop-paw, on his four-wheeler. Mommy took us out once & we even saw a deer. We would really have fun with one at our house."

"We have 2 dogs - our yellow lab is "Cookie" & the chocolate lab is "Kanga" . We have 3 cats & some fish. We now how 4 baby fish to watch grow. We have them in my room. We like to watch them. Last Fall we had a liter of puppies ... there were 3 chocolates & 4 yellow labs. "

And that's the story of our middle child MaKayla Joy (Joybelle -Freckles)

FUN IN THE SNOW!!!!!

Our winter storm a few weeks ago was a blast for us!
Philip & I both were able to stay home & enjoy the time
"playing" in the snow with the girls! Of course we had
to shovel our way out of the basement first & then try to make our way to the porch to unshovel the door & the walk. In many places the snow was about 18 - 24"! It was super! The dogs loved it! It was very difficult to play in actually. we had lots of work to do at first. But it was still great! Thankfully our neighbor saw our plight.....and he plowed out the driveway for us. The girls then had their own personal sled runs. 3 HUGE piles of snow around the driveway. They were about 5' high each. All of us had so much fun in the snow. Philip doesn't often get to sled ride with the girls - but this was an exception. He had fun "showing off" for his girls. Of course he sorta' had a mishap or two - as you can see in the picture. :) He's an awesome Daddy!
I'm so glad that we were able to have a BIG snow to
remember with the girls! Hope you all had fun too!

Hannah's 11th Birthday! Happy Birthday Dear Hannah ! ! ! ! !I can't believe that Hannah is 11 years old today! Do you remember how LONG it took her to get here? I sure do! And now she's growing up so fast! Getting into the "girlie" things - look out Daddy! We surprised the girls this morning & got them up at 7:30 (Philip took the day off) and we headed down to COSI in Columbus (we also took Gramma along). We had a super day inside - since it was raining outside. There are so many awesome things to do there! We were busy busy busy all day! The adults were worn out at the end of the day - but the girls we cranked after napping on the way home. Typical isn't it? Our favorite things were - the black hole in space & it's spinning walls (thank goodness for handrails), cheering for "Mary-Anne" our rat- playing basketball (we lost :( ), the IMAX theater about Greece, and of course .... the element of surprise! We've also included a picture of the unicycle ride.... Philip was in line to ride but they closed the line - due to so many school groups that they wanted to be sure they could ride. Look like fun to you? Me neither! This is actually the only high-wire unicycle in the Country that is available for you to ride.

*Hannah received her presents from cousins in Michigan inside of this TRIX box. How exciting that was!

Welcome to "US" !!

WELCOME - I Think!! Well this should prove to be exciting! I was hoping that I will be able to share some pics on here that most of you may never get the opportunity to see otherwise :) And obviously I'm not up on my scrapbooking yet! (sorry Myranda) So..... this will definitely be a trial & many many errors as I go. Some sites look sooo nice. I don't think I'll get there anytime soon though. So try not to expect too much out of me. Hopefully you'll enjoy something & laugh a little - or alot. If so - we've succeeded! We're just out to share some memories with you too !

p.s. If I could figure out how to add the pictures I'll be happy at this point. :(