Friends...

Over the years, aquaintances come and go, but when you meet people who share your values, your passion for family, and your God, they tend to bind themselves close to your heart. Last weekend we were able to reconnect again for a few hours with the Bruggers, the Edwards, and the Millers for a fun afternoon of activity. Our kids are all old enough now to really enjoy their time together. We didn't get photos of everything, but the girls mostly talked, ate, and chased kids, and the guys mostly talked, ate, chased kids, and played corn hole. :) The kids, however, were able to take advantage of a sunny day to play basketball, football, climb around on the playground, and the boys even conned their dads into giving them money for the indoor batting cages next door to our church. It was a good time, and we can't wait to do it again!

Chenoa, Stephenie, Angie, Stephanie

Kaitlynn lovin' on baby TaMerra

Dan and Angie's growing family of 4 princes and 1 princess  :)

Waited until last to take pics...everyone tired, and ready to head home!

Phil and Stephenie's family...again, 3 princes then a princess!
There is something fairly special about having a girl after a "long" line of boys.  :)

Yup, we started all this!

Galen and Chenoa's family with two of each...such good lookin' kids!

Another lunch scene

Little TaMerra Brooke...chopped her head off cause I was looking at her and not my viewfinder!

Another table scene...sorry boys, pizza eating isn't always flattering!

Our family, in yet another failed attempt to get a decent family pic.  :(

Good times!

Walkin' in a Winter Wonderland!

Like so many of you, we enjoyed the President's Day snowstorm. We haven't seen such huge flakes of snow fall for such an extended period...it was absolutely gorgeous! Photos can't really capture the beauty, but here goes...

Allison loves to explore with her big brother, Ryan. 
They saw a coon, and came back in to tell daddy.  He suggested
they take a bb gun with them (much to mommy's chagrin), but
the coon was up in a tree by the time made it back out. 
Thank goodness.
I think she's gonna be wearing Carharrts and carrying a pink shotgun @13.

View from kitchen

From the front porch

The treehouse surviving another winter

Amazing beauty of God's creation

Family Fun...

So excited to meet her baby cousin!

These guys are crazy about Annie!

Awww!

A moment with Uncle Eric and Aunt Meg

4 generations

What's all the fuss about?  :)

Angelic...for now...

We didn't realize how much she would love this little gal!

Lovin' those lemons!  Will kept going back for more.

Suzanna is such fun to watch...especially at the table!  She enjoys her food more than anyone else!

Mmmmmm!

Spirit Week

Clashy Kait...she's not sure about the look!



Hangin' with some "Western" friends



At home, sick on Valentine's Day...flowers, candy, and cards revived her smiles!

Still at home sick, but wanted to have wacky hair like the boys!

"Owwwww!  How can girls stand hairbands????"

Cutie pie, Evan  :)

Waitin' on their ride since momma was home with Allison.

Allison enjoys Science Central with her friends, Karys and Leyton.



I am thinking this looks pretty good...too bad it is an illusion!  Nice mirror!



Ryan helps out with a demo on static electricity at Science Central.  He was pretty
reluctant but, after a little coercion, did a great job!

Career Day...our little chef enjoys chapel service.

One very sloppy looking Secret Service Agent!

Evan the Miller's man

There isn't much to "report" these days, as life is cold, snowy, and absolutely normal! We are thanking God for an entire month of good health for our family. (Also crediting the faithful ingestion of cod liver oil tablets...don't know if it helped, but my wonderfully healthy grandmother would say that it has!) Allison was exposed to the chicken pox, but hasn't shown any symptoms of it so far. We had hoped she would go ahead and get it overwith now, but it seems that won't happen.
Last Friday night, Greg and I hosted an all-nighter for our Upper Level kids at the school. We took our kids with us (the girls until about 12:30 a.m., and the boys all night), and these are a few pics of them trying to stay awake. :)

After we left the gym around 11, we went to WalMart so that we could stock up on whatever it would take to keep us awake all night, and then picked up pizza to take back to the school.  By midnight, the girls were done:

Looks like Ryan was playing checkers in his sleep...

This is the last photo I took...by 3:30 I was convinced that I'm gonna be 35 in May, and I'm finally over the fact that I'm too old for this!  Most of us made it until 6 a.m., when we were never so glad to be able to go home and crawl into our warm beds!