Catch Up

Mom and Dad with all their Grandkids (except Maddy) Grace, Abby and Anna 1st day @ Lafayette Not sure what prompted me to update my blog but I think it's way over due, just in case there a few people who actually look at it! The good and the bad: My Grandma King passes away a year and 2 days after her husband in June 2010. We will greatly miss her and the ties to the Valley, my homestead. Hard to believe that both of my mom's parents have passed away. We also lost a dear cousin this past summer. Matt Wood. A wonderful young man who James spent a lot of time with growing up. More like a brother to him, he was in our wedding party almost 12 years ago. Thank God he knew Jesus and we have assurance he is in Heaven. At the same time this happened, we had to surrender our first dog Mac, to a Boxer Rescue. He became more and more anxious and fearful and bit a little girl. Thankfully I've known the girl's mom forever! The little girl was ok too but we couldn't take chances with new people coming in our house often. Very unusual for a Boxer as well, but the Vet agreed it was out of fear that he did it, not aggression. To top of an eventful and sad summer, we took a trip out west to Cody, Wyoming. Spent the week on a Dude ranch with my side of the family. All the Booher siblings and families made it (minus little Maddy who was too young). We had a fantastic time and made some amazing memories. I am going to attempt to post pictures of this on here even though they are all of FB. Darn FB, I spend too much time on it. Back to School this year meant some big changes as well. Anna started K full time and all 3 of our kids switched from FHS to Lafayette. This has been a big adjustment and hard to go through at times. The good in all this is that it draws us closer to God as we spend more time in prayer for our children and their schooling. I am seeing God refine all of us, esp. Isaac who had the toughest time. He is growing and developing good character through this. He's handled it amazingly. His biggest adjustment was missing his friends. Grace misses some friends but actually seems to be blossoming academically at Lafayette, which we are so thankful for! She was assessed for being very below level in her reading. They put her in a reading group every other day where she got help from the reading teachers. In just over a month, she is up to level and doing fantastic. I think the reading teachers were even shocked at how quickly she has moved ahead. She takes school seriously and is very focused. Very proud of her and Isaac for their hard work. Anna has had to adjust more to getting up EVERY day and going to school. This routine got old around week 2. She also had two migraines in September, which gave me a scare. I realized the she'd been eating a lot of bologna sandwiches which I think were a trigger, on top of not drinking as much and being over tired, new routine, etc. She seems to be doing well now and has gone almost 4 weeks without having one. Praise God! So, here are pictures from out West and back to school!

Facebook has taken over!!!

Ok, facebook has taken over blog writing! It's been almost a year. How sad! Just in case some people read I thought it was time to post some pictures and give an update!

Since last March, we have moved. That has been the most significant change in our life. We moved back to the "country." We love it. It's a perfect blend of having neighbors and having space. We are close to Dewitt and yet we have 2 acres. What a blessing. You can see our pond in the above pictures and Grace proudly sitting by "her pond." When we moved in April, she was delighted to find 2 toads! (fyi, they were mating, but she thought they were just really good friends!)

We also have 2 boxers, Mac and Mindy. They are a stress at times, but mostly we find much delight and stress relief with them.

Kitty humor

I had to take a picture of our cat Sprite. She periodically sits right in front of the tv and watches very closely and cocks her head. It makes me laugh every time. It probably isn't that funny, James doesn't normally laugh at her like I do...maybe I am just a mom who is at home too much??

Isn't she pretty though?

Isn't he swell??

This was one of many pre-upward ceremony shots I took. The kids were on their way out the door for the closing ceremony of their basketball league. I snapped this one of Grace looking at Isaac....her face just shows it all! "Isn't he swell, the best brother ever!" I love this picture now, b/c it's such a rare moment to catch Grace showing her unashamed love for her brother. Don't get me wrong, they love eachother and spend hours pretending to be dinasours or jedi's...(Isaac is so blessed to have a sister who isn't ALL girly) but they do know how to fight too:) I agree with Grace too, she is one blessed girl to have such an amazing brother.

Syracuse Winter

Hi everyone...It's been a little while since I posted anything. Most of you know that Syracuse in January and Feb. has little to offer, unless you ski. We have been doing our best to avoid getting sick and taking adavantage of those balmy days, you know, when we make it into the double digits...or 30's...whohoo! We did recently make our trek to PA (Lancaster) to see James' folks. We decided to stop half way...Scranton, PA (home of The Office)..at a hotel with a pool. Break up the trip. The kids had fun swimming. We all crammed into a small room, the kids slept great, the dog, not so much! So, I will be posting again soon, hopefully, as we make it out of hibernation:)

The Whole Family

Abby, Anna, Grandma and Grace

Isaac and Daddy

All 5 of us

{Top Left to right) Pat, Chris, David, Danielle, James, Me, Mike and

Rebecca. Isaac, David Buff, Ethan, Matthew, Grandpa (Dad) Anna,

Grandma (mom) Abby, Grace and Noah.

We finally managed to get the WHOLE family together...all the Booher kids, spouses and kids. The only ones missing were the doggies:) The whole photo shoot went pretty quick, considering there were 18 of us in all!

James' birthday

We had a nice week over James' birthday...which was the 14th. The big 32~ now he is as old as me... I think the kids were more excited than James was...they helped me wrap and make the cake. Here are some pictures of our little celebration. James got a new Bills shirt.

Christmas '08

General MacArthur....."Mac"

This is an early family Christmas present. James has always wanted a boxer. We actually picked him out a week ago..but my someone couldn't wait until Christmas morning:) Which I think is prob. wise. Christmas is a busy day anyhow without throwing a puppy into the mix! I video-taped the kids expressions, which were priceless. They love him and he has the sweetest temperment.

Melanie and Anna

My little Anna loves to play with Melanie Cogan, Grace's little girl. They have common interests, you know, Barbies, dress up, and eating! Here are some pics. of them eating and sitting on one cushion on my couch. So cute.

Halloween

We took the kids trick or treating. As you can see, the girls were fairies and Isaac was Prince Caspian. Grace was fearless, as usual, running from house to house with Anna trying to keep up. Isaac ended up riding in the stroller for most the time b/c he saw a scary costume:( Poor guy. He is pretty sensitive..

Teddy

Grace's teddy is so loved. It was given to her about 5 years ago. Thanfully, it was an LLBean bear, which is why I think it has held up so well. He has lost his nose, had a 'tummy' refill and lots of stitches.

I actually wrote LLBean and sent a few of these pictures to say thanks for making a great teddy! (and maybe get a new one out of?:) who knows!

I love Fall

I just love Fall...I wish it lasted longer in CNY but as many know, lots of snow fell yesterday and it isn't November yet! Here are some pumpkins the girls decorated at Fall Festival in Rochester with Aunt Laura. Anna also painted some walnuts she picked up on one of our walks. She picks up leaves, walnuts, worms, you name it!

PlayDough Creation

Anna loves to do anything that makes a mess, playdough qualifies.. She made me little donuts:) Then proudly displayed them while I took her picture. Such a ham.

Auntie Laura and Uncle Chad

We went to visit Aunt Laura and Uncle Chad

in Rochester on Saturday. We spent Sunday morning playing at the park. It was a perfect fall day. The kids played dodge ball with their Dad and Uncle Chad. Lots of fun.

Visit from "far away Grandpa and Grandma"

James' parents came up for a visit last weekend. They drove their "smart" car...James referred to it as a Matchbox car, felt like he could pick it up by the roof and play with it! They get lots of looks and laughs:) But, we had a great time together an the kids were thrilled to see them and Rosie too!

Analogy....

I Read this little story on one of the forums I moderate....so who knows if it's true or not. That being said, I think it's a great little analogy of one of the fundamental differences btwn. Conservatives and Liberals. Vote for Less Government Nov 4th! Vote McCain. "I was talking to a friend of mine's little girl, and she said she wanted to be President some day. Both of her parents, liberal Democrats, were standing there, so I asked her, 'If you were President what would be the first thing you would do?' She replied, 'I'd give food and houses to all the homeless people.' 'Wow - what a worthy goal.' I told her, 'You don't have to wait until you're President to do that. You can come over to my house and mow, pull weeds, andsweep my yard, and I'll pay you $50.Then I'll take you over to the grocery store where the homeless guy hangs out, and you can give him the $50 to use toward food or a new house.' She thought that over for a few seconds 'cause she's only 6. And while her Mom glared at me, she looked me straight in the eye and asked, 'Why doesn'tthe homeless guy come over and do the work, and you can just pay him the $50?' And I said, 'Welcome to the Republican Party.' Her folks still aren't talking to me. "

Toby

On an occasional Sunday, we watch Toby, David and Danielle's dog. He is "scratching" our dog itch, so to speak. We get to play with him for the day and send him home. He is a lot of fun and the kids seem to be asking less about getting a dog, sometimes:)

Whatcha' lookin' at Grandpa?? Anna hung out a lot with Grandpa on our hike and then back at Chris' house.

An Autumn Hike to the "Look Out"

We spent a day at Chris and Pat's house and my Dad's property...the fingerlakes' trail...that over looks Lab Pond in Fabius. We had a great day. My sister came from Clinton with her family and my parents came up too. We had a wonderful day outside enjoying God's creation. The kids were so tired they actually asked to go to bed:) Now that's a good day!