Baby Gabriel

December 31, 2008 we said hello and goodbye to a 14 week, 1.4 oz., 5 1/4 in. baby boy. Our hopes and dreams for a 5th baby next June came to a screeching halt as we experienced a miscarriage. No one is exactly sure why it happened, but God is good and we look forward to meeting him in heaven. And, if you care to click on the image and look really close, you'll see, to our amazement, a tiny version of his mom's very special hands.

Update
After a couple trips to the perinatologists and numerous blood tests, a likely cause of the miscarriage has been determined. Deb tested positive for Factor V Leiden, a blood clot disorder that has been known to cause miscarriages at this stage.

Christmas Pose

Homeschooling in action

I just realized that the last three pictures happened to all be mess related, so to show that we aren't hopeless slobs, here's the three oldest quietly having school and practicing their penmenship skills (at least that's how it appears for the moment).

"Mom, what are you doing?"

"Oh, I'm just wiping yogert off the ceiling."


Just a reminder that 'life' happens around our house.


Here's another one. I call it, "why I'm glad we got a hard floor."

Yum...

What's the best part of making rice crispy treats together? - Getting to clean up the mess all over the table from the youngest helper.

Recital

Election day

Deb has talked about doing this for a few elections now. Well, tonight the two oldest and I did it in celebration that the election is finally over tomorrow. It's a United States sugar cookie with the states colored in red and blue (well, pretend it's blue), representing the map many of us will get very familiar with as we await the results.

In the leaves

Here's the annual picture of the kids in the leaves - in our new yard! (Micah was resting.)

Splitting Wood

Catching up the blog with something I was going to post a few weeks ago. We went to Hayward to help split some wood. This is what three of us acomplished in just two days!

First pigtails!

Lydia finally has enough hair to try out some pigtails today. Aren't they cute! Compare this to a picture of her bald (but also cute) head about a year ago.