March 2nd - April 10th, 2014

Hi Everyone!

The past five weeks have been pretty eventful. Here's what we've been up to...

We had a significant ice storm come through in March. The power was out for about two days at our house. But, we were really lucky compared to others who were out for over five days.

 I had to share this picture. We were praying that God would protect our house from branches falling (especially since we just put it on the market) and look how these branches landed! Perfectly between the railing!

 All around town for the past several weeks folks are clearing branches and fallen trees. There have been piles of branches in front of almost every house waiting to be picked up. Blake and Seth got to help the big boys when Micah took them to go help clear at a friend's. 

 Even Owen got into the action!

 A highlight of the past month was when I got to travel up to Maryland for the day to see Jonathan off before his deployment. Scott and I drove up and picked Will up in VA. We spent the afternoon together and had a great time. 

 Jonathan arrived safely in Afghanistan and says that he's doing really well for the first week. We are so proud of him!

 Big Stuff. Our little "Owie" is doing great! He's 13 months old now and gaining weight and growing, albeit slowly. He has gone from walking slowly to running and even climbing the kitchen step stool. He is so expressive and is making all kinds of a baby talk lately. He has learned how to point with one finger and say please "peez", bye bye and "Wow!". :)

 Last weekend I was able to attend a women's retreat with our church. There were about 50 ladies attending this year. It was great to get away for a few days. Although, it was hard to leave my Owie! :)

 Tuesday of this week we took a tour of a local dairy along with some friends. Made me miss my days in Kansas. 

 Blake found the peeeerfect place to sit on the hay ride. :)

 Owen was not too sure about the animals there.

 Serious playtime around here. 

 Look at those lashes! Owen gets more compliments on his eye lashes than I ever have. He gets it from Micah's side of the family. 

 What is it with boys and sticks? Blake loves to carry this stick around the use it to help him jump off the deck. 

 Blake asked me this morning if his shirt looked good tucked into his pants. Suuuure. Who am I to cramp his style? Typical homeschooler look... here we come.  :)

 Seth is 3 1/2  now and doing really well. We are about three months into a strict gluten diet and it seems to be helping his overall disposition. He still maintains his reputation of "Sethy Sethy Quite Contrary" around the house, but we are seeing a lot less outbursts. He has a very sweet and caring side that comes out when he is taking care of Owen. He is learning his colors and some of his letters. He doesn't know what they are called, but he can write some letters. Probably just because he's trying to keep up with Blake. He does not like to learn them right now which is fine. He has plenty of time. He'd rather be out playing a sport of some sort. Everything is a competition with Blake. Whoever finishes their food first gets to boost "I beat you!". Seth may not be in the lead academically, but he seems to be more coordinated when it comes to physical activity. 

Blake is 4 1/2 now and is our typical first born around here. He is learning by leaps and bounds. He's reading and writing. He likes to sit down and write stories, just asking for help with spelling. Here is one of his stories: "A fox ran into a chicken house and ate all the eggs and chased the chickens away."


Other News

Scott has signed the dotted line for 4 years in the Navy! He is hoping to qualify for training in the SEALS program which would mean at least a 6 year commitment. He is hoping to be shipped out to boot camp sometime in October.

We have had 7 showings on our house in the past six weeks! We heard yesterday that we may have someone who is seriously interested in making an offer. Should find out soon if that materializes. Still on the lookout for our next house. There are a lot coming out on the market, but so far we don't feel like we have seen "The One". You can be praying that God brings along just the right place for us and we are confident that He will. :) 


Funnies

Sitting at the table after a meal, Blake announces "I like football, basketball, soccer and baseball" Seth immediately chimes in with his favorite things, "I like football, basketball, soccer and Julia."   Ever since we had a playdate with some friends of ours and their daughter, Julia (12yrs old), Seth has been quite taken with her. On the way home from church he whispered to me, "Mom, I said hi to Julia today".   Oh dear...3yrs old?? 

Blake on when we move: "Mommy, will we dig up the grass around the house and take that with us too?" :) Let's hope not!

Blake has been struggling with the realization that most people older than him know more that he does. We were at some friends house for dinner and their dad (who happens to be a high ranking officer in the Navy) saw Blake bringing his plate to the trash, he thought Blake was going to throw the plate away and said something to him. Blake told him that he was just scraping the plate and then bringing it to the sink. The dad he was sorry and it was no problem. Blake replied, "It's okay. You were confused."    :)


Hope you all are doing well! 

Until next time, 

Kari, Micah, Blake, Seth & Owen

Feb. 2nd - March 1st, 2014

Hi Everyone, 

As you've probably assumed by the fact that I haven't posted an update in a while, we have busy around here! The biggest news is that our house is officially on the market! We had our first showing this morning, so we'll see if we get a bite.

We have been looking for a new house and have found a few that are options, but we aren't sure that we've found "The One" yet. Of course we won't be able to place any offers until after ours sells. 

My Wonder Man make quick work of a needed remodeling of our laundry room. He's pretty much amazing!

Before....

After...

Not bad for his first time tiling, huh?



Dad's knee is mending nicely. He is able to drive and get around pretty well now, even without a cane at times. Physical therapy is pretty difficult, but he's making good progress. Glad to have him around. 

Owen sat with Pappy during church last Sunday and was surprisingly still. 

Blake's portrait of Pappy and his hurt knee. :)

Since our last update it snow again. Only this time, it was for real! I think we measured about 6 inches in our backyard. 

We've spent some large chunks of time indoors lately. Yes, nanas are allowed to have two favorites at the same time!

 It can get pretty crazy around here. 

We let out some steam at an indoor bounce-around place. Owen was in heaven! I was amazed he didn't come down with any illnesses after all the things he licked and put in his mouth there. :)

Sometimes we have to get creative when finding things to do.

Lots and lots of reading goes on around here. Lately, I've noticed the boys are wanting something more than the short (and usually just fun and silly) library books. So, we are starting some chapter books. It's fun to see them get into the stories and look forward to hearing what's going to happen next. We read a simplified version of The Secret Garden a few weeks ago and they really enjoyed it. 

Our other big news is that we celebrated a special birthday on Thursday. Owen turned one! We have a tradition of having just family over for dinner and a party for the boys' first birthdays. 

A few gluten-free preparations...

Thank you for the sweet card, Moms and Pops! Each of the boys have a box to put special letters and cards in. 

It's times like these that I envy the octopi species. Owen wanted so badly to grab the shiny flame on the cupcake and Blake and Seth wanted so badly to "help" Owen with his cupcake. 

We are really proud of our little guy and pray that he will grow up to love and serve the Lord with all his heart.

Made out like a bandit at gift-opening time. 

Funnies

Seth asked what Daddy's eye drops were for the other day and I told him they helped when your eyes were itchy. (As he is rubbing his eyes) Seth says, "What about if your eyes are rubby?"

On the eve of Owen's birthday Seth asked, "Will Owen be able to run tomorrow when he's one?"

Somehow Blake got the impression that when we move from this house we would be leaving all of our belongings behind. We asked him, "Don't you want to bring all your toys with you?" and he said, "Well, I think I want to see what's in the new house first".    :)   Why bother packing up your toys if there are better ones at the new house? A valid question!

Hmmm...other news... 

Jonathan is being deployed to Afghanistan on April 4th. He is going for a 4 to 5 month deployment to a non-combat area. He will be working in the intelligence area so (supposedly) it should be safe. He is looking forward to it. 

Well, I better go. We are headed out the door to look at some houses-yay! Got to take advantage of these weekends. 

Hope you all are doing well!

God bless,

Kari, Micah, Blake, Seth, and Owen

Jan. 18th - Feb. 1st, 2014

Hi Everyone, 

Here's what we've been up to...

 Went to a concert by Love & Valor last week. Micah's younger brother, Jesse, started the band and we get to go listen to them once in a while. They are very talented and it's always a treat to get to listen. Seth got a "special" drink at the concert...apple juice... :)

 We have a nice day or two scattered between the too-cold-to-play-outside weather. Owen is just starting to get to walk around outside. He thinks he is big stuff now. 

 Of all the toddler and baby-sized scooters, cars and tractors we have in our garage to choose from, Owen only wants to "ride" on the boys' bikes. Of course, he can't reach the pedals, but still loves for me to push him around while I hold him and make many laps back and forth down the driveway. He cries whenever it's time to get down. He wants to do whatever the big boys are doing. 

 I thought this was a funny pose! :)

 Making good use of our wagon. I guess we'll need to get another one for the next three or four kids to fit in. ;)

 The boys have been interested in board games lately so we got Candyland and Memory. I was surprised at how well they played the Memory game! Micah says Candyland is a "girl game", but what about the Lord Licorice? 

 Dad underwent knee replacement surgery on Thursday and is doing very well. He's a trooper! He is expected to be released from the hospital tomorrow (Feb. 2nd). Scott is staying with him all next week to help out while he recovers. The boys at I went to visit him yesterday in the hospital. Seth brought their plastic guitar toy and played him a tune and Blake drew him some pictures on the Magna-doodle. One picture was stick figure of Pappy with an X over his right knee. A sympathy card? When we drove into the parking deck, Blake said, "Wow, there are a LOT of people here to see Pappy!". 

 Got some snow the other day! I figure you can calculate how long little boys will actually STAY outside and play in the snow if you add up the amount of time it takes to get dressed and divide that by about ten. :) Totally worth it though!

 One of several breaks to warm up. 

 Some preferred to leave frolicking in the snow to others. 

 Something fascinating about being able to eat off the ground. (snow that is)

News...

Micah and I met with a realtor on Wednesday and we are beginning to pray about when to put our house on the market. We have a great realtor working with us and feel confident that he will do a good job both helping us sell and buy the next house. We would love to find a place with plenty of room for the boys to play and explore outside. We'll see what God provides. 

Owen turned 11 months old on Monday, can you believe it? We will be celebrating his first birthday later this month. Crazy! 

Funnies....

"Can we have scrambled toast for breakfast?"  - Seth

Blake and Seth ask me at every meal if they can help. On one occasion I lost my helper when the chopped onions because too much to bear.  "The onions make my eyes spicy" said Blake. 

"Your extracting me, Blake!" - Seth, when Blake is trying to get his attention while Seth is busy looking at books and doesn't want to be bothered.

Hope you all have a good rest of the weekend!

Kari, Micah, Blake, Seth and Owen

Jan. 3rd - 17th, 2014

Hi Everyone, 


January is usually a time of both getting back into our usual routine and getting started with new ones. Micah and I spent some time planning for the year and we are looking forward to seeing how God might use us. Here's a few pictures of the Bumpkins... 

Let's just say Blake and Seth are reeeally enjoying the Nerf guns they got for Christmas...  :)

 Finally gave in to the boys' begging to help with laundry the other day. 

So one day as we were getting ready for some event, I put Blake and Seth in the bath tub and left the room to finish tidying up the house. Owen toddles into the bathroom to "watch" the boys play in the tub.  A few moments later I hear a splash and this is what I found when I came running into the bathroom. What's wrong with this picture? From that point on Owen now gets to join them in the tub with his bath seat- much to his delight. 

Below are some pictures I have been waiting to post until after Christmas. For my birthday in September, Micah gave me a photo shoot of the family. Photos were taken by Rob and Aimee McDorman at: mcdormanphoto.com. They did an excellent job!

 My Man, aka "Hunky Chunk"

News

Looking back at 2013, Micah ended the year exceeding his sales goal by about 80%! Almost doubling the amount that he hoped to sell that year. Way to go Babe!

Owen waved goodbye for the first time last week. He is saying a few words like "Di Di" for bye bye and "Mum, mum, mum..." for Mommy. However, he only calls for Mommy when he is tired, hungry or hurt. :-/

Blake finished reading Collection 1 of the Bob Books. I'm impressed every time we read together at how quickly he learns! He taught himself how to write letters and likes to write messages along with the pictures he draws.  He occasionally asks how to spell things like dog, cat, snail, but otherwise figures it out himself. 

Seth can now write the letter H and lately has enjoyed strumming on their guitar and making up songs. Still Blake's shadow.

With the addition of Owen last February, our little house on Gurney St. is, for the first time, starting to feel a little snug. All 1,184 sq ft of it is dearly loved and being used at it's max potential. I've enjoyed the simplicity of having a small home, but it's getting close to the time to move on. If you think of it, pray that God would give us wisdom and good sources of counsel about all the details that come with looking for our next home. We view our home as a place of ministry and hospitality and we want to keep that our focus through this process. 



Funnies

"Mom? Why is it so froggy outside?" -Seth noticing the strange mist obscuring our view of the backyard. 

I forgot to post this last time. On Christmas day we woke up and excitedly gathered our stockings to open them. Just as we were about to dig in, Blake says with enthusiasm and a SMILE on his face, "I hope this isn't the worst Christmas ever!".            Nothing like starting out Christmas morning with lowered expectations. LOL

As you know, the boys are all about pretending they are someone or something else lately. Yesterday, Seth exclaims, "I'm Uncle Jonathan because he's in the Navy and he saves the world!".        Go Navy! 


Hope you all have a good weekend!

Kari, Micah, Blake Seth, and Owen