celebrating kaine!

Kaine turned 6 a couple weeks ago (click here).  We had lots of fun celebrating his birthday!  We took Kaine and Halle out to lunch on his birthday.  Kaine chose Arby's:)

Then, we prepared to have a birthday party for him!  Once again, Nathan did almost all of the cake decorating.  Let me tell you, he is one talented guy! 

I think it turned out so great!

Halle and Layla are ready for the party...

So is Ivy...(I love this picture!  She is so cute!)

The grandmas loved holding the babies:)

Nathan also made Kaine a soccer ball pinata.  Halle and Layla wanted to hit it first...

And then Kaine started whacking it.  This kid has quite a swing!  It was kind of scary, with all of our grandparents sitting in such close proximity!  So it didn't take too long for Kaine to bust it open, and then of course our kids were so excited about the candy inside:)

We also played "Pin the Tail on the Lion"...a game that my mom had at home.  Thanks for supplying it, mom!  It ended up being such a fun game...very hilarious!!  Here are pics of everyone taking turns at it.  I don't think I got everyone, but I think these are so funny.  Kaine got to choose who went first, and he chose Israel:)  So Aaron helped Israel take a turn first, then everyone else went.  I love the facial expressions!!

What a fun party!  Kaine, we loved celebrating with you.  Now, we will be excited to celebrate Halle's birthday, coming up in a little over a month!!

good times with friends...

We had some really amazing times connecting with friends over our Christmas break!  I didn't want to neglect to post these pictures...we feel so blessed by the friendships God has given us.  We have some really solid, supportive, loyal friends.

Nick and Jessica bravely opened up their home to all of us for New Years Eve...I think there were somewhere around 17 kiddos?  It was so fun, but with all those kids, it was definitely crazy!  We loved it, and so did our kids!

 Can you see why our kids would love it?  Nick and Jess have a kids' dream basement!

We traveled up to Leo a few times to hang out with some great friends.  We loved being with Jason and Joy's family, Shane and Stef, Keith and Alisa, Lisa...it was so great to connect again!  We wish we could have connected with so many more Leo-ites, but we just didn't have the time!  Maybe this summer:)

Then, we had a really fun bowling night with some great friends.  Kaine is good buddies with Carter, Hudson and Brett.  So we got those 4 families together...here is Kaine, Carter and Brett before we left for the bowling alley.  They all share January birthdays!

And bowling was so fun.  Our kids just loved it!

The 4 buddies...let me tell you, it was hard to get them to tear their eyes away from this racing game to take a picture!!

And last but not least...our group pic from our Christmas party.  Thanks for hosting, Michael and Jane!  We had such a good time.  And to this amazing group of friends...we can't tell you all how much we love you and feel so supported by all of you! 



So I know these pics are a little late in being posted...I think I have one more blogpost to do from our Christmas break and then I will be all caught up!  Yay!  Stay tuned for Kaine's birthday pictures!

the staples are out!!

Most of you probably already know that Kaine had an accident about a week and a half ago.  He had an unfortunate encounter with the corner of our door...sadly, he had to get 4 staples in his head!!  But he was so brave and I think he was kind of proud of them:)  Here is what he looked like soon after he got back from the hospital:

So...today was the day to get the staples out!  It was a day that Kaine was not looking too forward to.  But Nathan promised him that he would take him down for a game of pool and a snack from the vending machine, so Kaine was excited for that:)  Anyway, Kaine was so brave!  Back when Nathan took him to the doctor when he had to get the staples in, the doctor was amazed at how brave Kaine was...no tears or anything.  And it was the same story today!  I was really impressed with the guy who took out the staples.  He was calm, cool, collected, and actually, he was really handsome.  A real stud, really!  I snuck a picture of him:

 Haha...did I trick you?  Here he is, my studly hubby with his tools for staple-removing.  (actually just a wire cutter and a pair of tweezers!).  But I was proud of Nathan...he is actually really good at this kind of stuff.  Although I think this is the first time he has ever had experience with staples!  But he did a great job!  Nathan, you will make a great missionary...the tribal people will be lined up at our door for medical help!

On another note...right now we are in an amaaaaaazing class.  I am loving it so much.  It is Prophets, and I was excited for this class because I have never really understood the Prophets.  I have never truly understood the events surrounding them, the context, and so much other info that really makes it so awesome to read and understand!  So anyway, we are in Prophets right now, and we have an amazingly intelligent and gifted teacher, and we are just loving it.  I got this sweet new Bible for Christmas...it is a journaling Bible, with lines in the margins to take notes in.  So far in this class, I have made great use of this Bible:

(I have never learned the story of Jonah like this before.  It is really amazing.)

And here is the cover of the Bible...it's cute, too!

So Prophets is amazing.  And another thing I am pumped for...on Monday, due to the encouragement from my amazing and gracious husband, I am going to take Psalms.  Psalms is an elective, which means it is in the afternoon and it is not required.  Actually, moms rarely take electives because we don't need any elective credits.  So moms just stay with the kids while the husbands take their electives in the afternoons (not EVERY afternoon...electives are spread throughout the semester).  So, to make a SHORT story LONG (I have a tendency to do that!)...Nathan is allowing me to take Psalms while he stays with our kids.  It will be on Mondays and Wednesdays for almost 2 months from 1:10-2:00.  So not a ton of time, but still so generous of Nathan.  I am so excited to learn the Psalms better...I think they are huge for worship, resting in God, etc...which I think will be such an asset as a missionary wife. 

Thanks, Nathan!  I love you:)

10 years!

Well, I know this is quite a bit late, but I HAVE to post about our 10-year anniversary!!  We actually celebrated back in December--our anniversary is on December 30th. 

I can't believe we have been married for a whole decade!  It seems like it has gone so fast, but then it also seems like we have been married forever.  Nathan is seriously the best husband and father.  He is an amazing spiritual leader for our family, he loves me and serves me like crazy (much more than I deserve, believe me!) and he is my best friend.  I am so thankful that God blessed me with such a man!



Happy Anniversary, Natie! I thank God for you and I love you and appreciate you SO much. 

Life at "The Villa"

I think it is kind of funny that we have a "villa" that we go to when we visit home...most people are kind of confused by that.  When we were packed up and ready to leave at the beginning of Christmas break, Nathan was loading up the van and our kids were waiting inside the school for him.  One of our friends was walking by and saw that we were headed out and asked our kids, "Are you guys going to your grandparents' house?"  And they told her, "No, we are going to the villa!!"  She told me later that she was thinking..."the villa?"  Haha, I thought that was funny:)

So anyway...the villa is an apartment that Nathan's dad built (but they are called "villas" because people buy them instead of renting...).  We are so thankful to Dad for this...he fixed it up for us and totally furnished it for our use anytime we want to stay there these next few years!  What a blessing!  It is also for other missionaries to use if they need a place to stay.  And it is so nice!  We had such a great month staying there and we are already excited for summer:)

The villa has 2 bedrooms.  The kids' bedroom is really big:

One of the best things about the villa is the garage...Nathan's dad closed off the big garage door and ran heat out into the garage, and put carpet down.  It was like a big living room!  We really appreciated this because in the winter we can't go outside, and it can feel kind of cramped with 4 kiddos!  So this extra room was big enough to play soccer...

or football! (notice Layla watching the football game?  We are working on potty training her right now...she isn't quite getting the concept, though:)

And we just had some fun times...



Thanks so much, Dad!  We really really really appreciate our "villa" :)