Keira on the mat

These came out a tad blurry (still learning the new camera), but cute nonetheless.

Katharine in charge

Katharine took the camera and snapped some pictures before we left for Brian's birthday party last night. Kids provide a unique vantage point for viewing the world- I can understand why a lot of photographers drop down on one knee.

Yard play

It is springtime in Texas, so we have been taking advantage of this slim window of opportunity to go outside as much as possible. Iria - who has been suffering from massive allergies that grew into a full blown sinus infection - even came out after dinner. Who knows what allergens were blowing around in the air tonight, but sometimes it is just worth the risk :)

Katharine and Keira- always a good way to start a blog entry.

These shots are of me and the kids playing our new favorite game: Hula Hoop T-Rex.

That old net remains a favorite toy after all this time.

Keira's first front yard excursion on the ground. She needs to learn not to eat the grass.

Katharine street style.

Believe it or not, this tricycle stays inside most of the time. Yes... we have kids biking around inside our house.

Keira has been under-represented on the blog as of late, so here is a super cute shot that Iria took to make up for that.

I don't have an outdoor closeup of Lennon, because shortly after his bath he slipped on our bed and his chin came down square on the bed frame; splitting his lip and tongue in a number of places. A milk, two books (read through multiple times) and two wash cloths later he appeared to have recovered, but was still sporting a very fat lip.

Corn rows

Another year, another corn crop. One of these days the city of McKinney plans to turn this into a park- but every year in late February we always hear those tractors come around again. On the positive side, it is a nice location to shoot pictures during the Spring.

Easter Week Outtakes

Here are some photos that I took on my iPhone over Easter week. I finally took the plunge and have a new camera on the way (to replace my camera that broke over Christmas), so the picture posts should pick up again.



Katharine at the church Easter Egg hunt.

The family enroute to the next egg hunt.

Opening eggs.

Katharine and Iria on Easter Sunday. What nice long legs Katharine has!

Katharine and Trinity at the Easter lunch.

Yes, my children are being raised by a vegetarian (more meat for me)

Katharine twirling her hair when reading- her new habit that bugs Iria (who has to untangle all that hair at the end of the day).

Swinging at the Celebration

Celebration Park in Allen is one of our favorite places to visit- especially when they turn the water on for the summer... and double-especially when we stop off for some ice cream afterwards.

Happy Easter Week!

Easter week has been very busy for us. It all started out with the annual Easter Egg hunt at CUMC last Saturday. On Palm Sunday, Katharine's choir sang at the beginning of service. The week continued with our weekly Lenten Service, Maundy Thursday Service, Good Friday Service, a prayer labyrinth and we will round up the week with Easter Service tomorrow. Yeah, the kids must think they live at church!

Waiting for lunch and the Easter Bunny.

We have been to every Easter Egg hunt our church had since having kids and it's always been fun. It's gotten a little more complicated, getting every child to their hunts, but still a lot of fun! We met the Easter Bunny and friends from Sunday School. Here little Audrey and her mom Amanda.

Lennon really liked the Easter Bunny

Travelling in style.

At Christ United Methodist, nothing is done without food. So of course lunch was served at the Easter Egg hunt.

 A rare occasion: All 6 Doeschers in one picture. Thank you, Amanda!

Friday afternoon we decorated our Easter Bunny Cottage with all kinds of yummy things, all very high in sugar and then put it together. We added the finishing touches, such as grass, chicks and bunnies today and wrapped it all up ready to go to Grandma Donna's house tomorrow. Katharine and Lukas insisted on that.

The finished product. It is a true collaboration between artists of all ages, including a new door that Lennon decided to bite into it! Tomorrow we will have a little Easter Egg hunt at home (to see what the bunny sent from Massachusetts), after church we will hunt more eggs at Grandma Donna's house with our friends Gwen and Trinity. We are blessed to have friends and family in so many places! Grandma and Grandpa, Oma, Anita, Jakob and Anna, we wish you could be with us this holiday. Grandma and Grandpa, we are counting the days until your visit! Wishing you all a very Happy and Blessed Easter!

Flashback: April 13, 2003

Here is Katharine at 3 months... and our house at 1 day.

Pink ladies

Now that I am getting around to updating the blog, I figured I would put this photo up from last week when Maya came over for a sleep-over. The two girls insisted on dressing up in the same styles and colors so that they could trick everyone into thinking one was the other. We weren't fooled, but I think the Sunday School teacher might have had a double-take.

And then there were 9...

On Saturday we had dinner with the Martels and Murphys- great food anf fun times as always. Two more children have been born since our trip to Jamaica last year, which now brings the grand total of the circus up to "9".

Palm Sunday

Katharine performed with her choir today, and got to wave a palm branch around. Getting that palm branch was always one of the highlights of the church year for me as a kid... and probably still is :)

Katharine and Kanessa

Charlotte... who is currently going by the name of "Kanessa".... visited today. The two girls played with dolls, danced ballet, and raided Iria's shoe collection. Fun times!