Cousins

I'm so glad that Samantha and Cameron have cousins. Besides Kinsey, they have Brian, Sydney, and Sutter on Pat's side of the family.

More pictures

How did my parents do it? Raise 5 children who actually like each other (now) and value every second we're fortunate enough to spend together. I want to be like them...

Jesse

Jesse is the baby. He's 6'4" and a Marine (once a Marine, always a Marine). He served his time in Iraq, and is now back home in Kileen, Texas. He works quite a bit (fixing military vehicles, or something like that) and spends any leftover time he may have motor cross biking, hunting stuff, playing video games, getting more tatoos,and enjoying the whole bachelor life.



He'll always be just my baby brother.

Allison

Ally is a nurse in Albuquerque. She moved there from Va Beach when my papa got sick years ago. She stayed after he passed and looked after my grammy, then decided she liked New Mexico too much to leave. She is married to James, who was born in England but does not have a cool accent. He's absolutely wonderful, and I love spending time with him. They have a full managerie but no kids, and seem to be very content with that. Sigh....




I think she looks so much like Mom!

Dave

David lives on his boat in Santa Barbara. He works as a landscape architect and is in school to finish a degree in the same. He loves Jan, who sounds like a very special woman. I haven't met her yet, but all the family member who have met her are truly enchanted. I can't wait until I have the money and time to go visit them...of course, there is the risk that I might not come back...



He looks so much like my biological father...

Tom

Tom lives in Madison, North Carolina with Amanda and Kinsey. Amanda is absolutely wonderful, and I think she's exactly what Tom needs...She fits in great with the family, and it feels like she's always been there. Kinsey was born in November of 2007. Isn't she just the cutest thing you've ever seen? I adore her, and the kids do, too. Here are some photos of the folks from NC.





I think Amanda is just gorgeous!

How JC Penney made the big bucks on July 19th

Mom and Daddy finally managed to get the entire family together for a short vacation. Naturally, this included a trip to the portrait studio for all 13 of us. The manager at JCP insisted that she couldn't get a picture of that many people, and we insisted that she could, and she'd better. She could, and she did. We had a fabulous time, and I think the photographer did, too. She did a great job, and we ended up buying all poses! What do you think?

Sam 'n Ryan

Pat and I met Anne and Kevin at our first Lamaze class, way back in 1999. I was pregnant with Sam, she with Ryan. After the babies were born (1 day apart, Sam first) we discovered a mutual interest in scrapbooking, and started getting together for "playdates" and scrap nights. She eventually moved into a single family home, and I followed a couple of years later, moving in across the street and a few houses down.

Anne and I are like sisters and are very similar in child-raising philosophies, our faith, and our love of sarcasm. Because of this bond between the mothers, Samantha and Ryan have grown up together. Ry and Sam have shared a lot of "first" experiences(first movie: Jonah-Veggie Tales). They were introduced to the same solids at the same time, they were potty-trained at the same time, they learned to pose for pictures, etc.

Anne and her family moved to North Carolina a couple of years ago, and the transition was hard for all of us. Sam seemed lost for a while, which was hard for me to see. We try to visit as often as we can,

Thank you, Anne!

Anne got me totally hooked on a new series of books written by Stephenie Meyer. It's about vampires. "Vegetarian" vampires. In love with a human. Fighting werewolves. Who also loves said human. Lost yet?

I came down to visit Anne for the weekend and to do some scrapbooking, but we somehow found ourselves at Barnes and Noble at 9:30, getting a "Jacob" armband, and waiting anxiously for midnight so we could be the first of "anyone who's anyone" to get our copy of the fourth and final book. The store was full of screaming girls in prom dresses with black fingernails and "bite marks" on their necks, listening to music that I didn't recognize. We got cold in the store and ended up sitting in the car. Don't worry, we kept ourselves occupied by reading the other books that we were unable to resist.

Anne and I made a pact not to start the book until our weekend together is over...Honestly, what kind of visit would it be if we both sat motionless, breathless, speechless on the couch for hours, unable to put the book down?

So the books will be locked in a closet as we cheerfully scrapbook...I know Anne will start hers as soon as my van pulls out of her driveway on Monday (or Tuesday) while I have to wait until I'm not operating a moving motor vehicle. With kids inside....

Don't bother me until at least Wednesday. Seriously. I'll call you, don't call me.