Saturday, May 17, 2008

A load of photos!!

Diggin' the earth!! It's garden time & we're so excited to see all the wonderful veggies grow! We've had garden problems the last 3 years. We finally figured out the problem last year after we tilled the soil last spring. Our backyard is filled with Elm trees, which makes for great shade. One of our elms was looking pretty weak when we first bought our house until we started our garden which happens to be beside it. Last year the elm flourished due to the fact that it sent its roots right into our rich garden soil! As we tilled, we found a dense network of fine red roots that filled the garden. The tree had taken over our garden and strangled all our vegetables last year!!
So, we have now moved on to container gardening...which I am not super excited about but it was either that or cut down our tree.



The Liberians are itching to sleep in the VW camper bus in our back yard!! We popped the top and the kids found themselves their own personal fort with a radio, 2 beds, sink and windows!!
The girls (Fatu and Nyenna Lorenzen) in their matching outfits, ballerina skits and all!! The littlest of the bunch! Fatu and Titus Lorenzen kicking it in the camper.
Osobie's ready to drive! The steering wheel is almost as big as him.
Mackenna's (O and F's cousin) B-day party at the park. They had a pinata, kites, cake and some squirt guns!! What a blast!!
Aksel & Osobie
Osobie's new hair style "Bob Marley"! It took me six hours to twist his hair & he was such a trooper. He's totally mesmerized by video's so we loaded up on some DVDs from the library and we were set. We'll see how they will work out. The good thing is we can always just run the shaver on his head if they get to be too much work.
Osobie, Birthday girl Mackenna, and Fatu
Don't ya just love this shot! Our friends son Aksel and Fatu...just laying in the grass.
Fatu in her Strawberry Shortcake dress-my sister Mekay made for her!
OH BOY...the big wheels are here!! Grandpa B & Grandma B (Jeff's parents) came for a visit from AZ. and brought with them a ton of gifts!! The kids learned how to peddle on the first day and were cruising the neighborhood on their big wheels! Oh to be 4 again!! Actually, they have big wheels for adults now...we looked for them almost a year ago on the net and sure enough..there they were! They were just a bit too pricey!!
Grandpa B. and the kids getting the big wheels assembled.
Went to the Denver Aquarium with the grandparents and saw many beautiful fish, some tigers, and Fatu's favorite "pink fish"!
Grandpa B and O
Grandma B. and F
O, F, and mama
Oh my octopus!!
How cool is this? The divers were cleaning the sand while we were there and the kids just flipped over the man in the water
Finally a family shot! I seriously think this is only number 4. That's pretty sad. We are WAY over due for a family portrait by a professional..(hhmmm...Cierra Lorenzen???)
Osobie!!
mama having a blast...being a kid!!
Mother's Day! Jeff & the kids let me sleep in, bought me a nice latte and then made me my favorite...strawberry crepes! What a wonderful first Mother's day! I sat on the front porch while the kids napped that day and just thanked God for all the ways He has filled my life to overflowing. I remember about 7 years ago God continued to bring the scriptures to mind regarding abundant LIFE. "I have come that they might have life, and have it to the full". He would tell me, Katie, in me you will have abundant life. Trust me, believe me, walk with me, follow me. Do I ever? He has given me an abundant life! I have the most amazing, loving, kind, caring, supportive, and fun husband. I also have sweet, lovable, smart, adventurous, affectionate, joy-filled, and awesome kids! And that's just the beginning of a long list of blessings in my life.
We had a great visit with their second cousins, Josh and Harmon.
We all headed to the skate park and Josh & Harmon showed us their awesome skateboarding skills!! Osobie and Fatu had such a great time, they didn't want to leave.
Our first Craig's List purchase of the summer...an old school bike trailer for the kids! We used it for the first time today for Bike to Worship and they loved the ride!


Okay, so this is the best. Halloween in MAY!! I was doing some spring cleaning and found a whole crate of dress up costumes. Osobie and Fatu insisted on trying on as many as we would let them. It was 70 degrees out!!




6 comments:

S and K said...

LOVE the pics, love O's hair, love the van, jealous of the van, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the abundant life... and writing of which, my abundant life is calling to me from a bed. A baby awakens and I must go.
Blessings!
Love,
Katy

jena said...

Fabulous pictures. I want to see those cutie pies in real life one day my friend!

Jena

Jeremy and Kamina Johnson said...

I love it! All the pics!

Brandi said...

That is the most pictures I have EVER seen in a post! oh my! Love them. . my fave is Fatu in the strawberry shortcake dress! LOVE IT!

Love you,
Bran

Amber G. said...

It's been too long since I dropped in! But what a great long post to catch up on!!! I hardly know where to start commmenting! :)

I love all the pictures of your smiley family... and I think the VW bus is the BEST!!! What a FABULOUS fort!
The crepes sounded awesome, and I loved your Mother's Day musings -- abundant life indeed!!

The costumes were hilarious, the big wheels were awesome... and I think that family photos in general are very few and far between (I can count on one hand the number of family photos we've taken since Henry came home. Jeepers. We'd better get cracking!)

Awesome Bob Marley 'do. Peter REALLY wants to do twists in Henry's hair, but I am SO not ready to fight an almost-two-year-old for six hours!!!! :)

So good to catch up. (I loved the tag list you wrote earlier... you're just such a cool person. You're like the older girls when I was in elementary school. I just look at your pictures and read your blog and think "Oooooh... I want to be JUST like her when I grow up!!" You adventurous, kind-hearted, living-life-full-force people that you are... you're just inspirational! :)

Lots of love,
Amber

missy said...

The VW bus camper made me giggle. I suspected you were a hippie. I'm a hippie wannabe, but it doesn't work too well with the military spouse thing, so I settle for wearing my peace symbol earrings everyday.