Roar!!

Josh has a hand me down costume, I think it's a dragon from a disney movie, but not completely sure...  He was wearing it today and running around roaring and wrestling with Anna.  She thought it was the funniest thing ever and was giggling hysterically! 

tomatoes!!!

We went to visit my parents this weekend and their neighbors were out of town and left my parents to tend to their garden.  They told us to pick whatever was ripe so it didn't go bad.  We ended up with about 2 bushels of tomatoes!!  


We got home Monday evening, unloaded the car, then went to work getting them cleaned and processed because we knew they wouldn't last long. 


We set up an assembly line to keep the kids involved.  I put them in the sink, Josh moved them to the other side and Mike dried.

 Anna was in charge of quality control

 Gayle had a couple of really big ones in his garden

 Still checking to make sure they're good

Josh helped Mike run them through the processor

So glad this is the first time she's worn this shirt....

 

There was a pile of seeds and juice all over the stool and the floor.

My favorite part is that Mike has adapted his drill press to run the hand crank processor.  It works great for big projects like this :)

 

All juiced and in the pots before 10 pm!  

cousins

Josh and Anna watching Christian play a computer game

Christian playing with the babies

It's impossible to get 4 kids smiling and looking the same direction at one time, lol!

zoo trip

Took the kids to the zoo with aunt Megan, uncle Joe, Christian and Jackson when they came to visit this week. The kids had lots of fun running around and we got to see the new baby giraffe and the baby elephant!

petting the "kitty" 

watching the baby elephant

 

Happy birthday Anna!

Here are some pictures from Anna's birthday


She got a box in the mail from nana Cook and was perfectly happy with just the box, didn't care what was inside :)

 opening the present from mommy and daddy  (just clothes I made her)

 From nana and papa Cook, handmade Amish doll and bonnet

 and of course Josh had to try it on!

 she loved the bag that the doll came in.  we had to keep taking it away so she would open something else

 opening a tea set from nana and papa Cook

 there's the bag again!

mushing up her birthday cake.  She really wasn't interested in eating it at all.  She had a few bites while I was making it, but didn't' want any now....

We didn't get a picture before we cut the cake, so here it is with a few pieces missing....  I was going to make cupcakes but Josh cried because he wanted to make her a banana shaped cake (Anna Banana).  So I made 2 rounds, cut out a banana from one, cut the other in 1/2 and stacked it.  

 modeling the dress Aunt Vicky sent

 

 Playing with her tea set last night.  First, she dumped it all out...

Then she had to investigate it.  She was determined that the saucer should fit on top of the cup and tried for the longest time to get it to work.  It was so cute!

And of course, climbing IN the box...