Sept. 27th - Oct. 11th, 2013

Hi Everyone!

Hope you are having a good week! Here's a little of what we've been up to...

 I turned...well, let's just say...another year older...on the 27th. :) Micah knows that I'm an animal lover at heart so the day after my birthday he took all of us a nearby zoo/aquarium. We had a blast!

 Got an awesome view of their tigers. Right up close!

 What does the turtle say? I still don't have a good answer for that one.  :)

 Meerkat village

 I know it looks like I'm pulling on the poor thing's ear, but I'm not-honest!

 Owen likes to screech really loud and pull Seth's hair when he leans back on him in the stroller.

 Seth smashing his nose against the tank. You will start to see the boys getting stimulation-overload and that "glazed over" look in their eyes in the next few pictures. :)

 No comment.

 Seth's about had all he can take in at this point.  :) Last stop before heading home. Micah had a little surprise party waiting for me at home when we arrived. It was very sweet and I had a great time, even if I was turning__. 

 Bath buds

We walked into the boys' room the other day to find...this little man STANDING in his crib! Yup, 7 months old and he's already pulling himself up. Is it me, or did he JUST start crawling, like yesterday?! Well, ready or not, he's quickly learned over the past week to proficiently pull himself up to almost anything in the house. He is on the GO!

 Little breakfast bystander....

Check-up by Dr. Seth

 Blake trying to tickle Owen and make him laugh, I think Owen's not quite sure what to do. 

 I think Seth's finger is about to get bitten at this point. :)

In other news, the boys and I are holding down the fort this weekend while Micah is away at our church's annual Men's Retreat. It's raining outside and the boys are almost finished with a precautionary quarantine with a sickness going around and thus we have not left the house in 5 days now, so needless to say, they are getting just a little stir-crazy! Thankfully, Great-Grandma Ensmenger in CA sent us a package that arrived today with a few new toys and books. Yay! We're saved. I'm beginning to think the boys aren't as fond of Mommy Time as Man Time. :)

        "Are we made of MEAT?!?" Blake, on the shocking realization that if he had a pet T-rex, it might eat him.

        "It feels salty to me" Seth, on the seasoning of his hard-boiled egg.


Hope you all are going well! 

Love, 

Micah, Kari, Blake, Seth and Owen

September 13th - 26th, 2013

Hi Everyone,

Happy Fall! We are enjoying some much cooler weather around here. I've been explaining to the boys about fall for a few weeks and when the tree in our front yard started dropping a few leaves Seth wanted to know exactly when they were all going to fall off. :)

 First time in the swing at the park. He went nuts over it!

 Kitchen bowls make for the best baby toys. Mostly because they are so noisy!

 There was a really cool exhibit in town by a Lego artist. All kinds of sculptures made entirely of Legos! Boy Heaven.

 Working in "the garage" together. 

 At one of Micah's sister, Susanna's, soccer games.

 Blake takes a break. Apparently, just watching makes him tired. 

 Owen isn't going to last long. Not a reflection of his excitement about the game, of course!

 First band-aide. :(

 Laundry day! :)

Is it possible to take too many pictures of this sweetness?! 

I think Owen looks a little like Blake in this picture. He now has three teeth on the bottom and two coming in on the top. The two on top aren't the ones right in front, though. They are both on the sides. I joke with Micah that he is going to look like a little vampire when they come in all the way. 


Blake and Seth-isms...

    Blake- "This grass is so nice and pokey"

    We were planning to go play tennis, just Micah and Me one time for our date night. We had to cancel at the last minute because of rain. The boys were crushed when they found out their babysitter was no longer coming and Seth still talks about it. Every once in a while he will say, "I think it's a big cloud to go to tennis" In other words, there is a big cloud that may cause too much rain to go play tennis. 

    Me- "Seth, are you hungry for dinner?" Seth replied, "My feet feel like I want to play basketball right now."

    The other day Blake said contemplatively, "Mommy (long sigh, staring off into the distance) I think (pause) I know everything." Haha oh boy....


Hope you all have a good weekend!

Micah, Kari, Blake, Seth, and Owen

     

Aug. 31st - Sept. 12th, 2013

Hi Everyone!

Hope you all are doing well. Here's a photo tour of the last two weeks...

 Getting to sleep-in with Mommy is a special treat!

 Allllmost sitting up on his own. Everyone once in a while Owen gets stuck in this position and can't seem to go forward or backwards.

 First solid food feeding time!

 He wants to help already. 

 Escapee! Seth would say "he is belly button" because he has no shirt on. :)

 There we go! Sitting up (for the most part) :)


We got to drive up to Virginia this past Saturday to visit some of the Olson clan. I really enjoyed getting to hang out with the Olson side of the family for the afternoon. We also got to visit with Will and Bekkah! The boys had a blast in their pool and played for a good long time. They slept very soundly on the way home. 

 Sue and Owen  :)

 Jonathan got to drive down from Fort Meade and join us for the visit in his 1967 (or '66?) Ford Mustang. He got a real good deal on one in Maryland and we were "ewing and awing" over it this weekend. 

My typical view on Sunday mornings during church. :) I can't tell you all how thankful I am to have Dad living (semi)close by. It's a blessing to have his godly influence on the boys and I'm glad we can be here for him too. We always enjoy the times when it works out to have Dad over after church on Sunday afternoons.

A few Blake and Seth-isms...

    We went to the Fox's the other night for volleyball and dinner. Afterwards we tried to light a fire, but did not succeed before we needed to head home for bed. The boys were very disappointed that they didn't get to see the fire, and on the drive home, Seth said, "I think the fire didn't want to be fun." 

    As we were looking for where the moon was the other night, one of the boys concluded that "The moon is taking a nap." :)


Well, there isn't much else "new" going on here lately. Everyday seems to have new things that happen when there are little ones that are changing everyday. :)

Hope you all are doing well!

Love, 

Kari, Micah, Blake, Seth and Owen



    

Aug. 17th - 30th, 2013

Hi Everyone,

The spotlight is on Owen this week. On Tuesday he hit 6 months old! As I'm sure you can already guess; the time is flying by. He is doing so well and adds nothing but joy to our family.

 Luxurious jet-powered jaccuzi all his own. :)

 If I can't take him outside to be with Blake and Seth, he likes to sit in his swing and watch their antics from the window.

 Have you ever heard of Kombucha? It's a fermented tea that's packed with healthful benefits. We've been "brewing" our own lately and even the boys will drink it. Hey, I've got to get it in now before they are old enough to realize what it is. :)

 Blake and Seth participated in a special event we had at church for kids and adults to recite scripture from memory. The boys were the first ones on the program (which was probably a good thing so they didn't see the tears of one of the other kids) and they recited Eph. 6:13-18, The Armor Of God. We were very proud of them. Here's the address of the video, if you'd like to see it:  https://vimeo.com/73411972

 Their "prize" for completing the recitation was at trip to YoZone for some frozen yogurt. People looked at us like we were crazy for feeding a 3 and 4 yr old frozen yogurt after 9pm in the evening. Maybe we were. :)

 Homemade studio pictures of Owen's "half birthday".

 Practicing his mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on Mr. Seagull.

 He is very animated and has a LOT of energy.

He looks so much older in this picture!

 See what I mean by animated?

 On your mark, get set, CRAWL! He is able to scoot and wiggle around the living room fairly easily now. It's a little scary to think we are going to have to start baby-proofing already. Do you see his two teeth?! He also started babbling a little by saying, "Bah bah bah bah" which he only seems to do when he has a very concerned look on his face. :)


Blake and Seth-isms...

       Blake, "Mommy, if I drink my (cold)milk too fast it will freeze me to death"

       During our Bible reading time after breakfast the boys are frequently distracted by my computer screen saver that is visible from the dining room table. One morning, I finally got up and turned the computer off so we could finish our reading uninterrupted. After I sat back down at the table, Blake said "Thank you Mommy, it was extracting me."

      After a vigorous match of soccer the other day I told the boys we needed to go sit down and rest for a bit. Seth sat still on the bench next to me and broke the silence by saying, "Mommy, I'm beating you guys." I said, "What do you mean? We're just resting right now." He said, "Yeah, I'm beating you resting."

     Some friends of ours gave us a basketball goal (thanks, Dianne!) and Micah and boys have been loving it! Seth got bumped on the head by the ball yesterday and started crying. After Micah comforted him, Blake offered his own comfort by telling Seth with sigh, "Well, life is just hard sometimes."

     Blake and Seth were discussing who a certain toy belonged to. Blake told Seth, "Seth, it's mine and yours!" Seth retorted, "No, it's mine and mine!"  :)


It feels like the hectic pace of summer is slowing down some and we are enjoying the "everyday" feel of our schedule the past two weeks. Not a whole lot to report as far as news lately, but you know where to look if there is. 

Jonathan is now stationed in Fort Meade Maryland for, I believe, the remainder of his time four-year commitment in the Navy. We are so excited he was sent only five hours from here! We get to talk to him every once in a while and he is doing well so far. He is waiting for the rest of his security clearance to clear before he can finally begin the job he has been trained for. Don't ask me what that job is. He's told me several times, but I can never remember. :) Let me know if want his new mailing address. 

Hope you all are doing well!

Kari, Micah, Blake, Seth and Owen