testing

I posted this long post with pics and it won't publish. Still working on it here....

A lot can happen in 4 months....

I hear you. The growing chorus of faithful readers who wonder out loud why I haven't posted in so long. I could give you a creative laundry list of reasons but alas, I just don't have the time. You see, we are still only working on one computer in our house. There are 6 of us who use this one computer. This means that updating the blog gets low priority. When I do get the chance, like now, I have a whining toddler hanging on me, messing with the printer, another child begging for paper, other kids who are supposed to be doing homework but I'm not upstairs to check to make sure it is happening - well you get the picture.
Anyway, here is a quick synopsis of the Weikel house in the last few months....
Feb
-Sarah had a wonderful teaparty birthday to celebrate turning 5 - very girly, very fun
-Ken and I got to spend a week in California for Chick-fil-A seminar in Long Beach and then explored the coast BY OURSELVES!!!!!
March
-Finally had a big snow and dug out of 10 inches of wet white stuff
April
-Visited family for a few days in VA Beach
-Celebrated Easter - He is risen indeed!!!
-Anna turned 8 and celebrated with a bunch of her friends seeing the Hannah Montana movie - not a bad movie
-Got 2 new critters - very cute bunnies named Sparkles and Rainbow
-Ken suprised me (he tried reallllly hard!) with a birthday party for my (gulp) 40th birthday. It was a wonderful evening surrounded by lots of friends
May
-Nathan is 14!! Yikes-when did than happen?
-They opened our pool today - for real?! It is pouring down rain and 56 degrees. Hard to believe that the kids only have 3.5 weeks of school left.
-Ken is leaving for Kenya Saturday - keep you posted on his big trip next week (at least I'm going to try!)
-Caleb has some major dental work next Thursday - he'll be under for about 2 hours - prayers would be appreciated.

Caleb is now on a growth chart - 10th percentile for height and 3rd percentile for weight. I hope to do a separate post on our miracle kid (you know, the one who is whining and pulling on me and acting like a 3 year old....)

In between all those big events are lots of everyday smiles, tears, tantrums and God moments. He has blessed us with this crazy life - most nights we fall into bed exhausted. But as nuts as it all is we are blessed beyond measure and I'm humbled by God's mercy and faithfulness through it all!

Would love to post more but I've hit my limit of whining and hanging (and drumming!).
Hope to post more soon....

It's a Guy Thing!

Have I mentioned that Caleb is obsessed with vehicles? Here he is driving a "train" with Sarah and playing crash derby with Anna. He is always making a car noise!

Happy New Year!

Still dealing with computer issues - the reality is that my laptop is dying. Which means we really have one working computer for 6 users. And it is in the basement. And I rarely go to the basement. Enough explanation for my dull and dry blog....
Here are a few pics from Christmas. The kids actually held out until 7am!! and were wonderfully cooperative and appreciative all day. We had a relaxing day and celebrated with a Happy Birthday Jesus carrot cake ;)
Since then I have been trying to take advantage of having a dumpster in the driveway and have been sortin and pitchin. I know that sounds soooo redneck but at least we aren't dumpster diving!
Everyone headed back to school today and although 6:15 was awfully early this morning, it is nice to back into the schedule. We've been struggling through nasty colds but looks like most of us are on the mend. So we are ready to start our new year, looking forward to what God has in store for us!

Tis the Season

Sorry for the randomness of this post but we've continued to have computer issues so I'm just getting these photos out there the best I can. (yes I know the picture of Lucy and Sarah is sideways but it isn't on my computer and no matter what I do, blogger keeps turning it on its side - it is cute anyways :) ) We're done with all the organized activities of the season and are settling in to enjoy the last few days of getting ready for Jesus' birthday. We have had family photos taken but Christmas cards aren't back yet - they'll have to be Happy New Year cards. I did put up a new family photo on the side from when we got our Christmas tree - not bad for a guy who couldn't figure out how to work my camera :)
Praying that all of you can enjoy the holiday with family and friends and celebrate the birth of the Messiah!!

The saga continues....

I've decided that I so could not be Amish this week (ok, I really wasn't considering it). We have been down still with the computer and after 2 service calls in 3 days we only have the lapttop up and running (and it is hard wired to the modem downstairs). 83 emails later, no online Christmas shopping - you get the idea. We celebrated Sarah's 4th Gotcha Day on Saturday, had our very last visit from the social worker yesterday and the kids had their Christmas music Sunday night. We did get our Christmas tree but it is naked in the family room. If I can get all my laundry done, I'll post some pictures this afternoon. Hopefully I can get it done before something else on the computer breaks!

The Magical Touch

I probably should have named this posted "The Evil Touch" or "You Really Don't Want us to Touch Your Stuff". We have had one thing after another break, stop working or need to be replaced in the last few weeks. The computer router AND modem are included in that list. We (Ken) is working to get us up and running in his free time (hahahaha) so pictures of Thanksgiving and Jacob's party and our new addition will have to wait some more.
We are alive and had a great week in VA Beach with Ken's family and are now looking at the Christmas rush head on. While I have done NO Christmas shopping, I'm bound and determined not to let this season go crazy on me. The girls helped me decorate the house yesterday which only took an hour because of a rare spot of genius on my part. Last year when I took the Christmas decorations down, I put them in bins by room. So this year I just took the bin to the appropriate room and presto - the kids could help easier and I didn't waste time remembering where I usually put everything.
Our addition above the garage is going well (yes, we are in the middle of yet another big project/trip at Christmas.....) and we hope to have it done by January. The extra space will be nice but the boys having their own rooms will be the best bonus of all.
We have Christmas pictures scheduled soon so hopefully we'll actually get those out this year, even if they are Happy New Year cards:)