Families photo shoot

Aunt Kathryn so nicely provided all the kids with plaid shirts, so Susan and I decided it would be the perfect opportunity to do a 'stairstep' photo shoot with all the cousins for the first time in, oh, five years or so. 

First, a picture on the literal stair steps.

 Then outside into the beautiful winter wonderland that we had on Boxing Day!

Oops, man girl down!

One big happy family cohabiting our Coleman Commune

And, for fun, the last time I did a cousin stairstep picture!  March 2012

And the time before that, June 2011

Leah's Tongue

I mentioned a couple days ago that we love Leah's tongue.  Truly, it's swell!  Here's why, so you can love it too :)  (This is from the beginning of May, it's not as fun now.)

Click on the video below to watch it in action.

April 2016

Some of the things we did and random pictures from April.

My biggest kid loving my littlest kid ... so crazy to think they're both mine, sometimes -- when did Nathan get too long to fit on that couch?!

Always a bookworm :)

Birthday celebration for Grampa and Matthew

Grandkids and Great Grandkids

Great Grandkids

Grandsons

Visiting Fort Langley with Matthew

Abbotsford rock & gem show with Thomas

Learning how to gold pan from an expert

Helping carve a soapstone bear

Fort Langley again

We love Leah's tongue! (video to come soon that shows it off well)

We go to visit old friends for an afternoon and had a great time!  Lambs for the girls to feed, and (not pictured) Nathan went chicken egg gathering.

Dressing up girl-style ...

and boy style!

The whole crew in age order

Leah turned six months old

She could sit up by herself ... 

but not confidently!

The kids' last circus class for the year.  That's Nathan at the top.

Nathan and Kate in hoops

Anna

Leah's First Big Girl Bath

Leah's first 'real' (as in, first sitting-up bath in the tub) bath was yesterday.

God made naked babies so cute!

Kate's 8th birthday

Our beautiful Katelyn Grace is growing up!

She turned 8 last week

She made and decorated the cake herself, with a bit of help from Aunt Michelle.  

And she hid her name in there, can you find it?

(side note: the white candle in the foreground of the picture was hand dipped by Nathan!)

Uncle Joshua and Aunt Michelle were the guests of honor.

The requested menu was waffles and pizza.  Yum!

All the birthday loot!

And then, on her actual birthday, 'stacked pancakes' were requested (inspired by the Little House series)

... and she got to open all the gifts from those who couldn't be at her party.

Then she got a day out with Mommy.  Lunch ...

... and an ice cream cone to wrap up her special day.

Thank You, God, for our lovely girl.

May she always be lovely on the inside

... bringing glory to Your name

... and joy to the lives of those around her.

Amen!