Adventures...

We had a blast w/ our friends over the weekend! There were lots of children! 12 under the age of 8 (10 were 5 and under!)

Jonathan was the child-entertainer: reading, singing, running around, etc!

Justin, Jonathan, and Faith + the kids went on a VERY muddy adventure! I'm hoping I can swipe some of Faith's pictures of the "trip". The kids had a blast! The guys had to hose down all the clothes before they made it into the washing machine!





Sunday Dinner at my parent's house~

Next time they come, they (Faith's kids) promised me they'd come in the summer (yeah, for outdoors and nice weather w/ that many kiddos!) and they'd bring their Daddy (Daniel), who is currently in Afghanistan. The kids had so much fun playing together and J and I enjoyed the late-nights chatting w/ the adults. :) Come back soon, guys!

Some cute faces...

Our dear friends, the Marquez's, came to visit over the weekend. We met their family 18 (ish) years ago when we both were on road trips, driving through Minnesota, at a gas station! My Dad happened to notice a bumper sticker on their van, and asked, Joe something like, "Are there still people gettin' saved down in South Carolina?" And one of their daughters, Julia, bopped over to our car and introduced herself to Krista and I...and asked if there were any cute boys in the car w/ us! (Ha, Ha! nope!) The rest is history! 3 hours later, we both pulled out of the gas station and are now fast friends w/ the Marquez Family. Joe and Ramona, have 4 children- all who are married w/ children. 2 of their children w/ their kiddos came and camped out w/ us over the weekend. I haven't laughed so much in 1 weekend for a long time! They are the funniest, sweetest, dearest people you'd ever meet, and I'm so glad the Lord allowed our paths to cross so many years ago. It's so encouraging to be around other families who are serious about the Lord, and are teaching and training their children.


Ration of Couples to Children= 3::10 (and counting!)

Cari & Jonathan, Faith (w/out Daniel--he's currently deployed), and us--they are a blast!



Sweet Baby Faces!

Madeline at 17 months...

When I was pregnant with Madeline, I was fine with having another boy. I was a little concerned with doing little girls' hair...boys are easy in that regard! (I just get out the clippers) Well,as it turned out, she was a girl--with hair to fix!
Auntie Krista sent me a picture of some hair-do's to try on Madeline. We tried the up-high pig tails, and the down-low pig tails...Here are some of the pictures.

(She's my right-hand girl: Here we are making a roast & veggies early Monday morning to go into the crockpot)

Goff Bro's Farm...Est.2010

***Edit*** Justin wanted me to post these pictures of the updated barn. He decided to paint trim around each of the windows to match the doors. He trucked outside down to the barn late at night to finish it. He made the boys fences out of popsicle sticks and a round bale feeder. They have been having SO much fun with it! Our incentive for William's potty training is the donkey family. :) We'll see if it works.

I didn't get around to posting our own little family's Christmas celebration...but I keep thinking how humorous it is that most of the gifts we got the kids were from a resale shop...including this play table. It was in great shape and a cheap price! The boys wouldn't know the difference anyway. Now is a great time to be frugal--just buy 2nd hand from people who buy the good stuff, or shop at the "ritzy" resale shops!! .


The Schleich Farm Set has been popular with my boys and they have slowly been collecting animals for their farm. Their favorite store is Rural King and they really wanted the barn to go with their animals. Justin promised them that when he was done with work for the winter, he'd build one with them. Yesterday and today, they've been working on their project. The picture they copied, is to the left. They used the exact dimentions and everything. My pictures are out of order. Here are the troops this evening going down to the "workshop" to clean up the mess. Madeline doesn't want to be left out of anything! There she is with her pink gum boots on!

The finished product, and William, super-excited.



The animals in their new home...
My woodworker man--


The roof hinges open so the boys can play inside.


Project Complete: Mission Accomplished!


Art class today: Painting and nailing alongside Daddy...


Last night's finishing touches...



The beginning project, yesterday morning--note, William's bedhead!




The bonus is that we saved $160 by building our own minus some $$ for some supplies (he used all scrap lumber, just needed a few small things) Plus, the excitement for the boys and memories of building the barn with their Dad was way more fun than buying it from the store. Dave Ramsey should be proud. :)