Five Months Old!

Yes it's true!  This sweet little thing is five months old!  Olivia continues to brighten all of our days with her sweet smiles, giggles, and easy going personality!  While we have always noticed that she is very social, it seems as though she is really trying to talk to us lately!  And that is very cute, until it's time to sit in church!!  We all love this little girl so much!  In fact the older two kids can often be heard fighting over who is going to hold her first when she awakens in the morning!  Happy five months sweet Livy LouLou (the kids' nickname for her!).

Afternoon in SB

Thursday was a beautiful day, so we decided to head up to the zoo!  This was kind of a special trip as it was Olivia's first time going to the zoo!!

Of course we spent quite a bit of time in the children's garden! 

 

Shane is all little boy!

 

While the older kids ran around, Olivia received lots of attention from mommy and daddy!

 

After the zoo we planned to go out for dinner.  On the way we passed the carousel, which we have never been on!  So we decided to stop this time!   Faith and Shane loved it!  It was really enjoyable to do something as a family again as it seems like it's been awhile as we have been more home bound with the baby!

Wednesday night at church

Each Wednesday night at church there is a Bible study for the adults and kids.  What I think is neat is that both groups study the same topic, just in different ways.  As the adults looked at baptism tonight, the kids examined how God worked through water in the Bible.  They then created some short dramas to illustrate what they learned!

Faith in costume and ready to perform!  In the first act she was a princess!  Pharoh's daughter to be exact!

 

Action!  Princess Faith has discovered baby Moses in the water, and Moses' sister Miriam tells the princess she will care for the baby until he is old enough to live at the palace!

 

This is from act two.  Now Moses (with the staff) is grown and asking Pharoh (Shane) to let his people go!  Shane says "sure" only to decide later that he wants to kill the Israelites!  He really enjoyed saying that!

 

Act three - moving way ahead to Jonah!  Jonah is paying boat captain Faith for a ticket to board a departing ship!  The kids all did so well, and it is always fun to see them so excited about things they are learning at church.

 

Finally, an Olivia picture to end the post!  It's hard to believe she will be five months old at the end of the week!!  I could just kiss those chubby cheeks all day long!  We love hearing her laugh, and the kids really enjoy discovering what she finds to be funny!  Usually it's some strange noise Shane makes, which of course he loves!  And she is really trying to communicate with us, or so it seems, as she likes to make many happy noises throughout the day!  Lately the two older kids have been fighting over who will hold her first when she wakes up in the morning!  Those are the kind of fights that actually warm a mother's heart!

Goat Farm

Last week Faith was able to visit a local goat farm on a field trip with some friends!  Being the animal lover that she is, she did not want to miss out on an opportunity to learn more about goats!  I am thankful to my friend Nicole who gladly took Faith along with her boys on this field trip with a home school group!  Here Faith is with her friend Conner and a goat!

The kids were able to see some baby goats. Apparently they were all asking to take one home!  Thankfully, they were quite pricey and so there was no chance that it was going to happen for any of the kids!

All of the kids who were interested were able to milk a goat.  I found out from Faith that a goat can produce a gallon of milk a day!!  She had a great time learning and playing at the farm!

Faith turns 7!!!

How can it be that my oldest is now 7??  Time surely has flown as it doesn't seem like it was all that long ago that it was her I was pushing in the stroller, holding in my arms, or laughing with as she played in the bouncy chair!  But we celebrate that wonderful little lady that she is becoming!  We are so proud of how the kindness we see in her, how well she is doing in school, her amazing confidence and composure, and her desire to learn about the Lord.  It is a blessing to be Faith's parents!  As every year brings more growth in her life, it is exciting to see where this year will take her!  Happy Birthday Faith!!

 

Saturday we celebrated Faith with a family birthday party!  She is old enough to read her own cards!

 

The princess had quite a bit of fun at her princess party!

 

Olivia had fun too and cooperated well!!

 

If you still have not seen the kids sing in the Easter worship service at church, click on the link to see the YouTube video!  Both kids participated and Faith even had a solo!! Christ Has Arisen

Pinewood Derby and Piano

A week ago Saturday Faith participated in the Pinewood Derby at Awana!  This was a first for our family!  She enjoyed picking out the decor for the car while Steve did the actual construction of the car.  It turned out to be a fun experience, and while they didn't have the fastest car, it wasn't the slowest either!  But watch out next year!!

 

A week ago today we added a piano to our home!  This has been something long in the works as we have been talking about buying a piano for quite a while!  In an effort to have give many different opportunities to our kids, we want them to take piano lessons.  Steve diligently searched Craig's List, researched pianos, and asked questions of those who knew pianos well.  The ensuing result of all his hard work was the discovery of this beautiful piano!  While it is 13 years old, it was hardly ever played!  We are excited about Faith starting lessons soon, and also about a piece of furniture that we will have with us for a very long time!

 

Both kids have been having fun playing on the piano.  Faith was even able to play the song from her Kindermusik recital (that she played on the glockenspiel!) on the piano!

Easter Picture and a lost tooth!

It only took a week, but I did finally get a picture of the three kids in their Easter clothes!  Since I failed to take a picture before church (and the ensuing rain!!) on Easter Sunday, I made sure to squeeze one in this week before we left for church! 

Same pose...different clothes!!  Over the past few weeks we have had quite a bit of cheering to do for the Michigan basketball team!  While the final game did not turn out as we had hoped, what a fun March Madness it was and what an incredible season!  As always, "It's great. To Be. A Michigan Wolverine!!"

 

And to top off the week, Faith lost her second tooth!  She lost the other bottom middle tooth, leaving a lovely gap!  While she was very excited once again, the excitement was not quite to the level of losing the first tooth a week ago! 

Mini-Getaway

It's spring break here (for Shane!), and so we went away for a day to visit some friends who were camping at the Kern River.  Since we had never been to that area of the state before, it was an extra fun adventure, and a very beautiful part of California!  Our friends were camping, but we stayed one night at a hotel about five minutes up the road, but also right on the river. 

 

The kids had a great time exploring, throwing rocks in the river, and playing with the other kids.  The friends we met have some older girls, and Faith had her hair and nails done by them, which she really enjoyed!  Of course I was a bit worried about the kids playing so close to the water.  At the campground, there was a little creek that all the kids played near.  Shane attempted to cross over it on a log as others had done, but the little guy fell in!  Thankfully he was just cold and not too traumatized or hurt!!

 

Olivia had a nice time too, and enjoyed all the attention she received!

 

Since we drove through Bakersfield to get to the Kern river, we could not resist stopping at Dewars for some ice cream!  It was a highlight!  We also stopped by the Crystal Palace for dinner on the way home.

 

And now for a few random pictures from the last few days...Shane found Larry the lobster, and Olivia once again has fallen prey to Shane's decoration!  Good thing she doesn't mind...yet!

 

The other morning Faith found a book on Whales, and so she decided that her sister need to learn about them!  It was really cute!  Faith would read something and then talk to Olivia about it! 

 

And lastly Olivia on her tummy!  She is mastering the roll over from her tummy to back!  It's amazing at this stage seeing her develop and learn new things daily!  She is playing more with toys and of course putting everything she can in her mouth!  The older two kids love seeing her do new things too and are so excited to interact with her more!  Finally, we are getting very excited about the big Michigan game tomorrow night in the Final Four!!!