Nov. 17th - Jan. 20th, 2016

Hi Friends and Family!

The past two months have been filled with activity and now things are beginning to slow down again and get back to somewhat of a routine. I always enjoy January as we usually take time during this month to look ahead and make plans as well as look back and see all that God has brought us through and blessed us with. We are blessed beyond what we deserve and are learning more and more to be thankful and satisfied with what we do have.

Here are few pictures of highlights from the past two months...

Another "miraculous" find this year of the perfect Christmas tree right in Nana's backyard. ;)

Micah and I got free seats to see Steven Curtis Chapman here in Burlington last month. It's really inspiring to watch God continue to use him over the years to reach so many people for Christ.

Let the decorating begin! The ornament Owen is looking at was a little egg-shaped snowman made by my Mom. :)

Liza's first Christmas!

The Christmas bears made another appearance this year and for about a week they did everything with the boys. :)

One shot from Liza's 6 month portraits (homemade as you can tell by the wrinkles in the sheets I used a backdrop) 

The tree fort continues to be a big hit outside. Many a caped super hero has sought refuge there in recent months. 

Some of my preparation for an "Ugly Sweater Party"...  hehe 

A little help with the laundry...

We went to a Christmas celebration in Downtown Burlington this December and enjoyed some 60 degree December weather. The boys got to sit in a firetruck!

Liza is really growing lately! She will be 8 months old at the end of January, can you believe that?!? She is more and more fun to play with and has recently found her voice and has been serenading us with impressively high-pitch squeals of delight. :)

Well, mostly of delight... :)

Each baby  has received their own stocking as their first Christmas present.

There's so many of us! Crazy! 

Christmas Sunday  :) I'm discovering that the chances of getting at picture where everyone is looking and smiling at the camera decreases dramatically with each new addition to the family, so I'm happy to just have everyone at least visible. :)

We have a tradition of sleeping in the living room on Christmas Eve. Unfortunately, the air mattress decided it was on vacation too and was just a tad on the deflated side come Christmas morning. :)

Everyone got guns for Christmas! 

Love this clarification added by our first born. 

Just a LITTLE excited on Christmas morning!

After opening presents at our house, we headed over to Nana and Gan Gan's for more Christmas celebrations.

As you can see, the Tooth Fairy has been VERY busy around here lately! You can probably guess what the boys put on our wish lists for Christmas...all I want for Christmas is my...  :)

The day after Christmas we got up at the crack of dawn, loaded the kiddos in the van, and started out for a 18 hour drive to Kansas! We had planned to take two days to do it, but we got about half way and everyone was doing so well, we decided to make a go of it and drive the rest of the way. So glad we did! 

We visited Aunt Hannah (Micah's sister) newly wed to Uncle Isaiah (Kate's brother-in-law!). It was so nice to see them again and the boys loved getting to spend a little time with Aunt Hannah. 

H & I look like naturals to me!  I think they could use one of their own. :)

Liza and Grandfather Shoemaker. Pappy says they have a special bond and I think so too. 

Me and "My Boy" Scott. Sporting a bit of military-approved facial hair. Well, the 'stache at least. :)

Finally got to meet my little chunky monkey, Clark! Oh my goodness, I feel immediately in love with this guy. :)

The boys with Scott and Roger

Spent a few hours with the Fox folks, Hannah and Isaiah and Susanna in Kansas City at the mall. 

Owen's got a lap-ful of cousin! This is Bryce, Kate's youngest. 

Liza and Aunt Joy!

 A trip to an indoor sporting goods store. This place was amazing, with much more that just shopping! We got to see their huge fish tanks, play on a playground and ride a ferris wheel that was three stories tall inside the store!

 Lots of game time together  :)

All the cousins! We took turns getting up early with all the babies so the adults could sleep in a little after late nights. 

Liza and Aunt Kate

Bryce (1 yr,) Clark (8mo) & Liza (7mo)   

 I LOVE this picture where Liza is nonchalantly holding Clark's ear and looking so innocently at the camera. Hehe

Aren't they precious?!? I love them all so much!

Now, here's a gem of a picture! Pappy with the Grands. :) A blessed man indeed! Liza is sorely out-numbered I'm afraid. 

We had SUCH a good time at Kate and Noah's! It was really hard to say goodbye when it was time to leave. We keep saying that maybe someday we will all live closer to each other...someday. :)

On the way home we decided to take two days. The boys had been looking forward to swimming at hotel for weeks, so we had to get that in too. 

Back home again!

Well, I started this post about five days ago now and I think I'll finally wrap it up. :) Hopefully, it won't be so long until the next one!

Here's a few parting funnies to leave you with...

Blake- "It's so warm out today, it feels like the third day of Spring!"  As opposed to the 5th?  :)

We were transporting a baby bassinet in the van to give to a friend and it was crowding Blake a bit in the way, so he says "This bayonet is crushing me!"  We've been reading a lot of Revelutionary War stories, can you tell?

Blake- "The best kind of chicken I like is ham"   :)

Love to you all!

Micah, Kari, Blake, Seth, Owen & Liza

Oct. 9th - Nov. 16th, 2015

Hi Everyone!

Hope you all are doing well! We've been busy doing school and fitting in as much outside time as possible. Here's what we've been up to...

We celebrated Daddy's birthday last month. He's the best Daddy in the whole world! Dedicated, loving, fun, and devoted. We couldn't ask for a better one!

 Daddy was King for the Day!

 Liza just wanted the scepter of power.

The King got to draw a name from a hat in which our new pet fish would officially be named. Blake's suggestion was the winning name: "Blue Jay"


Liza update..

 We hit the 5 month mark a few weeks ago now. She is so much fun and adds a ton of joy to our family!

 It's not always obvious, and you can see it better in this picture, but Liza has one eye that is almost totally blue and the other is hazel like the boys. It's so unique, I hope it stays that way.

 This is what happens when Mommy walks away for even just one minute! She likes to be able to see me at all times. We are working on how to be content with some toys while Mommy takes care of other things. It's not easy! :)

 Liza hit 14 pounds last week! Yay!

Our little neighbor girl brought her doll stroller over and we let Liza try it out. So cute!

The past two weekends Micah has been working with the boys to build a tree fort. (I've been instructed that it's definitely NOT a "tree house" it's a "tree fort". :)

 The best Daddy in the whole world!

Finished!

 Pulley system

 Micah even made a trap door to keep "the enemy" out

Doing school...

A disclaimer before you see the pictures below in case you are tempted to think that we just have it all together I'm going to be honest and REAL here: homeschooling is probably the most challenging long-term thing I've ever done. There are definitely moments here and there that I think, "I can't do this!".  Like the other day when Liza was screaming because I was sitting next to her on the floor and not holding her, Owen is having an ugly tantrum because Seth looked at him, and Blake and Seth couldn't remember a thing I just read in their lesson for the past thirty minutes and phone was ringing with a call that I had to take. :)  We have our moments and sometimes just bad days, but overall, (with God's help and Him giving me grace!) I would say it's going well. We are making it through our curriculum one week at a time and lo and behold, Seth is even starting to read five-letter words. I didn't think that was going to happen for a long time! Evidence that God is working :) 

 Lots of outside time! Exploring and talking about what we see.

Lots of reading! Blake is reading like a whiz and gobbling up just about anything I can throw at him. The curriculum we are doing together encourages family reading time of classic books that are related to the time period we are studying. The real-life stories bring the information alive to them and make it so much more in enjoyable. We are learning about early US history at the moment. Sometimes Blake will take over reading out loud if I have to leave the room to go change Liza's diaper. SO nice!

 This picture is not necessarily an accurate representation of "school" for us. Mommy has only allowed finger painting ONCE so far this year and that was for Daddy's birthday. :D We do complete occasional arts and crafts projects together though.


Tricorn hats. (I didn't know what a "tricorn hat" was!") The boys pretended to be George Washington and Benjamin Franklin for the rest of the day. Owen was....well, we aren't sure exactly. Superman mixed with Johnny Tremain and a little Lone Ranger thrown in too.

 The stars all aligned the other day and we just HAPPEN to hear about a colonial reenactment in the area and we actually managed to make it there for field trip! My second ever outing (besides errands) with all four kids by myself. One of the families we know was participating in it. Blake is standing next to Daisey. The look on his face is so cute. :)

 Pretty cool musket loading demonstration.

 Apple cider press

Most of our school time is a slightly less glamorous than cool field trips, but I'm so thankful we get the privilege of learning at our own pace and in our own way. Blake and Seth are writing summaries of what we learned about Ben Franklin.

 Lots of recess time! I have read several credible sources about the importance of kids having enough unstructured time to play and especially play outdoors. So, we definitely try and implement that around here!

After several days of being stuck indoors because of rain, we just couldn't wait any longer for the mud to dry. :)

A friend of ours took this picture for the church website and she did such a good job I thought I'd include it. Micah is a few months into a year-long elder training process at church. At the end of that time we will re-evaluate and see if this is a good time for our family to become part of the elder leadership team. We feel very humbled to be asked to consider it and we would love to be an encouragement to others in that way. 


Work is still going well for Micah. He got to take a business flight out of town (to Wisconsin) last week which he was excited about. Most of this year, work has been fairly busy for him, but he really enjoys it and God has blessed him with a great job and excellent coworkers.

Uncle Jonathan returned from Afghanistan safe and sound. We are looking forward to seeing him next weekend for Thanksgiving!


Funnies...

"Mom! I saw a whole galaxy of birds!" - Blake

We were playing a game in which you look at the clouds and try to find shapes of various objects. Seth found a ship and a car. Blake said, "That one looks like the German god holding lightening bolts!"  :) Zeus doesn't mind being German, does he?

Owen and I have been working on memorizing Psalm 23 together for, hmmm... almost a year I guess. His two year old self comes out every time in the first verse and we can't seem to relearn it the correct way. His version goes, "The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want to!" The Bible according to all two year olds. :0)



Hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Sincerely, 

Micah, Kari, Blake, Seth, Owen and Liza