Be prepared... there's loads of pics on this one!

I've been so neglectful of the blog these past months, and so I am just posting a huge slide show. Hopefully the captions will give you an idea of what we've been up to.



We are happily settled into summer, enjoying almost daily swims and plenty of time in the sun. Meanwhile T continues on with his vivid imagination. His current obsession is the movie "Cars". He regulary assumes the character of Lightning Mc Queen and every other car in the movie (which he watched for the first time w/ Brian on Father's Day). Many of his other classics are still going strong, too, such as Clifford and Franklin the Turtle. This means the rest of us are also expected to assume character, of course! C is talking a ton lately and is finding satisfaction in being able to tell us what she wants rather than grunting and crying for things. She is also thrilled with her new ability to hop. The kids have so much fun together hopping about the house and all over the furniture. C's persistent personality, which has been there since day one, continues to push her to try new things, especially if her big bro is doing it!

They Just Keep on Growing!

These pics are random, but capture the "current state" of the kids in terms of size and personality. Just wanted to get something posted as it has been so long!

 
 
 
 

Remembering Grandma

Sadly, my Grandma passed away last week. She was 2 days shy of 97 years old. We attended her funeral and memorial service over the past two days and came away blessed by the sweetness of remembering her. I grew up living next door to her, with countless drop-in visits, swims in their pool, family holidays, and hugs beyond number. Best of all, she loved the Lord with all her heart, a shining example to all. She was incredibly special to me and to everyone else who ever knew her.

Here are some recent pics of her.

 
















She had joy beyond measure.

 












She visited us in the hospital when Timothy was only 5 hours old. With tears in her eyes she held him in wonder and prayed over him. Notice the hand-knit blanket. She made an afghan blanket for all 18 of her grandkids and almost all 23 great-grandkids, amongst many others. I'd say she was an 'expert'!

 












Grandma and Brian shared a birthday-- February 19. She was a good sport and wore the Birthday Hat, a Dowd tradition. They were 60 years apart to the day!

 












She loved every child that came into our family and often did an old Dutch rhyme about riding a horse to Opa's house, bouncing them on her knee like a horse, of course!

You can also cut and paste the following link to view a website with some pictures from her life and a bit of her story:

http://www.legacy.com/dignity-memorial/obituary.aspx?n=Margie-Van+Leeuwen&lc=4782&mid=4148306&=

Thanks for looking!

A New House for The Dowd Crowd

Yep, that's right. We're moving! We bought a home in Folsom and will be settled in by Christmas. And with extra room for guests, we hope you'll come and visit! We have absolutely loved the home we've been renting for the past 18 months, so we depart with some sadness, but it was foreclosed upon and change was unavoidable. So by God's grace and our parents' generous assistance we took the plunge... let's hope we won't be needing the plunger (or worse) too much though!

It's a great home in a fabulous neighborhood. We are so blessed!!

Nature Hike

A few weekends back we spent a brisk morning on a nature walk... we can't quite qualify it as a hike, although for Caelyn's short legs it could very well be! The kids experienced lots of mud and colorful leaves... and loved every minute of it!

Caelyn's First Birthday

Last month (Oct 13) Caelyn celebrated her first birthday. She has already changed so much since then, including mastering walking. But I didn't want to leave this precious day off the blog. She is our delight and treasure!

Fall, my favorite season...

We've been having loads of fun these past few weeks. We celebrated Caelyn's first birthday, visited a pumpkin patch, held a field trip to my parents' dairy in Galt and enjoyed some Halloween fun. Throw in other daily adventures and I'd say life is good! Plus the leaves are changing and the air is crisp... what more could you ask for?

To make the slideshow bigger, simply double click the image and it'll come up on another screen (you may need to allow popups and then double-click again).