The promised, long awaited update!

OK, so it's been more than a long time since I posted anything personal.  Tonight I am required to sit up for 30 minutes after taking my antibiotic to prevent esophageal damage (if the pill disolved before entering my stomach).  So I've decided it's time for that update!  Not sure how many pictures I'll have time to add, as those are far more time consuming than text, but I'll try to update the bigger happenings in our home since May!

The most memoriable event in May was Memorial Day.  We all wore red/white/blue in our clothing:

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="Red, White and Blue Einfelds"][/caption]

(sorry but the lens was dirty!)

Esther was cute in red and white (she did have a blue bow in her hair):

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="376" caption="Esther in her stroller"][/caption]

What was really cool about that day is that we went to the services at Green Acres Cemetary.  They had thousands of flags, all in honor of someone who died serving our country.  Jerry Stewart spoke and as usual his speach was inspiring (Jerry does radio broadcast about our nations Christian heritage and he's always to good!)  Also there was a veteran who carried the flag to the Marines who put the flag on top of the mountain in Iwo Jima - the photo that is the most famous and there's so many statutes of - he spoke briefly, raised the flag, and signed autographs afterward.

Here's some photos of Esther back in June:

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="Here she is catnapping after playing on her play blanket"][/caption]

The next big event was going to visit my mom.  She had new windows put in and decided to have her draperies cleaned.  The cleaners really messed the draperies up and only Daryl and I knew how to fix them.  So off we went to Grandma's house with the 3 youngest in tow.  What an adventure!  Daryl and I with the three little ones with no helpers!  It really went well though - just like riding a bike, eh?

Here's some photos of our trip there, and also some of my sister, Beth's grandkids (we spent one day with her and her 2 sons, Ben and Scott and 3 of her grandkids, and then spent the night at Scott's house - I spent the evening jamming with Scott with his Wii - we both played guitar and I caught on really fast!).

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="400" caption="Daryl and Kids on Kingston Ferry"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="432" caption="Esther wasn't too sure about all the wind!"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="400" caption="Elizabeth enjoyed the Wind!"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="358" caption="Esther with Noodle Fangs!"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="400" caption="Esther and Grandma!"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="354" caption="Esther poses as Cindy Lou Whoo!"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="400" caption="Beth's Grandkids/Scott's Children"][/caption]

The week after that we went for our annual berry picking - we did 60 pounds of strawberries, and 45 pounds of raspberries (Jessica went again with a friend later and got another 20 pounds of raspberries!):











And then the processing:











Then along came the 4th of July - we did the usual parade in Blaine (it's getting bigger every year), checked out the car show (biggest/best one I've seen), and then home for naps and a BBQ dinner.  Then I took the all but the little ones to fireworks at Blaine - they did a great job!





This summer Rachel has built her own playhouse (she already has a very nice one, but she just had to do something with the left over cinder blocks from moving the mobile home!).  She's done great putting it together and having sleep overs with some of our kids.  Personally it tends to look like we have a homeless person living here, but who am I to squelch creativity!?





The next few weeks were planning for the Biggest Birthday Party ever!  on August 1st we had over 40 kids and 20 adults for a wild and fun party - but it was so big, I asked Renee to be the official photographer and I'll save that for a post all by itself (that and the photos are all "raw" and on my other computer). But here's a photo of Esther playing with my friend, Marrianne's little boy while she helped me with some of the planning:



The more recent event was our annual church campout.  Typically we  take the entire week before the official campout and camp at Silver Lake Horse Camp as our family vacation and have a lot of fun with other families that are as crazy as we are! For me the highlight was watching Daryl on a team of dad's doing tug of war against another team of dad's and Daryl's team won!



Reuben's team won the tug of war contest!



We also had a great time sharing our campsite with our friends and their 3 daughters and twin baby boys! It was a very busy campsite!


This year camping was a real bummer for most of us though, most of us had a terrible cold!  Everyone, including Esther, got over it, with the exception of me...I on the other hand still had a nagging cough, dizziness, headaches like you wouldn't believe etc...so finally on Tuesday I went to the Dr's office and sure enough my "cold" had developed into a secondary bacterial infection resulting in brochitus and a sinus infection.  So this last week I've been pretty much laid up and useless. I'm starting to feel better and have high hopes for next week - North West Washington Fair week.  Jessica will be showing dogs on Monday and Wednesday, so I'm hoping to attend those days and try to catch up on all I'm behind on the other days!

Hope you've enjoyed this long (overdue) summer update!

The New Driveway!

The biggest excitement in March was getting our driveway fixed!  We've known the Bergeron's for years (see link here for Baker's Dozen), and recently Chuck started his own business doing excavating work.  So we decided to have him fix our driveway.  He did a great job!  He worked hard and long hours and did even more that I expected!

It took us almost a whole week to really clean things up around here - my being pregnant last year, the move and then all our adventure with Esther meant we haven't done much outdoor clean up in over a year!

But we got it done in time, and Chuck showed up with a huge bull dozer, an excavator, and Doug Crabtree brough his double trailer semi truck full of pit run, and later made around 10 trips with new gravel as well! Our boys loved watching it all! I love watching it too - knowing how nice it will all look when we are done!

Here's a photo of Chuck working to re-do the front yard

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="400" caption="Solid Rock Excavating"][/caption]

The driveway looks awesome, and he even removed the biggest stump I've ever seen from the middle of our back yard!  He also leveled the back yard, and made our front yard larger.  Here are some before and after photos:

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="400" caption="End of driveway/parking area - before"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="400" caption="End of driveway/parking area - after"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="400" caption="Storage Shed Area - Before"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="400" caption="Storage Shed Area - after"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="400" caption="Old Parking Area"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="400" caption="New Parking Area"][/caption]

We actually had Chuck take out pit run and put in dirt to make the driveway/yard make more visual sense with the new house.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="400" caption="Entrance to the Garage, Before"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="400" caption="Entrance to the Garage, After"][/caption]

This was one of the best improvements - before we couldn't even get into the right bay of the garage due to the "hole" in front of it - pure mud and no traction. It was a serious make-over that is for sure!

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="400" caption="Front of the House Before"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="400" caption="Front of the House Now"][/caption]

We are still working on the front yard (putting in new grass take hard work and lots of time, that's for sure, but I'm a little more than halfway done with the front yard now).

And here's our new grape trellis - we took treated wood from an old swing set who's brackets had weakened, and the wood off an old chicken run and *poof* we have a new trellis!

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="400" caption="New Grape Trellis - dirt will be lawn soon!"][/caption]

And lastly - here's the flash animation I used to post while we were building our home - and following is the current view!

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="400" caption="House building Progression"][/caption]

Oh - and if you look carefully, in one photo there's a dump truck dumping sand - that's also Doug Crabtree!

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="400" caption="Current View - note new flower gardens at the bottom of each porch post!"][/caption]

The last photo will be taken when the front yard is all nicely grassed in and the trim has been painted a darker blue than the house - hopefully that will be sometime in July!

The Donation

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="400" caption="Rebekah's hair before"][/caption]

Ok, these photos have a long story behind them, but I'll try to keep it short. Last winter we spent some time down at the Ronald McDonald house and Rebekah got to know a girl her age who has leukemia - her name was Grace. She had lost her hair due to her treatment. She was a very sweet girl, and their family even gave ours a Christmas gift! Then, sometime in February or March, we found out about Locks of Love - where you can donate hair to be made into wigs for people who have lost their hair due to their ilnesses! Rebekah is the only girl in this house who's hair grows fast enough and even enough, but it wasn't quite long enough, YET.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="400" caption="Side view of her hair"][/caption]

Well, last week it was finally long enough!

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="400" caption="Man that hair's long!"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="400" caption="First you measure out 10 inches of hair before braiding, then braid it and make sure you they are even"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="400" caption="Then you cut off each braid (we did two braids, but it can be done in one if the hair is long enough)"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="400" caption="Itdoes look weird right after the cut "][/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="400" caption="Punk, maybe??"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="400" caption="Then you try to fix what's left!"][/caption]

I almost gave up and took her to a salon, but I finally got the hang of it and it turned out she looks just like her American Doll, Kit!

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="400" caption="The Final"doo""][/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="400" caption="Then you print out the form from the internet, package it up with the hair, and mail it off"][/caption]

The next day, the girls all did double pony tails on everyone, and even got their dolls in on the act:

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="400" caption="Goofy Pigtails!"][/caption]

How fun it that?  I love girls!

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="400" caption="Even Esther got two piggies!"][/caption]

And once again we heard over and over again about how much Esther looks like Cindy Lou Whoo - these piggies were just like one she sported in the Grinch cartoon!  Is that girl CUTE or what??

6 Weeks of Family News - part 2

So,  last time we ended with photos of when Jeremy was home (by the way he was home for just 8 days, and left for California on March 7, and left for Iraq the week of March 20.  It took him several days to arrive there and we've gotten to talk with him on the phone 3 times now).

Here are some random photos of events during March:

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="400" caption="Dayton Up Close and Personal"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="400" caption="Fun with the Riding Mower - no lawn to mow, but that doesn"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="400" caption="Esther"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="400" caption="Multiplication Tables - back to basics around here this spring to prep for annual testing!"][/caption]

Next the kids went to the Youth Fair - sponsored by 4H and happens every year at the North West Washington Fair Grounds. The cost is minimal and the fun is maximum! Your child selects a class to take, and spends all day Friday/Saturday learning - everything from cows (Jessica did beef cows this year), to gardening, to clowning, to chess and more! This year Reuben did chess, Rachel did knitting, and Rebekah did gardening/country crafts. Here's some photos that were the outcome of this:

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="400" caption="Rebekah's birdhouse!"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="400" caption="Chess Game - guess who's playing against Reuben?"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="400" caption="It's Dayton - he learned all the moves (but the strategy is a little beyond him at just 5 years old)"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="400" caption="Girls Can play Chess - I even played a few games and won!"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="400" caption="A Perspective on Chess"][/caption]

By the way - I didn't take any of the last 6 photos - it's the old "leave the camera out and you get lots of bonus photos" - I am so thankful for digital photography as it free the kids up to be creative with the camera and all I have to do is delete the bad ones and benefit from all the photos I didn't take the time to take!

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="400" caption="Elizabeth - when she sleeps, she really is laid back!"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="400" caption="Hmmm...I wonder where I saw this before!"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="400" caption="Esther with Andrea, her physical therapist. Andrea got a new job working with inpatient at St Joes, so this was her last time with Andrea - we will miss her and she was so sweet with Esther and Esther just loved her and so did I! Thanks Andrea!!"][/caption]

When Esther first came to Andrea at the end of January, she couldn't even hold up her own head, and now Esther can roll from front to back, back to front, holds her head up while on her tummy, holds herself errect when you hold her and is almost sitting up by herself now! All that in just over 3 months - amazing for a cardiac baby, let alone for one with Downs!

That bring you up to the Middle of March - now I've got two events that need their own posts!

6 weeks of family news - part 1

I have been sooo busy! It all started back when Jeremy was coming home.  It took so much work to get things ready for him, prepare for the open house while he was here, get our family portraits, and get in as much family time as possible - and all that was back in the beginning of March!  And here we are in May already!

So here's some photos of thei highlights of all the happening around here during Jeremy's visit until now.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="400" caption="Jeremy Bowling"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="400" caption="Jeremy and Jessica and Bowling"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="400" caption="Daryl Bowling"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="400" caption="The Men Bowling"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="400" caption="Jessica and Esther - Esther is wearing Jessica's old outfit - one Auntie Lisa gave her - you know you are getting old when... the kids hand-me-downs are nearly antiques!  LOL!"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="400" caption="Family time!"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="400" caption="Daddy and Esther Time - Great Smile eh?"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="400" caption="Boy and their Tunes"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="400" caption="Trying to Burn the Stump - hot dog roast and marshmellow roast too!"][/caption]

We spent around 5 days burning a "huge" hole in this enormous stump in our back yard - the hole we burned was around 3 feet wide and 3 feet deep. As it turned out, it didn't even make a dent. The base of the stump was around 8 feet across with around 4 roots that were at least 2 feet thick coming off. After breaking off most of the roots (each of which took around 10 - 15 minutes with a HUGE dozer ) the stump and root bases were around 12 feet across when it finally gave up and was lifted out of the ground leaving a huge hole behind to say the least!

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="400" caption="Jessica dis-assembling the old chicken run"][/caption]

This used to hold chickens - it was mobile and we had meat chickens in it - you would move it every day and the chickens would eat the grass and fertilize you yard! Great idea, worked well, but I am so done with butchering chickens - last time I ended the butchering day by sinking around 2 inches of the butchering knife into my arm and puncturing an artery - not good! Jessica is removing a gazillion staples so we can re-use the treated wood to make a new grape trellis - photos of that coming soon!

Well it's bedtime, so I'll just give a quick up-to-date report. Jeremy is in Iraq and doing well. They are in a camp that is really basic - all tents and not even a real bathroom. They are on a base that has never been attacked since the Marines came there, that sounded great to me! He's a little bored and we've sent him magazines and book.

Esther is sick - she was very healthy for a little over a month and gained weight like crazy! Last weekend she came down with a bad cold, we thought, but on Wednesday I decided she wasn't herself at all and took her in (after several very-little-sleep nights with her coughing) to see the doctor and she has an ear infection, and some "noise" in her chest. She was put on some beefed up antibiotics which gave her diarhea - it burned her backside already, but we are keeping her slathered with A and D ointment now. She's still really congested so I might have to bring her back in as the doctor said to call if she wasn't feeling better after the weekend (I think that's what she said).

Esther now weighs over 15 1/2 pounds, rolls from front to back, and back to front and is almost sitting lone now!

I hope to find some time to put up some more photos from March and April tomorrow, as well as some before, during, and after photos of our driveway and front yard.

The girls and I had done some really neat flower beds in front of the house, and I've got a little over half the new front yard seeded for grass and the first portion is starting to have a green haze to it. We are planning out vegetable gardens right now and hope to start planting as soon as the rain stops (first rain in weeks - it's been like summer around here for a while and we've gotten spoiled, but we need this rain too as it will help make that grass grow!).

I've got to go to bed - long day/week and I'm bushed - just have one more sleeping body to move upstairs and then I can rest!