Magic Treehouse

Oh No!! Peter wanted to pose like this.

Underneath the treehouse in the shed is our 3-wheeler

(A Michael Thurman original)--we are sad about that, too.

Destruction.

When Katherine walked out and saw the treehouse she asked in a very disgusted voice,
"Who did that to our treehouse?"

Inside the Magic Treehouse before the wind started to blow!

Cousins Camp 2010--Heimdals, Ernsts, and DeBrys--We used "Magic Treehouse" as our theme.

Builing the treehouse--April 2005

Eliza waves out the window.

Michael, Eliza, and David building the floor.

"The wind started to blow.

The leaves began to shake.

The wind blew harder. And the tree house started to spin.

It spun faster and faster.

Then everything was still.

Absolutely still."

(Magic Treehouse Books by Mary Pope Osborne)

We were all sad that our treehouse got knocked over by a big tree. There was a storm a few nights ago--at 11PM. We all slept through it and did not hear a thing. Guess we were worn out. A few other big trees went down in the neighborhood so everyone has been busy with their chainsaws. Thanks to friends and neighbors for their help!

Baby, Bishop Release, and Tornadoes

Lot's to catch up on from the last few days. It will be brief since this is David. Marilyn can elaborate later.

Baby Boy:
Clark Andrew DeBry
Born May 2, 2011. 7 lbs, 1 oz., 20 in long. Looks just like our youngest children.

Bishop Release:
I was released from being Bishop yesterday. It was great timing...and after 5 3/4 years, it was time for someone else to get the blessings :).

Me and Marilyn after the release.

This is the Sunday I was called (Sept. 11, 2005) - notice how young, tan, and energetic I look. The kids are young, too.

After my release. Older, worn out, but wiser :)

Tornadoes:
This past week our area was hit by the same storm as Mississippi and Alabama, and we were hit pretty hard. Not as hard as the others, but in our Stake bounderies (multiple congregations in one area in the LDS church) there were about 20 deaths (no members died). Our stake has been helping out and we are going to be going down to Alabama or Mississippi to help out in the next few weeks.

The neighborhood of my 1st counselor got hit by a tornado, including his house, but he didn't suffer any major damage. His neighbors weren't so lucky, and if these had been mobile homes, they would have been destroyed. We drove to his house and took some pictures (about 8 miles away).

House with part of the roof missing

Row of 3 houses with parts of their roofs missing. It was amazing to see. There was debris everywhere. Even a canoe was sitting out in the middle of someone's yard.

Metal wrapped around a tree.

This is a ~$300,000 home that is probably totaled. It is right next to my 1st Counselors home. They said they felt the house lift off the foundation as they ran downstairs. If you notice, many of the walls are crooked, like a funny house.

Part of the garage ripped off another home in the same neighborhood.

Ready or Not, Here I Come

Well, we are down to the wire. It has been a LONG 9 months and I go in tomorrow morning to be induced, I think that I am ready, but I am nervous. We will welcome a new little DeBry boy into the world. We still haven't settled on a name, but have a good list. Someone suggested letting the kids name him. (If we did that in the past we'd have a Gingerbread Boy, Winnie-the-Pooh, and SpongeBob!) They get some input, but in reality I have the power. The kids are all pretty excited. Peter woke up yesterday morning and said, "I CAN wait! Only two more days!" They have been sweet and helpful. I can't hardly bend over or do much. I asked Peter to pick some towels up off the floor for me--he willing did it--he used his feet to pick them up--just like he has seen me do for the last few months. It was pretty funny.

The other day I swept the kitchen floor. It hurts to bend over, so I just left the pile in the corner. About an hour later, I came into the kitchen and William had the dust pan and small broom and was sweeping it up--he even got it mostly in the dust pan and into the trash. I started crying--yes, I am at that point! Another story about William. I was laying on the couch and he had a play stethoscope, he came and put it on my belly and "talked" to the baby--he said, "Hi, how are you doing? I love you--Bye". It will be fun to see him grow up within days and have a new brother to take care of.

We've had everything pretty much ready--thanks to my friend April for all of her babies clothes and car seat and maternity clothes. I had gotten rid of everything. The only thing we really needed was a place for the baby to sleep. I looked on Craigslist for something and never could find anything. We did go buy a bassinet so that the baby would not end up in a closet. It is set up in Parker's room and he asked where I got it--I told him that I bought it at Wal-Mart--he was so shocked that I had actually paid for something. It was worth it just for his reaction! It's funny how the preparation for the first one differs from the 8th one. With Eliza I had a nursery "theme", had made blankets, had purchased a new stroller with car-seat that hooked into it (after much research, had clothes folded and ready to go, and had a stocked diaper-bag. This one gets ALL hand-me downs, corner in a room, and I just remembered I need to wash the car seat cover--and I don't even have a diaper bag--I just hope there is something in the van that we can use--diapers or otherwise (kitchen towel, sock, etc.). If I get really desperate, I go find a "new Mom" who has it all together!

One thing is that there are a lot more people waiting to love and take care of this one! We are excited for our new adventure and can't wait to meet him. We are READY and are anxious for the big day tomorrow!

General Conference Traditions

Digging into the goodies. This is one of our favorite traditions!
Eliza embraces that tradition of falling asleep.

Peter is fading, too.

This is from years ago. You can see David in the background keeping his tradition alive.

Parker and Eliza show off their Conference Books while Michael makes faces!

We have a few fun traditions that we have been pretty good about. Every October and April we listen to General Conference. What a great opportunity to listen to the prophet, apostles, and other church leaders. I have little activities to keep the kids focused. Our two main traditions that have held up over time are junk food/goodies and David falling asleep at least once during the weekend event. He claims that it is during one of the seventies talks so that it wasn't that important and I always try to convince him that it was the best talk yet! One year when he fell asleep it was April Fool's Day--while he slept, we sewed him to the couch, painted his fingernails bright pink, and tied his shoelaces together. We thought that would teach him. He was alert for the next session!

This April Ben and Athena (David's youngest sister) came to visit. They were in Washington DC for an internship for four months. They rented a car and drove 6 hours to spend the weekend. It was really fun to see them again. We just hung out, visited, played and watched a wild paint-ball outing and just had fun being together. Family is great. Thanks for coming and being with us.

Eggs

Fresh eggs ready to dye.

Peter gives Tyles a congratulatory hug after he catches a chicken.

Back in the fall we build a chicken coop and got 4 chickens. I think the trauma of moving must have been quite overwhelming so they quit laying. We also did not get their light up--which made for a long, cold winter. They are tough and survived. We eagerly checked for eggs for weeks and then the novelty wore off. In the spring, when things started warming up, David decided to clean the coop and check for eggs--guess what he found--19! (It's a good thing we didn't decide to do cows--with that type of neglect there would be some serious mastitis!) They have been laying for months now and it is great to get eggs--4 a day. We usually use most of them and give the extras to friends and neighbors. Eliza is the one who has really taken over the gathering and cleaning of the coop. We feed them our "scraps" from dinner and built the coop from miscellaneous wood and tin--mostly free stuff. It's been a fun little project and hobby.

Road Trip

Peter enjoying the "Wild Thing Dinner"

Well, I was just gearing up to clean all the bathrooms (to try and induce labor), but I noticed that David had left the external high-speed internet device home, so I decided to go blog crazy and get several posts up of our lives these last few months. We've had some GREAT times.


We made a fun trip to Nashville--went to the temple, a fun bookstore, and JoAnn's--a big fabric/craft store (I think that we may frequent this temple more often)! We then drove up to the Piepers in Kentucky for a visit and to spend a few nights. Uncle Blaine (my Mom's youngest sibling) and Aunt Marianne sure take care of us. It was cold and rainy, so we stayed inside and played lots of Rock Band, watched TV and just ate and relaxed. One of our favorite things is "Wild Thing Dinner". Peter really got into it this year. We also love to go to there tiny branch--I think we about double the attendance! We had a great time with them and love our visits to Kentucky.

Date Night

We try to take the kids out for some one-on-one time. I took Parker out a few weeks ago to buy a new suit--his has been way to small for several months and it finally became a priority. He found one that he loved and I even managed to get the pants hemmed by Sunday--the last pair we duct taped up on the way to church. Anyway, he was in a very talkative and chatty mood and opened up about life in Middle School (thank goodness for the DeBry genes that have given him some social skills!) Among other things, he let me know that he didn't want me driving him to school in my robe and pajamas anymore. We had a great evening it was fun to get out with him.