This Goes with post below

yes, coffee grounds too. He's truly unstoppable. He pulls that chair over to the counter and you better watch out!

Daniel Boy

His new obsession is books. Loves to sit and read or come and plop down in your lap while handing you a book. He still can't talk much, but always tries to communicate with many different inflections in his tone. He is super sweet and cuddles all the time!

and... this is his other obsession: stealing food out of the fridge and just going for it. It really doesn't matter what it is. If it is a veggie or fruit and he can sink his teeth in, then you can bet he's eating it whole... stem too. :(

He's eaten a whole pear, a whole apple, part of an orange rind and some banana peel. Really...

I don't know if this makes me a bad mom or what. But I've got to stay on my toes with this little one!

Climbing, climbing and more climbing!

Brush teeth.... Daniel really gets into this time and will throw a fit if he isn't allowed to go in the bathroom with them.

Who's says a little guy can't have girlfriends over for lunch? Memories we will cherish forever!

Outside my window

New Year's

Kim and her family were able to come visit us for New Year's celebrations this year.

Here are those cuties with their Robby Bubbly drink :) They were pretty cute!

Me and my sis :)

Daniel turned 1 year old!

Well, the little stinker turned 1 on December 17th. He was actually in Venice, Italy on his bday. What a nice present right? We celebrated after we arrived home the next day. What to put on his birthday cake, I asked? Well, if you've been in Venice for the special day why not have a boat to remember that special time.

He's a handful for sure! Always getting into the wipes and pulling them out :)

We did have a little party with friends later on. Here is his sweetie Sophie. They have a love/hate relationship :)

So, now I have a big 1 year old tromping around the house thinking he is big stuff!

Christmas time!!!

It's so pretty!

Thomas' mom, Bonnie, is with us for the holidays and we're having a great time!

Enjoying some hot drinks at the market.

Ian is in a stage where he refuses to smile for pictures. I'm going to remind him of this at his wedding rehearsal dinner someday.

or just show this one where he is acting crazy!

little Daniel

I will have to do a birthday post soon. He'll be 1 year old this weekend! How good God has been in preserving his life and giving us a year with him. We take things for granted don't we?

I'm so thankful for all my boys and the years God has granted them. Praise the Lord!

Merry Christmas!

i want to say

that I've been trying to upload different videos for about 2 weeks now and they won't load. So I have tried to update this blog... but it's not happening the way I wanted.

so there... I feel better saying that now.

Thanksgiving pic

well, this picture was taken after lots of Turkey had been consumed :) But nevertheless, here we are at school celebrating a traditional meal with some of our high school Seniors. There are many international kids in this class and many had never had a traditional Thanksgiving meal. So along with some other sponsors, we cooked up some Turkey and fixins' and introduced the 'fullness' of Thanksgiving :)

It was fun and you can definitely tell our family is tired from all that eating!

A little Austrian music for you :)

We FINALLY went on a Alpine hiking trip: It only took us 6 years to do it!

Well, here we are in the Austrian Alps. We had an amazing time on our trip during our fall break from school. God provided in a huge way for us to go and finally enjoy the alps in the country we've lived in for so long. We are truly grateful for this experience and will never forget it!

Enjoy the following posts of more pictures from our adventure.

Ponies that a man owns on the mountain! He drove up while we were passing by and asked the older ones to help him catch them with the extra harnesses he'd brought

Beautiful forests!

Suspension bridges throughout the hike and

Thomas is in the middle there with Daniel in the backpack.

Schladming, Austria = Beautiful Alps!

Daniel did great in the backpack!

Taking a break with some hot chocolate at a small hut on the trail

Medieval Festival

We went to a medieval festival in Eggenburg, Austria last month. It was fun and we even dressed up this time. I got in for cheaper because of my makeshift outfit. Yes, that's a cloth diaper on my head ;) The boys had swords tucked into their belts with Daddy's shirts on.

It is such fun to dress up and become part of an era long past. Good food and drink, some cross bow fun for the boys and a new set of arrows for Thad's bow back home. Ian even got a new dagger.

We're thankful for these unique experiences and love that our boys get to see "real" knights and their massive swords.

The Ebb and Flow of Life

Sometimes I think we have nothing to post about and sometimes we have too much going on to take a moment to post about that. I'm sure you've noticed, as a sweet friend pointed out, we've yet to update in 3 months. Has nothing happened? Or too much going on?

I always want life to be predictable. You know, same schedule and same expectations each day. I thrive in an organized environment. Planned meetings with friends are right up my alley. I love orderly closets full of clean smelling clothes, squeaky clean kitchen counters and when I've been efficient in my tasks, you can probably hear my contented sighs as the day ends.

BUT... life is not always organized, scheduled, efficient or clean. It's often spur of the moment, messy and sometimes wearisome, discouraging and hurtful.

Is God in control of all of those moments? Even the ones that bring nothing but pain? Does His grace reign down on me when I'm whistling while I work and the times when I'm struggling to get out of bed?

You see, I want to be the perfect blogger always filling everybody in on our life. Showing my new recipes, crafts and family photos sounds so fun to me. I also have blog envy where I salivate over the nifty, savvy mom's blogs out there. But I must stop and realize that there is a time for everything. The ebb and flow of this blog, I believe, is a testimony to the ups and downs of our life.

Walking back through our posts, I can see the times where life was rolling along and there were good, energetic days for us. Then you can tell when a new baby comes or sickness rolls in, the blog kinda remains stagnant. The same post up there forever!

I guess what I'm trying to say is: I'm learning that God has appointed this day for me. Whatever happens in it, messy or clean, His grace is still there poured out over me. He has no expectations of me.... He knows I'm imperfect. There is a time for all kinds of things and all of those things cannot happen at the same time. I can be at a place in life where I am on top of all the daily activities and smiling. Or I can be at a place in life where I'm hurting or so unbelievably tired that nothing gets accomplished.

I like our blog. It shows our life. In the long interludes between posts, you can just assume life is too busy to stop and blog. You can picture spilled milk, a whining baby, runny noses and chicken nuggets for dinner three nights in a row.

But most of all you can pray that whatever kind of season it is for us, that we would soak up God's grace and keep running forward to finish this race, our race on earth. That our hearts would overflow with thankfulness and He would be glorified.

What is the ebb and flow of your life? Do you cling to Him in every season? Blogging or non-blogging seasons? :)