Friday, January 8, 2010

Playing in the Snow Earlier This Morning

"For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and do not return there, but waters the earth, and make it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater,"
Isaiah 55:10 


This morning we woke up to about 1-2 inches of snow!  After breakfast and chores Alexis, Caleb, Seth, Eden, Josiah, Daddy, and I went outside to play and sled!

We went and tried to find some good sledding hills.  Lydia was a trooper (I've got lots of pictures of her :) the whole time and we either carried her or took her in the wagon Eden and Josiah got for Christmas.



Lydia all bundled up! :)




Caleb



Eating some snow.


Yum!




Beautiful Eden! :)



Seth trudging up one of the "hills" we tried to sled on. 

It didn't work out too great so we went to try and find another one.



We went to the pasture and sledded down the tiny hills they had there. 

Daddy had graded "the pasture" so there wasn't a whole lot of hilly areas, but they still had fun!



Eden and 'Siah going down.

In the background you see Seth trying to "sled" and also Daddy's feet - he helped push everybody off! :)




Smiles! :-D




"When there is a will there is a way" 

I guess you could call this another version of sledding.



The ground wasn't very slick and since their was hardly any snow with only a small incline, we had to make ways to sled.  Seth, as you can see, was using a shovel.



Cute little Siah-man!




Lex and Josiah - I love Alexis' face!



That's better!




Seth and Eden

After trying out those hills we decided to go down the biggest hill that was on our property.  (Daddy's made several beautiful trails through our 10+ acres over the years so we can get to different places.)  The big hill is behind our house and leads down to the creek.

A few years ago we went sledding down it with our friends, the Sobers, but Daddy and Mr. Sober would have to catch us at the bottom of the hill because there was a fallen cedar tree there.  (We didn't move the tree out of our way because that is our traditional licking log! :)



Eden and Josiah getting transported via the sled and Daddy's manpower.




More smiles!



I absolutely love the country!




Lexi


Daddy



Lydia was transported to the sled so we could get over the "licking log" because the wagon would not have made it.

(By the way, we did not sled down the "big hill")



Another way of transporting Lydia (the babies get it good, don't they? :-D)




Sledding down another hill with Lydia



All of the 7 of us kids who braved the winter cold!  (Nothing against Hannah who stayed inside of course ;)

Left to right: Kimber, Alexis, Josiah, Eden, Seth, Caleb, and Lydia

Yes that is me with that ferocious looking hat on!  Daddy got the hat from Grandma and Grandpa when they went on one of their cruises.  They got it in Russia and, boy, do Russians know what they're doing when they make hats!   They don't fall/slip off your head and your ears and head stay toasty!  The hat is covered in rabbit skin (inside and out) so it is extremely soft also.



Another view.



Caleb

I'm so thankful for all my siblings being flexibile with me asking them to pose for pictures.  Some love it, some not so much, and others don't care.  I'm thankful for all of them!



I can always count on Daddy's for those great pictures!!!




Eating snow...



...gives you freeze headaches!!



Much better!




Precious little Lydia!



It's starting to snow again!



By "snowing" I mean this...  Caleb shakes a tree laden with snow and it "snows!"  Didn't want to trick you into thinking that it was real!




Trying to catch it.






Eating some more snow.



Lexi and Lydia in the winter wonderland.



Cheese!



Another kid photo with our puppy - Carmel!

(Daddy took the kid pictures for me)



Have you ever seen such a cute dog before?  Of course, I think he's absolutely adorable but I guess everyone else thinks the same thing about their own dog.



He's such a great puppy!  He keeps away the deer, protects the homefront, and patrols the property (along with being our best friend)!



Alexis, Daddy, and Lydia under a holly tree.

Lydia was getting unhappy from the cold and wetness but Daddy can always make her smile.



"Look at the tree."




She found a leaf!



Then it got stuck on her glove...which made her smile more after she realized where it was!








Licking some snow off the holly tree.




Snow is so yummy!



All gone!



Once again, Caleb and Lydia under artificial snowing via Daddy bear.



Fun, fun!

Daddy used to do that (artifical snowing) to all of us.  He'd say "go under that tree" and we'd race over there and sit/stand while laughing and smiling as he shook it all over us.  Good memories!  Then, sometimes, he'd also do it when we were unaware which made us a bit unhappy sometimes but...it was still fun.






While Seth was over trudging up the creek he found this hard mass of clay and water.  The water had frozen making the "rock" look like a little cavern!




There's a little bit more detail on the rock.







Daddy

By the way he's in a little fort that he made with some of my siblings a year or two ago.  It was still standing (they built it great!) so we still go and play it in every now and then.




Lexi and Daddy





Seth in the fort.






Inside the fort were these icicles.  It looked like sap that was dripping but froze.  Weird.




The boys (and Daddy) doing a "bear" performance for me.

(They're "chasing" the 'bunny rabbit' - a.k.a. Alexis)



Go, Daddy, go!



Weedels on top of the fort.

After some fort time they sled down one of the steep hills near the fort.  Daddy customized the sledding lane by adding logs to the edges.




Josiah going down.

As you can see, the snow was melting quickly.




Caleb



Eden



Josiah.

It doesn't look like he enjoyed it but he kept going back for more, so I guess he did.



Seth



Caleb again (he's got the Josiah look too).



Lexi screaming for her life.
Just kidding! :) 

So, once I got enough pictures of everyone we went inside to some absolutely wonderful hot cocoa and lunch!

All for Jesus,
Kimber

P.S. - I have so much to post about Christmas and New Years that I just might end up giving you a slideshow.  I also have pictures of Alexis from this morning (we had a mini photo shoot!) that I'm going to put on a seperate post.

One more note - Mama has morning sickness for approximately the first 3 months of her pregnancy.  (Morning sickness is where you feel nauseus and don't feel like eating - some people even go to the extent of throwing up but Mama only gets near that sometimes)  So please pray that it will go away or abate!!

Thursday, December 31, 2009

Happy New Years

“The LORD bless you and keep you; The LORD make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you;  The LORD lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace.”’
Deuteronomy 6:24-26

This is just a quick post saying that I hope you all have a blessed and wonderful New Years! 

And to those who have, or are currently, serving in the military in any shape or form...THANK YOU SO MUCH for the freedoms and such we enjoy every day!

Love,
The Wassenbergs :)


"Freedom isn't free"

Monday, December 28, 2009

Snow Pictures from the Weekend before Christmas



This is really late but I thought that I would share pictures of the "big snow" that we got here in Virginia! 

Friday night we left for Grandma and Grandpa's house around 10:00pm stuffed like sardines in Daddy's 4x4 truck.  We weren't supposed to leave for Grandma's until Sunday (after church) but with the incoming weather we decided to make the leap and go that night thinking that church might get canceled.  It was snowing  when we left our house and was already at least 6 inches (it had started snowing about 6 PM and when I went out to feed the animals around 10 that night it was near my knees).  Daddy put all of our stuff for the weekend in plastic bags and then into empty trashcans that he put in the bed of his truck.  We ended up getting at Grandma and Grandpa's at about 2:30 in the morning.  Few of us got any sleep with the uncomfortable, squished positions we were in so we were really grateful for a bed!  Saturday morning, after breakfast and everything, Caleb, Seth, Eden, and Josiah went out and played in the 2 feet of snow at Grandma's. 



Snow on one of Grandma's lighted Christmas trees.



This was what it looked like out the front door - white!
(This was one of the very few years that we've had a "white Christmas.")




It was still snowing when I took this picture and see how tall it is already!





  • A blue jay.  Grandma and Grandpa put bird seed out along the fence and it was fun watching the little birds flit here and there.
  •  
  •  
  • A cardinal in a tree


A little sparrow.
See the little birdy steps behind him/her?



Grandpa out feeding the birds.




Caleb out in the winter wonderland!



Josiah enjoying himself in the snow.
They would fall - face first - into the snow.  They thought it was a lot of fun! :)



Eden and Josiah.



Mama watching from the comfort of the house.







I took most of the pictures on this post out of windows or doors - I didn't go outside except for a few!  (It was COLD!)

Saturday night, after all that beautiful snow, we found out that church was not cancelled.  So, the next morning we older chittlins' (the youngest 3 stayed with Grandma) had to load up around 6 AM to drive back to Richmond, change clothes, get Sunday shoes, eat a breakfast (in the freezing cold house - we turned the heat off while we were gone), and get to church by 10 AM.  (Mama and Daddy were leading the children's singing in the sanctuary and Hannah was serving in the nursery.)



The icicles on Daddy's truck.

We did make it on time Sunday morning, thank you Lord.  We had about 10-15 children show up for the singing, which was impressive with all the ice and snow everywhere!  (The snow wasn't terribly deep at all in Mechanicsville, being around 6-12 inches, but it was still a little dangerous if you had to travel)



A tree's shadow.


Well, I still have lots more pictures and such to post so I'll get them done a little later!
Merry (late) Christmas!
Kimber and all the Wassenbergs