Shall we gather at the river?

Yes, we shall, and we did, for something to do on an empty Saturday. (Thanks for meeting us, Careys! You all - and your raft - made it a LOT more fun!)

Left to right: Gracie with Annika, Gavin, Marcie, Will, Seth, David, Josiah. Isaac is in the far background, far right.

Gavin, Will, Gracie, Marcie manning the oar with Will, Seth, David and Josiah
(Maya and Scott in the background)

Gavin pulling Gracie and Seth, Marcie approaching for a ride
(You can see how shallow the river is - we desperately need rain to fill our empty water tanks!)

Isaac taking a break

Seth was very possessive of the oars (we had to take them out of the water because the kids kept letting them  float downstream).

Will and Seth on top of the rock pile. It's really a great place to play!

Random photos

The view from my parents' bedroom window

Our house as seen from my parents' house

Uncle James and Seth bonding
(Uncle James and Aunt Natalie, though not blood relatives, are part of our family, and the kids adore them.
What's more fun is that James stayed with my parents when he was getting training in Dallas-Fort Worth.)

Catching up #3

Some more older pictures:

Sunday morning with Marcie (The others were in the nursery. She wanted to sit with us.)

Marcie and Seth

Gracie and Mom on Sunday morning
(I hadn't changed into church clothes yet.)

On the beach in Madang (nearing dusk)

The three boys

Seth

Grandpadad, Grandma and Isaac at breakfast in Madang

Aunt Pam (We miss you!!)

We miss Walter!! (and the rest!)

Walter reading some of the favorite books from his own childhood to Gracie and Seth (our two biggest readers still)

I can't tell you how much I miss the Weavers and McEvoys for the kids' Monday and Friday playdates, respectively. Those special times made our kids so HAPPY and enriched their toddler experience with crafts, songs, new toys, different people and books, a variety of outside playthings, etc. I still try to sing to and read to them, but I am in no way a crafty person. Paint-with-water is probably as daring as I'll be for a while yet. (A few of them still eat crayons unless watched constantly.)

Now David has replaced Seth on the couch (all the kids enjoy books - including Berenstain Bears, as I did!) 

The Weavers gave us all their Five Little Monkey books as a farewell! What fun for our five little monkeys!

David playing peekaboo with a fun hat

Will approaches. What's going on?

Will is very interested in this new game

Enjoying David's "surprise" appearance. When Will is in a good mood he's such a jolly fellow! David is very playful, and most often the one engaged in crazy games with Isaac. He loves to be chased, saying "Get me!" and either running or just lying on the ground to be tickled and wrestled.

Catching up, part 2

Star Wars fans will understand why I think these photos make our darling kids look like Storm Troopers. That helmet (Gavin's) is HUGE!! We still need to get shots of Will and David in them. We have one of Isaac at their age, but it will take me a while to track that photo down.

Marcie at the helm with Seth behind

Seth's turn, with Marcie's darling profile (reminds me of an ultrasound)

Gracie (I think the helmet weighs nearly as much as she does)

The girls love to hug

Marcie enjoying her new Princess plate with cereal on it. Why she's on the floor, I don't know.

My daughter, the princess. With the dog's water bowl on her head. Dunno why. Again.

Our handsome David happy with his new little bike and his Grandma. The roof of the house my folks have been staying in is visible in the background, right.

A Lomalinda reunion (the town we grew up in): Joneses (elder and younger), Metzgers (younger), Petersons, Wulffs, Stewarts (younger Wulffs), Hansens, and Brewers (younger). Our rad green shirts say "Keep Calm and Hover On," but those were only for the Jones/Peterson clan. My dad designed them. :) The quints are extra cute in their tiny ones, but we lost the SD card from the camera that had those photos on it! Thankfully the elder Joneses also have some photos on their camera. Stay tuned.

Catching up

The days are flying by! I can't believe it's been more than a week since I last posted. I have tons of photos to share from Aunt Pam, Mom and Dad, so I'll need to do several blogs in the next few days if possible. Life with Mom and Dad here is fun and busy (we need to maximize our time!). Every one of us is loving it. :)

On our one date in Madang (the coastal town)

The road from Madang. It's steeper than it looks! Our parents and Aunt Pam are intrepid pioneer missionaries. ;)

 Sweet, sweet Seth! (New wallpaper, Lyneé?)

Seth and Will enjoying the swing platform

 When you are quints there is always room for one more . . .

Hysterical excitement arrival pictures

Marcie just kept screaming with joy
(Gracie hugging Grandpadad)

The three boys and Marcie hugging Grandpadad

Grandpadad with Will, Marcie doing a dance of screaming joy, David standing behind her, Gavin with Seth, Aunt Pam and Isaac off to the left

My mom with Marcie, hugging Jason. Handsome Gavin holding David in the background. 

Grandma greeting handsome Isaac

Fun is exhausting. (Marcie)

Shopping with my girls (on left is Marcie, right is Gracie)

They had to wear the boys' shirts that day. Airplanes are cool!