New Van Pictures...

I promised pictures of the new van... Here are a couple...
From the outside...Features new from our old van...
A complete roof rack... we didn't have the cross pieces on our old one
One of those fancy trip computers that tells you how many miles you can go on the current tank of gas, how long and how many miles you've been driving since you reset it etc.
A center storage area to keep stuff from flying all over the van when it rolls over
And the best loved feature of the boys... 4 DVD players installed into the headrest in front of them...

Zeke...

I recently had the opportunity to talk with a friend on the phone that we haven't seen in a while. They were friends when we were in Hawaii and they were transferred to Germany a few weeks after Seth was born. So it has been 4 1/2 years. In our most recent phone conversation she asked how tall Zeke had gotten compared to me. This prompted the following picture... I fear the day is not far off when he will be looking me in the eye and then I will be looking up to him!

Dawn of the Dinosaurs...

Last night we borrowed the new "Ice Age" movie from our library. This morning, JJ created a Long Neck in our toy room.

More Snow Fun....

On another fun wintery day, I was away from home and Chad and the boys went out to the backyard for some more fun. For the first time this winter the snow was perfect for making snowmen. The big two are Chad and I (no I do not know which is which) and the boys are working on little ones to represent themselves.They also created the sides of an igloo and covered it with sticks, but I have no pictures of this experiment...

Later they came to get me and then we went to Science Central while Chad went to class. By the time we got home (only about 2 hours later) all of our snowmen were headless and the sides of the igloo had collapsed. Not to fear it is only February, I am sure there will be more snow for rebuilding before our winter is over.

Winter Fun...

The boys and Chad have been working on a snow fort in the backyard...
This has been an ongoing project and we are getting a pretty big wall in the backyard! After working a little more on it today, the boys came in to find that their mother had a Campbell Soup Commercial Moment... Tomato Soup with Goldfish, Jello and Hot Chocolate for lunch... I could almost see the snowman melting in our dining room.

New Van...

Today we picked up our new van... (Pictures will come later). It is the same basic van we had... Just 1 year newer, a few thousand less miles (like 45,000 fewer), and it is midnight blue instead of black. It also has DVD players installed into the head rests at the request of the boys... They all have their own screen and can watch either one movie or they can all have their own... Should be interesting to see how this works out.

For those of you who don't know yet... The reason for this new vehicle follows:
Two Sundays ago (January 31) we were heading to church when a car ran through a yield sign a block from our home and hit us on the side. This sent our van rolling over onto it's roof. The driver of the other vehicle left. This created for some confusion on my part... I had been looking down and didn't see the other car at all. So when I got out of the van, I was trying to figure out what had happened. Chad quickly pointed out the bumper from the other vehicle and the reality hit.

Aside from a new van, we all walked out of the vehicle on our own and aside from some bumps and bruises were fine. Looking back on it, things could have been so different. The police officers standing around were surprised that we were all out of the vehicle and no one was hurt when they arrived.

All in all, we have a new vehicle. We didn't plan on it, but we are thankful for the Lord's protection over our family and the provision of a vehicle that fit into our budget.

Rollerskating Party...

Zeke and JJ were invited to their first rollerskating party! Their friend Cedric decided to have a Rollerskating party for his birthday... We had a bit of rough start while they figured out what to do and there were a few falls....
But by the end of the day they had both gotten a lot better and were even able to make it around the rink without the aid of the wall...
Of course there was also cake and ice cream!

Happy Valentine's Day...

A friend of ours gathered together some homeschooling families and some families with younger children for a fantastic Valentine's party...

We made color your own puzzles...
Lockers for our valentines...Birdseed Cookies...And heard the story of St. Valentine...We also had a fabulous lunch! Thanks Destiny for all your planning and for letting us invade your home!

SNOW DAY!!!

It is a rare occurrence to get a snow day and even rarer to get 2 in a row... Only in Fort Wayne, IN does that occur after a whopping 5.7 inches of snow! But we appreciated the mid-quarter break and got out to the sledding hill with some friends.
What goes down must come back up...
Noah has also spent this winter working on his snowboarding... Check this out!

SUPERBOWL 2010

For Superbowl Sunday we had a couple of friends from the Seminary join us for the game! Colts playing the Saints made for a fun time!
The boys beat up on Isaac for awhile...
Noah Chatted with Mags...
And the boys posed for a picture with Scott...We also found a little time to actually watch the game...

Y-ball... Zeke

Zeke has been playing Y Basketball again this winter. He is on team Hawks! We are thankful for his coach who stepped in last minute when the team didn't have a coach! Each Saturday they have a half hour practice and half hour game! GO HAWKS!

Y-ball... Noah

This winter Noah has been playing on team Grizzleys for Basketball at the Y. He has some great coaches who really take the time to teach some of the fundamentals of basketball to the team! Each Saturday he practices for a half hour and then has a half hour scrimmage with another team. Go GRIZZLEYS!