Let's Catch Up!

Christmas morning! We had a wonderful Christmas!

Kaeleigh Jay will be 12 in April. TWELVE! She is such a beautiful young lady. She's in the 6th grade, she works hard and has straight A's! She enjoys singing and is in choir at school. She dreams of opening a salon with her friend where she will specialize in makeup and her friend will specialize in hair. (Just like Aunt Korie!!) She may or may not be having interest in boys. ;)

Mackinley James just turned 10! Double digits! I can hardly believe this. He enjoys video games, video games, video games. :) He recently discovered Calvin and Hobbes and reads as many as he can. (YAY) He dreams of having his own YouTube channel. He also wants to be a policeman like Daddy, and/or have a "techy" job.

Piper Renae is 7 going on 17. She is all spunk and fire and she's hot or she's cold...no in-between! She loves to read. Right now her love is Junie B. Jones. She still gets lost in her imagination and loves to pretend and play with dolls and Barbies. She dreams of being a vet, a good mama, and a baker. (Seen here about to make cookies with Sissy and Daddy in her chef hat from Robin)

Hershel is 1 and the joy of our lives! We don't know how we were a family before we had him. He enjoys tackling with Daddy and Mack, eating treats of all kinds but especially cheese, and he is sure to get in a good solid 18 hours of sleep each day. He dreams of finally removing each and every squirrel from the backyard for good.

For Christmas the kids and I gave Jason a Kindle Fire 10. I researched art apps and gave him a list of the best 10. He has been dabbling in it, learning to draw and paint digitally. He's such a wonderful artist, I'm excited to see where this new medium takes him. He works two jobs to provide for us. He is an amazing daddy. He is the love of my life and my best friend. He is a picture of God's grace for me, because I certainly don't deserve him.

I recently discovered there's a tiny artist living inside me. :) While I cannot draw...I do enjoy digitally enhancing and manipulating artwork. I've started a little hobby creating social media banners and other pieces, mostly people ask me to use characters from the game World of Warcraft. I still have so much to learn, but I am having fun and it's a wonderful creative outlet for me. Some of you may be surprised to learn of this "other life" I lead, while others of you have always known my geek at heart.

2015/16 School Portraits

We decided, why buy cookie-cutter school pictures when we can do our own with much more personality! Kaeleigh, 6th grade (and how grown-up is she getting?!?!), Mack, 4th grade, and Piper, 2nd grade.

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Shipped these two off for their first camp experience today!

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Picnic. Summer...is that you?!

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Soggiest summer ever. #minecraft

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Fr-amily

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Splash

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These childrens tho.

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Sisters!

He Is Risen!

Happy Easter from the Bakers!

let's catch up

I don't know how this happened!

I always said "NEVER will we have a dog, and especially NOT in the house!"

Now we have this little guy...and he's with me 80% of the time!

And guess what?

I love him.

Hershel is the perfect little guy for our family!

He loves to lounge around and nap and snuggle...he fits right in!

We had so much time with family!

Even Mom and Dad were here for a while and we had our first Broyles family Christmas

in so long none of us could remember the last one!

We have a new baby girl, another on the way, and Kyle and Yuki got engaged!!

We are growing in size and in blessings.

Did I mention we have a new baby girl?!

Harlow Mae Lance was born on December 27, just after midnight!

She's sweet and precious and beautiful and we're all in love.

Harlow is Grandpa John's 8th great grandchild!!

We've had some snow...

but not nearly enough!!

We're still waiting for "the big one".

(please please please!!!)

We hope you had a very merry Christmas and a celebratory New Year's Eve!

Maybe I'll get back on the blogging train...

...maybe.

only a month late...

hey look! a new post!

No...I'm not a fail wife! He WANTED peanut butter chocolate chip cookies instead of a cake.

We had a great time celebrating our amazing daddy and husband.

He's a gift!!

An enderman and Steve...if you have no clue what I'm talking about,

click here. All three of our kids looooove Minecraft!

Halloween was freezing and raining but that didn't stop these two from filling their buckets!

I forced them all to dress nicely then I dragged them out for pictures.

They'll thank me when they're adults.

That's what I kept telling them as we tried to find the perfect spot in the freezing wind.

We REALLY wanted to use the beautiful area with the railroad track, but it was just too

windy and cold and the sun was too bright. I do love this picture I got of 

our handsome little man, though. :)

Stay tuned for more from this photo session...closer to Christmas!

These three though...

I rode down with Ashley for her hair appointment and some girl time with my BFF and sister.

Baby Lance is so close to her arrival!!!

We had Korie's first shower last Sunday, hosted by one of her clients in

her beautiful home. Korie and Baby were showered with love and gifts!

And Misti made the trek all the way from North Carolina, so fun!

{summer in a nutshell}

Whew...that went by too fast!

christmas leftovers

The kids received this North Pole Communicator in the mail before Christmas from my Grandpa and his wife Robin. 

They got to call the North Pole every night before bed and have a conversation with various North Pole residents...

even Santa and Mrs. Clause! 

This was so much fun and the kids LOVED it!

Soon after Jason and I got married, we began daydreaming and wishing and hoping and even praying for another couple to share life with. In our WILDEST and most hope-filled dreams, this couple would have children the same ages as our children and the children would all get along splendidly and love each other like siblings. 

We knew our dreams and hopes were unlikely to come true, but we did dream on. 

Then we got to know the Gerbers. This family is a gift from God to us!! All of our wildest dreams have come true and even some we never dared to dream! Our families are scattered all over the country, so the Bakers and Gerbers have become family to each other. It's wonderful and we are so grateful and we know we are blessed!! We got together before Christmas for what we hope will become an annual tradition. We had Ashley's Swedish Pancakes with bacon and sausage, we gave gifts, we played games, we laughed and laughed some more.

"WE ARE TIRED OF WAITING!!!!!!!"

(Christmas morning)

"Alright, alright...come open your presents!"

"Will this fit in my mouth?!"

This was our backyard last week!! The kids got to have a WHOLE extra week added to their Christmas break! It was absolutely perfectly wonderful. We enjoyed every single moment!!!! Today the snow is melting, I can see patches of brown earth being revealed by the dwindling snow piles. The kids are back to school and I am slowly getting back to normal.

Mack received this car-maker from Grandpa & Robin. It's so fun and really cool!! There are wax sticks that get melted into a mold and once it's cooled, he can customize his creation however he likes with stickers and various chassis'. 

We've all enjoyed this gift!