November 2019!

Nov. 1 - Lakes Cross Country Dinner

Nov. 2 - Kivi's Cross Country Meet - the girls and boys made it to State!

Nov. 4 - Mama's 44th Puzzle Race Birthday Party

Nov. 7  - Pella's 8th Birthday at Great Wolf Lodge with Berg and Mama and Dada

Dada bought Pella this amazing pass that let her do everything - high ropes course, mining maze, glow golf, candy feast, the water park and Magi quest.

Pella, you are our family's darling! We love you and how you are helpful and encouraging, smart and funny you are. As our little performer, singer and dancer/tomboy, you are friendly to everyone and have tons of friends. You have your own little fashion and love to talk. You are daring and love to have fun usually doing some sort of outdoor activity. You are a great reader and ahead in math. You and Berg are great friends and you love dollhouse with your sisters. You hate to have your hair brushed or put on shoes. You love Jesus and are great at memorizing verses. We are excited to see how God uses all these gifts for his glory in your life! Happy 9th Birthday, Little Chuggy!

Nov. 9 - Kivi's XC State race

Nov. 11 Outing with Mimi to see the big slides in Ruston

Nov. 12 - Tuff earns mud pie by finishing a phonics box!

Nov. 13 - super low lake tide

Nov. 14 - Kivi's XC banquet She got the Most Motivtional award!

Nov. 16 - Tuff's Rhino Rootbeer 5th Birthday Party!

We had a rootbeer tasting contest, a rhino riding competition, rhino scavenger hunt and cookie decorating.

Only our Tuff could come up with this great theme! Everything you do is big, over the top, and done with grand bravado. You are excited about life, learning and fun. You are our mega performer, are friends with lots of people older than you, adults included and you are not shy to talk to anyone in the most confident way. You keep our family on our toes and are helping us not get stuck in a rut with discipline. You are a great big brother to Coal and Swiggy and they look up to you in everything! You three do everything together and you are a good leader - usually. You are very strong and have many opinions and we pray that you will use your strengths to further God's kingdom and spread His love to many! We love you so much, Tuff! Happy 5th Birthday!

Nov. 21 - Swiggy paints with cars and busts open his head.

Nov 23 - Family Birthday celebration for our November babies!

Nov. 27-28 - Thanksgiving trip to Ocean Shores

Beach walks, trips to the movie theater with Mama and then Dada, girl's made a quilt, D and J paddle boarded, switch games, puzzles, a chocolate taste test, fun Trader Joe's snacks and Thanksgiving meal.

 

January 2019!

Jan. 1st-5th Montana! Skiing, campfires, games, sister outings to the town, snow walks at the state park and a huge wind storm that broke the trampoline!

Jan. 6th Sweet Kids!  Swiggy uses Jasper to drink his bottle. First tooth! Opal gives Mama a full massage!

Jan. 11th Tuff finishes his preschool level iPad game! Mama and Dada go Duck Pin bowling with friends and score all we can play bracelets and Mama scores a 540 at skee-ball - her highest score ever!

Jan. 13th We take Tuff out for mud pie for finishing his preschool. The family comes over and surprises Dada with cleaning and rearranging the MamaDada room. (Side note: if your bed, a whole living room set including a piano, desk, 3 dressers, a hot tub, and your extended family can fit in your bedroom...it's too big of a bedroom. Stuff is gonna pile up in there!) (2nd side note: we got rid of the hot tub!)

Jan. 19th-21st Peter surprises Eben, Kivi and Jasper with a trip to Universal Studios! Here's Jasper's take on the trip:

Jan. 21st Pella goes indoor ski diving with her friend, Isabella! And the rest of us strain the honey that we got from our bees (who all died of mites) back in Oct!!

Jan 22nd Buggy and I and the kids go to the March for Life Rally at the capital in the rain!

Jan 24th After taking Berg and Pella who have gymnastics on Thursdays (or Jasper who is in advanced gymnastics on Mondays) all the way in Dupont, Tuff and Coal and I go to the garden, the library or the Dupont Museum - their favorite. After being there multiple times, I finally realized the old store was called Johnson Bros. - fitting!

Opal, Berg and Pella helped the Holmes girls in a snowman building contest at Sprinker and won first place!

Tuffy asked Jesus into his heart!!! He prayed with Mama and Dada on the living room couch during our night time devotions.

Jan. 25th Awana Youth Leader Bunco Party at our house! Mama has lots of fun leading these amazing HS and MS kids at Awana each week.

Jan. 28th Dada comes home to bring us police cookies and ice cream in his uniform. A treat since his is a plain clothes guy usually. 

Jan. 29th Babies wagon ride.

Jan. 31st Family ping pong in the basement.

November 2018!

4th - Auntie Tonya's Operation Christmas Child shoebox packing day in the bus!

9th - Coop painting day!

10th - Tuff & Flint's Bee and Ladybug Party!

Tuff, you are now four! It was your idea to have a ladybug birthday party even though you are very into dinosaurs, trucks, movies, dancing and playing with your brothers. You do love gardening, so maybe that's where you got it. We don't know. You are always coming up with crazy ideas and stories and songs. And you were very excited to share your day with your Swiggy! You are big and bold and adventurous but can also get shy quickly. You like to be in charge, especially of Coal and Flint, but often tell your big brothers and sisters and even Mama what to do. And you really do think you are the boss. You love that Coal is in your Sunday school class, but like to go to worship in big church first. You go to Cubbies, but don't like to wear your vest. You are very good at watching the babies every day in the basement while the big kids do math! You are such a great big brother. You have to tell us so many things before you go to bed each night such as, "Will you wake us up at 8:00?" "Can you fill up my water?" " What if I have to go potty?" "Will you remember to wake us up?" "Will this be a short nap?" "Can you make it a small crack?" "Did you pray with us?" "Are you going to tuck me in?" Of course, we have already gone over all these things, but you like to go over them again as I'm closing the door to your room. You have a huge personality and love everyone. According to you, you even have a girlfriend, Joey! You make us laugh all the time. I wish we could record your whole life and rewatch all the hilarious things you say and do! We love you so much and can't wait to see how God is going to use your bigger for life personality to honor Him!
Happy Birthday, Four Year Old!

Flint, our baby boy! How has a year passed? You are the smiliest, happiest baby! You love everyone and let anyone hold you. You are very wiggly during diaper changes. You still don't have any teeth!! You have the sweetest strawberry blonde, reddish hair and get lots of little bumps all over your cheeks. You crawl but won't try walking. You love bottles, your ney-ney, and binkies. You make silly sniffy faces, love to clap, kiss with a big open mouth, sometimes with tongue. You love stories, crawling all over the house, from room to room looking for your siblings. You are very good and not getting into things you can't touch. We love you, you cute little Swiggy man and God loves you! We are so glad he put you in our family! Happy First Birthday!

12th - Flint's one year old photos

13th - Kivi's Cross Country Banquet

21st - Mama finds a dead owl and preserves its wings in cornmeal. I did not succeeded in my one goal for the year, so I'll have to substitute this owl for my raccoon.

21- 24th - Ocean Shores Thanksgiving get away!

25th - The Great Christmas Tree Hunt at Hunter Farms!

25th - Friendsgiving at the Wells!

27th - Eben puts up the tree and we get out Christmas decorations.

28th - Painting a nativity set. Jasper is the dragon in the Awana skit.

29th - Mama gives blood for the first time.

30th - Making gingerbread and designing Gingerbread Bethlehem.