Thanksgiving is over, Christmas is coming...and lots has happened since the last time I wrote.
FIRST of all. We are inheriting a brand new sister-in-law! Matt's brother Andrew is engaged to Hannah Steiner. Hannah was already our children's adopted aunt, so we were very excited when Andrew decided to make it official for us! :) We are so thankful for how God brought the two of them together and are looking forward to their wedding next weekend! Yep, that engagement went fast!
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| Such big smiles!! |
The weekend Andrew and Hannah's engagement was announced, we were in Washington, IL with Layne and Heather. We all had a very nice time!
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| We visited Grandma Knobloch on the way. It was good to see her for a bit! |
We went to a pumpkin patch with Layne and Heather's family on Saturday and the boys had such a fun time despite the chilly weather.
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| The four boys... |
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| The six children! Each of us have two boys and a baby girl. |
We returned home, spent three days recovering, and then headed off on our next trip! Matt and I left the boys with grandparents and headed out to Kentucky/Ohio to celebrate our five year anniversary (with Joanna). We stayed at an Airbnb cottage in Cincinnati on Thursday and Friday nights. We spent Friday at the Ark.
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| It was so huge! |
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| The door of the ark... |
Saturday we spent at the Creation Museum, and then headed for home. We spent the night at a hotel in Danville, IL, attended church in Cissna Park on Sunday, visited Ben and Bethann after church, and then came home to our boys. We had such a nice time together! Joanna was a great traveling companion; it was a good chance for us to bond with her without the boys taking all of the attention.
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| Our cozy little cottage in Cincinnati! |
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| Our rose-colored glasses! This 4-D movie at the Creation Museum was the one part of our trip where having Joanna was a bit of a hindrance because she was terrified of all the commotion. But she settled down and fell asleep before they kicked us out. |
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| Matt fed the camels at the Creation Museum so he could show his boys when we got home. |
Our synopsis of the Ark: Incredible and would highly recommend! This was our first time visiting and we loved it. The creators of the Ark made it their mission to prove that Noah's ark and the great flood really happened. Everything is based on the Bible, then historical evidence, and then the creators took the liberty to fill in the rest with how everything could have worked. It was very fascinating to see how feasible it would have been to take two of every kind of animal and keep them all alive on the ark for several months.
My take on the Creation Museum: There is quite a bit of overlap with the Ark, though this museum brings the entire Bible to life with historical, geographical, and biological evidence. In my opinion, it would have the most benefit to children ages 7+ and any young believer or unbeliever. I think it would be a faith-strengthening education for children who are going through public school curriculum which push evolutionary theories. There is a lot of science to back up the Bible and children can be encouraged that Christians aren't silly for believing God's word! That being said, if I were to do the trip again, I would have only visited the Ark and saved the Creation Museum to visit with my children someday.
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| Five years already! And you know what? We're still in love. Perhaps our feet are back down to earth now, but our bond keeps growing stronger. The memories from five years ago are so fun to remember, but we both agree we wouldn't want to go back! Marriage has been a growing experience for both of us and God has blessed us with more than we deserve. And my husband is amazing so that kind of helps. |
For three and a half days, I only had to take care of feeding, clothing, and bedtime for myself and Joanna. And I never had to worry about the latest disaster the boys were creating. It was very relaxing and it took a couple weeks for me to get my mommy game back up to par. The next weekend I served lunch at church so that kept me from spending the week on the couch, which is what I really felt like doing.
The first weekend of November we had Hannah's shower with the single sisters!
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| Hannah, Charity, and Angela |
The first full week of November Matt went to Minneapolis for a work conference. He left Monday morning and returned home Thursday night. The week actually went very well; I am indebted to several people who helped out to make Matt's absence very manageable.
The next couple weeks were filled with a few miscellaneous evening outings, getting things done around the house, and another wedding shower.
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| The happy couple again...:) |
We got our first dose of the holiday rush when we spent Thanksgiving Day bouncing from church services to a lunchtime gathering with one family to a suppertime gathering with the other family. Yep, it's coming. The month of December is almost more than I can handle.
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| The boys were thrilled with our first snow and couldn't wait for me to open the door so they could go walk around in the snow in their pajamas. It was all fun and games until their feet got wet and cold. Then it was time for breakfast. |
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| Last week we got our first real snow and I finally got the boys out in it before it all melted. They had a blast after I showed them what to do with it! At first all they would do is step around in it. So I taught them how to roll around in it, pick it up, throw it...yeah, so someday I can get upset with them for doing all the things I taught them to do. So goes parenthood. |
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| The boys wanted to lay like Joanna on the floor, and this picture ended up being a good representation of each of the children with their favorite comfort items. Levi- blue blankie and fingers; Micah - white blankie and pacifier; Joanna - pink blankie and pacifier. |
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| Joanna's story time...the boys love entertaining their sister! |
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| I love seeing them love each other! |
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| I got brave and gave all three of them a bath together! As expected, the boys thought it was the greatest thing ever to have Joanna in there with them. |
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| Here is another day that I got brave. Flour + water + food coloring. I think I should have done more flour and less water, but they still had fun making a mess. :) |
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| And then there is Joanna being sweet. |
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| And then there is Joanna still being sweet. |
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| Levi thought he was pretty cool wearing my boots. |
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| Micah got to sit on the tall ledge. |
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| The boys were getting bored waiting for me to finish supper. |
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| Sometimes their boredom gets them into trouble. |
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| The Apples vs. Bananas Showdown |
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| Joanna's first ponytail! :) |
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| We pooled together baby gift money and some of our Christmas money to make this purchase-a video baby monitor! It is kind of fun to see all the mischief that happens in this room after we leave! ;) All three kids are sleeping in there together now! |
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| The monitor kept the boys entertained for awhile! |
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| Joanna turned four months old this week! She is getting so big...very content, happy, smiley, and giggly. She is back to waking up about twice a night to nurse, but otherwise sleeps pretty well. She is sleeping in the big girl crib now in her brothers' room! In my mind, the four to six month range seems to be a big transition as they develop more of a personality and become much more interactive! |
Next step in life...a wedding! We did our dress rehearsal a couple weeks ago.
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| Joanna can't wait! |
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| Aunt in training! |
So much anticipation for things around the corner...this next month will be a busy one! Sometimes I become somewhat of a Scrooge at Christmas because it seems like there is too much going on; but Jesus Christ is certainly a big deal, so perhaps his birthday is worthy of all the excitement. I hope all of your hearts will be filled with joy as we prepare to celebrate His birth!
