Family fun pictures

Well,things have been quiet on the blog for the last 2 months, for MANY reasons, but today, I wanted to share our fun family pictures we took while on an afternoon outing to our nearby state park.

The weather was cool and breezy, and we opted for FUN and casual over formal and "not a hair out of place"(as you will see from the photos:) )

I promise to be back soon with updates from our end of summer, early fall busy season on the farm.

Overall, I would say, not too bad for using the self-timer with the camera on a tripod, and keep in mind,these are unedited.

We have a unanimous favorite, what do you all think? Which one is YOUR favorite???

It was a very fun afternoon, and even though we took LOTS of pictures, everyone stayed happy and cooperative throughout the time.

We took many individuals of each child, I'm not sure what their individual favorites are, but here are mine:

Isaac, age 5 1/2

Isaiah, age 8

Lilianna, age 9

Lili was doing the squished eyes smile all day, there was only 1 of her with her eyes open, but she is still CUTE.

These littlest 3 are usually the hardest to get really good pictures of-so all in all, I think their pictures turned out really good.

Next up is Tyler-you hardly ever get a BAD picture of Ty-he loves having his picture taken, and comes up with lots of his own ideas of WHERE to be:

Tyler, age 10

He is such a joyful guy, a tad mischevious, and VERY loving.

We can't imagine what life would be like without him.

Rosalyn, age 16 1//2

Rose has come a long way in the last few months, and I think she has many more happy days than melancholy ones. She is finding her groove, and adapting to life in our busy family, and we are thankful for God bringing her into our life.

Next is Kendell. Home the longest, hitting 14 years the beginning of September, she is really into farming and cows, and loves being outside working in the barn or helping at the neighbor's farm.

I miss my baby girl who loved all things purple, bible stories before bed, and snuggles all day long.

Enter, a teenager with distinct likes and dislikes, and not afraid to tell you them, loves to read her own choice of books, prefers a pat on the shoulder to an all-out hug, and don't even mention purple or pink being added to her wardrobe:)

I love her in all her stages and ages, and I know God has some big things for her. She's creative, loves photography and writing, and can talk to anybody.

Kendell, age 15 1/2

Last but not least, our almost 16 yr old son, home 13 years in July, able to fix about anything that breaks down on this farm, or in the house, lover of knowledge, serious-minded, not a huge talker, but a deep thinker. He is also following hard after the Lord, and is eagerly searching out what God would have him do with his life.

Nicholas, 15 3/4

I love our family, and am feeling very blessed to have such wonderful, loving children.

True gifts from God!!!

Blessings

Chris for all 9 ofus

Spring has sprung:

BUT... we need to do a bit of a recap on the winter activities around here, as we did have ALOT of winter!
Way more winter than I needed this year. At one point, weathermen told us we had 55 days of below 0 temps, and that was followed by at least 10 more.
When the temps started staying above 0 around March 10-15, I was THRILLED!!!
It is pretty sad when 15 feels balmy.
Still, we had lots of fun sledding in our backyard. The little boys learned lots of new things on their sleds, and ENJOYED them to the max.

 Isaac was just a trooper this year on the sleds-he marched up our backyard hill 100's of times, would throw himself down on a sled, and squeal all the way to the bottom. He gained tons of muscle control this winter:)

 Lili learned to balance and stand up on the, while it was moving-thanks to Tyler and Rose holding her hands a few times to help her get the feel for it-I was quite proud of all of them

 Tyler would continually come up with new ways to keep them all entertained-the train was comical, and they LOVED it:)

 Isaiah tried standing on his sled too, I was impressed he even wanted to, his balance is so bad from his head injury, but he was actually staying up for a couple feet before sheer fear drove him to the ground-but he gets an A+ for effort

 The dogs all had fun on the nice days, but most of the time they were cowering on the back step begging to com in-it was such a brutally cold winter, they could only stay out most days for minutes at a time

And then, when Daddy started pulling them around the yard with the Gator, oh my, then the big ones got into the act too, and did you hear squeals and laughter from all of them then--even Dad!!

 Those foolish dogs would chase the gator round and round the yard, yipping and barking all the way...they think they should be riding:)

The battery died so I only got 1 shot of the gator sledding party they had each night after chores for a week or so-the big ones really had a blast then, and the littles loved riding in the gator!!

We had a new experience this past January.
Dad became a stay at home Daddy again-and we are so thankful for that.
Farming without Father was not a lot of fun for me, stressed me out, and put a lot of pressure on Nick to be "in charge" of lots of things, which he did very well, but still, its way better when Dad is home, and can make a lot of the calls about the days' activities:)
It was a long 11 months of farming with Chuck working off the farm. We probably didn't gain much from all his time away, as it led to issues with cow health, issues with children who needed the strong arm of their Daddy around, and attitudes that needed reining in due to mom and dad pulled in too many directions to deal with issues properly.

 Jersey twin heifers-born on a COLD day in late february-we are so happy they survived, and are thriving

 Our calf nursery was filled to overflowing for much of Jan, Feb and March-I am glad we can get calves back outside into hutches now-it is SOOOO much easier to feed them

Kendell's heifer is 1 yr old-almost, and has grown so much-she loves to be led around the yard, farm, and barn-she is such a barn baby, LOVES to be in the barn!!!

We are quite happy to all be home and working together. We are seeing some real growth in Kendell and Nick in their abilities outside-they both do so well with the outside responsibilities. Tyler has days where he acts like he is 15 too, and then, poof, he has a day of, "oops, he is only 9" but he really loves having his dad home all the time, he would spend his whole day with him if I didn't insist on SOME schooling.
When you begin life without a Daddy, it's just hard for me to limit their time together too much, and I consider all the things they do together LIFE LESSONS-things they would NEVER learn if they went to public school every day, all day long!!!

We also had 2 February birthdays:

Rosalyn turned 16 on the 5th, and Isaac turned 5 on the 9th.

 He's so little, we still consider him our baby, but he surely proves that dynamite comes in small packages!!!

He is so delighted with so many simple, little things-the slinky only lasted a couple days, but it sure was fun while it was around!!!

This year, they each had their special day, and then we had an anniversary the next week, so there was LOTS of cupcakes and cake around this house for about 10 days-LOTS!!!!!
Good for the sweet tooth, not so good for the waist:)

We did some testing with our Rose, and though we don't have the results in hand yet, the Dr spent ALOT of time with me telling me where we stand, and what we will be dealing with in the future.
I will save all that for another post, as it is ALOT to process, and I am still not OK with everything I heard-it is hard to hear some things, and we are still trying to figure out what life will look like for her down the road.
Rose will also be going thru a surgery in May, a bone graft to repair the clefts in her gums, and I am beginning to process everything that will entail for her and our family, for a couple months. I know it is a necessary repair for her, but boy, how I wish it had been done in Ch@na at the appropriate age, like 10 years ago!!! Actually, what I really wish, is that she would have had a family a lot earlier in her life-it would have meant so many less issues for her ---
Well, I will close for now, as it is supper time, and there are littles that need some tending to-
I am sure this is the most neglected blog around...but...its just LIFE for us these days-
Thanks for checking in, and enjoy your spring!!
Blessings
Chris for all 9 of us

Well, we thought it was spring-Satuday and Sunday we had 3 inches of rain, sometimes torrential, and then Monday morning, we woke up to a winter wonderland again-2 1/2 inches of snow accumulated, and I WAS NOT HAPPY!!!
Nor were the children-
we were all sure the snowpants were washed for the last time!!!
NOT!!
oh well, this is life in Wisconsin.