How Time Flies

Hannah Joy turned 1 yesterday.  She truly is sweet JOY to our family.  I am sorry it has taken me a year to update you.  It's been a busy and wonderful year.  Blogging went to the bottom of the priority list as we are truly living life!

She said, "Mmmmmm," while smiling at Daddy.

A teenager?!

It's official!
We now have a teenager in the house.
Happy Birthday Ashley!
We love you so much...

Her door on birthday morning!

A morning birthday greeting from Daddy!

Lunch at a restaurant of her choice--PF Changs!

Happy Birthday our dear girl!
Where has the time gone?
We love you.
We love that you LOVE our LORD!
We love that you are seeking to have a serving heart!
We love that you are making good choices!
We love that you want to honor us!

WE LOVE YOU.
xo, Dad and Mom

Birthday Boys!

This wonderful boy had a birthday yesterday!
He is now four.
When asked about turning four he replied,
"Now I can drive a car aaannnndddd I can do whatever I want!"

Happy Birthday Isaiah! We love you all the way to the moon and back again.
We are so happy to be your Daddy and Mommy!
xoxo

AND
The guy on the right turned AHEM on the same day.

Happy Birthday Peter!
We missed celebrating with you.
We all love you and are grateful for you in our lives.
xoxo

Kid Quote

It's been a while since I've posted a kid quote. We are a fairly health conscious family. I mill my own grain, we buy all our meat from Polyface Farms and we try to eat our daily veggies raw. The kids are getting a fantastic education when it comes to where our food comes from and why we eat what we eat. However, if I am really honest, none of us can really refuse a Snickers bar and my birthday dessert consisted of both a triple chocolate cake (thanks Dad!) and a Cold Stone ice cream cake (thanks Mom!). So as not to confuse you; my parents are still happily married after 38 years. They just happen to know I like chocolate and double dipped on cake! My faithful husband supplied the pizza in abundance (thanks Husband!). This has turned into quite an introduction for today's quote. So, here it is, as stated by 6yo Daniel.

Mom: Wow, that is a lot of people going to McDonald's.

Daniel: Those people are gonna die in a minute!


Well, at least we didn't eat at McDonald's for my birthday meal, ahem.

Look who turned 6.

Happy Birthday to you!
Happy Birthday to you!
Happy Birthday Dear....guess who!
Happy Birthday to you!

Our sweet boy, Daniel, wanted another dinosaur birthday celebration this year.
He has had these dinosaurs surrounding him every night since his big day.

The look of surprise. I love it. So genuine.

Precious big boy hands can just barely hold the box.

I think of Daniel and I tear up.
I am so blessed that the Lord chose me to be his Mom.
Oh God, Thank you!

Happy Birthday, Precious Boy!
We love you,
Daddy and Mommy

Our little Abi

May 28th was Abigail's 10th birthday!
We had a small party (of course we double any typical party and bring our own fun!)
with just the 7 of us and my parents.
We enjoyed a yummy meal of Japanese Hibachi--always a favorite with this crew!

A-adorable smile
B-bubbly personality
I-incredible joy
G-giddy
A-able to achieve
I-intonation in song
L-laughing little lady

Her new Little House bonnet from Papa and Gramommy.
Don't let the balloon topper fool you!
(Not pictured: her new 18 inch doll)

She was happy to get a horse for her doll.

Her new blanket sewed lovingly from Grandpa and Oma.

Enjoying smores on our first camping trip.

Abi-You really are full of life! We love you and look forward to watching you continue to grow in the Lord as you fully enjoy His journey.

xoxo, Daddy and Moma

This girl turned 12 today...

Happy Birthday Dear Ashley!!!
We love you so much.
xoxo, Daddy and Mom

Peter was able to be home today. We had a nice birthday breakfast for Ashley, she opened gifts, we relaxed a little, went to PF Changs for lunch, hit Target for her to spend a little birthday money and are now home where she is learning how to use her new camera from her grandparents while the snow is slowly beginning to fall. We are expecting 10-20 more inches of snow. This has been an amazing winter. For my now 12 year old, who prayed (when she was 7) every single night for a year for it to snow, this winter has been a sweet blessing. She said it is God's birthday present to her. I think I agree.

Birthday Boys!

These two shared another birthday yesterday!
Happy 3rd Birthday Isaiah!!!
Happy **th Birthday Peter!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Daniel is 5 today!

Happy Birthday Daniel! We are blessed to be your Daddy and Mommy! You are sweet joy to us and we stand amazed at your precious spirit, serving heart and continued growth as you learn more about Jesus! We pray your next year is blessed. We pray that you continue to grow in Him as you gain wisdom and understanding through the fear of the Lord.
Happy 5th Birthday sweet, tough and handsome boy!
We love you, Daddy and Moma

Daddy and Daniel project

Remember the bike Isaiah decided to try on a couple weeks ago?

Today it was revamped for our growing Daniel! Daniel bought it from John after trying it out yesterday. Today Daddy and Daniel sanded and painted it to make it brand new for our almost 5 year old. They found white, blue and glitter paint in the basement, so they went with it. The frame is white, the fenders and handle bars are blue (Daniel's favorite color) and the entire thing has a couple coats of gold glitter. They finished the look with some of Daniels favorite stickers from his collection. We consider it a good combination of Daniel and Go Navy! After all was completed the two of them reassembled the bike and hit the road for a long ride around The Island. Daniel tackled big hills and was so brave. Daddy and Daniel had a fun time.
What a sweet blessing to watch two of my favorite people have so much fun together...

Sanding and taping!

Thumbs up Dude!

Ready for our big bike ride!

Abigail is NINE!

Abigail turned 9 yesterday!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEET ABI!
Your smile is contagious.
Your songs tell a story.
Your care for your little brothers is admirable.
We love you!
xoxoxo




Overjoyed at getting to hold her cousin Emmie.

Excited for her birthday breakfast (it's an all day affair around here...okay, all week affair!)

The birthday hugs start!

For birthdays we allow the kids to pick out whatever (within certain attainable limits) they want for breakfast. Abi picked eggs, sausage, bacon, donuts and strawberries. One of the small blessings to having a large family is the abundance of birthdays, hence the abundance of donuts...Momma likes donuts but only on birthdays. Whew, we need some more kids! ;)




The day before Abi's birthday we took a trip to Luray Caverns in Virginia. We left our house at 6:30 am and didn't arrive to Luray until 11am. It's a good thing we travel with a porta-potty. We sat in turn-off-the-engine traffic for a while. The destination was worth the journey. We listened to Jonathan Park the entire way.
The kids love it and it is packed with Creation Science.

We love it when Daddy is home and field trips are possible.
Thank you Head of the household. You really do R-O-C-K.
No pun intended, really!

Ashley turned 11!!!

Our sweet little girl is now a pre-teen?
She plays her soccer and dreams her big dreams.
We love our girl, in sports or in skirts.
No matter what you have stolen our hearts!

Ashley's birthday bash was so much fun.
Our camera and computer would like to share the photos with one another and in turn pass them along to you. Be on the look out for Ashley's 11th Birthday Bash Photos!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ASHLEY!
WE LOVE YOU WITH OUR WHOLE HEARTS!
xoxo, Dad and Mom

Happy Birthday Peter!

A quick kiss that we caught on film!

Daddy feeds Isaiah their birthday cake.

My big man and littlest man with their cake.

We were not sure if Peter would be able to join us for his birthday, but he was! He came home in time for venison stew, homemade bread and birthday cake. He is now wrestling with the older boys before bed. Isn't is funny to call a 5yo and 4yo the "older" boys?

Happy Birthday my dear husband. I am blessed to be your wife. I am blessed to have grown by your side. I pray your next year is filled with God's richest blessings as you continue to honor him with your life. I love you.

Happy Birthday Isaiah!

Isaiah is 2 today! We love you sweet buddy!

To his adoring fans: He was singing God Bless America again!
He sings it everyday for long periods of time (actually he is singing it while I am typing this) and is getting quite good.

Daniel turned 4!!!!

Our sweet no-longer-baby boy turned FOUR on October 29th. We have been so busy and his party was such a big full day that I did not have time to post about him. So, Happy Belated Birthday Buddy! We love you so much. You are an amazing blessing to us and we are thankful to be your parents. XOXO

Here are a few pictures from his big day! We start each birthday morning with the kids waking up to the house decorated for them. We always put something in the doorway of their bedroom. For Daniel we hung 4 balloons so that he had to walk through them to come out of his room in the morning. We then put Speed Racer table cloth, plates and napkins on the table so that was ready to go for his special breakfast that he picked out: "vanilla donuts, chocolate donuts, sausage, eggs because they are healthy and lollipops!" Then we had family and friends to the house in the late afternoon/early evening for "pin the license plate on the hot-rod," more yummy food and of course cake and ice cream. It was such a fun day and he was so pleased.

He was so excited he pulled the cake off the counter.
Yea! It was still enclosed and only slid to the back of the box.

Happy Birthday Amber!

Today is my sisters birthday.
She is 29 and holding.
Happy Birthday Sister!
We all love you so much.
We are excited for the next year of your life.
We can't wait to meet your beautiful baby in March!
XOXO