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By Mike, March 27, 2012

5 years old, and still very much our princess. There’s nothing she would rather do these days than get dressed up in a beautiful dress, put on make-up, get her hair done, and have a fabulous time. The only place appropriate to have a party so fabulous was The Swan House in Findlay – girls only, of course. By all accounts they had a fabulous time. Audrey was kind enough to save some cake and treats to bring back for the guys.

It’s hard to believe she’ll be starting Kindergarten this fall….

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By Mike, March 25, 2012

A cat has been hanging around the house over the last week or so, and Ellie is convinced it is ours now. We’ll see if it hangs around. It’s a black cat, so they named it BlackO – I guess that makes sense! Annie is not amused, and wants to get out to chase that darn thing away.

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By Mike, March 13, 2012

Audrey looks perfect in a photo even when she’s under the weather, eating chicken noodle soup and a banana for dinner…

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By Mike, March 4, 2012

The kids wasted no time getting outside earlier this week when the weather warmed up for the day. They are so ready for spring to arrive! (And so are Mom and Dad – some quiet time in the house wouldn’t be terrible.) Clark continues to become a monkey/boy hybrid and after a few minutes of relative quiet I hear Audrey scolding him for climbing the tree – and of course I go out and find him near the top, unable to get down. It should be an interesting summer….

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By Mike, January 22, 2012

It’s been quite the mild winter, but the big snow yesterday and subsequent slight warm up today made for the perfect snow man building weather. The kids and I went out for a while and it was almost too easy to roll – they got a little big on us! All in all we made three snowmen and one snow caterpillar (Dad got a little too tired to keep lifting these things up!). Fun times!

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By Mike, January 7, 2012

Ellie never ceases to amaze us with her artistic talent. She wanted to paint a page from the Eric Carle book “Papa, Please Get the Moon for Me” since they’ll be going to see a play inspired from his books soon. Beautiful!

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By Mike, January 2, 2012

More than our special teams were today. Here’s hoping for a better Buckeye season next year!

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By Mike, January 1, 2012

We finished up the Christmas season yesterday in Defiance with the Froelich Family, then rung in the new year at two parties. First the Koch’s and then at our house where Grandpa and Grandma Keehn, Randy, Chrissy, Gabe, and Sam joined us to stay up until the ball dropped. All the kids made it all the way to midnight. Even more surprising, so did Grandpa.

Needless to say, the kids were very tired today. We spent the morning relaxing, the afternoon taking down decorations, and the evening exercising together up at school. At bedtime after reading to Clark I went in to say goodnight to the girls. Ellie and I talked about tomorrow being the last day of Christmas vacation and said she would miss me. She is also hoping tomorrow lasts for a really, really long time. I couldn’t agree more.

I then leaned down to say goodnight to Audrey, who was very intensely coloring in a little notebook. I rested my head on her shoulder and watched for a moment. Then without stopping, she told me very frankly, “I have no time for cuddling.” I gave her a surprised chuckle, and then she just started giggling and didn’t stop until she got the hiccups. I definitely wish there was a little more Christmas break left.

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By Mike, January 1, 2012

Happy New Year to anyone reading and keeping up with our family. One of my resolutions for this year is a lot more focus on adding thoughts here whenever I can. The original intent was to have a little journal of things going on in our lives. I’ve been hitting the big ones most of the time (though very slowly lately) but I’d like to capture a little more of the every day, the funny things the kids say, and anything else that comes to mind. Hopefully you’ll enjoy!

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By Mike, December 26, 2011

Without a doubt, every Christmas in our house seems to be better than the last. The kids were buzzing with excitement since the morning after Halloween. (The food and football of Thanksgiving don’t excite them as much as it does me.) Ellie started counting the days on her calendar and they all started making lists shortly after.

It’s been a fun year. Ellie finished Kindergarten and started first grade. Audrey is enjoying another year at Joni’s before she starts school next year. And Clark made that big leap as a two year old – giving us all we can handle, and more! Everyone was definitely on the nice list this year.

While they were ready after Halloween, everything really got ramped up after Thanksgiving. The day after we made our annual trip to Kalidascope farms to pick out the tree. It was actually a really nice day, if a little windy. We picked one pretty quickly and were eating cookies and sipping on cider in no time.

We tried our hand at taking the Christmas photos on our own this year, which I think turned out pretty well. We have to work on our studio set up for next year, but the kids cooperated wonderfully!

We made our way to Dayton a few weeks ahead of Christmas for what has become one of our favorite traditions, the lights at Clifton Mill with Grandpa and Grandma Keehn. The tradition seems to also include extreme cold. On what was really one of the mildest winters that we can remember, it was FREEZING. The kids were troopers, though, and had a great time. A dinner at Bob Evans afterward warmed us up!

Before we knew it Christmas Eve was here. The kids, knowing Santa was coming soon, were extra good in Church and then we went to Grandma and Grandpa Verhoff’s for dinner and a few presents. They posed for a few great pictures before we heard something outside – SANTA!!! The kids absolutely flipped out when they saw him – screaming, laughing, and Trent was so excited he ran and hid! There was no doubt he was coming, and that we were going to have kids who went right to bed.

Christmas morning brought presents, presents, and more presents. (And coffee cake!) The kids were so excited, appreciative, and thankful for everything. Among the presents were a Nintendo 3DS for Ellie, a vanity for Audrey, and a train set for Clark. We couldn’t have asked for a better Christmas to ring out the year!