Of Joy and Pain

Today we lost our dear Papa Joel. We will miss him greatly! He was such a loving, kind and gentle man. I remember him telling me how he made his rootbeer, of him doing his yard work and giving me an answer to all his questions. Showing me his trains. Smiling while watching the kids play in the sand.
We will miss him dearly, how wonderful it is to know we will see him again!!

Of Joy, we have the arrival of Thomas A. Oscarson today! Mary and Curtis had their baby, 10lbs 7oz boy!

Through both the Lord has shown us his miracles.

Love

ER

Oh Cabana Boy!

Shawns incredible new trick.....WALKING! We just had his 9 month appointment yesterday. Yes, he has a big head. Huge head is more like it. He is only 20 pounds though! 8 pounds shy of haley and mark at this age!

The Incredile Standing Shawn!

Shawn is very proud of his new trick!

May in a nutshell

We got our garden planted. What a huge deal! I babied those plants in my kitchen for a month before we planted them! Now my babies are safe in the ground surrounded by slug and bug bait so they won't be eaten! I already have 6 or 7 tomatoes 4 or 5 peppers and a bunch of zucchini! (I planted quite a few plants! I'm thinking of renting a farmers market stall this summer on Saturdays)
We also finally put back up our chain link fence around our new driveway! Yeah! Mark, the superdad, brought home a truckload of sand for the sandbox and we filled it. It's now the hang out spot for the neighborhood kids. We have the front yard about half way re-landscaped after it was demolished by the crew doing our driveway. Boy, I tell ya. That roller COMPACTED the ground! I had a hard time even getting a shovel to penetrate the surface. But, it's almost ready for the tons of Bark we'll dump in there. I actually planted my rosemary, lavender, and Japanese eggplant in the front yard. They were too pretty to hide in the back! My clematis is in full bloom and I think I enjoy spening more time outside then in.
Shawn, Haley and Mark spend life outside with me. Shawn loves to crawl around the swingset and swing. He also has aquired a taste for dirt clods, I'm trying to divert his attention to looking at things, rather then tasting them! He suprised us this weekend by trying to stand up by himself! What a smart boy!
Haley and Mark have made friends with the new family that moved in next door and love to play with the kids all day long. Marky rode his bike without the training wheels for the first time this past weekend! (We bribed him) It was a big deal! He has been afraid of it for the longest time. So after a long weekend of yard work, and his showing off on a bike we took off to see UP the new movie in theaters. It was Fabulous!! We loved it! And that was May in a nutshell! Sorry it was so wordy, that's the way I usually am.... I promise more pictures soon!
ER

More Pictures

Here's some more from Memorial Day

Memorial Day

I have always loved memorial day. All the flags and flowers are beautiful. This memorial day we spent with Jodi. We took flowers to Grandma in the morning and then went on to This Is The Place memorial park and played with the baby animals. It was fun! The villiage had a blacksmith and a barber, and we bought candy at the general store and took a ride on the train. After that we went home and had a bbq with our neighboors. All in all a great day. Here's some pictures

Our Swap!

So, having been the host of many a card swap I came up with an idea today! Pictures! I don't have any recent family/friend pictures! If your reading this out there in cyber world I don't want anything fancy, I know some are pregnant, some don't feel so hot. I love you however you are! I'm not feeling that hot -- But i'll still do it! So here's the deal. Go out and take a picture with your regular camera, of you and your family. You can have bed head, or just be swinging from a tree. i don't need professional! i want Fun!!! you can e-mail me the pictures at emoscarson@gmail.com or snail mail them (reply for an address) If you want me to forward you pictures of other family members that may love me enough to send me one reply to this post (hit the comment button) and let me know! You can also let me know if by no means is your picture to be forwarded to any family memeber!! Friends too!! For everyone I recieve we'll send one to you, that's right. Blackmail! I get what I want, you get what you've always wanted! (riiiggghhhttt....) Have fun doing it! Get creative! Watermelon eating pictures, upside down pictures, pirate pictures, the sky's the limit! Love ya!

ER

GOOOORRRRIIILLLAAAA!!!

So, again, our summer fun treat for the kids was a zoo pass. They LOVE the zoo! And for the price it's a cheap summer! Since were down that direction for family anyway we just add a few hours onto our trips for the zoo. Here are some pictures of the kids and the 'animals'.....;) Our favorite thing to do is pack a lunch and go eat it where the birds are, then feed the ducks and ride the carosel, we see the animals we want too then play on the playground. then the kids sleep on the way home!

ER