A snow day in January

Frosty didn’t make it long. It warmed up to over 40 degrees that day. He was dripping by the time we had pictures with him. It was great family fun and the hot chocolate after was also a big hit!

Tough being 2

Abigail cracks me up. She has no problem showing how she REALLY feels about the situation!

With a little BRIBING we finally got her to pretend that everything was going to be ok.

Finding out the gender of baby #4

Well if anyone reads this blog and doesn’t have facebook or other means of keeping in contact with us it could come as a surprise that we are even expecting another baby. The news hasn’t made it on the blog. I am due February 23rd and have about 10 weeks to go. We are all excited to welcome a new baby to the family. 

Back in October we found out it would be a little man joining the family. I wanted to be selfish and keep it a surprise. Everyone else in the family really thought we needed to know if it was a brother or sister. Also the girls started calling him little Will right away and Eli really wanted to call him Little Bill so, I thought if it was a little girl we might need to start figuring out a new name.

We couldn’t take the kids with us to the ultrasound appointment so we decided to do things a little different this time. When we went in for the ultrasound we just asked them to write it down in a card and seal it up. Luke wasn’t sure I would follow through with not having them tell me. He kept wanting to look at the card. But, it was fun keeping the surprise until later that night when we were with the kids. Micali was sure she should be the first to know so we let her read the card. She looked at the card looked at us and spelled B-O-Y! Then said I knew it was a boy. 

Eli is so excited he will finally have a little brother to share a room with. He loves that the cradle is in his room waiting for the arrival and often fills it with toys so the baby will have something to play with when he comes home.

75* in sunny Bay City

Holding the kittens after a nice bike ride on the little bench that we refinished for the little ones. What a beautiful fall day!

Planting time

We took some time this week to plant bulbs of hyacinth and crocus so our bees have some early bloomers next year.

Our dog marley

Marley's birthday is today. He is two now so we are holding out that his mellowing years are beginning. From the pictures you can see his favorite treat...apples from our trees. He will sit under the tree and bark at apples he wants down (though the tree doesn't listen). I believe he read Animal Farm and wants to be on the ruling side. Why else would a dog eat apples?
Happy birthday Marley!

Let them be little...

Little Abigail had an ear infection last week and ended up spending a couple nights in our bed. Tonight she wanted to join us again. I snapped this picture before putting her back in her own bed.

Story time with Grandpa Peless

While daddy had some meetings at the stake center, mommy and the little ones hung out with grandma. But this picture was snapped when grandpa came back an all three kids asked him to tell them a story. They love the stories he makes up for them.

We’re from the country…

This beautiful piece of equipment came with our house and up until yesterday the wagon had flat tires. Once we realized all they needed was air, it was a quick fix and the kids were super entertained while riding around. Luke kept singing……. chugaluga lug 5 miles an hour, on my international harvester.

The amazing part about this is that between getting home from work and going to the church on Wednesday he only has about an hour of “down” time and he figures out how to use that time the best with the kiddos. They are always so excited to spend time with him when he is home.

I am sure there will be a lot more rides around in the evening before the snow flies.

Little girls at breakfast

Here's our two princesses eating their oatmeal cereal with daddy before he's off to work.

They hate missing him by sleeping in.