The Eric and Holly Frazee Family

Soccer Season 2011

2012-02-10T11:53:00.015-05:00

This is a little late, but I still wanted to post these photos. This first one was just too cute not to capture. That's one of Melanie's first games in the background. She's in 7th grade now and played for the modified team at school.
I didn't do so hot on taking pictures this year. The above 2 are all I got of Melanie's team and these one's below were at the end of the season, just a pick-up game on a Saturday where Melanie and David joined in and the coaches/Dad's played too. Eric was the coach for Melissa and James' team.

Melissa's 10!

2012-01-27T15:31:00.009-05:00

Another one of my sweet little girls is growing up! Melissa turned 10 and as she reminded me - she's now in the double digits! She had a great birthday; she taught her first lesson in primary for her class about Lehi's dream -the Tree of Life, she went ice skating on the pond at the farm with family, and for some excitement the power went off suddenly during dinner and stayed off the rest of the night.
She picked out a beautiful cake and it was yummy too!

It always adds some excitement when the lights go out during dinner!

Just what she wanted!

We tried to get her to open presents after church, but she was too anxious to get out on the ice. She opened a couple just for us but saved the rest for later.

Here she is with Catie, Kinsey, Bridie and Rose at a sleepover she had the weekend before.

Happy Birthday Sweetie!

Rebekah's 3!

2012-01-24T12:24:00.005-05:00

Oh, how can this be! My sweet little baby girl that was in such a hurry to get here is now 3! Rebekah is all girl and loves to dress up as much as she can each day. She's lucky that she's the youngest with two older sisters and 3 older girl cousins because she's loaded with hand-me-downs and it makes it easy to let her wear 'Sunday dresses' everyday. In the above picture she's wearing a dress up outfit she got for Christmas and she loves to dress up - if not in dress up clothes - then the clothes from her big sisters closets!

She loves princesses and picked out a Sleeping Beauty cake. (perfect size since we have 3 birthdays in 4 days and don't need another big cake!)

Loved lighting the candles and being sung too!

Happy Birthday SweetPea!

Eric's 35!

2012-01-24T10:26:00.004-05:00

All I can say is he's still looks good to me!

Here he is goofing around with some of his new toys. He made out pretty well with some fun new toys this year. Picked out his big one himself which always guarantees satifaction. Something he's had his eye on for a while, maybe I'll catch a picture of him shooting it later and add it.

This is him driving the ski boat we bought this summer -another toy he got this year that he's pretty excited about. Doesn't he look handsome driving it?

James 7th Birthday

2012-01-23T11:46:00.006-05:00

So James had a birthday this past Summer how did I miss posting it! He's such a cutie - how can he be 7!

He's been all about everthing military so that's a tank he's cleaning off that was on the cake.

He's getting to be a good little water skiier.

He wanted a cowboy hat so he could be a cowboy like his Great Grandpa Hulet.

He had a great time 'working' at the farm this summer. He especially loved helping while they dug a new pond.

All those tractors and dirt - what could be better.

ha,Ha! found some!

2012-01-20T15:36:00.006-05:00

As soon as I posted Thanksgiving 2011 I found that I had pictures on my real camera (the non-phone one). Mostly done by the kids - hey, sometimes they capture great stuff!

This is the yummy dessert Melanie made for us - Rocky Road Tart - Mm, Mm, Good!

Christmas 2011

2012-01-20T11:46:00.018-05:00

We missed having Grams and Pops and Ryan with us this year, but were glad to have Kelsey with us. We missed having Grandpa Rex and Grandma Diane, Matt and Jen and family, Kevin and Angie and family, but were glad to have Russ and Erin and family. It's always best when we can all be together, but its still nice when some of us can be together. We had a great time and we hope all of you did too!

A highlight of every Christmas season is the annual Frazee Family Christmas Party. (Christmas Eve)

Here's David and Andy playing us some tunes.

I think there are 9 people on that couch! Evidence that we are a close-knit family!

What a couple of Christmas Angels!(Christmas day)

Standing and smiling is just too hard for these boys. They like to pose.

James is becoming an all out cowboy. He really liked the cap guns Logan got for Christmas.
And here's our dress-up cowgirls!

We did get to do a little sledding even though there was just barely enough snow.

We didn't take any pictures of us actually sledding, but heres us getting ready to go. Everytime the kids went down the hill they would say something like "I didn't break my leg!" remembering Grandma Diane last year.

One day when us girls went out to do some shopping Melanie and I had a little fun in the dressing room.

I love sleeping kids! Aren't they sweet!

These girls fell asleep on the way to the ice rink. It was really the only way to get them to sleep-strap them in so they couldn't move! I feel bad I didn't take any pictures of us all skating it was a fun hockey game as usual and these girls were darling. Emma was a great skater and I think it was Aunt Julie that gave her a chair to push around for stability, so Rebekah sat on the chair and Emma pushed her around and around the rink! They were a great pair!

Lots of relaxing on the comfy, cozy, couch.

Camoflauge, chopsticks and cheeseballs ???

A great holiday to add to the list of great Christmases past. Thanks for sharing it with us Kelsey, and Russ and Erin and family! We had a great time with you all!

Thanksgiving 2011

2012-01-19T13:55:00.006-05:00

What makes holidays something we look forward to and adore is the time off from the everyday struggle of life and time spent instead with people we love; doing fun things - and usually eating too much! Somehow in the busy-ness of getting the Thanksgiving dinner on the table I failed to take, or have someone else take, a picture of all of us to share and remember, but we did have a lovely dinner with some of our favorite people - Russ and Erin and family and John and Rachelle and family. Thanks for coming!

I love this picture!

As a kid I loved it when my uncles would join in and play with us. I'm so glad my kids get to enjoy that too! Such a monkey!

We found it was much easier to get up on top than it was to get down!

Our hike at Pratt's Falls

Awesome Falls! Cute Family! (minus a couple of kids who were too busy climbing to join in the photo)

Halloween 2011

2011-11-11T12:42:00.004-05:00

What a cute little Tinkerbell! Her shoes lit up as she walked and her dress had glow in the dark designs on it - best of all she was soooo excited to be Tinkerbell!Posing as we get ready to head over to the Elementary school for their Halloween parade. Rebekah ended up falling asleep on my shoulder before it was even started and missed the whole thing. For some reason she had the idea that she was going to be dancing in the parade so when she woke up and we were on our way home she gasped, put both hands on her cheeks and in major drama voice said "Oh, no! The parade! I didn't dance in the parade! I forgot!" It was hard to get David to pose for a photo. He's much more shy in front of the camera than Rebekah and the other children. He really liked his costume too. He first really wanted to be spiderman or one of the other super heros, but they all seemed to be too small or too big and when we found this he was sold. He liked 'riding a dinosaur'.

Here's James and Melissa as we caught them marching in the parade. Always a fun event and amazing how it draws a crowd in our little town. I love how so many of the Moms and Dads and Granparents come out for this. How fun for the kids!

Hmmm, where's Tinkerbell?

Ready to go trick-or-treating. What posers!

Since Halloween Rebekah asks insistantly every night when it gets dark if we can go trick-or-treating.

Bed Bugs, Really?

2011-09-10T22:17:00.009-04:00

I had the great priviledge of going to Girls Camp this year with Melanie. Her first year (I'm still having a hard time believing she's in Young Women's already!!) It was a wonderful week. Melanie is a great young woman and we were surrounded by tons of other wonderful young women. I am very grateful for my wonderful In-Laws for helping watch all our younger children so I could go. Thank you!

Below is a picture of me and the two other women I was priviledged to co-lead a cabin of first year campers. We had a combined YW camp with a stake in Rochester. These two ladies are from the Rochester Stake. In the middle is Sister Iveth Trimm and to the right is Sister Janet Davis. Amazing and wonderful women that I am so grateful I got to serve with and get to know. We REALLY got to know each other well! The very first night poor Janet didn't get much sleep . . . what she thought was just itchy sheets she soon realized was bed bugs!! They had infested her bunk and were working their way up to mine. We headed to the nurse to see what to do about bed bugs. Luckily because the leaders bunks are seperated by a wall and doorway from the YW's bunks we found that the bed bugs hadn't reached anywhere else in the cabin yet. Janet and I took a couple of very thorough showers and spent the day at the laundermat. We washed and dried all of our things in very hot temps and just as a precaution ran all the girls things through hot dryers.

Not what we expected to be doing our second day of girls camp, but I can't think of anyone I'd rather spend a day at the laundermat with - Love you Janet!

Here's most of the girls, outside our new cabin with all our laundry - ready to move in. They quarentined the old cabin and luckily had another next door we were able to move into. Anything that wasn't able to be put in the dryer we bagged up and put in the kitchen's walk-in deep freeze for 24 hours. It was a little hard to settle down and get to sleep that second night, but once we did we were able to really enjoy the the rest of camp. What a crazy thing to have happen, but we were blessed with some amazing young women who were so calm and easy going that we were able to just make the best of it and move on. They were awesome!

Here's us at the flag pole. What a great group!

Around the camp fire. Making waffles for breakfast. We were kind of spoiled - we got to sleep in cabins and had lunch and dinner prepared in a big mess hall for us, but we did get to make our own breakast over the camp fire. Got to pass off that camp certification!

Here's our cabin. They were the best - the best! The girls in the orange shirts are the 1st years, the ones in the pink are the YCL's (youth camp leaders) and then us leaders in blue.

Here's all of us in the Fayetteville ward. Also a great group of girls. I love each one!

Okay, now just for fun - which we had a lot of. Camp Hair!

Melanie had camp hair too!

EEuuuuuu!! Cabin 2! Yuck!
Our flagpole cheer after switching to cabin 1 . . ."We're cabin 1, can't be cabin 2! - cuz we can't sleep tight, cuz the bed bugs bite!" Hahaha, glad the girls could have fun with it.

Last day. Blowing bubbles while waiting for everyone else to get cleaned up and checked out. It was a great week, went by fast. Can't wait to do it again - but hope to skip the bed bugs part.

(oh, and the day after we got home - got a call from the camp director that one of the girls from our cabin had gone home and found she had lice! NNNNOOOOOO!!)

Time with Grams and Pops

2011-08-28T16:36:00.011-04:00

We always have fun when Grams and Pops come to town and this time was no different. Below is Eric trying out a zip line they put up at the lake. Here's what our family is known for at the lake - pyramids. This one has Melanie and Melissa on top and Ryan, Will and Andy on bottom.

Here's another with Melanie and Kelsey on top and Kalin, Pat and Will on bottom.

These pictures are terribly out of order, but the next few are when we stopped for dinner before going to the airport to say goodbye. Rebekah bawled and bawled when they left - she didn't want to see them go! None of us did. Notice Rebekah's antanae pig tails - hahaha they were funny.

Here's the boys - David and James were posing crazy and wouldn't stop, so got ejected from the first photo. They were mad and wanted to be in it, so once they settled down we took another.

Below here is a classic. When we went on a girls day of shopping Rebekah found her favorite store. She was a rock star!

Loaded stroller =empty wallet (that of course was Eric's imput to this post)

Always gotta ride the carousel.

We didn't mean to shop for so long, but we made a good day of it and stopped for dinner on our way home. It was some nice girl time. The boys had a good day at the lake barefooting and playing.

Lounging on the couch after a long, fun day.

Rebekah loves her Pops!

We spent a day with Gram's sisters at their new camp up at Oneida Lake.This swing was a hit -we couldn't hardly get them out of it.An ice cream truck came by - we never have that out where we are so Aunt Bonnie treated the kids to ice cream. Aunt Delores became friends with Rebekah real fast when she gave her ice cream - unfortunately I think she ended up wearing some of it too!

Above - the big boys helpin' out with the grill. Below - the little boys helpin' enjoy the results! Aunt Bonnie made some good ribs!

These pictures don't say it all - one week out of their stay is missing because I went to girls camp with Melanie and they helped watch the kids. That was so nice! Thank you!

Pioneer Day Breakfast

2011-08-26T12:08:00.002-04:00

In our church we celebrate a holiday on the 24th of July we call Pioneer Day. It's the day the early Latter-day Saints arrived in the Salt Lake Valley back in 1847. They travelled west from Nauvoo, Il to escape religious persecution. It's of course a much smaller celebration out here, but we still like to take time to remember the faith and sacrifice of the early pioneer Saints. Here's Eric and Melanie cooking the last of the pancakes. We had a great breakfast and a lot of great help!
After breakfast our Bishop gave a great devotional and then we had a fun bike parade for the kids. There were a couple of covered wagons people made to remember the pioneers - many came across the plains by covered wagon. This bike that Rebekah is on isn't hers. It's an old one of Alexis Parke's that she brought in case anyone needed one - since it had princesses on it Rebekah assumed it must be hers!

After the bike parade we had some games out on the back lawn of the church. Here's David and James trying to make a go of the 3-legged race. It was a nice morning. I hope everyone else had as much fun as we did!

Melanie's 12!

2011-08-23T21:19:00.006-04:00

Oh, my goodness! How in the world is she growing up so fast! Melanie is now 12!She has been a blessing and a joy. She is a great girl and we are so glad to have her!

Her brothers and sisters adore her and she is the perfect first child because she is patient and kind and generous and very nurturing. She is a great example and I couldn't ask for a better daughter!

Melanie and Melissa's birthday's are exactly opposite on the calendar, so on each others birthday its the other's half birthday. Melissa remembered that and wanted some gummy bears for her half birthday - Happy 1/2 birthday goofball!

These are pictures from the end of the day on Melanie's birthday. We forgot to take the cake to the lake with us so when we got home we sang and ate cake. The little two were exhausted and fell asleep but the big kids were still full of energy and pretty goofy!

Swim Lessons 2011

2011-08-14T20:20:00.006-04:00

We're so lucky to live in a town that provides free swim lessons to our children. They do it at a local college pool and some of the kids cousins are their teachers. They've always loved it and this year was no different. It was David's first year and he did great! I had to talk him into it the first couple of days - but he did amazing and would jump off the diving board and everything. One hot day some friends of ours invited us to their pool and I was amazed to see him jump off the diving board and swim to the side all by himself! They do 3 weeks of lessons. Monday through Friday for 45 min. each day and the last day they let parents come in and watch as they show off their skills and jump off the diving board. They get their evaluations and some treats. Here are some of my pictures from that last day.

Below is James walking with flippers on his feet - always funny!

Not too clear, but that's James getting ready to jump off the diving board and that's Melissa swimming in the middle. I was sad that none of my pictures of them jumping came out clear. They're all pretty good jumpers.

Melissa and her cousin Kaleigh. They were in the same class this year.

Above is Rebekah the day we went to our friend's pool. She wanted me to let go of her and let her swim and I kept trying to convince her she would sink because she didn't know how to swim yet, so she was thrilled when someone offered her this ring and she discovered she could do it by herself. She wanted goggles too. She surprised me and jumped off the diving board that day too - not by herself of course, but she wanted to do it and went up by herself and suprised me by actually jumping to me without hesitation.

Father's and Son's Campout

2011-08-13T21:43:00.003-04:00

I think the pictures say it all. They got dirty and had fun camping with their Dad- isn't that what the Father's and Son's campout is all about!

Blueberries and a Pirate Ship

2011-08-12T15:19:00.002-04:00

The kids have swimming lessons in Cazenovia. There's a place just outside of town called Critz Farms where I like to pick blueberries. It works out great because its on the way home and its a beautiful farm where there's a great playground with a Pirate Ship and a whole hill of slides. There's a little wooden train with a car that's got a table and benches we sit at to eat our picnic lunch. It's a fun and productive afternoon after swimming lessons. We have a nice picnic, they play on the playground while I pick blueberries.

They weren't much for taking pictures. I didn't even get any of the blueberries! It was fun and a great Summer memory!

Hill Cumorah Pageant 2011

2011-08-12T10:06:00.004-04:00

Here we are again posing with cast members from the Hill Cumorah pageant. We had a great evening once again. They put on a great show!

I can't believe Rebekah let her hold her! Someone she doesn't know - in a strange costume! Hm, she must have been feeling friendly!

Eric doesn't get to do any of the pre-show stuff because he's always helping park cars as part of our ward assignment. He probably wouldn't care about posing for pictures anyway.

Summer at the Lake

2011-08-09T15:39:00.010-04:00

We enjoy our Summers at the lake with family. Playing ball, swimming, skiing, surfing, tubing, having campfires and making smores, etc., etc. Here's some pics we've taken so far.Playing some kind of ball - I wasn't sure what - since there was a football, a frisbee, and a kickball all in action. Seemed to be fun though
These aren't great pictures, but above is me skiing with David and below is me skiing with Rebekah. Rebekah asked to do it first and I was surprised and thought for sure she'd chicken out once she got in the water, but she didn't. She loved it and didn't want to stop. Once David saw Rebekah, he wanted to do it too. Last year he didn't like it because he didn't like getting his face wet. I think next Summer he'll be ready to try getting up on his own.

Melanie, Melissa and James - they like to ski together and try and splash each other and play.

Our little surfing princess

Trickster

now if we could just get him to do it with the boat moving . . .hahaha
wore him out

James skiing. He's starting to really like it and he's getting really good!

Melissa skiing. The water is usually smoothest around dinner time and later so we have the evening sun that makes the spray look nice. Last night we had a full moon coming out and that was really cool too. Unfortunately the pictures didn't come out very clear.

All these are Melissa, because she's the one that ski's the most. We can only get Melanie to do it occasionally and don't have a picture to share of this Summer yet. Melissa doing a toe-touch. Flexabilitly comes natural to her.

Melanie, Melissa and James tubing.

Rebekah and David like to tube also, but we don't seem to have a good picture of them yet.

Rebekah and what she calls "surfing"

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie!

2011-07-24T20:46:00.003-04:00

It wouldn't be summer without it! Yum - it's my favorite!

Fun Day 2011

2011-07-20T21:52:00.005-04:00

I loved this as a kid and I love going now with my kids!

Face paint, cotton candy, snow cones, and popcorn - theirs is definitely better than mine were! David and Rebekah made out well even though they're not in school yet.

Melanie is in middle school now so she was already done with school when they had Fun Day, so it was fun to take her with us just to hang out and watch.

School Days: A Fish Tale

2011-07-20T21:39:00.007-04:00

James' 1st grade class put on a play. Here he is in the middle with orange shorts and a light green shirt. He was very cute and had a good time!

What a cutie!!

School Variety Show

2011-07-20T20:48:00.002-04:00

I always think its cool when kids are brave enough to get up on stage and perform in front of their peers. This year Melissa and her friends did a dance to "Firework" from Katy Perry. They did a good job. The whole show was impressive and a really nice variety from dancing to piano to jokes to singing. I'll have to give credit to Melanie since she did it a few years ago too when she was in elementary school. She played the piano and did a great job. I know it's scary to do so I'm always impressed when kids do it - it builds courage!! Glad schools are still doing it and glad kids are still participating!! Great job Melissa!

Sleeping Rebekah

2011-07-20T20:35:00.001-04:00

Just a couple of pictures of Rebekah falling asleep in funny positions in funny places.

My New Bike!

2011-07-20T20:26:00.002-04:00

Got a new bike for my birthday - enjoying it very much! Thanks Mom and Dad!!

Piano Recital 2011

2011-07-20T20:10:00.003-04:00

Melanie and Melissa are getting really good now. They have had a wonderful year and worked very hard. They both earned a Superior rating at Federation once again. The piano recital was just after we got back from Texas and Melanie didn't feel comfortable playing since she hadn't practiced much while on vacation, so we excused her, but Melissa was glad to and did a great job! Keep it up girls!

We have to give a lot of credit to an excellent piano teacher - so grateful for all Mrs. Sieling does! Thank you!!

Memorial Day Parade 2011

2011-07-20T19:56:00.002-04:00

The biggest event of the year in our little Fabius. So much fun, and this year Melissa was in the parade - riding on the Brownie float.

Texas for Grandma Diane's Graduation

2011-07-18T07:56:00.018-04:00

Very proud of my mom graduating with her Masters from the University of Texas! It was also great to have a good excuse for a fun family get together. Mom's always a great hostess - thanks again for a wonderful trip!!It was so great that my Grandpa Hulet (my Mom's Dad) and my Mom's two sisters were able to come too. I haven't seen them in way too many years and I know my Mom was thrilled at their support of her. It's such a blessing to have such great family!
The only picture we took at Schlitterbaun - we had a really good time - but camera's and water don't go well together.Jumping off the cliffs at Georgetown Lake.Rebekah fell asleep riding on Eric's shoulders on the way back to the car - kids can sleep anywhere!We got the chance to go to San Antonio and go to the Alamo . . .

And walk/ride the River Walk . . . And go to Sea World.

Lots of fun places with lots of fun people. The kids had a great time getting to know and play with their cousins.They wore themselves (and us) out!

Great Memories!

Little Soldier

2011-07-15T15:49:00.002-04:00

Little girls with big brothers . . . She likes to dress up and play dolls too. A well rounded little girl :o)

Playing in the Creek

2011-07-15T15:33:00.002-04:00

This was back in the spring. It was one of those first warm days when we had to get outside and enjoy the sunshine. I think the water was pretty cold, but they had fun anyway.

Random Cheesiness

2011-07-08T13:27:00.006-04:00

At one of James' T-ball games these two got banned to the car for bad behavior. Noticed the camera in the car and wanted me to take their pictures. Cuter than I thought.

Our little Auburn cutie.

And below here are just a bunch of Rebekah being cheesy for the camera. Such a funny girl!

School's Out Party

2011-07-08T13:22:00.003-04:00

Yay! Summer's here! Melissa had a bunch of friends over for a sleepover just before school got out.

David's 4th Birthday

2011-07-08T09:57:00.007-04:00

Here's some pics from David's birthday. He's such a great boy. Obedient, helpful, funny. We're glad to have him in our family! He enjoyed opening presents for days- its okay when grandparents gifts come a few days late, it just extends the fun of the birthday and they get to enjoy each present to its fullest!! Thank you Grams and Pops, Grandma Diane and Grandpa Rex - he enjoyed all the presents!!

He's my little sweet tooth - the cake is his favorite! He wanted it for breakfast - which I'll have to admit we sometimes do, but we held off until later and it was yummy!

Spring Flowers/Pretty Dress

2011-07-08T09:31:00.005-04:00

Okay, this is mostly for me. I just love tulips in Spring and how could I resist my pretty little Rebekah princess all ready for church in this dress that I made for Melanie, years ago (Yes, I want to remember that too, because there aren't many of them and this one is adorable!)

Sword Fighting Accident

2011-07-08T09:27:00.004-04:00

Boys playing with plastic light sabers. David throws his at James. I saw the whole thing, didn't think too much of it - it's a plastic sword, right? Blood starts gushing - head wounds really do bleed! James was sure he must be dying - poor kid. Thankfully Dad is well trained to do a couple of stitches, so we didn't have to spend the day in the ER.

Good excuse to spend the day lazing on the couch watching TV. Getting the girls to wait on you. Hahaha.

Healed up nicely, not much of a scar - just enough for a boy to show off :o)

General Conference-April 2011

2011-07-08T09:18:00.004-04:00

I am always grateful when General Conference comes around. It's a weekend I know I will spend snuggling on the couch with my family enjoying listening to a prophet's guidance and council along with many other leaders of our church. It is uplifting and enriching. - The food's usually pretty good too!

We usuallly like to get a puzzle because it keeps hands busy while we can still listen. This one turned out to be a little more than our patience are up for - it's still sitting on a table in the corner of our living room!

Melanie crocheting - I'm not sure it's been out again since then!

Me and David and Rebekah getting ready for the next meeting to start - snuggly!

Above and below: We try and update our 72-hour kits (for those of you not familiar - they are kits we would use in an emergency if we had to grab something and go for a few days - we use backpacking packs in our family). General Conference comes every 6 mos. the first weekend in April and the first weekend in Oct. - a great time to inventory clothing and food etc. in our packs. We always have fun doing it too!

Melanie and Melissa helped dress Rebekah up in our stuffed rabbit Flopsy's dress. Amazing fit! It's a homemade stuffed rabbit someone made for my mom and the dress is gorgeous and detailed - with three layers and bloomers! Rebekah loves to dress up and Melanie and Melissa love to dress her up.

Can't wait till October!

Brought Back A Memory

2011-07-02T18:50:00.004-04:00

I love how pictures can do that. They keep my memories flowing. I saw this one on my screen saver earlier and went to look at them all. Such a precious memory, I wanted to share.

This was back when David was just a year old and he had been shy of my mom for their whole visit. This was their last night and we were sitting around visiting getting ready to put the kids to bed. He came over and kissed Grandma Diane and then ran away and then ran back and did it again and then ran off. It became a very cute game. I know my mom enjoyed it. A great memory.

Easter 2011

2011-07-02T17:36:00.005-04:00

Kind of funny its the 4th of July weekend and I'm finally getting around to posting Easter pics. Timely, huh? Saturday afternoon we did an Easter egg hunt. The weekends weather wasn't too bright, but we got lucky and the late afternoon cleared up and we were able to do the egg hunt outside. After a long Winter the kids and the adults were excited for some outside time.

Poor Emma, in the excitement of the start of the egg hunt she got tripped on her way off the porch and got hurt.

Daffodils starting to bloom. Yeah Spring!

Rebekah needed a little guidance, but enjoyed collecting eggs this year.

The person taking the photos usually never gets in a photo - yes Erin was here too! :o)

The other end of the photo being taken above.

On the run! Melissa got a LOT of eggs! The funny thing is - now that I'm posting this sooooo late. We did find one of those forgotten eggs (to be fair to the kids - it was a camoflauge-sp? egg) just about a week ago - all melted and yucky - eeewwww!

Uncle Russell, Aunt Erin and baby Leah.

Caught Dad in a yawn. I guess the kids really wore him out in the hunt.

Enjoying the candy in the eggs! Eat it - or paste it on your forehead (see Melanie).

Cheeeeeesssse - y!

If you really want to get a good nap in when you have kids - stick your head in the corner of the couch so you can't hear a thing!!! Hahaha! I love to get a good picture of a nap!

Thanks Russ and Erin for coming over! It was fun! Wish we were together this weekend! Hopefully soon! Happy 4th of July Everyone!

Last snow pics for Winter 2011

2011-06-26T17:22:00.003-04:00

Just found a couple last pics I wanted to remember from Winter. Rebekah really enjoyed the snow this Winter.

Melissa and her friend Ani, aren't they cute!

Never thought going to the zoo in the winter here would be fun, but back when Rebekah was first born and in the NICU I overheard some nurses talking about how fun the zoo here is in the Winter. So this year when James' class went on a field trip, we tagged along. It really was a lot of fun.

What a character!!

2011-06-23T22:48:00.001-04:00

So glad to have a camera to capture these moments! Just wish we could convey some of the personality that goes with it! She's a hoot!!

Rebekah's 2nd Birthday!

2011-06-23T22:32:00.004-04:00

I can't believe it's been two years! -and Oh, my goodness, another two year old, am I up for this? She's something else! Whew! But we're sure glad to have her. What a character!!

Dress up's from Grandma. She always knows how to please little girls!

So lucky to have two big sisters that know exactly what to do and are always there to help!!

Okay, at this point she'd had enough of my photography, but man she's cute!

Ready to go!!

We were trying to save the cake for when Daddy came home, and after dinner (just got a little one since we have 3 birthday's in one week and can get cake overkill - the Tinkerbell cake was so perfect anyway) - but, and probably with help from her sweet-toothed big brother that always seems to get his fingers into the treats before he's supposed to, the cake was found and very much gotten into.

I was upset at first, but then it was too cute, and it was her cake anyway.

The best picture we could get. There was some left! Happy 2nd birthday Rebekah! Love you!!

Melissa's actual birthday

2011-06-23T22:06:00.005-04:00

Here's some pics from Melissa's actual birthday. She had a fun party the week before and then was lucky enough to have her dearest friend and her family over for dinner on her birthday. -Because sadly they moved a few hours north of here soon after. Thankfully its only a few hours so the girls can get together occasionally. Isn't she lovely?

If I knew how to crop photos I would've cropped Rebekah out of this one - she's looking a little hill-billy in her diaper with her crazy hair - it was early, and I can't remember now why her jammies are missing. At least this proves that our house is now warm in the winter - now that it's mostly finished and nicely insulated. I guess I shouldn't say that - the kids probably ran around in next to nothing when they could back then too. They don't seem to feel the temperature much.

Here's Melissa and Ani enjoying some ice cram after dinner.

So cute together.

Rebekah, looking like a princess all dressed up and on the counter enjoying her treats. Messy!!

Here's the whole gang - or most of 'em anyway. Thanks Akin's - it was fun!! Happy 9th birthday Melissa!

Oh, yeah! I should note, Melissa's Football National Champion T-shirt - War Eagle!! We're proud of our Auburn Tigers! That was a nice birthday present for both Melissa and Eric!!

Major snow

2011-06-23T20:26:00.005-04:00

No, we're not having major snow in June - I'm just playing catch up and for some reason when I looked at my photos and saw these I thought they were worthy to remember. Maybe for those of you in hotter climates this will help cool you off just looking at them :o) I just wanted to measure this, because this is what I had to shovel all the way from my door to my vehicle, and then I actually had to shovel around my vehicle, which is a huge suburban - but the snow was so deep and so heavy it wouldn't move until helped. Even though it was freezing I worked up a pretty good sweat shoving this mess!

This snow was on top of an already large mound of packed snow!

Can you see those huge clumps of snow? That's what just slid off our roof - with a big WHAMP! I ran outside to see what it was - look at those things! I bet our roof was relieved to get rid of that weight!!

Again more roof snow falloff. After a while I got sick of shovelling this - actually it was too packed and I couldn't shovel it and so I just went out and stomped on it good to make sure no one would fall through -and made a path over it.

Can you see how thick that is? - and that's just since the last mess fell off!

It's a good thing I love the snow!!

Cool Snowman!

2011-04-19T13:47:00.002-04:00

It's always fun to make a good snowman. This one had his facial features and hair made out of twigs we found in the snow. Since he had a long nose we named him Pinoccio. I wish his "hair" showed up better in the pictures. It was awesome!

It was a good Winter!

Melissa's First Sleepover

2011-04-19T08:08:00.008-04:00

Sleepovers are few and far between at our house - and not allowed until they are 9 yrs old - so when Melissa turned 9 this past January she of course wanted to have a sleepover. It was quite a girls night. They started with makeovers. A few years ago Melanie had a sleepover party and they did "blind makeovers" (see picture below).

That was a big hit and they've done many of those since, so Melissa wanted to do the same at hers - but one of Melissa's friends has a very talented hairdresser mother and she offered her services when she heard about the makeovers. I brought it up with Melissa and she was excited. So this time they got pretty makeovers.

So that was a real treat and then they had pizza and headed upstairs to soak in the jacuzzi and watch a movie.

Next was jammies, presents and playing Dance Revolution on the Wii.

Quite a girls night. The next morning Dad pulled them on the sled behind the snowmobile. Who says summer birthday's are more fun?

Things to Remember

2011-03-26T08:36:00.003-04:00

December 2010:
Melissa: "Mom, if we cut slits in our sides could we breath under water?"

Rebekah: Barbie = "Darbie"

"Dooonnnnaaa, where aaaarrrrre you??" (Donna is her Grams-she picked this up one day copying Pops and then repeated it all through Christmas. It was so cute - we tried to get it recorded on Grams' phone so she could make it her ring tone, but of course any time we'd try to get her to do it she wouldn't)

James: "I'm not really an away from home person. I get hungry and can't eat in the car."

David: After seeing Toy Story 3 carried his Little People farmers into the car with him and called them "my cowboys."

January 2011:
Rebekah: Flip-flops = "Lop-lops"

February 2011:
David: In the morning = "To-morning", kind of like tomorrow.

I woke up this morning just before the 6:30 alarm to the sound of someone coming down the hall trickling as they came. I jump up to find out who wasn't getting to the toilet in time and find it was Rebekah. She leans against the wall and says "I go potty Mommy." Apparently she'd lost or removed her diaper at some point in the night (thankfully I later found the bed dry - yea for her not wetting the bed! -just the hallway). But that's not the end of the story . . . before we can even get her diaper back on David comes down the hall and says "I'm wet Mom, I peed the bed" (Ugh! -for the third night in a row!!) Happy Monday morning to me!! What's this week going to be like?

Eric is the best!! Among other things . . . . tonight I left him just after dinner with the three little ones and a dinner mess while I took the big girls and their friends to the mall. Came home to kids asleep and kitchen sparkling! Love him!!

Christmas 2010

2011-01-25T16:41:00.009-05:00

Yes, we did celebrate Christmas this year - and I guess it was a real doozy since its taken me this long to get it together and post something about it.

We were lucky to have Eric's parents and brother and sister, my parents, my younger brother Russell and his family, my younger sister Angie and her family all with us this year. We terribly missed my older brother Matt and his family - looking forward to seeing you all in May!

I hope our children are grateful. I don't think there are too many kids that get both sets of grandparents plus that many aunts and uncles and cousins all together with them on Christmas morning!! That makes a beautiful Christmas!!

We had a great time - thank you everyone that contributed (and put up with us, hahaha)

We had one tragedy amid all our fun. We all got bundled up and went sledding and Grandma Diane jumped right in and was having a ball with all the kids and grandkids while Grandpa Rex caught it all on film. Well this was to be the end of Grandma's sledding career (or so the Dr. in the ER told us, later that night). Here's her on the way down . . .

-And here's us later in the ER. She dislocated and broke her ankle in 3 places. Surgery was needed, but because of swelling the surgery couldn't be done for a few days. They put a cast on and sent her home to Texas to have the surgery there. One good thing came of it . . .we got her to sit down for more than 5 minutes! Rebekah enjoyed that - she got some snuggle time!Below is a post surgery X-ray. Now we have a heavy metal grandma (haha) Good luck with your continued recovery grandma!

Okay and here's just a little "cheese" from Rebekah.

The Accident

2011-01-21T19:51:00.003-05:00

On Dec 6 I had my first car accident. It was scary but thankfully David and Rebekah and I were all okay. The Suburban . . . was not. It was a snowy day and the roads were slick. I was going faster than I should have been and came up over a hill where a car was stopped, preparing to turn into their driveway. I couldn't stop in time and -long story short-hit the tree in their front yard - as you can see below. Luckily Eric's Uncle John was able to come right over and rescue me and the kids.

I know very little about cars, so I won't try and explain it. Those of you who do can see it, and those of you -like me - who don't, just know it was considered totalled.

Here's Rebekah's injury. The top of her coat zipper - a plastic zipper- cut her chin, and she must've bit her tongue because her tongue was bleeding for a moment after the accident. Her and David were both sound asleep before the accident. Its scary to think of how fast that all happens - that the force of her flinging forward was enough for that plastic zipper to cut her chin. I'm so thankful for carseats and that her injuries were so minor.

Here's my injury. My leg must've flung forward and hit the bottom of the, well whatever that's called where the emergency break is attached, you know what I mean. Again, very thankful for the minor-ness of the injuries. We were very blessed.

And this is the new vehicle. It was a pain to have to look for a new car right before Christmas -especially when I was already way behind in my preparations for Christmas, but the insurance was great, Eric was great (he always is) and we found a great replacement. It's almost exactly the same except a year newer, less miles and **a moonroof** fun for me!!

Thanksgiving in the Smokies

2010-12-01T21:46:00.016-05:00

So, for Thanksgiving this year, we packed up the kids and drove to Gatlinburg, TN where we met Eric's parents and brother and sister. We were able to spend the whole week and had a WONDERFUL time! Thanks Rich and Donna for everything!

While in TN we were able to spend Sunday with some old friends, attend the ward we used to go to when we were first married and before we had children. It was so great to see the faces of so many people who were like family to us and who we have dearly missed over the years. There are some wonderful people in TN!

The Smith's and Jim Ford are some of our favorites and we enjoyed every minute of their hospitality! Thank you! The kids had a great time feeding and sitting on Millie's horses.

Rebekah found little girl heaven when we went to Shane and Mandy Smith's and she found their little girl Taya's room. All the big kids went out to jump on the trampoline so she had the room to herself - and she made herself at home! Thanks for sharing Taya!

Apparently she thought this horse was "just her size" hahaha.

Hiking in the Smokies was a lot of fun!

Cool barn, huh? There was this old pioneer settlement up in the Smokies we checked out

She didn't really sleep in there, but she could have! -and she enjoyed playing in it. She sure looks like she just woke up, huh?

Snuggling with Grams - it doesn't get better than that!

We spent lots of time at the indoor waterpark. Way fun!!!

At some point when no one was looking Rebekah found a pile of laundry and apparently took a liking to Pops' boxers. She tried them on and danced around in them. We all had a good laugh!

David is our little sweet tooth if I haven't mentioned that before. He came in our room one afternoon like this. I can't remember now if it was brownie mix or hot chocolate powder, but I guess he couldn't find any better source of chocolate for his craving. Of course when asked, he didn't do anything - too bad the evidence was ALL OVER HIM!

It was a lot of fun! We wore them out!

Girl Pampering

2010-11-26T08:00:00.008-05:00

While in Tennesse we had a little girl time. One night we all put on drugstore fingernails, ate candy, laughed, and sat in the jacuzzi.

Here's all our beautiful hands with our lovely drugstore fingernails - notice Kelsey's hand does not have fingernails on - well she did put them on, but quickly realized she couldn't text her friends and so they quickly came back off.

All the girls.

Shopping in Gatlinburg.

The resort we stayed in had a spa and so of course we checked it out. I didn't get pictures of everyone but here's what I have. Melissa got an Ice Cream Pedicure - so here she is enjoying a big bowl of ice cream smothered in hot fudge while she gets her pedicure.Melanie got a facial (well actually two, but that's another story - it was her lucky day). She thoroughly enjoyed it. I was surprised she didn't want a pedicure, but she said she thinks its creepy to have someone mess with her feet. Hmm, interesting for a girl her chews her fingernails AND her toenails! And I got a pedicure, my first one ever. I know its not a flattering picture, but I was in heaven. That chair was a massage chair -and it was AWESOME! I could've sat there all day! Everyone was surprised when I chose purple and blue with sparkle edges - I haven't painted my toes or fingernails in years so I thought I'd make it good!

Here's Melissa's and my toes after the pedicures. So fun!

Here's all of us after our treatments. What a great afternoon at the spa!

We saw Black Bears!

2010-11-24T19:31:00.016-05:00

To start at the beginning . . . we went on a hike in the Smokies and had a really good day. It was a beautiful Autumn day and it was great to be with Grams and Pops and Kelsey. Here's some footage . . .

It was kind of funny, when we got to the top lookout area, there was a turkey wandering around. A little ironic since this week is Thanksgiving. Ha, Ha.

At the end of the aftenoon as we were heading back down the mountain we saw a bunch of people gathered with a park ranger pointing and taking pictures so we stopped and got out to see what was going on-knowing it must be a bear. It was a little disappointing because I guess the bear had laid down and so all we could see was a black blob, it was too far away and he wasn't moving around anymore, so we headed on down again. Then we ran into another group but this time as we passed, the bear was right there next to the road looking right at us! So we pulled right over and hopped out! It was a mother bear and her two cubs! They had just crossed the road - and when we drove past the mother bear was right at the road because she still waiting for her other cub to cross. We were in two cars and the cub crossed in front of Eric's parent's car behind us. They said it stopped and looked right up at them in the middle of the road! Cool! Once crossed they headed down the hill. I just got some film footage and pics of them heading out, but here it is. . .

"Deedle"

2010-11-23T08:21:00.002-05:00

Rebekah's vocabulary is immense. She's a talker. Each of our children have learned to talk at their own pace. Melanie fell in at about average. Melissa was late not really starting until about 3. James was early, speaking in clear complete sentences at 18 months and David like Melissa didn't start until about 3. He's come a long way and talks quite a bit now, but we sometimes still struggle to understand him. The rest of our kids tease that he only talks now because Rebekah can speak better than him. Anyway, back to the point of this post. Before she says his name clearer and I forget I need to write this down. Rebekah recently started calling David by name. She calls him "Deedle". She just loves him and he is so good to her. She calls both Melanie and Melissa "Meai", which can be kind of confusing but it works for her for now. I guess I haven't noticed her calling James a name yet

Halloween 2010

2010-11-02T22:27:00.006-04:00

We had a great Halloween. Hope you did too!!

This one looks bad, I hesitated to put it in - but really, no one got hurt and she carved a great pumpkin. I didn't have as many pics of her because she's now a big middle-schooler and so I didn't see her at school for the festivities like I did the others.

Nana's house is always our last (and most fun) stop on Halloween. She spoils us - so this year I thought the kids might be bummed that she wasn't at her house (she recently fell and broke her hip - had hip replacement surgery and is in a rehabilitation center) but they were just as thrilled to go see her. I love that they just love her. She's an amazing woman! The other residents enjoyed seeing the kids as well and one nurse even brought in ice cream for the kids because she didn't have any candy (they were thrilled).

Happy Halloween!

Painting Bedrooms

2010-10-27T22:10:00.004-04:00

We've got the bedrooms painted! Yeah! We had a lot of fun. The girls painted their room and the boys painted theirs. What an adventure! They both did a great job! Below is some of the footage.

We tried to get a picture in front of a finished wall, but this is the best we got. David got impatient with my lack of photography skills.

Hill Cumorah Pageant

2010-10-16T21:49:00.004-04:00

Yes, this is a delayed post . . . the pageant was in mid-July.

We always love going to the Hill Cumorah Pageant. It's just an excellent pageant that brings the Book of Mormon to life and is such a fun event for our family. This year James had a good time getting his picture taken with the characters in the pageant as they walked around before the show began. He really enjoyed this. James and the Wicked King Noah

Melanie, Melissa and James with the three wise men.

These were his favorite - the stripling warriors. It combines his two favorite things - Army guys and Missionaries.

We finally got David in one - he was too scared to get close to any of these characters.

Yep, that's Big Tex

2010-10-11T21:51:00.007-04:00

Yep, that's Big Tex behind us. Eric and I got the chance to go to Dallas this past weekend for a conference he had. While there we were able to go to the Texas State Fair. After all the years he and I lived there, neither one of us had ever been. We had a good time!

We ate YUMMY fried food! (Melanie was so jealous - she loves hot dogs in any form! - this was a foot long corn dong - or how they say it in TX - a "corny dog")

I got to be a kid (since mine were all at home) and pet all the animals in the petting zoo! My favorites were the baby zebra and baby giraffe!

We also got the chance to get together with my Sister Angie, brother-in-law Kevin and two adorable nieces Anna and Julie. Thanks guys! It was so fun!

Okay, so this is nothing in Dallas. This is the chaos of my own home - welcome home Mom! This afternoon David emptied a big container of powdered milk all over his train table and surrounding area (This was taken after I'd already vacuumed up half of it or more when I realized I'd better be able to laugh about it later if I took a picture to document). Yay! I guess he thought it would be fun to drive his cars in. Once he did it, Rebekah and James jumped right in and had a great time driving anything on wheels through it all.

It was so nice to get away, but I really am glad to be back - hopefully refreshed and refilled enough to get me through to the next time we can sneak away ;)

Love this!

2010-10-08T07:50:00.003-04:00

The best Mommy moments are catching my children all enjoying each other. I went in to change the laundry and found all the kids in Melanie and Melissa's bed playing together so happily. I love this! -but of course moments later they are coming in telling me of all kinds of injustices going on. Huummm, small moments. I'm so glad for the small moments of wonderful that make parenting worth it. :o)

-as you can probably tell, this bottom picture was first and as you go up you can see James noticing me taking photos and getting increasingly dramatic about it. By the end he said -"okay, Mom, I'm done. I'm done."

Muddy Soccer

2010-10-06T22:19:00.003-04:00

Melissa and James both had games tonight. The weather has been beautiful all day, but chilly. The fields were in pretty decent condition, but still had some muddy spots. Melissa found them. Unfortunately I didn't get an action shot. She kicked the ball once and you could just see the big spray of muddy water come up with the ball. She loved every minute of it - but as you can see in the pictures not everyone got as dirty. I think Melissa won the prize. Her cousin Kaleigh must've been being pretty careful because I didn't see anyone else come out as clean as she did (-but, by the time I took these Kaleigh had taken her cleats and shin guards off, they were pretty muddy).

Having two play at the same time I have to split my attention. I watched James last time so this time just watched him for a minute and then spent my time watching Melissa. When I caught up with him later I missed getting a picture of him but he must've played hard too because he was pretty muddy. -but had a smile on his face! For kids mud=fun.

Ugh! Why didn't I take a picture?!

2010-10-05T22:16:00.002-04:00

Tonight Melanie had a soccer game that was one of those great ones in the rain and the mud and the cold (but not too cold) - that kids love because they get to play in the mud and they don't get in trouble for getting dirty. I took some video (request from coach Eric - for working on skills) but am kicking myself for not getting pics of Melanie and her friends ejoying the mayhem. She's so cute and they had such a great time! After the game they were all talking about how wet and muddy and cold they were, but in that way that is so fun - a moment in time they'll all remember and look back on with fond memories "Remember that soccer game in that was so cold and rainy . . ."

If only I had a picture. Ugh!

She's so lucky!

2010-10-05T22:03:00.003-04:00

Rebekah, I mean (okay so Melanie too). She's so lucky to have these older siblings that adore her. Especially her two older sisters. They are so good to her and she loves them so much! Today I came in from an errand and found Melissa holding her and rocking her and playing with her so sweetly - and then tonight after scriptures and prayers when I read stories to the kids, Rebekah climbed in with the girls and snuggled up to Melanie and fell asleep - so sweet!!

Thunder Island

2010-10-04T08:18:00.009-04:00

This is becoming a new family tradition for us - and I like it. A waterpark big enough for all of us to have fun but where even David and Rebekah can ride most of the rides, and small enough that we don't spend the day waiting in line. Here's a barage of pictures - oh, and after you go to the waterpark they have a fun little mini-golf course (where its easier to carry a camera so where most of the pics are taken). It was so fun this year to go between Melanie and James' birthdays and to take Aunt Kelsey with us.

Waterskiing tricks and fun

2010-10-03T21:46:00.004-04:00

I thought I'd just make one post for summer and post a slide show or something and get caught up, but as I reviewed our photos I realized there's so much more to document that I'd be keeping a better family journal if I made a bunch of shorter more specific posts, so hopefully and I can do these quickly and get caught up.

Along with regular waterskiing we, of course - being members of the Frazee family, had to do some out of the ordinary stuff too. Here's some photos of our fun! This isn't anything too exciting - but really how many people can we fit on a boat! (They did this on purpose-for surfing-and I'll document that later- the more weight on the boat makes a better wake for surfing-or so I understand)

Kaleigh and Melissa - cousins forever! Just hanging out havin' fun.

If you can't tell that's a picnic table they're skiing. I tried it too and it was really fun!! We did that for the lake's Trick Day.

Here's another trick for Trick Day. They were working on getting another person (actually Melissa) on top, but didn't get that to work this year - maybe next!

Just some fun tubing. I like this picture because I caught it just before James fell off!

So I said Melanie doesn't love waterskiing before - well she loves tubing!

Uncle Pat was crazy enough to let the girls drive his boat. They of course were in complete Heaven!!

Summer Waterskiing

2010-10-03T08:33:00.006-04:00

We had a WONDERFUL Summer! Waterskiing was our main mode of enjoyment. At the end of last Summer we bought an old motorboat, nothing to great to look at, but it works and we sure spent a lot of time on it this Summer. Here's Melissa at the beginning of Summer, just getting confident in getting up and skiing. She turned into a waterskiing diva! She got confident on two skis and started dropping a ski (pictured below), then she got good at slalom skiing and started trying to get up on one ski and has now mastered that as well.

James learned to ski this summer. His enthusiam is biggest when its not his turn. He's a little hesitant to go, but if you can get him in the water he's getting pretty good. Hopefully next Summer he'll build up his confidence and learn to enjoy it.

Melanie improved this summer too, but waterskiing is not her favorite thing. She is still working on dropping a ski but gained some confidence in going in and out of the wake.

I think Eric and I may have had more fun than the kids. It was really fun for us to enjoy skiing so much as well. It's been a long time and we both improved our skills a lot. I learned to slalom and we both can get up on one ski now. Yay us!!

Time in Texas

2010-09-18T13:39:00.007-04:00

I had the great priviledge of going to my sisters this summer for a whole two weeks. Unfortunately it was to help her recover from open heart surgery. She was amazing and the Lord truly blessed her to have a successful surgery and a great recovery. He blessed me in making it possible for me to go and help her. My wonderful sister-in-law Kelsey, who had just graduated from HS happened to be coming up here to visit for the summer and was so kind to watch 4 of our 5 kids for 2 weeks so I could go. I hope I was helpful to Angie, but I mostly had a great time with her and her family. I took Rebekah with me because she was too young to leave for that long plus Angie's youngest is just older than Rebekah and I thought it would be fun for them to play. So we found out for sure that even on a cloudy day - and I mean totally overcast, you (or in this case our little girls) can get a sunburn. Poor little lobsters.
Swinging in the backyard. The Texas heat makes it hard to want to go outdoors, but we managed to spend a little time playing in the backyard.
The only one here who actually used a pacifier at the time was Rebekah, but Julie was a big tease and liked to snatch it from her and so we found some extras for fun and then even Anna wanted one. She said "It makes your mouth look pretty". So funny!
Angie was supposed to do some walking everyday as part of her recovery routine so we decided to kill two birds with one stone and do our walking at the outlet mall ;) The girls thought the most fun part was riding in these little toy rides outside - actually we only put money in one and Julie hated it. In Texas it gets HOT so everyday we tried to include somekind of water activity and some Sonic drinks (especially since we don't have Sonic up here in NY and I needed to get my fill, hehe). Just got out of the pool, Rebekah and Julie getting some snacks and getting cheesy with the camera. One of my favorite memories is of a girls night out my mom planned for us. Her and my Dad were able to come down for the weekend and my mom got us tickets to see Wicked. I had no idea what it was about, but heard it was good. I just loved it and recommend it to anyone. It was so fun to have that time with my mom and my sister. Thanks Dad and Kevin for watching the little girls so we could do this!!Grandma with her granddaughters. So fun for her, so fun for them!Angie feeding our "little birds". She looks way to good to have just had open heart surgery, huh?She's amazing! (and okay, modern medicine is amazing too)So cute! What a precious time for Angie and I as sisters and for our little girls as cousins. Hopefully as they get older we'll find ways to get together so they can really get to know each other and be friends! Thanks Angie - we had soooo much fun, and I'm so glad you're okay!

Another School Year Ended

2010-08-24T00:39:00.014-04:00

(Yes, I know schools been out for a while now, but I'm catching up, remember?)

With the end of the school year came the end of another season of softball and t-ball. Melanie, Melissa and James each did a great job on their teams and each had a great time. I slacked at taking photos this year because it was all we could do to get all three to the appropriate game at the appropriate time and place - sometimes we had 3 children in 3 different games at one time! What will we do when they're all old enough to play?

James hammed it up for me a little after their last game when they each got a medal and their own ball. He thought that was pretty cool.

Next cam Fun Day where all the Elementary kids get to spend the day outside playing games, doing relay races, and getting yummy treats like snow cones, cotton candy and popcorn. David and Rebekah were pretty glad to get to come and watch and get some treats as well.

Last was Melanie's graduation from Elementary school. Yes, she's now moving up to the Middle School/High School. Oh, my goodness, how'd she get so old! Sadly I wasn't able to be there for that because I was in Texas (details in another post -coming soon - hopefully) but thankfully Aunt Kelsey was able to be there and support Melanie and take this great picture with ever supportive little bro. David. Congrats Melanie!

Vacation to Florida

2010-08-05T21:24:00.005-04:00

Okay, so once again Summer has come and I have gotten way behind in my postings. It started with what I call our "Family Event Vacation". We went to Florida for Eric's sister Kelsey's graduation and also had Melissa's baptism so she could have both her grandparents there. Lucky for us Eric's parents live in Florida so it also doubled as a wonderful family vacation in a beautiful place. We got there and left just before the oil arrived so the beaches were beautiful! We drove this time - which seems crazy with 5 children, but then again so does flying. Ha!

It really was a fabulous time for all of us! We spent some great days at the beach, did some intercoastal sailing along with having our annual water balloon war, had a wonderful crawfish boil and altogether had a very fun and very relaxing family vacation. Thanks so much Donna and Rich - once again you totally spoiled us and we loved every minute of it! Thanks Mom and Dad and Angie and Kevin for driving so far to meet us and share this great time with us! - and I can't forget Kelsey and Ryan because you are both so great with our kids - they just love you!!

So here's a couple of slide shows since we -of course- took a million pics and I couldn't just choose a handful to show here.

Spring?

2010-04-27T18:03:00.002-04:00

So if April showers bring May flowers . . . what does April snow bring? Okay, okay, so its beautiful and to be fair, we do have some beautiful flowers already in bloom -and the sun was shining today as it snowed (and showered). Who says God doesn't have a sense of humor? I know He was smiling today as he sent this to us.

Comfy?

2010-04-19T07:57:00.003-04:00

Kids can sleep in the darndest places. As I was grocery shopping the other day the front of the cart got really quiet, usually meaning some kind of trouble is brewing, right? To my surprise David had somehow gotten comfortable enough leaning on boxes of cereal to fall asleep. How cute - and a big plus for me. Now I could actually shop with some semi-quiet peace (remember I still have Rebekah in front). Actually I was almost finished shopping, but realized if I went to the checkout counter before he had slept long enough he'd be awakened while I was unloading the groceries and of course start into a total meltdown (not fun) so I checked my clock, realized I still had 20 min. before I needed to go to the checkout in order to get home in time for the other kids to get off the bus - yeah! How did this work out so well? Except what do you do in a grocery store for 20 min. when you've gotten everything on your list? Oh, well.

Happy Easter!

2010-04-05T10:38:00.009-04:00

We had a great Easter weekend. We were so glad to have my brother and his wife and their children come and visit us. The weather here was more than cooperative and the kids were thrilled to pull out their shorts and t-shirts and flip flops. We were able to take the kids to the park and picnic and play on Friday.Saturday morning Emma and Rebekah headed outside before getting dressed. The cat was gone by the time I took the picture, but I found them outside petting our cat and playing in this little section of dirt and rocks - and yes, that's dirt on Rebekah's mouth, she of course has to taste it all. Yum! (Grandma Diane, I know you're cringing)

Here's the gang settled in to watch General Conference. Listening to the prophet, Pres. Thomas S. Monson, the quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and many of the other General Authorities of the church was, as usual, inspiring and uplifting. There were many messages that touched my heart, but the one that I hope to keep close at hand and use daily is the message from Pres. Deiter F. Uchtdorf about that statue of Christ that was damaged during the war and as they tried to repair it realized that the hands couldn't be repaired and there was a sign put by the statue that we are Christ's hands. I hope I can be Christs hands, that I can do his work and reach out and help lift his children.

Saturday between sessions of conference we went for a short hike to some falls down the street from our house and had a picnic. The falls were pretty (you can barely see them behind the kids), but we couldn't see as much of them as we'd like because the way down to see them was a little too steep for all of us. We had fun anyway and saw a little snake which gave everyone a thrill.

With the great weather we were able to color our easter eggs outside.

These three boys had so much fun together whether it was having light saber duels, flying airplanes, or just digging in the sandbox.

A picture of the whole gang of kids before they went to hunt eggs.

Eggs high and low they found them all, and rather quickly too.

Rebekah wasn't interested in finding any eggs. I was trying to point one out to her, but she just pointed with me and then walked away.

My very favorite thing is when the kids are playing on their own and working together having a great time. Here they were playing 'bubble gum, bubble gum' to figure out who would be it first for their game of tag outside.

I have great memories of fun with my cousins growing up. I'm glad to see my children building some of their own. Families can be forever thanks to our Savior and His gospel.

Future Missionary

2010-03-22T12:13:00.005-04:00

Here's our little future missionary

(or missionaries -as you can see little David peeking up in the back)

Thank you Elder Kennington and Elder Jones! You guys were inspiring to him!

After a long day of missionary work, haha. . . . He often comes home and puts on his "missionary clothes." He likes to wear them to dinner so he can practice not spilling on them :)

For Christmas 2009 all he wanted for Christmas was a suit. Isn't that awesome! He was 5 and all he wanted was a suit!

Santa came through and he was thrilled!

Okay, so to no one's surprise it has taken me a year to post this (not funny) and so I can now add another photo. For Christmas this year Grandma came through and James got a new suit along with his cousin Logan and brother David. So now he has companions!!

He's worn his suit to school a couple of times. Once for show and tell and talked to his class about missionaries and what they do. We're so proud of him and hope he keeps it up! One day he'll make a wonderful missionary spreading the good news of Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father's plan!

These are the moments I live for!

2010-03-20T09:15:00.002-04:00

These are the kind of moments that make mothering wonderful.
This is the kind of thing that when my children are grown I will look back and long for and miss so dearly.
When they are sweet and innocent, playing together and enjoying each other.

Making Syrup

2010-03-12T21:50:00.005-05:00

Eric's latest adventure. He and his Uncle Pat decided to tap the Maple trees.

Mmm. . .homemade maple syrup!

Skiing

2010-02-28T19:09:00.004-05:00

I was born in Utah, went to college in Utah and now even in Upstate NY live down the street from a ski center and yet I've only been skiing 3 times in my life! This has got to change because I really enjoy it! - I realized the other day after going again after about 20 years (which really makes me feel old - how can I have not done something for 20 years?) Anyway. . . luckily Melanie got us back into it. The fifth grade class in her school goes on a skiing field trip every winter and she wanted to go check it out before the field trip, so Eric took her one night. They had a great time. Eric remembered how much fun it is, so over the kids Winter break he took Melanie and Melissa during the day and we got a babysitter that night and he and I went. Luckily its somewhat like riding a bike and I picked up on it again without too much trouble. Here's us riding up the lift - a rare picture of him and I - alone.

So, I was most nervous about getting on and off the lift and of course the first try I missed getting on with Eric and had to ride up by myself - that's okay at least I got on! He had a good laugh. Ha, ha.

This is Melanie in front of the jump she went off her first night of skiing! Why I don't know, but I am glad she dared give it a try - she's not usually that daring. I'm sure part of it was being with her dare-devil dad -even though he said he didn't even dare do that (but he's old! ;o) ) Anyway I guess she went over a smaller one first and did just fine, but this one didn't go so well and she was bruised and hurting so came home and put some ice on it and then sat in the hot tub -while her sister lucked out and was able to switch off and go the rest of the night with dad. Melissa had a great first night of skiing too. I guess its good to learn when you're young and agile and have no fear. - and recover much faster from your falls!

Here's the girls going up the lift together on the day they went with Eric. Aren't they cute! They're so lucky to have each other!

Here's Eric and Melanie, Melanie's friend Maddie (she happened to be skiing with her dad that day too) and Melissa.

Here's them going down the hill. We met them for lunch and the little boys couldn't understand why they couldn't jump right in and start skiing too!

So fun! One more way we can enjoy the wonderful season of Winter!

Why Giving Matters

2010-02-08T11:08:00.001-05:00

I just finished reading this article in the Summer edition of BYU Magazine (p24-29). After I started reading it I realized I had watched a re-broadcast of this speech on BYUTV last year a week or so after the speech was given. It got to me then and it got to me again when I re-read it. This is a really good speech with some important truths that I think help all of us and ones I hope I remember and use in my life as well as teach my children so they can apply them in theirs. I'd like to share it with any of you that read this.

You can watch the speech by clicking on the following link

http://byub.org/talks/talk.aspx?ID=2998

You can read the speech by clicking on this link

http://speeches.byu.edu/reader/reader.php?id=12929&x=61&y=6

Ice Skating

2010-02-07T18:06:00.004-05:00

Yesterday we were able to have some family fun ice skating at a local park.

Tubes in, Adenoids out

2010-02-04T17:23:00.004-05:00

Earlier this week James had tubes put in his ears and his adenoids taken out. He did great and is still doing great. He's supposed to take it easy for the next two weeks. I think its gonna get tuff. He's already starting to run around and ruff-house with his brother. I've got to keep reminding him to take it easy.

Isn't he the cutest patient you've ever seen? And he was so polite. I think all the nurses just loved him.

He didn't care for the ID bracelet, he thought it was itchy and he hated the IV and said it was poking him (I couldn't disagree with him there). The nurse guided him through doing the unwrapping and untaping when it was time to take it off and she even let him help her pull out the needle. He didn't get grossed out at all. He was just glad to have it off.

This last picture is post-op. I wanted to get a picture of his blue tongue from the blue popcycles. He didn't really care for having his picture taken. He did enjoy all the popcycles.

His class at school made him a bunch of Get Well Soon cards that were darling. He just loved that, but he really hates having to do all the homework. He'd rather just watch movies and play video games-and eat popcycles!

Christmas 2009

2010-02-01T15:53:00.004-05:00

Okay, so I'm a little late on this, but here's some pics from Christmas. We had a great Christmas. We were blessed to enjoy the company of both Eric's and my parents along with lots of other family and friends.

The below slideshow with probably more pictures than any of you want to see if us includes:
1. The kids with Santa at our Ward Christmas Party
2. Annual Frazee Family Christmas Eve Party at Chartrand's
3. Christmas morning at our house
4. Annual Randall Family Christmas Party at Highland Lodge
5. Family Home Evening with my Mom and Dad and Russell's kids Logan and Emma (thanks Dad for the great lesson!)
6. Ice skating/hockey on the pond at the farm, behind Nana's house.
7. Snowball fight with snow forts the kids and I built and the snowman we made
and more . . .

Birthday Week

2010-01-24T17:14:00.005-05:00

We celebrated 3 birthdays in our family this week. Eric's 30-something, Rebekah's 1st and Melissa's 8th. It was a busy week! Here are some pictures and video we'd like to share.

I'd better start off with some commentary. Poor Eric didn't have the most notable birthday. I hadn't prepared well and planned on doing some shopping the day before his birthday to pick up the needed presents, etc. but ended up with a 24 hour flu bug and spent the day miserable on the couch. So on the morning of his birthday, he didn't have a present to open or anything to start the day off fun and then of course he had to go to work. Luckily I was feeling better and was able to run into town for presents and groceries. I found a nice mountain bike on clearance (yeah!) which was a fun present that I hadn't planned on. I also got stuff for a nice steak dinner (so we wouldn't have to attempt to go out with 5 kids 10 and under - one being a 2 1/2 year old, no other explanation needed) and a great chocolate cheesecake with strawberries and raspberries on top for his birthday cake (YUM!-and no baking required on my part!) As luck would have it, about dinner time Eric started feeling bad - he had caught my flu bug!- he wasn't able to enjoy dinner or any of his cheesecake! We sang to him after dinner and I gave the kids some cheesecake. Sad.

Next was sweet little Rebekah's birthday . . .

The knit cap in the above pictures was a gift from her Aunt Delores (Thank you!). She made it and its darling, but unless I can slip it on when Rebekah is distracted by something else she pulls it right off. She didn't care at all about the presents until they were opened, which her brothers and sisters were more than happy to help her with.

I always let the birthday child pick out their favorite dinner on their birthday. For a 1 year old that's hard to decifer. She seems to love lasagna so I made that and it worked out great because she ate like a champ. I can't believe how much she ate!

Rebekah also loved the cupcakes for dessert!

Melissa got an early birthday present and went night skiing with her dad a few days before her birthday. It was her first time going and she had a great time and did really well Eric said.

Melissa was so excited for her birthday. The day before we picked out some yummy frosted sugar cookies to take to school to share and thankfully she was excited and not sad about going to school on her birthday. The night before, she went to bed not feeling her best, she had a stomach ache that had started around dinner time. She woke up at about 11pm throwing up - all over her precious stuffed dog Snoopy and her hippo and her sister - poor Melanie. Poor Melissa too. She was afraid her birthday was ruined. She said her tummy was feeling better and asked if she'd still be able to go to school the next day. I hesitantly said she could if the rest of the night went smooth with no more throwing up and no fever. We were lucky. That was the end of it and she was feeling well in the morning and able to have her favorite - chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast and open presents before school.

For dinner Melissa wanted to go to Red Lobster - her favorite place, but I think its just for the name and the lobster tank in the entry way. Eric and I really don't like that place and tried to talk her into letting us cook up some of her seafood favorites like boiled shrimp and crab or lobster bisque, or even to take her to a different restaurant (any other restaurant) but to no avail, she had her heart set on Red Lobster - so we went. When we get to ordering it comes to her and she orders Macaroni and Cheese! Eric and I look at each other and then look at her and say No Way! Apparently she didn't want to order the same thing as her siblings and since Melanie had ordered crab legs and James had ordered shrimp, she felt she was left with mac-n-cheese. Oh, what a girl.

Eric and I spent the evening back and forth in the bathroom with one or other of the kids, chasing David back and forth from the lobster tank, or climbing over the half wall behind us, cracking crab for the girls etc. etc. It was not a fun evening. One good thing was that, what I could eat of it, my meal was better than any others I can remember having there, even though I could have made it just as well at home with much less trouble!

We've sworn off that place for good and going out with the kids as well - but I think we've done that before - it seems to only last until enough time has passed that we forget just how horrible going to a restaurant with kids is.

And that was our Happy Birthday week!

Cross Country Skiing

2010-01-14T14:03:00.004-05:00

I love the winters here in Upstate NY. Especially when we can get out and really enjoy the snow and the beauty of it. Yesterday Eric and I, along with David and Rebekah, were able to get out and do some cross country skiing. It was invigorating and fun!

Thanksgiving

2009-12-10T15:09:00.003-05:00

I started this entry before Christmas, but never finished it. I guess now that its Feb of the next year I ought to finish it. I would scrap it except that we really had a great Thanksgiving and I want to give thanks to the family that made it so fun.

First the biggest thanks I have to give is to my wonderful husband who finished our new kitchen the week before Thanksgiving. What a big treat that was for me to get to cook Thanksgiving dinner in a brand new, beautiful kitchen, plus a new dinning room and entry way. It makes our home much more comfortable and enjoyable.

We were thrilled to have Russell and Erin and their cute kids join us. They had a road trip that was extended way too long because of Holiday traffic and we're so grateful they were willing to drive all that way especially Erin who was expecting. We had a great time with them and our kids had a ball.

We also enjoyed the company of Pat and Colleen and Will. There's always a good time when they're around. Our kids couldn't love Will more. We played some games after dinner. This is a lousy picture because our flash on our camera had gone out and it just dawned on me that I hadn't taken any pictures of our Thanksgiving so I hurried and snapped a few. Also, and I know I've mentioned this before - my photography skills are very limited.

When we moved into the new kitchen our old kitchen became "the box room" temporarily since we had all these huge boxes from the cabinets and since empty boxes are the best toys ever we let our kids go wild with them. They really wore them out. Logan, James, Melissa and Melanie had some game going where they were running around taking pictures of each other. I don't know exactly what it was, but they were having a great time.Russ and Erin's daughter Emma is a doll. We all just love her.

James and Logan had a great time together. They are about 6 mos. apart in age and get along great. I love to see the two of them playing together.

Summer

2009-10-28T08:55:00.014-04:00

Whew! Time is flying! I guess we need to do a major update, somehow Summer got away from us! I'll have to tell the story by reviewing my pictures, because honestly my mind is going -and my pictures, thankfully, jog my memory about the whirlwind we called Summer.

First I'd better start by finishing with some pictures from the weekend of Rebekah's blessing. We really had such a nice time with my parents and Russell and Erin and their family.

I think I mentioned in an earlier post that the girls were playing tball and softball. Somehow I missed getting a picture of Melanie playing, but I got a nice one of Melissa (I have mentioned before that my photography skills are limited, right?) So here's Melissa, but Melanie also did a great job on her team and they both had a great time playing.

Next Melissa had her 1st grade play. She was wonderful! Here's a couple of exerpts.

Here's a couple of pictures of Melissa and James climbing one of our trees in the backyard. They thought that was really fun. David wanted to get up there too, but once I helped him up he shot right up the tree like a monkey, with no fear - scared me, and luckily I caught him when he fell - and well, I won't be helping him get started tree climbing again until he's got a little bit of fear in him!

Next came the sad news that our sweet little neice Andi had passed on. We went over to Boston to be with Russell and Erin and attend her funeral, which was lovely.

Here's a tender picture of Emma with Rebekah. Emma was so sweet with her.

We took the kids into the city of Boston to do a little sight seeing so that Erin and Russell could do a few last minute things to prepare for the funeral. We had lots of fun. The kids were all great. This was a little crab shack place right off the water.

Here are some pictures from Andi's burial. It was a special time for our family. The Lord blessed us with comfort and peace. I think especially Russell and Erin. They are amazing and wonderful people.

I'll stop here for now before this gets too long. Update 2 coming soon (I hope! :o) ).

Rebekah's Blessing

2009-06-12T10:01:00.007-04:00

Rebekah was given a name and a blessing on May 31 by her father. He gave her a wonderful blessing. I am so thankful for the restored gospel and that Eric honorably holds the priesthood of God. The name we chose for her is Rebekah Michele Frazee. We chose Rebekah not only because it is a beautiful name in itself but after Rebekah in the Bible. A righteous daughter of God chosen to marry Isaac, son of Abraham and Sarah, and a prophet of God. She became the mother of Jacob and Esau. Jacobs name was later changed by God to Israel. We hope our little Rebekah will seek to remain pure and clean and learn to follow God's commandments that she may be a righteous daugther of God. Her middle name Michele is after Eric's beloved little sister who died as a young girl. We know Rebekah will be a joy to our family as Michele was to hers.

Rebekah wore a very special dress and looked beautiful in it. It was the dress I was blessed in as well as both of her older sisters. We love her so much and are so thankful to have her in our family.

It was a special occasion for our family. We were glad to have my parents come up to be here as well as my brother Russell and his wife Erin and their children. We were also very grateful to have our wonderful Nana, Rebekah's great grandmother there along with Aunt Sophia, Aunt Kathy, Aunt Mary and Allison and Kaliegh, Aunt Carla and Uncle Phil and Aunt Delores. We really appreciate all the love and support we receive from our families!

Slip-n-slide

2009-05-26T12:30:00.003-04:00

Thanks Gram and Pops! David's birthday gift was a hit with everyone!

David's 2nd Birthday!

2009-05-18T12:02:00.005-04:00

Once again we have a two year old in our home - and oh, the excitement! Of course the two year old in him has been coming on for a few months now and we know we haven't seen the best/worst of it yet, but oh, is he 2!

His birthday was last Monday the 11th and of course he didn't know the difference, but was thrilled to wake up with a new tricycle - actually the balloons I'd blown up and set around it were just as exciting if not more. One of these days that will sink in and I'll forget about buying toys and just give the little ones balloons and the beloved cardboard box!

I was planning on making him a cake, but the day got too hectic (can you imagine?) and so I just bought one. It was kind of great because he picked out a cute one with a tractor on it.

He liked having us sing to him.

Melanie is in her softball uniform. He had a ball at her game because there was a swing set and a sandbox and other kids to play with. She did really well and is enjoying it. Melissa is playing Tball. I'll try and get some pictures of them playing on here soon.

This next little video is for Grandma Diane and Grandpa Rex. Your gift was a big hit. A toy to play with sand and water - what could be better?! Thankfully Melanie helped me put it together and show him what to do - although she was horrified when the first thing David did was throw sand in the water part!

Pretty Princess

2009-04-28T22:23:00.005-04:00

I just had to share these.

This one is just before church on Sunday. This dress my mom passed down to me, its one I guess I used to wear.

Aren't sleeping babie's so precious! I don't normally lay her on her stomach to sleep, she just wore herself out having some tummy time. She's really growing and she's just so sweet.

Weekend trip

2009-04-23T09:51:00.008-04:00

This past weekend we took a little family trip to Palmyra, NY. For those of you that are not members of my church that is a place of significant history for us. You can find more info about it at http://www.hillcumorah.org/. Those of you who are members, that is a great website to help plan a trip up here, although I hope you would let us know too because we'd love to have you!! Anyway, back to our trip. We stayed at a little place with an indoor pool because that is of course a total thrill for our kids.

Because everything is about multi-tasking, part of our trip included stopping at the tile store to get the rest of the tile for our -in progress- master bathroom, which by the way, we found a fabulous deal on that we're totally excited about (I'll show pictures of the project when it is completed). Also we stopped by the Bishop's Storehouse for an update on food storage - again a mormon thing - but com'on people we're in a bad recession - better safe than sorry! Get prepared! And, the most important reason for going to Palmyra is . . . the temple. (I wish I had taken a picture of our family there to insert here, but I didn't sorry!) Eric and I planned to go to the temple. He had a wonderful experience, but as I dug in my wallet for my recommend I was horrified to realize it wasn't there. I was heartbroken. Apparently one of the many times my wallet has been ransacked by my beloved children the recommend did not get replaced (and I still haven't found it, ugh!) The good part is that while I was at the temple Eric and the kids were going to go across the street where one of our church buildings has a lovely pavillion and baseball field in back and play baseball (the girls are playing t-ball and softball now, so good practice time). Since I didn't get to go to the temple I got to play too and took the following pictures of our fun.

And this is always how David holds the bat - I think its because if he holds it the right way, its too heavy and he can't pick it up. Its just so cute though, I love it!

I guess this could go under another post, but I'm just going to add it at the end of this since it's part of the trip. We found a great little old playground in Palmyra - it really is a cute little town. I have great memories of playing on playgrounds as a kid and my favorite things to play on were the merry-go-round, the see-saw or teeter-totter and those old metal slides. They don't make these anymore and I guess I know why, but it was so fun to find them all at this playground. Our kids had a great time. Here's a video Eric took of them on the merry-go-round while I was nursing Rebekah. When she was done I went and took a spin myself! Our kids always think its so funny when I play on the playground equipment with them!

Do you drink the milk?

2009-04-22T08:25:00.004-04:00

When you eat a bowl of cereal do you just eat the cereal and leave the milk left at the end - or do you drink the milk?

Well, David drinks the milk - in fact, he drinks it before he eats the cereal. I'm lucky if I can get him to eat a few bites of the cereal. The milk is his favorite part. So your thinking, just give the guy a glass of milk and skip the cereal, well I've tried that. He won't drink a regular glass of milk - but with a bowl of cereal, oh, yeah! Yum! I filled this bowl up three times! And yes, there was cereal left at the end. Darn.

First Smile

2009-04-21T14:48:00.005-04:00

Is there anything more precious than a baby's first smile? Here's a few of Rebekah's. Isn't she sweet?

Rebekah Michele

2009-03-27T08:11:00.006-04:00

We'd like to introduce our newest family member . . .

Rebekah Michele. Born on January 21 at 8:31pm. She weighed 5 lb. 13 oz. and was 18 inches long.

Her Story . . .

She was in a big hurry to get here. I was very surprised to find out I was pregnant again last July, a month after weaning David. Then a month after that I thought for sure I'd had a miscarriage only to go to the Dr. and find - Surprise!- that she was doing just fine (Yay!), I'd just had 'a bleed' which I'm still not sure I fully understand. They put me on strict bed rest for a week and then after another check was allowed back to my regular motherly duties and told all should be fine. I had sonograms at every checkup so they could monitor 'the bleed' - the leftover blood clot at the bottom of my uterus. All the while she continued to grow and develop, heathly and complete. Finally at the beginning of January the sonogram showed the bleed had finally gone away. Yay! Well then in mid January my water broke and she surpised us again by being born 5 1/2 weeks early! The day before Melissa's 7th birthday! Because she was so early she was immediately taken up to the NICU for all kinds of monitoring. She did very well, and was finally able to come home on Feb. 1. She's our Surprise! baby and we're very glad to have her. We can't wait to see what the Lord has in store for her.

Let's Get Started!

2009-03-20T09:39:00.000-04:00

For over a year now I've enjoyed reading friends and family's blogs, but couldn't imagine I'd ever be good at keeping up with it - and I probably won't be, at least at times - but I keep thinking what a great way to keep a family journal. I can see my precious children growing up so fast and its hard to remember all the cute things they say and do. I also hope that this will be a nice way for especially for our Mom's and Dad's to feel not so far away as our children grow up. For those of you with blogs you've shared with us I can't tell you how much I've enjoyed them. It's been such a fun little window into you're lives. I've loved seeing you're accomplishments, seeing your pictures and enjoyed laughing at your funny stories. I hope you'll enjoy ours! Here goes . . .