King Family

July Update

We enjoyed a visit from the Hoover's over the 4th of July.  Aaron, Marla, Liz, Gaven, and Reese were vacationing at Siesta Key.  We were able to spend some time with them while they were here, including having a cookout and watching fireworks on Siesta Key Beach.  John really enjoyed spending time and reminiscencing with Aaron, who was his best friend since 1st grade. 

Jason bought a guitar this month.  It is an Epiphone.  He informed me Grampa Bill also owns an Epiphone.  He already was familar with some of the chords by watching Jeremey play.  I've noticed he likes to play around with it, like he does with the piano.  He will sound out a song and then play it.  Jeremey is more serious and plays whole songs using chords and picking, Jason is happy to play a whole song he sounded out using one string.  He may want to do more later, but for now he is happy with playing around with it. 

John and I also enjoyed a "date" this month.  My mom (usually referred to as "Gram") offered to watch the kids for the afternoon.  We took Janna along, of course.  But hey, a date's a date!  We took a picnic lunch and went to a nearby park with a lake.  It was nice to actually talk with no interruptions, well ALMOST no interruptions.  John's phone rang and it was Jason reporting some offense he had endured--I heard John say not to call back unless someone was bleeding.  I thought that was funny.....

Janna turned 5 months old this month.  She is rolling all over the place.  I like to put a big blanket down on the floor and watch her go.  She is beginning to sit up unassisted for a little bit.  But still-no teeth yet!  I think she is the latest one to get a tooth so far.  She smiles and laughs a lot, and of course has all of us in love with her.

John has been taking the kids to the YMCA most weeknights.  They have been swimming laps.  Jeremey is currently working on learning the butterfly.  They measure their swimming in how many MILES they swim.  For example, Jordan and Jeremey swim about 1/2 mile or more each time.  That is 36 laps (he informed me a lap is 25 meters).  Jason has swam about 2 1/2 miles since we started going.  Jeremey has swam about 11 miles so far.  I have been staying home for the past few weeks with Janna and listening to some homeschool seminars that I need to get through.  In the time that I haven't been there, little Miss Jennifer is learning to swim.  I am looking forward to going back and seeing her going under and swimming around.  On the weekends, they have been going to a water park that is included with the Y membership.  The older ones love the high dive and Jennifer loves the little slide.  The boys have been doing flips off the high dive--Jordan said she tried to do a dive off the high dive but it wasn't pretty...and it was pretty painful too. 

They also have been going to Christian Skate Night at a local skating rink for the 2nd summer.  It is a 10 week thing, every Tuesday during the summer.  Jennifer and Janna don't go.  It's WAY too loud for Janna.  Jennifer gets to go sometime, but she isn't as in to it as the older kids and she is quite a handful even without wheels! 

I've experimented this month making homemade vanilla extract.  Also, working on some sourdough bread that someone asked me to make.  I know our children aren't fond of it, but I am attempting to make it for others.  I'll let you know how it turns out.  I am excited about having some successes making homemade yogurt this month, too.  Here is a funny from the kitchen....I made some "zesty split peas" for dinner one night.  John LOVED them, but apparently Jason wasn't as big as a fan.  Jason has dinner clean up with me this week--one of the jobs is to label the leftovers and write down where it was put.  I was out in one of the refrigerators this morning and saw this big label on something, so I picked it up to see what it was.  It said (in Jason's writing):  "old liquified 1855 Back to the Future manure (pea soup)".  Guess he won't be asking for that again anytime soon.......

The Bickle's Were Here

We enjoyed a week long visit from Beth, Renae, and Bradly.  They came to Florida and spent part of the time with us and part with Gram.  Gram spent some time here too, so we were all together for part of the time.  That is always fun. 

We packed a lot of fun things in...we took them to the YMCA and showed them where we go exercise (swim mostly), went to a water park a few times (Bradly loved the "pink slides"), spent a day at the beach, went to the beach another time for a sunset, saw lots of movies (we had a movie marathon at home and watched all of the Back To The Futures, and a few of the Rocky movies at Aunt Beth's suggestion), went to the movie theatre and saw Horton Hears A Who and Nim's Island, played at a park, played games, and other fun things. 

It's always sad when they leave, but it is so nice being together.

Happy Birthday, Dad!

Today is Grampa Bill's birthday.  We want to wish him a happy day.  He and Grandma Debbie came to visit us shortly after Janna was born.  We enjoyed spending time with them.  Jeremey got some more guitar tips, which he loved.  We went to the beach one day and they took us out for dinner one evening - which was Janna's first outing.  We wish we could see them more often, but for now we just look forward to the times we do get to spend together.  Happy Birthday!!

Here is Dad and Debbie:

Our Trip to Indiana

 We are settling back at home after a busy trip back "home" in Indiana.  Our Janna Grace was born February 15 and John decided we would make a trip to Indiana so a lot of our extended family could meet her.  (Gram, Grampa Bill and Grandma Debbie had already met her here in Florida.)  He especially had his parents in mind.  So, we began planning a 1200 mile trip with a newborn!  I have to say Janna did very well on the trip, of course we had to make a few  more stops than normal so I could nurse her, but all in all, it was a good experience.

We started the trip by visiting Great Grandma Pea and also got to see Aunt Marilyn and Uncle Dexter.  We stayed at my sister's house and had a great time with them, as usual.  Janna enjoyed her time with Aunt Beth, Renae, and Bradly.  We spent a lot of time with Grandma and Grandpa King as well.  Our trip included a pizza part with Uncle Scott, Aunt Amy, Nicole, Alana, Davis, Grandma and Grandpa, Gretchen, Aunt Sue, Braeden, and Grant; a get together will John's side of the family including everyone mentioned above plus Uncle Doug and Aunt Vicki and Uncle Rick; a visit with Aunt Sally and Uncle Max, Viola, Cousin karen, Josh, Allie, Cousin Kathy, Toby, Eliza, and Uncle Chris; a visit with my best friend back home, Julie; and a visit with our friends, the Huff family in Tennessee, on our way home.  It was a quick trip, but we fit a lot in!

We feel good that Janna has been introduced to all those people who are so important to us.  It's always hard to leave everyone and transition back to "normal" life--but that is what has to be done.  So, I am now concentrating on getting things back up and running here.  I'm working on tweeking our daily schedule to include a new baby and also reworking our chore schedules as well.  I'll post about that in the near future when it is complete.  I'm almost there!