More grandchildren photos...

Well, here we are attempting a photo of Walter and me with our 8 precious grandchildren. It's not quite as funny as the last picture with the 7 when most of them were not cooperating and we just sat down fast and took three pictures. This was the best one. I think I'll try lollypops as bribes next time. The children who cooperate get a lollypop. Hm... maybe not such a good idea. Lots of tears with those who don't get that lollypop... I've have to think of something else...

Taking another good look at Tobias. We just love him to pieces already.

Sean Patrick wasn't so sure what the deal was here - Hannah decided to sit down back to back with him.

A view of some of the backyard fun at John & Sara's.

Aunt Martha visits with Sara and Tobias.

The grandma's hover over Tobias and his mommy.

The grand-daughters were the only ones really interested in baby Tobias. Brooklyn was old enough to really hold him (though there is an adult arm in there) and Hannah also loved to hold and touch him. The boys... well, not so much...

On Saturday evening we were outside at John & Sara's and we set Sean Patrick in this basket. He seemed to like it.

Preston and Daddy try to make faces for grandma's camera.

Preston decided that if that basket was good for Sean Patrick, it might be good for him as well.

Hannah thought she should join Preston then, but he wasn't impressed with that AT ALL.

Brooklyn and Timothy get ready to chow down.

Sean Patrick and Josiah are 3 months apart and are now getting closer in size. I was trying to get them to look at the camera at the same time but I had to take two - here is Sean Patrick looking at grandma and...
here is Josiah looking at grandma.

Another cute Josiah photo. He is so photogenic!

Hannah is pretty used to the camera as well. I asked her for a smile and she quickly turned to coooperate. Cute.

Baptism day for Tobias

Yesterday little Tobias Henry was brought to the Lord in baptism. It was a wonderful day for a special event. Tobias was a perfect little fella all day! Isn't this a nice family photo?

He wore the baptismal outfit that his Daddy wore in 1975. It was purchased by my Great Aunt Helen, who would be Tobias' great great Aunt. If she knew, she would be very pleased.

Here are the very proud Grandparents, Sara's folks. Tobias Henry is their first grandchild.

And, although Tobias is our 8th grandchild, he is as special as every one that has proceeded him!

At the end of a long day Tobias slept peacefully in my arms. What could be better?

Getting bigger every day

Sean Patrick came for a visit last evening, along with his family. He is lots of fun, such a happy fellow and growing so much. He sits up and plays with the toys around him - and he got his first tooth yesterday. (I didn't get a picture of it though!) He's starting to get up on all fours so watch out Mommy & Daddy!

I just love his strawberry blond hair and those big blue eyes. His Irish name fits him to a "t", doesn't it?

8 in '08

Got to update some things now that there are 8 grandchildren... such as the grandchild wall photo...

And my birthstone booties necklace!

Looking at Daddy...

Tobias is very intent on looking at his daddy. He was less than an hour old here, I think. Don't you think he looks very intelligent? I mean, I'm not biased or anything, but he sure seems brilliant already...

Precious Tobias Henry!

Hello folks. I'm pretty sure most of you have been following John & Sara's blog about the birth of little Tobias Henry Berge. Wally and I were in the cities so we weren't blogging - though I have to send out big thanks to my sister, who called me on my cell phone and read me every new post John wrote! Wally and I had cell phone contact with John while Sara was in labor and then we came to the hospital about 7 p.m., along with Sara's parents, John & Beverly. The four of us excited grandparents sat in the waiting room until John text-messaged the wonderful words "baby!" to us shortly after Tobias was born. How exciting!!! We got to go into their room after a bit and meet our grandson. It was fabulous.

I thought this picture of Sara's mom taking the picture of the proud parents was cute.

And these faces say it all. How about that proud papa?

Sara's parents are grandparents for the first time with the birth of Tobias Henry. Here are the new grandparents looking at their grandson!!

Tobias is the name of John's paternal grandfather (Wally's dad) and Henry is the name of Sara's paternal grandfather (her father John's dad). He has a lot to live up to in that name! Not to mention that Henry is Sara's dad's middle name and, something they didn't know when they chose the name, also the middle name of both of my grandfathers.

What a happy moment. Tobias is just wonderful!

No news yet

No news on the baby yet. Yesterday was the due date but babies don't know that, do they? Early, late...

I am going to be off-line now as I am taking my computer in for a repair to the fan. You will have to check on my link to John & Sara's blog for any baby news. It can't be long!

I have been waiting for this to say "0 days" and today it is finally "40 weeks and 0 days" of the pregnancy of Sara and John!! Yippee! This baby, when it finally chooses to be born, will be our 8th grandchild and it feels as exciting as the first one. We can hardly wait for the call!

Now you might be wondering about why the baby will be named Bison. Well, John has a sort of quirky sense of humor and first (months ago) he wrote the baby's name as "Ham" - yes, a nice Biblical name. But the point was to say it with "Berge" - you know, Ham Berge. (Hamburger - get it?) So during the pregnancy the baby's name changed and reflected many kinds of "burgers" - like Cheese Berge, Buffalo Berge/burger, etc. Hence, the present name at 40 weeks - Bison Berge. Okay, little Bison, Grandma & Grandpa really want to see you! Hurry up! (No, I don't really think they will call the baby Bison...)

Baby?

Yes, this is a baby, but not John & Sara's baby - not yet!! This precious little fellow, Isaiah William, was born on Monday to my dear friends Christine and Dan. I had the fun of being their wedding coordinator exactly two years ago! So now their son shares their anniversary. How special is that? Little Isaiah was due the day after Sara & John's baby but he came a week prior to his due date. I am still anxiously awaiting the phone call to let us know it's time for Sara and John!!

Christine and Isaiah. She is going to be a great mom! (And Dan is definitely going to be a great Daddy too - he was busy folding little baby clothes when I stopped by. How cool is that?)

Raising their voices in song

Brooklyn attended a wonderful Vacation Bible School at a local church. As you can see there were many children up front for the closing program. They sure do a great job with this VBS!

Here is Brooklyn in the white shirt standing next to her friend Nevaeh (in the red) singing.

Sean Patrick didn't seem to be too impressed but he was pretty good being held by momma.

Preston was pretty good through most of the program, mostly sitting with "bumpa". He chatters up a storm, talking and telling us everything he wants. He's very verbal and most of the time we can understand what he is saying too. He seems too young to be talking to us like this!

North to the future...

The state motto of Alaska is "North to the Future" - and in our immediate future (late July) is a trip to the "Last Frontier" - which is the state nickname.

We will be taking a cruise north and then an extended land tour.

We are traveling with 4 other couples; some of us are from town here so we had a planning meal together to discuss our travel hopes and dreams!

Hopefully we will figure out all the details... what to pack, what NOT to pack..., just what is "smart casual" anyway? (The dress code on the ship for meals is either "formal" or "smart casual"...) ... ah... north to the future!

Waiting for the call...

I'm waiting for the call that will tell me that Sara is in labor. We are a week away from due date... but you never know! Every time the phone rings now, I jump!

Time for them to go...

Perhaps we should have been more diligent and trimmed these bushes when we planted them ... maybe 20 years ago? At any rate, we obviously did NOT trim them and they have grown up to become HUGE ... and, though they afforded nice privacy, we also deemed them a bit of a hazard as they totally blocked the view of the road from the driveway. So, dear hubby went to work with the chainsaw and this is the result... (this view is from standing in our driveway looking towards the road..)


There's a house across the street! who knew?

And this was the view the neighbors had of our home....

and now this is what they see!

Aren't those stumps pretty? Perhaps I should spray paint them a nice color.... or perhaps string some christmas lights on them? (just joking, they will be coming out too...)

And now when you turn into our driveway you see the flowers along the driveway and our little fenced-in garden. (and, oh yes, the old water heater that just got replaced this week...)

Daddy's boy

This is just one of my favorite pictures of Daniel & little Preston.

Here we were in our Old Navy shirts following the town parade. We just need to add John, Sara and baby ... their little "firecracker" is due pretty soon(11 days) ! Everytime the telephone rings I think "Oh, this could be THE call...."

A little front lawn picnic

Since we had some family in town, we took time for a little cook-out. The weather was lovely and the bugs have not taken over yet, so we gathered outside to eat and visit. The children were happy playing at the little sandbox and played so well together. It was fun to watch them.

We bought a new picnic table so we can eat outside often.

I just love this little sandbox and umbrella. It is designed for one side of the sandbox to hold water but it is much smarter to just do all sand (or all water, if you want.) When I first did water and sand, it was really a happy mess.

Sons, do you recognize some of these playmobile toys?

Don't you love Hannah's beads?