Christmas morning

Here are a few pics of our Christmas morning. We opted not to wrap all their presents this year (this was something my parents used to do), but just arrange each child's gifts in one spot with their stocking as the marker to show who's gifts they are. We did have one "family" present wrapped under the tree. This is a great way to reduce the amount of trash in the morning and the kids get to enjoy seeing each others gifts.
It is such a delight to see how excited kids are on Christmas morning. The night before, Jake asked how early they could get up and we told them not before 7. So right at 7, as I walked out our bedroom door into the dark hallway, Luke says "Is it 7 yet?" and I about jumped out of my skin! And he is our late sleeper! Notice that there are no pics of Norah because she was sleeping in!

Christmas Eve

Norah and her Daddy on Christmas Eve . . . she had a really cute red outfit on, but I must have put it on too soon because she pooped and made a mess of it . . . oh, well! Grandma and Grandpa Books ready to open some gifts!

Norah and her Daddy (again!) . . . she just wanted the paper!

The boys getting busted playing with Norah's new toy!

The Snow is here . . . for now

Random

Luke just started attending Bible Study Fellowship in the evening with his Grandpa Gorbics. He came home so excited and had written down all the names of the kids in his group! He did comment on how big the name tags were! (BSF is known for their large name tags!)

Jake was asking us about the difference in what we believe and Catholicism on the way home from small group. Not sure if I got it all correct . . . He then asked "If they think they are right and we think we are right, who is really right?"

Norah has given us a couple of chuckles lately. Her first one was when Dan was holding her on his lap and playing with the dog with his feet. She started cracking up! I've gotten a few other little chuckles out, but none as good as the first - what a great sound to hear!

Micah is reading now! He is about 1/4 of the way through our reading book and doing great! I just love teaching my kids how to read!

Pumpkin Carving Time

Our annual family tradition is to carve pumpkins around Jake's birthday. These are ones we grew in the garden this year!

Dan does most of the cutting while the boys wait to dig in!

Hey Micah - you want some of this?

Eeww! Pumpkin brains!
Designing what the jack-0-lantern will look like.
Making the cuts!
Jake designed and carved all of his this year! He still let Dan do most of the cleaning out though!

Here they are! Along with some of our silly faces!

Time with Luke

Luke and I have been able to spend some time along the last couple of Wednesday evenings. Dan leaves to go swimming, Micah and Norah are in bed and Jake is at small group. It has been great one on one time - which is sometimes hard to get with 4 kids! Tonight we made cookies and I learned that Luke has some aspirations for when he grows up. He wants to be either a Lego designer (surprise!), work at a candy store (he likes the smell of candy), a cook or a scientist! I think he is already on his way to achieving those!

Luke's Veggie Stand

Luke was looking for a way to make some money and this is it - a Veggie Stand! He made the sign and decided on a price then picks the veggies and shares some of the profits with his supplier (thanks Nana and Papa!). It now has a cooler to keep the veggies fresher longer.

CARNIVAL!

Luke was more concerned about what kind of party he was going to have than what kind of presents he wanted! We decided on a take-off of one of our favorite Wii games - Carnival! Here is the group of contestants (with accessories and all!). Thanks for being there everyone!

Alana provided the face painting . . .
We played balloon darts, spilt milk, ring toss, pigskin pass, bean bag toss . . .



Grandpa Gorbics dressed for the occassion . . . and here is the birthday boy! I can't believe your 9 already! We hope you had a wonderful day!

Nature Walk

Micah's preschool had a field trip to a local park for a Nature Walk. It rained most of the time, but we still had fun!

Taking a break and trying to stay dry!


A goose family.


Working on a craft.


Micah's bud and family friend - Jaden - celebrating his 5th birthday!

Space Station

We are wrapping up our lessons on Astronomy. We used the Apologia curriculum which includes a biblical view and many activities to do along the way. This last chapter was on space travel. Here is Jake and Luke's replica of the space station.

Happy Birthday Great-Grandma!

We all helped my dad's mother celebrate her 88th birthday today! What a blessing that my boys can know their great-grandma! We hope you had a wonderful day Grandma!

Happy Easter

Decorating eggs with friends . . .

Heading back to Nana & Papa's on Easter . . .

Checking out the goodies . . .

Life with . . . .Micah

Micah turned 5 this month! More Legos! Just what our family needs!

Playing his new favorite game HISSSS with Grandma and Grandpa.

Preschool field trip to Healthworks! Museum. Playing market with Jaden.

Skating with Luke.

Life with . . . Luke

Here is Luke taking a break at the Life for Christ Karate kick-a-thon. He did great this year - 1256 kicks!


Luke and his science Christmas present(thanks Rach!). I thought the reactions would be a little bit more noticeable, but he was happy with the results.


Every Friday the boys write in their Journal. The subject matter is up to them unless they need help with ideas. Luke needs to write at least 3 sentences. Sometimes this is easy and sometimes not so much. If they want me to read their journal that week, they leave it out with their pencil marking the spot. Occasionally I go through and read the ones they didn't leave out for me. This was Luke's entry upon returning to school after Christmas break! I love his honesty!

A Boy, A Book and A Dog

Neti Pot

I've finally purchased my own Neti Pot at the suggestion of my brother, sister, mother and another karate mom. I will NOT put a demo of me using the Neti Pot, this lady looks so much more relaxed and natural than I am sure I look!

The reason behind this purchase is that I've had this nagging cough with sinus headache and sore throat that has never turned into anything worse (that would warrant a pregnant woman taking good medicine!), so I thought I'd try something different.

Luke's comment: "I will not be getting one of those!"

Quote of the Day

Luke (while doing his writing): "d's and b's remind me of high heels."

BAM!

This post is dedicated to my wonderful husband Dan! (He came up with the title)
Today, he took the day off to take our older two boys fishing. Last night was filled with preparation. He had to hook the boat and trailer up to the truck, makes sure the trailer lights worked,mix gas/oil for the motor, put line on the fishing poles, load poles, life jackets, tackle boxes . . . you get the idea.
He woke Jake & Luke up early and they all headed out. Once in the truck, he asked if they were all buckled and Luke says "Aren't we just going to the pond?" (Papa's pond right behind our house for those who don't know - a 2 min walk!)
At around 1:30pm they come home. Jake was the only one who caught a very small fish during the 3 HOURS they were fishing!
After dinner Micah wanted to go fishing with Daddy too! Dan took Micah out to Papa's pond. After both of them catching fish Micah came in and then Dan caught the fish below!