A Day in "K"

Today Silas got to visit the school he will be attending for Kindergarten. They hold an event called "A Day in K." Each almost Kindergartener was allowed to tour their school and meet their future faculty. This day was much anticipated and it sure didn't let us down!!

We saw what it was like to ride the Big Yellow School Bus

We saw the view from atop the slide..

We found really neat places to learn to read books..

We found the library, and listened to a few stories..

The most exciting part of the day was eating a SCHOOL LUNCH!! We had hamburgers..yum,yum!! I hadn't really thought about how akward it would be for him to carry a tray and open a milk carton.. we have those down pat after today!!

It was really encouraging to see Silas in this setting. He made us very proud, and I am sure that this experience will ease his transition into Kindergarten for me... and him, too, I guess!!

Time flies when you're havin' fun!!

I can't believe it has been (over) a year since I have blogged. I knew I would probably not be extremely successful at keeping up with this, but I am going to try..

Our family has grown from three to four. We were blessed with Wesley Gene Mitchener on February 18th, 2010. He has added another dimension to our family and I never realized how much fun we would have with him!! He is into everything and has no fear, a far cry from my cautious, pleaser, sensitive first born. I have really had to step up my game to keep up with him and his ideas..

I will do my best to post some of our adventures..

One Step Closer

I have a lifetime friend Jennifer Shobe, if you are very close to me, you know who she is. We were born 11 days apart and have been friends since we were born. We have shared every amazing life milestone- school, first dances, graduation, we were maid of honor in each other's wedding, and today marks another milestone.. she had her first baby. I think out of them all this is my favorite. I am so excited for her to be a mom. She has had a rough road trying to get this accomplished, but she did it with grace today.
Her new little boy is Jared William, and he is 8lbs. and 2oz. He is 22in long. He is beautiful. I loved to see her with him, it really did my heart some good!
The only bad part is that now I am REALLY ready to have this boy of mine and I still have 4 weeks! Until then I will just get a fix with him and watch Jenny grow into the wonderful mommy I have always known she will be!

Catch UP!!

Well, I knew I would not be good at keeping this blog business up, but I refuse to let it go! I guess once every two or three months is better than nothing. It appears that I haven't blogged since October, but that can't be right! It does, however, seem like October was just yesterday. Here is some photographic evidence that we were here on earth and not time warped for a few months.
These pictures were taken at Thanksgiving with my mom's side of the family. We are so blessed to still have my grandparents and we love to get together ALL of us in their house. Believe it or not, we can become a little overwhelming. Thus enters the annual trip to Bass Pro. This gives Gma and Gpa a chance to breathe for a few hours. This is all the great-grandkids- Ethan, Emerie, Silas, Eliza, Corwin and Owen.

Silas had several opportunities to see Santa this year, this one was at the mall. I paid money for this picture so I thought I better use it just one more time. This guy kinda creeped me out, but Silas had fun and that's all that matters.

Silas, Papa, and Nama made cookies for Santa. They were supposed to be Gingerbread, but.. Santa had a hard time getting a few of them down even though he was grateful for them.. the remainder went in the trash!

This was our Christmas with my Mom and Dad. Always exciting.. for my dad. He loves Christmas and getting to give boy things to Silas. With two girls, he has had his fill of barbies and dolls and dress-up, now he get to do trains, remote control cars and boy stuff!

David and Silas were able to spend Christmas day with his Grandma in Thayer. I was unable to travel that far due to my condition this year. I was very sad to miss this trip. Grandma Charlotte moved into a care facility this year and seems to be liking the company. It still is not the farm!

This is Christmas at Great Grandma and Grandpa's on New Year's Day. ALWAYS exciting. One big even this year was the retirement of the grandkids' stockings. I guess when the grandkids are in their 30's it might be time! :(

We actually got real snow this year and not just ice. This warranted some play time! Silas loves the snow, as does David. This year David was the one to come in with an injury, he fell really hard on the driveway and hurt his knee. Game over when daddy is the one who gets hurt!

Our little family of three will son become four and we are very excited. I am getting very big and can hardly breathe as you can probably tell from the picture. I am ready for my new little boy to be here safe and in my arms. What a beautiful gift from God. We are so blessed.

Campfire fishing stories

Yet another year of Fall Fishing with the Drapers... and Butts, and Hosiners, and Morris', and Warricks, and Frenchs, and Mitcheners has come to an end. It is always a time of the year I look foreward to, sitting around the campfire in sweatshirts and drinking hot chocolate! We had a good year for fishing, the guys had a pretty good string! We definitely had enough fish for the much awaited fish fry. This says more than last year... no pressure guys! Our family has done fishing trip to Lake of the Ozarks for 35? or so years. It is very special to our family and everyone really tries to make an effort to come every year.

Here are a few moments of reflection...

Wow! That's a big white bass, papa!

This is the future of our fishing trip! Boys, Boys, Boys!

Double trouble for sure!

The amazing disappearing marble..

Yep, you guessed it! You know, I always wondered how things like this could happen, now I know! Very quick and for no good reason! Silas thought it would be a good idea to put a 1/2 in. stainless steel ball into his mouth and swallow it. This event took place on Thursday, now it is Sunday and we still haven't had any reappearance of the marble. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE digging through his poop, but how much fun can one person have? Oh well, I guess if it's not out by tomorrow, we will go back for another x-ray and see how much progression we have or have not made!
I guess on a more serious note, I should be glad it went down his esophagus and not his trachea. Thank you Lord for directing the little marble. Now, if you could just direct it out!

We have our ultrasound tomorrow to check out the progress of the newest Mitchener and see if it will be a boy or girl! Please be in prayer for us, as we all know what a miracle it is for ANY baby to be born healthy. It is only by the grace of the creator that these precious babies are born, praise God for his creation!

Baby Brain gets the best of me..

I can't believe it's been OVER a month since I last blogged. Wow! How irresponsible of me! Well, lets see..

Silas is now finished with his grand slam basketball season and we are kicking around during soccer season. Soccer seems to to going a little better than basketball as he definitely has the running thing down. Even if it IS running AWAY from the ball. Oh, well. I am just enjoying watching him have fun with the other kids!

We are now 17 weeks pregnant. It seems like this is going so much faster this time. Probably because I have had Silas to keep me busy. We have our ultrasound the 28th, when we will find out if we will be blessed with a boy or a girl. I think we have decided to find out the sex, but keep the name until the big day. We need some surprise, right?

Now, on more of a sad note, we sold our camper yesterday. I can't talk about it too much or I will cry. You know I am emotional these days. We just decided to sell now while we could and not worry about storing it all winter and paying taxes on it. We know this will be temporary, we just want to take a break while we have a small baby and then get back into it in a couple of years.

We have made a commitment to becoming debt free and we are getting closer and closer. We feel like the money from our camper could be used in a more productive way. Thanks Dave Ramsey!

No blog would be complete without pictures..