Fireman Sam's (Joshua's) Morning at the Station

Joshua (Fireman Sam) woke up, got dressed in his "fire clothes", and rode with me to take the kids to school.  On the way home we saw the that the fire trucks were out at the station, so we stopped by for a visit.  We didn't know if they would let us in without an appointment, but they did.  The firefighters saw Joshua in all dressed for work and let him come in.  They were so impressed with him that they let him use the hose, turn on the siren and pretend to drive the fire truck.  Here are the pictures.  Joshua was so happy  - to say the least!  The firefighters invited him to come back any time, as many times as he wants.  Be sure to check out the video clip at the bottom!

San Francisco in the Summer

Here are some pictures from our trip to San Francisco with Suzanne, Liz, and David.  I meant to post them a while back, but I guess I forgot.

We had a fun time.  One of the places we visited was a submarine called the USS Pompanito.  We toured the ship and met some of the guys who were on the submarine during the war.  One of them was from another ship just like the Pompanito.  We all were amazed at the small quarters, and marveled at the thought of being on a ship, under water for months at a time.  You have to be brave, for sure!

Malinda, Eve, and Joshua next to an anchor.

Here are Suzanne, Joshua, Liz, David, Malinda and Eve on the ship.

Nathan's Hair Cut

Nathan with his new hair style.

"The Joys of Life"

Joshua wanted to make the Jaws of Life that the firefighters use.  Once again the No Ends allowed us to accomplish this task.  He calls the "Jaws of Life" the "Joys of Life."  I think he is so happy to be a firefighter and the jaws of life rescue people so that's happy, therefore he hears "joys" instead of "jaws".  Here he is cutting the couch.

Leah's Surgery

Okay, I've just posted 3 blogs tonight, so even if you've read recently you'll want to scroll down and read the other two posts.  

Leah had her first of two surgeries today.  Here she is just after we arrived home.  She was a trooper about it all.  The surgery went well, and Leah is doing well.   She is not in pain - thanks to the great medicine that she is on.

The surgeries are to correct an extremely high arch that has caused Leah to walk on the outside edge of her foot.  That has caused alignment problems which resulted in pain in her ankles and knees.  

We are so grateful for the advances in medicine that allow these things to be fixed.  We are grateful to the medical professionals that have studied and worked to provide such important services to each one of us.

We hope you feel better soon, Leah!

The Helicopter

  We have these toys called No Ends.  Joshua wanted to make a helicopter.  He always wants to make something.  Sometimes it's a helicopter, sometimes it's a fire truck, and sometimes it's a school bus.  We all have fun making things with the No Ends and trying to make them better than the last.  Eve says, "No Ends Rock!"  

Here is Joshua doing "construction" on the helicopter we made.  What that meant was that he put the pencil behind his ear, looked over the chopper, and then marked it where he thought something should be adjusted.  I thought it was so cute that I took this picture.  I did have to tell him not to mark them up anymore.

Finally, it was ready to fly.

Coming in for a landing.  Great flight!

Nathan's 15th Birthday

For nearly a year, Nathan has been wanting this guitar.  He decided that if we combined birthday and christmas with money from both sides of the family, that he could get this guitar.  

He thought he was going to have to do some jobs around the house, including bricking in part of the side yard.  Nathan has been so dedicated to learning the guitar, and practicing it, that we got it for him without him having to do those jobs.  He was completely surprised!  He didn't expect it at all.

It's great to see our children work on something they love!