Nov. 21st - Dec. 24rd, 2014

Merry Christmas!

We hope you have a wonderful Christmas this year! The Lord has given us many blessings this year including a new house, time with family at the beach and the biggest of the year...a new baby on the way! Yes, Fox baby number four is expected to arrive sometime in early June of next year and we are very excited. The boys have already started collecting baby names for consideration. So far, "Lassie" and "Amos" are at the top of their list. :)

Since last post we have been busy with school and getting ready for Christmas.

Had the Fox family over for Thanksgiving. A lively bunch!

We are really enjoying having Uncle Jonathan being stationed only an hour and a half away. He is able to come up and stay most weekends, which the boys love! 

School is going better each week. It took us a few weeks to really get into it, but it's going well. Seth is learning his letters and how to write them. The math section of Blake's curriculum was not quite challenging enough for him, so we started a new math curriculum and it seems to be a much better fit. Something I really like about homeschooling is being able to tailor their curriculum for their specific needs. He is such a fast learner! 

Owen is doing a little more sitting and playing lately, which has been nice! Once in a while he will sit and play with his trains-yay!

Part of our daily routine is a special reading time with Owen in his room while the other boys are getting ready for the day. He is enjoying our book time together and I'm hoping starting to get a taste for the awesome world of books. He has his favorite books that get read at least four times a week. Mostly books about trucks or trains. :)

The boys are still big into books. I think Blake's love of learning and reading has been a motivation for Seth to learn his letters and how to read.

Another rare moment of sitting and playing!

A little laundry gnome I found.

A venture out to "the woods" in our backyard. The boys have been working on a fort for a while and it's starting to take shape. On this particular day, Owen was tired so he sat in the stroller and Oscar decided he needed a ride too. :)

An almost daily scene at our house... eating is not Owen's favorite thing to do as you can tell by the lack of baby fat on his body. :)  There's so many other things he'd rather be doing!

Christmas 2014

We decided to have some fun with our Christmas tree this year. Micah and I went to the store and got a Christmas tree and Micah staked it to the ground in the woods in our backyard to make it look like it had grown there. The next morning, we told the boys we were going to go to the woods to look for a Christmas tree. They were super excited, although they were a little skeptical as to whether or not we could find a good one.

Well, what do you know there is a perfect tree right there!    It was so funny, Micah and I didn't get quite the reaction we were expecting. We thought they would just flip out in excitement over the magical appearance of the perfect tree in our very own backyard. But, all along the the way into the woods the boys had been looking at all these huge trees towering over their heads and trying to decide which one to pick. So the first thing they said when the saw the purchased tree, was "Oh no, that one is way too small!" :)

Blake was especially disappointed that it wasn't as big as the other trees....it took a few minutes to get over....

But after talking about it, we finally decided it the little one would work. :) So Daddy, "cut" it down with the chainsaw.

Taking home the perfect tree...by this point they were excited again. Watching Daddy use a chainsaw always helps. :)

We went to Nana and GanGan's for the annual Fox family cookie decorating contest. The boys with Uncle Judah, one of their favorite uncles. Whoever has an electronic with game is usually the favorite at that moment. :)

Here is the whole Fox family. It was fun to spend time with all of Micah's siblings there. 

In other news...

Scott graduated Navy Boot Camp the day before Thanksgiving. Dad, Jonathan and Will attended the graduation in Illinois and we were able to watch it live online. We are really proud of him. He has started the 8 weeks Pre-BUDs training at the same base, and if all goes well, he will ship out to Coronado the first week in February. We are super spoiled to get to have him around for two weeks leave over Christmas! It might be a while until we see him after this visit. When I asked him if Boot Camp was different than he expected, he said it was easier in some ways than he thought and whole lot more standing around.  :) 

A few funnies...

Seth- "Mom, do you know why I have to pop my knuckles all the time?" "Because I have a pop allergy."  :)

I was cracking some eggs in the kitchen when Blake came in and said, "Mom, can I help you hatch the eggs?"

We were putting together a craft, and Blake told Seth "I already know how to do it, because I read the constructions on the back." 

Blake and I were watching a video about the lifespan of turtles and one scene was filmed in Nevada at a wind farm in the desert. Blake says, "Oh wow, that's SO nice that they have those fans in the desert!"



God has been really gracious to us this year and we want to give Him the glory for anything that is good in our lives. We are unworthy to be called His, but He's grace is beyond our thinking. He is good!

We hope you have a wonderful Christmas season! We are planning to spend Christmas day with Jonathan, Scott, and Will and then go to the Foxes on Friday. Dad was able to go to Kansas and spend Christmas with Kate, Noah, Joy and James. I'm a little jealous I'm not there to hold my new nephew, Bryce. :)

Love to you all!

Kari, Micah, Blake, Seth, Owen and Baby :)

Oct. 14th - Nov. 20th, 2014

Hi Y'all!

Hope you all are having a wonderful fall season so far. We are looking forward to celebrating Thanksgiving next week and are blessed to have many things to be thankful for.

Here's little of what we have been up to since our last post in October.

 We celebrated Micah's BIG birthday in October. :) We had a corn hole tournament, which I'm sad to say didn't turn out in favor of the birthday guy, but nonetheless, we had fun. Micah wears 30 well and is still my hero and the love of my life. He is one of the best parts of my life and is such a blessing to everyone he is around. 

What a man! 

On to other things....It's been a dream of mine for a while now to go camping as a family. We got to go for the first time for two nights during the peak season for color in the trees. It was so pretty out there. The trees were brilliant with color. Overall, our first camping experience went better than we expected even though the first night was a bit on the frigid side, the boys handled it well and we all had a good time. The enjoyment outweighed the work. :) 

 Ready at a moment's notice with the lighter. Owen carried that thing around for hours. 

 Becoming a real man. 

 Got a visit from Pappy the second day we were there. The boys always enjoy having their Pappy around. :)

 Something about watching a fire blaze is so mesmerizing....

Found a friend along the way. 

 Headed out for a hike up the "hill" which turned into a two-mile excursion to the top of the mountain! Thankfully, we had some uncles around to help haul the boys up the trail when they ran out of steam. 

 Quite the view!

Made it! Whew!

 The past few days the highs have been in the 40's so we've spent a lot more time indoors lately. Good preparation for the coming months of winter...gulp!

 Owen has learned how to put together a board puzzle. He is very very busy on an average day. I'll explain more below...

 Outing with Daddy to a work meeting. Every once in a while Micah will have an evening meeting and he will take one of the boys with him. This particular evening he decided to take both boys. You know that old saying "Two boys is half a boy, and three boys is no boy at all"? Well, we learned that the boys do better when it's just one of them at a time when it comes to meetings with Daddy. :) The temptation to make the other one laugh during the session is just too great. 

 So more on Owen's "busyness". Now that we are doing school for a few hours during the weekdays, I've noticed just how busy Owen is. I'll usually do school with Seth in the morning while Blake occupies Owen and then I'll do Blake's school in the afternoon while the other two are sleeping. Working out well so far. We also do reading time with Blake and Seth in the morning and that is Owen's golden hour to wreak havoc on the house. The little cutie. While reading to Blake and Seth I will see him out of the corner of my eye darting here and there while I read and I try not to imagine what he is getting into or doing. Normally, he does pretty well at not getting into things he shouldn't and usually happily occupies himself by going from one toy or activity to the next and the next. He is so funny, he'll just keeps going and going and going. 

The other day I decided to just write down some of the things he did during his average morning "busy time". Here goes... looked at books, colored in coloring book, got out toy cars, played with tower stacking activity, went through house flushing toilets, got out train set and played train, pushed laundry basket around house like it was a car, got out coffee server and hot pot and played "coffee" in living room, took clothes off, dumped out and played with blocks, played with toy guitar, got out and put on Seth's tennis shoes, etc... You may think I'm exaggerating, but this was over the course of maybe an hour or so. It's fun times! He almost never sits down. :) He is hilarious though, makes us laugh, and we love him to pieces!

I just keep thinking that I'm so thankful God gave me three younger brother who I used to think were SO weird and annoying when they were little. But, I think growing up with them has really helped prepare me for life with three boys of my own! So, thanks bros for being just the way you were. :)

 Learning tower stacking! 

That's all for now folks. :)

Funnies: 

Seth- "I put it on the coughing table in the living room"

Blake - "Seth, guess which hand I put my vitamin in. You can pick two."

Seth- "I wish I could ride a bonking bronco someday"

Other News:

Scott graduates from bootcamp on Nov. 26th. He is doing great up there. We have gotten a few letters from him and it sounds like he really enjoying the structure and the environment. We are proud of him and I know his recruiter is confident that he will do really well. He begins his next phase of training around the first of December. 

We are enjoying weekends with Jonathan for the past month or so. He is stationed close enough so that he can come up and stay with us Saturday afternoon through Sunday evenings. He is doing well in his "spook" job. :)

Hope you all are doing well and are ready to celebrate the holidays. 

Love to you all!

Kari, Micah, Blake, Seth and Owen

Aug. 25th- Oct. 13th, 2014

Hi Everyone!

I promised to let you all know how things go since starting school. As evidenced by the fact that it's been over six weeks since my last update...starting school has definitely kept us busy! My afternoon quiet time to get things done has turned into school time with Blake, so it feels as though an average day has little to no extra time to do things (like update our blog). :)

Since my last update we have...started school, been quarantined with chickenpox, helped with a conference at church, been to a week-long beach reunion, and held down the fort while Micah attended a Men's Retreat for the weekend. Things should be slowing down somewhat in the next few weeks.

All the pictures I  have are from our beach trip with the Shoemaker side of the family. I tried to keep the number of pictures under control, but there were so many fun ones! Anyway, we had a great time. Hope you enjoy some pictures.

 Jonathan had the vision to try a new recipe of bourbon apple pie. So yummy!

 The four little guys had so much fun together. Roger is such a little angel baby. He's so sweet and laid back! Owen's having a hard time in this picture.

 Lots of eating went on at this trip. As Dad says, "Them Shoemakers sure can eat!"

 A flash back into the past of many hours spent together in Bible time growing up. It was neat to huddle up together again as family. When we do manage to all be together in recent years it seems there are more spouses and babies to add to the group. It's awesome! :)

 Uncle James bought some Nerf guns for the boys that turned out to be a huge hit for everyone. 

 Went on a few late night crab hunting expeditions. Jonathan caught the biggest crab. The little guys had fun looking at them the next morning.

 My guys. :)

 Owen "playing" the Wii with Jonathan. He got pretty good at the whole arm swing thing.

 Will joined Scott on a few excursions to the sea to help Scott prep for boot camp.

 The sista's. Oh, and Will...

 Scott saying goodbye to his last few days of freedom before shipping out to the Great Lakes a couple days after the trip ended.

 Owen making sure Roger has the proper dose of aloe. :)

 Owen taught Roger the art of a proper tantrum while at the beach. Actually, I think they are playing "dead" after being nailed with a Nerf gun.

 Steak dinner one night in celebration of Jonathan returning from Afghanistan. Thanks again Moms and Pops!

 Jonathan gave out the gifts he brought everyone from overseas.

 Everyone take a good look at this hair. It's the last you'll see of it for many years. :)

 Owen is 100% full throttle. He just ran and ran all over the beach!

 We had some time for a photo shoot of all of us, since we never know when it's the last time or a long time until we are all together again.

 Enormous sand castle built by the Bros.

The boys and their uncles. Crazy bunch!


In Other News....

We get to celebrate Micah's big 3-0 birthday next week! He is aging well and still just getting into his prime. :)

Scott left for bootcamp in Illinois. Let me know if you would like his address. He can't receive any packages, but letters or cards would be appreciated.

School is going okay. Still getting in a good rhythm with it. Blake is eating it up and doing great. Some of what we are doing is a good deal below his reading level, but he's enjoying having all the little assignments to do. He is actually sitting next to me reading over my shoulder as I type. :) He's doing great! Seth's school is on more of an as-we-want-to basis. But, he is learning his letters and going well with the curriculum.

In a few weeks we will get to go camping together as a family YAY! I've been wanting to go camping for several years and it will be our first time as a family. Hopefully, it goes well so that everyone will want to keep it up. :)

Owen is starting to talk more and say a few sentences, although I'm not sure anyone outside the family could understand what he's saying. He is still quite dramatic and expressive. His hobbies are: sitting on the mower in the garage, talking about mowing when Daddy gets home, talking about Daddy mowing when Daddy is gone, and keeping his brothers from sitting on "his" mower. He also likes to hold his hands up and say "Wu eeezit?" which means "Where is it?". 

We got a very mild case of chickenpox a few weeks ago. Our first quarantine adventure. But, thankfully, it wasn't serious at all and each of the boys only had a few spots. 

Funnies....

Seth told Blake he wanted to tell him a scary story. It went something like this... "and then they heard a noise and right behind them was a really scary X-RAY!" Blake- "What's an x-ray?" Seth - "You know! When there are bones that can walk." Apparently, what Seth meant to say was a skeleton, but x-ray works too. :)

In school we were talking about sets of two and how our faces have two ears, two cheeks, two eyebrows, and Blake chimes in "Yeah, and two eye closers!". Somewhat similar to eyelids I think. :)


Well, we hope you all are doing well! Until next time!


Micah, Kari, Blake, Seth, and Owen