The latest summer news

Breanna is enjoying the Christian Mother Goose book. Grandma Peine gave this to us when Matthew was little and each child has really enjoyed it.

My cheerful little girl!

Matthew took a book outside and sat in the sun to read it. He says he likes the feeling of being really hot and sweating. He called me over to him to show me that his sweat had filled his belly button and was overflowing. He periodically dumped his head into the pool to cool off. I thought he was pretty funny! :-)

Olivia and Matthew are such good friends. They like to build forts, climb trees, swim, read, and draw together. They talk together at night and remind each other to pray before they go to sleep. I love it!

Here are my sister Cosette and I at her bridal shower at Disney's Beach Club Resort. Cosette is getting married in August! I love this girl!

Romantic Getaway to Savannah, GA, June 08

Tim and I had a delightful time together in Savannah! We stayed for 3 nights/4 days.

The first night we stayed at a hotel on the riverfront (above).

We walked and biked all over town.

This is the living area at the Green Palm Inn. We stayed at this bed and breakfast for the 2nd and 3rd nights. It was a beautiful yet cozy place with just four rooms.

Tim standing in front of the entrance to a cemetery we walked through.

Here we are on the front porch of the Green Palm Inn. We really liked this place!

Thank you to all the family who so willingly cared for our children while we were away! We could not have had this special time without you.

Camping in St. Augustine, May 08

Tim did a great job cooking over the grill! Note the coffee pot (readily drained every AM) heating on the corner. Pancakes and bacon for breakfast. Good camp food!

Dancing campers! (And they didn't even help drain the coffee pot)

The children on the porch of Saltwater Cowboys, a restaraunt where the kids shared a platter of gator tail, frog legs, and catfish. Their favorite was the gator tail.

Climbing the coquina rock at low tide at Washington Oaks State Park, just south of St. Augustine. We enjoyed peering into the tide pools to look at the variety of limpits and sea anemones. Very cool!

Summertime around town

We took my brother Tyler out for his 11th birthday to Carrabba's. We had a great time! Tyler is a great buddy and uncle to Matthew!

Breanna spent hours holding the puppies that my family's dog Sophie had. Sophie had a litter of 9 puppies! My sister Shaunda invested in this venture by purchasing a male dog to breed with Sophie and then sold all the puppies when they were 6 weeks old. They sold like hot cakes at the price of $200 for males and $250 for females.

Here's Sophie with all nine of her pups.

Here's a picture of our back yard. If you look very closely at the middle upper part of the picture you may see a little racoon or something of the sort.

This is no racoon! I zoomed in and found Matthew at the top! He has become quite a good climber...I'm thankful he can get down as well as he can get up.

Sarah Grace is really growing up!

Sarah is an expert when it comes to shoes. She can wear a shoe confidently no matter the size, shape, or height, straps or no straps, laces or not. She tries out different pairs throughout a day.

Well, maybe not so confident here! :-)

When we took out the slip 'n' slide this summer, Sarah did not hesitate to plop belly down and slide down the hill. She loved it!

Sarah just loved feeling so grown up! This is at Busch Gardens.

What a beauty!

Springtime at Cape Canaveral National Seashore

This spring we visited our favorite beach-Cape Canaveral National Seashore in Titusville. This time we did something a bit different and drove along some dirt roads in the park with our van doors and windows open in the marsh and bay areas. On one side of the road was the marshy area with water canals and on the other side was the bay. We stopped for a picnic on the bay (above and below)

It was very windy!! Breanna was having a hard time looking at the scenery.

There, that's better!

In the canals we saw many alligators. Just look at these guys (or gals, I didn't get close enough to find out)! Here are just a couple of the giants we saw! Nobody wanted to get out of the van when we came upon these!

Wintertime 2007-2008

Pajama Party!

One night this past winter, Tim turned the sprinklers on when freezing temperatues were forecasted. The result was lots of icicles all over the front yard bushes!

Our neighbors generously gave us a beautiful old piano! We are so excited! Olivia started lessons with Aunt Becky and I love it when Tim takes some time to sit down and play.

Here's my excuse for limited wall decorations... how could the children learn to scale walls if they were cluttered? :-)

Aunt Krista hosted a sweet Valentine's Day Party at her home. Here are all the Claerbout cousins with the three moms pictured in the back (Ginger, Leilani, and I). Three more cousins scheduled to arrive this year!

Flying with Grandpa Peine

Grandpa Peine took Matthew flying for his 7th birthday. Matthew was thrilled!

This picture with all the children is at the Holy Land Experience in Orlando. Aunt Julie made the matching shirts for the girls!

Olivia is an amazing helper! She loves to cook, clean and organize. God knew I needed a daughter gifted in these areas! :-)

I love my man!

Mom Peine's (Janice) Birthday Celebration Weekend, Vero Beach, Fl, October 6-7

We had a delightful weekend together celebrating a wonderful woman!

Richard and Janice, Jon, Julie, and Rosemary, Zach, and our family. Breanna fell asleep as seen in the front left. :-)

Matthew enjoying the sand and surf. He is showing off "something crablike" he says.



Matthew, Breanna, Olivia, and cousin Rosemary on the suite patio. They were rounding up lots of snails!

As you can probably figure out from the above picture, it was very windy over the weekend. Breanna was giving her daddy lots of kisses while we were all enjoying the ocean and wind on the dock.

Zach and Matthew looking out at the ocean. Lots of big waves!

Celebration family conference in High Springs, FL, October 18-21

Aunt Becky having a chat with Sarah on the porch.

Round table discussion at the lodge. From left, Mark, Matt, Eric, Brian, Rob, and Tim. We stayed in a "mini lodge" with three other families. The conference meetings were held morning and evening and included hundreds of people from around various Sovereign Grace Churches in Florida. The theme of this year's Celebration was Reconciliation. We had a wonderful time of fellowship and teaching.

Olivia and her friend Allison.

Good friends Matthew and Brenner in back and Natalie and Sarah up front.

Erik took a load of children for a joy ride...through the woods and all!