Our Crystal child

Here is Jayden!He is 11 mo old and A-maz-ing!

Such a pleasant little person.

He loves him mom.

We got him to smile in these pics but mostly he is a deep thinking, thoughtful guy.

Very serious.

He was very sleepy at the beach.

Heather says "That boy has a purpose and he knows it."

The day we met him (last Aug) I said he looked like a grown man I still think so.

I feel like I really got to connect with him on this visit. We spent a lot of time together. I am so glad. Hes a special guy. I cannot wait to see how he develops. I have every intention of spending a lot of time with both Jayden and Javari over the years. I feel sooooo freakin blessed to have them in my life. Elanee and Vayda feel just the same way.

Trevor

This is Angelica's boyfriend, Trevor.
We got to know Trevor over the weekend while he stayed with us.

What a unique and wonderful human being this young man is. I was very impressed with his love for Angelica and the boys and his respect for our family.

Hes a deep thinker, a kind person and a talented artist and musician.

He really enjoyed the nature here and totally got into splitting wood with Jody. :)

It was a true pleasure meeting him and we all look forward to seeing him again soon.

Elanee gets a Tattoo!

Elanee is home from California for a 9 day visit. She got here the day before her 18th B-day.
For the first few days of her visit I had to drag her around to do things like get her teeth cleaned, eye brows waxed, new glasses, shoes, shorts, etc bought.We spent alot of time in the car those first few days. Anyway- I offered a tattoo and she jumped on it. After all she is 18 now! She had to sign her own waver for goodness sake.
She chose this beautiful 9pt star to represent her love of the Baha'i Faith.
Awesome. It turned out beautiful. She loves it.

(Vaydas head nearly exploded when she saw it. She is DYING for a tattoo so I suppose we will be doing this again in March of 2012...lol)

Summer Snow

Look at this!
Maya Rae and I were driving to Ithaca and were shocked to see all this white fluffy stuff.

I think its from the cotton wood trees maybe?

Regardless, its way cool!We just had to stop the car and go touch it.

Very cool!....but not cold....lol.

Hats in the sun

I love gardening.
I love sun warmed strawberries picked from the garden.I love Jody wearing this faded black T-shirt and dirty camo cap.I love working outside with my family!

Summer Splash

We had a series of very hot days here at the bottom of May so Maya and Saige get a bucket of water and cooled off.
It was fun to watch them having fun ;)

Walk in Willard

Jody and I are trying to get back to our commitment to walk every Sunday.
Last week we chose Willard.Maya Rae brought her brand new bike along.It was a pretty day and a good time. Felt very good to get moving formally like that again.

Reading for joy

OMG! Finally! Finally!

I have waited 10 long years for this moment.

Maya Rae is reading voluntarily, for enjoyment.

sigh....finally.

Back to canning

Last year the only thing we canned was grape jelly. The year before we did 700 quarts of this and that. We still have a little of that stuff left over but not much...mostly pickles.

So- the strawberries are in. Here Maya Rae picked a gallon of berries. She washed them, topped the tops and bagged them. Good helper!
Also, our friend Fuad Baha'i who has an apple farm, gave us a bunch of free apples so Maya and I made applesauce. In all we made 16 quarts.

Here are the very first quarts of the year. This year I have the intent to can a ton of stuff. Cannot wait!

Cute clothes

The other day, Maya Rae got ready for the park dressed like this.
I think she looked very 12! Wow- cute.

Outside

Dirt...
goats....laundry on the line....
sunshine....joy.

May Concert

The weekend after Mothers Day Jody had a concert.
The girls and I hadn't made it to a concert this whole year so we made a point to get to this last one.
Jody really likes this stuff. Glad to have gotton some good pics of him on stage