May and June

My sister Anna graduated this May.

All of my siblings were in town except Amy who was in

Germany on a college trip.

The proud nieces and nephews were there as witnesses.

Grace is soon to be 3 next week. She is all girl-very into shoes and clothes. She doesn't let her older brothers and sister boss her around either. She has quite the voice to show her displeasure when others are not playing fairly.

Jonathan just finished 1st grade and loves reading. He reads more in one day that I can read in a week or two. I am thrilled that he enjoys it so much. Katherine finished Kindergarten but completed all the same work as Jonathan (since we homeschool). She too is an avid reader. Jonathan and Katherine love reading the Boxcar Children and discussing what the mysteries were about. I am glad they have each other to dialogue with because I cannot keep up with their books anymore! David is soon to start Kindergarten in the Fall. He has already unofficially begun and is anxious to learn to read so he can catch up on all the books.

This last month we purchased a wooden swing set for the backyard. Due to the business of life it has taken quite awhile to get it all pieced together. My dad and Jeffrey worked on it two full days with lots of helpers. I will have more updated pictures of the finished project.

Updated pictures

Happy Birthday, Katherine (6 years old!)

Biggest snow of the year

Happy Easter!

Jonathan's attempt to get mom and dad

Oh Well!

Happy New Year

There has been little time to collect all the fun memories we have been making this season. We are finally beginning to settle into our new home. It was fun having decorations all through the house and sad to take them down this week. We miss the color since we do not have curtains or new wall paint yet.

In December we enjoyed time with Jeffrey's parents and Brooke's family. We also connected with some friends. We have also added two pets to the family- Faith and Ginger. Enjoy the pictures!

Ginger

Faith

Brooke and Siblings

Dave and Molly

Gifts from Grandma and Grandpa

Grace's new boots

Brooke and Rachel (friend from college)

Moving In

This is the first day in many that I have been able to sit down and do something other than pack or unpack. We have been busy from sun up to sun down, but we are thrilled with our new house. We moved out of our old house on Thursday of last week. We moved all of our belongings into the garage of our new house and had to wait until our closing on Friday to officially move into our hew house. Jeffrey went back to work yesterday, and slowly but surely the boxes are beginning to disappear. Here are a few pictures from the last few days.

Jonathan's foot prints on our old sidewalk next to his feet 6 years later.

The view off of our porch...gorgeous this time of year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

View from the living room

And yet another view....now from the breakfast nook. Can you tell which trees are my favorite?

Next time I will try to get some pictures of the house too.

OUR HOUSE SOLD

Two weeks ago we got an offer on our house...so cute:

Everything has gone smoothly and we are closing on November the 9th. We also placed a contract our next home. We are scheduled to close the same day as the other. The new house is amazing...such an answer to prayer. It is brand new and has been on the market for about the same time period as ours. The builder had begun lowering the price and we were able to take advantage of an awesome deal. The house is on an acre lot and has many full grown trees. It is also at the end of a cul-de-sac.

Please keep us in your prayers. This purchase is a leap of faith and marks a new season for us as a family. We are excited to see what will unfold in this great adventure.

Random pictures

Grace and Daddy

Jonathan

David

Katherine
Brooke's visit to California to see her grandparents

Brooke's sister Heather

Jonathan is now 7!!!!

How can it be that we have a 7 year old? We will officially celebrate on Saturday, but Jonathan did open a package from Grandma and Grandpa Thompson on October 2nd. Here are some pictures.

soccer boy

I will send more pictures of birthday stuff soon....

Long Overdue Pictures

Well, we still have not moved, nor have we sold our house. We are now patiently waiting while continuing to show our house 2-3 times a week.

This last week we took a much needed break and went to Florida for a wonderful family vacation. We had so much fun and did not want to come back home...but here we are. I will post as many pictures as I have patience for uploading! Hope all of you are well.

Katherine

Jonathan

David

Grace

Mommy and Grace

On Thursday we decided to take a trip to Shell Island, which included a boat ride and hunt for dolphins. The kids each had a turn driving the boat.

Here's a windy family picture on Shell Island-take note of David's hair!

That's about all for now.