April 17th - May 15th, 2015

Hi Everyone!

Softball, strawberries, swimming, and baby prep. Here's a little of what we've been up to lately...

We got to celebrate Micah's Granddad's 80th birthday in April! We are really blessed to have the family we do. It was great to get together with the extended family. 

 Micah is playing first base on our church's softball team. They are doing well so far in the season and last night we were pretty excited to beat an undefeated team. The boys enjoy watching their daddy play! Owen really wanted to go in the dugout with the players. :)

 The guys have been working on their baseball skills in the backyard lately too. Seth is really good at hitting! Thanks, Pappy, for the baseball bat and bases!

 Owen doesn't get to bat as much as he likes, but he is easily occupied elsewhere. So many things to do!

 After months of Seth asking "When is it time to swim?" It was finally warm enough to get out the old pool from under the deck where it has been being used over the winter as a "pot" for mud stew. Ew! The boys helped me give it a thorough cleaning, which inevitably led to...

 ...both the pool and the boys getting clean.  :)

 The deck on the back of the house off the master bedroom is just big enough for the boy's pool and bench for my pregnant self to sit on while they play. :)

 The boys got to participate in a special class offered at our local hospital called "Big Brothers and Sisters Preparation". They got to take a tour of the labor and delivery floor and learn how to hold a newborn and even change a diaper! It was so fun to watch. They thought it was pretty cool to see the same delivery rooms that they were born in.

 Learning to swaddle the baby :)

 Blake's got this down!

Owen was below the age minimum, but was allowed to participate anyway. 

It was so cute watching all the little kids take care of their babies. :) At the end of the class they each got a certificate saying they were officially ready to be a Big Brother. 

 My buddy during early morning watering of the blueberry plants. About two thirds of our plants look good and the rest...well, they are barely hanging in there. :)

 Cousin Clark is doing great! I love this picture of him. He kind of looks like a little old man who is worried about something. :)

 Lots of playing dress-up around here. They will go for weeks or more without touching the mound of toys in their toy box, but the dress up clothes and hats get played with every single day! Owen still requests his three capes to be put on multiple times EVERYDAY. 

 It's that time of year again! Strawberries galore! The farm we go to every year had an especially good crop this year so we were able to fill our baskets in a short amount of time. 

We left the farm as usual with filled baskets and filled bellies. I jokingly offered to weigh the boys before and after and pay for the difference, but the farmer doesn't mind the kids munching along the way. 

 We came home with over twenty pounds of berries and will probably go back for at least one more trip before the season is over. We put them in smoothies, ice cream, and oatmeal throughout the year. The boys were able to help me get the berries ready for freezing for the first time this year. Owen got to use a butter knife to chop and thought he was pretty big stuff. 

Owen during reading time with Blake and Seth. :) That's my baby belly at the bottom of the picture. :)

 

Micah and I celebrated 7 years of marriage! Hard to believe! This guy has been the best hubby a girl could ask for! He is my best friend and makes my life wonderful. 

In preparation for baby coming we redid Owen's room. I couldn't find the "before" picture of the room, but it was pretty plain.  The baby will take over Owen's room once he/she is sleeping through the night and Owen will get to graduate to Blake and Seth's room. He will be super thrilled about that!

A big thanks to Aunt Susanna for her awesome wood-burning skills on the ruler decoration!

And a huge thanks to my loving husband who is putting up with all of my extreme nesting projects lately. :)

Less than 3 weeks until our due date. I still can't believe we are about to have our fourth child! So exciting!

We are super excited and extremely grateful that the Lord has seen fit to bless us with four children. Having come from a family of six kids, it's funny to me to already be experiencing some raised eyebrows from strangers (and perhaps not strangers) when they see that we have a fourth on the way. Occasionally, we get comments like "Wow, four kids!". Sometimes, we like to have a bit of fun and just tell them we're trying to catch up with the Duggars and then watch the shocked look and nervous laugh that inevitably follows. :) In all seriousness though, we are looking forward to having "big" family. Whether that means stopping at four or being blessed with a few more. 

Lord willing, the next update will have pictures of the new baby! I can hardly wait to announce the gender and the name and the weight and the length...all of it! We will let you know as soon as possible when the baby arrives. :)

Funnies...

While playing putt-putt with the boys, Blake tried to give Daddy a big compliment by saying, "Wow, you almost got a hole-in-two!"  :)

Blake is funny in that he is always putting things in his mouth. A few weeks ago while we were studying insects we happen to see him chewing on the corner of the coffee table. (Boys...I will never fully understand them) Micah asked,  "Blake, what are you doing chewing on the coffee table?!" to which he replied, "I'm a carpenter ant!"  ....I should have known. :)

We asked the boys at the dinner table the other night when they wanted to be when they grew up. Blake said he wanted to be scientist and Seth said, "I want to be a human who does good things."  :)

Seth asked what it means to be  "light sleeper" and before I could answer, Blake chimed in and said, "That means that you can sleep with the light on in your room."  

Since Blake and Seth are going to be older when this baby is born than they were when Owen was born, we've been debating about what and how much to breech the topic of nursing as they will definitely have questions about what's going on when baby gets here. Well, one moment of enlightenment came the other day as Seth is studying cows in school right now (I'm sure you can already guess where this is going). We were talking about how baby cows get milk from mommy cows and I decided at that moment that it might bea good opportunity to add that it's just like how babies get milk from their mommies. I cringed a little when I saw a light bulb come on in Blake's face and I braced myself for the coming comment. Sure enough, he burst out with excitement "I get it, so those are your udders!"   ...sigh...yes, Blake, they are. Now let's talk about something else...  :)

Well, better get going. Hope you all are doing well! 

In Christ, 

Kari, Micah, Blake, Seth, Owen and Baby