The Slaughter

How's that for a catchy title? hehe.
My brother Aaron was blessed to get not one, but TWO deer last Saturday, so we went over there last night to help them butcher them and get the meat in the freezer so they could leave for Georgia this morning!














Fabio got in on the skinning. :)

Levi stood by for size comparison. :)

Here's Aaron hacking off a front leg.

And taste-testing it.

(just kidding.)

Suzy washing.

Mom and I chopping the meat off the bone.

(That is the ergo baby carrier hanging from my waist. Jessica was holding Johann here, but most of the night I chopped while he hung out in the ergo.)

But Jessica didnt just hold Johann all night long - she got in on the action too!

Suzy proudly holding a nice roast.

What a trophy A.J. is holding!

And now they have a bunch of meat in their freezer! YAY!

I have a TON of stuff to post - I just havent had time and computer access at the same time. ;) Stay tuned!

Family Pictures

Trip to Grandma Nita's

I am WAY behind on blogging - things are busy around here! But for now, we'll start with the most recent: a trip last weekend to visit my Grandma!

Here she is with Mr. Moon, her husband of six years. :)












And getting to meet her newest great-grandchild. I think this is number 17, with numbers 18 and 19 on the way!
















All the kids love great-grandma Nita!













We also enjoyed visiting with my Aunt Sue, who was able to come and spend the night. Here she is fixing Dominique's hair in French braids. She was blessed with three sons and no daughters, so she used to like to fix my hair in French braids too, when I was little!










Aunt Sue and Johann

My cousin Brian and his wife Shasta. We enjoyed visiting with them too, and I was also able to see their new home!

Brian - if you read this, leave a comment so I can get your blog address. I don't seem to have it. :)

Shasta is due to have their first baby in January. Great-grandbaby number 18, I think.

One more picture in the series! This table and chairs were Grandma Nita's when she was a little girl!

My cousin Daniel and Dominique

Grandma Nita and her favorite granddaughter! (only one!)

I wish the visits were more frequent, but we sure enjoy them when they happen! We love you, Grandma!

Happy Birthday, Dominique!!

This past Wednesday was Dominique's FOURTH birthday!

Somewhere a couple of years back, I started the family tradition of decorating the kitchen the night before one of the kid's birthdays, including their chair as the "birthday throne", so they can be surprised when they wake up the next morning. =)

So, here is the birthday princess, bright and early in the morn!

This little lip gloss compact was one of her FAVORITE gifts! I love the Dollar Tree.... hehe

Then for lunch, we went to McDonalds! We met my friend Michelle there, who has a little girl close to Dominique's age, and we had a jolly Mcfun time!

I brought some brownies so we could sing together. :)

Addy and Dominique both have brand new baby brothers! Here is the first pic of Nicholas and Johann together:

Then, after going home for naps, we went to Grandma Carol's for the family birthday party. I had princess crowns for all four of the princess granddaughters - Jessica, Cheyenne, Dominique and Moriah:

This is the first picture we got of all TWELVE grandchildren together, and there won't be many, as number 13 is on the way!

The four birthday people- Dominique, Jack, Colton and Mom:

AJ and Johann

Dillon has a loose tooth that got yanked on by several people that night, too! It was stubborn, though, and refused to come out!

Moriah and Israel:

Daddy and Johann:

Johann is six weeks old now!

All my lovely men:

The only girls of the fam:

Johann - more alert every day:

Johann had his first check-up this week. Here we are waiting for Doc to come in:

In spite of having been born my smallest, it seems he is doing well in catching up with his siblings - he is in the 95th percentile for weight and 100th percentile for length! He is about 12 pounds now, and 24 inches long. Interestingly enough, that's the same weight Israel was at at 6 wks, in spite of being 2.5 lbs bigger at birth! So, Johann seems to be packing it on pretty good!

Dr. Pareja is the doctor I used to work for before I moved to Japan:

Johann usually has plenty of company during tummy time - and all other times, too!
See how Israel was holding his hand? He just loves him!

Sweet brothers!