Nick turned 9... My baby is getting older..

Nick's birthday seemed to last days.. First we had the day of his birthday with just his family, then he had some friends over for a small party to play Wii and then he asked to spend the night, and go swimming at the AmericInn..

Josh Leslie at Nick's party... they played Skylander on the Wiil
Nick opening one of his gifts...

When Nick woke up, I had plastered notes all over the rooms, tons of notes saying happy birthday, happy 9th, we love you.. etc...He smiled when he saw them all..It took me forever to make that many notes, but worth it..

Nick at the AmericInn.. He always makes things so fun and interesting.

Nana and Papa came over to help celebrate his birthday at the hotel..

Dude ..You hear what I hear.!!!

I convinced the boys to be in the play for Christmas this year.. Actually it was a whole family affair. Josh played a bumbling deputy Andrews with Jeremy Misener who is his Youth pastor. Nick and Zack sang along with mommy in the choir and Chris ran the lights for the stage. Guess our family was needed this year...

Josh and Jeremy about to bust open the door to Mondo Mart in the play.
Rehearsal night...

The cast of the play.

Nick and Zack are in the back rown.

Zack turned 11....!!!! WOW...

Zack had a X-Box 360 party for his 11th Birthday....Mom made or tried and attempted to make a fondant X-Box cake....

Zack and Joshua Leslie at his party.

Having Cake....black frosting made for some very green teeth...

Vitaly Brown at Zack's Birthday...

The boys found Chris' old army gear and boy do they look like their daddy even more..

The Cake I attempted to make. Black is probably the hardest color, I think to used and the whole cake was black...

Good Morning Mr. 11 year old...

When the Dustin's were here, Nana had a cake made for all the birthdays kids around the November/December time. That included Hannah, Nick and Zack...Very clever cake, half flower and half penguin...

Our Fall trip to the Inlaws.....

Here Josh was desperate to watch his "Own" movie and so he was having a hard time hearing over his "brothers'" movie, so we suggested he wrap a shirt around his ears to muffle out the boys, he did it and I snapped a picture before he felt dumb and said. "I'm not wearing this, I look stupid, someone may see me. Yeah Josh here in Iowa farmland, who knows who you will run into!"

Mama looking her beautiful self....ninety five years old here. I hope I look that good at 70..

Zack and Nick climbing a tree their daddy used to climb. Zack looks so handsome with his military crew cut that was Mommy's mistake...

Here we are on the patio enjoying the sun .

Zack, Josh, Boone, Brody and Nick playing at a park nearby where Chris grew up playing. Within walking distance of his house by the shores of the "Mighty Lake Vermillion"

Sharon (grammie's) fat cab Abbey...

Chris' sister Libbie Cline and Josh on the lake.

Along time ago, Mama and her husband owned a flower shop. Later they named the building after them. Here is the sign still hanging in Danville, Ill.

The clan again. Libbie's boys kind of out grew ours, even though they are all around the same age.

Pumpkins and More....

Here We Go.. A little late posting, but today is Nick's Birthday. He wanted to play his new Wii Game and so that gave me some spare time to sneak in here and catch up on some posts. Be prepared...

Nick is painting his Angry Bird here. He worked so hard on that pumpkin. All the boys won first place this year. They were thrilled. I think we all did an awesome job, including daddy...

Chris did the Walmart Rollback Guy again this year.. He was determined to enter him every year until he won.. This year he added the cowboy hat and he won first place...He even beat my "pumpkin patch" pumpkin next to him, which I will continue to enter until I win first =)

Look at his adorable Angry Bird....

This is Domo and if you don't know who he is, then you will not appreciate how good and exact of a job Zack did on his pumpkin.

Josh's Viking Dude. this was really cool and won first place, although with how bad the Vikings are playing, he should have lost just for that reason, but being the loyal fans and not fair weathered fans like us, they cheered big time for this pumpkin...

An alien with a purple cast.. huh....

Harvest Party at Oakridge community Church.. Josh and Nick were Roman soldiers and Zack an alien.. He has to always be different, which is what we love about him..

Zack and some of his friends from our Faith Coop we attend.

Nick and Sophia Leslie playing a game.

I made a huge banner that said, Jesus is Lord of the Harvest.

We just got back from Trick or Treating after the harvest party.. Great time to go, everyone is ditching the last of their candy. the boys made out....Thanks for reading this post...

Vacation with the Bodines !!!!

Heading to Poquot Lakes, a little slice of Heaven on Earth... What a great time we had all being together.. "My boys" got to know "their girls" quite well. They really enjoyed that... They also got to revisit with Rebecca and reminisce of old times..

Here the boys are watching movies to make the trip go by faster, food and movies always seem to work and makes it easier for mom and dad too...



Here is the house John rented, we had a cottage out back that we shared with my mom and dad..

Here is what Uncle Ed, Josh and the gang caught the fist morning.

Relaxing while Ed cooks and the kids play down on the beach.

John is getting to cuddle one of his girls.. They don't get much daddy time once they get back, so they ate up every minute of his attention..

Papa and others relaxing on the porch that overlooks the water.

Everyone loved Laura, she certainly didn't lack affection that week. She not only had her own sisters smothering her, they got the boys in on it.
Nick too was smothered by the girls, the two cutie patuties.

Papa playing some games with the kids in the four season porch off the main living area.

This is our cottage out back. sorry it's a crooked picture. I don't know how to rotate it.

Everyone is relaxing in the hot tub or finding some activity to do.

Rachel looks absolutely beautiful by that big hanging basket of flowers.

Die hards, the ones who would get up early just to fish.

Josh was in heaven fishing. He had ample opportunities to water ski or tube, but instead he just wanted to fish and it paid off, he caught some big northerners and some great bass . We got to eat what he caught and it was delicious. Uncle Eddie was kind enough to fillet the fish and cook them up for Josh.. Thank you Ed...

In his glory...

When we went to the Mall of America, John "HAD" to have this outfit from Tommy Bahamas, we must agree he pulls the look off (of a cigar dealer) just kidding..

We went out to Whitebirch for dinner. Jenny, Melissa and Josh waiting for their food. Their two of the older nieces..

Voila! The food is here. It was yummy food.Great atmosphere.

Nick and Rebecca drawing something. Leave it to the girls to get Nick into drawing cute dogs or something...

Not sure if she is actually driving or just sitting in the seat looking cool .
Can't see mom driving, but you never know !!!

Josh holding (I mean loving) up Laura .....She got to his sweet side..

Lisa and Ben.. He seemed to enjoy the rides..

Josh took right to water skiing and got up fairly easy. He enjoyed it alot, but was sore the next day.. Even the tubing wore them out..

They loved playing on the beach from sun up to sun down.. They were pretty pooped kids at the end of the day.

Cheers!!! Uncle Eddie made them orange slushies from the built in slushy machine in the house.

The view from the back porch.

It was great to get some love and cuddles from Tommy again.. I miss that little guy.

Ben was so cute, but Lisa sure has a handful. Grace to you Lisa..

Silly Kids and Silly grandparents..

It was Jessica's birthday while we were there.

Some of the older girls , Lisa and I went into town at Fun Sisters to get some presents for Jessica. It was definitely a "Fun" shop..Girls accessories galore..

JJust our family. I didn't realize how short I am until your budged between these huge brothers.

Ed found a bat under his computer case, gotta love those Northwoods, right Liz.

Nick in Ashland, MN on Lake Superior. It is so majestic there. I just love the great lakes.

Zack in the water, of course he couldn't stay dry, he is about to slip in..

Paul Bunyan restaurant, it was strange to be eating at a restaurant that I grew up going to as a little kid, and now with my little kids.. The food was just as good, the big elephant ears were just like I remembered them..

We went on to spend one more night with just Ed at Minocqua and then headed over to Watersmeet, MI and then to Rhinelander, WI, where my dad retired from the Forest Service..

Josh loves horseback riding. He has done it several times and always jumps at an opportunity to ride..

THIS WAS NICK'S FIRST TIME ON A HORSE, OTHER THAN BEING PULLED ON A PONY..He was so excited and really enjoyed the half hour ride, but when he got down he said, "I was hoping we were going to ride them, what? You just did honey.. No I mean ride, like let them run or something." he has no fear..

The was mom and dad's house in Rhinelander, Wisconsin. It looks nothing like it did when they owned it. They really added on alot..

This was the house I lived in during my high school years. It was abandoned and run down. It made me very sad to think that it was just left there and no one living in it. The forest service moved their buildings and so they just left the houses to just rot. very depressing.