And Still More

We spent a lot of time at Paul and Rachel's, visiting, playing or eating :-)
Madison and Micah playing horses and Madison, Micah and Alika

Isaac the pirate and Anna the army girl

At Espe's eating ice cream - Abby (she came with us), Madison, Alika, Tiana and Isaac. Madison was lucky enough to get to stay the night there! She had lots of fun. Abby and Madison also had a sleepover with their dolls. Madison had so many sleepovers - Andi's, Victoria's, Alika's and Abby's! She should be good for sleepovers for a long time now :-)

More Visiting

We went over to the Johnson's for dinner and of course a makeover for Amos :-) Look how cute he is in the little stroller! Madison and Victoria have fun dressing him up every time they are together - it is just as funny each time I see it too!

Isaac thinks Ethan is so great - he talked about him for days and kept wanting to go back! It is so nice of him to play with Isaac and show him all his cool boy toys! Hannah was pretty interested in what Amelia was doing - she was glued to her side the whole time she was at the piano and was trying to play herself.

Of course we went to see Kristen and Rogue! It was really cold out so Madison just rode him around the barn a little bit. Look at Rogue smiling for the camera in the second picture (click on it to make it bigger) So funny!!

Madison saying goodbye to Rogue and Isaac to Manly. For some reason out of all the horses there Isaac really likes Manly. He wants to pet him, feed him, talk about him and of course ride him! He did get to sit on his back and be led around the barn last time - I had some pictures but they were accidentally deleted (AAAHHH) As you can imagine, he was grinning from ear to ear :-) We were treated to a "how to bake lefse" while we were there! I had never seen it made (imagine that!) and it was fun to see the process. We sampled it also and it was delicious!! Look at the kids watching the griddle - just waiting for it to be done! :-) I felt inspired to make it myself after watching them and was able to help Brock's mom and sister make it last week. It turned out great and was a lot of fun.

A Visiting We Will Go

After Thanksgiving, Brock headed home to get back to work and the kids and I continued on to MN to do more visiting. We stayed in our house (since it hasn't sold yet) and enjoyed being there again. We had only been gone one month and it felt like it had been so long since we were there. It was so fun to see everyone! We stayed for 1 week and did a couple weeks worth or stuff :-) Every day was packed with activites and visiting, I was exhausted at the end of the visit (in a good way) :-)

Our night at Val and Sheldon's was complete with ice cream, of course :-) Madison and Isaac went with Sheldon to a hockey game and had so much fun! It was Madison's first high school game and Isaac's first ever. They had so much fun - they came back completely thrilled.

Madison was so lucky to get to spend a couple days with Marcy making cookies and ornaments. They were very creative and delicious :-)

We also spent a couple days at Strege's - one big sleepover :-) It was so nice to be there again and of course the kids had so much fun playing. They also had a new little puppy - Lola - that was adorable. :-)

Berlin had fun sharing her food with Hannah :-) They seemed to get along pretty good (although according to Jesse they fought the whole time Denise and I were in town - we're not sure if we believe him ) :-) Madison and Andi with their little turtle - isn't it cute?

Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving in ND with my family. It was so nice to see everyone again, even though it hadn't been than long since last seeing most of them. We had our meal at the church so had lots of space for everyone - 38 of us!!! We invited two other families for dinner so in all there were 22 kids (that includes several babies) and 16 adults!! It was alot of fun - good food and fun games!

Maggie and Lyrik (my sisters Nicole and Laura's daughters); the three musketeers - Kiaran (Laura's), Isaac and Eli (Levi's); the girls side of the table; Madison and Lily (Laura's daughter)

The baby crew - Jen and her baby Xavier (5 months), my sister Bekah and her baby Georgia (5 months) and my sister Nicole and our nephew Judah (2 weeks)

Hannah loved to push the baby around in the stroller

The two youngest grandchildren - Georgia and Judah (Bekah's and Levi's) Quite a size difference in these two :-)

More Thanksgiving Fun

Snapshots of the rest of our time in ND

Levi and most of his family - Rachel and Judah, Eli and Chloe, Judah and Levi

Bekah and her family minus Dale and Ruby plus one of Levi's - Georgia, Abby and Georgia, Bekah and Georgia and Lia (Levi's) and Violet

Mom and Dad with Georgia and Ruby (Bekah's), Hannah, Maggie, and Bailey (both Nicole's) and Madison

Laura and her kids (plus a few) - Laura and Lyrik, Lily and Ruby (Bekah's) and Kiaran and Isaac

Lots of kids coloring at the table - can you tell who is who?? and also our outing to the Parade of Lights

Life with "friends"

Madison is enjoying life inMT. Although she hasn't met any friends or been to any homeschool events yet she is surrounded by "friends"! She treats her toys and stuffed animals as well as any friend and plays with them like they are real! When she isn't busy playing she is enjoying time with grandpa and grandma. She has been hiking with grandma a couple times and can't wait to go skiing with her as well. She is loving Awana and meeting some kids there. She and Isaac both have their own rooms now and are LOVING that. I worried about how the kids, Madison in particular, would adjust to the move. I am very thankful that our prayers were answered and, despite missing her friends and favorite horse Rogue, she is doing great :-)

Two animals Madison received from Marcy (the lady she spent time with weekly doing art stuff) - she especially loves dressing them up


Madison showing off her science projects - growing beans. She mixed an art project in and painted the pots too.

Madison's herd! She has a ledge that goes across 1/2 of her room and she makes great use of it :-) She loves being in horse country here in MT - she never tires of looking at all the horses here :-)

She even has a little logging/wagon train section :-)

A Bit of MN in MT

We were able to see our friends Aaron and Heidi Espe last week and meet their new puppy! They live in CO now but he is formerly from MN. He had several concerts in the area so we were able to go to one of them. It was great to see them and awesome to make it to a concert! Madison came with us and had a blast - she has been listening (and loving) him for years :-) She knows his lyrics almost as well as him :-)

Here is Story - she is such a cute, nice dog. Although she is only 5 months old she is almost as big as Samson. They had tons of fun playing. She is very well behaved and mellow and we miss having her running around the house :-)

We went out for pizza then came back to our house for some ice cream. Heidi and Aaron introduced us to mint chocolate chip ice cream with Val's chocolate sauce - DELICIOUS, a new favorite. Thanks guys!! :-)

 

Samson and his new friend Story. It was fun to see how nice Samson was to her and how well he did sharing all his things with her (including all of us) :-) 

18 Months Ago . . . .

This sweet adorable little girlie was born! She is growing up so fast.

She is becoming quite the little talker and tries to say most things. Unfortunately, less than half of them are decipherable. Oh well, she is trying and we can usually tell what she means :-)

She is a happy little girl and spends most of her time roaming around playing. She isn't a mama's girl (usually) and does a great job of entertaining herself. She loves to follow the kids around and do what they do.

Aren't her little curls so adorable! She loves to put this hat on (any hat for that matter) and after seeing her cute little curls peaking out I couldn't resist taking a picture (or I mean many pictures)

We are all definately in love with this little lady!

Growing up right . . .

. . . . Establishing her love of ice cream early :-)

This is for our fellow ice cream enthusiasts, Val and Sheldon! :-) I knew they would be proud of their part in Hannah's very clear and definate phrase the other night. The kids were having an ice cream cone and she was reaching for it and very clearly said "ice cream". She was very excited when Brock put a little bit in a cone for her! Now where would a little girl hear this word, let a lone want some for herself? Hmmmm . . . .

It is a custom for us to have ice cream and chocolate sauce with Espe's and ever since Hannah was little Sheldon has been itching to give her a taste of his beloved ice cream :-) We couldn't hold them off any longer and thought it would be okay for her to try it out - beings we were leaving and all :-) She liked what she tasted and she may be hooked to Val's chocolate sauce like the rest of us!

She is doing her famous "uh oh" - wonder if she thinks she may get in trouble beings she has been denied this delicious treat up until this point?

Such excitement - she is looking excitedly at Sheldon who I am sure is sharing in her joy :-)

Time for a little snuggling, to top off this day of new and exciting tastes :-)
Oh no, what has been created? First a taste of ice cream now a taste of an oreo! Has all my effort to keep her away from sugar gone up in smoke??

Appears that way :-)

Full Steam Ahead

Isaac is always going full force, no matter what it is (talking, playing, crying, running etc). The last 3 weeks he has been going to Awana so we witnessed this yet again during game time. He took each game very serious and ran like a rocket when it was his turn. It was so hilarious to watch - so focused, arms moving like crazy, look of determination, then sheer joy when he finished. He LOVES going and can hardly wait to go each week. He had to say 4 verses before earning his vest and he was thrilled when he received it - his smile lit up the room and he ripped it open and put it right on :-) He wants to wear it on non-Awana days too!I will have to get some pics of him wearing it :-)

Farewell Photos - Part 2

This isn't getting any easier as I continue to trudge through the "farewell" posts. Minnesota was HOME to us, our first real home and all our friends there mean so much to us. It was so hard to say goodbye and it is still hard to do all the normal things each day without the "normal" people to do it with :-) However, although we really miss everyone we are very happy to be here. Knowing that this is where God has placed us gives us such peace. So, while there are sad and lonely days they are always overshadowed by the fact that we KNOW this is God's will for us.

Rachel, Hannah and I. Rachel helped us IMMENSELY as we tried to get ourselves all packed up. She was always busy doing something while I ran around scattered and completely disorganized! We would have been there another day or two if she hadn't been there :-) We did tons together. We especially loved to scrapbook (or if there was no time for that we would just shop for scrapbook stuff instead) :-) Our families got to hang out a lot and we had tons of fun. We have gone to Bluewater together year after year and will definately continue that tradition (even if it takes us 2 days to get there, it will be well worth it!) :-)

Micah (Rachel's son) and Madison (kind of an awkward picture but it was all I had) :-) They have always played so well together since they first met (about 6 years ago). They are especially funny to listen to when they are playing webkinz over the phone! It is hilarious to hear the play by play they give eachother :-)

Madison and John and Marcy. Madison goes to their house once a week to do art stuff. She has been going their for over 3 years and it is a highlight of her week. She works on all sorts of things from drawing, painting, clay to just hanging out, talking and hearing many of Marcy's pearls of wisdom :-) They are both such neat people and mean alot to our whole family. The impact they have had on Madison is tremendous and I feel that God placed Marcy and I in the same Bible Study long ago so that the connection could be made between Madison and Marcy. They are like peas in a pod and love all the same stuff. How fun it is for Madison to have a kindred spirit to share her love of art with and learn so much from along the way :-)
Val and Sheldon having a late night coffee after TONS of help. Sheldon was the steam and the power behind most of our moving - he worked like crazy from morning til evening! Just like Greta (their daughter) is like family to us so are they. They are like grandparents to the kids, and friends and mentors to us. We spent tons of time at their house (usually eating ice cream with Val's delicious chocolate sauce). Sheldon's motto is there is always room for ice cream ("it just fills in the cracks" as he says). If we are ever having taco's Isaac wonders where Val and Sheldon are (because we usually eat them at their house) The kids love to go over there and they love the attention they receive from them!
Micah, Abby, Madison and Isaac. Abby lives right across the street from us and she and Madison were "almost twins" as they liked to say. They are the exact same age (born only hours apart) so they think that is really cool! It was such a treat for Madison to have an awesome friend next door. They were always watching for eachother out the window and would race outside upon first glance.
Tina and I. Just like Rachel, Tina worked like crazy to help us our last few days. We had no idea how much physical and emotional strength we would need to get packed up and out the door so the help we received was a HUGE blessing! Tina and her family were the first people we hung out with in MN. They invited us to Bluewater after knowing each other for less than a month. We were completely comfortable with them and we even stayed in the same cabin :-) Nothing like hitting the ground running! We had a blast and have had lots of fun ever since.

Madison and Jennika. It is always fun when Madison gets a chance to play with Jennika. She is a little older than her so that makes it even more fun and exciting :-) Nearly every item in Madison's wardrobe comes courtesy of Jennika! What a treat for me (I don't have to shop) and for Madison (it makes the clothes extra special knowing Jennika used to wear them) :-)

Angie, Jennika, Brock and Madison. Angie managed the theatre for us for nearly a year and was THE BEST!! We wouldn't have made it through the last year without her, she definately saved us from burnout and became a friend to us all in the meantime :-) Now, they own the theatre and we are very happy for them :-)

Isaac and his friend Izyk. These two are a blast to watch - they are crazy, hyper boys that have fun fun fun! And they are so adorable too :-) I am very dissapointed that I didn't get a picture of the rest of Izyk's family when they were over saying goodbye! Although we have only known them for 1 1/2 years it feels like we have been friends forever. We connected right away and Denise is an awesome friend (and a really good cook who has already taught me lots) :-)

Victoria and Madison. Although Victoria looks way older than Madison she is actually only 1 year older (she is very tall) and Madison really adores her. She is such a nice sweet girl so I don't mind her mild obsession :-)

I finally finished this post and was going to do a Part 3 but realized I lost nearly 100 pictures yesterday! AAAAHHHHH!!!! When I cleared off my memory stick it reset my photo numbering so all new pictures started at 1 (instead of 95 which is where I had left off). Therefore, when I transferred the pictures from my memory stick to my computer all the new pictures (from about a week ago) copied over my old pictures. Thankfully, I had put several onto blogger already (the ones you see in this post and the previous one) so not every picture was lost. However, all the other pictures taken from the last two days in MN are gone. When I realized what happened I felt sick to my stomach and if I must admit it I did cry. These pictures were so meaningful to me - they captured so much of our last few days in town and now they are all gone. Frankly, I am still quite depressed about it. I had plans to go to the thrift store and the library today with Brock's mom and I almost cancelled because of this. Am I too attached to my pictures? Hmm . . . maybe. But in my defense they are all I have right now of life and friends in MN. I guess I am justifying my sorrow :-) So . . . while many of you didn't make it to the blog you are still in our thoughts and we are so thankful for your role in our MN lives. We fully expect all of you to become a part of our MT lives too - so come visit . . . . soon :-) We miss you ALL!!!!