Rainy Days...

...call for bowling nights! 

We had a blast, as did the kids. Carter is already wondering when we can go again. 

'

This face just cracked me up. So goofy!

My poor hubby....at the end of the 7th frame....he had 46...

Kinzie had 53!! This made him get quite a bit more serious next game, and he bowled over 100. ;)

You may not be able to see the screen in this pic, but Carter just got a spare. :) He was so excited. It was funny to watch him bowl. At first, he used the ramp, then before long, he'd pick up his ball and without hesitation he'd take off running to the lane and about 4 feet away, he'd drop to his knees and roll the ball all while still sliding on the slick surface. Super cute and funny! 

Of course, all Adalynn cared about was taking care of "baby" Dane and all Dane cared about was how he could get his hands on one of those balls! 

Night of Lights

We had a fun night a few weeks ago with some great friends! 

FW always has a lighting ceremony for all of their big Christmas light displays and this year they had fireworks. It sounded fun - so off we went! ;)

A classic picture with 5 kids 5 and under. ;)

I never thought I'd love 4 little boys as much as I love these guys! 

So silly and fun! 

An attempt at a family picture....We gained one...can you find him? ;)

 Group picture! What a great memory! 

And of course because we froze to death and walked 30 miles, we needed some hot chocolate. :)

Love these girls too! :)

Our New Little Love

Yesterday was the big day. Meeting our little one and determining a gender. 

Its a BOY! 

I was totally expecting a girl - as was Nick and Carter. We all agree that Adalynn would have wanted a girl to grow up with too - but Mason (and God, of course) wanted otherwise. 

Nonetheless, we are excited and thankful to be having our 3rd boy.  Praying for health and safety for baby and I as I continue to carry this precious miracle and look forward to meeting HIM on delivery day. 

Becoming More

I just finished a fantastic bible study that I would recommend whole heartedly! 

I highly recommend the book, the participant's guide, AND the DVD sessions. 

I learned SO much. At times I felt encouraged, challenged, convicted, uplifted, and always "spiritually fed".  I think I could write several blog posts about all the things I learned, but lets face it...I'm not much of a writer, and my thoughts would probably come out in a jumbled mess. ;) Especially since I get so excited about this study when I think about it. 

So, intead I thought I'd list a few of the "main points" and let you do it yourself. :)

• When referring to jealousy and coveting others, remember that what they have is a "package deal" the good comes with the bad (ex. A friend with a nicer house than me also has a husband who works more hours and is away from the home more...etc...)
• Be aware of my "uglies" and control them. "Satan delights in our anxiety, anger, and frustration, and would love to keep darkness drawn over our hearts and minds." AND " Grace doesn't give me a free pass to act out how I feel, with no regard to His commands. Rather His grace gives me consolation in the moment, with a challenge to learn from this situation and become more mature in the future."
• Praise God NOT my circumstances
• Feelings of inadequacy are rooted in the fear of failure.  
• "I paused and soaked in the moment. I didn't rush my kids off to bed to have some 'me' time"...convicting for sure....
• "We don't have to be perfect or perfectly ready -- just get to a place where our hearts purely desire to see God."
• "Everything I have, everything I own, everything I hope for, everything I love, everything I fear, everything I dream, it's all yours, Jesus!"
• Some of us may not have entered our marriage with our husbands with purity. We need to make peace with the fact that we can't go back and change things. BUT - we are all going to be brides again. "...the next time I want to walk that aisle with a gift of purity for my heavenly Groom. It will be my heart."

These are only a few of the lessons I learned in this study. Go out and do it for yourself! You'll be blessed. :)

Costume Party 2011

Tomorrow Night there will be another picture added to our collection.

 This year is a fun one! 

2006 - Danny & Sandy

2007 - Mr & Mrs. Potato Head

2008 - John McCain and Sarah Palin

2009 - Ollie Ostrich and his farm girl

2010 - Mario and Luigi

Another pic coming Monday! :) Have a good weekend! 

My girls

I spent the day today with my bible study girls. We are currently journeying together through Lysa Terkerst's book "Becoming more than a good bible study girl". And boy is it thought provoking, convicting, encouraging, and super good!

Today we got together and made apple dumplings for our freezers. We made about 70 dumplings in about 3 1/2 hours with 11 kids at our feet. I felt blessed. Amazing girls, healthy kids, good food. 

Kinzie wanted to be with the girls. Soon after this picture was taken she came up to me and said, "I thought maybe you would want to come play with me in the basement, aunt jessie." Adorable!

The 4 youngest (that were with us today) except Case who was asleep. 

And the older ones getting ready for their show. How sweet!

Had to add this one in. Adalynn and Dane were smiling so sweet for Nick and I. Love these two sweeties!

Beware girls. My mind is spinning to come up with our next thing to make together. ;) Just kidding.

Look Out, World!

Little Fiechter #4 is due to arrive in April! :)

We are excited, thankful, overwhelmed with God's goodness to us, and feeling utterly blessed. 

And because a post is boring without pictures :)

Take Me Out to the Ball Game...

 How many times have I heard that phrase since the game? I couldn't even count. :) We had another fun trip to the Tincaps (last month...hows that for a late post? lol.,..) We took Kinzie and Kaden along with us. 

Arbys before the game.

They had such a blast rolling down this hill until all the other spectators showed up and ruined their fun.  :)

We ran into some of our friends, and here is Kinzie with their daughter. I think she was thankful for a girl to play with for a while. :) (Not sure what they are doing with their arms?)

Of course, this is the best group shot I could get....Good job, Kaden! lol.... Something wrong with them Fiechters. ;)

  Me and my hubby.  Love him so much!

Again....stinking fiechters! At least Carter shaped up for this one. hehe...

These two were pretty good buds through the night. Only a few quarrals. 

And these two - Best Buddies. :)

 A great time was spent at the Tincaps....but upon leaving the Tincaps game, we left Nick's car in the parking lot and he rode home with me. We came back the next day for a wedding and to pick up his car and............... 

...................it was GONE! :( Still missing a month later so we bought a different car. Hopefully it will turn up someday. 

Kindergarten, Here we come!

Carter started his first day of Kindergarten yesterday. He LOVED it!

Here he is enjoying his breakfast of choice, Reese's and Life mixed. :)

SOOO ready and cute, if I can say so myself. ;)

Trying to pose with little sister. Little brother must have been a little apprehensive about allowing Carter to go to school, because he refused to get out of the van. :(

Hugging mommy goodbye. He whispered in my ear after this, "I'm gonna miss you mom!" My eyes began to burn pretty bad after that. :)

His very own locker. 

Super excited to start his day! 

He had such a great day. Heard stories, sang songs, had gym class, sat at table #3, did 3 worksheets, and ate pretzels and applesauce for lunch. That is about all I could get from him before he looked up at me and said, "Mommy I'm all done talking about school now, okay?" 

:) Okay, so I might have been prying a bit. hehe

Hilton Head

We had such a great time on vacation...Here are some pictures to prove it! (I forced myself not to load every single picture I took!)

Our family in the hotel we stayed at on our trip down.

Our first morning waking up in HH. 

Little Miss Independent

Our first and only picture at the beach. The jelly fish caution signs were up all week...Josh and Brad both got stung so we decided we really were pretty content with the pool. ;)

Bike riding is so much fun in HH

We had the honor of spending some time with 3 extra kiddos on our vacation. They were sweet and lots of fun!

Josh and Briggs

Addi & Briggs

This one's for you, Jess....He loved this thing! Some other little boy brought it to the pool...

Why can't I get this flipped? Weird...

Me and the girls! So sweet....Lets just say I didn't mind doing Lexie's hair at ALL! ;) (not that it is done in this picture, lol!)

The water spigot was a HIT with the 3 and unders!

A-DOR-ABLE!

Sleepover!

 Riley, Cater, Lexie, Zander, Mason, Naomi

 Grandma Lynn-Lynn. This is how you found Lynn most of the week...With one child or another in her arms!

 Umm.....I'm in love! :)

 Grandpa Brad hanging out with Addi. :)

Wonderful supper with some wonderful people! (don't ask them how wonderful I was that night.....I might have been a bit grumpy...lol)

 SERIOUSLY good food. :)

One of my favorite parts of vacation are fun games at night!

Carter LOVES Seth

 AND Josh. :)

What is Lynn doing? Throwing water on Brad...No, he wouldn't deserve such a thing, right? ;)

Uncle Joshy getting ready to leave.... :(

I ALMOST ordered this too. YUCK! So glad I stuck to shrimp (PEELED!) Her face just makes me giggle everytime I see it! lol....

We had a fabulous time. Thanks sooooooooooooooooooooooo much Brad & Lynn! We love you bunches.