Feb. 14th - Mar. 13th, 2015

Hi Everyone, 

Hope you all are doing well! Some of the highlights of the past month were Valentine's Day, Owen's Birthday and a big snow storm...

 One of the first nice days in February was Valentine's Day, so we took some time to get out in the sunshine even though it was a bit (or a lot) chilly. 

I had the chance to take an overnight trip with the Fox ladies and some friends to the Biltmore House in Asheville, NC. They had a special exhibit featuring costumes from the popular TV show, Downton Abbey. It was fun to see the costumes in person and to have the chance to spend some "girl time" away. 

Owen turned two in February! Can you believe it? He had fun opening his birthday cards. 

 For part of his birthday we all went out to dinner together (something that's usually reserved only for Mommy and Daddy's date nights so it was a big treat for them). 

 Ice cream at Chick-fil-a! Funny story...as we were entering the kid's play area at the restaurant there was a very cute little girl holding the door open for us. She looked like she was about three. Without missing a beat, instead of walking past her, Owen stopped and threw his arms around her and was going in for a big kiss on the lips before I was able to grab him just in time. Where does he get these ideas?!? Luckily, her parents weren't watching. :)

 We had a family birthday party for Owen and it was like Christmas morning all over again. We always have a good time when we get together with our family. 

 Uncle Jesse freeing Owie's new toy, or trying to...

 Seth used his own money and bought Owen a gift of a star trooper outfit. Seth had to try it out for him of course. Here's Seth with Judah, Susannah and Hannah. 

 One of the few times a year he gets a cupcake...he enjoyed it!

Owen is REALLY into Superman right now. Everyday he asks for his Superman capes to be put on him. Of course, he has to wear all three capes at the same. More powers that way I suppose. :)

This is his "bad guy" hat and outfit. We are really enjoying him lately. He's talking a mile a minute and has full throttle energy. He loves to go outside and play super heros inside. 

A little over three weeks ago, we got a huge amount of snow overnight! It was the most I've seen at one time in NC since living here- about 6 1/2 ". It was so beautiful!

 Our backyard was completely transformed into a winter wonderland!

 The cedar trees were so pretty weighted down with the snow. 

 My Honey  :)

Hot cocoa and snow-cream!


Since the snow, the winter weather has been easing up a bit and fluctuating to some pretty warm days. We've even had a few days in the 70's and then back to the 40's. Spring is definitely on it's way though and the boys can hardly wait. 

Yesterday the boys were playing in the garage and all of the sudden I heard them all yelling for me in a slightly panicked tone. When I came out, I discovered them stuck in the recycling bin together. Once they calmed down and realized they wouldn't be stuck there forever, we were able to snap a quick picture. Sillies!  

In other news...

I'm 28 weeks along now and 12 (or so) to go! Other than suffering from "pregnant brain" (my current excuse for any typos you may find) I'm feeling pretty good. We are getting more and more excited about meeting the newest member of our family. I had two people yesterdat tell me they thought it was going to be a boy and another friend who said it was going to be a girl...we'll see! Can't wait!!

We have some rather sad news. Oscar has gone missing for several weeks now and it's looking like he may be gone for good. We've been checking the local animal shelter and went there once when they had a gray and white cat come in, but it wasn't Oscar. So sad! I was keeping it together pretty well, until we were about to leave the animal shelter and Owen said, "Where my kitty?". :( Who knows, maybe he's just hanging out at a neighbors and will come home some day. 

Our guys in the military are doing well. We get to talk to Scott once in a while and he's starting to get into the core of the program. Jonathan is doing well and recently got an apartment off base, which he's really enjoying. Will is doing well and working at Chick-fil-a and at other construction work. He has a new girlfriend that we are looking forward to meeting sometime soon. 

Seth and Micah have both came down with another round of stomach flu in the past few days. So pray for a quick recovery if you think of it. Twice in one flu season is no fun! We are hoping it stops at them and doesn't go through another several-week phase of cycling through everyone. :-/ Minor discomforts compared to that of many. 

Seth read his first book yesterday! It only consisted of the words, "Sam", "Mat", "on", and "sat", but he was really proud of himself and I was too. Big progress from not knowing his letter names or sounds at the beginning of this school year. 


Hope you all are doing well! God bless you!

Love, 

Kari, Micah, Blake, Seth, Owen and Baby