Guess who turns 9 months on the 15th!

And she eats everything!

 I first want to apoligize for Being MIA for a while,summer time is busy.

I thought i would put some pictures on of Lauras graduation party…despite Jonathans fever coming back,we have been doing well here…Alaina and her teething doesn’t count.(4 on top and 2 on bottom)

My sister Hollys oldest Nick.

Marina,Hollys 2nd oldest.

Three sisters together in one picture…hmmm this never happens!

Marks sisters boy Jacob wanting cake!

My sister Robins little girl Emelia

Jonathan and Holly

Marka sister Sarah holding Alaina and her husband TJ,hiding behind her. 

look how fast i can change diapers now! i blurred the camera!

Right now i am anxiously awaiting the arrival of Laura and Carter who have been visiting with their father this past month…they should be here any minute! YAYYYYY! I cannot wait to see them!

  So,it has been so busy around here lately,i have had no time to blog it!

Well where am i going to start??

ok,starting with Jonathans appointment at Syracuse University…we met with his doctor,and after reviewing all the results of the blood work,it turns out that he has “Periodic Fever Syndrome” which IS the diagnosis. Before it was suspected that it was the symptom of something else that was the cause….if that makes any sense.So we had the option to receive a prescription for prednisone,or go with the probiotics,which,we have been doing and have had great results. We chose probiotics…of course. So this opened up a whole new avenue for the doctors,and Jonathan is a “test” patient because if probiotics have the same effect as a steroid treatment,then they can look elsewhere to find the cause of periodic fevers. Now we have to document his fevers and when we give the probiotics. Real fun. Here are a few pictures waiting for the doctor…

The tissue paper kept her occupied!(I think she was pretending she was a nurse!)

Talk about a loooong exhausting day!!

Laura graduated from 5th grade and they had a ceremony at the school,it was so cute!I could tell she felt like such a big girl.I still can’t believe she is going into 6th grade to the middle school! I don’t want her to grow up,i want to freeze time!

I tried to take pictures of the ceremony but it was so dark in the school the flash would make the stage even darker,and since i haven’t figured out for 2 years how to use the camera,the pictures didn’t turn out that great…

Well i do have video,and i made sure i was taping when they announced students who carried a 95 or higher average for the entire year!

 Yes my Laura was one of them…I am so proud of her,she does so well in school,and in everything for that matter,it seems effortless.

Did i mention i am so proud of her?

Jonathan is REALLY excited for school now…he really enjoyed the water fountain!

This is the look he gave me when i asked him if he wants to go to school.A little undecided? I think Mom wants to keep him home as long as possible,and he can sense that!

My older sister Hollys girls Marina and Lexi.

Outside of the school Lexi found a cricket,I made sure they let it go so it didn’t get tortured to death by the boys.They don’t understand if they keep bugs forever,they will die.Still working on that one!

Lexi

Laura Carter and Mason(cousin)Which i just noticed Mason is wearing one of Carters shirts!LOL

Mason,Carter,Laura,Marina,Lexi,and Jonathan

Laura and Carter with their dad who made a surprise visit.(even for me)

i was NOT expecting him here until the weekend!

They are now with their dad in Louisiana for a whole month…(i still regret even saying yes to that,but he IS their dad and they DO miss him.I hope they return safely)So far i have talked to them once a day at least…if not more.I still wake up in the morning expecting them to be in their beds,it’s really hard for me to adjust to them being gone.

My oldest babies…awww i miss them so much!

Thursday night,after the graduation, they were able to make it to the meeting with us before they left with their dad,so i snapped some pictures then.

Laura and Alaina

Jess and Alaina

Laura and her friend Kaitelynn…which is here where they stole the camera and took some of the following pictures….

Laura,Kaitelynn,and Chloe…

My good friend Chelsea

She is sooo photogenic!

Grandma with Alaina

No i did not take this picture..

give 2 girls a camera and see what they do…hmmmm interesting!

YIKES!

We visited my parents a couple times this week also…here are some pictures from their house..

Saturday we went to a friends house for a picnic…it was a “Thankyou picnic”…Our friend Cathy had broken her leg in the winter and a bunch of our friends gathered together and made meals for them while she was recovering..it was a way for her to say “Thanks” to all of us..sooo sweet!

My dad and Sarah..Marks sister,with Alaina.. 

Marks Mom (in the white)

Dawn,my Mom,and sister Teft

My sisters oldest,Nick…and Bill Pope.

Flipping them with his bare hands!

Marks mom,and nephew Jacob.

 Chelsea and Kaitelynn

Moi…i don’t know what i was thinking…and i definitely did not know i was getting my picture taken!

Marks Dad and Alaina

We took the boats out on the Lake at their house…..

Chelseas brother Josh on a surf board…

We still had Lauras Graduation Party we went to,And Lexis Welcome home party(she was in Michigan with her dad for the past year.) I have pictures of Lauras Graduation party,i will have to post next…I am too tired now,and I have been working on this post on and off for 3 hours!

Until next time!!

Alaina loves her swing lately,i can’t think of anything to say right now because i have been so busy,so i will just leave you with some pictures for now.i will update later this week.

can you believe she is 7 months now?

He is having so much fun with her lately! When he’s not sick that is! (these were taken last week)

I just have to share this one from Sunday of Alaina. She was just too cute in this outfit that my sister Robin gave her…i wish she could wear it forever!

We went to the best farmers market on the planet today! I have been wanting to take the kids there for quite a while…ummmm 2 years to be exact! We were in desperate need if fresh fruits and veggies and when i went to the grocery store..everything looked worse than usual SO…….i decided it was time to go to the farmers market!

After today,Mark agrees we will now be buying from there and growing our own vegetables,rather then getting them in the grocery store.(until winter of course.)

I picked up a bunch of plants for my garden also…i couldn’t believe how cheap they were! a SIX pack of tomato plants were $1.00..(the cheapest i have seen them was 1 plant for $3.00 !) I ended up with Tomato,collard greens,brussels sprouts,green pepper and some others..

we also bought baskets of potatoes,onions,oranges, peppers, strawberries,apples,and pears…then on my way out we saw this absolutely great bakery stand,and i could not resist her blueberry coffee cake! total spent? $27.00 … thats TWENTY SEVEN… not bad at all!the amount we walked away with will last at least 2 weeks.

so here are some pictures from today…

If your wondering what is on Carters neck,he put a tatoo with smiley faces ALL the way around it last night! I made him clean it off but now it looks like that. (He said he got it for a prize at school…I don’t know why they give them tatoos to choose from…personally I think they are disgusting.)

On a lighter note…

i had to make this picture bigger…i wanted to pick one up sooo bad…if i did i would have walked away with it.(i have a thing for ducks) i have no idea why i don’t have one yet…well actually i do, afraid for it’s safety!

i want them all,SOOOOO bad you have no idea!

i think Sienna really likes baby ducks too…..this is the reason i am afraid to get them!

Carter harassed the bigger chicks until he was bit…LOL

he asked for it.

Jonathan went for the rabbits…which are also my favorite,but not as much as the ducks.

Mark took the kids to pet some animals then to the corn box.. while i did some shopping.

my wagon was overflowing…and they are decent sized wagons! i wanted to get a picture of it but there were so many people i didn’t want to offend anyone if i took one of them by accident.

After the farmers market,we went to one of my favorite stores….

I bought some dried KIWI fruit and tried it for the first time here…in my opinion,it tastes allot like any other dried fruit,not much flavor but kind of sweet. They have allot of Amish foods. I bought a very soft loaf of rye bread that was made there,and it is SO delicious!

Then we stopped and ate at a little ice cream shop…

Laura went to a friends house for the day and we had Becky and Ben with us.Thats Ben with the crooked hat.

Mark and Becky thinking how ridiculous i was being with the camera…

Carters pockets were full of corn! HA! and i just noticed ANOTHER discusting tatoo! Notice how that one has not been washed? It’s because he didn’t think Mom would see it….(Why can’t they just give them stickers to choose from?)

AND of course i couldn’t resist  taking a million pictures of my munchkin!(if you look close you can tell which ear she sleeps on!)

hmmmm maybe i can eat them?

Actually that thing mamma has looks better!

If i can just……get….

A little closer!

YIKES!

Chow Time!

My Veggie Wrap and Nachos,that didn’t last long at all…(sun dried tomato wrap,YUM)

Doesn’t that just look mouth-watering?

And FINALLY after the kids ate,they sprawled out on the ground like Tigers do after a good meal.

So my Girls are Girly girls….or maybe not. Shhhh… don’t tell Daddy!

can you see it? 

Now?

AHHH there it is!

what do you think she does with it??

Takes it for a ride…..then decides…..

it needs some friends!

Daddy doesn’t know how much she loves bugs….shes not a bit scared of them…

Neither is she!

Then i had to go make Lunch!….MMMMMM

my view this morning as i walk downstairs to put the cat out which was yowling at 5 am…i am so glad he woke me up,i haven’t seen this in such a long time!

Mark would call this a CHEM trail..i think its pretty though.

the moon and the star,were breathtaking…i couldn’t get it to come out the way it REALLY looked.

then i noticed this ugly spider in the window…and how much the window needs to be cleaned!

of course i still have not figured out how to use the camera the right way..to get the spider in focus..i am sure it would have been uglier if i did.

 Alaina had her 6 month well child ,she is now 14 and a half pounds and 25 inches…and really squirmy.
she will be crawling soon i’m sure of it! I took Laura with me to the visit…she was just as tuckered out as Alaina..(Laura would not give her to me after she got her shots,she scooped her up right away and i felt helpless.They did let me nurse her in the room after so that was good.)Laura looked like she was crying too. She is such a good sister,and is always watching out for the little ones…it’s like i have four eyes instead of only two..This is what they looked like when we got home.