June 12th - July 30th, 2015

Hi Everyone!

Hope you all are having a great summer! I can't believe August starts THIS Saturday! 

It's been a while since our last update and things have been in baby-mode full blast since then. :) Here' s a little of what's been going on in our world....

First some pictures of our SWEET BABY! Who is now 2 months old!!

 Ballgames...not so excited. 

 I am having so much fun dressing up my little baby doll.  :)

 That about sums it up. (don't tell the boys) :)

 Visit from the Great Grandparents!

 The line up. Can't believe there are four of them now. We are definitely outnumbered!

 Look what I get to wake up to every morning :)

Seth brought Liza a book to look at. 



Celebrations lately....

Getting ready for Father's Day. I was reminded again that paint and two-year-olds don't mix. Next time, we'll be doing it over his nap. :)

 Special Father's Day breakfast...

Complete with a butter carving by Blake  :) 

We celebrated two birthdays this month! Blake turned 6 and Seth turned 5! 

 Sweet boy! Wow, I'm so proud of him. Self-taught reader, avid learner and enthusiastic helper. He is currently finishing a 300 page (regular-sized font) book about the adventures of Danielle Boone written in 1914. Whew, I can hardly keep up! He finished his first grade curriculum last week and we are looking forward to a focus on U.S. History in his studies this fall. 

Got a "real" Bible for his birthday. Written for teens, but more on his level than the kid's books. 

 Seth is 5 years old already. The first year with them as a newborn and 12months was pretty intense, but they are the best of friends and do everything together. I still get asked if they are twins when we go out. Seth is doing really well lately. He is BIG into drawing and is started to add titles to his drawings that even though they require a bit of deciphering, he is starting to use letters appropriately. I'm really proud of him too! 

 We had a birthday party for both boys with their friends. I was surprised when we counted everyone and had 18 kids here. They had a great time despite an infestation of chigger bites the next day.  :/  Daddy was in charge of games and the kids had fun with that. 

Everyone was ready for a nap at the end of the party!  :)

Miscellaneous...

 I had to include this picture of Cousin Bryce and Aunt Kate that she sent me the other day. Bryce is the CUTEST 6 month old EVER! Don't you just want to pinch his cheeks?!?


In other news....

 In other news...we are SUPER excited that Owen is now (mostly) potty trained!! YAY! We have a few struggles here and there, but he's doing surprisingly well. 

Softball season is over, but our team made won the division championship! I had to take this picture of Micah with two of his brothers. They look just a little alike, don't you think? Every time we came to watch a game I had to look twice to make sure it was the right guy before calling out "You can do it, Honey!" :) 

We had to say goodbye to a fond chapter in our lives of having "Pappy" live close by. We were very sad to say farewell to Dad as he relocated to Kansas. He will be fairly close to Kate, so I guess we will have to share for a while. 

Owen had to say goodbye to his Pappy and Owen's beloved motorcycle. During morning prayer time, Owen regularly prays for Pappy and his motorcycle. :) So sweet.  We miss you Dad, but we are excited to see how God uses you in this new chapter in your life. 

God is good and updating this blog reminds me to keep my focus on Him. There are plenty of tough days too, with the all-consuming demand a of lots of a littles. But He is faithful and so far, I haven't totally lost my mind. ;) There is definitely a portion that is not currently working due to lack of sleep as evidenced by probably several typos that I'm not even going to go back and look for right now. :) But, all that to say, God is good and is being my constant support and source of grace. I am savoring every free moment with Liza and enjoying these summer months with the boys too!

Hope you all are doing well! 

Love, 

Micah, Kari, Blake, Seth, Owen, and Liza