Where did she learn that??

Jenna received a gift of "dress up stuff" from Grandpa & Grandma T. She loved it! She wore it the entire time we were at their house. I asked her to pose for me, and without any prompting...she came up with this (hips and all!). We had a good laugh.

A Merry Christmas

Like everyone else, I'm sure, we had a very busy but great Christmas! We headed down to Illinois to celebrate with Mom and Dad K. (and uncle Danny) and then came home again to celebrate with Mom and Dad T. and family. We also had our normal Christmastime flu. Thankfully, it has only hit one...so far. For those of you who didn't get our Christmas card...don't feel bad. They got about as far as the thought in my head that I needed to do Christmas cards. Hope you all had a great Christmas! (These were taken down in IL)

Happy Birthday Allison Hope

Happy Birthday to our sweet six year old! Allison is our girl who is always full of smiles and has a GREAT deep-belly laugh. She loves to clean (I'm a lucky mommy!) and help me around the house. We love you sweetheart!

(Yes, I know there have been a lot of videos lately...guess we're lucky enough to be extra busy with a lot of birthday's this time of year...we still have one more to go. :-) Even though each birthday is special, you know you can't do a video for one unless you do one for all!)

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Birthday Dinners

When I was young, my grandparents took us out for a special birthday dinner and we could go to the restaurant of our choice. We always looked forward to it so much! My Grandpa was a big "meat and potatoes" guy, but would take us anywhere...even McDonalds. We took Emma out for her birthday date with just daddy and mommy last night and she could choose any restaurant she wanted. As I imagined a yummy Bloomin' Onion from Outback (yes, she loves onions) or Pola Rosa Maria from Carrabba's or even the yummy salad at Olive Garden...she chose Arnies. Not quite McDonalds...but I did have to laugh when I thought back to my young birthday days. I'm sure Grandpa was thinking..."really???....any restaurant...and you're choosing McDonalds???" We did have fun though. I really love our one-one-one (or two, I suppose) time with the kids.

Emma Joy

Happy 8th Birthday to Emma Joy who turned 8 today! Formerly known as Emily, she has recently decided that she likes Emma. :-) (okay, I'm sure we'll still call her Emily too!) We love you, sweetheart!! (Emily loves music and the song on the video clip is one of her favorites.)

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Leaf Sledding

Some favorite memories of my childhood include sledding in the snow on Grandpa & Grandma's hill. It was and still is a riot. It was only two years ago that my kids discovered "leaf sledding." My parents invited us to go out there this week to enjoy the wonderful 70 degree - November weather in Michigan...and another fun time of "leaf sledding." (Thanks mom & dad...the kids had a riot!!) Hey - not everyone can say they have done this. Here are some highlights.

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Happy Birthday Jenna

Happy 4th Birthday, Jenna! Our sweet, expressive and funny girl! Yesterday (on her birthday) I said to her "Jenna, my three year old is gone & I'll never have one again - you're four now!" She replied, "Mom! I'm still the same girl and I'm still little!" She always makes me smile! We love you, sweetheart!

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Fall

It was a beautiful day today in Michigan...a great day for the last soccer game of the fall season and a great day to jump in the leaves! Last night was fun for all of us too. The kids dressed up and we made our annual trip to Great-Grandma T's house where everyone ends up on Halloween to eat some of her YUMMY homemade donuts. (Our family says that Krispy Kreme donuts taste like hers!) We ended up at my parents house for a bon fire where the kids ran all around the yard and beach with glo-sticks from Aunt Rebekah & Uncle Adam. Fun memories! (FYI...Abbi was a princess/bridesmaid - she kept switching, Jessi was a Red Cross nurse, Emily was a cheerleader, Michael was Mr. Incredible, Allison was Raggedy Ann, Jenna was Strawberry Shortcake and Scott borrowed our nephew Alex's Speed Racer helmet...only for the picture of course.)

Sweet Jenna

Okay...now I know it is a good day. I was teaching Abbi & Emily History and Jenna taps me on the arm and says "mommy, I just asked Jesus to take my sins away and come live in my heart." WHAT?? I told the girls to keep working and I went to talk to Jenna. I have been talking to her quite a bit over the last few months about how we are all sinners and are in need of a Savior and how God sent His only Son to take the punishment for OUR sins. She apparently wasn't seeing her need...because she always said "maybe tomorrow." Well apparently "tomorrow" has come. She said "I'm a sinner, I guess" as she shrugged her shoulders. It was cute. Then she prayed again (not that you need to ask twice...it was just nice to hear it for myself.) It was so "out of the blue" because the other kids were watching their Heritage Studies and she was just playing by herself. Anyway...it is a good day.

You know it's going to be one of those days when...

You know it's going to be one of those days when you open a BRAND NEW gallon of milk for breakfast and even before you pour any milk out...your youngest daughter puts her finger in her nose and then immediately dips it into the gallon of milk. Need I say more?

Challenge

This is one of those nights that I'm tossing and turning (it is 4:30 am), so I had to get my thoughts "out of my head" so to speak. So here goes...

Last time I posted, I mentioned the Ladies Retreat. I had a blast! I met some new friends and got to know some other friends better. It was the perfect mix of having fun, relaxing (not so much during the game of "spoons" but it sure was a lot of fun!) and being challenged too. One of the people/things that our speaker Jodi talked about was Corrie ten Boom and the book "The Hiding Place." Jodi mentioned that when Corrie was a child she was grounded in God's word. She was taught from a young age to hide God's word in her heart. (Jodi said much more than that...but that is one of the areas I was challenged.) It really got me thinking about how much I focus on that with my own children. Why do we take time for other things...but with something so important, we don't intentionally make it a priority?

Fast forward to this past weekend...we were supposed to go down to Indiana (Scott had Friday and Monday off from work) but it didn't end up working out. We still wanted to so something fun with the kids, so we took them to Binder Park Zoo. It was a beautiful day and we had a lot of fun. At the entrance, I took two maps. When you have six children - two maps are not enough (we'll leave the sharing lesson for another time) so I asked if I could have one for each of the kids. They were generous and gave me four more and we had six happy kids. It was very cute to see Jenna trying to "read" her map as she walked. She was so serious about it...but obviously not able to read it! (Video clip)

Yesterday, my friend Jen mentioned on her blog that she went to the Selah concert on Sunday. I love Selah's music and listen to them often, but I pulled out one of the CD's I hadn't heard in a while. One of the songs on it is called "You Are My Hiding Place" (on my playlist below) and it says:

You are my hiding place

You always fill my heart

With songs of deliverance

Whenever I am afraid

I will trust in You

I will trust in You

Let the weak say

I am strong

In the strength of the Lord

The words kept going through my mind during the night. I think that as a parent, sometimes I underestimate or do not emphasize enough the importance of my children's OWN relationship with the Lord. Yes, we pray with them at meals and before bedtime, read the Bible with them (not often enough), and work on AWANA sections. But do we intentionally (make it a priority) to teach them to hide God's word in their heart so that God is their "hiding place." I'm sure when Corrie ten Booms parents grounded her in God's word they didn't know just how important that would be for Corrie in the awful days she had ahead. I obviously don't know what lies ahead for my kids future...but it will be just as important that they have God's word hidden in their hearts. Just like the map at the zoo, Jenna can't read it on her own...but she is not too young to learn! All that to say...I have been challenged to work on hiding God's word in our hearts!

Ladies Retreat

Had a really fun weekend at the Chapel Pointe Ladies Retreat! It was nice to have a break from "normal" and come back refreshed. It is now Tuesday morning and I could do it all over again! I'm sure all of you moms can relate! I came home to a "belated birthday party." The kids made me cards, went shopping with daddy and bought a gift and, most importantly, had a chocolate Costco cake! I'm not sure what prompted it - but it was sweet of them (considering my birthday was in August.) Here are some pictures from the weekend:

Okay, Mom, Okay???

I have noticed lately that Jenna has been saying "okay" a lot. Things like..."mommy, we need to put this in the Losch's mailbox, okay mom? Okay? Okay?" or "mommy, I need a glass of milk, okay mom, Okay? Okay?" She keeps saying "okay" until I acknowledge her. (Is this where I admit that she has said it many times in a row before I acknowledge her sometimes?) She sounds so cute when she says it. Anyway, last night after AWANA, the kids wanted a snack...you know how you serve one meal before they go and it seems like they want another whole meal when they get home? Well, I told them to get their pj's on and then to come back down. Jenna was busy doing something else, so I had to remind her. I found myself saying "Jenna, go upstairs and get a pull-up and some pj's from your top drawer and bring them to mommy, okay?? okay??" (waiting for her to acknowledge me.) I actually laughed out loud at myself. She has just been copying what I do. A good reminder for me!

Soccer, Soccer, and more Soccer

Soccer season is in full swing again. This year we have four teams with practice on three different nights. (could be worse - it could be four different nights!) Jenna is the only one NOT playing this year. They are having fun and I love all of the exercise they get!
Allison scored two goals this week! Of course at this age, there is no goalie and they are still learning not to "steal" the ball away from their own team! :-) She has fun!

Jenna and Caleb sharing beverages. She is happy cheering on her siblings - especially if she gets to have a water bottle of her own.
We have enjoyed the warm weather so far this year...this is Alli finding a little shade.
Emily also scored two goals this week...Jessi got her very first goal last week! She was very excited! Michael is having fun and getting used to U-8 (with goalies & positions) and Abbi is in U-10 and she loves to be goalie - she does a great job - but I get really nervous!! I'm secretly glad when she switches to another position. :-)

By the way...Scott and I saw Fireproof last weekend. We really enjoyed it. I recommend seeing it!

Fireproof the Movie

I hear this is a great movie. It's nice to see a "good" movie in the theater for a change. I'm looking forward to seeing it.

Surprise 40th Birthday Party

Scott just turned 40!! We actually pulled off a surprise party for him! It was fun and we (as in me and the kids) we're really happy to do that for him...he had been having kind of a rough week and I kept thinking..."just hang on 'till Thursday...I know you'll be encouraged!!"

Scott has been going up to Buffalo Wild Wings on Thursday nights with several guys from church...so I figured that was probably the best place to surprise him, so I had friends and family gather in the private side room. Randy & John brought him over there and Jeff called him to tell him to meet in the side room. When they came in - I think to took a minute for him to "get" it. He said he was looking for Jeff - so it didn't really register "who" the other people were until the kids ran up to him. By the way...most of the kids didn't know until they were on their way to the party. I figured that was the best way to keep it a secret. How, you ask, do I know that he was surprised?? He hugged my brother Adam. Not that he doesn't love Adam...they just don't generally show their affection for each other by hugging! :-) It was a fun night.

He is such a great husband and father...it was the perfect time for us show him just how much we love and appreciate him!

Vacation...or was it?

It's been a while since I've updated! This summer has been very busy and very fun. I'll go back a bit and put some pictures from our "vacation." We planned to spend a week or so out at Sandy Pines and have a relaxing week. We were looking forward to some family time. As it turned out, Scott ended up not getting the time off from work. Not only did he have to work, but he had to fill in for another guy on third shift. In his 10 years at his work he's never had to do that for a week. We were disappointed, but still headed out there (It was more driving for Scott - but he knew I was looking forward to it - so he did it anyway. I am very grateful for him and how he is always looking out for us!) It was nice to have a change of scenery and except for one very rainy day - we had great weather. The kids had fun that day anyway riding their bikes in the rain. Scott finished up his week on Thursday night and we did still manage to get some nice family time on Friday and Saturday! We're glad for the fun memories.

Happy Birthday Jessi!

Although her birthday is actually on the 18th (we will be on vacation...) we want to wish a Happy Birthday to our sweet 9 year old! Jessi, you are our special girl who is sweet and never demanding, friendly to EVERYONE, and just a lovable girl. We love you sweetheart!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Family Picture

It has now been 4 years since we have been a family of 8. It is really heard to believe - it went so fast! For a long time we were "waiting" for things to be "normal" and then one day I think we realized that THIS was our new normal....anyway...

We still have not had a "formal" family picture taken (shame on us) but it seems like we get around to at least taking a group shot every Fourth of July. Have I ever mentioned how hard it is to get all six of them looking at the camera and smiling (a real smile that is) at the same time? Other than the 20 pounds I'm always going to lose before taking a picture...this one actually turned out pretty good....almost. I won't mention any names...


Oh well. Looks like we will settle for this one: (not all real smiles, but at least we can see the faces.)

There is always next year...