Harvest

We started something when Emily was 2; we went out to Goessel to get a ride on Pat's cousin John Flaming's combine during harvest. After that first summer, she talked all winter long about going to cut wheat with John, so we knew we'd have to continue the following years.

Jake has had such a great interest in large machinery this spring that we knew this event would be a great hit for him this year.

Emily was pretty excited to ride with John, but she wanted Pat to ride along too.

Jake, however, only wanted to ride with John.

We are so thankful for John's patience with us because we hung around all evening, watching him cut and playing in the grain truck. It was such a treat to get to be a part of harvest. Thanks, John for allowing us to slow down your evening! :)

Big News!!

There will be a few changes in our home after Christmas; Pat and I are expecting our third child! I am due January 5. We had our first appointment last week and shared the news with our parents and siblings this weekend. Emily has been excited to tell people that her mom is going to have a baby. Jake seems to like "kissing the baby", but other than that, he doesn't seem too interested at this point.
Our doctor's office now does a routine sonogram at the first appointment to help pinpoint the due date by measuring the baby. So we have already seen baby wiggling and moving his/her arms and legs all around. It was amazing to watch and know that someone so little (3.7 cm head to rump) could be so active and busy! Other than being incredibly tired, I haven't had too much to complain about. It has been hard to get much done around here however, when I just want to sleep. I am rounding the corner on this first trimester, so the tiredness should be getting less pretty soon!

Haircuts!!

Emily and Jake recently got haircuts. Emily thought a mohawk would be fun for Jake. It only lasted long enough for us to take his picture, and my skin was crawling even for that length of time.

Emily keeps wanting to leave her hair down, but it has been so uneven that it didn't look that great. So, we trimmed just enough to make the ends even. Her hair looks so much healthier now! And she has loved getting to leave it down today!

Camp Amigo or bust!!

Pat and I had the privilege of joining our youth group on a trip to Michigan for a service trip. We spent several days helping at the camp in whatever capacity they needed us. The girls spent a lot of our time deep cleaning, and the guys got to clear a meadow along with some other general outdoor maintence. We also spent a day at Cedar Point a world famous amusement park; mainly known for it's incredible roller coasters! We concluded our trip with a relaxing afternoon on Lake Michigan at the dunes (beautiful sand beach, and a huge hill of sand that we all enjoyed hiking up and running down as fast as we could without getting out of control! :)

We spent nearly 50 hours traveling on our trip. Pat did a great job of getting us to all our destinations safely! :)

Our group ready to work Monday, the first morning we were there.

The camp had set up a slip and slide for the campers that they kindly let us play on too. Who would have known that vinyl billboard signs, water and Dawn dish soap could be such a great combination!!

Our group had a blast trying as many roller coasters as possible during the long day we spent at Cedar Point. We arrived around 11:00 and didn't load up the vans for the 3 hour drive back to camp until 10:30 that evening!

We were humbled by the awesome beauty at the dunes. It was a touching way for us to reflect on our week together.

The sponsors without our pot of gold (Mandi).

He Flies!!

Pat has been playing this game with Jake since he was little. He continues to want to "do more". This was a pretty high toss! This one's for Grandma Flaming! : )