Summer 2013

We had a visitor for a few days a couple of times this summer.  Kallie Jo came to liven up our house.

Joel and Noah took swimming lessons across the road.

Check this out!  We have 5 boys and our friends, the Haabs, have 5 girls!

3 cute boys!

Noah doing some school.  He's wearing his tie-dye shirt he made at science camp.  They dyed it with grape juice, coffee, and tumeric.

Happy, happy, happy!

The 3 oldest constantly have paper, crayons, and markers littering the counter and table.  

The boys and I spent the day at my parents' house back in July while Chris went to Detroit to help my brother move back home.  While we were there, Joel and Aaron got swarmed by a hive of bees while they were playing in the woods, so when Chris got back, he decided to vanquish the bees!

Aaron was extremely traumatized.  He was stung 20+ times, but there was no swelling or trouble breathing so at least we know he isn't allergic.  On occasion, we still hear him say, "Those nawty bees!"

Joel didn't get stung quite as many times as Aaron since he ran away while Aaron just stood still while the bees stung him, but he did get stung right by his eye so one eye was swollen for a few days.  

We visited the GR musem with Nate and Shell one summer day.  

Andrew really enjoys going to the museum.

The museum had oversize games set up for us to play.

Such a good boy!

What's Cookin'

Last night we had chicken chili, one of our favorite crockpot meals.  Chris thinks we should open a restaurant and serve it.  :-)

Tues~Pork tacos, salad, melon
Wed~Chris is gone with a couple boys to Boys and Girls club at church.
Thurs~Burger King and Artprize :-)
Fri~Homemade pizza, cold veggies
Sat~oatmeal pancakes, sausage
Sun~Chicken noodle soup, rolls
Mon~Beef stew with dumplings

This week in pics so far

Seriously.  Cutest baby ever.

So after 5 boys, we finally finished our sandbox.  What were we waiting for??

Time for lunch.  These two each had 4 pieces of bread.

Pumpkin bread for snack today.

You never know when you might need to be wearing your bike helmet.

What's Cookin'

Mon~Labor day, probably just snacks for dinner
Tues~Roast beef, potatoes, carrots quick before soccer practice starts again!
Wed~Pork enchiladas, black beans, cold veggies
Thurs~Mini meat loaves, roasted potatoes, cabbage
Fri~Pizza, cold veggies
Sat~Pork tenderloin, garlic mashed potatoes, green beans
Sun~Leftovers or something from the freezer

Smile!

Such a happy boy!  He started eating solid food and he is loving it.

Yum!

What's Cookin'

Mon~Crockpot Chicken Alfredo with broccoli, salad
Tues~Bobby's Goulash recipe, corn
Wed~Chicken Quesadillas (chicken, rotel, cream cheese, refried beans), watermelon, chips and tomatillo salsa
Thurs~Tuscan Garlic Chicken, carrots
Fri~Sweet and Sour Chicken, brown rice (and some chicken scallopini for the picky one!), green beans
Sat~Frozen pizza, cold veggies
Sun~Leftovers or something out of the freezer

Just another Monday

He kept snitching my coffee cup so I gave him his own

Cousin Alana came over, determined to get some learnin' into these younguns.

Finally, a girl baby!

Everybody hard at work.

Mya loved baby Luke.

Everybody loves a good story.

Alana consults her teacher's edition.

What's Cookin'

Mon~Pea soup, rolls, corn on the grill
Tues~Beef taquitos, crockpot black beans, salad
Wed~Chicken spaghetti, green beans
Thurs-Fri~Chris won't be home for supper these days so I'll probably do pancakes, grilled cheese, or something like that with the kids.
Sat~Frozen pizza, salad
Sun~Pork roast, mashed potatoes, broccoli

My almost 6 month old

Time is flying by!  Luke is almost 6 months old.  Here's a pic taken by Andrew:

One of the more frequent comments I get from strangers is, "He has such big eyes!"  Maybe the bald head makes his eyes look bigger??

He isn't quite sitting up, but he does roll from back to tummy to back again.  I just went to check on him and he had fallen asleep for the first time on his tummy.  He is really grabbing toys and loves laughing at his brothers.  Next week we will attempt to feed him some baby cereal.

Late nights with Aaron

Aaron is just over 3 years old and still takes loong afternoon naps.  Three hour naps are quite common for him, but that means he isn't ready for bed at 8 when the older boys go to bed.  He is quite happy to run around the house with just mom and dad up and frequently snitches cereal out of the cupboard or begs for other snacks (since dinner is not his favorite meal of the day).  Usually I put him to bed by 9:30 or so, sometimes he even requests to go to bed.

 

Aaron, eating a late night snack.  He was on his second piece of banana bread which I gave him with no butter.  "More butta, Mom!"

Family Camp 2013

2013 marks the 6th annual FRC family camp.  We have been going to Camp Michewana every August since I was pregnant with Joel and we've had a great time with church friends every year.  This year's topic was "Heroes of the Faith," focusing on the heroes mentioned in Hebrews 11.  The weather was great and we hardly saw our oldest 2 the whole two days we were there.

Chris, gearing up for the tug of war.  This is right before Ron told him to put his hands on the rope!

Pulling hard or hardly pulling?  

Either way, Chris's side won the match.

Boys' turn!

Jonathan, Aaron, and Julia.

Time for s'mores!  Not quite sure how many Andrew had...

Lukey had fun at the fire too.

The boys have graduated to sitting with their friends at meals.  They have not, however, graduated to cleaning up after themselves!

Ruthanne and Tom Karel with Luke.

Some crazy form of dodgeball.  Andrew is riding his "horse" and filling a bucket with softballs while trying to avoid being hit.

Noah with his horse.  He loved it!

Aaron and his new girlfriend, Raelyn.

Noah's war paint.

One of our speakers injured himself playing soccer, or football for him since he's Scottish.  With the help of crutches and a stool, he was still able to give his speech.

Anxiously waiting for the hay ride.

Off they go!

Andrew, eating his treat and contemplating how he could make an icecream filled sprinkle cone.

The last event before everyone went home was family olympics.  We did admirably well considering our first event was drinking two pitchers of water, which only Chris and I drank (and almost made us sick), and we pushed a stroller all over the campground.  But the gold medal went to the Murray family with the youngest Murray collecting the medal.

Looking forward to 2014!