Luke Henry

Well...here is the adorable reason I am so behind on this blog! Luke Henry was born on October 5th at 1:32pm. He was 7lbs 13 oz and 20 inches long. I was 37 weeks to the day, and my water broke (in bed!) around 3am. I jumped out of bed and into my bathroom and didn't get any water in the bed or on the floor! I hadn't moved that quick in months! I wasn't having any contractions yet, so I took a nice long shower. Once Jake heard me up and at 'em, he drug me to the hospital to get the show on the road! I got some pitocin through my IV and a few hours later - he arrived!

 

 Pink, snuggly and perfect!

 

 The kids were thrilled with him from day one!

 

 Play time.

 

 Nap time.

 

 Frankenstein's monster - scary!

 

 Sisterly love!

 

 Up, up and away!

 

 Sunday best.

 

  Every baby needs a hat with ear flaps!

 

 Turkey on the bum! Thanksgiving day.

 

 All in white for his blessing day.

 

Sneaking candy!

 

Merry Christmas!

Visiting Hamer, ID (twice)

The cabin is a big part of our Idaho vacation, but we always have fun at Granny and Pop's house - no cabin or lake needed!

 

Brock got filthy helping Jake clean the tubes used to shoot off the fireworks for the Hamer show. He is definitely a pyro jr.

 

Jake was making sure the show was ready to start, almost show time!

 

It was an amazing show - like every year!

 

Jenna found if she put her hood up, the fireworks weren't too loud, which made it much more fun! She was all snuggled up with Kaysha, Allie, and Kyla's friend Abby.

 

Look! Now my husband is famous!

Plenty of jumping time at Granny's.

 

I don't remember why we had a bunch of cousins with us, but they were so good while Jake and I ran errands in town at some of our "favorite only in Idaho" stores and shops! (in the very back left: Peyton, Jayson, Brock, Carson, Jenna, Allie)

Dog pile on Uncle Jake! Not sure why...but I would guess its because Jake told them they COULD NOT take him down.

 

So a few weeks after we returned home to Kansas, we got a phone call telling us Jake's grandfather Reese passed away. He lived a long great life and missed his wife who passed away 9 years ago. He was ready but we will miss him.

 

Jake and his cousins as pall bearers.

 

Jake helped Jenna place on rose on the casket.

 

 

 

The day after we got the news about Reese, we got another phone call telling us Jake grandmother, Maureen (on the other side of the family) passed away. She too was in her 90's and was ready to move on to the next life.  When Jake was still in school, Grandma Niederer asked him to promise her that he would play his violin at her funeral. So with the accompaniment of his sister Pam, niece Kyla and Aunt Becky on the piano, the promise was kept.

 

 They played "Amazing Grace" and it was beautiful.



   After the funerals, we had a bit more time at Granny and Pop's house to be with family.  

 

 So grateful for this crazy bunch of nuts I call family!



Family Cabin trip 2013

There is always fun to be had in Island Park, ID. Especially if you meet up with family and stay in a huge, gorgeous cabin!

We did some fishing...

 

 

 

 ...jet skiing...

...swimming and tubing in the lake...

 

 ...picture posing...

 ...treasure box making since Aunt Pam and Uncle Ryan designed a geocaching treasure hunt for the kids....

 ....relaxing in the hot tub with cousins...

 

 ...whoops...until Uncle Jake decides there are too many shananagains going on in the tub and makes everyone get out and get a talking to...

 ...more water fun on the banana boat (Brock, Jayson, Carson, Adam, Adam's hair)...

 

 ...monkey in the middle with Kristie's cool water ball which bounces on the water...

 

 ...Allie and Kaysha loved paddle boating...

...uh oh, crash and burn, but everyone wants another ride!

Since (Uncle) Matt finally had a summer when he was not recovering from some sort of surgery, he was ready to go tubing! As you can see, out dock was in a beautiful place. We loved the cabin this year (well, we do every year) and hopefully we can go again next summer!

Some Summertime Fun 2013

Well, gone are the days of my lengthy, wordy blog posts. Just a bunch of pictures with brief explanations will have to do, life gets so busy! But since its September I NEED to get our summer fun posted!

 

 

 Lots and lots of swimming! We have a great neighborhood pool, plus our friends have a new pool -complete with a slide! We got to go enjoy their backyard pool a few times and we loved it!

 Brock is now a "Bear" in Cub scouts. He had a blast at Day Camp and the weather was great!

Brock and Allie both went to a Wichita State Basketball camp. Lots of great coaching and making friends. They each got a Shocker basketball to keep - Allie was thrilled that hers is pink! Brock's camp was all day long and they served the kids a catered lunch. He is looking forward to next summer camp for sure!

 

 

 More fun in the hot Kansas sun!

 We enjoyed yummy (but way over priced) frozen yogurt with pretty much any toppings you can think of! Brock realized this summer that maaaaybe sour gummy worms and gum balls don't go with chocolate yogurt - I'm so proud!

 

Brock turned 9. *sniffle*

We found out Niederer baby 4 is a boy! So excited for this little stinker! I have been so sick since March. I'm now in month 8 and functioning a bit better, but this has been a hard pregnancy! But, most wonderful things require hard work, right?

 

I turned 31. (*double sniffle!*)

 

 Jenna um...used her imagination. Love this quirky little sweetheart!

 

 We taught the kids important life skills...like pool hustling. (This is actually at one of our favorite pizza joints in Wichita, its fun to play while your pizza bakes.)

 The girls have been busy making sure all of our baby stuff is in working order as we await our little guy coming this fall.

 

 Because we took a couple out of state trips and the weather here was pretty hot, we only made it to the zoo once. But it was fun.

 I let the kids feed the giraffes, we just happened to be walking by when the zoo keeper was passing out lettuce (well, for a "small" fee) but I thought we should seize the moment.

This silverback gorilla was being very active and pushing a barrel all around, it was pretty cool!

 The kids played in the inflatable ball - it takes forever to blow up, so when it was finally ready, i told them they had better play in for more than 5 minutes! They did. About 5 nights in a row I believe.

 Brock went to Kids College and built the champion racing Lego builder. If only he had had this much luck at pinewood derby! He and his friend were trilled to be the champs...even though the "special prize" they were promised was a Blow Pop. Oh well, he had fun and didn't really care. Allie's class was Ooey Gooey Science. I could never find her class for a photo...they changed rooms and went outside quite a bit. Jenna did Bubble Fun. They made all types of bubbles and made art projects with colored bubbles. Pretty fun stuff!