Ripley...

"Good Girl"
Ripley Schantz
12/12/1992 - 11/24/2006

Such grief over our loss, but only the happy, happiest of memories...

For the soul of every living thing is in the hand of God.
Job 12:10

"Where are you going this nice fine day?"
(I said to the Puppy as she went by).
"Up to the hills to roll and play."
-A.A. Milne

Bobbing Along Singing A Song...

Here's pics from our first swim class this
session at the YMCA!

Kick and Splash!

Ooooooh! It's FREEZING!

Ooohps...it's in my eye...

Here's his first attempt at blowing bubbles
in the water...it ended up being more like
a puppy lapping water...lick-ey-lick.
"I wunda wut dis tasthe ike?"

Happy Fun with his orange flu shot band-aid on his arm!

Laps in the deep end...

More laps...


Backstroke laps...


And again...


Floating Free!

Yes, , that's MY mom with the camera. Sheesh!

What Handsome Haircuts!!

Me, "Boys, say cheese for momma
so I can get pictures of your new haircuts."

Boys together, "Cheese!"

Me, "Isaac, take that paci out of your mouth
and say cheese for momma."

Isaac after taking paci out, "Huh?"

Notice Eli is still cheesing from the first pic!

Finally! A paci free cheese!
My, what handsome haircuts!
This was Isaac's VERY FIRST trip to a hairdresser.
He'd had previous haircuts by Momma but
this time he got to sit in a little red car,
have a sucker and watch Elmo all while
getting his haircut.
I've been fired.

Jammie Junkies

These kids will take a lazy day in their pj's
with pancakes and movies as quick as they
would a trip to Disney World...It's SO fun!

Happy Halloween!

Per the trend, Eli was merely a flash in the background
off, busy trick or treating several steps ahead of us
barely maintaining his "stay within view" rule making
pictures so very hard to get. To his credit, he did stop and
pose when we came across a storm trooper.
So, we have more pictures of our roaring lion
than we do our jedi knight. We tromped
all over a local outdoor mall that had Radio Disney
present to mc and got candy from all the stores.
The boys LOVED it and Matt and I could relax with
our favorite Starbucks and the very large, well-lit
sidewalks keeping our little monsters safe.
Isaac stopped traffic wherever he went, carried his candy
bucket the ENTIRE time and he WALKED the whole mall.
What a BIG boy! It was all we could do to keep Eli on the
same side of the mall as we were on. We came home with
quite a stash and ate a scary dinner
while listening to The Monster Mash!
We had a ball!

The Best Picture Ever!

Ashley took this picture of Zoe
resting in her leaf pile.
We LOVE it.

Kristen and Eric's Big Day

It was a WONDERFULLY happy day for us all and
especially for Kristen, Eric and Shelby.
Their outdoor ceremony couldn't have been more
beautiful! The bride, her groom, the bride's daughter,
the scenery, the behavior of ALL the children, the food...
Everything was PERFECT.
There's more and professional pictures to come
but here's some that we snapped of the wedding party
while the photographer was working.

The grounds

Aunt "Cece" and her boys!

The Grandfather and his Granddaughter
(as they call eachother)

All dressed up...

You can see Isaac's bow-tie in this one and
if you look closely, his tonsils.