Family Pictures!

We took family pictures on Saturday.  It was a pretty good photo session.  Jared and James had their moments, but our photographer was willing to let us take the time we need to give James a bottle, Jared candy, etc..  We thought the pictures turned out really nice.  I even bought the CD with the copyright so if anyone wants a picture, we have them available to get printed out.  I didn't get the matting for the kids pictures, but I thought it looked nice for the blog.  Enjoy!

Aldrich kids!

Kathleen, Carina, and Annie

Carina

David

Kathleen

Peter

Annie

Jared

James

Kathleen, David, Carina

Michael and Emma

Jared, James, and Annie

Swim Lessons!

We have spent the past 2 weeks having swimming lessons!  Kathleen, Peter and Annie all worked very hard and made lots of improvements! 

 They enjoyed the chance to cool off everyday

To reward such excellent swimming and such good babysitting by Carina and David, we all went out to Dairy Queen the last day of lessons for Ice Cream Cones!

Yummy!

Happy Birthday, Peter!

Peter's 8!  Hooray!  

He had a really fun birthday.  We woke him up singing Happy Birthday, then he opened his presents.

During nap time he got to build his new lego set.  He really likes it!  

When Michael got off work, he took the 6 older kids to see Kung Fu Panda. 

 They really enjoyed it and highly recommend it.  

After a birthday dinner of pasta salad, we enjoyed Peter's  Lemon Creme pie!

Happy Birthday Peter!

Cookies, etc..

Kathleen made her very first batch of cookies all by herself.  I wasn't even in the kitchen.  She did great.  Only forgot half the sugar and burned herself once.  And the cookies were still good.  In fact, they were gone by the end of the day!

Great Baking, Kathleen!

Jared trying to feed James his bottle

Annie hugging James on the back porch!  I love this picture!

Beauty Tips

I got this at a Personal Progress Fair. It was for our Divine Nature Class. The teacher said that this was written by Audrey Hepburn. I think that it is really neat.

Here it is!

For attractive lips, speak words of kindness.

For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people. 

For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry. 

For beautiful hair, let a child run her fingers through it once a day.

For poise, walk with the knowledge you'll never walk alone. 

People, even more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed, and redeemed.

Never throw out anybody. Remember, if you ever need a helping hand, you'll find one at the end of your arm.

As you grow older, you discover that you have two hands - one for helping yourself, the other for helping others. 

The beauty of a lady is not in the clothes she wears, that figure she carries, or the way she combs her hair. 

The beauty of a lady is seen in her eyes, because that is the doorway to her heart, the place where love resides. 

True beauty in lady is reflected in her soul. It is the caring that she lovingly gives, that passion that she shows. 

The beauty of a lady only grows with passing years. 

Our New Train Table!

On Thursday, we got a train table from the Sawyers. We immediately got to building. Everyone was sooo excited! James and Jared especially loved it! Jared even got to miss his nap to play with his brothers and sisters. James didn't, though. 

This is the set that ended up getting built. 

David designed it, and the rest of us built it. It was a lot of fun. 

This is us all playing and beginning to build it. 

Here is James tasting the railroad to see if it is worth eating again. It does look yummy!

Before & After

I got my haircut last night.  So we took some before and afters!  The one in the yellow shirt is before.  The one in the pink is the salon after.  The green shirt is my arrangement of my hair, the way it will really look and the way I like it.  James was my photo buddy!

Side View!

Back View!

Front View!

Annie's Haircut!

We love it!  She's all ready for Kindergarten!

Happy Fourth of July!

We started out the day with a photo shoot of all the kids wearing their Red, White, and Blue!  James wasn't too enthusiastic about this... it was naptime.  

As always... it is hard to get all the kids looking the same direction at once!

The rest of our Fourth was spent reorganizing downstairs and then we topped off the day with a nice family picnic and playtime at the park!  We hope the rest of you all enjoyed your Independence Day also!

Quidditch!

It's summer... so it is time for Hogwarts and Quidditch! The kids imaginations flourish during the summer and they love to play Hogwarts!  Below is our winning Griffindor quidditch team flying around on their broomsticks!  So far our team has defeated Slytherin and Hufflepuff.  A big match with Ravenclaw is still pending!  Peter is doing a fabulous job as the seeker, David is the keeper, Kathleen, Carina, and Annie are the chasers and Jared is the Beater.. 

Carina flying after the quaffle while Peter looks for the snitch!

David blocking the Kathleen trying to throw the quaffle into the goal post!

Team picture after the match!

Budding Baby Virtuoso

James loves to play on the piano.  I managed to catch him playing the piano the other day.  The amazing thing is that he managed to stand up under it.  

As you can see, his fingers are barely able to reach the keys.  

He usually is sitting on his siblings laps when he gets the opportunity to play!

This note?

No... this is the one!

His head barely brushes the underside of the piano.  He was on his tiptoes!

Bugs!

We are having a great year on our blueberries and are picking a couple of quarts every couple of days.  The other day while picking, I noticed these orange bugs with black spots and legs and antenna.  I have noticed them in past years and still have not figured out what they are.  They don't appear to do any damage to the blueberries (bushes and fruit) themselves and I only see them when I am picking.  They flick off fairly easily and haven't bitten me.  

But I'm curious...  so all you bug afficianados out there....

What are they?

Closeup of our blueberry bugs