My Own Knaffl Madonna

Several years ago I first mentioned the picture called Madonna and Child by Joseph Knaffl. I love this picture just because the beauty of the art, but I had a personal interest because both of the models married into my family. I have been wanting one for years, but I never did purchase when I saw one for sale from time to time. This year my husband got me one of these for Christmas. I was so excited! I will have to update a little later with a picture of my own Knaffl Madonna!

Another Son

This month we were blessed by the birth of another son. This little man has been a wonderful addition to our family! He is sweet and has a very good schedule for a newborn! We do not have a nickname picked out yet for him, but I hope we can figure out one before too long. I was nervous as to how Bear would react to him, but no fear. Bear loves his baby brother and loves to kiss on him all the time! First thing he does when he wakes up is to come to give the baby a kiss. The baby gets more kisses than Mommy now!

Give A Little Whistle

Tonight we got a huge kick out of hearing one of the boys whistling. The funny part was not that one of them could whistle, but more of which one it was. Otter had just gone to bed and Joe had the older two boys helping to pick up the living room a little before they went to bed and Bear was sitting in the floor watching. Then the next thing I know I am hearing someone whistling. Joe was over by Bear and the other two were on the other side of the room. I asked about who was whistling and we all look down to see Bear sitting there whistling! This made me and Joe immediately turn and look at Bubba then bust out laughing! Bubba has shown frustration in the past about being unable to whistle especially seeing that Butch can whistle very well. So here was the 18 month old younger brother whistling right in front of him. You can imagine his reaction! We were all shocked, but he was so upset to see that his baby brother can do something that he has not been able to do yet. I doubt that Bear realized exactly what he was doing, but it was cute. His mouth was a perfect little circle and he was just playing around. After the laughter had died down he was trying to figure out how to do it again so that he could make us all laugh again!    

Otter's first field trip

Last week we went on our first field trip with our home school group to a local Childrens Museum. Inside they have this kid size doll house. It was Otter's favorite room in the building. She was on the second floor playing with the baby dolls most of the time. Bear decided that he wanted to play, too. I let him play in the lower level which consists of a living room and kitchen. He like the chairs in the living room. Typical of most of the men in his family he found his reading material and a comfy chair!

My Son

I think it is funny that in an assembly at school my son raises his hand to say that he was not happy with the new lunch schedule. It is 90 minutes broken in 30 minute segments. One is for socializing, one is for advisory, one is lunch. It also includes a free school credit (for the Advisory part). He told me that almost everyone raised their hands saying they liked this and when they asked who did not like this that he was one of few (possibly the only one) to raise his hand. He was later asked by the principal and another teacher why he did not like that idea. He said that school is not for socializing. That makes this momma proud that he was not afraid to go against the crowd and is really interested in getting a good education!

Bear Turns One

A few months ago my little Bear turned one! Here are some pics from his birthday celebration.

He just decided that the best way to eat cake it to put his face down in it!

After he had devoured his cake

Bear At 10 Months

I am late again with this, but it has been a crazy month in our house! Sickness had a grip on most in our house for about three weeks. We also had to go back to being a one car family since Joe's car died on him. So here we are just having these crazy busy days. I feel like I am constantly driving. Some of the things that have happened this month with Bear...he got two more teeth, says DaDa, loves to reach for things by standing on tiptoes, devourers his Cheerios and he is making more sounds that I can distinguish as mimicking words!


We did get to go hiking a little over a week ago. Bear did very well, but could not sleep in the frame pack. Joe ended up carrying Bear in his arms as he slept for the last little bit of the hike. Bear did love crawling around in the woods. He was trying to chew on sticks every chance he could and was sword fighting with Joe a little!

Tricks of the Mind

Some times it is hard to put into words my feelings now days. These nine and a half weeks have been so difficult and it seems time creeps by slowly. It feels like it has been so long since I heard my Daddy's voice and since I have seen him that I wonder was he just a figment of my mind? I would love the opportunity to go back in time just a few months ago so that I could maybe be there when my two cents might have made a difference. In my head I know that our days are numbered and that it was just Daddy's time to go home, but oh how I wish it was all just a bad dream! My heart is broken wishing that I could change events so that he would still be here with us. There is not one day that has passed that I have not thought of my dad. I have tried to search my mind for memories of him. I long to hear others share stories about him or to see pictures of him. I still find myself at times intensely missing him and just wanting to see him. I doubt that will ever go away. Many things are happening in our family that make me sad that he will not be a part of and others I am glad that he will never see.

Bear At 9 Months

My little bear is 9 months old, which is terribly hard to believe. Just look at how big he is getting! He no longer likes to stay on the floor. He loves to stand by things. He will go anywhere in the house he can (until we go get him to try to keep him out of some rooms). He does this hilarious thing where he growls as he talks. Sometimes he cannot do it because he gets tickled and will not be able to do the low growl, but he tries. He will turn to go from standing at one place to another as long as he can reach with his hand then step. So many changes from that little newborn we brought home just nine short months ago!