Cousin Baby Jack's Blessing Day

Our second cousin Jack Blackwell (aka. Jack Black. . .well) was born to Paul and Lisa Blackwell. We had a great day spending time with all sorts of kin folk and attending church together to hear Jack get a blessing from his dad.

This baby has made all my kids "swoon." They love to hold him and talk to him.

Jack is so attentive. He is always wide eyed.

Molly confuses cousin Seth who is 2 1/2 for a baby.

This picture cracks me up!!! Jack is "posing" for the camera!

Molly would hold Jack for hours if he would let her.

Whenever there is family there is a ton of yummy food.

Ben is memorized by Paul's plate.

The Blackwell family

Four generations of Blackwells: Grammi, Paul, Baby Jack, and Uncle Mark

Paul is one of the family favorites. He likes to sled, jump on the tramp and wrestle everyone. He is a 30 year old trapped in a 15 year old's body.

Paul recruited the young teens to have a contest to see who could keep their foot in the bucket of ice water (which held the drinks) the longest. . .

They began dropping like flies.

. . .and then there were two.

Sam missed the contest, and therefore decided to do one of his own. Who could keep their head in the longest. He was the only participant, and therefore won.

What a goof!!!

Christmas in July

We decided to have "Christmas in July." It entailed drawing names for a present, shopping as a family at Target for said present, eating Mexican food (we do that every Christmas Eve), making our favorite Christmas cookie (peanut butter with a Hershey Kiss in the middle), watching our favorite Christmas movie (Fred Claus) and exchanging gifts. I also CRANKED the air conditioning so it would feel cold enough to drink wassail.
I think next year I will add decorating a small Christmas tree.

Family Pictures

When the photographer told me to lay on my stomach and then she put Molly on top of me I was a little hesitant and in fact told Rusty "I'm going to hate this pose." I was wrong. I thought it turned out great and mostly because it was different.

There are 18 grand kids, 4 kids, 4 spouses (spice?) and one Gramma Kathy.

Gramma and the grand kids.

This is my favorite picture of all 190 shots that were taken that day. I love how it shows Aunt Lori and Rusty trying to get the kids to smile.

The two oldest grand kids, Jackie (17) and Kasey (18). When they were toddlers, Gramma had a picture taken of them and wanted another one to put next to it.

The two youngest grand kids. Jason (our little family calls him "J-Russ" because he's name is Jason Russell after Rusty) and Seth, both almost a year old.

Jonny (15) and Molly (3) are kind of the odd-man-out cousins. Molly has seven boy cousins around her age (two younger and five older before the next girl cousin) and Jonny is stuck with all girls on the older end. Molly has developed quite the crush on Jonny and loves his company.

Ben and Adam. . .when these two get together they disappear and I only see them at meal and prayer time.

We were sad that Aunt Kim's family had left before we started doing all the "break-out" cousin groups. Sam wanted a picture taken with Matthew and Nicholas. Here are Sam and Solly.

Meg (11) and Madeline (14)

Rusty's oldest sister Michelle and her family.

Rusty's sister just under him (and his accountant) Lori and her family.

Kim (Rusty's youngest sister), her husband Henry and their five boys and one girl.

"Things My Mom Always Taught Me"

I need to preface this post by saying that I've been reading different Ensign articles lately and it seems that most of the General Authorities have a story in their talks about what their mom's always said to them or taught them as they grew up. How influential and motivating their moms were in their lives. So, maybe out of desperation for positive feedback, I decided to see what my kids would say if I asked them this question.

Me: "What if someone in 20 years asked you to share something that your mom always taught you."

Sam: "How old will I be in 20 years? Oh yeah, 26. . .oooold."

Ben: "Sam, that's not that old, you'll just be getting out of college."

Me: Starting to get impatient and trying to get the subject off of Sam and back onto me, "Sam, so when you are 26, if someone asks you what your mom taught you, what would you say?"

Sam: Looking at me in a stupor, "Mom, what does that mean?"

Me: "Like, something I always taught you while you were growing up."

Sam: "Like. . .(looking around the kitchen for inspiration), I still don't get it." Getting a little more impatient with the discussion (and Sam obviously hasn't learned a lot), I move onto the other kids.

Me: "Meg, what about you?"

Meg: "To be kind, #1, then to be honest, #2." Okay, not bad. I'm feeling a little more confident, and knew she was my favorite child (today anyway).

Sam: "Oh yeah! You do say that a lot." Thanks Sam!

Ben: "Mom, I'm only 9, you still have A LOT to teach me." Can you say PRESSURE?

Me: Ignoring Ben's comment and turning back to Meg, "What if someone asked you if you always read the scriptures, had family prayer and Family Home Evening?"

Ben: Piping in, "Not always on the scriptures or prayer, but we DO have FHE every week."

Me: Completely defensive, "We have family prayer most days if not all, and family scripture study at least 4-5 times a week."

Ben: "Okay, okay mom, we do." Then rolling his eyes and giving Meg that "we'll just tell mom what she wants to hear" look.

Me: In a loud voice while they are talking to each other and walking away, "Well, I guess we have to step it up a notch on family scripture reading and family prayer then." That will show them.

I guess that conversation taught me not to go looking for compliments and that someday, when they are older (26) they may just remember something good that I really did teach them.

Derby 134

Wow, do we celebrate the Kentucky Derby in Louisville!!! I wouldn't have it any other way. Unfortunately, we weren't able to do many of the festivities leading up to the Derby this year. We were in Utah for Spring Break when "Thunder Over Louisville" (firework and air show) took place. Then we had baseball games during the "Great Steam Boat Race" and "Balloon Glow." And pack meeting was the same evening as the parade. We tried to make up for it however, by attending Sam's derby parade and race at school, going to a cook-out on Oaks Day, and had a little Derby party at our house. We were able to have a few families, but not as many as I would have liked. I was just talking to a friend the other day about how we are at a stage in our lives that our families are getting larger and unfortunately, due to this fact, makes us have to limit the number we can fit comfortably in our home.

Sam with his "AWWWWESOME" Derby float.

Sam in racing position with his "horse", Jockey "silks", Jockey hat, red rose (for running for the roses), and his blue ribbon (every kindergartner got one of these).

In art class Ben made a Derby hat.

Meg and Dominique eating hamburgers at the Oaks party.

Molly and her friend "Aba" (really it's Eva) eating a Popsicle near the end of the party (as you can tell by their clothes, hair and faces).

We set up the projector so we could really get into the spirit of the Derby.

Everyone cheering on their horse (we had a drawing--no betting).

The actual Derby was eventful. Out of a 20-horse field, Big Brown, the odds on favorite won by several lengths. Eight Belles, the only filly to compete in the Derby in many years, (it's a race for boy horses) placed a strong second and then suffered double compound fractures in both front legs and had to be euthanized right on the track within minutes after the race.

St. Patricks Day

Rusty's convinced that just because our last name is O'Brien and we have a few red-headed kids in our family, we are straight off the boat from Ireland. To be honest, I think we have more English and Danish in our blood, but we'll let Rusty have his little fantasy. Therefore, our family HAS to go all out in celebrating St. Patricks Day. We began the morning with green eggs and pancakes. I forgot to get a shamrock shaped cookie cutter, so we used our Dinosaur (Ben and Sam's request) cutters. It turned out fun to eat "green" food. Meg kept asking, "Are you sure they taste like normal eggs?"

I also made sure our family had the correct attire to celebrate appropriately. No pinches in our future (unfortunately our school principle has obnoxiously announced on the morning and afternoon announcements every day for a week 'no pinching'--they are slowly taking all the fun that we use to experience out of the elementary schools:)). Anyway, we were all decked out and had fun saying things like, "Kiss me I'm Irish." or "Top o' the morning to you." And Rusty kept referring to Sam as a "Fine little Irish lad." In his best (not very Irish) Irish accent.

Picture Highlights of 2007

Here are some of my favorite photos from 2007 I never got to blog (not including Christmas, I hope to get to that someday).

Sam is showing off his treasures that he made during the month of October in Kindergarten. Thanksgiving dinner--Meg had gotten her tonsils out the day before and didn't eat very much at dinner, just some mashed potatoes.

Halloween fun. . .carving pumpkins and getting ready to trick-or-treat.Sam kissing our pet turtle "Boxer." We had to let him go this day in October so that he could go back into the woods to hibernate. We're hoping that we can find him again next spring. Molly's Halloween costume was a Cinderella dress. She wears it almost every day. Rusty and Meg going to a Hoe-down for an Activity Days daddy daughter party.

We went to Philadelphia & Washington D.C. for fall break in October. The kids at the Liberty Bell and Arlington Cemetery.

Molly showing her baby the lake outside in Branson at Rusty' s Grandma's 80th birthday party. Rusty and the kids paying homage to the Rocky statue in Philadelphia.

Meg's ballet recital in May. Molly "enjoying" some Cotton candy at a swim team party.

Meg in her tap/jazz costume. Rusty and the boys at a swim team luau.

Ben's team, the Marlins, were the South Oldham Rookie Pitch champions last summer. This was his stance everytime he got on base. Ready to steal . . . .





Ben won a music competition called "Reflections" at the school, district and state levels. The song he wrote and played was called "Climbing 'Y' Mountain." I can down load it for anyone who is interested.

Molly's 2nd birthday party. She had a "Dora Pool Party" and Grandma Thompson sent her this cute swimsuit to wear. Molly and mom enjoying the pool.

Ben and Sam getting ready to swim in a meet. Meg, Ben and Sam holding up our swim division 3rd place trophy.
At the Green Bay Packer museum in July. Meg at the Arboretum in Chicago.

Sam in his St. Louis Cardinals t-ball uniform. The kids waiting for Rusty to come by on his bike during a triathlon.

This picture Ben took of us. It's one of my favorites.