...Everything as loss...FOR GREAT GAIN

Ahhh...sweet little joy. Caleb is officially 10 months old! It is so hard to believe that he is rounding the corner to one! He is doing great. I know I haven't updated much lately so I will now. He is growing great.  His core strength is getting better daily and almost fully crawling. He can sit up  now and is constantly sneaking in stealth mode around the floor to wherever he delights. His personality is blossoming. He adores his siblings and laughs at them and their silly faces. He's a great sleeper and eater and we are thrilled to see him learning daily and mumbling too! So...enjoy this cutie...he's even sweeter in person!  

Finally...I am getting these up! We were super blessed to have won a trip for our family to Disney World...through Aaron's hard work in getting recruits last year for his company. So we decided to take the older two kiddos and let Auntie Rachel and Nanny and Grampy share the two little ones at home. It was an amazing time. It was full of great moments where we were in awe of our kids amazement and how it just came to life in their eyes. It was such a special trip.We found out that Rachel loves roller coasters and Malachi tries hard to be brave even if a ride freaked him out he said he loved it! We are grateful that God blessed us with this special trip! Ok...we had a good time at Epcot and had to eat in England for Aaron's mum! The fish and chips were AMAZING!!!   And of course for our cutie..Isaiah...we had to visit all the NEMO stuff...he would have been a bit taken back by this fun huge Bruce! We were planned out daily so we didn't have long lines at a...

It's always hard for us to get a picture of us...ever. So Aaron took me out on a date...which also is hard for us to do with four kids. And his dad took us out in our fun landscaping project(which has taken all summer, but it's almost done!) We enjoyed an amazing dinner at a completely Fort Collins new restaurant...Restaurant 415. It was super modern, organic, gourmet and great ambiance.    And finally....what does our sweet little guy look like. Well...in the midst of getting over a double ear infection he is smiling and laughing just like all our cute munchkins. He really is doing great. He is physically right on for a 6 month old and is hitting that point where something new happens daily. We are working on sitting up which is hard for him with weak arms and core. He is rolling everywhere and eating his toes. He is such a joy. From birth he has always been so calm and gentle and quiet unless he needs something desperately. He adores his siblings and Isaiah can't st...

This season is full. Full of sad times, busy times and some great memories made. One thing I truly enjoy is to cook. It is in my blood. My Mawmaw is an amazing cook who then taught my mom who inspired me to cook. All three of us...well I should say four because my sister is amazing too....cook different in many ways but the same in others. It is just the joy of creating. For me I find so much joy in finding new tastes and beautiful dishes. I also find joy in old fashioned cookin. This one all started when we had moved to Indianapolis. It was the first time ever I didn't have a job. I was 7 months pregnant in a new town/state and didn't know anyone. As many of you know I rarely can sit still. I need to be productive.....and this came to mind. Why not create delicious jellies and jams.. Not only is it super cost effective. It is a fun gift to give and a great way to make healthier options for my kiddos. So...can away. Here is this summers first bunch...and I am sure there will be...

No pictures. No sweet stories of my kids. Today I need to write what is on my heart. So many things continue to weigh on my heart. BLAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!       As I started to write the title of this blog I knew exactly what many people would think. It will get better.....     So a sweet couple from our church is begining the fight for cancer in their sweet 3 year old daughter, Esther. A wonderful friend who was a groomsman in our wedding lost his precious son to a terrible disease. Aaron's assistant manager's fiance was in a head on collision in which the other driver died and his 14 year old daughter. His 6 year old is doing ok at Childrens Hospital. Cassie is in the ICU with blood in her lungs, last we heard.....This is not fun to think on. I find myself wanting my four little ones to just enjoy silence for the day so I can gather my thoughts. My thoughts...really? I know that the world wants me to look at these things and say "It will get bet...

 Ok...so before we started baseball season Malachi needed a cut...and it was my crazy idea to try something new...a MOHAWK! He was mostly stoked to try to look like a dinosaur...of course. So here it is pre-first game!  We signed Malachi up for team baseball with the Fort Collins Baseball club and he is on the Liberty 2 team with a few of his classmates...one being Parker...his buddy from church. I love that I captured this pic of the two of them hangin in the field waiting for an amazing fly ball...yeh that never happened.  Ahh the many positions of 1st grade baseball...at least this was the first game. Malachi has played first base and catcher and he's got a great arm. I also had to snap some shots of what the other munchkins did...and sweet Parker's sister, Grace played with Rachel. At the second game it was much hotter so it brought on some troubles....including bees. It was the last hitter and I saw the coach come running off the field with Malachi. He ...

Many people know about Rachel's dance performance...but for those who don't know our sweet girl got to dance and worship our Lord Jesus with the Creative Ministry of Arts class. That night was crazy. We were completely unaware as to how big this event was. She got to go to class weekly for 12 weeks and loved it. So that night we just showed up a little early to find a packed church! There were 172 dancers just in the Fort Collins group...apparently there are at least 2 other places in Colorado they teach/perform. She did awesome. The first video is dress rehearsal where I got the whole song on tape. Then Aaron tried to get the actual show on tape and our space on the video ran out....but enjoy! Ok...that was rehearsal...here's the performance