Posting pictures that have been on my phone for too long

Sunday, March 15: first week of church-at-home.  We used orange juice and saltines for communion because that was the closest we could get!

March 14: Happy 8th birthday, Isaac!

March 10: Happy 11th birthday, Ethan!

February 15: Daddy-Daughter dance!

Some of us are almost teenagers

Some of us are just plain cute!

It was a chilly night for a carriage ride

Dad and his two dates

February 22: throwing and/or skipping rocks at Wildcat Creek

January 4: Ethan and Isaac helping Dad finish up a plumbing job by painting the wall.

2018 soccer, Game 1

First soccer game of the season: Abbey, Ethan and Isaac are all playing this year.  They all played hard and did well, especially for the first game!

Isaac is in light blue (Carolina Blue) with sky-blue socks.  Abbey and Ethan are in pink (Heliconia) with yellow socks for Abbey and orange socks for Ethan, specially chosen to be distinct on the camera. :)

First professional haircut for Isaac

Usually we cut the boys' hair ourselves, but there's very little extra time around our house these days, so Isaac went with me and we both got our hair cut.  He did very well!

Play Ball!

We signed Ethan up for T-ball last summer, and Abbey enjoyed watching him so much that she asked to play this year, so they both got to play in the coach-pitch league.  Eight games in one month, plus a playoff, although they each missed two games for illness and another two for a poorly-scheduled vacation.  They enjoyed it, but neither seem very enthusiastic about playing again next year.  We'll see how they feel next summer.

Isaac always had the option to stay home, but he chose to come to every single practice and every single game.  Maybe he just wanted to stay with his playmates, but I think we'll see about getting him into T-ball next year.

Dressed Up

Just rediscovered these, taken back in January.  Isaac is finally big enough to wear the suit that we bought for Ethan when we attended a black-tie wedding in 2011.  We got some very good pictures of Ethan, so I wanted to get some with Isaac, too. 

I have been richly blessed with handsome kids and a beautiful wife.

Happy Halloween!

We let the children dress up this year for Halloween, for a community event.  Abbey was a fairy princess, Ethan a knight, and Isaac a lion (complete with realistic roar!).

Abbey was very proud of her fairy wings.

Indian summer

We've had some gorgeous fall weather this year, including one day of Indian summer.

Daddy Day

Mommy, Abbey, and Ethan left early Saturday morning for a bake sale, so Isaac and I had the day to ourselves.  We visited the playground:

 Then the Children's Garden, where we amused ourselves throwing rocks in the water.

We then followed the 68 Steps down to the Arboretum, where I got Isaac to pose in front of the big waterfall:

We were looking for frogs or turtles, of which we found none, but we did find a big garter snake sunning itself.  Isaac has no fear of snakes!

Spring Garden Plans

The idea is to build a raised garden on a concrete slab in front of the house.  First, we moved blocks from the back of the house to the front and replaced them with Michigan field stone.

We set them up on the front porch.  Then we discovered there weren't enough, and that no one makes that size any more.  We had to replace them all.

It takes a lot of dirt to fill a raised garden!  Isaac impressed me the most: he just kept on trucking, with his little sandbox shovel.

Isaac's first haircut

Eventually, for all little boys, the curls get too long...

Easter!

I tried to find good Easter pictures, but they would never stand still!

Home Again

Third time home with a new baby. The older kids are still with the grandparents tonight, so it's a quiet house.

So little, and yet it won't be long before he outgrows this car seat.


Poor Striker...yet another kid in the house. Then again, more dropped food and someone else to steal cookies from, so it's not all bad.

Isaac meets his big sister and brother

Grandma and I went to get them from daycare and brought them back to the hospital to meet Isaac. Yesterday was the first warm day (high of 76!): Abbey even got a sunburn!


They had a lot of fun with Isaac.




Ethan liked the baby but was really more interested in the dinner that had just been delivered for Debbie.


Abigail was disappointed that it wasn't a sister (for a while she insisted that it was a girl brother) but was very happy to see him and hold him (with help).


Isaac will never be lonely!