Kaden's First pictures.

Kaden has been loving to take pictures with our digital camera...and while we were in North Carolina, he dropped it...To make a long story short, Matt was able to fix it, but...we decided to get him his own camera for Christmas, and it's been a bit hit. Here are 3 pictures he took on Christmas Day that he wanted to put on the blog. This is "Moppy" and Kaycee. Maybe he should have his own blog? We'll see. :)

This is "Moppy" being a good sport and posing for a quick shot.

This is mommy in the kitchen, where obviously there is a lot of "natural" light. :)

the birth of Jesus...

In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. 2 (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria). 3And everyone went to his own town to register.

4So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. 5He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. 6While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

8And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. 12This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger." 13Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, 14"Glory to God in the highest, and on Earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."

15When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about."

16So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. 17When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told to them about this child, 18and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. 19But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. 20The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.
Luke 2: 1-20.

This story has been so much more precious to me since I have birthed children of my own...We hope you were reminded this season how special life is, and how treasured you are. We hope you had a Blessed Christmas this day. May your new year be filled with Joy you cannot quite imagine! We had a relaxing day here at home, where both Matt's and my parents joined us for parts of the day. We are so thankful for each other, the four healthy, and beautiful children we have, and of course friends and family who add more spice to our daily lives! We hope and pray for another year full of love, joy, peace, happiness, good health and prosperity.
Love, Mis.

Just some shots.

One of Matt's cousins got married on the 21st. A beautiful wedding (which I have no pictures of, since Calli was along)...but did manage to get a few shots of us at the table. :) when Calli was sleeping.

Matt's brother Mark, and his girlfriend, Jamie...

And Matt's parents, Aldie and Judy...

Cousins.

We had such a special day today. My sister-in-law Naomi (married to my brother Matt), and her sister Nedra came over for a visit. Matt and Naomi are up from North Carolina, and Ian and Nedra are in from Missouri for the holidays, so it was very much fun hanging out with them catching up. I think the 14 kids between the 3 of us had a blast! What a riot...we ended the afternoon with some rich hot chocolate, that made some great looking mustaches! Looking forward to celebrating Christmas with the rest of our cousins on Monday, the 22nd!

Kaden (5), Ezra (9), Noah (7), and Judah (11)...

Zi0n (5), and Kaycee (3).

Camera chaos...

Kaden (5) poses with his 8 week old sister, Calli. Although he was hoping for a brother, Kaden has come to love his newest sister! Mommy is so thankful for that. :)

Kaycee (will be 4 in just 2 weeks), says her favorite thing to do with Calli is to hold her and burp her. Her other favorite things to do are: singing, and doing "her own hair", which can be a real stretch for mommy to take her out in public sometimes...the things you do to grow independence. :)

Kaden loves taking pictures, so here he is trying out his skills, not TOO bad. My favorite things to do with Calli right now are: too just snuggle and nurse her, and to talk to her...she talks right back and smiles...melts my heart. I continue to favor the newborn stage, when you can do nothing wrong in their eyes, all they need is you, and...they can't talk back yet. :)

One of our favorite things to do is wrestle with daddy. We took a time out to smile...well, except for Campbell that is. She is the one with the sparky, sassy attitude in this family. Not sure yet how we are doing "reigning" that in. :)

Kaden taking another shot.

and yet another...Mommy with Calli at 8 wks old. She is 11 lbs. 11oz. already.

and this was mommy trying to get a good shot Sunday morning before church. Kaycee gets to be a flower girl in Matt's cousin, Emiley's wedding, in April...so, we were trying out hair options...

and Campbell is so hard to get a good picture of...I guess it's a stage... :)

We're Sad.

Well...not only are we sad that daddy flew out early this morning, for Kansas, to hunt... Freddy, our dog, got hit by a car this afternoon in the driveway. Kaden and Kaycee and I got to say good-bye to him with Uncle Mark. Kaycee said, "bye Freddy", and petted his head. Kaden petted his head and cried, and Uncle Mark and I stood by with tears in our eyes too. :( Please pray for me to know the right thing to say, especially since Matt is not here. :( Kaden is very, very sad...He loved Freddy! So, we pray that Jesus would comfort Kaden, and we can remember the fun times we had with Freddy, and will overlook all the holes he dug, and shoes he chewed up, and people he jumped up on, and cars he chased... :) Mis.

Watercolors.

So, today I gave the kids the option of taking a walk, riding bike outside, or painting...thinking they would obviously choose to be outside, which is normally what they choose...well, not today. Bummer. So, we stayed inside and painted with watercolors. Turned out to be a fun time, just a little more messy than I was hoping. Oh well. :) Maybe I won mom of the year today!

You can see some of Kaden's work all around him.

Campbell was very into it...

Check out Campbell's masterpiece...

Kaden concentrating...

To much for Calli to take in, so she just "checked out". :)

A friend asked how a busy mother of four has time to check out blogs, and make updates etc. So, incase you are also wondering, I am finding having 4 young kids is extremely overwhelming at times, but I try to take it all in stride. What fun is life, if I am always cleaning, washing, cooking, etc. So... this is my fun attempt at keeping my sanity. :) and the only way I keep in touch with a lot of my friends right now, is thru e-mail and blogging, as sorry as that sounds. Take care. M.

For that I am thankful...

I am a wife, I am a mother, I am a sister, daughter, and friend, and my heart is thankful. My heart is glad...

I am thankful for...my husband, the beach, Godly parents, good health, kaden, music, sunshine, Jesus, kaycee, books, desserts, campbell, christmas, friends, my house, a provider, calli, chickens, a wonderful moppy and poppy, who are always willing to take our kids-even at the last minute, a sister, candy bars, pictures, coke, toys, brothers, pretzels, comfy blankets, tulips, summer, memories, healthy children, computers, mashed potatoes, jeans, emotions, grandparents, God's greatest sacrifice, heat, nieces, a happy heart, grocery stores, movies, clean cold water with ice cubes, springtime, new life-especially new human life, e-mail, apple juice, treadmills, sleeping in, comfy pants, smiles, nephews, tractors, strawberries, blush, eyeliner, and mascara, telephones, the abililty to worship, freedom, childbirth, a bed, small group, love, pastors, a hot bath...

I celebrate Thanksgiving because my life overflows with things to be thankful for, and because God gave me the eyes to see how incredibly blessed I am. My list is simply insufficient, but it's what I came up with in the few minutes I had to create it. I hope your family has been blessed this Thanksgiving, and although our country is going through hard times (although you would not have known it looking at the line inside toys-r-us this morning at 5 am), may you experience God's overwhelming sense of love for you, his sufficiency to provide for us, if we just trust him...looking forward to celebrating Christ's birth with all of you this Christmas Season...Bring on the snow! Mis.

Calli is 6 weeks old already...

Yep...Calli is 6 weeks old already. Where does the time really go anyway? My days are very, very busy trying to be a good wife and mom mostly. My friendships are lacking a bit, for that I am sorry. I am finding that 4 children is quite a bit more "busy" then just 3. I question why sometimes, and haven't really come up with a good answer. I continue to run around a bit, with kids in tow, which helps me to realize what patience and a soft voice looks like. :) Matt asks me what I get done in a day, and sometimes I really have nothing to say...lots of diaper changes, plenty of cleaning up toys, and unloading and loading dishwashers, washers, and dryers, lots and lots of nursing, and burping, and of course cooking, and on some days even some cleaning and vacuming. (Some days). :) I really do love my life, and try to treasure this chaos. I know that our days are numbered and I was given this family for a great, great reason. My kids will not always be little, and I am learning it's okay to sit down and color, or "play mommy" or even play tackle football in the house. :)

And back to Calli...she is a very content baby. :) She is smiling now, and loves to be talked too. She is cooing, and making some fun sounds. She is nursing and growing well, and spits up a good bit too (as her big brother Kaden did when he was a baby too). She is sleeping anywhere from 6-8 hours a night, which is a super big treasure to me. :) I am thankful for her life...Mis.

We didn't Win!

Hey guys. Just wanted to thank everyone who took the time out of their days to vote for our bathroom...Unfortunately for us, we didn't win. Disappointed, but happy for those lucky people who did. I must say their bathroom was "uglier" than ours. We'll just wait a bit longer, or what's borrowing a "little" more money at this point, right? :) Thanks again. Have a great week, and lots of fun preparing for the Holidays. Love, Mis.

Fall time Fun.

Okay...so Campbell was ready for a nap, but the others were very happy. Just returned from a few days at the King Cabin. A fun family get away. I am trying to crawl out from under a ton of laundry, and decorate for Christmas...my absolute favorite time of year. (Hey Ang...Want to come get some laundry now? I am just kidding, of course)!!!

Kaden- 5, Kaycee- almost 4, Campbell- 20 m, and Calli- 5 wks.

Kaden had his last soccer game on Sat. He loves to be a forward, and scored a few goals this season. He really likes being the goalie, and has proven to be good at keeping the ball out...He is already looking forward to next season! Here he is showing off the metal that he got.

Last Sat. we hosted The King Fall Birthday Celebration, and borrowed the "Barrel Ride" from our neighbors, Jeff and Rhonda, for the kids to ride around in. They had a blast! Campbell had so much fun being a big kid at 20 months old. And most exciting news of all, is she's deciding to potty train herself. Yikes! One of Campbell's favorite things to do right now is play dolly, and burp her baby, and change her diapers.

Kaycee continues to be a big help with Calli. She loves to hold and burp her, and is proving to be a little mommy to Campbell as well, if I can't get there fast enough. :) She really loves playing dolly with Campbell, and it's quite cute...I hear her talking to her babies just like I talk to Calli. So funny!

Kaden is getting spoiled spending lots of time with Daddy lately. He loves farming with dad, and would love to be a farmer when he grows up. He loves his 3 mornings a week at preschool, and has made a trio of guy friends there. He also loves being a big brother to 3 sisters... despite what he tells you. :)

Getting ready to take off on the barrel ride.


And, just a tidbit of video taking off on their wild adventure. Poppy and Uncle Mark were also driving the barrels some of the evening, but we didn't get any photos of them. :(

Cupcakes.

So...we are hosting the King Family "Fall Birthday Celebration" today...and part of our job was to make some cupcakes. We had a fun time, mixing and baking, and best of all decorating. Check out our fine work! :) Campbell getting a little help from Kaden, dumping veggie oil in "the mix".

Kaden and Kaycee did a great job cracking the eggs...only one little piece of shell we had to pick out...that's pretty impressive, eigh?

Did you know that my kids are really shy...and don't like the camera at all? :)

Licking the beaters...we had to have one for everyone...Well...Calli, sacked out at 3 wks. old, didn't care much.

By far, the decorating was the best part...Don't they look YUMMY? :)

Apples Anyone?

So...I gave my kids each a muffin...buying some time for me to go outside and clean up some toys from an afternoon of outside play with their cousin...and hold off dinner until Matt got in from the chicken houses...so we could see him before his "next" appointment...might have been gone 5 minutes, 7 minutes tops, and came in to find my 19 month old Campbell, sitting ON TOP of her high chair tray, with 7 apples sitting in front of her, each with a few bites out of them. Granted she does LOVE apples, and she has an ear infection, so how hard could I be on her? And, I, afterall am the one who didn't strap her in, just figuring the muffin would be all I needed...Boy was I wrong. Came in to see Kaden on the floor talking sweetly to Calli, and Kaycee upstairs playing "dolly" completely oblivious to anything that was going on, and Campbell eating some good apples.

So, we all grabbed an apple, and started munching...and took the opportunity for a photo shoot. :) Life is too short not to take full advantage of this funny moment...(just as long as it doesn't happen again anytime soon).

And, I couldn't leave Calli out...Calli at 9 days old with Kaden loving her.

More JOY!

Kaycee and Calli posing for a quick shot with Auntie Meg...

Me...looking a bit tired?...posing with my cute kids...Kaden (5), Kaycee (3 1/2), Campbell (19 months), and Calli (4 days old)...This has all been a bit chaotic, but today was a much better day...I was feeling a lot better and much more like myself. Look at all my BLESSINGS...We're just missing daddy here. :)
My uncle Galen and Aunt Deborah, from California, just happened to be in town...they don't usually get a glimpse of my babies until they are a bit more grown. How special they could visit Calli.

Kaycee spending time singing to her little sister.

Meet our new sister!

The kids returned home last evening, and we had time to fit in a quick photo shoot. They are loving every minute of her, and love to hold her and give her kisses...we'll see how long that lasts. :) She is such a content baby, I hope that continues too. :)

She's Here...

We wanted to share our precious angel with you. We welcomed Calli Ann into the world this morning at 10:34 a.m. She weighed in at 9 lbs. 3.5 oz. and was 21 inches long. My labor was short and sweet, even though it was 11 days off the mark. :) She really does not look to be overdue at all. Thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers. We are so thankful and excited she is here, and can't wait for you to catch a glimpse.