Potpourri of Pics

Not too much blog-worthy has been going on around here, unless you count homeschooling, cleaning, dentist visits, and packing when we can fit it in for our move! We have a date in mind for when we would like to move and are planning accordingly. However, there are still many things that need to fall into place in order to move when we would like to. Danny and I are trusting God as He s-s-t-t-r-r-e-t-c-h-e-s our faith. It is an awesome fact that HE is in control and NOT us! Enjoy these random pics from the last few days...

One night the girls decided to get out the puff

paints and decorate their play dresses. Becca

did most of the 'designing' and Abby watched.

Their finished product!

Of course, Ben had to 'design' a Monster Truck

shirt when he saw the girls painting thier dress!

While the other kids were painting, Daddy

and Caleb had a 'chat'. Caleb is becoming

quite the conversationalist! ;o)

" Hmm, I wonder what is going on over there?"

(Thinks the NOSY baby!)

This is Abby and another 'Caleb'. We are friends

with his family and they were visiting the other

day. They were enjoying thier hot cocoa and looked

so cute that I had to get a pic! He is almost 3.

This is a scene that we see quite often! They

love to 'talk' with each other! Awww!

Smiling for Mommy!

My handsome baby in the sweet shirt from Tasha.

Thank-you..I love it!

Story Time! It is wonderful that Becca can read

to them now too!

Ben spends most of his time playing cars, Monster

Trucks or legos in his room.

Caleb enjoys 'tummy time'!

Cute pics of Caleb

Here are the promised photos of the baby boy!

I was holding him and the kids were trying to get

him to smile...

......it worked!

I LOVE this one..such a huge smile!

Aunt Rachel visited Sunday and got to hold him.

We had a church dinner and our newlywed friends,

Steve and Annessa enjoyed him. Great looking

couple!

New Direction for our Family!

I have not blogged in quite awhile because we have been really busy! Busy doing what, you may ask? Well, we have been busy packing! And I do not mean packing for another vaction either! Yes, you guessed it, we are moving! Ever since Danny's Mission's trip to the Islands, we have been praying and God has clearly shown us that He wants us to go back to school and study for the Foreign Mission Field! We have tentative plans to be moving soon to South Florida. After we get settled in jobs and etc, Danny plans on finishing his Missions degree that he started before we got married. We are feeling a mixed bag of emotions from excitement to sadness for all the goodbyes we will be saying! However, we KNOW that this is God's will for our family and there is such a PEACE there that can only come from Him! We have MUCH to do in the next month and would deeply appreciate your prayers as everything comes together!

I am posting some pics of our last week. We took the kids to Drennan's Pumpkin Kingdom for their Oct. field trip. This is a Christian-based pumpkin farm and we have gone for the last 5 yrs. Since this will be our last trip to a pumpkin farm in a long time, it held more meaning for us and we really enjoyed it! They have turned one of thier silos into a Castle for Jesus and they have all the armor of the Christian as well as a cross and a communion table inside. We took a couple pics of the kids in their playing. They also had styrofoam swords that Ben and Abby enjoyed roleplaying with! We took a hayride out to their pumpkin field and they usually let the kids get off and pick a pumpkin. ;o) They also had baby chicks and other animals that the kids were able to pet and we all enjoyed going thru the corn mazes. We also got a taste of their delicious homemade apple cider that they make there at the farm...yum! It was a fun family field trip that we all enjoyed.

I also am posting some really cute pics of Mr. Caleb laughing and a video so you can see how he loves to play now! We are really enjoying him! Enjoy!

Here is Becca, Ben and Abby in the silo.

I love the smiles on their faces..they really

enjoyed their trip to the pumpkin farm!

An inside pic of the silo and how they had it

set up...really neat way for the kids to learn

and hands-on too!

Becca spent a moment in prayer....

While Ben studied scripture!

..And then Ben and Abby engaged in a rousing

swordfight! Thank goodness, they were only

styrofoam!!

Getting ready to go thru the cornfield maze.

Holding the baby chicks.

Feeding the goats.

Our fun hay ride! It was windy and cold!

This -N-That Pics for you to enjoy!

There has not been too much going on around here, so I am posting some cute pics of our last few days..enjoy!

I love this outfit on Caleb! He kept kicking off

the cute slippers.

This is how he has been falling asleep lately.

Becca hard at work in her PACE. God is helping

her to get good grades ;o)

Ben takes a break from writing his words to wave.

He is learning how to read and is doing well ;o)

Abby cheesin' in front of her finished puzzle!

Caleb yawns to show Mommy that he is growing

tired of her always sticking the camera in his face!

Abby loves to get in the pics with Caleb! This
is another one of my fav outfits on him.

Danny had some repair work to do on one of

his mowers and Ben just had to help....so cute!

"Take the picture, Mommy!"

Last night me and the kids went to my parents

house so the kids could help rake leaves and play.

My dad majorly cheesed when I told him to Smile!

Ben really enjoyed raking the leaves for G-pa

and G-ma.

Sweet baby boy on a bed of leaves! I was afraid

he was going to put them in his mouth..

Playing in the pile that they worked so hard to

make!

I told the kids to each get a pile of leaves and ...

....throw them! It turned out pretty cool!

Happy Fall!

The kids enjoyed a treat...a ride in Uncle

Matthew's new truck!

It is a SHARP truck and the kids loved it!

Garage Sale, Old Toys and Etc..

Since work has been slow and because we desperately NEEDED to downsize, we had a 3 day garage sale this last week-end. God helped us to make around $400 and we sold a LOT of stuff! It feels really good to get rid of things that you don't need anymore! Danny and I went thru the attic in our shed and found boxes of old college stuff and odds and ends that we both have accumulated over 10 yrs! It was fun to go thru old journals of mine and read about my life at 17..ahhh, I feel so old!! ;o) Danny found some old Stompers that he has been saving since he was a little boy. He brought them in and gave them to Ben and made his day! He has been playing with them almost constantly since Thur. Ben insisted that I take pics of him with all daddys 'cool stompers'! I have included pics of them and him so you can see just how 'cool' they really are! ;o)

Caleb is teething already! He has two swollen spots on his gums and has been really crabby lately! He normally does NOt cry for long periods of time as long as he has been fed, changed and is not gassy. When all those things had checked out fine and he was still screaming, I began to suspect an ear infection. I had his ears looked at today and they are fine. So, he is obviously in pain from the two teeth that are coming thru. It is not the normal spot where teeth usually come in. He is getting these on the sides of the middle spots! Caleb has been very different than the other 3 from day one so I shouldn't be surprised that he is getting his teeth in differently too! ;o)

Our garage sale. We added more things each
day. We sold most clothes 5/$100 and people

loved it!

You only have to look at his face to see how

much he likes them!

Ben is so proud his 'new' toys!

Here they all are with the two big ones.

Caleb is happy here after getting his belly full!

Caleb weighs 12 lbs now!

Three months old already!

I can hardly believe that 3 months have come and gone since little Caleb entered our lives! He is soo much fun and we all love him dearly! I have snapped a bunch of different pics of him so you can see how much he is growing. There is even a few smiles in there...;o)

Wearing his first pair of bibs...awww!

Caleb loves to hang out and 'talk' with Presley!

Here he is meeting Uncle Mark for the first time!


Checking out the world from Aunt Rachel's arms!

Just chillin' in one of his fav spots!

Why is mommy taking another picture?

Catching some Zzzzzz in another fav place.



I got him in the tail end of a smile..

There is his smile! What a stinker!

Other news of possible interest...

We have a budding comic-book illustrator among us! Ben has drawn, wrote and self-published his first comic book! He has titled it 'Noni, the Crazy Cat'. He did an impressively good job for a 6 yr. old who is just learning how to read and write! Ben is very proud of his accomplishment! We look forward to another edition soon!

Our new up-and-coming author!

Rebecca recieved a late and much anticipated Birthday present from Uncle Mark and Aunt Rachel this past Sun.! Mark and Rachel have not been able to visit for quite awhile due to work schedules. Becca knew that they went to the American Girls Store on their last trip to Chicago. And she was soo excited to get her gift from them! Thanks Mark and Rachel! Becca LOVES it!

Opening the much anticipated gift....

..matching shirts for her and her doll!

I will close with this sweet pic of Caleb sleeping

in his beloved swing.