Nov. 30th - Dec. 13th, 2012

Hi Everyone!

Christmas is in full swing around here and we are loving it. Blake and Seth ask every morning if it’s Christmas Day yet. It’s fun that Blake is at the age when he remembers Christmas last year.

We had to say goodbye to Kate and Noah as they had to move out West to Kansas. It was really hard to say goodbye and know that we won’t get to be around little Maher when he comes, but *sniff* we’ll get by somehow.

 One last belly picture together. :) Fox baby hit 28 weeks today. 12 weeks to go!

We sent the Shoemaker crib with them as we already have one for our baby. Seth is loving his “floor bed” right now as we are looking at bunk beds for them. Why do we even have beds, when they have so much fun on the floor? I don’t know. 

 Last breakfast together. The other day Blake said, "Noah is my favorite Uncle!" a minute later Seth says, "Noah is my (voice tone goes up a few octaves to a squeak) liiiiittle friend!"

 Seth using his drill to "play" with Kate's baby. :)

Daddy was the hero as we went to get our Christmas tree.

Seth still likes to be my baby some days. It’s fine with me! 

Special moment in time…when will we ever get to enjoy another December 12th, 2012? 
 

All ready for Christmas!

In other news, we had a surprise development with Blake. During our Bible study at our house last week, Blake was looking at a library book and I heard him sound out the letters "H", "O", "P"..."Hop!". Yup, Blake is reading! Now that he has learned all his letter names and sounds he is sounding out simple words all by himself. I'm really proud of him, as we have not been pushing for him to read at all, he has done it all alone. :)

A few Blake and Seth-isms…

Last night we were doing some Bible reading before bed and Micah was talking to the boys about why Jesus had to come to earth. Blake said, “Jesus came to take away the badness”. Seth chimes in, “And the bad guys!”. Micah asked, “What will Jesus do with the bad guys?” Seth replied, “He will EAT them!”. Oh dear...

Blake ran over and lay down on the couch where I was about to sit so as I pretended to sit on him he said, “Mommy! You’re landing on me!”

Out of the blue the other night, Blake announces “For Christmas I would like a iPad and computer with a big screen on it. You and Daddy have phones and I don’t have one, so I need one too.” We told him we would keep that in mind. 

In case I don't get a chance to post another update until after Christmas...Merry Christmas!! 

Love to you all!

Kari, Micah, Blake and Seth

November 2nd - 29th, 2012

Hi Everyone!

Hope you all had a good Thanksgiving! 

The past three weeks have been very full for us as we had some of our favorite people, Joy and James, spend two full weeks with us over Thanksgiving. Kate and Noah also were able to stay with us for most of that time as well, so we had a houseful and we had such a great time together! Having six adults and two kids to one bathroom was kind of like camping indoors, but we didn't mind a bit. We were all just thrilled to be together for so many days. It's neat that God worked it out that Noah's job happened to be between contracts so he was off work almost the whole time. We packed several events into our time with them, as you'll see below, but we also got to spend plenty of time just sitting, talking, and being together.

 The day after J&J arrived we went to the city Christmas parade. It was coooold! Blake and Seth did pretty well though, especially when the fire trucks went by. 

 Waaay too much candy was passed out that day. :) Mysteriously, the candy never made it home and was completely forgotten about on the way. 

 Joy and I hosted a baby shower for Kate while everyone was here. It was really fun and Kate got lots of great things for baby Maher.

 Seth had a new swing buddy. I don't think Seth remembered Aunt Joy from a year ago, but he quickly warmed up to her. 

 James took charge of the turkey and the final product was the BEST turkey I have ever had. No exaggerating. Can't go wrong with any Alton Brown recipes!

 One of the things we did together was have a Turkey Day Tournament that included six different contests to find the "Ultimate Grand Master Champion" for the day. The first contest was target shooting with our BB gun in the backyard. Micah won the target contest, but Jonathan got honorable mention for his perfect bull's eye shot.

 And they feast, feast, feast...

 Seth taking a saw to his faithful steed. Don't ask me why this is fun.

 Another of the tournament games...Zonk. I believe Noah was the winner here. 

 We celebrated Joy and Jame's 31st birthdays.

I really like this picture. It was hard to say goodbye to everyone last Sunday, but maybe, someday, we will all live close by and live happily ever after. :)

I know we've had a plethora of Blake and Seth-isms the past few weeks, but I haven't been as good about writing them down.  

-Blake and Seth talk about "Kate's Baby" every so often and they  sometimes pray for Kate's baby too. One day Seth was sitting on the couch with Uncle Noah, and patting Noah's belly asked, "Do you have a baby too?"  :) 

-Sometimes the boys will take their naps in the same room together so we always have to remind them not to talk to each other when it's nap time. Today Blake said, "Mommy, talking in bed is my work." He went on to explain that talking is his work just like Daddy goes to work and makes sales. 

-The boys have been getting over a cold and as you know, when you're sick you can be extra emotional over just about anything. We heard Blake crying rather vehemently during naptime and when we went in and asked what was the matter he said, "Daddy, there's sunshine  shining on the ceiling." Apparently, when  you're sick even a sliver of sun peeping through the blinds can be cause for tears. 

Hmmm...I'm sure I'll think of more later, but that's all for now. :)

Love to you all!

Kari, Micah, Blake and Seth 

Oct. 22nd - Nov. 1st, 2012

Hi Everyone,

Here is are pictures of the outing we went on for Micah’s birthday. We had a coupon for entrance to the Maize Adventure in a nearby town. We went through a corn maze for a while. Micah was an expert guide and we didn’t get lost one time. We rode on a train around the farm and then dug for fossils. The boys had a great time.

 Digging for fossils. :)

 The train "conductor" came up to the boys and invited them to sit on his tractor. You can imagine how thrilled they were. :) 

Kate came to visit yesterday and stayed through today. The boys just love "Kate-kate" and kept saying that Kate was taking too long to get here when I told them she was coming. 

We are really excited that Joy and James are coming to visit us in just a few weeks and will get to stay through Thanksgiving. It’s going to feel like one long holiday vacation. Can’t wait!

A few Blake and Seth –isms…

Micah was dealing with a “who does it belong to” argument with the boys and asked Blake “Is that yours or Seth’s?” Blake said, “It’s both of mine”.

The boys were pretending to be a train outside on the deck the other day. Seth was holding onto Blake’s coat as he was dragged around in a circle. Blake said he was the engine and Seth exclaims, “I’m the ka-moose!”

Blake came up to me with a special coin and in a very secretive voice whispered, “Don’t tell Daddy, and don’t tell Seth and don’t me, where I’m going to hide this.”  

 Love to you all, 

Kari, Micah, Blake, and Seth