Meet the Elderkins

I am the oldest of five kids. Tara is two years younger than me, but she was way ahead of me in life events. While I was goofing off and traveling the world, Tara was busy raising a family. She actually met her husband, Clark, in middle school. They liked each other since they were at least 14 (my memory fails me on exact age). When Clark was 19, he went on a mission for church and when he returned two years later they got married. When Tara got married, she said they wanted four kids: two boys and two girls. She said they wanted to get started on their family because she wanted to be done having children before she was 30. She got her two boys and her two girls, and she had the last kid two months after turning 30. How's that for family planning?

Cute family, huh?

Savannah is the oldest. She's nine. She's one of the brightest nine year old's I've ever met. She's also one of the most creative story tellers I've ever met. When she gets in trouble she's got no shortage of quick retorts, "You were calling me? I thought you were talking to another Savannah?" or "I didn't mean to pinch him, I thought I was squeezing his shirt." She's got gorgeous blond curly hair that reminds me of my sister, Whitney. That is probably why I call her Whitney so much. I think a career in writing or acting will be well suited for her.

Shelby is next in line. Shelby is a very sweet girl, but she hasn't always been that way. Tara went through several years of dealing with therapists and psychiatrists trying to find someone who could properly diagnose and treat Shelby. Now that she's properly medicated, she is a sweet and creative girl. You saw some of her work when she turned our freezer box into her "no boys allowed" clubhouse. She loves to draw, take artistic photos, and do anything arts and crafts related. She had been growing her hair out her whole life. She just recently chopped it all off so that she could donate it to Locks of Love. What a sweet act of love. I think she's going to take after Tara and be a teacher later in life. She just seems like a natural for that role.

Then there is John, or JD. He is all boy. When you go to their house, you see a plexiglass shield running the whole length and width of the stair rails. This is because when he was two, he committed his first daredevil act. He climbed on the wrought iron rails, stood on the railing, and jumped from the second story down to a chair in the foyer below. Tara was in the kitchen and heard a shriek of fear followed by hysterical laughs and found him safely sitting in the chair below. Tara took care of him trying that move again, but he pretty much finds other opportunities daily to make trouble. He makes Reagan look pretty tame some days. I think he'll be the next Evil Knievil.

And the caboose is "little" Landon. I say little in quotes because he is five months older than Reagan (Yeah, she may have started early, but she won't be a happy free nester any faster than I will be. Ha!), a little taller, but easily twice her weight. I've never seen a more dense body mass per square inch than on that boy. He's quite deceptive. You go to pick him up expecting him to weigh about what Reagan does and you'll topple down with him and throw out your back in the process if you can't recover quickly enough. He's a happy and expressive kid and just tries to keep up with the others as best as he can. He'll be a great football player or staring on American Gladiator revival seven with some name like "Rock."

Wow, they were mostly looking at the camera! Look at the flower in Shelby's hair. She picked it off a bush. So cute!
I took these pictures for them when they were here last week for Reagan's birthday and Bailey's blessing (yeah, I'm behind in postings). I hope they enjoy their pictures. It was a fun challenge to get that whole brood all going in the same direction.