A Homeschool Moment

While I was cleaning up breakfast the boys set up a worship service in their room complete with benches and name tags. I had to run and grab my camera to capture this pure childhood moment when their imaginations and creativity had no bounds. They are singing and playing "Mighty to Save" with all their might! I'm sure the Lord loved it as much as I did. Precious!

The Case of the Missing Chipmunk

You never know what a day has in store for you....
We woke up to a favorite chick missing from the flock named "Chippy Chipmunk". After much investigating Younger Brother admitted to putting the chick in the back of Daddy's pickup truck the afternoon before and forgot about it. We were all horrified to think that either the chick froze in the night or blew out of the back of the pickup on Daddy's way to work this morning. Lots of tears. Lots of blaming. Lots of opportunities to comfort guilty Brother and angry Sister. I called Daddy to find out if there was any sign of Chipmunk in his truck. He had left that truck at one job and taken a van to another location so he wasn't there to check and he wouldn't be getting his truck until tomorrow night. I pleaded for him to do something to put finality to this saga. An hour later he calls me back. The chicken is alive and well in his truck! Jubilant jumping and laughter fill my home. The somber mood is gone and the tears are a distant memory. Daddy tells me he had to drive very slowly to work this morning because of the ice and he couldn't go fast on the freeway due to an accident. By God's providence, He kept that little chicken safe and sound and my children's hearts from breaking. God is good.
Case closed.

Big Step for Charlotte!

Charlotte is 10 weeks and growing great! Last week I decided to try nursing her and SHE DID IT! Bye-bye pumping! Now she can take a bottle or breastfeed and she's still sleeping 10 hours at night. She is just the sweetest and easiest baby I've ever had! She doesn't seem to be showing any signs of heart failure so we are good to postpone her open heart surgery until she's bigger. It will definitely be in her future, but the bigger she can be, the better. Thank you for your prayers!

We had my sister's family over yesterday and she took a family picture of us on our farm. Love it! Thanks Kim!

Chicken Farmer

Brie Ella was made to care for all God's creatures, great and small.

Celebrating an Accomplishment

Last night Jaime Lyn performed a violin concert from Suzuki Book 3, including works like Gavotte in G Minor & D Major by Bach and Humoresque by Dvorak. She was joined by family and friends who are fellow violinists. We are so proud of all her diligent practicing 5 days a week for 5 years.

Her teacher for the last 3 years, Elizabeth Knopp.

Road Trip!

Daddy had no work for a week so we took advantage of the opportunity and hit the road!

We made our first road trip to visit family in Seattle. It was a lot of fun to travel in our big 15 passenger van! We spent a lot of time at parks and taking walks.

Here we are at Snoqualmie Falls getting wet from rain & mist.

Visiting with the Great Grandparents, 90 & 92!

Celebrating Jason's birthday with my parents.

Gotta love this picture!

Mother's Day

My brood!

Sleeping Beauty

"milking" "Baby Bear"

Mother's Day was fantastic!

I was thoroughly spoiled by my creative children! I woke up to Jaime Lyn making everyone strawberry waffles, followed by homemade cards and 2 Daphne bushes (I love their scent!). We went to church and for lunch Brie Ella & Hogen made a "Brother & Sister Cafe" complete with menus and Hogen as my waiter (too cute!). After naps we went out to Grandpa's farm for fresh BBQ salmon Uncle Preston had just caught (yummy!) and to celebrate all the May birthdays in the family. All the children got to ride Trisha's horse. Mary Beth & Isabel had their first pony ride together. It was a great day! Thank you children!!

Mary Beth & Isabel on the horsey.

Ben's 4!

Good-bye Friend

Our dear friend Rory went home to be with her Heavenly Father today. She found out on Christmas Eve that she had a very aggressive cancer in her bones. No one knew how much longer she would be with us. My girls had just spent the afternoon doing crafts with her on Wednesday, and now she's gone. She will leave a huge hole in all the lives of those who knew her. Once you met Rory you would never forget her. She came into our church almost 3 years ago as a bitter, disabled, confused and lonely woman. She left us with a strong faith, a joyful heart and a persevering spirit. God totally transformed her and healed all her broken relationships. It was amazing to see the transformation take place...glory to God! We helped throw a birthday party for her just over a month ago. I knew she wouldn't be with us long and thought it best to celebrate her life while she was here to enjoy it with us. It was a wonderful memory all of us share. My whole family grieves the loss of Rory, but we rejoice with the angels that she is totally healed and looking forward to greeting us there.

Happy 12th Birthday Jaime Lyn!

This morning we had a wonderful family celebration with our traditional strawberry waffles, fresh pineapple, a dozen roses for a dozen years and lots of presents including a serger sewing machine. In honor of Jaime Lyn turning 12 my parents bought her a real ruby & diamond ring. I made her a card that read "A girl of noble character who can find?...we know one! Happy 12th Birthday to our beautiful, intelligent, hard-working, responsible & dependable daughter. You are worth far more than rubies to us. May you grow in wisdom, stature & favor with God and man. Love, Mommy & Daddy".

Horseback riding with Tabitha to finish the day.

Chicken Pox Anyone?

Two days into our vacation Hogen woke up with blistery spots all over his body..yikes! (We immunized our older girls for Chicken Pox, but not our three youngest after hearing the negatives associated with immunizations.) Hogen was a real trooper and fortunately had a very mild fever that didn't slow him down. We had an outdoor spa so he didn't have to miss out on swimming. We kept him home the rest of the trip and now we're under quarantine. But if you'd like your children to build up their immune system for life against chicken pox and shingles, by all means, STOP BY!

(2 weeks later....all the other children have it. I'm glad. The older girls got a very mild case because they had been vaccinated before. Ben & Mary Beth are COVERED and very miserable with itching!) I marvel at how our bodies do such an amazing job of fighting disease. Jason & I can take care of all these little people with no fear of getting sick, our bodies remember how to fight it off 25 years later...AMAZING! Compared to the vaccination (which can give you possible side effects) that has worn off in less than 10 years, the natural immune system God has given us beats all man's inventions!

Mary Beth Turns 2

Our little bear cub is officially two and I have a photo of a temper tantrum she threw on her birthday to prove it! We were blessed with a free 4 night stay at Eagle Crest Resort over her birthday weekend. We had beautiful weather and lots of fun swimming, bike riding, eating out and watching some Olympics. On Mary's birthday we went out for our traditional strawberry waffle breakfast (which we usually serve at home). It was a great getaway for all of us.

The temper tantrum. Birthday sisters. Jaime Lyn turns 12 on Feb. 28th!

Some things I don't want to forget about Mary Beth at this age. Her prayers are hilarious! She gives this long streak of jibber-jabber with a few intelligent sounds thrown in and ends with a "men" at the end. It's the closest thing to speaking in tongues I've heard!

She loves board books but calls them all "Sheep Shop" because that's her favorite one.

She calls Hogen "O-GIN" and it's usually said with a furrowed brow. She calls both her sisters by "Lella" and they both oblige her anyway.

Every time we change her diaper or her clothes she says "take a baff!" Baths are her favorite, although she only squats in the tub and doesn't dare move an inch from where you put her down. She was terrified of the swimming pool and only wanted to sit on the first step of the kiddie pool!

Daddy is still her favorite person in the world. She lights up when he comes home. So cute.

She calls everything that is sweet "pizza!" and if you give her any she exclaims "NUMMY!!"

Nesting

I've had a burst of nesting energy lately and my 2 remodel projects will be completed today! I remodeled my family room fireplace wall and both the bathrooms have had makeovers. I just love the results and I wanted to share them with you! If you live around here, come by for a peek.
BEFORE

DURING (after I demolished the fake brick off the wall and fireplace)

AFTER (My brother-in-law did the masonry..great job David!)

Merry CHRISTmas!

Happy Birthday to Jesus!
Last night we had a special family dinner and dumped out the contents of our "Jesus Stocking". Benjamin was so cute. He was holding his $100 bill and we asked him who he wanted to give it to? He said very decidedly, "I want to give it to the children who don't have a mommy or daddy in Africa." It's so cool to see how this little tradition is training the hearts of our youngest children to think of others when the culture is screaming to think of ourselves. It blessed my heart!
Then, we took the children to look at Christmas lights and ended up surprising the Strang family by carolling on their front porch. (Sorry for scaring the living daylights out of you Eden!) We drank coffee while our children learned to square dance in the basement. (Thanks for the great "9-whaa-whaa" Christmas carol too. Love you Strang family!)
This morning I woke up early to make my traditional orange rolls, cut up fresh pineapple and clemantines. The children should be up soon to sing "Happy Birthday to Jesus" and receive their last Christmas gift..handmade wooden airplanes for the boys and Key Word Bibles for the girls with journals.
Christmas night we met up with the entire Knifong family (26 of us) for lots of "Settlers" games, great food and unlimited cousin fun for 2 full days.
Performing our "Emmanuel" dance & nativity production at church.
Mary Beth receives her first dolly from our neighbor Julie.
The boys with their Christmas gifts from us.
Non-stop Settlers of Catan games with the Knifong men.

Sights of Christmas

A few memories I wanted to remember...

Mary Beth with cousin Isabel.