Noah is enjoying his new Tonka truck from Grandma Butler.
This card is from Grandma Brenda and Grandad Bill. 
Aunt Carrie bought this very yummy cake!
It didn't take long for Noah to figure out that there were fun toys in this bag.
Not everyone looks good in a party hat, but Noah and his three closest sisters do!
Noah's playing with one of his new cars while having his picture taken with Carrie and Brian.
Daniel is reading his card from Grandma Brenda and Grandad Bill. He had been watching the mail for cards for a few days! This one came right on time.
Kendal and Kelsey worked very hard to make this cake and Daniel's favorite meals all day long.
Mary enjoyed her Pretty Pony, Mrs. Potato Head, coloring books, hair clips and twist up crayons...and there's more on the way...
Anna was so pleased with her fabric, hair clips, watercolors, sketch paper, stick horse, notebook, and more. We are especially looking forward to seeing her excitement over the gifts that haven't even come yet.
At the Pollard's house all the families had a great time together. Ashleigh's mom and dad purchased an icecream cake for the two girls to share. So they blew out a "6" and "7" candle together.
Aunt Patsy sent money for Anna's Christmas and birthday presents so we put the money together and bought this beautiful dress for her. It was on a clearance rack at a children's boutique near our home. It was 70% off!!! Anna really likes it and looks lovely in it. 
Our weekend was very special for another reason: we spent it with Colin and Nancy Campbell, the founders of the Above Rubies ministry. Their magazine has blessed us for nearly a decade and their encouragement has played a major part in our decision to entrust our family size to God.
The conference was fairly small and we were blessed with an intimate final session with Colin and Nancy at our pastor's home. It was surreal to literally rub shoulders with Nancy Campbell in the Shedd family dining room. I asked her every question that I could think of during the weekend. She spoke boldly about God's design for women on Saturday in three sessions, while Colin spoke to the men. On Sunday Colin preached and we all shared lunch and a fun afternoon together. Our fireside chat at the Shedd's home lasted for hours. No one wanted to leave. We could've gladly adopted this dear couple as honorary grandparents. They were thankful for all of us and we were thankful for them. We were all praising God for his kindness in letting us be together. We couldn't resist having our picture taken with the Campbells. I hope we will always be as excited about living for God and raising godly seed as we are today!
Her Play-Doh Ice Cream and Dessert Shop was a big hit! Even with the older children. They've been making desserts for most of the day.
One of her little gifts is a princess hat. She looks so lovely in it! Daniel offered to be the horse for the "princess". What a gentleman.
Joy was especially excited about her new tea set. It has four place settings so she can invite her best friends for tea.
She was so responsible when she carefully washed each piece of her tea set so they can put real food and drink in and on them.
Noah was thrilled when we let him stand up to the coffee table and see what everyone was doing.
Grandma Butler with Noah tonight. She brought over a yummy dinner and Isaac's birthday gifts.
Yesterday (Thursday) was Isaac's 11th birthday. He chose an assortment of cowboy things: stirrups, pistol, holster, and a new hat (not pictured here). Anna and Daniel carved various weapons out of wood for him and the girls made birthday cards and his favorite dinner, chicken pepper pasta. He wanted rootbeer floats for his birthday dessert. It was a fun day for him. I took all three boys (that's a new phrase) to the mall so that Isaac to chose a couple of his own gifts from Grandma Brenda and Grandad Bill. He spent the afternoon playing with his remote control car and Lincoln Logs. Today, Grandma Butler came over with his new hat and a shooting game from Aunt Patsy. His daddy is still an expert shot even after all these years out of the Army. Anna's pretty good too.
Mary and Daniel are snuggling in the rocking chair. Now that Mary's two, and a big sister, she's talking constantly and expects us to understand every word and meet each request-now! Who could resist those beautiful baby blues anyway?
With warmer weather comes water fun. This was the first official, bathing suit-wearing day for our family. But there have been numerous unofficial soakings with the hose and buckets too! They all look like "Jack be nimble" jumping over the candlestick. I don't think Mary and Joy really liked all those spraying arms getting water in their eyes. But the mud puddles in the grass looked like fun. This one is of Anna. She watched the boys for a long while before she tried jumping over herself.
This is Isaac, with Joy and Mary watching.
Here's Daniel with Mary in the background.
Mary's all smiles and out of the reach of the water sprays.
Now that Noah is a month old, there are many more chances to get pictures of his eyes. They're blue of course. When we first bring home a new baby he always seems like a stranger. But then after just a few short weeks, it seems that he was always with us and can't imagine life without him.
Every night before we go to bed, Bob checks on the children in their beds. On this night, we went in together and found Joy asleep literally standing up. We couldn't resist turning on the light and taking her picture. Kendal woke up to the flash of the camera and Bob and I laughing hysterically. We're guessing Joy was too hot under this down comforter (go figure) and was trying to get it off but it was wrapped so tightly around her it was able to hold her up while she slept. Or maybe this was just another time when she was refusing to sleep and her fatigue caught up with her. Children do the funniest things!
After carrying a baby inside for nearly ten months, delivering him, and caring for him for nearly a month, it's amazing how rewarding a single moment of eye contact and a slight smile can be.
We're noticing how fat he looks and loving it! He weighed nine and a half pounds at his one month check up this week! So he gained two pounds in a month!
This is Joy and Noah. Mary, Joy, Anna and Daniel had caught a cold and a sore throat last week. Joy coughed alot on Saturday night and on Sunday Bob had to take her to the CHKD emergency room because she was getting into respiratory distress: breathing fast, wheezing, retracting and fatiguing. She had a few breathing treatments and was kept overnight to start IV antibiotics to make sure she didn't develop pneumonia. Isaac is the only child who's ever been to the ER in our family and that was for stitches both times. We all missed Joy and Bob terribly. Bob thought he was going to have to work a few hours on Memorial Day (also our 18th anniversary) but instead he spent it at the hospital with Joy. She was very brave and all the nurses praised her. She returned home by Monday evening looking much better and quite happy after spending 24 hours with her daddy to herself! She's still coughing today but definitely on the mend. Praise the Lord for our timely discernment in sending her, for having a great hospital nearby to care for her, and no worrisome bills to follow.
We have so much to be grateful for! When Isaac was a baby he had so many medical problems that we could not be sure there would be any birthdays for him. Praise the Lord for eleven wonderful years full of laughs with him. He is a true blessing to our family!
