weekend retreat at pokagen

This past weekend we went on the annual Gateway retreat to Pokagen State Park.  We stayed at Potowatami Inn, and our kids had so much fun!  They both LOVED swimming!  We are so appreciative of Gateway for making this weekend possible--it was great.  Having 2 little kids in a hotel room isn't all that relaxing, but it was still worth it to see how much fun they had:)

A big part of the pool was 3 ft. deep, and Kaine thought it was sooo cool that he could walk around in it!  That was a first--he normally has to be carried by an adult.

I love this picture of Nathan and Kaine!

Halle and Grandpa Dave.  This picture was taken after 9:00 one night, way after Halle should have been in bed!  I was just planning to take her to the pool to watch Kaine swim for a few minutes before putting her to bed, but she couldn't stand it--she was practically lunging for the pool!  So we decided to let her swim for awhile and she did great for it being so late!

A picture of the little cutie in her cute swimsuit:)

She loved the little boat!

Halle was sooo sweet when she got out of the pool!  She sat on Mom M's lap for a long time, just wrapped up so tight.

Here is my man with his flippers:)  

Halle with a mohawk!

Well, Kaine was obviously getting worn out on this trip!  We went out to eat with Dave and Terri on Monday night, and as we walked into the restaurant Kaine told me that he was really tired.  So I had him sit on my lap and he was asleep within seconds!  It was so strange for him, he usually LOVES eating at restaurants!  So we made him a bed on the floor, right by our table.  It was so sweet, although I'm sure it looked a little strange!

kaine's latest sleeping habit

This just strikes me so funny!  Lately, after we put Kaine to bed, he has been getting out and falling asleep on the floor right inside of his door.  Of course, he brings his animals with him and places them in the corner!  He is so funny!  I have no idea why he would choose to sleep on a hard floor when he could be in his bed.  What a silly little boy he is:)

kaine's first memory verses!

Well, since Kaine turned 3, he was able to start Sunday School!!  He has been excited to go for months now, and it is so cute to see him sitting with all the big kids and singing in the Sunday school room!  He seems so little for that!  But he loves it.  And now he is learning a memory verse per week.  It is so cute!  Here is Kaine quoting the first 2 verses on his list.  See if you can understand him:

I just love hearing him quote these verses!  We asked Marlise Steiglitz, his Sunday school teacher, if he said his verse on Sunday after sunday school.  She said she could tell that Kaine knew it better than any of the other kids, but she could barely understand a word of it!  He still got a sticker, though, because she could tell that he knew it. :)  By the way, these are the verses just in case you couldn't understand them:

"All have sinned and come short of the glory of God."  Romans 3:23

"Be ye kind, one to another."  Ephesians 4:32

Well, we are getting ready to go off duty for the weekend.  Three whole days!!  Yay!  Have a great weekend, everyone!

one more Christmas post:)

Well, here it is, a whole month after Christmas, and I have one more set of Christmas pictures:)  Our family Christmases were spread out quite a bit this year.  For Nathan's family, we waited until Jenna was here in January, so we celebrated Christmas pretty late this year.  So here are some Mueller family Christmas pictures.

Here is Halle, once again content to just eat her present rather than open it!

Kaine got a Curious George book, and a stuffed animal to go with it.  It joined his (rather large) collection of animals, and Curious George is definitely one of his favorites now.

Halle got a little doll--I think it is so cute to think of Halle playing with dolls!

Nathan picked out some super cool shoes for Kyle:)  Actually, when Kyle opened them, all he could do was laugh (although he did admit to us that he really likes them!)  They are a little flashier than he was expecting!

Dave and Terri got Kaine a little tool set.  It is so cute!  It has actual tools, just smaller than normal.  He loved it!

Here is the little stud, trying on all his construction gear :)

Halle wanted to, too!

Here are the cuties, once again having a blast with their daddy!

A great picture of Halle with Grandma Terri

The next day after our Christmas celebration, we went sledding in the backyard!  It was a blast, but I already talked some about that in the last post.  Here is my little eskimo :)

Dave did a faceplant in the snow!  It was kind of funny :)  (sorry, dad!)  He had a great attitude about it, though!

Kaine and his Aunt Jenna:)

We sent Coco down the hill a few times!  She actually didn't seem to mind it!

Thanks for great Christmas memories, dad and mom!  We had a blast at your house!

a visit from jenna

The last couple of weeks we were blessed with a visit from Jenna!  It was so great to be with her.  We spent a few nights in Bluffton at Dave and Terri's house with her, and she also came up to visit us at Gateway a few different times.  Our kids had a great time with her, too.

Here is Jenna and Kaine at Texas Roadhouse the day that she flew in.  Jenna taught Kaine how to touch his tongue to his nose:)

Here are Natie and Jenna at Kaine's birthday party.  They have a really good relationship, and Nathan really enjoyed talking with her lots these past couple weeks!

I love this picture of Jenna and Halle.  They both look so good in it--it is adorable!

We went sledding one day at Dave and Terri's house.  It was so fun--Kaine loved it!  I might post more pictures of it another time.

A picture of the Mueller kids/grandkids

Another awesome picture of Jenna and Halle.  I love this--a full body shot would have been even better, though.  They were both dressed completely in black, and it was so cute!

Jenna was reading Kaine a book at our house.  She and Kaine spent a lot of time together!

Jen, it was great to be with you!  We had a really great time, and we are excited to see you in May!  (Lord willing:) )  We love you!

kaine's birthday party

We had Kaine's birthday party at Dave and Terri's house on Friday night (thanks, mom and dad!).  It was lots of fun, and Kaine got so many neat things!  Just what he needed 2 weeks after Christmas:)  Anyway, we really appreciate everyone who came to the party and for his presents.  I think he had a blast at his party!

Nathan did a GREAT job decorating Kaine's Nemo cake!  We ordered a cake topper-thing online and it didn't come in time!  It was kind of annoying, but it turned out okay because my hubby is such a great artist:)

The finished cake--good job, Natie!

Kaine loved his cake, too!

Another example of Nathan's talent--he actually made this pinata!!  Jenna (his sis) helped.  They did such an awesome job--I think it looked professional.

Kaine is taking a swing at it.  It was pretty strong--it took Kaine a LOT of tries to bust it open!

One of the things inside the pinata was suckers.  Kaine had one in his mouth pretty much the whole night:)

Halle was enjoying the tissue paper

Kaine was so excited to get this really awesome Cars tent.  It was really neat!  Thanks, mom and dad!

Here is Kaine trying out his tent.  He wanted to be in there the whole evening, playing with all his new stuff.

Halle found one of Kaine's suckers.  I let her suck on it with the paper on, but then the paper came off and she was just eating pure sucker.  I think she is a little young yet for a sucker, so I had to take it away from her...

...which never goes over well:)

Happy Birthday, Kaine!

Happy Birthday to my sweet little Kaine!

I cannot believe that my little boy will be 3 years old tomorrow!  Wow, those 3 years sure flew by.  Happy Birthday, Kaine!!

We love you, buddy!!