Poll

We love the Steelers! They're awesome. And they've gone to two Super Bowls since I've really been paying attention!

Dad especially likes the Steelers! Going WAAAAAAY back... when he was little, he liked the Steelers because his brother, Dave, liked the Cowboys,(I think). So when he married Mom, he watched the games and she became a fan as well. And as they've had kids, they have taught them to stand up for the Steelers as well! :) So now we are a Steeler family. We are now trying to turn people away from the Lions!

The boys and Mom got Steeler shirts, but Mom gave me hers. Dad got a jersey for last Christmas, I believe. A number 7, ROETHLISBERGER, (he's the quarter back), jersey!

So those of you who voted Roethlisberger, (including my mom), GOOD JOB!

Happy Halloween!

We are leaving soon!

Dad just called about pumpkin picking. Yes, we haven't gotten pumpkins yet. If you're surprised, you don't know us well. We are ALWAYS late! Pumpkins late, Christmas tree up late, everything.

We are going to go to Gene's. He apparently has some huge ones. But we have to do it in the RAIN! Lucas wants a huge pumpkin. I'm going for tall and small to medium. And of course the little ones will get huge ones and then have us get the goop out. Especially Ethan. He hates how it feels on his hands.

So, off we go. The little ones, (mostly Ethan), are thinking up cool, (ssshhhh, (crazy)) ideas for carving. Lucas probably has another creative design that will take until midnight as it has these last two years!! :) The outcome is awesome, though!

Ethan Wrote a Story today

Ethan grabbed a load of papers and a pencil and began working. We weren't sure what, but we were informed that we were NOT to watch him! Finally, by lunch, we were able to read what he wrote. This is it, without the illustrations, but not corrected in any way!

Because I

Spat a pit

BY Ethan V.h.

I didn't know that my parents were missionaries until I was ten. My mom told me. One day I was outside eating a apple. I accidentally bit into a pit. I spat it out. Next thing I new there was a apple tree right by me! you know that apple trees are grown by pits and take about two months to grow but this one took about two seconds! I was surprised! I bet you would have been to. I ran to tell my mom. She screamed loudly mom", I said you do not have to scream. It was so loud it woke up my baby sister. my mom had to get her. I was happy that the cry was gone. Then my dad came in with a basket of apples. i picked these apples he said. i smiled. sometimes you do not no what will happen next.

THE END

On the back he wrote:

Ethan VanderHart
was born in Detroit.
This is his first
book. He was 7
only! He lives
in Michigan, Kalamazoo

If I had to choose a favorite picture...

This last post's picture would be it! SO adorable!

Ana wanted to be just like Daddy so she put her little hands in her pockets just like Dad!

Isn't she so adorable???

Well, I'm afraid I'm running out of pictures. Eeeeks!

Ana and Dad

Poll

C'mon guys! Go to my poll on the side and guess what number is on Dad's Steeler jersey.

Laugh everyone!

I am pasting on a post from Em Wants More. blogspot. com because it's just funny!

We are so excited to get our babies. And our excitement must be contagious because even our pets are looking forward to the day when we finally bring home our new brother(s) and/or sister(s).

This is Woody. He is our Yellow Lab dog. He is 8 years old and starting to look and act old. He's even starting to do things he'd never do before, (like lie on a couch pillow).

We caught Woody like this one day. What is he doing?

He has volunteered to babysit Miss Bossy's doll for a few minutes while she does something. Miss Bossy set him up with even a carrier. Doesn't he look like the perfect babysitter?!

Well, maybe not. Ouch... that looks painful and the babysitter looks bored.

Boo!

Just to you all..

I was just looking over my comments on my other blog and it IS VERY WEIRD reading comments from people whom I do not know!!!! Freaky! Yet cool. It's nice to know my blog is being read. :)

REALLY OLD PICTURES

I took Woody to the Kalamazoo fair one year. Here I am training him. This is the funny part- We realized we needed pictures of Woody and I training for 4-H and the deadline was coming soon. So Dad and Mom took different pictures of us and then sent me to change my clothes and then took more pictures so that it didn't look like we did it all in one day. :)

Before Ana. Wow. Did that day exist?? Ethan is so cute!

They love their Woody. This was another picture I needed for 4-H

Ethan loves Thomas the train. He had 3 or 4 birthday parties in a row with Thomas as the theme. This is  the first one. See how pretty the cake is? Yeah, that was only for the first. We had to come up with new ideas for cakes every year. Dad and Mom also decided that they were never doing a Thomas cake like that again. Each cm. was a dot of frosting. Yeah. Lot of work. Lot of time.

Us. Ana looks like she's laughing really hard with her hand over her tummy!

Ana. Her face still looks like this. Especially her sweet nose.

Dad with newborn Ana.

Luke's 10th birthday

Ana awake and happy. She was a smilie baby.

Me training Woody and having fun.

I've shown this picture before, but it still is really cute. Ana in the book basket.

Easter out of doors. And, look, there's acually no snow! And Ethan is in a SPRING jacket. ON EASTER! Wow, that was a long time ago.

Lucas is pitching. Luke has done baseball since forever.

I hate to say this, but we have a very limited amount of old pictures. We had an "old", (non digital), camera for a long time so it took a while having to scan in every photo. And I do believe this is the last one, except for one REALLY embarrasing one that I do NOT want to share. Actually two.

Ana picked out her clothes today...

She chose a cream colored shirt with lots of little horses all over it, (psst..she's actually wearing the shirt in the picture on the sidebar). Her pants are light purple with dark and light pink dots.  Aaaaah! Actually it doesn't BOTHER me, it just is extremely funny!!!! :)

Ana does the cutest things. I think I've mentioned how she changes songs. It is really funny hearing her singing  familiar songs with an "Ana" twist. She changes the words! Check out my blogs under the label "Ana" to find more silly stories, but especially the post, "Ana is adorable" as it gives many examples on how Ana changes songs!!

She also loves to rhyme, but she is a little confused on what it means, we found. When Lucas copies everything she says she complains to mom on how he is rhyming her!!

She is learning to read. And she loves it. But she can't read unless someone gives her a hint. :)

Just realized this...

Hey, it's 71 days 'til Christmas.

Halloween is in 17 days.

And, hey, I just realized something else, 17 and 71 use the same numbers, 1 and 7!

Today is a great day! But my favorite day was September 9.

09-09-09!! OH YEAH! (plus it was 6 days after my 16th birthday :)

Halloween

Our family celebrates Halloween by all the kids under 12 dressing up and trick or treating at friends' houses. Last year for Halloween the three youngest dressed up in homemade costumes. Pictures below.

Lucas designed his own robot. It consisted of boxes, tape, paint, pins, and foil. He taped two boxes together. Wrapped the head with painter's tape, and added foil. Then he painted the bottom and added a treat deposit thingy. He taped a bag within the costume and hooked it so that if you open the handle, you can pour in the candy!
We worked together on E's costume. It too is a box with the flaps stuck through slabs for wings. The "windshield" is carefully cut cardboard with see through wrap to "shield" him from bugs. The front spinner thingy, (can't think what it is called), is cardboard wrapped in foil. Sunglasses and a scarf finishes the airplane.

Ana wore my old flower girl dress which was way too big for her. We added a cheap crown and wand. Mom also did Ana's hair prettily.

As Halloween is coming, Ana and Ethan have been deciding what they will be for Halloween this year. This year we will go to my mom's brother's house and trick or treat with them on their road. We will also have supper with them.

Ana has decided she wants to be a kitty cat. What a surprise. She will probably wear a white sweatsuit outfit with spots. Then we will get her ears and a tail and draw whiskers and a nose on her face.

Ethan cannot decide what he wants to be. A leaf? A cowboy? A knight? A tomato? He has some interesting ideas.

When I was little

Memories. I remember this day really well.

So, I was little. Not sure how young. I wanted to be a shepherd. Or Little Bo Peep. And I wanted sheep. And I had an imagination. A good one, as you'll find out.

I spied the recycling bin. Ah, hah! SHEEP! I ran, grabbed newspapers and threw them into the backyard and the wind. There were a LOT of papers. Then I ran around racing the wind, trying to grab my "sheep" and bring them back home.

Needless to say, when Mom looked outside and saw papers blowing around in her backyard, she was not thrilled like myself and made me put them back in the recycling bin.

So ended my shepherd days.

Back to Summer

Well, I am still mourning for summer, so I will share some more highlights of our summer, only about the little ones. Picnics. We don't have them very often. Our family isn't fond of eating out of doors because of the bugs. I remember when I was little I loved picnics. Except when my napkin, cup, or plate blew away. But we never really had picnics, so I used to like to pretend indoors. Well, when Ana received a picnic basket for Christmas, I remembered how I had felt once upon a time, so twice when I babysat A and E, I packed a surprise lunch in the picnic basket and sent them outside with a blanket and some dolls. Oh, they loved it. The first time I made them a picnic, I also gave them a pitcher of water. I was wise the next time and sent small waterbottles. So here are some pictures of them and their picnics.

They don't know I'm taking their picture.

Ana's actually eating right now. Usually she's busy with her babies or pouring water.

They both love pouring drinks. They also love to pour it back in the pitcher. I don't stop them because I figure that I won't be drinking from that water!!

And he spills all over

Ana has noodles that are about to fall....

(Notice the dolls)! So it was a messy, yet fun day outside during lunch this day. Wow, was it a mess.

Highlights of the 2009 Summer

I'm sitting in the house. My feet are freezing. I'm wearing sweatpants and a sweatshirt, and I'm dreaming of summer. Already. So here are some highlights of our summer this last year.

We climbed the dune behind us. It doesn't look that big. IT WAS. Tiring, yet worth it.

This was the view from the dune. Wow.

We went to the beach during our vacation. That was a whole lot of fun. What are we doing? Burying Ethan is sand. He looked like a sphinx by the end.

We put up a new basketball hoop. This one won't fall over in high winds like our other! Ana likes it on the lowest height.

Bug hunting was the highlight of Ana and Ethan's afternoons. They even found frogs one day. Unfortunately they left one in a metal pan and it fried in the sun.

We got a slip and slide this year. Oh boy was it fun. I was just itching and sweating to go on it with A and E, but I am too heavy. I felt like doing it anyways, though. Ana really liked the slip and slide. She had a little trouble going down, but she got wet!

Look hard at E's face. You may need to click on it to get a larger picture. He was a little shocked by the cold water!! :)

I know it's way too early to be missing summer already, but I'm afraid I am.

I'm still here

Don't give up on me, I will write soon. I want to mess with my background. And then eat lunch! :)