Guess the bird....

This bird showed up at our house and
has been making frequent visits. We
were trying to identify what he was with
our books. Found out he is a ring-necked
pheasant.
 

Snow Days

Sledding with their cousins
 
Buried in the snow by her brother
 
More sledding
 
Making a snow fort under the pine tree
 
We have had about 8-12 inches of snow this
past week. The kids enjoyed it while they could..
This week we have not been out
as temperatures are sub zero!

Happy New Year!

 

Spent New Years Day evening at my sister's, eating
and watching football.

More Special Christmas times

Celebrating with Aunt Sue
 
Uncle Kirk and Aunt Gail
 
Traditional pile up on Uncle Kirk
 
Going to children's wonderland with Miss Toni
 

Christmas at Grandpa and Grandma's

Isabel and Aiden
 
Christmas always means lots of lego
and Playmobil construction for Dad
 
Ethan--this is what he did ALL day!
 
Reindeer girl
 

Christmas morning the kids woke up and discovered
their stockings. After opening those we headed to
Grandpa and Grandma's for the rest of the day. We
simply spend the day eating and playing. Oh and this
year holding the baby!

Favorite gifts from Dad & Mom

Isabel-dog vet set
 
Ethan- Are you Smarter than a 5th grader for his DS
 
Hunter-Madden 09
 

We had a great family Christmas. We celebrated
with just our family on Christmas eve afternoon.
The kids were so excited to open their gifts, it was fun
to watch them. Then at 5pm we went to church for our
Christmas eve service which was really relaxing and
nice. Then an eventful, not so relaxing ride home when
Ethan told us that he felt sick to his stomach. We rushed
home, telling him to tell us if he was going to
throw up so we could pull over. (don't want to have
to clean the van). He made it home and though he missed
dinner he felt better before bed that night.

Merry Christmas!

Our Christmas Update......
The last few years I have decided to
forgo writing and copying a Christmas
letter to all our friends and family.
However, I am going to write a quick
update here on our blog about the
last year. I figure that
only those who really want to read it
will make the effort to visit our blog
and do so....which is fine with me!
Anyway, if you are a regular visitor
to this blog then none of this will
be news to you.
Probably the biggest change for our
family this year was moving to our
new house. We now live on a great
5 acre property in the country.
We are pretty hidden from the
road as the house and pond are
surrounded by trees...pine trees-
which I love! It is very quiet
here, quite a change from the
busy road we were living on before.
Don't get me wrong-we thoroughly
enjoyed living at the Bower's house
for two years but I have to say
we definately feel at home here.
We will forever be grateful to the
Bowers for our time in their home...
we would never be here in this house
if not for them! The kids seem to
really like it here. They enjoy
the pond and making "forts" in the
woods. We are also right next to
a paved bike trail and within bike
riding distance to one of H & E's
friends, Michael, and their cousins'
house.
Reed still continues his work
with Dr. Clark. He spends most of
his free time on house projects now.
He is not one to sit and do nothing!
Most of the projects are not big ones-
yet! I will hold him off as long
as I can. I think he spent a lot
of hours raking leaves this fall.
It's a big property with lots of
trees but he was determined! He's
also is really good about spending
time with the kids like playing
football or games with them. He
plans to coach the boy's basketball
team again this year. In the summer,
he still loves to go boating and
wakeboarding.
I am home with the kids most
days. I continue to homeschool all
the kids now. I don't really fit
a lot of the "homeschool" stereotypes
...IF those still exist anymore.
I am not a morning person so on a
good day we start school about 10am.
This year Izzy started Kindergarten
with me so I have all three to
keep track of. I have reflected
alot this year that we have really
moved into a new stage of parenting.
We no longer change diapers,
buckle kids into car seats, or
try to get kids to sleep! Now
we just have new and different
challenges!
I also have been able to continue
working outside the home one day a week-
Mondays or more on occasion. We have the
best babysitter in the whole world
that comes to our house-the kids
love her! I work as an
occupational therapist and primarily do home
health--meaning I see people in
their own homes to set up their
treatment plans. The rest of
my time I feel like is spent
making a meal, cleaning up a meal,
doing laundry, folding laundry...etc.Ha!
Not really but it can seem that way!
In my spare time that I do have,
I usually enjoy doing various
stuff on my computer--blogging,
music, emails.... I have
just begun trying digital
scrapbooking. I am definately
a beginner and am learning as
I go.
As I said earlier, Isabel
started school this year. She
is doing well and really likes
it. She has started reading simple
phonics readers. Though she still
likes to pretend to "read" chapter
books like her brothers-this makes
them mad and they insist that she is not
really reading. I am not really
sure what Izzy does all day. She just
likes to be with her brothers or
friends. She doesn't really have a
favorite thing to play...her favorite
thing seems to be whatever anyone will
play WITH her. She began showing
horses this summer and does LOVE every
minute of it. She loves the horses,
the attention, and the outfits!
Hunter and Ethan are in 3rd grade
this year. They love History...and
the rest of it I think they would
prefer not to do--Which of course
is not an option, but they can
dream. Their other favorite thing
is going to art class once a week.
They thoroughly enjoy this time.
When not doing school they keep
themselves very busy creating
zoos with their Playmobil, playing
their Ninetendo DS or computer games,
or "making stuff"! Ethan loves
about any sport--playing it or
watching it. He continues
to love animals and says he
is going to be a marine biologist
some day. Hunter loves writing
or drawing pictures...not to mention
he can always be heard singing or
humming. I think he may write movie
soundtracks some day...his own life
seems to have a soundtrack that follows
whatever he does. He denies this and
says he is either going to be an
archeologist or an artist. They both
plan to play basketball and also did
great on their soccer team this year.
Well, that's about it. Many of our
vacations, events, and more are posted
throughout the blog. Feel free to browse.
We hope this update finds you all doing
well and enjoying this Christmas season.
Love,
Lisa (for the family)