Emerald is beautiful and looks just like her big sister, Dora, when she was born. She is such a sweet baby and very patient. She has an adoring big brother and big sister who love to hold her and check on her. In about 6 weeks Emerald and her family will be relocating to the Houston area. We are very excited about the move.

Emerald is the 7th grandchild in the Stuckey family and the 13th grandchild in the Baker family. Welcome, Emerald! We're so glad you're here!

We went to the Farmer's Market on Saturday and had lots of fun playing with Eli and Dora there and at home. Don left on Monday morning to get back to Houston for work and Carla stayed to help out when Emerald was born. Before Emerald joined us, we went to the park and ran off a little excess energy.

After Emerald arrived she had gifts for her big brother and big sister which they enjoyed playing with at home. When Emerald was a week old, Whitney took Eli, Dora, and Carla (whom they call Lerdleluh) to play miniature golf. Eli and Dora play in very creative ways! At home, we read books, had learning time, worked puzzles, and had lots of fun. Carla was sad to leave, but happy they are moving close by in a few weeks.

Whitney was driving to Portland to fulfill some continuing education requirements and Carla rode there with him on the 8th of June. Whitney went to his class and Carla left the university to make her way by public transit to the Portland airport. It was a fun adventure. There is a tram (skytram) from the university down the mountain to the river that is free if you are going down (and I was). Then I caught the Portland streetcar (which is more like a little train) from there to a more central location in Portland. From there I caught another train to the airport. All in all it was quite a fun adventure and I got to the airport hours before my flight which is always a good thing!

Few people know that Santa and Mrs. Claus have grandchildren in the Houston area. Thinking that they would likely come for a visit in the Houston area before their busiest season of the year shifts into high gear, I called Mrs. Claus and found out they were going to be in our area the first weekend of November.

I asked Mrs. Claus if they had time to come meet Hayley and Colin since seeing them with Jocelyn and Jesse last year had been such fun. Mrs. Claus asked Santa and they agreed that before they headed back north, they would come by for a quick visit and a few pictures. Hayley was very excited to meet Santa and really excited to meet Mrs. Claus. I snapped a few pictures, but my camera battery wasn't charged, so I didn't get too many. Most of the pictures are from Don's camera. As they were leaving Santa asked Hayley to remind him where she lived (he wondered if she knew her address) and she said, 'It's the house right next to Haley Brooke.'

One day as we watched a movie about the war in the Pacific, my dad commented that he'd been in a convoy and they were attacked by the Japanese. He said there were 6 or 8 destroyers and 3/4 of them were sunk and his ship, USS Phillip, was hit. I'm grateful his ship was preserved that day. I feel sadness for all those who die defending our country - their lives cut short for our freedoms. Feelings of sympathy for their families well up inside. Our duty as the beneficiaries of those sacrifices is to preserve our freedoms and liberties by paying attention to what our elected officials are doing. They are supposed to defend the Constitution and we should see that their actions reflect that responsibility.

Don's dad served in the army in Europe in WWII. He told me stories from time to time about his experiences. Like most of the veterans of WWII that I've known, he didn't talk about personal experiences in the war very often. He had an unusual opportunity to capture a German soldier. It may seem counterintuitive for that to be an unusual occurrence. The details make it clear that most captures didn't come about this way. Don's dad was going to breakfast one morning while stationed in France. As he rounded a corner on the way to the dining facility, he came face to face with a German soldier who had a luger (gun) in his hand. The German immediately put his hands up, handed Don's dad the luger, and surrendered. Wow - breakfast and a captured enemy soldier! Don's dad brought the luger home with him after the war.

Thanks to my dad and Don's for their service. Thanks to all those who serve then and now. Thanks to all who served then and now who didn't get to come home.

~Carla

After Emma had been here a week, Bridget and Eli and Dora arrived to stay for a week. We had lots of fun playing with them during their visit. Our adventures included (but were not limited to) Build a Bear workshop, Gymboree, playing with Stuckey cousins at their house and at the park and at our house, dinner with Grandma Jean and the Stuckey cousins, burning limbs in the backyard (Don came home for a few days and got to play too - hence the limb burning which Eli thought was pretty fun.)

The highlight of the week for Eli had to be the Houston Children's Museum. He mentioned it in every prayer he said after we went. It was undeniably a ton of fun! We took so many pictures there, they will be posted in their own post...

I had a birthday during their visit. I was surprised with a Kindle from Don and a Toaster/Convection Oven for the countertop from the kids. It was a fun birthday.

There are few greater joys than seeing my family playing together and loving it.

We took a plethora of pictures of which we're posting a few.

We took a few pictures while they were here and I thought I should post some of those before I forget. We had Easter the first weekend they were here and we took pictures in the bluebonnets in the front yard. Those pictures are in other posts. We also took a week and went to Florida in May and had a fun time at DisneyWorld. Whitney is so helpful and handy - the perfect son-in-law! He hung a ceiling fan in the master bedroom and also a new door for the master bedroom. He also finished the up high painting in my bathroom and installed the new light fixtures and towel racks in both bathrooms. What a guy!

We miss having our West coast family closeby. Those two months were pretty fun especially when Clint and Linsey and Hayley and Colin would come over - what great memories.

~Carla

Tenesa and I saw Lois about 24 hours before she finished opening. We also got to see the Faberge exhibit the day before it closed. What fun we had...

~Carla