Nov. 22nd - Dec. 8th, 2013

Hi Everyone!

Hope you all had a good Thanksgiving. We had a good time with the family!

 Not the Easter Bunny...The Christmas Bunny :)

 Blake and Seth helped me get ready for Thanksgiving. 

 Too tired before the party even starts 

 Third-born boys spending some bonding time 

 More bonding time...

 Jonathan was able to leave base for Thanksgiving. Somehow after reading a book to the boys about the first Thanksgiving, they got the impression that pilgrims and indians were to be joining us for the meal. Jonathan played along for us and arrived with this face painted with mud and shirtless. It had been several months since the boys had seen Jonathan anyway, so their little eyes got pretty big with he appeared at the door that day. It only took them a second to recognize him though, then they were fine. :)

 As you can see, I was hopelessly out-numbered! 

It feels like Thanksgiving came and went in a flash this year. Without skipping a beat we are on to Christmas! 

 Picking out our tree 

It was really cold out!

 Very excited! You know Seth is excited about something when he agrees to sing some Christmas songs with the rest of us. :)

Little "Owey" has taken his first step! Yup, he's only 9 months old. I guess he feels he must keep up with his brothers. He very close to full-blown walking now. At the moment he is only able to take one step before plopping down. 

I was excited to put up (well, that Micah put up) Christmas lights outside for the first time. Our house looks something akin to a gingerbread house at night, but the boys love to go out when it gets dark and turn on the lights together. 

A few funnies....

     Blake and Seth are anxiously awaiting the time with our large Pin Oak tree behind our house finishing losing all it's leaves because that means they can get their golf set out again and not worry about it getting lost in the mounds of leaves. The other morning there was an especially heavy sprinkling of leaves all over the deck and Blake goes outside and exclaims, "Good job wind! You got a lot of leaves off!!"

     "Why is it Santa Claus, like sharp things?" Blake on the reason behind Santa "Claw's" odd last name. :) 

     Seth-"I don't want to get married" Me-"You don't? Why not?" Seth-"Because I don't think that white thing will fit me"Me- "The white thing?" Seth-"Yeah, the white thing you wear when you get married" Me-"You mean the white dress that the girls wears?" Seth-"Yes". ....sigh, where these things come from, I will never know. Unfortunately, explaining to Seth that he would not have to wear "a white thing" and that he would have a nice tuxedo when he gets married did not change his mind about the matter. :) 


We are looking forward to having Kate, Noah and Roger join us for Christmas this year. They will be staying with us for about a week and a half. We are all really excited! This is always a very busy and fun month for our family and I'm looking forward to what's the Lord has in store. 

Hope you all are doing well!

Love, 

Kari, Micah, Blake, Seth and Owen

Nov. 1st - 21st, 2013

Hi Everyone,

Hope you all are looking forward to Thanksgiving next week as much as we are! Spending time with loved-ones over the holidays is the best part. Though we would love to spend the holidays with both sides of our family every year, we have had to come to grips with the fact that we can't be two places at the same time. :( So, we decided a few years ago to start alternating between spending either Thanksgiving Day or Christmas Day with one side of the family and then the other the following year. So far, it's working out pretty well. We are certainly blessed to have family close by to spend time with!

We had a good trip to Nashville a few weeks ago. Not gonna lie here, it did prove to be a little challenging to have three kiddos in a very nice hotel for two days. :) But, thank goodness, the hotel had an awesome outdoor kiddie pool that was heated. So that helped the boys get a lot of energy out. 

 Mr. Sunshine in the back seat. :)

 Hair slicked, name tag, all ready for the convention...

Look who we got to meet while there!

 It's hard to capture in pictures how HUGE as well as how GORGEOUS this place was! The property covered more than 60 acres. It houses over 2,300 rooms and if all the panes were taken out of the glass ceiling and laid flat, it would cover 7 football fields! Not joke, we did get lost at least once. :)

 One of many exploration trips while Micah was busy. 

 Just one of many amazing garden areas at the hotel. 

 We spent an extra night in Nashville so we'd have time to do a little sight-seeing. One place we visited was the Parthenon, a to-scale replica of the real one in Rome. Very impressive. Especially, knowing that it was constructed in the 1897!

 Happy Traveler

 Blake posing as...himself.  :)

 And Seth. :)

 Love this picture!

 Quick walk through Downtown Nashville before heading home. We kept hoping we'd see someone famous...we did, even got a picture with him.  ;)

 Back home...had a 74 degree day last week! Seth was much relieved to not have to wear his jacket that day. The baine of his existence!

 Owen's first hair cut at 8 and 1/2 months old. Just a trim really. :)

 Little Drummer Boy. Look at those arms go! He loves to play with anything that makes loud noises. 

We made a leaf maze yesterday to pass the time. 


A few funnies...

       When attempting to teach Seth that he needs to "Treat others the way he wants to be treated", his response was, "But, I don't want to be treated".   :)

      "That's why cars have to turn on their night lights" one of many astute observations from our dear Blake about what vehicles do at night when it gets dark. 


Well, hope you all have a good Thanksgiving. We are looking forward to seeing again Jonathan (he's coming down from Fort Meade, Maryland) and Will too (coming from Virginia). There is certainly a multitude of blessings we are thankful for this year. The biggest one being that we know Who holds the keys to our future and thus have no reason to despair.

Love to you all,

Kari, Micah, Blake, Seth and Owen

Oct. 12th - 31st, 2013

Hi Everyone,

Happy Reformation Day! We are currently driving through the beautiful mountains of Tennessee on our way to Nashville. Micah is attending a convention and, thanks to the generosity of Micah's employer, we were all able to accompany him.

Hmm...what's new around here...

I feel like Blake has been growing and learning by leaps and bounds lately. He got his first set of first-reader books and has had no trouble reading right through them. It's so neat to see him learn at his own pace. He is fascinated with writing (and making up) three-letter words. I'm pretty sure he wrote and needed me to see at least 20 words the other day. I think I was dreaming in three-letter words that night. The cat sat on a mat...

 This is the first picture he has drawn of a body of some sort with a face, eyes, nose and mouth. As you can see, the picture he drew is clearly a goat. 

First reading session with Seth. Unfortunately, Seth's attention didn't last through the third sentence, but it was neat to see Blake reading to him. :)

We visited a homeschool presentation of a medieval knight last week. Needless to say, the boys were pretty much in heaven!

Speaking of getting older, Blake got to go with Daddy to an after-hours work meeting/social. He got his own name tag and even got some appetizers. Funny story...among other leaders in the community who were present, he got to visit with the Sheriff himself! The Sheriff was very friendly and during their chat, took a small round pin off his collar and pinned it to Blake's shirt saying, "I'm gonna Deputize you, young man." As they were leaving, the weight of his furture responsibility started weighing heavily on him and Blake's little lip started quivering as he said, "Dad? I don't think I want to be Sheriff some day." :)

Celebrated Micah's 29th Birthday last week! I'm sure you all get tired of hearing me gush over him, but he really is the best guy ever! 


 In keeping with our fall traditions, we visited a pumpkin patch the other day. 

 Pumpkin Tic-Tac-Toe  

Blake turning a old-fashioned hand-cranked corn sheller, pretty neat. This one had been on this same farm for many a year. 

 I'll take that little pumpkin in the middle, please. :)

 Owen is distressed that he can't seem to decide which one to take home. 

 Blake pulling his little friend, Sophia. 

It was a little disturbing at first to get our hands so slimy, but after a few minutes, they jumped right in!

 Seth caught helping himself to his vitamins in the cupboard. :)

Owen's favorite thing is to go outside. He gets very sad when the boys get to go out without him. :( He is pulling up on just about everything now and even stood alone for a few seconds yesterday. He is so active! Always moving and exploring. He just a little guy and is still living up to his nick-name of "Tiny Tim". He is healthy and gaining weight, just on the smaller side. So cute!

Every once in a while when Owen falls down he decides to just lay there and whimper until I come get him and help him up. It's as if he wants to make sure he's okay, before he risks moving. :)

We are really excited about seeing some of Nashville this weekend. We aren't big country music fans, but we'll still have fun. I better run, these boys are needing a snack asap! 

Hope you all have a good week!

Love, 

Kari, Micah, Blake, Seth and Owen