2013 Christmas Card Video

Enjoy our adventures from the year!  Merry Christmas!

Unplanned Weekend House Project

Scott is becoming more of a handyman all the time.  He has learned to fix so many things around the house, and I think he really likes it. We were planning to go to Pittsburg last weekend.  We were all packed up and actually ON OUR WAY when Brooke started throwing up.  We went home and cleaned her up and set off again, thinking she just put her fingers down her throat or ate too much breakfast, but she threw up again!  So we went back home, sat in disappointment for a while, and then decided to start a project in the house.  I say "we", but it was all Scott. 

 

(And Brooke was fine the rest of the day.  Ate and drank like normal.  I guess we just weren't supposed to go to Pittsburg!  God must have been protecting us from something!)

 

This is what the steps looked like before.  We actually rememberer to take a before picture! They were very shiny, squeaky, and slippery.

 

 

During...

 

 

Ahhh, much better.  They aren't shiny anymore!  And they are a little darker too.  We wanted them to be even darker, but the type of wood it is didn't take the stain very well and this is as dark as it would get.  They don't creak and squeak as much either!

Isaiah 41:10

 

We love to hear Brooke talk.  She has a sweet baby voice right now.  Sometimes we just sit back and listen to her.  She talks a lot.  Here is one of the verses she likes to say. 

 

 

Isaiah 41:10

Fear not, for I am with you.  Be not dismayed, for I am your God.  I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand Isaiah 41:10.

Our Caterpillar Experiment

 

We were so excited to get to see the transformation of our caterpillars to a chrysalis! 

 

 

They started as a big fat caterpillar. Then they shrunk up into this comma shape, pulled in their feet, and attached themselves to the stick with a silky thread.  When I first saw them, I thought they were dead, but when the other caterpillar crawled around beside this one he wiggled.  I happened to look at just the right time and we actually saw the caterpillar go into its chrysalis!!!! It was SO COOL! Sorry for the home video quality.  Sometimes it's blurry, sometimes it's not.

 

Almost a minor catastrophe.  But no harm was done!

 

 

I am thinking that the butterflies will come out next spring.  We will keep them in our garage all winter and when it warms up we'll see if we can observe them when they come out!

 

 

UPDATE*

After a couple of weeks the chrysalis looks like this.  Blends right in with the stick.  We had a cold front go through so hopefully they will stay in the chrysalis!  It's nice and chilly in the garage. 



Beginnings, Endings, and Trying Again

Our back yard has a new beginning!  Scott worked hard at growing grass and now our yard is green.  There are a few bare places, but he has a plan for filling them in next spring.  

 The kids have been enjoying the sand box more now.  They like to walk through the soft grass to get to the sand box and then squish their feet in the soft powdery sand.  The back yard is now a giant playroom!

I told Scott all I need back there now is a bigger deck with a few benches.  There's always something...  Poor guy, the honey do list never ends!  But really, that grass!  Didn't he do a great job!!

Soccer season has come to an end.  The kids had fun and learned a lot.  Luke got to have his daddy as his coach.  His favorite position was goalie. 

He didn't play goalie all the time though.  (Parents really get into it at this age!  I was sitting by the other team's parents because I ran into someone I went to high school with that I hadn't seen since then). Luke is the one on the green team with the red sleeves. He was so excited his team scored a goal!

Addy did a great job this year too.  She was a little intimidated playing with some big boys that were kind of rough, but she's quick and smart.  Those parents...

We found some caterpillars again.  This time they don't have stinging spikes!  They are black swallowtail caterpillars and they turn in to beautiful butterflies.  We found them on carrot tops in my grandma's garden.  So we thought we would try again and try to follow the life cycle.  I probably don't have the best habitat set up for them, but the last caterpillar (the one with the stinging spikes)  chewed through the netting in our bug cage. 

Only 1 in 10 of these make it to be a butterfly anyway, so if these guys don't live it might not even be our fault!  That makes us feel better.  We are still learning a lot watching them crawl around.  And it was fun to draw and color them.  

The Teething Kids

 

 Addy has lost 3 teeth in the past 2 weeks.  Two on top and one on bottom.  I'm glad her first permanent tooth on top came in, she is having a tough time eating a few things.  It is quite humorous to watch her try to eat apples and meat.

 

And our little Clo bo has two little pearly whites on the bottom.  No one ever sees them except me when she is getting ready to eat!  She doesn't smile wide enough for other people to see.  She did smile long enough for me to get a picture of her though!

 



 

We caught some caterpillars the other day.  The kids are looking at them closely so they can draw them.  We are hoping to keep them alive long enough to watch them turn into a butterfly.  We put some lettuce in the cage and they devoured it! 

 

 

*Caterpillar Update:  We added another cool looking caterpillar that we found to the mix.  It was lime green with spiky clusters of fur and a burgundy stripe and white stripe down the side.  We found out it was an IO Caterpillar and they STING!  I picked him up and put him in the cage and he didn't sting me.  I guess I was lucky.  The next morning we went out to check on the caterpillars and found that ther was a hole in the netting that one of the caterpillars chewed through and they had escaped.  All except the one that went into a cocoon that night.  I am sure the IO caterpillar is the one that chewed through the netting and ruined our bug cage:(  Evil caterpillar... Oh well, it was a great lesson and at least we still have a cocoon to watch.  We needed a new cage anyway, the door was already broken, and it has housed many bugs. 

Watchin the Grass Grow

The latest project we have going on around the house is in the back yard.  We are attempting to grow some grass! 

 Scott has spent a lot of time back there the last few days. He worked so hard, now there's nothing to do but sit back and watch the grass grow!

 

And in case watching the grass grow in the back yard gets too boring, we can watch a spider spin a web.  This little guy was working so hard!  The whole family gathered around and watched in wonder as it slid back and forth, up and down along its almost invisible silk.  It will be fun to go out and see the finished product in the morning!

Addy's first letter to K-State Land

 

We went to Manhattan last week to visit Natasha.  She just moved in to the dorms and is adjusting to college life.  So far, she would rather be home on the farm.  After we had been in Manhattan for awhile, Addy said, "Is this K-State land or something? Everyone is wearing K-State shirts!"  I guess she hasn't made the connection yet that Manhattan = K-State.

Today Addy wanted to write Tasha a letter.  She did a great job writing her first letter.  I think Tasha will like it.

 Here's a closer look.

Bible verses

They can memorize the verse, but applying it is the hard part.  We'll be working on the application of these verses... And we get MANY chances throughtout the day.

 

Laughing baby

"Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come." Romans 5:14

This was part of our family devotions the other recently.  We were talking about how Christ was related to Adam.  I was trying to get across that Adam was the first man and brought sin into the world, but Christ was like a the second "Adam" that brought salvation from sin.  I didn't think they were getting it and Luke patiently had his hand raised.  I said, "Who was the second 'Adam' Luke?"  He said, "How can Jesus be the second Adam if he created the first Adam?  Wasn't He always around, and didn't he make the first man?"

I felt very proud of his theology.

Back to school interviews

Weekend fun!

I had the chance to go with a group of women from my church this weekend to a conference in Hutchinson.  It was fun to ride down with the group and get to know some of my sisters better. The day started out kind of crazy.  I got everything laid out and ready the night before since we were leaving the church at 6 a.m.  I set the alarm on my phone, checked it twice after I thought I had it set, and since I had never used my phone alarm before I had Scott double check it too.  It literally said on the screen that the alarm was set to go off in 6 hours and 40 some minutes.  Scott even checked the volume and made sure it wasn't on silent.  I woke up several times in the night and looked at the clock to make sure I didn't oversleep.  Then At 5:50 a.m. Scott woke up and said, "What time were you wanting to wake up?"  I panicked a little because I still had to feed Chloe and I knew I could not make it in time.

But the ladies were so kind and waited.  We never figured out why the alarm didn't go off, and we really did try to find the error.  Scott said that a couple times his alarm didn't go off when he set it.  So... don't trust a phone alarm.  The rest of the day went very smoothly. Praise God!

 

 JJ Heller led the music and also did a little concert.  I also got to meet her.  She has no idea who I am, but it was fun to have the chance to say, "hi" and tell her I enjoy her music.  It was neat to hear the story behind the songs she has written. She has 2 kids about the same age as my Luke and Brooke, and writes some songs about them. Here's a couple I relate to:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-UMDKhiy88

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTzBWdLJG98

 

 

While I was gone the kids were having a blast.  I left Scott with a potty training 2 year old and a teething 6 month old who had never had a bottle.  I wasn't worried at all! They've got a great dad! I knew they would have a great day together.

 Brooke got in some gymnastics practice.  Doesn't she just have a killer smile?  I think I could sit and watch her smile all day.

 

 More gymnastics.

 

 

The story behind this is Scott was outside with the kids and he wondered what happened to Brooke.  She had crawled up into the stroller and fell asleep.  When you play hard with daddy you suddenly drop.

Then a little while later Addy dropped too... 

Chloe took the bottle fine.  She played and slept well. She has been such an easy baby so far.

I think it was a successful day!

Baby Raegan is here!

 We made a trip to Kansas City to see our first little niece.  She is ADORABLE!  She is a big little newborn, coming into the world at 8 pounds 14 ounces and 20.5 inches long.  She has a TON of jet black hair, chubby cheeks and thighs and huge hands. I think her hands are already as big as Chloe's.  They will be good little playmates and friends. Amy and Ryan did a great job and seem to be adjusting well to parenthood.  We are so excited to have another "little" in the family.  

Brooke's baby

It's so cute to watch her play, but once she knows mama is watching it's all over...
Not sure who did her hair :)

Addy's new look

 

Addy lost a top tooth! She now talks with a lisp.  It's so cute.  She is reading a lot now, and it's fun to listen to her.  The other top tooth is wiggly.  That will be a BIG gap in her mouth if it comes out soon.

Cool July days

 

We've been getting a lot of rain lately. Praise the Lord!  We are no longer in a drought!  In fact, we are on the bring of flooding.  Every night we get a storm.  Sometime we get an afternoon storm too.  Notice how green the grass is in the background of these pictures.

 On Sunday I stayed home from church with Luke.  He was sick in the middle of the night.  He spent most of the morning digging in the wet sandbox.  When the others came home from church we noticed mushrooms that has sprung up in the yard all of a sudden. 

 I couldn't decide which picture I liked best so I put them both in.  Brooke's smile is so cute in the first picture, but there's such a handsome guy in the back of this picture.

 One day when we were outside Luke came up with an invention that allowed him to ride his too small tricycle.  Just like his great grandpa Bill!

 Luke is enjoying playing in a sandbox full of water.  He had been observing an earthworm.  It was a lot longer and skinnier than the ones we usually see.  And it was also more pink.  Maybe we'll figure out why someday.  He called it the "little red snake."

The kids were all pretending like they were babies.  I guess the stairs are the pretend cribs.  They have so much fun together.  

Sweet corn harvest 2013

 

Every couple years Papa Mike plants a big patch of sweet corn and we get a big crew together to take it off the cob and freeze it.  Everyone was invoved in this harvest.  Even Brooke could help shuck.

 

Addy was a big help.  She worked so hard.  She was good at scraping the cobs to make sure we didn't miss anything.

 

 

When there is a lot of help it goes fast and is fun!

 

 

Brooke was also a lot of help when it came to eating!

 

 

We enjoyed corn on the cob for several days.  YUM!

T ball - Go white!

 

 Addy and Luke finished up their first t ball season with a game of "water t ball". Kiddie pools were the bases and they could slip n' slide into home. Addy was on 3rd base and Luke was on 2nd.

 

 

Addy wasn't sure what to do at first, but she figured it out the next inning.

 

 

Luke made a good effort.  He didn't slide the whole length on his first try, but he got up and slid again until he made it the length of the slip n' slide.  

Post July 4th

After our 4th of July celebration, Papa Larry took us fishing.

 Addy caught the first fish.  A little trout.

Luke got off to a slow start.  He wasn't really into fishing, but when we were almost ready to leave he decided to give it a try and he caught one!

 

 Brooke didn't catch a fish, but she almost kissed a fish!

 

 They all caught 15 fish.  Papa Larry was busy taking fish off the hook and putting new worms on. 

 

 Later that day we had a birthday party for all the cousins.  The ice cream cake was delicious!

 

 And that night we cooked hot dogs and roasted marshmallows for s'mores.  Papa Larry gave Luke and Addy instructions on how to roast the perfect marshmallow.

 

 Luke caught his first marshmallow on fire, but he figured it out after that.  YUM!

 

 

We all dressed patriotic for church.  My mom actually found dresses for all three girls that matched!   It was SO cute!  Had to get a picture of that.  

4th of July Fun!

We went to Scott's dads this year for the 4th of July.  We had a great time.

 

 The kids did a lot of swimming. It was so fun to swim with cousins!

 

 The cousins made a water train and Scott pulled them around the pool.

 

 Brooke loved to be thrown in the air.  She would say, "1, 2, 3!!"  over and over.  Scott got a good workout!

 Of course there were fireworks!  The kids loved the smoke bombs.  They were the only thing they lit off.

 Even Brooke got to light off a smoke bomb.

 

Papa Larry gave 4 wheeler rides to all the kids.