When we got to the hospital, Hayley was a little put off by the warmer and other equipment in the room and didn't want to get too close to Sydney. After we'd been in the room for about 30 minutes and Sydney was wrapped in a blanket and I was holding her, Hayley walked over close and started singing 'Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star' very softly to Sydney. It was a very sweet moment. Colin was very excited to see Sydney and wasn't a bit shy about getting near her. Bridget and her three children came to the hospital to see Sydney too. We wound up eating together in the room and it was quite a party atmosphere.

Sydney is adorable and so sweet. She has been such a good baby with a gentle and sweet disposition. She smiles and is very ticklish. She weighed 7 pounds when she was born, but seems very petite to me. She has less hair than Hayley had, but it is the same color - dark brown. She has very beautiful features and deep blue eyes. Sydney is our eighth grandchild.

by Carla Stuckey (also known as MiMi)

Emerald was really good and spent the days in the stroller playing with toys, looking at all the sights, and having bottles. Everyone enjoyed the different parks we went to. Eli got to go through Padowan training at the Jedi training center at Disney's Hollywood Studios. We all liked the Star Tours ride. We all got to ride on the It's a Small World ride - even Emerald.

Universal Studios Islands of Adventure was a big hit with Eli and Dora. They posed with Spiderman and took pictures with Captain America and several other heroes. The spiderman ride was quite exciting. They also loved the Pteranodon Flyers ride in Jurassic Park and the Cat in the Hat ride in Suessland. The highlight for them might have been visiting Hogwarts and getting wands, butterbeer, and riding the Hipogriff ride. All in all it was a great vacation.

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.