It's a boy

We went for Amanda's twenty week ultrasound this morning and found out that our little one is a boy.  We are very excited.  Both Amanda and I were a little shocked as we were both expecting a girl.  Our boys are really jazzed and Molly cried.  She really wanted another sister.  That only lasted for a few minutes though. 

We are all so thankful to God for his mercy to us in giving us what appears to be another healthy child. 

The Last of Our Little Boys

As Matthew begins to lose his baby teeth, it reminds us that he is the last of our little boys.  At least for now . . . Amanda finds out what she is having in a couple of weeks.

Country Livin': The Coon

On Saturday Matt and I were going out to have a fire, just the two of us.  On the way, he stopped to feed the cats.  He ran out of the shed and said, "Dad, I think there's a coon in the cat barn."  So I went up and got the old 22 and headed out.  Two shells later, we were in the garage skinning our first coon.  It was a great adventure and another affirmation of why we bought the farm.  Our hope is to tan the hide and for Matt to eventually have himself a real coonskin cap.  Just call me Davy Crocket.

California Knows How to Party

We got back late last night from a wonderful trip to California to see Dave and Joni and to hang out in San Diego. We had a great time with family in the desert.  We swam, relaxed, ate, relaxed and sat in the sun.  What I call a perfect vacation with kids.  San Diego was much more of a whirlwind.  We went to Lego Land.  The boys liked it but I felt like it was way overpriced and kind of run down.  The San Diego Zoo was awesome.  We spent a good day there and there was more to see.  All in all, we had a great time.

The view out the back door

A great hike in the desert

Lego Land

The notebooks are in La Jolla

Molly Pearl

There are some people in the world that seem to have two very distinct personalities.  There is the private and the public.  Molly is one of these.  At home, she is a complete chatter box.  She is funny, vivacious and creative.  Invite some people over or bring her out in public, and the transformation happens.  She becomes shy and introverted. 

To proved this to all of you who only know the public Molly, I shot the video below.  Molly has been composing some of her own music.  It's hilarious.  It's mostly on the topic of God and the cross.  Very interesting.  Lately Ben has taken to accompanying her while she improvises.  Enjoy.

Downton Abbey

Amanda and I have gotten way into the PBS show Downton Abbey.  How far have we gotten into it?  We watched all of Season 1 last weekend and have caught up in Season 2 this week.  Needless to say, it's really good.  It is the story of a noble family in England during the early 1900's and of their house staff.  The stories are very intriguing and it keeps you watching from episode to episode.

We've watched all of Season 1 for free on Amazon through our Amazon Prime membership.  You can find all of the Season 2 episodes at PBS.  You'll have to work fast to catch up because the next episode comes out on PBS this Sunday.

Run for the border

We had Taco Bell tacos for lunch today.  We bought the big party packs.  Every time we do that, I tell the kids this story.  Growing up in Alpena, we didn't have Taco Bell.  So every time we would take a youth group trip "down state", we would stop there for one of our meals.  Jeff Cutler and Jason Rensberry would order a 10 pack of tacos for themselves and sit down and plow through them.  They were two dudes who were both about 6' 4" and 150 lbs. soaking wet.  We were all amazed at the food they could put away.

My kids love that story.  As I began to tell it today, Matthew started his guttural giggle and said, "I know this story!"