Mad Ants Fun...

It was Faith Night at the Mad Ants game and a generous person from our church donated tickets. The Mad Ants are a part of the NBA Development League... We enjoyed an evening of fellowship with some church members while watching a fun basketball game!

For Christmas the boys received a bunch of K-nex toys and we have been enjoying putting them together. This box got set aside and made for a great Saturday afternoon project.

Zeke at 8...

A look into the mind of my 8 year old.

If you could do three things, what would they be?
1.Play Football 2. Watch Football 3. Run the Football for a touchdown

What's the most fun you ever had?
Playing Football

What's your favorite meal?
Cheeseburgers

What's one thing you do well?
Play Football

What's one thing you want to get better at?

Playing Football

What makes you angry?
When Noah touches the things on my side of the room

What's something you would like to see?
The Superbowl

What do you want to be when you grow up?
Football player...

What is the favorite thing that you did over the past year?
Played Flag Football

It is impossible to tell what is on the mind of this 8 year old. He tried to answer every question with football in it, but I wouldn't let him say that football cake was his favorite food.

A visit to St. Louis...

Chad has been playing Basketball with the seminary team this year. One of the big games of the year comes in St. Louis when our seminary takes on the St. Louis seminary (they come to our campus earlier in the season). We decided to travel together as a family and make a weekend of it...

We arrived on Friday afternoon, checked into our hotel and then went to the campus. We also took some time to drive around the neighborhood we were living in when Zeke was born. He found this to be fascinating. Friday night the Kingsmen played the Preachers. It was a loss to an excellent team, but our guys played great and worked well together.

On Saturday morning we got up and enjoyed our continental breakfast and the swimming pool. Then we headed off to the Arch. This was a highlight of our trip. The kids thought it was great and were fascinated by the arch. We also took some time to explore the Westward Expansion Museum (which is perfect timing with our homeschooling agenda... we are currently studying the states in the order in which they joined the U.S.)Saturday afternoon we headed back to the St. Louis seminary for the second game against the St. Louis Inter-mural All Stars. This game we won 60-58! It was an exciting game down to the last minute!

After the game we spent a little time at the St. Louis Zoo. Can you believe the only picture I took while we were there was of a snake... This was thanks to Noah who asked for a picture of the snake... Otherwise the camera may have spent the entire time in my pocket. On our way back to the hotel we stopped at a Steak 'n' Shake for supper (where they had free kids meals all weekend...) Then it was back to the pool for a little before we crashed in front of the Colts football game.
On Sunday morning we visited the church that I worked at and that we took Zeke to the Sunday after he was born. He thought this was great and said as we sat down, "Now I am home..." Perhaps this is a sign that we have moved around a bit too much in his young life, but it was fun taking him around to all the places we used to visit. The weekend in St. Louis was also a great reminder that we are not big city people and it may be fun to visit, but it was great to leave and come back to a slower pace of life as well.

When we got home on Sunday night the boys rebuilt the city of St. Louis in our toy room out of legos... They had the hotel, the zoo, the bridge, the seminary and, of course, the Arch...

Zeke Turns 8...

On January 8th Zeke turned 8 years old... We took our traditional trip to Chuck E. Cheese in the afternoon and then came home for presents and cake. Zeke Picked out a football cake this year...And we lit the Baptismal Candle to remind him of his Baptismal Birthday on February 9. In the midst of celebrating Zeke's part in our family we thank God for the blessing of making Zeke a part of His family as well!And of course there was the Birthday Bag (made several years ago in an attempt to "go green" and save money on wrapping paper... the Birthday bag is an exciting part of the boys Birthday celebrations as it holds all the presents). Among the gifts was the "General Lee", a few race cars and a race track...

Happy Birthday! We love you, Zeke!

A K-nex Christmas

In a house with 4 boys there are rarely enough building toys... This year the family helped out with this issue by supplying the boys with lots of new K-nex sets.... We have been building since we got home! Here is a sampling of some of the new creations we can build with our new toys...

Noah and his dump truck...
Zeke and his Roller Coaster...Seth and his truck...

JJ and his truck...

Three of the boys got together to work on a Ferris Wheel...

Happy New Decade...

As I take a moment to look back over the past Decade I have to stop and say "WOW"... Just a few of the highlights of the last 10 years include (in no particular order)...

+The start of a new family when Chad and I were married on September 2, 2000
+The birth of 4 handsome, healthy, energetic little boys in 2002, 2003, 2004, and 2005
+5 years of military service in the Army
+Surviving the 15-month deployment of Chad to Iraq
+Starting Seminary in Fort Wayne, IN
+3 years of life in Paradise (Schofield Barracks, HI)
+Homes in Weston, WI; St. Louis, MO; Wild Rose, WI; Brillion, WI; Wausau, WI; Wahiawa, HI; and Fort Wayne, IN.
+Chad's completion of his Bachelor's Degree from Concordia Bronxville, NY
+Michelle's positions as a DCE in Weston, WI and St. Louis, MO and now as a teacher through Concordia Lutheran High School Online
+The Beginning of Homeschooling the elementary years of the 4 boys...

And the list could go on and on... What stands out is the way that God has carried and sustained us through so many life changing events! Praise the Lord for all of his amazing Gifts to us...

So what's up for the next decade... Well, I certainly couldn't have predicted half of what happened over the last, so it is impossible to say... Stick around for the journey...

Zeke's Birthday

Zeke turns 8 on January 8th and we opened the first of his presents over the Christmas vacation. At Grandma and Grandpa Breeden's there was a new set of K-nex.

After an afternoon survival lesson with some of his homeschool friends, Zeke decided he needed a Pocket knife and we decided that when he turned 8 he could have one... So for his birthday Grandma and Grandpa Potts got him his first Pocket Knife...Probably the highlight of his Birthday this year was opened second... A while back Zeke got a second-hand, Ahman Green, Packer Jersey. This quickly became the favorite shirt in his drawer. If it is out of the wash it is the shirt he wears. He also became an Ahman Green fan and can list more stats and who he has played for than most people. Ahman Green went to play for the Texans and Zeke became a Texan fan. Then we found out that he had been traded back to the Packers. Zeke was excited... The only problem was that he was outgrowing and wearing out the old #30 Jersey, and Ahman Green had to take a new number (#34). So the second present was a new Ahman Green (#34) Packer Jersey specially made by Grandpa Potts and Uncle Sherman when they went to the Packer game the Sunday before Zeke's Birthday. The look on his face says it all...

And of course Grandma Potts made a Birthday cake to add to the celebration (with Green and Gold sprinkles for my big Packer fan)...