Me and the Girls

Abby loves to take pictures so here are some that she took of me and the girls. (and Eme stood in so Abby could be in one of the pictures also.) You will notice that they have their arm around my neck pretty tight - I'm holding it there b/c they were trying to give me bunny ears!

Silly girls!

One of Daniel's Latest

These pictures were taken at the end of August. They are so cute though. Daniel is pulling himself up now, but the first place he did it was the dishwasher. He liked to rattle the glasses! What a big boy! He went for his 9 mo well visit today. He has yet another ear infection. But other than that, he is doing really well. He is 21 lbs 6.5 ounces. Right now he is trying to get ahold of the computer and blowing raspberries! Stinker!

Garr's Mom

We also received some bad news while we were on vacation. We got home last Friday, unpacked, repacked, and headed out for VA Saturday morning. Garr's mom, Linda, was diagnosed with cancer. We took Daniel and Eme (Liv and Abby stayed home with my parents). Amy and her son, Colton, we already staying at Linda's. Amy has been taking Linda to her appointments and taking care of her. We had a really nice visit. We went to the beach so Eme could swim a little. We visited Linda's church with her - a great experience. And Linda and I spent a day at appoinments. We were also able to meet Amy's fiance, Mike. We had to come home on Tues because Garr had to work Wed and Eme needed to return to school. Here are some pictures from our weekend. We plan to go down as often as we can to help her through chemo.

Emelyn

Linda, Daniel, and Eme
Emelyn
Daniel and Colton - it was so hard to get a picture of the two of them - they move so fast!
Eme and Daniel
Uncle Garr and Cole playing
Ahma and Daniel
Linda and Daniel

Assateague Island

We left for Assateague Island on Sept 4th. We were evacuated on Sept 5th! It ended up being ok though. We went to another campground about 20 minutes away and had full hook-ups, so that made it easier to weather the storm with 4 kids cooped up! On Sunday, the 7th, we went back to Assateague. We spent the week swimming (the kids and Garr love boogie-boarding), having campfires, playing games, doing puzzles, and reading. It was a fun, relaxing week. Unlike other vacations, there was only one trip to the first aid station. You'll see a picture of Liv with a bandage on her forehead - she wasn't happy with me for taking her picture! She walked into the tailgate of the truck - poor thing! The last few days were super windy. Tents were being blown down left and right, including our screen tent. You will notice though, a cup of coffee (less than half full) sitting on the picnic table. In all the wind -that cup never fell over! It stayed right where it was for 3 days! Too strange! Here are some of our many pictures!

Olivia wearing Daddy's sunglasses

Olivia
Emelyn
Our screen tent - toppled by the winds
The amazing coffee cup that never was blown over
(see it sitting on the table in the picture above?)
Checking out the baby pony
Only 2 weeks old
Daniel

Liv and Eme heading back to camp

Daniel and Grandad
Olivia's banged up noggin
Daniel
Garr took the girls ghost crab hunting many nights - this one was as big as Garr's fist
Daniel

Surfer Girls
Daddy's arms
Livy
Danny and Mommy
Where'd Abby go?

The ponies found graham crackers on our table!
And snacks on Daniel's exersaucer!
Big boy shoes!
So cute! Garr and Jess

Abby boogie-boarding

Eme and Daniel playing in the waves
Garr and Daniel
One of the ponies taking a stroll on the beach

Oliva, Abby, Daniel, and Emelyn

Danny's new "cheese smile"
Boys and dirt!
Emelyn
Olivia

Daniel's Latest Accomplishments

Daniel is growing way too fast for me! He just turned 9 months. He is cutting his 7th tooth - finally. He has the 4 bottom center teeth, but on the top, he has the left center tooth and then the one to the left of that. So in other words - he looks like a Snaggletooth! :] The other top center tooth is finally trying to come through.

He still army crawls like crazy. He can crawl on all fours, but he will only do that if the ground is hurting (or scratching) his stomach. He is starting to pull himself up to a kneeling and then a standing position. I've had a couple strokes watching him, but he thinks it's great! He just gives me the cheesiest smiles! He also likes to climb over the rungs of the dining room chairs, but then he gets stuck! I have a picture of it on here. =]

He has reached the point where he is too big for his baby bath and too little for the big tub. So we gave him his first sink bath tonight. (unfortunately I didn't have my camera handy) We gave him the bath right after dinner, so we were rinsing dishes in the sink next to him. He reached back and was fiddling with the handles and before we knew it, he grabbed the sprayer and soaked my mom! It was SO funny! I was laughing so hard, I couldn't figure out what to do to make the water stop. We laughed so hard.

After that, Daniel kept turning the faucet on (the cold water) and sticking his hand into the stream. He was so fascinated with the fact that every time he turned that handle, the water would come out. It was adorable.

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Good-bye Racy

The girls went outside to play last night and came screaming back inside. Racy had died. We keep Racy (Eme's bunny) in a fenced pen with a ramp going up to his cage. We keep his door to the cage open all the time, but it looks like it came unhooked and was closed. We aren't completely sure what happened, but it looks like Racy may have run up his ramp and into the door, breaking his neck.

We all feel so bad. Racy was such a sweet bunny. Abby cried the hardest - she has such a tender heart. Eme was upset, but handled it very well. Livy mostly just cried because her sister's were. Garr had to work late last night because of a last minute drug arrest. By the time he got home, it was time for bed. He took Eme out and they buried Racy together. Eme was very concerned with how we were going to dispose of the body - she didn't want us to cremate Racy or throw him in the trash. I assured her we wouldn't. I was afraid the burial would be too hard on Abby though, so I kept her and Olivia inside.

Once Eme and Garr came back inside, Abby asked if we could pray for Racy. Garr made it clear to me that he had already told Eme that Racy had gone to heaven. So then I explained to the girls that animals don't have spirits that can choose to love God or not, like humans, so they automatically go to heaven. I figure if God gave us animals to enjoy on earth, it makes perfect sense that there will be animals in heaven too. I assured Abby we didn't need to pray for Racy, he was already in heaven and not in pain. Garr did pray though, and thanked God for our time with Racy. I thought it was sweet how he mentioned that Racy was already in heaven playing with Jesus.

I was surprised that there were no tears as the girls headed to bed. Abby will usually cry for quite awhile in bed after something like this. She and Olivia slept in Grandma and Grandad's bed (they are camping) and Abby read stories to Olivia until she fell asleep. (too sweet!)

This morning, Eme has commented that it is hard for her to believe that Racy is gone. I agree with her. We will all miss our sweet bunny.