Our New House

One of the reasons I'm so behind in updating the blog is....we moved at the beginning of June!
We only moved 2 miles from our previous house...but hopefully this is our last move EVER.
We found a home that is pretty close to our Dream Home.  It's a basement home (with a loft too!) on an acre in a wonderful neighborhood...but still in the city!

the front view of our new home

the view from the back

Pomegranate trees

10 mature citrus trees!

Elizabeth found one of the Ruby Red Grapefruits...notice the size -it's as big as her head!

of course you have to have a riding mower if you have to mow an acre! :)

Our acre is "irrigated" -meaning that every 13days water flows through the canals in our neighborhood and we get to "flood" our yard for 2 hours.  Since we don't have a pool (yet)..Meg LOVES having her very own lake in the backyard.

the kids helped me organize our new pantry

I LOVE my new laundry room. plenty of cabinets AND a place to hang-dry my laundry.

we have a HUGE storage room in the basement...Becca is showing off one side of it. :)

Our basement has 2 bedrooms, a bathroom, the storage area, and this huge living space!
it's the kids area!

we found these nifty creatures in our window wells (escape routes for the basement).
John captured them, let them loose in the pasture across the street and then we put some fine mesh wire over the top of our window grates to keep these fellows out of our space! :)

OCD About Swimming

I think Meg would swim all day everyday if we let her!
Except for she refuses to swim alone....she likes to make sure we're always out there with her..you know -safety first! :)

Not only does she love swimming, she's a little obsessive over chasing balls...so there's nothing better than playing fetch IN the water.

Easter 2013

Becca's 8th Birthday!

Our sweet Becca-boo turned 8 on March 24th!

she started her day opening presents...like any birthday girl should! :)

After church, we headed over to grandma and grandpa's for the Family March Birthday Celebration!

More presents for Becca...with Joshy to help. :)

Janae turned 14!

Jeremiah turned 5...on the 24th! He and Becca share the same birthday. :)

Miss Julia turned 11.

after presents comes all the cake and singing!

if you know Becca, you will understand HOW appropriate this cake was!!

Football ~Spring 2013

We were blessed this year to have the boys play on the same team (what a time saver!!!) this season

AND John ended up being the assistant coach...so all 3 of my guys were on the same team. :)

 

This was the 2nd season Andrew played for Coach S (the head coach).  He had Andrew play quarterback quite a bit which Andrew DIDN'T like. :)  Andrew hates making mistakes on the field and when you play QB and handle the ball every down, you are more apt to make mistakes. BUT, with each game, Andrew got better and better and more confident. He still doesn't like to play QB, but he now has the confidence...and he's actually a pretty good one.  Andrew's a "gamer" ~he always has his head in the game and he really understands it....which is probably why Coach had him at such a crucial position. :)


Biruk is still an awesome running back.  He's got speed!
Although he still doesn't understand all the nuances of the game..he DOES understand the basics..namely -hand him the ball and he'll take off down the field. :)  And, as you can see in the pic, he doesn't shy away from a little contact!   His speed also helps him on defense as he chases down the other teams' runners!

Horseback Riding Lessons

We let the girls take horseback riding lessons as their "Spring" activity..and boy did they LOVE it. :)

The horse farm they took lessons from lets the kids do quite a bit -when they first arrive they get their horses ready -mainly brushing them..then they get to lead them out to the arena themselves! After their lessons they ride them back to the barn, and then brush them down and take care of them too.

 

 

 

 

 

poor Elizabeth's feet didn't really reach the stirrups :)

 



they've been begging to get more lessons but our summer has just been too hot...maybe once it cools off (in 2-3 months!) :)

Elizabeth turns 7

 

 Our "baby" turned 7 on February 9th.
She doesn't look much like a baby anymore does she?!

Her birthday fell on a Saturday AND we had just received coupons for a new "family entertainment center" that had just opened up by our house.....so we took the kids for some fun "family entertainment" to celebrate Elizabeth's day.

 we love our Laser Tag!

 

a little bowling

arcade games are always a hit!

 

 home for some presents!

 her very first Bible!

 

she is always helping me in the kitchen so now she can "bake"  on her own. :)

 

We did our big family birthday celebration on Sunday with Grandma/Grandpa and all the cousins

 Elizabeth and Joanna's birthdays are 2 weeks apart so they shared a fancy cake this year. :)

 JJ's bday was at the end of January but we threw him into the February mix. :)

 

 

 

Happy Birthday sweet Elizabeth!
We love you so much and can't imagine life without you.