Photo Friday: 1st stop on our way to WI

Mike and the boys outside Steak n' Shake. It was a good break and good food.

Photo Friday: Camp Fun

A few pictures from camp last week.


Here is Nathan sleeping in his bunk bed. He loved being in a bunk bed, even though he didn't get as much sleep as he wanted/needed. I (Mike) am just glad he was able to stay in the girls' cabin and not the guys'.


This was our Wii group.


When we got home there was a car show in the pond/park area behind our house. So Nathan and Wes brought out all of their cars to have their own car show in the kitchen.

Billiards

The boys playing pool. It was great to play pool at grandpa's house.

Two-For-One Special

Seeing as we did not officially post a picture last Friday, we are running a two-for-one special this week. I am thinking about changing our blog name to photo Friday seeing as that seems to be the only time we find to post lately. :)
The first picture is from this past week while the boys and I (Amy) were at the park. For those who do not know, we live walking distance from the city park and we enjoying heading over there frequently. This picture was from us taking a break for a snack. It was actually Nathan and Wes' first time to try Skittles candy. In case you were wondering, it was a big hit. (Note to all gift buyers--the boys like Skittles) The other picture is from last week when Katie came by. Nathan is developing into quite a photographer. The cute thing is he pretends that his camera is also a digital one, turning it around for you to look at the picture after he snaps one. :) He always asks, "is this a cute one, Mom?" Oh, and he says that he frequently runs out of batteries, too. I think he listens too closely to us.

Surprise visits are the best

A week ago I (Amy) heard a knock on the door and opened it to find our friend Katie Cash at the door! It was a big surprise considering I thought I was only talking to her on the phone and was going to have our conversation interrupted by a guest at our door. Katie was out taking a road trip to visit her family before she joins the Navy next week and she was kind enough to include the metropolis of Albion in her route. :)
Katie is one of the teens that was a part of the youth group Mike ministered to during our years in Georgia. It was awesome to see an old friend and also an encouragement as far as being reminded as to why Mike is in ministry. God's timing was supreme; you see I had been feeling somewhat discouraged lately as to this whole youth ministry thing. And to have a former student see our family as worth the time to visit helped to remind me that Mike (and myself by default) is not in this for the great meetings or the suburb pay or the fancy company car (aka the church van). He, and our whole family for that mater, is in it because God is using him to challenge and change lives. So, Katie, if you have a chance to read this before you are heading out to basic training, I meant what I said--your visit was a true blessing.

me-tensils

Tonight at dinner I (Mike) was trying to teach Nathan that forks, spoons, and knives are called utensils. So, when he started to talk about them, he called them metensils. He thought I said "you" tensils, so he thought they were his.

Summer Calendar

Mike and I have been looking over the calendar for the summer, and the weeks are beginning to look quite full. This summer will have a variety of things for our family to do--the county fair, vbs, summer camp, a visit to Fort Wayne, Kim's wedding, visits from old friends, and our first family vacation. With all that is upcoming we are sure to have plenty to post about and share with all of you.
As for now, our days are passing by in fairly normal ways, filling up with playing and growing. There is not too much that is unique to blog about...but I take that as a good thing for now. After all of our looking ahead at the summer, I am considering this our calm before the storm :).

182 is a big deal

Well, just in case you haven't been counting, this is our 182nd post. So I would like to celebrate by having us play a game of guess who's who.

Can you guess which picture is Nathan and which one is of Wes?

(and for those of you who are curious...we do not take a scheduled trip to Old Navy just to get the boys' picture taken with the dog on the bench. It just turned out that we did so anyways.)

Photo Friday: Birthday Party

The kids table at Nathan's birthday party. They had a great time.

a few random thoughts

Well our day at the Kupferer house is off to an unusual start. It is 7:57am and the boys are both still asleep.
Last night was the last night of a revival that we had at Little Prairie. Seeing as I was not involved in the planning or the teaching and had no responsibilities other than listening, I think I would be up for a few more nights. It was refreshing and challenging to have more times for corporate worship than Sunday mornings.
I just read back over the last few posts of our blog and also Mike's ministry blog (reflections) and I just wanted to publicly thank Mike for all that he does to keep up on informing you about our lives and ministry. Thank you, Mike. It does not go unnoticed.

Happy Birthday Nathan!

Today is the start of year #3.

Let's look back at years #1 & 2


Year #0. We had no idea what would come, but we were thrilled to welcome the little guy into the world.







Year #1: Clean. What a great year. Nathan really enjoyed his party, too.







Year #1: Messy. It took him a little while, but he got the hang of the birthday cake.







Year #2. A great day with friends in our old house in GA. Look how big he looked.







Year #3. Having fun at the park during his party.

3rd Birthday Party

Today is Nathan's party. He is pretty excited about it. Its a great day outside (in the 70's, with no clouds) so we're gonna have the party down by the pond.

Aunt Kim got in town last night, so she can enjoy the great party, too. :)

We'll put up pics and maybe video in the next few days. Until then, just imagine how much fun we're having.

Photo Friday: chewing gum

Thought you might enjoy some pictures from Nathan's first exposure to chewing gum. He chewed each piece for a minute or so, then put it on the plate to get the next piece. He doesn't quite have the concept down yet, but that's ok. :)

Wes' new bed

Wes got a new bed this week. His crib was converted into a "transitional" bed. Needless to say, he loves it. Now he and Nathan want to play more together in their room. He does so well, too.

Here are two pics of it.

Another week in pictures

Here are two pictures from the Kids Carnival last Saturday. It was cold outside, but a lot of fun. This is the train ride they had. Nathan busted his lip in the moonwalk, but was asking to get back in once we cleaned him up.



One of the things both boys like to do each night is help to feed the dogs. Here is what they do when we have to open a new bag of dog food.

Family Week #4

All 3 grandkids.


Nathan got to have 2 birthday parties this week and its not even his birthday yet. This is just practice for the real party in a few weeks.


Allison was kind enough to read to Wes.


This has to be my favorite picture from the whole week. As Amy said "He's gonna hate us for this one." Yeah, but now its great and when graduation comes around - this one will make its way back out.

Family Week #3

Lots of fun in Fairfield today. Wal-mart will never be the same. Our lunch was good - Wendy's makes some good food. (all I have to say about Wendy's is that the floor under our table will def. need cleaned before other people sit there)

We had an Easter egg hunt tonight. It was fun.





We had a marching band perform in the living room, too. There might be a video up with that footage later.

Family Week #2

This is the cookie Nathan made for his birthday. Even though his birthday is not until the 23rd. He did a great job helping make it. Thanks Aunt Marti!


Becca opening up a gift. It has been great to see her and the boys playing together.



Wes' first time to sleep on his "big boy" bed. We don't think he's going to want to go back to the crib now. He is not quite "stuck" to his bed, yet. He's already walked out of the room a couple times over the last few days. But he will go right back in and lay back down without a fight. So overall, he's doing well.


Two silly boys just having a good time.


Tomorrow we take a trip to Fairfield. :)

Family Week #1

Today starts our Family Week.

Amy's family (Ga Ga, Aunt Jan, Aunt Marti, & Becca) just got here.

Let the fun begin.

Photo Friday - Cincy Bridge

These are pictures from our trip to Cincy last week. Amy and the boys were able to spend some time with Kim during the afternoon. After going to the Aquarium, they walked on the Purple People Bridge. These are a few of the pictures that were taken.