Katherine Elizabeth (Katie) - Through The Years

Today is Katie's 13th birthday.  She was born in Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri.  She was Dave & Patty's second child and their first girl.  And she was our 8th grandchild and our 3rd granddaughter.

Here's Katie, pictorially, through the years.
  

There's a lot more about Katie than how she's changed over the years or how pretty she is at every age or how blue her beautiful eyes are.

Katie is also fun-loving and sweet.  And she likes to wear hats - hats which tend to show how fun-loving she really is.

 Really, really fun-loving.

She's also very athletic.

I believe she could excel at any sport but the one she's most involved in now will probably be her signature sport - volleyball.  I can't believe I don't have any pictures of her playing volleyball but hopefully I can remedy that soon.  Just suffice it to say that with her height and strength and physicality, she's a natural - not to mention that her mother was a state championship player in high school and won a college scholarship for her abilities.

And I must add that Katie is an absolute angel in so very many ways.  When I visited Burke, VA to help Patty out while Dave was deployed, Katie was beyond helpful.  She took Zachary under her wing.  While I was seeking pictures to depict how helpful she was, I found I did have a volleyball picture of Katie - one that shows how sweet she is to her littlest brother.

I had so much fun on that trip and these pictures take me right back to DC and what joy these kids were.


And I'm reminded of how much Katie loves all her brothers.

And how much we love Katie.  We're going to see her this weekend and we can hardly wait.

In the meantime, Happy Birthday, Katie!  We're hoping it's awesome and that the next year is too.  We love you!!!!

Lori Anne - Through The Years

On November 17th, 1969 in Alamogordo, NM Harry got a call from back home informing him that his niece, Marianne had been born that morning.  He immediately drove to Holloman AFB Hospital and got there just in time to share the news with me before his daughter, Lori Anne, was born at 11:38 a.m.

This was the beginning of a new and beautiful era for us.  We didn't know how amazingly in love we would fall with our firstborn.  It had to have been incredible because we'd repeat until we'd had six babies.

Here's our Lori - through the years.

This sweet girl was a leader to her younger siblings and that was almost always good.  And she was the best helper to her parents and that was always good.

She's also thoughtful,

our favorite decorator especially at the Christmas House every year,
 

she loves to party,

and run,
 
 adores all her siblings and her parents,

And especially her kids

and her man.


Most importantly, Lori is a blessing to everyone who knows her.  We love her more than she can imagine and we're wishing her the best birthday yet, but one only half as awesome as the many more to come.

 Happy Birthday, Lori!!

You Capture - An Animal

Beth's You Capture challenge this week is 'An Animal' and at first I thought it really would be a challenge.  But that was when I was forgetting that birds are indeed animals.

Of course I couldn't leave out the bluebirds that still visit our feeder and birdbath multiple times every day.

They also sit on the fence while trying to contend with the wind.


And I have to include this cute little black capped chickadee holding his bird feeder treasure between his feet.

And this sparrow who looks annoyed at my intrusion.

But my favorite bird shots today were of this downy woodpecker.  He was enjoying his meal and I was enjoying photographing him enjoying it.

When an intruder decided to partake of the feast right around the corner.

The woodpecker was obviously annoyed and took immediate measures to send him on his way.

Finally his efforts paid off and the intruder 'flew the coop'.

Although the woodpecker's feathers were still ruffled for a time, he eventually settled down to finish his meal.

The last bird I photographed was sitting on an animal-friendly apparatus put in place to help lost animals find new homes.

You know, lost animals like these.  See how well it works?

For more animal shots, visit Beth at I Should Be Folding Laundry.  Better yet, why not put up some animal shots of your own.