Spring Weather

I don't know about you - but usually when I think of Spring weather I think of WARM weather with the sun shining....days when you want to be outside enjoying the warmth and forgetting about the cold, dreary days of Winter. But the more I really think about Spring - and the weather that comes along with it, like the wind, rain, sunshine, warmth, possible snow storm, clouds billowing across the sky, dark skys filled with rain, tornado watches; these too are all truely Spring weather. The saying does go April showers bring May flowers....

Yesterday -we had one of the most interesting of Spring Weather days - we had ALL of the above (minus the tornado watch). I took a few pictures of the sky....one minute it would be sunny, the next pouring down rain...we even had snow/sleet/ice stuff falling from time to time. It was just plain weird. But then again - I like to think of it as God doing some Spring cleaning....cleaning out the storehouses in heaven....letting bits and pieces of all the leftover precipitations fall to earth.

As I look on these pictures I see the immense beauty of God's creation. And I am thankful for yesterdays weather. For the rain, for the sun, even for the blustery cold wind....for I know that the warm Spring days I hope for will come - and after them the hot, humid days of Summer, followed by the cooler, brisk days of Fall with the changing of the colors in the trees, and then the quiet, cold snowfalls of Winter. It all just depends on how you look at it, what perspective you are taking. I want to be content in the here and now. Whatever weather the Lord sends down on me. I'm thankful that He is in control - and brings each type of weather, for there is beauty in each season....and in each season of life as well.
Dark clouds loom to the North, while the sun is still shining in the South.


About an hour later....Sun has peaked out again toward the North....and heavy rain falls to the Southeast.
While the sun peaks out again in the Southwest.

The Happy Hollisters

Jeremy recently purchased (off of e-bay) a whole bunch of Happy Hollister books by Jerry West. He remembers reading these books as a kid and wanted to share them with our kids. So now (we've done this for about 3 weeks) each night before bed all the kids (and mommy and daddy) pile on our bed and listen to one chapter from a Happy Hollister book. The kids are loving it....even Silas, but he more likes to play around on the bed. So actually most nights Silas ends up in his own bed before we even start....hopefully one of these days he too will settle down and listen. But for now the older 3 are enjoying this family time....and the stories themselves. The Happy Hollisters are a family with 5 kids and they solve mysteries. We are on our second book - which just happens to be titled The Happy Hollisters and the Cuckoo Clock Mystery. The Hollisters are actually on a trip to Germany...(where else do you find the world's finest cuckoo clocks!)

The 4 Happy Van Essens - and the gang with daddy - and the book!

Laundry

Not sure why I felt like taking this picture - or now posting it - but I did. This is my CLEAN laundry -just not yet folded (at time of picture, obviously). Our guest bed is often laundry central. I had about 3-4 laundry baskets full of clean clothes that needed folding. So I dumped them all out on the bed and started attacking them piece by piece. Fortunately it only took about an hour to fold, 15 minutes to put all the clean and folded laundry away, and another hour or so to iron the clothes (not pictured) that were hanging over another chair in the same room. I wish I could say I'm finally all caught up.....but in a house with 2 adults and 4 kids, with a washer and dryer that take about 1 hour to do one load (each that is...one to wash and another one to dry)....I'll most likely be doing some sort of laundry from now till who knows when.....

Someone else out there can relate to this.....right???

Lacrosse

Shane has started playing Lacrosse in an after school activities program. This week I actually stayed to watch his practice and got a few pictures. The kids are learning the basics, how to handle the sticks, catch and pass the ball, etc.... Shane really enjoys it and I think it is good for him to learn the skills and participate in a team sport.
Doing some drills
Playing the game
Shane's good friend Tab (kid in red with hands extended in the air) is showing off his excitement after he scored a goal!

All sports have the chance for injury - here is Shane's wound from practice.....a SHOE mark imprinted on his arm.....ouch!

Silas, Silas, Silas

Silas is getting front and center stage on this post. I recently got out the clippers and gave Silas a haircut. As you can see in the photo he had some wild hair there for awhile! Cutting his hair wasn't as easy as I thought it would be. I should have waited until Jer got home because then we could have worked on it together - one to hold his head still and the other to cut. Instead I was trying to have Shaylee distract him while I trimmed....we got it done and in the end I don't think I did too bad of a job - however I sure prefer to take him to my sister! For a few days after every time I looked at him I would see a few long strands yet - so I'd get out the scissors and snip away a bit more. I think I finally have it looking pretty good now. Shane is up next!



Silas (being almost 2) has such a personality lately. He just makes me laugh so often. This morning I tried to capture a few of his silly/cute faces. It was fun just playing around with him. I even managed to get one of the two of us...he is such a sweetie (at least his mommy thinks so most of the time).




What We've Been Up To

We seem to have been very busy this week -just with normal stuff (school, errands, grocery shopping, coffee with friends, laundry, dishes, meal prep, homework and the list goes on....) We've had some nice weather this past week as well. It will start off cool in the mornings - but by afternoon it is really warm out with the sun shining!!!! Its amazing what the sun can do for your mood! The kids have enjoyed playing outside after school. Sydney has taken up rollerblading (and is getting quite good I might add). Shaylee would like to compete with her sister - but the rollerblades are a bit big on her yet. I'm glad for knee pads, helmets, and wrist guards when kids are learning how to stay up with wheels under their feet. Falls are common - but fortunately injuries are not! I'm sure hoping this nice weather sticks around now that it is officially SPRING - however I heard rummors of cold and even snow??? We shall wait and see.

In other news - we hosted an open house/going away party for our friends, The Thornes, last night. We had a wonderful time and a house FULL of people. The kids enjoyed time with many of their friends. We had nice weather and most of the time the kids were in the backyard playing soccer and tag and making quite a lot of noise! Everyone who arrived just followed the noise down the street to our house and figured they were at the right place! Fortunately we haven't heard any complaints from the neighbors. When it got dark the kids asked for flashlights and still stayed outside. I remember playing out in the dark as kids - it was so much fun - I'm glad our kids played well and had so much fun with their friends last night too! We adults enjoyed our time together as well. Food and fellowship go hand in hand. We will greatly miss the Thorne family. They are the resident experts here - and have been such a help to our family and other families here in Germany!

Today when I picked up Silas from the church nursery - the gal watching him said "he's got an arm on him...he can really throw." Last week the couple in the nursery said the same thing! First, I respond "he didn't throw any hard objects and hit anyone did he?" Of which they say "no" - thankfully!!! They are just so surprised as they hand him a ball -and instead of just tossing it oddly back to them, Silas throws it with full force and right on target back at them! He is definately going to be a pitcher or a quarterback someday! He is also quite the character lately. He has such facial expressions and quirky little movements that just make me laugh at him. He enjoys kicking balls as much as throwing them - and the one word he says on a regular basis is BALL! He also knows how to say BubBles (he learned that one after grandma brought bubbles with her when she was here). Now when he sits on the potty chair - he always asks for BubBles. Yes - we are starting the potty training - sort of. He knows when he's poopy and pats at his but. "Oooh Silas is stinky" the kids will all say - and then he knows its him! So off we go upstairs to change him. He knows too that his potty seat goes on the toilet and he will sit on it - I've only gotten him to actually pee on the potty once - but its a start. At least he thinks its neat and doesn't balk at it or run and hide! He is becoming more aware of when he pees in his diaper and will come and find me or pat at his diaper when he pees - so these are all good signs. He too LOVES to be outside -and will run and get his coat, and pat his head to say he needs his hat on. He will also SCREAM if everyone else gets to go outside and he doesn't! Or if Shane is playing with the soccer ball and won't let him have it!

Anyway -those are the updates from over here. Sorry I don't have any pictures - hopefully my readers will be okay with just my ramblings this post! I'll try and get some pictures of our "everyday" happenings this week.

Take care everyone! - Kimber

Happy Birthday Jer - A Night Out!

Saturday night (after a day of skiing) Jer and I went out to dinner with our friends Mark and Lisa Dickson (same family Jer went skiing with). The Dicksons have 2 teenage daughters (as well as 2 boys) and the girls watched all the kids so we adults could go out! We had a lovely dinner at the Die Kartoffel (THE POTATOE) in Ladenburg. This restaurant is known for its baked potatoes as well as for the hot stones you personally grill your steak on! The perfect way to cook it to your own liking! After we had eaten, while we were waiting for the waiter to bring us our bill - the waiter comes down with a flaming dessert! There were two sparklers stuck in it! Happy Birthday Jer!!!! The waiter must have heard us refering to Jer as the birthday guy and decided to treat Jer to a nice surprise! The dessert consisted of a fried potato pancake (would you expect anything less from a restaurant called "The Potatoe") with a peach slice topped with ice cream and whipped cream. It was an interesting combination - but hey, it was good and it was free!

Jer and Kimber enjoying a lovely dinner without the kids - with Mark and Lisa.

Jer and his sparkler dessert! Happy Birthday Jer - I love you!!! This is the Die Kartoffel sign - it was dark out - so hard to get a better picture unless I was zoomed in this close! Note the sign says 1683 - that is when the building the restaurant is located in was built - chances are they have been serving hot potatoes since then too!

Skiing in Feldberg

Jeremy and Shane (along with friends Mark and Kelan Dickson) headed to Feldberg on Saturday for one more day of skiing this season. So while I'm thinking of green grass and flowers - they were enjoying snow on the slopes.
Jer and Shane getting ready to go! Mark and Kelan
If you look closely at some of the pictures you can see glimpses of the Alps in the distance.

Shane and Kelan on the lift - Shane all ready to give it a go.

More pictures of Kelan, Mark and Shane (obviously, Jer was taking the pictures).

Looks like a long ways down......there he goes! Snowplow!!!!!!

Shane did have one major fall - but he got back up and continued to have a good day of skiing. He had fun playing with Kelan in the snow igloo too! Mark and Jer enjoyed themselves as well.

New Colors

I wanted to brighten up the blog a bit - so I changed the color sceme - hope you like it! I'm in the mood for SPRING! I was going to go WAY OUT - but tamed it down....wouldn't want to scare away my readers. These little guys are blooming in my backyard - so they were my inspiration!

Belated Birthday Party

Today we had a belated birthday party for Shane. He invited 4 friends over and let me tell you - they had ENERGY!!!! From the moment they walked in the door they were bouncing off the walls. They had a great time!!!! Fortunately I had organized a few party games and calmed the boys down long enough to get out the instructions. We played the kids' all time party favorite "lazer tag" as well as another favorite "costume party". Thankfully the sun was out today (after several days of rain) and the boys could go outside and let off some of their energy on playing soccer! Shane got a portable goal and soccer ball for his birthday - so all the more reason to go outside and try them out!

Lazer Tag


Costume Party - Rameez, Tab, Tynan, Alex, and Shane......and Backyard Soccer Match

Another highlight was the CAKE. I made a Batman cake which required BLACK frosting. Thankfully my mom brought over the black food coloring paste when they came in February. The frosting turned out great - and really black - it left its mark on the kids' mouths! I got some great pictures of the boys - they thought it was AWESOME! I suppose that is boys for you. I hope it doesn't stain their teeth/tongues permanently!




After all that cake and icecream - Shane opened his gifts - if you look closely you can see the kids' mouths are still a bit black!
The boys were having so much fun in the backyard they weren't really ready to leave - I'm glad they all had a fun time! Thanks for coming....now I'm going to take a rest!