The Boender Blog

The Last Month

2012-02-06T15:57:00.000-06:00

I'm adding a few pictures of the kids from the last few weeks. We've kept busy but my picture taking is pretty random.

This is Allison at one month yesterday all ready for church in a super cute outfit my friend made for her. Complete with shoes and a bow!

Grandpa came over this weekend to install my dishwasher. I can't believe how quiet it is, why did I wait so long to replace the old one!

This is what happens when you have older sisters. :)

Elijah and Anton reading Allison a book. What nice big brothers they are!

Allison sound asleep.

Only 10 days old in this picture, they grow so fast!

Angry Birds

2012-02-05T14:56:00.000-06:00

I remember when I was in grade school I didn't get to bring treats to school for my birthday because it was during the summer. As a kid I felt like I missed out a little, but as a parent of two kids with summer birthdays I thought great, less work! However, last week was Amelia's half birthday and she came home very excited to be able to bring snacks for her class. Our school celebrates the kids with summer birthdays at their half birthday so everyone can bring a snack in if they choose to!

Amelia choose to bring in Angry Birds cupcakes. These are characters from a little game they like to play. I found the idea for them on Pinterest, my favorite site to find fun things to make or do!

I gathered the supplies and baked the cupcakes while Amelia decorated them with little faces. She LOVED it!

The kids later decided to color Angry Birds together.

They stacked my laundry, which is never ending! It reminded me of one of the little towers they try to knock over in the Angry Birds game. :)

Terraces

2012-01-21T14:48:00.001-06:00

Many area farmers have taken advantage of the warmer than usual winter weather we've had so far. Tile was done earlier and last week terraces were finished to one of our farms. Mark has enjoyed fixing up this farm and it's looking good.

We brought out coffeetime and all the boys wanted to ride. Mark is is pushing dirt to his brother Mike with Elijah in this picuture.

Karl is running the scraper with Anton.

Ethan got on the dozer with Mike after I took this picture.

Allison Grace

2012-01-07T17:02:00.000-06:00

Allison Grace was born on 1/5/12 at 1:17am She weighed 8lbs 13oz. and was 21 inches long.

Big Brother Elijah

Mom and Baby

Her going home outfit

Loving our new little girl.

Going Home

My Girls!

Christmas

2011-12-24T11:11:00.002-06:00

We had Christmas with my family a couple weeks ago already,but better late than never to post pictures!

"Who ever smiles the nicest gets to open their present first!"

Our attempt at a family picture.

Elijah loving his new hot wheels track.

Our crew!

December

2011-12-18T16:02:00.023-06:00

My blog isn't working right but I did my best to add a few random pictures. I have a couple more posts of Christmas things I'd like to get done soon if my computer will let me!

AH, sweet revenge! Elijah and Anton fight quite a bit, here Elijah was playing in a laundry basket when Anton decided to hop on top so he couldn't get out.

Mark and I took third place in the Iowa Farm Bureau Young Farmer Achievement Contest (a farm management contest)

The kids dressed up for their Christmas program this morning. This was Elijah's first year in the program. I was thankful he at least stood up there, even if he had to be bribed by his teacher with a toy. :)

Mark got Ethan some screws for his motorcycle tires so he could ride on the ice this winter. The boys had fun helping and were excited about the free hats they got!

Elijah has learned how to ride a bike without training wheels! He's so proud of himself! For some reason he likes riding Amelia's bike better than his own though.

The extra cement around the shop was supposed to help with my "kid in the mud" problems, but it's looking like I still have to deal with the muddy kid! Mark better get his drain cleaned out!

The boys take the easy ride on the motorcycle, but Amelia would rather chase them. She loves to run!

Thanksgiving Fun

2011-11-29T20:50:00.008-06:00

This Thanksgiving weekend was another busy one for our family. It was wonderful to see family that we don't get to see often and reflect on how much the Lord has done for us! We truly have much to be thankful for!

We spent Thanksgiving Day in Pella with my moms side. We rented a hotel meeting room for lunch and the kids got to use the pool/hot tub for the afternoon. This was so fun for them!

Anton I don't think Grandma is dressed appropriately for the hot tub. :)

Amelia quickly found Sienna, and didn't let her out of her sight the entire afternoon! I was so thankful for the teenage cousins who so kindly swam with our kids so I didn't have to!

Friday was spent playing with cousins at our house (sorry no pictures) and setting up the tree.

Friday night was Van Den Broek bowling! Aunt Ang helped Elijah and he had a blast, he was so proud of himself for knocking over the pins! Yea for the little ball ramp!

He's already looking forward to bowling again!

Tiling Project

2011-11-22T06:43:00.005-06:00

I'm way overdue in posting and this is project is already a couple weeks old but it's at least it's an update. Mark has enjoyed fixing up the farm we bought last spring and was able to put in some of the tile a couple weeks ago with the help of his brothers. He also cleared brush and trees, fixed up waterways and the kids and I had the fun job of picking up sticks and a few rocks. We're very excited about how much better it's looking!

Anton very excited to join the guys working!

Ethan and Elijah spent all day helping.

Looks like a heavy load Amelia!

The kids enjoyed being outside and watching their dad and uncles for the afternoon!

October Happenings

2011-10-26T14:13:00.013-05:00

We've had another busy month! I didn't do the best job taking pictures, but here's a few to keep you up to date.

Not the best thing to start off with, but this is a picture of Elijah at his first dentist appointment. Yep, hiding in the corner, clinging to a chair. (sigh) Happily in the end he did sit on my lap and open his mouth for the dentist, thankfully he didn't have any problems so we won't have to go back for while!

On a happier note I took Anton and Elijah to Autumn Acres with our Momshine Group. We had nice weather and lots of friends to go on a hay-rack ride with!

Elijah's favorite activity was shooting the slingshot!

Gotta love cats. :) I guess watching Strawberry Shortcake with Amelia was a little boring.

This picture was taken while harvesting beans at the farm Mark and I bought this spring. Mark has been busy clearing trees here and the kids and I filled five skid loader buckets full of sticks left from last springs fence row clearing. Not a super fun job, but improving your own ground makes it a lot better!

We were thankful for nice weather most of the month, the kids love playing in the yard!

What's all the commotion?

We had a stray snapping turtle passing through the other day that got lots of attention.

We took the kids to the Fall Family Festival in Pella the other day. The kids love to paint pumpkins and play the yard games. The event has grown so much over the years, last year they had 1,200 kids! My kids aren't much for crowds and there was already a big one when it first opened so I'm thinking this may be our last year doing this activity.

They also had a sling shot, which was the only thing Elijah wanted to do. :)

We've made homemade apple cider for the last few years and couldn't go without this fall! Once you try this delicious, fresh cider you'll never buy it from the store again! We borrowed a friends cider press and made 6 gallons of cider to enjoy!

Ethan and Amelia

2011-10-13T18:37:00.005-05:00

The other day my sister-in-law Becky took pictures of the other two kids. I wasn't thrilled with their school pictures and this way I'll have coordinating pictures on the wall. Mark thinks I'm to picky, but they turned out great and I'll be happy when I look at my wall for the next year. :) Since it takes so long to load these I'm only putting a couple of each kid, if you'd like to see more check out Facebook.

Wheelin for Warriors

2011-10-12T08:59:00.006-05:00

Last weekend a local Jeep Club held a fundraising event to help disabled veterans. They camped, went off-roading and had show at Pella Christian Saturday morning. Saturday afternoon was spent at our place wheelin and taking vets for rides through our coalmine. We're very thankful for the brave men and women that serve in our military and were happy to be part of this special event!

Anton & Elijah

2011-10-07T07:37:00.008-05:00

My sister-in-law Becky came over the other day to take pictures of Anton for his 1 1/2 year and Elijah for his 3 year. She did a great job! After getting Ethan and Amelia's school pictures back this week she'll be getting another call for the older two! Seriously disappointing school pictures this year!

Visiting Ang & Dan

2011-10-06T09:55:00.011-05:00

The kids had a short week of school last week so we decided to go visit Dan and Ang for the weekend. Grandpa & Grandma VDB joined us and Mark stayed behind with the two little boys to combine beans. We had a busy, fun couple days and look forward to going back!

First on the agenda was Geo Cacheing, Ang has GPS on her phone and we used it to find a few Caches in Bunceton.

Our second cache had little trinkets in it, which the kids loved.

We couldn't find the cache at this site, but the view of the river was worth the drive!

Saturday we went to an Apple Festival in a near-bye town. Amelia got a pretty pink feather in her hair.

Next was a trip to Jacobs Cave. The kids hadn't visited a cave before and really enjoyed it.

We enjoyed the view of the ceiling full of soda straws!

Ethan found this little guy running around the gift shop after the tour.

The cave was hosting an Animal Swap meet so we thought we would check that out too. It was quite the experience! Lots of people riding around on lawnmowers and 4-wheelers selling and trading all sorts of "treasures".

Ethan is checking out this guys turkey's.

These people hauled their chickens around in a wagon. The sign say "Sell or Trade".

Harvest 2011

2011-09-28T06:18:00.011-05:00

Harvest is underway for most in the area, and so far things have been going very well. Monday the guys were working at our house for part of the day until the rain got to heavy. The kids and I always enjoy when the guys are working near home! The field averaged around 190 despite a wet start and dry summer, we are very thankful for the better than expected yields in many areas!

A truckload of kids ready to ride in the combines!

I love having all the grass and weeds mowed!

Mark and Kurt at our home farm.

Here's a fun one of the guys!

More to come on this picture at a later date.

Another fun picture of Mark and his brothers.

Someone's happy about harvesting! On a side note Elijah's eye is doing much better! If only he would let me pick the dried glue off the top.

Day 2 harvesting at our house, a much brighter morning after getting rained out Monday evening.

Karl finishing the last few rounds before moving on the the next field.

Another Ouchy for Elijah

2011-09-15T16:59:00.003-05:00

Mark took Elijah and Anton on a little 4-wheeler ride while Amelia and I enjoyed some time together making terrariums. We were surprised when we saw Mark drive up with Elijah covered in blood! While on their way back to the house Mark hit a bump and Elijah hit his head on the front of the 4-wheeler, cutting open his head. Mark brought him to the doctor to make sure it didn't need stitches and thankfully it didn't. We did that last month, it fact I think that was in my last post. :) Anyway, the doctor just glued the wound shut. The bad part was that Elijah's eye got glued shut in the process! When he blinked some of the glue got on his eyelash and then on the skin around his eye. Mark said he did great until the doctor had to try to pull his eye open. At this point his eye is still glued shut at least half-way so we're hoping if we keep it moist he will be able to open it soon. (sigh) :)

Glued back together again.

Elijah was pretty sad when he got home. We tried to get him to keep something moist on his eye to make it feel better. He refused everything, except the Mt. Dew, I guess that makes everything better. :)

August

2011-09-02T07:18:00.007-05:00

In addition to the posts I all ready did for the month I had a handful of pictures that didn't really justify their own post. So here's a little re-cap of the little things we did last month of summer!

One of these things doesn't belong... Anton is such a pest to our cats, I'm truly surprised at how much they tolerate him! If you're in need of a good cat that will take lots of "love" from kids we have one more to find a home for!

Elijah fell off his bike and needed two stitches. He did a great job for the doctor and his chin has healed nicely.

And I wonder why I'm running the dishwasher twice a day! Seriously, 6 spoons and two bowls and he's eating with his hands!!!

We've had a small tree frog invasion, so far we've removed three from inside our house. They seem to like hanging out on our toilets.

Like I don't know your hiding in the corner eating a doughnut hole Elijah. :)

Our church has added a new addition with two nurseries which I helped with. This is the artwork we painted in the toddler nursery.

We almost have the bottom of our house finished with siding! The kids saw the improvement and wanted to update their playhouse. So I found a gallon of 11 year old white house paint in our basement and with Grandma's help they were on their way to a nice clean white playhouse!

First Day of School

2011-08-23T07:42:00.007-05:00

Today is the first day back to school! Amelia starts kindergarten and Ethan 3rd grade. Both were excited about seeing friends and starting a new year, although Ethan won't admit it. :) Both have wonderful teachers that will keep them busy and learning lots. Hope I can keep up with two kids doing homework this year!

I asked them to stand close so I could get a picture of them together, this is as close as it gets I guess.

Amelia looking sweet and super excited for school!

Ethan looking a little sleepy eyed, but still ready for a new school year!

Yesterday we had back to school night, Amelia got to pick her desk and chose to sit next to her cousin John, I don't expect this seating arrangement to last long. :)

Ethan had the best seat in the class, the one closest to the window! With no AC this is an added bonus! (Cousin John helped him put his supplies away) :)

Summer Project #2

2011-08-18T16:14:00.011-05:00

We started the big project of re-siding our house in July. Mark spent many days working in the track-hoe followed by evenings of tearing off siding. The kids and I were his clean up crew, throwing all the boards and waste in the dump box.

This is our before picture. As you can tell we have two different types of siding and the wide stuff was rotting off the house in some areas. The skinny stuff was losing paint pretty bad.

The first thing Mark did was pull out the bushes. Any landscapers out there? I don't have a clue what to do with this space next!

What started out as a siding and 3-5 window replacement project turned into a lot more windows being replaced! I'm very excited about the windows, I can actually open them, and the weather has been beautiful!

Ethan is a big help! Here he is taking off storm windows, I think Amelia mainly supervised.

Tearing off siding sure makes things ugly!

We had a big weekend last weekend thanks to the help of my dad, brother and a neighbor who helped Mark all day!

I think we're halfway done!

Ethan had lots of jobs, first pound in any nails that didn't get in quite far enough. Then he had to raise and lower the skid loader bucket since they needed the bucket at a certain height and he was the only one skinny enough to squeeze out the door when it was at that height. Finally he did lots of running, filling the staple guns, caulk guns, handling hammers and nail guns up to the guys too! I'm so thankful he can be helpful!

Competition

2011-08-07T16:26:00.008-05:00

Over the last month we've entered a few competitions starting with Ethan, Amelia and I entering projects in the Southern Iowa Fair. This week was registration for school, it's the same evening as our towns Sweet Corn Serenade, we make a evening of it and like to go up town for supper and to visit with friends. This year I remembered they did a pedal pull for kids, so three of the four participated in that. Finally yesterday Mark raced in his second hare scramble race. Ethan and I went along to cheer him on!

Ethan got Best of Show on his bird house, it was a kit he got for Christmas and put together himself.

Amelia got all blue ribbons on her crafts and a red ribbon for her flower.

Elijah couldn't fully touch the pedals, but wanted to do the pedal pull anyway!

Amelia got to pull in the rain!

Ethan got to use the biggest tractor, he placed 3rd.

There was a big crowd in Fremont yesterday for the Hare Scramble! I don't understand why so many people like to beat themselves and their bikes up riding hard through the woods on a very hot day!

Each rider puts a bar code sticker on their helmet and gets scanned in each time they cross the check point. Mark placed fourth in his class. Not to bad considering he broke his clutch handle on his last lap, 6 miles from the finish line deep in the woods!

Amelia's Birthday Party

2011-08-01T13:57:00.006-05:00

Last week was Amelia's 6th birthday. To celebrate we had over one of her cousins and a couple friends. Amelia loves to do crafts so we made sure to include this hobby at her party. She is growing up so fast and is looking to starting kindergarten in a few weeks! Happy Birthday Amelia!

If you ever need to come up with a birthday cake idea just do a "image" google search on the topic and let your kid sit in front of the computer. Amelia loved doing this and found this Little Pet Shop Pony cake for her party.

Poor Amelia, I think it took her at least 10 tries to blow out her candles, and they weren't even trick ones! :)

The girls enjoying the water balloon flip flop craft we made.

The finished product!

This was the best group shot I got, silly girls!

Washington County Fair Race

2011-07-23T14:41:00.009-05:00

Thursday evening Mark, Ethan and I headed to the Washington County fair for a motocross race. The weather started off extremely hot and cut our night short with a big thunderstorm!

Ethan ready to race!

This isn't good! Mark's bike was locked up and he had to have a friend pull start him before the race. It seems that Elijah watched Ethan wash his bike earlier that afternoon and he thought he would be nice and "wash" Mark and his Uncle Kurt's bikes. Well he ended up getting water in the mufflers locking them both up. Thankfully no damage was done to either one!

Ethan in line ready for his practice with all the other 50cc riders. They have two 50cc classes, one for 4-5 year olds and one for 7-8 year olds, at this track they all raced at the same time.

These young riders have a lot to watch out for during a race. There's jumps and ruts, other riders and often times the little ones will fall over and need help starting again, so they even have to watch out for parents on the track!

Ethan did great and never wrecked once!

Passing on the last half lap to win second place! Ethan was very disappointed the rain came cancelling the second moto, he would have loved to race again!

Mark also raced, this time in the Open B Class. This class is mainly teenagers that are very aggressive, with out a wife and kids at home to support. :) Next race I'm going to encourage him to go back to the +30 B Class, these guys don't have the " I'm invincible" attitudes of teenagers.

Vacation 2011 - Elephant Rocks & Camp

2011-07-20T21:25:00.008-05:00

This will be my final post on vacation. I've already posted way to many pictures for one small trip! On our last full day we took a short drive to Elephant Rock State Park. It was fun for the kids to climb rocks and explore. The added bonus was no long walk to get to it!

Elijah and Ezra off to explore.

Bigger rocks for bigger kids. Ethan is using the tree to get down rather than back tracking to move on. There were several very high places that kids could fall and get hurt so we had to watch them close.

Back at camp Anton enjoyed his first smore. As you can tell he liked it!

A family picture in front of our cabin.

Don't let this sweet smile fool you, Anton was a crab most of the way home!

About 5 minutes into our drive home our truck started acting up. After a stop at a dealership we found it was the injectors giving us problems. Kurt pulled Mark part way home until we met up with a friend who brought a trailer and Mark hauled it the rest of the way home. We all made it home safely and thankfully it's looking like our insurance will cover the repairs!

Thanks for a fun vacation everyone!

Vacation 2011 - River Rats

2011-07-19T16:07:00.008-05:00

We spent a good part of a day swimming and riding in the Black River which was near our campground.

Elijah sporting his river swimming wear!

A FULL tube!

Someone got in a little deep!

Mark and his siblings in the river.

Three boys floating down the river.

Safety Disclaimer: The water was so shallow they had to get out because they kept getting hung up. Plus Grandma was riding with them but got off before I snapped a picture. :)

2011-07-17T14:11:00.001-05:00

I've added a couple vacation posts which I started Saturday. They are coming up before the the St. Louis Zoo post. So if you want to check them out be sure to scroll down!

Vacation 2011 - St. Louis Zoo

2011-07-16T17:41:00.008-05:00

I've added two more vacation posts which are after this one.

We spent a few days vacationing in Southern Missouri with Marks family this past week. We had a fun time despite extremely hot weather most of the time. Our trip started with a hotel stay in St. Louis were the kids spent lots of time in the pool and watching cartoons in the lobby. The next morning a few of us braved the heat and went to the St. Louis Zoo. I was surprised to find out the zoo is actually free to visit. They charge to park but we opted to park on a side street and walk for free. I would love to go back on a cool day with the family, Grants Farm is another free attraction in St. Louis I would enjoy going to.

The two young ones looking very hot! Anton wouldn't give up his blanket even though the heat index was over 100!

The penguin house was 45 degrees, it was a wonderful way to cool off and was Anton's favorite part.

I tried to get Ethan to kiss the cobra statue but he wasn't interested, I was lucky just to get him in a picture!

Amelia getting up close to a huge hippo.

Elijah's favorite animals were the elephants.

Three hot little boys shedding clothes.

Hey you girls aren't babies! Poor Karl had a heavy load!

Vacation 2011 - Johnsons Shut-In's

2011-07-16T16:34:00.012-05:00

Sunday night after we had all settled in our cabins we headed over to check out the shut-ins. I forgot my camera in the truck and was to lazy to make the long walk back, but we ended up going back the next morning were I got these pictures.

The shut-ins are these rock formations with water flowing through them. I took this picture from a high observation site, you can see all the swimmers scattered though out the rocks.

The pool of water on the top of this picture was a great spot with shallow water that we spent much of our time the first evening.

This was were we went the next morning, a lot deeper. We all swam across this pool to another pool which I was told was 20+ feet deep. The second area also had high cliffs (40 feet high) on one side which Mark jumped off. I wish I had pictures from the cliffs but I couldn't swim with a kid and a camera.

The rocks actually look pretty dangerous, but other than being slick in several places I didn't think they were to bad. The kids were required to wear life jackets most of the time and seemed to like playing in the larger pools of water rather than exploring the rocks, which made it easier to watch them. I felt like I was counting counting 1,2,3,4 (my 4 kids) constantly though!

We found that Anton hates water! He was by far the most stressful kid ever, bawling a lot! He never really warmed up to the idea of playing in the water, but due to the extreme heat we made him get wet to stay cool and then would take turns holding him on a rock or in very shallow water. Poor kid seemed out of sorts most of the trip. Thankfully he has been a happy camper since we got home!

Is it poisonous?

2-3 water snakes were found along the way. I asked a guy at the visitor center what kind of snakes we most likely ran into and he said the common water snake which isn't poisonous.

Vacation 2011 - Hot Days

2011-07-16T16:16:00.011-05:00

I wasn't exaggerating when I said it was HOT! In fact I think the heat will be one of the main things we remember about this vacation! :) The positive side is all the water activities that we were able to enjoy. Past vacations to the mountains or Great Lakes weren't so warm.

I wish this sign included the very high humidity too.

Ice cream or a slush were on the menu one hot afternoon!

Elijah digging in the rocks for crawdads or rocks to throw in the water.

I was brave and helped the boys catch these creepy crawlies.

Mark helped Ethan and Elijah fish in the little pond by our cabin. The didn't have much luck, only lily pads to my knowledge.

John's family found this box turtle crossing the hwy the kids got a kick out of him before releasing him into the pond near our cabins. We also saw a box turtle crossing the hwy the next day, I'm not sure what they were up to on the hot road.

Since it was so hot and we had a big ice cream snacks we ate supper late a few times.

Happy 4th of July

2011-07-05T07:14:00.009-05:00

We had a fun 4th of July weekend again this year. The annual neighborhood picnic, fireworks and swimming were highlights for our family!

Here is Ethan and Cody being pulled around the pond by the wave runner.

Anton would prefer to hang out on dry land with his blankie.

I really liked Grandma's new purchase. This "raft" had a nice mesh center that would keep the little biting fish away and the kids loved it!

Karl skiing in a big circle around the pond. A few of the kids went skiing as well but I didn't get pictures of them.

Summer Fun

2011-07-02T09:36:00.006-05:00

June has been a busy month for our family. It seems like we've made a trip to town nearly every day between Bible school and swimming lessons. Thankfully those activities are over and everything went well! July looks to be a busy month too, some of our plans are vacation and putting new siding and a few windows on our house. I am so looking forward to both!

Amelia jumping in the deep end. She did a great job in swimming lessons this year and is swimming well! I think she could save herself if she needed to but another year a lessons is in her future.

Ethan wasn't at all interested in swimming lessons, he said they were boring. He does very well swimming and diving. Since he is to the point of only learning the different swimming strokes I don't think I'll send him again.

Our garden is starting to produce veggies! Here Amelia is picking snow peas for supper.

We bought Elijah his own bike for his birthday. He wasn't sure about it at first but is enjoying riding more and more with Ethan and Amelia.

Not sure if anyone else is being invaded by these adorable little frogs but we've had our fair share jumping around this year!

Happy 3rd Birthday Elijah

2011-06-19T15:04:00.007-05:00

Today we're celebrating Elijah's 3rd birthday and Fathers Day. We are very thankful for the children God has blessed us with! Happy Birthday Elijah!

The kids spent the evening with my parents Friday while Mark and I went out to celebrate my birthday in peace and quiet! They bought Elijah a cake which he LOVED!

A cake with a track-hoe on it, what's better than that?

Something Elijah has been working on recently is learning to ride a dirt bike. We bought training wheels this spring for Ethan's old bike and Elijah is brave enough to ride it by himself!

We stay pretty close since he isn't the best at braking and sometimes doesn't turn in time and runs into things. But overall for his age he does very well.

Seriously..... is that a burn out in my flowers? It seems Elijah got a little close to my garden and the training wheel went up the rock behind the flowers causing his back wheel to go off the ground. Apparently he just kept giving it gas until Mark helped him out.

Potty training is the other thing he's working on. You're probably wondering why I have a picture of a blue stained kid for a potty training comment. Well since he has been a big pain during this process we are having to be creative. A friend suggested putting food coloring in the toilet water so when they go potty it will change color. Elijah was very excited about this experiment so we tried it. We just need to remember to put away they food coloring so he doesn't take matters into his own hands. :)

Summer Project #1

2011-06-11T09:19:00.008-05:00

Mark and I have cleaned up more than our share of muddy kids over the years, which prompted our first summer project. Adding more concrete by the shop!

The all to familiar muddy kid.

All the kids liked playing in the area Mark dug out before the cement truck came.

Ethan learned how to tie re-rod and smooth out the concrete after it was poured. He LOVES guy stuff like this!

Getting things leveled out.

We had a little extra so Mark built a box and made a crossing for a creek. My vote for the extra was to put a little concrete pad in front of the shop door. Since that would require digging with a spade instead of a skidloader my idea didn't fly. :)

The cement is laid! We added a load a gravel and have to get the drain covered and we're good to go!

You know you're a farm kid if....

2011-06-08T13:16:00.010-05:00

Most of these pictures are a couple months old but I wanted to post them anyway. You know you're a farm kid if...

Your mom takes the "buddy seat" and you have to cram behind the tractor seat or sit on the dirty floor every time you ride along.

You get to help your dad fix all sorts of cool stuff.

You actually get to ride in the equipment that you watch on the Mighty Machines show!

You take your afternoon nap on the tractor or combine floor regularly.

Or you pretend to take your nap. :)

You bring dad lunch or coffee time or supper and always ride a couple rounds.

You have a good pair of boots... even if you don't have pants.

Joy Ride

2011-05-26T09:07:00.006-05:00

A favorite family activity for us is taking Ranger rides around our coal mine and neighborhood. The kids especially love to see wildlife while we're out and about. Last weekend we saw quite a few "little critters" and I was able to get pictures of a few of them.

This was our first find a muskrat swimming in the ditch along the road.

A snake sunning on the road. I'm sure we were a sight, all 6 of us hanging over the side of the Ranger checking out a snake.

This was a curious snapping turtle in our pond.

The kids just can't stay out of the water, even if it's cold!

Tulip Time

2011-05-25T07:04:00.011-05:00

This post should be my last one for catching up. I have a couple more ideas but those are more recent happenings. I enjoy going to Tulip Time each spring and so do the kids, Mark, not so much. I'm not sure if it's because he's an Osky guy, a farmer busy planting beans, or like most guys and doesn't care about flowers or parades. Thankfully my mom and sister gladly help so we can enjoy the parade and food!

A group shot of the kids in Sunken Gardens. I'm mean and told the kids the only way they could get a snowcone was to take a nice picture by the tulips. Sorry Ethan you can't use your own money to buy one!

Anton age 15 months.

Yikes! That tulip totally came out of one of your uncles yards!

Amelia looking very sweet!

Ethan a little blinded by the sun.

Yay, the sweet, cool reward! Somehow I missed a picture of Elijah. He didn't seem to be feeling 100% so we let this year slide.

Cousins Olivia and Andrew (back) playing for the Oskaloosa Christian Band.

The PC eagle came to give Anton a hug, but he wasn't very interested. He did enjoy the bands and floats and pointed at everything! I was very thankful he liked it because he isn't a crowd person at all!

A fun float of Thomas!

Expanding

2011-05-21T16:55:00.010-05:00

Mark and I were able to buy another farm this spring. We are very excited about the opportunity and have been busy fixing it up over the last couple months.

A first look at the field taken early this spring.

Mowing and fixing broken tile were the first jobs done to get the field ready for beans. We also cleared trees, brush and fence in a few places.

I'm pretty sure every tile running through this field is broke or full of mud. Mark is fixing a broken tile to help dry out a wet hole.

I just love this picture of Amelia throwing a dirt clod, she's so girly!

Planting beans before the rain!

We didn't quite get the field finished before the downpour.

Waiting for dryer days!

Kid Stuff

2011-05-19T13:12:00.011-05:00

This is a "catch up" post of what the kids have been up to over the last month or so.

Elijah enjoys "riding" bike. He actually just runs all over the yard pushing Ethan or Amelia's bikes, going up ramps and through the yard. It looks like a lot of work to me but he enjoys it.

Maybe we'll find him a bike with training wheels on a garage sale this summer. But knowing Elijah he won't want it, he'll just stick with pushing around someone else's bike.

Anton went through the "belly button phase" a month ago he was constantly lifting up his shirt and pointing to his button. He would also lift up anyone else's shirt and poke them if given the opportunity!

Boys need haircuts often and it adds up! We thought we would give shaving Anton's hair a try and he surprisingly did very well. Marks engine noises and references to picking corn sure helped the situation!

This is an avocado tree that we're growing. It's over a foot tall with 8 inch leaves! I found the idea to grow the seed in a old gardening craft book my mother-in-law gave us a couple years ago. The kids always enjoy experiments and crafts so this was perfect. There's just something temping about planting that huge avocado pit!

Amelia found a caterpillar a while back and stuck it in a salsa jar to live with her in her room. Of course she forgot about it and it ended up lost under her bed. The positive about the situation was that when she found it the caterpillar had spun into a cocoon! It was damaged and I didn't think it would hatch but sure enough the little guy made it and Amelia was very pleased to find her very own moth! The bad news is that when she went to release it outside it flew and landed right on the deck in front of the door and Elijah stepped on it. It damaged his wing and caused internal injuries but it did live until the next day. As far as Amelia is concerned his wing got better and he flew away. :)

Ethan had a little track meet the other day. He is getting faster and faster every year!

Anton is getting pretty good at sneaking out of the house if the doors aren't closed properly. Most likely the sand box is were you'll find him.

If I'm not able to watch the kids in ride in the coalmine I'll let them putz around the yard on the TTR. They have so much fun! Mostly they like to put the back tire in holes and give it gas to make grass go flying and wreck the yard, but at least they aren't fighting!

The kids actually got out of school for heat the other day. So they thought since it was "summer" they had to play in the water. Here they are making a mud hole to play in.

Gardening

2011-05-19T12:06:00.015-05:00

Finally, I'm able to upload again! Some of the posts are of old news but my sister wanted me to add them anyway. So my big project this spring is to clean up my garden. It's been neglected for the last couple years because I had Elijah and Anton and they took up most of my time. It's amazing how many weeds grow, how much plants spread and take over and the amount of dirt moles can move!

April 10 - The "disaster area" pre-cleanup.

This particular area was invaded by grass, vinca vines and a few other plants that had simply taken over. I decided my best option was to take Marks skidloader and dig the whole area out. Yes, I actually did it myself! Mark was busy in the field so I took three big scoops of dirt out and relocated them along the motocross track. Then scraped a couple buckets of dirt out of Mark's corn field to fill in back in. Here we are ready to re-plant!

This area was full of huge day lily's and a few others that needed to be split.

A bunch of plants ready to head south to their new home in MO! My sister took two packed car loads of plants home from my mom's and my yard!

Oh look, my very own garden gnome!

My garden as of today!

Looking much better, now if I can only keep it up!

Computer Problems

2011-05-17T19:57:00.002-05:00

I haven't forgot about my blog! Unfortunately I've had computer problems for the last couple weeks and can't upload anything. Hopefully we'll get the issue resolved soon so I can update!

Preschool Visit

2011-05-03T10:55:00.008-05:00

Last week I took time to visit Amelia's preschool class. I arrived during snack time and then we moved on to free reading time. I started reading a book to Amelia and a couple Boender cousins that are in her class, and ended up with half the class joining us. :) It was great to see them so attentive and fun to hear their comments. I'm sure preschool teachers hear it all!

Amelia was the leader on Tuesday so she got to sit on the chair by her teacher.

She is working on her turtle craft in the picture. Every turtle needs pink toenails, don't you think!

Putting the finishing touches on her turtle.

Classroom wall art, flowers with the petals saying what each child is thankful for.

You might wonder what a train has to do with preschool. Well, this in just another way God is trying to teach me patience. You see we live on the "wrong" side of the tracks, and I will often end up waiting on the train to pass. Sometimes it's quick other times 15 minutes, and it never arrives at the same time, so I can't even plan accordingly!

Easter

2011-04-26T12:22:00.006-05:00

The Easter story was Ethan's memory work for last two weeks. This was a wonder reflection each evening as I helped him learn this passage.

Matthew 28:1-10

After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from Heaven and, going to the tomb rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lighting, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men. The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; He has risen, just as he has said. Come and see the place where He lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him. Now I have told you. So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and an to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them "Greetings," He said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me."

Everyone got a new shirt or dress for Easter!

An attempt at getting a cousins picture. Of course my kid is the big baby bawling and running away! :)

We had a couple egg hunts this year, but I only had my camera for this one. The kids have a blast hunting for all the eggs and the adults have fun putting it together!

Anton will have to be a little more aggressive in his egg hunting next year. He was a far cry from his siblings who ran around like crazy kids to get the most candy!

Three little mess makers dumping out all the empty eggs.

12 Year Anniversary

2011-04-16T07:13:00.009-05:00

Today is Mark and my 12 year anniversary! Wow how time flies! I was thinking about what to post in honor of our anniversary and decided to be brave and post a few high school pictures from when we started dating 15 years ago! Our first big event as a couple was the Jr/Sr Banquet our junior year. That summer our group of friends went to California for Convention. What a great time we had! Last but not least, a senior picture together.

What wonderful memories we have together, I'm so blessed to have such a great husband!

New Ride

2011-04-09T07:27:00.009-05:00

We decided to bump Ethan up to a bigger bike. He was being hard on the smaller one and we want it to last for the three younger kids. So two weeks ago we took a little road trip to Waterloo to pick up this one. I'm really impressed with how much more he can do and he's having a blast!

Ethan riding around the yard after we got home.

The dealers advice, "Big, old people and little bikes don't mix." :)

Amelia prefers her three-wheeler, but after we got training wheels for the little bike she decided she liked it better. :)

Ethan's having fun practicing in the coalmine with Mark and Uncle Kurt! I wish I had his endurance!

Like father, like son

Woo-who he even gets a little air! :)

Anytime Mark stops for a rest, Anton and Elijah fight over who gets to sit with him. This time Anton won.

Gymnastics

2011-03-27T14:15:00.006-05:00

Amelia started gymnastics this month. She's very shy and I wasn't sure if she would like it or not. After I reassured her that nobody would be watching her, she agreed to give it a try. Her class started with 11 kids but, after a scheduling mix up it turned out that she only had one other girl in her class. Yay, one on one coaching! Amelia is really enjoying gymnastics and does very well. She's strong and not afraid to try what her coach asks of her. It should be a great spring!

Spring Break in Bunceton, MO

2011-03-25T08:01:00.012-05:00

For the first time we decided to go on a spring break trip! We headed south to Bunceton, MO and found a little warmer weather than Iowa! :) We hadn't visited my sister and brother-in-law since their wedding in November and thought it would be a good time to visit. We had a great time and look forward to going back soon!

Three boys looking at a farming book. There was LOTS of farming going on the the basement that weekend!

We had to stop several "demo derby's" at the shop. :)

I have been looking for a new lawn mower for oh, about 3-4 years now so Mark took one of Dan's mowers for a spin. :) He loves this mower, so maybe this year will be the year for a new one!

We went to Fingerlakes State Park for a motocross practice one day. The kids enjoyed playing on the playground while Mark finished his last practice. (This is Elijah peeking through a piece of playground equipment.)

The kids also went fishing for a short time. In fact from what Ang tells me it probably took longer to get the fishing licence than they spent fishing. Oh well we'll use it this summer!

Mark during his practice time.

Ethan also got in a couple rounds of practice.

Ethan's bike wasn't running the greatest and sputtered up the hills. So he had to call it quits early, he wasn't pleased with this. :(

Anton and Elijah taking a much needed nap!

Early March Happenings

2011-03-24T09:45:00.005-05:00

Things have been pretty busy around here and I'm getting way behind in posting pictures! So here are a few from the the first half of the month.

We celebrated Ethan's 8th birthday! It was a special day because he didn't have school that day and Aunt Ang and Uncle Dan came up for the weekend! We went out to eat too! Since the weather wasn't very nice I asked him to wait to have friends over. We had great weather over spring break and enjoyed having friends over a little late!

Ameila and Rachel did a drill team clinic and Pella Christian. Ameila was pretty shy and didn't care to go out and perform in front of the crowd. :)

They had a great turn out! These are just the 4-6 year olds!

Anton finally took off walking! Our slowest child to walk. :)

He is loving his new accomplishment and walks everywhere!

Anton's 1 Year Pictures

2011-03-13T19:50:00.007-05:00

Anton actually turned 13 months old over the weekend but I'm just now posting some of his one year pictures. Even though he wasn't happy about taking pictures we still managed to get a few cute ones.

Six Busy Kids

2011-03-02T20:48:00.011-06:00

Last weekend Mark and I babysat two of his sisters boys while she and her husband went on a trip. We kept very busy with 6 kids under 7 years of age but all went well! Here are a few pictures of our weekend.

Anton's new thing is to open the fireplace and climb inside or at least try. Seriously, why would anyone find this fun? It's dirty, it stinks and it's creepy in there! What a NUT! We had to wash lots of clothes!

Hey there, that's not a sand box! :) We like to sprinkle jello over our applesauce for dessert sometimes, Elliot must have remembered that from the night before. :)

Mark took four of the kids for a track hoe ride so Anton could rest and I could clean up the house.

Oh bummer! I was lazy and thought I would see how far I could drive down the motocross track to get the kids from Mark. I easily made it over the first little jump and along the pond. I made it past a second little jump with a big rut hidden under the snow. You would think I'd be smart enough to stop while I'm ahead, but I'm not. :) Surely I can make it over this last jump and into the clear so I can turn around and drive out instead of backing out all the way. The front makes it over and bump, I'm stuck. (sigh) Well let's try and back up before Mark sees me. Nope, that didn't work, lets go forward again, nope that didn't work. Let's try rocking back and forth really fast in the drivers seat while going in reverse. Nope that didn't work either. By this time Mark has noticed me and I'm all out of idea's for getting out on my own. He didn't laugh at me, just smiled and asked if I thought I was part of the jeep club that goes offroading on our property. :) Thankfully with a little push from the track hoe I was out, sort of. I made it off the hill only to get stuck at the bottom of the next one. Seeing were this was going, or NOT going I should say, I got out and asked Mark to back me all the way out. Thanks Mark you're my hero! :)

Mark to my rescue with the track-hoe.

A close up of him just before he gave us a little push. Most people who drive Lincoln Navigators would cringe at the sight of track hoe pushing the front of their vehicle. Not me, this thing has been through countless fields and waterways. Believe me, this is not the worst it's seen! :)

What is he doing?

Kids always like to go outside, so we made a few trips out with all of them. Yes it did take forever to bundle everyone up! :)

We bought Amelia a little doll bed at the school Auction. Elijah thought it was a nice spot to rest.

The breakfast crew enjoying pancakes!

We also made play dough one afternoon. The kids did a great job making little creations and having fun with the play dough toys. Until Elijah got up from his nap and got a hold of it. We now have one colorful mass of play dough. :)

Snow Bunnies

2011-02-22T18:53:00.013-06:00

If you live in southern Iowa you can probably tell these pictures are from the beginning of the month. I've been busy with sick kids for the last week and a half with makes for a lack of time to post and a lack of new or exciting pictures. Even though these are old they're still kinda fun! My sister came for Anton's birthday and joined me and the kids for some sledding on Mark's snow pile.

Amelia was very kind to pull Anton around the yard.

This was Anton's first time sledding, he seemed to like Amelia pulling him around the yard. But as soon as she stopped he would dive off and crawl around in the snow.

Amelia zipping down our hill as fast as she can!

We sent Anton down once. He didn't really care for the hill so much. :)

Elijah, king of the snow hill!

Elijah wasn't sure about sledding down our monstrous hill at first, but he soon figured out that it wasn't so bad!

Me looking super stylish in my 1980's Nutrena Feed coverall's and pink John Deere hat! :)

Anton Turns 1

2011-02-12T08:37:00.008-06:00

Yesterday was Anton's 1st birthday! The past year has gone by so quickly and Anton has grown up so much! At this point he's trying very hard to walk and is getting better and better every day. He also says a few words, "hot, mama, dada and kee (kitty)" are his favorites. He doesn't play with many toys at this point. He would rather tinker with stuff, like dirt in my potted plants, Tupperware in the cupboards or anything his siblings are playing with. We can get him to play "catch" and he does like rolling balls a lot. Which is why I made him a "ball" cake for his birthday. Happy Birthday Anton!

Anton with his birthday cake.

We had a house full to say the least! Poor Anton felt very invaded with all the extra family in the around and cried about it much of the night. :( In this picture he's doing well opening a few presents with Elijah and Ezra.

A picture on Anton and me this week.

One year earlier, the day he was born.

Someone needs a haircut! Mark doesn't like hair on the ears at all. So Amelia and I brought Anton to his first haircut this week.

He did very well for Kelly, but we were both full of hair afterward!

His after picture.

Snow Days

2011-02-04T15:47:00.011-06:00

I enjoy a good snow and if I have things to keep the kids busy with our extra time at home is usually pretty fun. This week we had three snow days which meant I had to find something to keep the kids occupied with or they would fight all day!

Thankfully the boys love to be outside and will brave most Iowa weather. Amelia is more of a "fair weather" gal but will join in on the fun if the whole family is outside.

We won a Wii last winter that didn't get much use until we got Super Mario Brothers and MX vs. ATV for Christmas. Now it's become a fun family time for us during cold winter evenings and snow days!

Amelia brought home a marshmallow igloo from school and Elijah thought it was the best thing EVER! This was another fun and easy craft for them to make on a snow day!

Wal-Mart always has gingerbread houses 75% off after Christmas and for a couple bucks the kids have an easy project to keep them busy for a while. Hmmm, looks like we're missing a few pieces of candy. No doubt that Anton saw a few others snitching candy throughout the day! :)

Mark has been teaching Ethan how to clear the driveway with his skidloader. We don't have livestock to take care up and thought this would be something he could learn to have a little responsibility. I agreed this would be fine on one condition, they have to rake all the gravel out of the grass this spring. :)

The other kids stuck in the house to watch the snow removal lesson.

We attempted another snow day project, making suckers. I found two recipes, one using the stove top and a candy thermometer and the other the microwave. I opted for the "easy" microwave one. Our first batch was going great and I was very pleased, until Amelia asks if it's supposed to be tuning orange. NO ITS NOT! So the first batch ended up a smoking mess that I dumped in the grass. Our second attempt went better, but we didn't quite hit the hardball stage so they got a little soft when you ate them. Overall the kids enjoyed them which is what counts, but next time we'll use a thermometer!

Our last winter day craft was doing paper mache` the kids hadn't tried this and loved the goopy mess they got to play with! We made our own paste out of flour and water which was easy and worked well. We did have a little boil over while making the "paste" when I left to change Anton's diaper, but other than that it was a success! The kids will paint their creations soon!

January Pictures

2011-01-22T19:19:00.009-06:00

We've had a good start to 2011! Below are a few random pictures of the kids from the past couple weeks. We're thankful everyone has been healthy and well this winter!

The kids love being pulled on their sleds. Normally, I like to pull them behind the 4-wheeler so I can see them, but it doesn't like to start for me. The Ranger works fine and Elijah keeps an eye on them for me. Believe me, he lets me know if someone falls off!

Anton likes climbing in cupboards anytime he gets a chance. In this picture he's inspecting daddy's "professional" pumping job. ;)

Elijah loves to pretend that he's riding a motorcycle. He runs a figure eight around our house making engine noises as loud as he can. In this picture he found a pair of Amelia's old sunglasses, which are his " racing goggles".

We got the kids a portable DVD player for Christmas. Amelia didn't like her brothers bothering her while she was watching a movie, so she found a cozy spot under Mark's desk to hide.

Elijah, I can still see you! You'll notice that Elijah doesn't seem dressed appropriately for the season. For whatever reason he thinks he doesn't need to wear clothes.

Amelia what a cute baby you have!

Well there's a good place to hide while you eat candy you aren't supposed to have!

Mark's Phone Pics

2011-01-08T16:04:00.015-06:00

You probably won't find Mark hauling a camera around taking pictures, that's my job. :) But occasionally he does take pictures or videos with his cell phone. Recently we put them on the computer so I thought I would post a few. Some of them are a few years old so I'll put the date with the picture when possible.

Ethan around age 4 showing his "mud buddy" creation.

Amelia around age 3 eating supper.

Heading into the OB Dept. to have Anton. Wow, I was big! 2/11/10

Someone got the tractor stuck putting on anhydrous. :)

Spring of 2009.

Another view of the situation.

Mark helped sand bag around the water treatment plant during the floods, I think this was the spring of 2008.

9/19/09 Amelia and I painting the barn from the skid loader bucket. I'm around 5 months pregnant with Anton in this picture.

6/5/10 - Six years ago our pond was overloaded with little bass. We decided to stock the pond with bluegill and a few other fish so that the bass would have something to eat and hopefully grow. It worked we now have some nice sized fish in our pond!

My Personal favorite. :) 9/16/2010

Mark had to dig a guys skid loader out of the mud with his track-hoe. I think someone should have called for help long before this point! :)

Winter Fun

2010-12-31T18:47:00.008-06:00

I know there are lots of people out there who complain about our cold weather. But Iowa winters just aren't fun unless you have snow and ice to play in! I'm so thankful to live in an area with four distinct seasons! Some of the kids' favorite winter weather activities are being pulled behind the 4-wheeler or Ranger on sleds, building snow forts and tunnels and ice riding on the pond. Mark put ice screws in Ethan's dirt bike tires and he's having a blast! He loves to be apart of what the big guys are doing!

After spending 40 minutes getting all four kids bundled up and driving over to Grandma's, this is the sight I saw. The guys just finishing up for the day. Bummer we just missed watching them!

Ethan zipping around the pond.

Amelia likes to get in on the fun too!

Amelia's 3-wheeler died, so Grandpa gave her a push back. It's a 1983 model so I'm not sure how much life it has left! :)

Anton isn't too fond of his snow clothes, and for good reason. Every time I set the poor kid down he tipped right over. :(

A boy happy to be outside enjoying the weather!

Christmas 2010

2010-12-26T15:04:00.009-06:00

It's been a busy week filled with cooking, cleaning, family get-togethers and church services! It seems we've been in and out of the truck all week, and this week looks to be much of the same! We're very thankful to have most of our family close, so that we can see everyone during the holidays!

Dressed and ready for the Sunday School Program at church.

Amelia couldn't wait to wear this pretty dress from Grandma VDB!

Do you have enough help opening your present Anton?

Ethan loved putting his Lego combine together!

So glad my kids aren't the only ones that do this! :)

We love you Logan!

Amelia likes dressing up dolls, and had fun making a little closet out of a box for all of these dresses.

Alex sporting his new John Deere fur hat!

I think he "accidentally" left it at my house. So if you join us for some sledding sometime soon you may find me wearing this furry hat! :)

Horsing Around

2010-12-21T07:31:00.006-06:00

Here are a few pictures of the kids entertaining themselves. We only have a couple days left until school is out for Christmas break and I will get to do a little more entertaining! Ethan is especially looking forward to a break from school! He is very excited to help Mark and be outside! We also have several Christmas gatherings planned, a overnight hotel stay in IA City, a birthday party and hopefully lots of outdoor fun in the snow or at least on the ice!

Amelia proudly showing me her snowball.

Amelia & Ethan thought it was hilarious to throw little snow balls on the roof. They would watch them roll down, getting bigger and bigger before falling off the edge.

I love you my sweetness! Kiss, Kiss :) Anton LOVES cats and I think they love him too!

I'm not sure why our kids like to play on the stairway, but they do. Now that Anton climbs the steps I have to keep an extra watchful eye on them!

Anton at 10 months

2010-12-11T07:21:00.006-06:00

It seems like the more kids you have, the faster they grow up! At least that's the way it feels in our family, Anton is 10 months old already! He continues to grow and grow, and is quickly catching up with Eljiah. I'm guessing he's around 22 lbs already!

Balls of any size are a favorite for Anton. He especially loves to play catch!

He loves to eat! But the poor guy is gumming everything, still no teeth!

Anton is my first kid to ever mess with the Christmas tree. He knocked it over once right after I got it set up and twice the next morning after it was decorated. I tied to the ceiling with a bungee cord that I hooked to a plant hook.

We have 5 cats and Anton loves them! He's even started kissing pictures of the kitties in this book. It's SO cute!

He's an outdoor kid for sure! Most kids will bring you shoes to show you they want to go outside. Anton just tries to put on a hat. :)

What a mess maker! Pulling out bags, emptying out drawers and cupboards, unrolling the toilet paper, dumping toys out of the toy box..... to name a few. :)

Dirt Work

2010-11-28T13:35:00.008-06:00

With the nearly 50 inches of rain we had this spring and summer, lots of work was needed to get the fields back in shape. We're thankful Mark has kept busy with his track hoe this month! It helped (financially) make up for the lower than normal crop yields. It's wonderful how God provides and gives us opportunities to support our family! Not only does Mark enjoy working with his track hoe, he is good at it which makes it all the better! Mark cleaning out our neighbors ditch.

It's amazing how much dirt he moves in just a couple hours!

When we brought Mark some coffee time Elijah and Amelia took a little ride.

Elijah LOVES track hoes! His favorite toy right now is a little toy track hoe. He also has a little semi with a trailer that he uses to haul his track hoe around the house to different "jobs". Another fun thing he does is sing. He makes up little songs with one to three words that he sings over and over. Most songs have track hooooe, track hooooe in them. :)

Girls Night Out

2010-11-28T13:18:00.004-06:00

My sister-in-law Suzanne had a special birthday this month so we thought it would be fun to take her out. We had a fun evening out with only the sister-in-laws! We spent our evening in Des Moines getting our nails done and going out to dinner. It was a very fun evening and I look forward to our next night out! Thanks to all our babysitters!

Cassia, Suzanne, Kristen, Becky, Me & Emily

All of us getting our nails done.

Hmmm, the CAT dealership doesn't look like a usual stop for 6 ladies on a "ladies night out" trip. Seems we didn't totally get the evening totally off, but at least we were helpful and brightened up the CAT guys evening a little. :)

Dan & Ang's Wedding (Part 2)

2010-11-23T21:31:00.010-06:00

I've gathered a few more pictures from my sisters wedding. She has nearly 1,000 pictures to choose from! If you have facebook she is slowing getting them online if you want to check more out there.

The entire wedding party.

Amelia ended up carrying her little flowers as well as the ring bearer pillow for Elijah, who wasn't sure what was going on. :)

A good looking family, Ang, Dan & Ben!

Ethan was so excited to tell his cousins that he now has 3 uncle Dan's and 2 cousins named Ben! :)

As if our outdoor pictures weren't cold enough!

Actually the short ride to the reception wasn't too bad. We had coats and blankets to keep warm with.

Me with my handsome hubby!

After a fun couple days celebrating with Dan and Ang we headed home. We had lots of interesting sights, a few horse and buggies and at least 50 or more dead deer strapped to trailers or cars.

NICE! Welcome to Missouri Ang! :)

Dan & Ang's Wedding (Part 1)

2010-11-17T16:28:00.011-06:00

Last weekend my sister Angela got married. We traveled to central Missouri to a little town called Bunceton for their wedding. I was very excited to be her matron of honor, Amelia was a flower girl f(this was the third time this year) :), and Elijah was a "fill in" ring bearer. I'm looking forward to getting many more pictures from family and friends to post soon.

Ang bought all of us scarves and gloves as part of our gift. They were very much needed! It was a cold and windy day!

She married a farmer so it's only fitting to take pictures around the farm.

My nephew wasn't thrilled about the whole wedding/traveling thing. So we decided to put his tux on Elijah and have him walk down the aisle with Amelia.

Ang picked the most beautiful flowers ever! These are our bouquets sitting on the bar.

Ang and I in front of an old barn in their yard.

The wedding party at church.

Dan made this bar out of barn boards in part of a day. It turned out very well went perfectly with the rustic fall decorations around the shop.

Ang and Dan in front of their old barn.

One of the my favorite things about the area is the beautiful old barns everywhere!

2010-11-06T13:26:00.006-05:00

We've had nice weather for the past couple Sunday's which makes being outdoors a priority! Mark's motocross tracks have been busy with riders enjoying the few mild days of fall. Last weekend we had over 30 riders with a bunch of spectators and the Sunday before brought several new faces as well. Motocross riders weren't the only ones out enjoying be beautiful day, Gary Hanson (GJ Hanson Photography) was also at our place taking pictures of the guys riding. He was very kind to give me some pointers on photography and even sent us a CD of pictures he took of Mark and our family. Here are a few of my favorites from Gary.

I love the leaves behind Mark!

Mark and Brad

Mark rounding a corner.

Amelia looking cute!

Karl & Kristen's Wedding

2010-11-03T07:39:00.018-05:00

This past weekend we enjoyed being a part of Karl and Kristen's wedding. Karl is the last of Mark's siblings to get married. We had a great time and wonderful weather to celebrate their new marriage!

The beautiful bride and handsome groom

Amelia and Rachel posing after getting their hair done.

Karl and Kristen's wedding party.

Finishing touches before the wedding.

Karl watching his beautiful bride walk down the aisle.

A pretty little flower girl handing out rose petals.

The wedding party near the mill in Lynnville.

Mark and I were the first to get married in his family. Here is a picture from our wedding 11 years ago.

A current family picture, oh how the family has grown!

Fall Fun

2010-10-29T07:13:00.007-05:00

We've been keeping busy and having fun this fall! The kids are always up to something outside. The change of weather usually doesn't stop them from being outdoors. Ethan keeps busy building or "fixing things in the shop. They all like to build forts and playhouses in the barn or sheds around the yard. Of course the leaves are great fun as well!

Elijah found a pair of Mark's old glasses and thought he would give them a try. Hmmm, does he look smart or naughty? :)

We ran out of firewood so Mark and the kids cut up an old tree next to the motocross track. Hopefully we can cut a little more before the snow flies!

For whatever reason Anton continually attacks this poor plant. Now that he's a "speedy" crawler I had to relocate it.

Anton hanging out in the leaves watching the kids play and sampling whatever he could find on the ground.

I tried to get a group shot of the kids, but it didn't really work out.

We've had several guys out riding over the past few weeks. Everyone is enjoying the weather while it lasts!

Riding Along

2010-10-20T08:34:00.009-05:00

Harvest is complete for our family! I'm very thankful to have Mark home in the evenings again, at least until anhydrous starts. :) The kids and I rode with him in a few times and enjoyed extra time with Mark. Anton and I rode with Mark to Cargill in DesMoines last week. Riding in the semi is a great way to get a tired boy to sleep!

Karl and Alex working on getting us load of corn.

It's more work than you'd think to pack up 4 small kids to go ride in the combine or semi. As you can see from this picture it looks like we're packed for a mini-vacation. (This picture doesn't even include the diaper bag) :)

Ethan enjoys helping Mark so much! I am certain that he will follow in his fathers footsteps and one day be farming too.

Elijah playing by the semi at sunset.

Can you tell these kids missed their dad!

A beautiful Iowa sunset.

Farm Tour Hosts

2010-10-10T19:21:00.003-05:00

Last weekend our family hosted two foreign exchange students from the University of Iowa as part of a farm tour. A group of 20 or so students attending the university of Iowa tour farms in the Pella area for the day then meet up with host families for a potluck in the evening. We have done this three or four times now and it's always been a rewarding experience! The kids think it's fun to give up their rooms for someone else and love sleeping downstairs for a change of pace. We took our two girls to church and Sunday school with us and then home for lunch. After that we gave them a quick Ranger ride through our coalmine. I highly recommend if you get the chance to host an exchange student that you do it, it's great fun!

Samuel from China holding the kitten and HerShing from South Korea.

Ethan's Stitches

2010-10-01T12:53:00.004-05:00

Last night Amelia got the best of Ethan. :) Well sort of. The kids made a little "teeter-totter" with a 2x6 and Amelia jumped on one end sending the other end flying up and whacking Ethan in the face. I didn't think I could put his lip back together myself, at least not with out leaving a huge scar on his face. So we headed to the doctor at 7:30 last night. He ended up with 3 stitches and of course his only top permanent tooth was knocked loose. We'll just monitor that for now, hopefully it heals on it's own. He's doing great today and did great while they gave him stitches! On a side note, this is our families first trip to the doctor for stitches. When I told the doctor about our dirt bike riding hobby he said it probably won't be our last visit for stitches. :)

Ang's Shower

2010-10-01T12:33:00.005-05:00

Last Saturday we had a shower for my sister Ang. She is getting married in November. We had a great time celebrating with her and lots of yummy food!

My Aunt Jean, sister-in-law Katie, Ang and I (the bride and shower hosts)

The VanDenBroek Girls

Ang got so many great gifts! I think I need another shower, after 11 years of marriage all my stuff is going down hill! :)

Ang and I showing a John Deere Quilt that our Aunt Jean made for her.

Harvest Festival

2010-09-30T07:39:00.007-05:00

Friday night was our schools annual harvest festival, a family fun night put on by the school. This year I was in charge of the meal for the event. We had a wonderful turnout and great weather. The kids love collecting as many prizes and they can and participating in the fun games and rides! The obstacle course inflatable was a favorite this year!

I thought the kids would love to ride the horse or pony. This wasn't the case, Elijah was the only one we got on one, with a little help from Auntie Ang! He wasn't exactly sure of the situation as you can tell by his facial expression. :) Guess we'll stick to 4-wheelers and Rangers at our house. :)

Anton was content to just hang out while Mark visited with other parents.

One of the first things Amelia did was paint a pumpkin. She LOVES anything "crafty"!

Ethan played lots of games! I'm sure he had a plan to maximize his prize winnings, he came home with a bag full of goodies! :)

Harvest at our house

2010-09-26T13:22:00.007-05:00

It always seems that Mark harvests the field around our house when I'm not home or during the night when the kids are in bed. This was almost the case again this year. But I decided to skip out of a meeting to stay home and make supper for everyone and take a few pictures. I'm so glad it worked out for us to ride along! It's so fun to walk outside the house and hop in the combine!

Karl, Kristen and Ethan are combining in this picutre. This was the area were we had an awesome plot of soybeans last year. This years corn crop didn't have exciting yields, but thankfully we had a crop. So many farmers lost crops to floods this year.

Mark, Elijah and Amelia in the John Deere.

I didn't have my camera with me for Anton's first combine ride. So I asked Mark to pose with him for his second combine ride. Mark is pretty good about my sometimes excessive picture taking. :)

Mark's brother Kurt came up with a great way to put our name on the side of the semi.

Kristen and Karl helping combine.

Family Reunion

2010-09-20T21:10:00.004-05:00

I am two weeks late posting these, but better late than never. :) Our Sunday afternoons have been filled with family gatherings the past few weeks and here are a couple pictures from the Boender Reunion.

Becky took a quick family picture for us.

Mark's cousin Aaron caught a huge grass carp in the pond. John was the only brave one willing to lay beside so I could have something to compare it with.

Family members enjoying a Ranger ride.

Fremont Hare Scramble

2010-09-02T20:57:00.013-05:00

Last weekend Mark and his brother Kurt participated in a hare scramble near Fremont. They had a great crowd and nice weather! For those of you who aren't familiar with this type of race I'll give you a short description. At this particular race they road their motorcycles around a 6 mile trail through the woods for 2 hours. They try to get in as many laps as they can before the two hours is up. If they cross the check point even 1 minute before the 2 hours is up, they ride the 6 mile trail again, making it a 2 1/2 hour race, at least for Mark. :)

They had around 75 or so riders and started them in 4 groups, according to which class they were competing in. Mark and Kurt are in the back row in the middle. They rode the "heavy C" class.

Colorful bunch aren't they! :)

Mark is in the back row in blue, Kurt is next to him in blue and yellow.

Mark heading into the woods, we wouldn't see him for another 25 minutes.

Gideon, Ethan and Cody enjoying the race from the "girl" bikes I brought along. :)

They have to get a scorecard, which is taped to the front of their bike, marked after each lap. Here Mark is getting his card marked.

They can't ride 30-35 miles without running out of gas. Emily was their "pit crew" gal. While I kept the 5 boys we had with us under control.

Mark finishing strong! He ended up with second place and Kurt with 4th! Great job guys!

First Day of School

2010-08-29T12:54:00.004-05:00

Ethan and Amelia started school last week!

Ethan began 2nd grade and really wasn't looking forward to going back. I asked him what he would do with all his time if he didn't go to school. His response "Work with Dad." Which was know surprise. :) I know that once harvest starts he will REALLY complain about being in school instead of the combine.

Amelia started preschool on Thursday and was super excited to begin! She loves that her cousin Johnathon is in her class! For the first day parents went with their child to learn how the kids' day would go. I enjoyed watching her explore the classroom with Johnathon. From what I saw they will have a great time this year!

End of Summer Events

2010-08-25T08:53:00.008-05:00

The State Fair and Dekalb Supper are the two events that mark an end to our summer. Mark and I have worked at the State Fair for the past 3 years and haven't had a chance to take the kids along. This year we tried part of a day. We enjoyed Little Hand's on the Farm, some animals, a bunch of food and buildings full of stuff and a few pieces of equipment. While our day wasn't a total flop I wouldn't have called our day "nonstop fun". :) Let's just say Anton wasn't a fan of the heat or stroller.

Our first stop was the Marine's pull-up bar. Mark enjoys things like this and won a nice Marine shirt for the amount of pull ups he was able to do!

Next stop was Little Hand's on the Farm. The kids' favorite part of the fair.

Can you tell Anton isn't overly excited about the fair? :)

Elijah loved the tractors or "ta-tee's" as he calls them.

This picture was from the Dekalb Supper. Elijah stuck close to Grandpa that evening, even while he was speaking. I found out later that he had to be rescued after climbing up a piece of equipment with the big kids. He was pretty scared and thought he'd stay safe with Grandpa, who saved him, for awhile!

Elijah and his cousin Ezra enjoying some lemonade!

Summer Fun

2010-08-14T13:27:00.010-05:00

Summer has gone so fast! It's hard to believe school is just around the corner! Here are a few random pictures from last week.

We were mean and tricked Ethan into letting Mark look at his loose tooth. Mark then yanked it out. :) Don't feel too bad for him, the tooth was flapping in the wind and didn't even bleed when Mark pulled it. :) Ethan was pretty excited about it.

Anton turned 6 months old!

He is sitting up so well!

Anton isn't far behind Elijah - size wise.

Mark and I braved the Pella Pool with all 4 kids this week. We went there at 4:30 so the crowd was clearing out. We had lots of fun and I can't wait to go back next year!

Ethan was just tall enough to go on the slides by himself, which he LOVED. This picture is of the lifeguard pulling him to the edge after coming down the slide. We also enjoyed the lazy river, until Ethan stopped traffic that is. If you've been to the pool you know that they have waterfalls that pour water over you as you go under them. Ethan thought it would be fun to hang on the edge under the waterfall, which was fine until Amelia and my double tube got stuck under the waterfall too. Poor Amelia could hardly stay on the tube and I couldn't see anything because of the water. I gave Ethan's tube a shove to help out Amelia's situation. Poor Ethan must have fell off his tube and was unable to get back on it in the current. Long story short, as I came from under the water I saw Ethan being lifted on his tube by a "girl" lifeguard. He was NOT pleased with me and rolled his eyes and gave me "the evil eye" the rest of the way around the river. Guess he wasn't very excited about having to be "saved". :)

Mark made this dump box out of his old honey wagon frame and a dump box he bought from my uncle. He painted it and got it looking pretty good. Here he is using it for the first time.

July Happenings

2010-08-07T15:31:00.007-05:00

I had several pictures from last month that I wanted to share. July was a very busy month and August looks to be the same if not a little worse, especially since school is starting!

First, my sister got engaged on the 4th of July! Ang and Dan plan to get married on November 13 and she will be moving to central Missouri near his family. Dan farms and has a commercial lawn care business near Booneville/Columbia.

We had a fun time at Amelia's 5th birthday party! She wanted a Littlest Pet Shop cake, and enjoyed helping me decorate it!

The kids were wet a fair amount this summer both on the slip 'n slide and running in the rain. :) The picture above: Ethan and Cody decided they weren't going fast enough down the slip 'n slide so I let add a little dish soap. This certainly helped their situation!

Each of our kids has something special that we look forward to doing around the time of their birthday. Amelia's birthday is sweetcorn time. This picture is of her and her uncle Alex cleaning off some corn silks.

With all the rain this summer Mark has had a never ending job of keeping up his motocross track. One evening while digging something for it the earth gave way and he was stuck. Thankfully his brother Kurt was nice enough to come over and pull him out with the bulldozer. :)

Happy Birthday Amelia

2010-07-25T16:44:00.008-05:00

Today is Amelia's 5th birthday! She has grown up so much over the past year. Some of her favorite things are playing with her kitties and brothers. She loves pick flowers and draw them. She will start preschool next month, some days she's excited about it others not. :) Below are a few of my favorite pictures that we did for her 5th birthday.

Oskaloosa Enduro Cross

2010-07-23T11:11:00.010-05:00

Mark and his brother BJ competed in the first ever endurocross race at the southern Iowa fair Thursday night. The heat index was nearly 100 degrees and the course was brutal! They had around 25 guys participate in two classes. Mark took on the challenge of riding in A class, even though he has never rode in an endurocross and has only rode in one harescramble race a few years ago. He ended up with a 5th place finish! Awesome for his first race, especially since he was racing against some of the top enduro riders in the the state! Great job Mark!

There were two heat races for each class. They had a straddle start. This is were your bike is off and you hope it starts easy so you can take off first! Mark is second from the right in the blue gear.

Mark riding through the mud pit.

Three large poles tied together was a big challenge for most guys. Especially after several laps!

Endurance is the key to being successful in an enduro. Several guys dropped out for a lap or two but Mark hung in there and never quit!

A hot group of fans watching their dads! :) A big thanks to my mom for coming along to help with kids!

The start of the main for the A class. Mark is in the front row second from the right.

Cooling off after the race.

A short video of Mark riding part of the course.

Final Young Farmer Committee Meeting

2010-07-17T15:51:00.013-05:00

Last weekend Mark, Anton and I headed to NW Iowa to our final Young Farmer Advisory Committee meeting. We've had a wonderful three years serving on this committee and made so many wonderful friends from all over the state! We will truly miss serving on this committee!

The retiring 3rd year committee members. These are the couples that Mark and I went to Baltimore and San Antonio with. We have gotten to know them well and will miss them a bunch!

Randy taking over as chair for Emily.

We always go to the retiring chairs town for the final meeting. The Van Regenmorters live in Inwood, IA. In addition to farming they also own a service station in town. Here is a picture of our group on the tour.

Chad and Jody ringing up a few sales. :)

They also started a development on the edge of town. I love that they named the two streets Rebecca Lane and Emily Ave. after their daughters!

Rebecca and Emily were excited to show us their 4H bottle calves.

They have a small vineyard and enjoy making their own wine. This picture is of Chad explaining how they take care of the grapes.

The sow barn. For those of you that don't know much about hogs I'll explain a little about the picture. Their feed goes in the top (the part with the red lid) then drops down into a feeder pan. The sow goes in the crate and it closes behind her so nobody can steal her food. When she's finished she backs up and and gate opens and she can hang out in the barn or outside.

We had a baby boom this winter! Three out of the eight couples had babies, two couples had their first child, Mark and I our forth. :)

Kid Pics

2010-07-15T19:17:00.005-05:00

I am way behind on my postings! Here are a few of the kids over the last couple weeks.

Anton would be happy if we held him 100% of the time. Of course that can't happen so he does hang out in the exersaucer some.

Happy Guy!

Amelia LOVES kitties, thankfully we had only one litter this spring. She prayed for two months that her cat Princess would have babies. Now she prays every night that they are safe. :) She loves to play and cuddle with them. They will even tolerate her dressing them in tutu's. :)

Elijah has been wandering around the house some during the night. We've found sleeping on the floor in front of his room, in the living room and once sleeping behind the couch. This picture was taken right before Mark and I went to bed one night. I thought Mark tucked him in and he thought I did. Turns out he helped himself to some cookies and fell asleep in Anton's bouncy seat. :) Kids truly keep life interesting!

Elijah

2010-07-04T20:51:00.004-05:00

It's hard to believe that Elijah has already turned two years old! He's your typical toddler, full of energy and always busy! His favorite words are "mine" and "no!". He LOVES sweets and will help himself to whatever he can find. :) His favorite toy is a little blue motorcycle. He also loves playing in the shop on his tricycle with Ethan and Amelia.

Kurt & Emily's Wedding

2010-07-02T16:01:00.020-05:00

Last Saturday Mark's brother Kurt got married. We were very excited to be a part of their special day! Here are a few pictures from their wedding day!

Amelia LOVED having her hair done! She is such a beautiful girl!

Mark and Anton posing for a picture.

Our family picture.

I can see them with six kids some day. Maybe not this close in age though. :)

Hanging out between pictures. I love the candy hanging on Johnathon's tongue! :)

The wedding party.

Mark's family.

Karl & Mark

Boys hanging out during pictures.

The Boender girls

Kurt seating his parents.

Groomsmen during the wedding ceremony.

Emily and Kurt near the end of the reception.

Me and my handsome husband. :)

Just having fun with photo-shop! :)

Rehearsal

2010-06-27T17:11:00.006-05:00

Mark's brother Kurt got married this weekend. Here are a few pictures from the rehearsal. I hope to post wedding pictures in the next few days.

Rachel & Amelia were so excited to be flower girls.

Grandma bought them pretty white dresses for the rehearsal.

The groomsmen practicing.

The beautiful bride and her father walking down the aisle.

Everyone figuring out were they're supposed to stand.

Rachel & Amelia again.

The Boys

2010-06-24T19:08:00.008-05:00

Just a few pictures of the boys over the last week or so.

Anton at 4 months old. He weighed 17 lbs. 7 oz and was 27 inches at his check up.

Doesn't he just look NAUGHTY!!!! :)
Elijah covered his head with hydrocortisone cream.

We will have Anton in our room for as long as possible. I'm not sure how safe he will be in a room with Elijah. :)

Anton started eating cereal last week. He's loving it! Although this has brought on a new challenge. Elijah likes to try to feed him, so far he's tried cake and a cherry.

Ethan goofing off on a bike we have.

Elijah Turns Two

2010-06-22T21:50:00.004-05:00

Elijah turned 2 years old on Saturday. He is certainly acting his age. :) The words he uses the most are "mine" and "NO". He also likes to point to pictures of himself and say "Me". He's a fun kid to have around and highly entertaining. :) For his birthday we celebrated by going to Grandma and Grandpa's for supper and swimming. The kids love to splash and play in the pond with their cousins! Unfortunately I didn't do a very good job of taking pictures, but here are a couple of Elijah with his semi cake. I made one side for him and the other side for his cousin Elliot's 1st birthday.

Flooded

2010-06-12T21:16:00.009-05:00

This morning we had 5 1/2 inches of rain in addition to the rain we had earlier in the week. As you can see from my pictures we are very soggy!

Ethan in the puddle/pond in front of Mark's shop.

The creek at the bottom of the hill is out, closing our gravel road and Hwy. 92 as well. Since the road is flooded most people turn just around in our driveway, but we a few teenagers attempted to make it across this evening and ended up stalling out. Remember folks, "turn around, don't drown!" :)

My garden is slightly lower than my yard, which created a another pond in our yard.

Ethan riding bike through the ditch. The water was knee high at the deep end.

We had a couple errands to run in town and a birthday party for my niece and this is what we came home to! BUMMER!!!! The carpet, couches, toys... all full of water. From what I hear we're not the only ones with water in the basement. What a mess!

I thought tile inlets were supposed to drain water out of bean fields not fill them up. Glad this guy isn't our field. :)

Elijah

2010-06-10T21:03:00.004-05:00

Saturday afternoon we went to my parents for a little birthday party for Elijah. We had hoped to spend the afternoon fishing but it looked like rain so we just hung out in the machine shed. When Mark and I headed to Monroe to get pizza we met a convoy of government storm chasers about five miles long! I felt like I was in the movie Twister! :) This made me feel a little nervous about being in the machine shed during such questionable weather. :) We ended up getting a HUGE downpour, thankfully with no tornadoes. :) I didn't take much for pictures, but you can see a few more on my facebook page from my sister if you like.

Elijah with a little cake Grandma bought. He LOVES the dirtbike!

Elijah and Anton (almost 2 years and almost 4 months)

Fun Valley Motocross

2010-06-04T08:04:00.014-05:00

Ethan rode in his first motocross race on Monday! He was so excited to get up early and go to the race! Here are a few pictures from our day.

Ethan relaxing before his race.

Kids with their dads at the starting line.

Mark giving Ethan some pointers.

Ethan rode in the 50 Jr. class with 10 others. He got 7th place.

He looked so small out there!

Mark rode in the +30 B/C Class and got first place.

Mark at the finish line.

8320R

2010-05-27T07:24:00.004-05:00

Last week Mark, his Dad and brother BJ went to watch their new tractor being built in Waterloo. On Saturday it was ready to be picked up at the dealership so we all rode along.

Ethan very excited to see the new tractor.

Trading in the 8420 for the 8320R.

A family picture in front of the tractors.

2010-05-23T16:48:00.006-05:00

A few pictures from our week.

Ethan is loving his dirtbike!

Anton will suck on whatever you let him. :)

Sleepy heads

Anton 3 months old. He is actually the same size at 3 months has Elijah was at 5 months.

Mark steers and Elijah runs the gas.

Church Addition

2010-05-21T11:24:00.011-05:00

After many years of praying, planning and preparation our church has finally begun working on a new addition! Our congregation is so excited for this wonderful project! The additional space for classrooms, nurseries, a kitchen and fellowship with truly be a blessing!

Part of the basement hole, dug out late last week.

Mark volunteered to take up the parking lot and dig out the basement with his track hoe.

Cleaning out dirt stuck to the bottom of Dan's truck.

Mark helping Irv DB dig some of basement with his track hoe.

Loading concrete.

Our week

2010-05-08T15:54:00.008-05:00

Here are a few miscellaneous pictures from the last week or two.

Amelia LOVES to pick flowers, here is a bouquet she picked and arranged all by herself.

As a mothers day present to Mark's mom we helped plant trees around the pond. The kids even got in on the project.

"Uncle Kurt, if you leave your motorcycle in our play area we're going to play with it!" :)

Mark spent part of the week planting beans for our neighbors. I took advantage of him being in the area and sent Anton and Elijah with him to take their naps. There's just something about the hum of a tractor engine that will put a kid to sleep in no time. :)

Ethan had a track meet on Thursday, he ran the 50 meter dash & the 4x50. He did a great job and had lots of fun running!

You're probably thinking "Oh what a good boy doing dishes for his mom." :) Or maybe not if you know Elijah. He was actually "washing" my fresh strawberries for a strawberry tart. Yep, in soap. Good thing I bought two boxes of them. :)

Anton looking cute at 3 months.

Dirtbike Riders

2010-05-01T15:30:00.009-05:00

Earlier this week we decided to head to Ottumwa to see if we could trade Mark's old dirtbike for a new one and maybe find one for Ethan. R/J Performance had some new bikes that had been sitting around for a couple years, so they gave us a good price and we came home with both.

Ethan ready to ride!

He does great riding through the yard!

A friendly "race" around the yard.

Amelia decided that she wanted to try to ride as well. Mark's helping her get started since she can't reach the ground yet.

Off she goes! I was surprised how well she did for as small as she is. If you're like me and wondering why she's wearing a heavy winter coat, this is what she said - "Mom if I wipe out my coat will protect me." Safety first I guess. :)

Mark & Ethan riding around the coalmine track.

Anton's Baptism

2010-04-25T16:26:00.011-05:00

Last Sunday we had baptism for Anton along with four other babies recently born in our church. We had a beautiful day to celebrate and enjoyed having lunch with our family and friends.
Here are a few pictures from his special day.

Anton in his baptism outfit.

During the service.

All five families.

Our first family picture after Anton was born.

One with just Mom and Dad.

Anton with his cousin Adalli.

Elijah, Amelia, Ethan & Anton

Kids looking for frogs after lunch.

Grandpa on lifeguard duty. :)