2 weeks old

Karis is already 2 weeks old. She's only been waking up once a night which is really nice!! She's also getting lots of love and attention. Her cheeks are so kissable. As Caleb was emptying all the trash cans, he had to come back and give Karis a kiss between each room.

Cash-Strapped Parents!

This week Joel asked the kids if they would pick the dandelions in the yard for 5 cents each. Of course, the kids jumped right on that one and were picking like crazy. Caleb at one point ran through the house to get to the back yard and he was so excited--He yelled "I love our yard!" Well, Joel & the kids started counting the dandelions. Joel underestimated how many dandelions are really in our small yard. Are you wondering yet how much? $32 worth of dandelions. Joel has now adjusted the price to 1 cent per dandelion

She likes her fingers!

Karis really likes her fingers and seems to find them often. Once she gets some more coordination, I think she'll be sucking on them more.

A letter for Grandma

When Grandma got here, she found the following note from Joanna on her bed. Pretty cute huh??

Of course, Grandma has already gotten to these requests!

Grandma's here!

Grandma F. finally made it. She got stuck trying to get here because of some troubles with American Airlines. She finally got close enough where Scott could go drive and get her. The kids are having a blast. Patty is also here for the weekend with Baby Katie so there are lots of little babies.

Karis' first couple of days

Click on the picture of Karis to see more pictures!!

(Then click on slideshow)

Our New Arrival

Our new baby girl is here! Her name is Karis Grace. It's pronounced like Paris with a K. She arrived on April 4th at 4:11pm weighing 9 lb. 1 oz. and 19"long. We're all doing great. The kids came to see her yesterday. It's fun to see their reactions. Eliana came right in and put her hands on Karis' tummy. It was so cute. She wanted to know where the pacifier was because she was ready to mother the baby. They also brought gifts. Uncle Scott took them to the store and let them each pick something out. Caleb, in true gentleman fashion, brought me a dozen pink roses. Joanna bought dad a laser pointer - which actually will be quite useful at work, and Eliana picked out a set of princess games for the baby - and for her of course!!

Caleb made an interesting observation when he was holding Karis. He said, "Mom, I didn't know that the baby would look like that when it came out of your tummy." He then looked over at me and my stomach and said "I think maybe there's another baby in there."

Thanks to all for your prayers and to those who have watched the other kids. Here's a couple pictures. We'll add more when we get home and have a faster connection.

Sheep's brain

Joanna reminded me that I forgot to write a post about them looking at a sheep's brain this week. They talked about the different lobes of the brain and the brain stem. They got to look at a whole sheep's brain and then one cut in half. They said that it felt like rough, squishy skin.

One very important lesson that was reinforced was for them to wear their helmets. Caleb says, "it's to prevent head damage bleeding."

Happy Birthday Caleb!!

Caleb is 6!! We had a small party for him last night. One of his friends joined us, as did Scott and Rebekah as well as Nannie. Caleb got very excited about his gifts. Uncle Scott remarked that it's easy for him to shop for Caleb -- all he does is go to the store and see what he (Scott) would like, and then he buys that for Caleb. It's a hit every time. This year it was a small hand-held device that lauches little helicopter-like discs. At the end of the evening, the kids had a lot of fun trying out Caleb's new marble track set.

The Tupperware Pile

Do any of you have a problem keeping all your plastics and lids looking neat??? Can you find the lid that matches the one you want to use? Well, here's our pile. We just pulled them all out and tried to find all the matching lids, and of course we had a lot of lids left over.

Maybe we can keep this cabinet neat for a while???

Daddy's little helper

Eliana is a really good helper. Here she is helping Joel with a project. She even likes going to Lowe's & Home Depot to pick up what is needed.

(I think she just likes to shop!)

The project they were working on is a stand that has feet on it. Eliana laughed when Joel said something about it having feet. She thought that was funny. Then about 20 minutes later she said, "Where are the toes?"

Dissecting once again!

Joanna and Caleb watched a cat being dissected today. They were talking about muscles and I guess cats have a lot of muscles. I missed out observing since I had a doctor's appointment, but I wasn't too upset! Joanna said she took pictures with her little camera so we'll see if I can get to those.

Easter at Nannies!

We always have good time at Nannie's and Mr. Joe's (good family friends we knew in Germany) house for Easter dinner and an egg hunt. It was a colder day, but the kids had a great time. It's always fun watching them open each egg and see what is inside.

Eliana says she remembers when....

...she was inside my tummy. I asked her what it was like and she said, "It was DAARRK!!"

"The house is going to fall over"

I was sitting at my desk watching Caleb playing in the backyard when he told me that "The house is going to fall over." So I said, "Oh, why do you think that? It looks like it's okay to me."
It turns out he had noticed that the shadow of the house on the back lawn had moved since the last time he had been out, so he thought the house was slowly falling over.

Tired & "Lazy" Days

Some days it would be nice to just be as lazy as a cat.

Right now I wish I could stretch like them too!

Eliana's Big Decision

Eliana prayed and asked Jesus to come into her heart!

She was very happy.

We celebrated with a "cross cake."

She enjoyed her cake!

Joseph & Lisa's wedding

Joel & Caleb were in a wedding this past weekend. Joel was a handsome best man and Caleb was the cutest ring bearer ever!! (I'm not biased though.)

Caleb with the groom

This one is a little dark, but

shows what a good job

Caleb did!

A Victorian Tea Party

Joanna was invited over to some friends' house for a tea party today. Her friends were studying the Victorian era for school. Joanna said they had tea, cucumber sandwiches and a fancy cake. They also made a couple of crafts, and she brought home the material to make a doll from a handkerchief. This is what a lot of girls made for themselves back then since they couldn't afford a china doll. Their mom took pictures and posted them on their blog.

Easter Party

Our homeschool group had an Easter party. The kids enjoyed some games, making their own Resurrection eggs, and a shared lunch.

Painted Lady Butterfly

Joanna & Caleb have started watching the larvae of three Painted Lady Butterflies this week. They got them on Monday, and the larvae have grown so much this week. Every morning they are surprised to see how much bigger the caterpillars have gotten. They can't wait for the chrysalis to form. Eliana has also been watching excitedly. (I think that's because Grandfather calls her "my little butterfly.")

Tadpole update: No back legs yet on our one remaining tadpole. Hopefully this one can survive it's metamorphosis!

Baby Names

We have decided on a girl's name. Finally. It seems like every time we start talking about baby names it turns almost instantly to silly and crazy names. I was beginning to think we'd be naming her in the hospital. I mentioned last night that we should probably come up with a boy's name for backup-just in case. And what do you know, the very first name Joel comes up with is a crazy one, and then the kids just keep making up silly names. Auugghhh!

Where did this week go??

This week has just flown by. Well, at least the days have. The nights sometimes seemed long with all the cumbersome flipping over and bathroom breaks.

We've been busy doing all our normal stuff and then some. Eliana seemed to have a fun time getting the baby's room ready. She asks "How long till we can get the baby out of your tummy?" My nesting instincts are also kicking in. Certain areas of the house are really calling out to me, but my energy is just not there. There's one kitchen cabinet that's driving me a little crazy!!

We took Belle for her annual vet visit also this week. The vet let the kids listen to her heartbeat and then theirs to hear the difference. She asked them if they knew what the heart did and Caleb burst out with a "Yep!" She asked him what it did and he said "It pumps your blood." The kids were also impressed that the shots didn't bother Belle at all!!

My other stomach

Caleb and I were playing catch in the garage. I was just sitting in a chair and if I missed the ball, Caleb would have to go get it. After a while he said, "Mom, I like your other stomach better." I guess he's figured out that my "current" stomach is slowing me down.