A Papa and His Grandbabies

Clara giving Papa a kiss.

The love between a parent and a child is pretty amazing, however, the love between a grandparent and a child is powerful. They love each other unconditionally, they spoil each other without a second thought and they cry uncontrollably when it's time to part. These are some candid pics I took of Papa Bill and his seven grandchildren during our reunion this week.

The littlest one, Heidi and her Papa.


Papa and his Paislee Bear
I think Will and Papa were having an anatomy lesson on eyes and glasses.

Kaylynn smiling pretty with her Papa.

Ella and Papa having a chat.

Grant leaning in to be close to a man he loves!

We all love you Papa!

Written in Sparklers!

Fourth of July this year was great, very laid back and easy going, just what I needed. We had a family BBQ at Jake's parents home with Mike and Grandma Mitchell as well. Grant is preparing to be a Boy Scout at the early age of 21 months as he was helping push Grandma through the living room.
Paislee loves the fireworks, posing with her sparkler.

Jake had an announcement to make: as he wrote out the letters in sparklers he said the letters out loud for everyone to hear...

B R I T A N I E

I S

P R E G A N T

No, that is not a typo, he actually spelled it that way on accident, it took a second for the adults to catch on, but when they did, well you can see the reaction below.

Pregnant isn't in Paislee or Ella's vocabulary yet, they sat there totally confused until we told them that we were going to have a baby, I think it's safe to say they were excited!

So, sometime in March 2010 we will be welcoming the fourth and final baby into our home!

Swimming Lessons 2009

From the girls stand point swimming lessons went better this year than last year. Ella has conquered her fear of the water and is not dramatic about it at all. Instead she is face down bum up swimming like a little fish, even while the teachers are trying to teach. The picture above is of Paislee diving (you couldn't have paid me to do that at her age, I was such a chicken) but she willingly dove in every time they asked her to.
Last year Ella had to be dropped off the diving board by the instructors as she screamed bloody murder, this year she voluntarily went first and right in.
Now the little red head in this picture was the turkey of Swimming Lessons '09. I got a workout for an hour every day in the hot sun as I wrestled, entertained, fed and chased that kid. He made the other moms laugh and had a few of the other waiting kids helping me sing to him to keep him occupied (you know I was desperate if I was singing out loud in public). On a more positive note, one of the instructors said she couldn't wait to have him in class because she could tell he already liked the water.
Ella's back float.
Ella's super man float, solo!

We love swimming lessons, Ella is already asking when she can go again!

Lucky Peak Fun

In Adoration

I love how our kids love to copy their Dad. From driving the car to a project in the garage they mimic him as best they can.
Even Ella isn't afraid to get her hands a little dirty if it means spending time working on something with her Daddy.

Grant is fascinated by pretty much everything these days but the drill held his attention for a lot longer than most things. I hope he gets the handyman talent that his Dad and his Grandpa Bret have. It's nice to have the ability to do something yourself and see the results of your labor. It's also fun to see a cute little red head squatting down with a drill almost too big for him to heft around with the determination to do it just like Daddy.