Leah did me a favor. I don't know if she knows that yet.

Cousin Leah got our cousins camp weekend so perfect with her BLOG ENTRY that I am going to just cheat and post a link to her blog for any one who wants to see some awesome good times. We had nearly every Ashby family member here. Those who didn't make it were SORELY missed. next time!!!We got this camp pretty whipped into shape for40 overnight visitors, all with beds, albeit some where bunks and another was a netted tent in the woods. It was the envy of the camp, though, complete with queen bed, rugs, chair, table, lamp and an extension for a noise maker as well- for those Ashby-women types who can't sleep at night without one. I am still making apologies to Mark for the fact that I just simply need one.

walls, walls, walls, swamp cooler!

Mark's Uncles Ray and Russ and my cousin Scott were here for the weekend, look what they did! we have drywall on all our walls and they began taping and nearly finished the boys' bedroom. All after working until 10:30 Friday night installing a swamp cooler in order to be able to work so long and hard on Saturday! I am so grateful and impressed by their help. And grateful indeed for Mark, who informed me, that he is building ME a house because if it were just him, he would be perfectly fine living in cabins. With a smile on his face of course, because he knows that if MY life is easier, it comes back around. If momma is happy, everybody is happy.

Odin is a natural conversationalist. Very intelligent conversation and genuinely interesting, downright fun, even. We love this growing up boy!

Ronan is still an entertainer. 'You laughin' at me? Good.' His conversation is growing more every day. That kid can share a story! "Ya!"

Louisiana revisited

this section of pictures has ended up being rather long. but then so was the trip. a little apropos.

Thank you for our house which will be done in a few weeks...

Well, maybe not a few WEEKS, but sooner than later. This was one of about five ways that Odin expressed his gratitude for our house in this evening's prayer and his words certainly reflect the feelings of our family. Mark finished the roof this weekend and the siding is all nailed off. SwEeT!

A very wonderful person, named Lance, and his dog, Diva, have been here this weekend. This is one of three piles of trees and brushes that have been cleared for fire protection. We have a huge fire clearance now which I am thrilled about. After Mark stopped a wildfire from spreading up the hill from our lower neighbor's house I have not stopped feeling that we really needed to take care of this SOON.
It will also be a way of beautifying our home, I can't wait to spread seeds out there for next year's spring. We saved the big rocks to use in our backyard for the boys to climb around.

Odin, this picture is awesome! I am setting up a photobucket album for all of his pictures.

The Big Four and other news

We started off Odin's birthday with frosted muffins. Oh Yeah. We didn't wear Superman to church, though. Much as he wanted to.

He did get to cut his own piece out-he finally finished it three days later. That piece was ginormous!

Happy birthday weekend, we wrapped the house, put in windows, a slider door, and started on the siding! Hooray! Cousin Scott is here for a few weeks helping work around the camp and we are so grateful.

You can't really see it here, but Ronan has the silliest face on. He is prone to silly faces when a camera shows up. Funny kids. We love our boys!

This is the back of the house putting up 'pretty board' as it is called, we are going to paint it but that is all. no one will ever really see it.

This stuff is going to be covered in shingles like the rest of the original cabin. We also have tin to replace the front section of the original roof. Good. That stuff looks really bad.

Our status: pretty excited.

That is our metal roof. All done on the new section. We are going to replace the front of the old section as it is pretty chewed from the years. We have all our electrical, speaker, LAN, satellite, and internet cables run. Yah. We are all tech'ed out. Next is siding, insulation, then drywall. Hmm, sounding pretty good indeed.

a post for archer

My goodness, we love this little boy!

So curious about everything now. He watches his brothers so closely.

It has been a while since we updated his progress.

Age 5 months 1 week
Weight 16 lbs 12 oz
Length 27 inches
Head girth 17 inches
Rolling over back to front all the time since 3 months
Rolling over front to back off and on since 5 weeks

Full time sitter since 5 months
Pushes up off chest 4.5 months
First biter biscuit 4.5 months
First cereal 5 months
No teeth
Sleeps through the night if you count only waking up when I accidentally wake him. Which happens three times a night or more depending on everything that happens at our house.
Still only laughs for Ronan, Odin and sometimes Daddy.
Wakes up happy in the morning, but please don't interrupt his nap-time.

At the lake for Mark's birthday, Archer caught something too.

Welcoming Uncle Joel home from New Zealand Auckland Mission

Learning to sit. That is biscuit on his face.

Like, I fell over on purpose, Mom. I love the fingers, so does he. Digits all the time!

more than any of our other boys ever did

Keeps him very busy. He has trouble when he tries to take them off and they don't go anywhere. Kinda gets him squackin'.