Sarett Nature Center - Benton Harbor

The nature center was a pleasant trip. We saw many things. Here are two beautiful butterflies. A Great Spangled Fritillary and a Black Swallowtail.


Here is a Calico Pennant Dragonfly.


Here is Eli getting Asa. He sure does love his older brother.


I loved that this observation deck was built around the tree rather than the tree being cut down. As well as the only picture that I got of the whole group of us that went out to the nature center.


Here are some of the pretty flowers at the entrance to the trails. This is the second time here because we went around once then went around again taking a different trail when one merged with the main boardwalk path.


Another of Eli and one of Asa. Asa didn't want to really cooperate with getting his picture taken. He is becoming more enamored with the display on the viewing screen. So when I get the camera out he instantly wants to see what is on the view screen and doesn't want to stay long enough to have his picture taken.


Some more pretty flowers. The first is Queen Anne's Lace and the second is Goldenrod with a beetle of some sort.


Finally a Black-Eyed Susan and the back side of the Black Swallowtail Butterfly.

McDonald's in Charlotte

Here are pictures of the boys playing in the McDonald's play place. We stopped in Charlotte for lunch on our way across the state. It is roughly the halfway point between Flint and Saint Joseph. Now I don't typically take my camera with me when going to McDonald's. But since I had it in the car and I noticed that they had a really cool play place so I took it inside. Now Eli didn't actually play in the play place, we just set him at the bottom of the truck part because he looked so cute in the camo shorts outfit. Trisha wanted to try and get pictures of the boys together but Asa wasn't really cooperating, he was more interested in playing.



Asa in the climbing area.

Asa in the toddler area. The final image has a little boy that was there in it, Asa had fun playing with him.

Wow a week and a half since I last posted...

I can't believe that ten days have gone by since I last posted. In that time we have had Skylar and Claudia stay the night. Trisha stayed a week, we went to Saint Joseph for the day and brought Miranda back with us. Then this past Sunday (two weeks after Skylar) my nephew Nicholas was baptized. I will post pictures over the next few days to get everyone caught up. Here are the pictures of the kids in their dress up outfits the night Skylar and Claudia stayed the night.

Princess Skylar
Princess Claudia
Fireman Eli
Prince Eli
Goofy Asa

Skylar's baptism

Wow. I can't believe it has been a week since I last posted and those images were from the week before that. So in the past two weeks not much has happened here. Just the same things for the most part. Our one main highlight this past week is from last Sunday. My niece Skylar was baptized. She was saved a few years ago during a vacation bible school at another church than our own. The local church around the corner from me was having VBS so I decided to take my cousin who was staying with me for the week and invited my sister to bring my nieces. I hadn't had my kids yet. My cousin was also saved that same day.

So a few Sunday's ago Skylar approached our pastor and asked him about being baptized. Now she did this all on her own. I was there and was a little surprised because I didn't realize that she realized what baptism was or what it represented in the life of a believer. Well this past Sunday she followed the Lord in the waters of baptism. As our pastor said "she can say she did it the old fashioned way, in cold water," this is because the heater was not working correctly on the baptistery and so the water was cold and not heated to a comfortable temp. Now I have to say I was waiting and watching for Skylar's reaction as she stepped into the water. This girl never even flinched walking into the cold water. However after being baptized you do see a small hint as to the temperature of the water being cold.

At the bottom of the page is a video of the event. I have included the few pictures that I took as well. Sorry they are dark. I am still trying to figure out the right setting for my camera in our church. They have installed those fluorescent lights and even with setting the white balance for them and using a full open f-stop, I am still getting dark photos inside the church. I have a few more things to play with and hope to have this fixed before the next time that I post images from a church event.

Stepping into the baptistery.


Affirmation of her salvation.


Her Baptismal.


Prayer after the baptism.


Just before the spaghetti dinner that her parents provided for all of our family and friends after her baptism.

Josiah Birthday Party

Last weekend we celebrated Josiah's first birthday. It was a small celebration, mostly family, that's if you consider this family small. In the past seven years my mother went from no grandchildren to almost ten grandchildren (I say almost because number ten is in the oven and won't be coming out until the end of this year beginning of next.) Here are a few pictures that I took.

A precious moment between brothers.

Asa trying to catch up and hang out with the older kids.

Josiah and his birthday cake, well actually zucchini bread my sister and brother-in-law have a no sugar until two rule.

The frog that we found out in the yard. Nicholas was ready to clobber it with his toy bat. We stopped him from doing it so no critters were harmed. Later in the day we saw a tiny frog. Nicholas said he would hold it but someone else had to pick it up for him because he was not going to touch it. I got a good chuckle out of that.

Claudia posing with that silly grin. She still looks adorable though.

Skylar and Nicholas climbing the mountains out in the backyard. Well that's what they called them anyway. The mountains are the remains of some of the fill dirt that was brought into the yard after the house was finished being built. I guess to a six and five year old they are a bit like mountains.

Eli playing in the exersaucer. He was quite enamored with the different toys attached to this one. He had fun playing in it as did Asa.

Testing out Josiah's new wagon. I know all of the kids except Eli, Josiah, and Alivia took turns being pulled around by Uncle Chris (Dada to Asa). They certainly gave it a work out. My sister was thankful to get this one because she lives on a dirt road and the metal makes so much noise. Thanks Papa and Grandma.

Here is Asa pushing Claudia on the little tricycle. He had fun thinking he was the one moving the bike.

Skylar and Nicholas in the corn field. One of the critter tracks that we found. They had fun following me around the yard as I tried to capture images of butterflies and grasshoppers. Half the time I would get a critter in focus and then one of the would come running up beside me. Needless to say I didn't get many images of the critters but I did manage to get some.

I got through most of the day and realized that I hadn't really gotten any pictures of Alaina. Then I realized that she had been put down for a nap. Here she is all refreshed and ready to go.

And last we have a picture of Alivia. How sweet is she? And yes there was someone just out of the shot ready to grab her as soon as she moved. This is actually the third attempt at getting this shot.

Some Cute Pics

Last week I babysat for my nieces. Here are some of the pics from then as well as a couple of others. I didn't get any of Claudia that day because she had gone to the doctor's office already before I got the camera out.

Here is Asa sharing his pacifier with Elmo.


Asa and Eli mesmerized by VeggieTales.


Chris and Chloe taking a snooze.


Eli ready for the hood.


Eli and Skylar looking adorable together.