Congratulations Carlsons

Congratulations happy family. May God bless you in your new home and may it be filled with love and happy memories.

The Queen of the castle

The King (Ryan means king) coming home to his castle and his awaiting Queen.

What strong and capable movers......and they were so much fun.

Isaac, I love your room. It has personality....... and so do you!

Joy, I must admit....I have a serious case of tub envy.....enjoy!

Camping together

Off for a swim

A duo of willing workers

What beautiful smile.

A lot of love in that hug!

Three buddies

2010 Ping Pong Olympics

Firstly, I want to thank Joy for organizing the 2010 family camping (a.k.a. Cousins Camping).  It was so nice to be able to drive up and not have to worry about anything.  That was a real gift to me!  Joy also started a fantastic tradition - The Ping Pong Olympics. It was a blast.  We were having so much fun that the folks at the campsite across the road asked us if they could buy a ping pong ball from us because they wanted to partake in the games as well!  Like a great sportswoman, Joy gave them the ping pong ball free of charge!  Way to represent Joy.  They returned the ping pong ball in the morning and insisted we also take their professional grade orange ping pong ball. I love the community in action.  In the picture above Ryan and I were trying to bounce the ping pong into the plastic cups from a fixed distance.  The ping pong ball had to bounce once before it entered into the cup.  We then had to retrieve our own balls.  It was a battle to the end when I had a lucky hop off of a piece of gravel and landed the ball in my cup.  Victory!

Adam and Isaac had a great competition trying to blow the floating ping pong ball in one cup into another.  Isaac made swift work when he landed the ball in with a huge breath like that of a dragon! 

Linda must have been practicing this at home - look at her technique.  She edged out Carol but Carol received the best splash caught on film award! 

Umm.  What kind of face is that?  Ryan schooled me in one swift blow.

 

Winner!  Addy!

Faith really held her own!  She loved her prize:  beautiful smelling lotion!

Look at the concentration on Adam's face - it is unparalleled.

Winner! Joy!

1001 Family Photos

I think there might be 1001 of this same shot! We all insisted on using our own cameras. What were we thinking?

Crazy week!

It's been a crazy, busy, fun week here!

Adam's buddy Cal moved to Florida at the beginning of the summer and he was back in town visiting for a week! The boys have been inseparable since last Friday and had tons of fun together.

Happy Birthday Adam! My baby turned 10 on Tuesday and he was up at the crack of dawn waiting to open a present. Isaac loved picking out these gifts for his brother!

It's party time! Thankfully it was a gorgeous night and the boys had fun swimming and sleeping in the camper. What a great bunch of kids!

Today is closing day -- it's hard to believe this afternoon we're buying a house! With how busy things have been it sort of snuck up on me and doesn't quite seem real.

After the closing we'll be finishing up packing to go camping this weekend! Can't wait to see everyone!

Fourth of July Fun!!

This is Faith and her friend Gabe who we bumped into on the bluff by our house when we went on it to watch the fireworks. They were so cute together. They oooohed and ahhhhed it was PRICELESS!

Check out these balloons! LOL

The 4th was a beautiful day this year and we did water balloons and Faith had such a great time!

Joe and I at Al Quaal

Carol and Ken enjoying the picnic at Al Quaal, boy was it quiet out there this year!

Look at this movie star pose~

Some of the parade watchers

I love this picture of Bob and Faith

Faith getting ready to catch some candy..... She was a little shy this year and sat in Nana's lap a lot with all of the sirens. But everyone still threw her candy. Lindsey and I were the ones who had to pick it up! Hope everyone had a wonderful 4th like we did!!

Sweet!

Prayers please...

My wonderful friend Marcia Solberg, who many of you know and who is now a pastor in Negaunee needs your prayers. Today she had surgery to remove an ovarian cyst and received a cancer diagnosis. I don't have much more information than that for now. I'll be visiting her tomorrow ... she's at a hospital in Green Bay ... and I hope to find out more info. Marcia is one of the most amazing people I know. She was my mom's dearest friend and has been such a source of strength for me and is a loving friend. Her faith is amazing and when I spoke to her the night before her surgery she, as usual, was concerned for me and how I was handling this. Please keep her and her family in your prayers.
Love, Joy

The Icebox

I'm in Atlanta right now with Mom & Dad but Carrie sent this picture via text message to me yesterday! The Icebox has arrived! From what I can tell it was probably best that I wasn't there to witness this great event as it took several hours for the delivery men to get it in. They had to disassemble the whole thing after my contractor insisted that it was not going back. We've waited since mid May for this fridge to arrive (It is the MOST popular model of fridge right now)! Yeah! It's finally here. By the way - it's not blue - that's just the protective coating that gets peeled off after final installation. I love peeling it off - very satisfying!!

Successful Surgery!

Dad in his paper gown! Ready to go - let's get this knee surgery over.

Yes, this is the leg to operate on!

Happy as a clam - it's all over!

Dad was able to walk on his leg without crutches. He is recuperating at home now for a couple of days. Right now he is getting a healthy does of People's Court. Who knew?

Smile!

Adam is a happy boy today! He got his braces! He's missing one of his "grown-up" front teeth so he has two big gaps which he is a bit self conscious of. He's been looking forward to today for months and counting down the days. He has such a fantastic smile and I'm excited that he's happy to show it off!

The grande finale...Happy Birthday, Linda!

More Birthday pictures

Saving Grace

It is plain ol' hot here in Detroit. This has been my saving grace! Yes, I am not ashamed to have a blow up pool in my backyard. Furthermore, I am not ashamed to invite people over to enjoy the pool with me! It's been delightfully refreshing.

free-duhm

free-duhm –noun (1) the state of being free or at liberty rather than in confinement or under physical restraint

Galatians 5:1 It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.