August 9th thru August 15th, 2011

Grandma came to visit and brought my little brother Ben along.

The Boys of course absolutely adore my Mom!!!

This is Ben, my "not so little brother" anymore.  He is 6 foot 5 inches and only 16 years old.   We are 15 years apart in age.  When I left for Ricks College he was just 3 years old.  He is still that little baby to me.  I have know idea how he has grown up so fast.  When John and I got married, he had just turned 9 years old.  Just as Ben has grown up way too quickly, I know my boys will too.  It makes me sad to think that it is such a short time that they are young.  I hope that I can enjoy every moment.

My Fondest Memory of Ben

It was hard for me to leave for college since Ben was just a baby and my other little brother was 7 years old.  I felt like I was going to miss out on so much.  Everyday, I could count on a phone call from Ben.  Yes, he had my phone number memorized at the age of 3.  He would call multiple times a day until I was actually at my apartment to take his phone call.  My roommates thought it was so cute.  He would always say the say same things in his cute little voice.  "Hi Mawie(Marie)!  I wuv(love) you!  I miss you!  When are you coming home?...  Those phone calls meant the world to me at the time since my first year at college was really rough.  I always looked forward to that short sweet little conversation each day!

Can you tell who the shrimp of the family is?  Yes me!  My mom is 5'9'' or 5'10", my dad 6'1", Ben 6'5", Jonathan is 6' 4", Jacob is 6'2", Daniel is 6'2."  I was 5'4.5" from the time I was 12 years old until I was 29 years old.  Crazy thing is that every time I have been measured here in Indiana it comes out that I'm 5'5.5" or 5'6".  Lately, out of shock, I have the nursing assistants recheck my height at least two times.  Have I grown, are the height measurements different out east, or has pilates and weight training straightened out my spine?  My guess would be the third.

Jacqueline and Gary came to town for a quick morning visit while my mom and brother were in town.  My boys LOVE Jacqueline!!!   

This is typical Josh.  He is always making something out of anything he can find.  He has quite the imagination!!!  What do you think this is?

Nate always has to have Holly and Finn (from "Cars 2") with him.

I cannot help loving this ornery face.

Josh making friends at the neighborhood park.  He just talked and talked non-stop.

Josh playing soccer with his new friends

Notice what's at Nate's feet?  He seems to be dreamily imaging something about Holly and Sally.

 Just had to throw this in here to embarrass John and Ben.  Let's see if they ever notice it in the blog, they might make me remove it.

I think these two look alike.

Ben hasn't changed since he was 3 years old when I left home to college, he's just gotten ginormous!

Just had to throw these in.  This is Nate during nap time.  He always has to have his cars and will play as  long as he can until sleep overtakes him.

I love how he decided to smile for the camera when I was just taking pictures to remember how he was at this age during nap time.