Time Lapse

The Allen family headed home this afternoon. It was hard not to feel super sad about their leaving. We really had an amazing week. We'll post more pictures soon. Until then... I wanted to put up a very cool video Matt did during the Joe's Place fundraiser. He had a camera rolling as Billy'O did the painting of the boys (Fred, Steven, Jeff, Dan and I all got to sign the back). It's short and is really worth watching!!

What's for snack?!

MRH Mapleseeds Garden

Ty're explaining his use of companion plants in his raised bed (summer school project) to Jen and Steve.

See what Alyssa and Jen have done to us...

-Dan

Taking a little break...

Some of our best friends from Seminary are in for the week... so we've been taking a little break from the blog and... well... everything else. I'll hopefully get lots more pictures up over the next couple days. We're also trying to survive this crazy heat out here right now. Only one week until we're in the dry heat of California!!!

This is how we're surviving right now. I'm not sure if you can tell... but Dan is in his jeans in the kiddie pool.

Another great article about Fred...

He was name Post Dispatch Boys Track Athlete of the year. You can click here to get to the article.

The picture below...

was one of the very cool parts of the fundraiser last night. Fred, Steven and Jeff were painted live by a well known artist. It turned out AWESOME! Here's the finished painting. It will hopefully be hanging in our dining room!

Live from the Joe's Place Fundraiser

-Dan

Happy 3rd Birthday to our sweet Carter!!

I've got lots more from his birthday party this morning... but this is my favorite of the day so far. I'll post more later...

These little feet turn 3 tomorrow...

Kind of hard to believe. I took this during his "nap" today. He spotted a spider on his window screen eating a "crab." How's a kid supposed to sleep through that excitement?! The spider was really eating some type of bug that looked like a beetle. I just love that it looked like a crab to him... and that this time last year he actually had the chance to hold a crab at the ocean. We are so thankful for this little guy!

Finally... the Fred Taylor news story!!

It aired again tonight on our local NBC station as the cover story... which is VERY cool.

Here's the written story (a bit different from the video)... and here's the video!!

I should add that all the video you see from the State track meet was shot by Dan with his little hand held video camera.

When you can't get a good photo...

make one. I combined two photos to make one that I liked. This is perfectly everyone's personality... except for me. That's my frustrated smile. Can you guess who was edited into this picture (it's more than one person)?

Impossible...

It really is impossible to take a good photo of the 7 of us. I've tried and tried... but for some reason the guys just make it... well... impossible. When they were all home on Monday for Jeff's birthday I thought it would be nice to get a photo of all of us... since who knows when we will be together again. I threatened to blow up the picture and frame it for the dining room... but even that didn't help. It actually turns out that we need a picture for the auction book this Saturday. Too bad this is all I've got. I thought I would show the progression...

From a few days ago...

When Carter was born (almost exactly 3 years ago) I made a commitment to myself to try and update our blog daily. I'm proud of myself that I've pretty much stuck with it. Sometimes Dan will find me late at night, in front of the computer, with a glass of wine, and tears running down my face because I've been looking back through posts for hours. There is so much we would have forgotten if it weren't for the blog. I was hoping that life would have slowed down enough for me to update some things that have happened recently... but it seems that we've found ourselves with even more going on since Dan finished school (it's amazing how many times our doorbell rings a day). Oh well. Since I don't have any pictures from today (which is surprising) I thought I would post my new favorite family picture from a few days ago...

Had a great afternoon doing this...

Well... I was really just watching... but it was still an awesome afternoon!

Happy 18th, Jeff!!

Today is Jeff's 18th Birthday. We talked about celebrating it before school got out (since we knew none of the seniors would be here in June) but it was just too crazy with graduation (I know... I still need to update that). I asked Jeff if he would mind if we celebrated on his actual birthday... just like we did with all the other guys... and he was super happy about the idea. So... tonight everyone came "home" for the celebration. I never knew all the sounds of cell phones beeping, loud music playing and wrestling would be such music to my ears. Happy 18th, Jeff! We were so glad to be a part of this special day with you!!

Carter begged Jeff to help him blow out the candles... and Jeff of course said yes. Maybe Jeff can help Carter blow out his 3 candles on his birthday this Friday. :)

My man of many talents...

A shoe weakness...

I'm not sure what's more tempting... buying shoes for myself... or for Carter. If I had to guess... I'd say Carter... and that's probably why I couldn't resist these little puppies last night. It's just that they reminded me so much of these.

I also wanted to post a link to this picture that Dan took yesterday. He's becoming quite the photographer!! We are actually going to be starting up a photography business in the not too distant future. We bought our 2nd Digital SLR this week... so we each have one now. We'll both be photographing every shoot together. We've seen some other married couples do this... and think it's such a cool idea. We'll be posting the business link soon!!

Family Self Portrait

Dap and Bam!

Over the past school year (and even now) the guys have always made a point of connecting with Carter when they leave to go somewhere. They always say goodbye with a handshake. I realized this morning, as Carter was saying goodbye to Tyre, that he seems to have a different handshake with each of them. I love it!

We love this smile...

Tyre waited all night to play Madden with Dan. For those of you who don't know... that's football. You would think after living with all these males for the last 2 1/2 years that I would have known it wasn't basketball. Anyway, Tyre was so happy when Dan was finally able to head down to the rec. room tonight.

*** I haven't forgotten about the link to Fred's story... for some reason it's still not available online. Hopefully we'll get it up soon. It was a great story! The bigger story is airing Sunday at 10pm on channel 5.

Tune in tonight...

Our local NBC station filmed a story this afternoon on Fred (and a bit on Joe's Place). Part of the piece will be airing tonight during the sports section of their evening news... I think at 6:20pm and then a bigger piece will air on Sunday night. I'll post the link for you out of town folks as soon as it is available.

Here's a picture from the filming this afternoon...

and... I of course couldn't leave out this little dude. He ran a 400m today... only stopping at about 200m to stop and wave at us from across the field. Here he is with about 50m to go...

Another reason our school is cool...

Tyre brought home a bag of lettuce grown in the school garden after his first day of summer school this afternoon. I don't recall ever seeing Tyre eat lettuce... but still... very cool!! Carter will also be working in a garden at his preschool (also a part of our district... just across the street from the middle and high schools) this Fall. I can't wait!

Checked back in...

for summer school! We're so glad he's back!! Carter actually screamed with excitement when Tyre walked into the backyard tonight!

Goodnight Hugs and Kisses...

At the Cards Game with the Phillips

-Dan

A little plug...

Actually... this is a BIG plug for Joe's Place. If you read our blog you know this place is very near and dear to our hearts. When we first started we had no idea how long we would be the houseparents here... but after seeing the HUGE need for a place like this in the community we LOVE... we are still here... and actually there is no other place we would rather be.

So... a program like this needs money and support to survive. I know a lot of you don't live in the area... but our 2nd annual wine tasting and silent auction fundraiser (The Art of Living) will take place in just a few weeks.


We missed the last one because we were out of town... but my friend, Sarah, was there and took some great pictures. It will be held in the same place (for you out of town Crossroads folks... our old church office) as last year... actually just a few blocks from the house here. Even if you can't make it... you can still donate money!!! Here's the link to the invitation and RSVP card. You can also check out our updated newsletter. There is a great write up on the auction and wine tasting. Just so you know... there will even be artists painting during the event. How great is that?!

You can send donations to:
Joe's Place
PO Box 3457
Maplewood, MO 63143

Hope to see you there!!

Gone but not leaving...

at least for now. I am actually REALLY thankful. This week has not been nearly as hard as I thought is was going to be. For those of you who don't know... the guys only stay here on nights that they have school the next day. That's why they aren't here on weekends, holidays or summertime (except that they are)... anyway... those are the "rules" of the house. The thing is... in the last 2 1/2 years these guys have become our family (and this place their home). How do you not spend holidays with family (and how do you not stop by your home)? So... the guys were all supposed to check out last Friday after graduation and the party we hosted here (I really will post about that soon). They have "checked out" but have not moved out. They aren't sleeping here... but they are still in and out a lot. I think it's turning out to be a great transition. I still make sure we have some of their favorite foods for when they stop by... and since all of their stuff is still here that happens a lot. I know eventually their stuff will be gone and they will be off to college... but at least it's not so final as I thought it was going to be.

Anyway... I snapped a pic of Fred one of the times he was here today. It's actually perfect because I've been meaning to do a post about two articles he's been in the last few weeks. Check out his shirt...

That was after their District Championship. The shirt they got after winning State is just as awesome. I'll have to get a picture of that as well. And... here are the articles. REALLY... if you have a minute you should take some time to check them out (especially the Athlete of the Week article)....

State Chamionship

Athlete of the Week (Fred's a little bummed about the picture)

A favorite...

I was halfway through a new post a few minutes ago when we lost power and I lost the whole thing!! So... I'm just going to put up a quick pic from the weekend... one of my favorites. This is my mom with Carter yesterday morning before she flew home. I just needed to say that she saved us this last weekend. I'll write more about that later... but for now here's the pic. Thanks again, Mom!

More coming soon...