Hannah’s First Day

We were very interested to see how the boys would react when they first saw their baby sister.  On Thursday morning Stephen brought the boys to meet Hannah, along with his sister Alicia, who was here visiting & helping us.  Micah took to Hannah right away, as if she was just exactly what he had anticipated; Joel was a little hesitant coming into the hospital room, trying to take it all in and realizing he wasn’t Mama’s baby anymore.

Meeting baby sister for the first time.

Micah giving Hannah kisses.

Joel giving Hannah kisses.

Sweet cuddles from Auntie Alicia.

Hannah’s Birth

Well, life has been a little busy lately, and it is not just Hannah’s fault!  Hopefully, I can get back into keeping up with blog.  On the day Hannah was born, we took the boys on a walk in the morning – trying to pass the time waiting for the baby, and to get some of the boys energy out.

Shortly after lunch I started having very mild contractions.  We left for the hospital at 7:30pm and Hannah was born at 9:05pm.

Cuddling with Mama right after her birth.

Getting cleaned up by the midwife.

All cleaned up and getting dressed.

Announcing . . .

Just the Boys

Well, around here, we are continuing to wait for baby sister to be born.  In the meantime, I thought I would go ahead and post various pictures of the boys from the last few months.  They are just random shots, showing what we get to enjoy every day!

Here are the boys enjoying their relatively new bunkbeds, having pulled down most of the books off their bookshelves.

Joel cuddling with his “ba-ba.”

Dressed in their Thomas the Train costumes.

Micah listening to music on Papa’s IPOD.

Joel climbed up on the table after supper to finish off the grapes.  He loves fruit and vegetables!

Watching a video with headphones so that Stephen can study.

Joel and Micah like to help Momma by unpacking the groceries.  Here Joel is “making a train.”

Joel eating the rest of the berry sauce (for crepes) after supper.

Picture Comparison

Most people don’t have to think very long before they realize that Micah looks like my (Vicki’s) side of the family.  My parents have a set of pictures on their wall of each of them at 4 years of age.  I had my dad scan his picture, so we could compare him and Micah at the same age.  There are definately some similarities!

Micah’s 4th Birthday

It’s hard for us to believe, but our little boy turned 4 this past Saturday!  He loves Thomas the Train, and so I decided to attempt a Thomas cake.  For the most part I was very pleased with it, except that the writing gel I used for the words ran together, and the blue frosting was very runny after having to use almost a whole bottle of food coloring to get the color dark enough.  I had made the cake and done the white frosting on Thursday evening.  On Friday morning, Micah turned the cake over inside the cake carrier because he was trying to see whether or not I had done the Thomas yet.  So, much of the white frosting, that I had so carefully smoothed the night before, was now filled with cake crumbs.  But in spite of the mishaps, we were all quite pleased with the end result.

Opening a Bible story puzzle book from Memaw.

Joel was so sweet, helping Micah open the gifts.

He was happy to finally have the Diesel 10 train.

Opening more tracks and bridges for the little trains.

Playing together with the new tracks and bridges.

Very pleased with his Thomas cake.

Blowing out the candles.

Camp Impact Work Day

May 1st was a holiday here in Germany (like Labor Day), and it was used to invite people to come see the new camp facilities.  A picnic was planned for lunchtime, with many work projects planned for the time before and after.  We actually went down Thursday morning and came back Saturday evening.  Unfortunately, we didn’t get many pictures of our family, but I will post a few pictures anyway to show some of things that took place.  Micah and Joel loved having so much space to just run around and be boys.  They were happy, but exhausted by the time we came home!

Grilling bratwurst & the various salads ladies brought to go along.

Sitting around eating lunch.

Setting up a wash area outside one of the main buildings.

Joel trying to do what he saw others doing.

Kay & Christian digging out an old fence line.

One of the sidewalks that had been totally overgrown by grass.

It’s finally Spring!

Winter is finally over here and we have enjoyed some beautiful, sunny weather the last two weeks.  Here are a few pictures from our garden and a trip to the Spielplatz (playground).

The daffodils around the back porch.

Micah & Joel helping water the spinach Stephen planted.

Our yard & plum tree, and the neighbor’s tulips.

Bouncing on the rubber trampoline, sliding, and spinning!

Micah’s first attempt at climbing trees.

Working at Camp Impact

Once again, this past weekend Stephen went to the new campsite with Kevin Matthia and a few others.  Little by little they have been working on small projects and generally just trying to get some things cleaned up.  It is quite the adventure without any power or running water.

Gathering for meal time.

Smaller buildings out in the woods.

View of the two larger dormitory type buildings.

Cleaning off some of the pathways.

The main project this particular weekend was cutting grass.

Stephen spent much of the time trimming small trees and branches that had grown up around the buildings.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

For Valentine’s Day, Stephen said he would cook lunch for me.  He made an excellent meal with tortellini alfredo, salad, and bread that was as good as any I have had in a restaurant!  The tortellini alfredo also had pine nuts, sun-dried tomatoes, artichokes, roasted garlic, and fresh bratwurst in it.  Then I made heart cheesecakes for dessert, which we actually had on Sunday since Stephen’s meal was so rich and filling.