Sorensen's

Summer Fun!!!

2011-10-12T01:17:00.001-04:00

What a FUN summer!

2011-10-12T01:06:00.000-04:00

Sort of Warm

2011-06-16T21:05:00.002-04:00

I guess you could say we are "sort of warm" down here. Yesterday we had a record heat day. With the humidity the heat index was 108. All life ceases to exist in the afternoon. Once the evening rolls around, people start emerging from their houses like ants. (Very slow ants). The kids are all doing well. They loved their year at school here. We can't believe it has almost been a year. Time is flying. Eric is enjoying his job...especially the hours. Can't beat 8-5 M-F. Nice to have a dad. Josiah turned 4 months on the 9th. He is such a cute and happy little guy. His sisters and his brother love him to pieces. I'll try to get some pictures on here soon. We hope everyone is doing well.

--The Sorensen's

Josiah

2011-04-23T15:53:00.000-04:00

Our new little boy Josiah. He was born February 9, 2011.

SPRUMMER

2011-04-23T15:48:00.002-04:00

Well everyone....the Sorensen clan still breathes and moves. We are still down in good ol' Florida. We are not sure what happened to Spring but we are in Summer. It seemed to go from the 20's to the 80's. Not that we are complaining...well except for the bugs. They have these awful little bugs here call "No-see-ums" that will tear you up like a dead duck in a pirhanna infested river. We know this from first hand experience. Chemical warfare does not even work on them. They have hazmat suits and a determination to bite at all costs. Unless you are moving in the speed upwards of 10 mph they will get you. Anyway...we hope you enjoy some of the new pictures that we are posting.

2010-12-07T13:32:00.000-05:00

A Long Time

2010-11-09T06:37:00.002-05:00

I want to apologize to everyone out there that views our blog. We have not posted any information for a long time. To catch everyone up on events: On October 18 I was talking to my dad about my mom. He said she was not doing very well (she had back surgery 7 weeks earlier and was back and forth between rehab and the hospital). On Monday 10/18 evening Tennille and I decided that we needed to all go out to Utah. We didn't fly...we drove. We packed our belongings in about 4 hours and headed to Utah on the morning of 10/19 at 2AM. We drove for about 3 hours and were exhausted so we stopped somewhere in Alabama off the side of the road for a 1 hour nap. We then resumed our journey. We drove again until just before Kansas City and had to pull over again for 2 hours. We had more energy then and continued to switch drivers (Tennille and myself) until we were in Nebraska. We found a corn field and pulled off. We were between the field and a tractor (this provided shelter form the headlights). We stayed in place for 2 more hours in that field, with a full moon shining down on us. We woke up and finished the last sprint to Utah. We arrived in Salt Lake City Wednesday (10/20) evening about 5:30PM. We saw my brother, sister and my dad. We talked for a moment and then went to see my mom in the ICU. She was on a ventilator and was being supported with two medications to keep her blood pressure up. She was also very full of fluid...21 liters in the positive. (That is 10 1/2 soda bottles of extra fluid). She was placed on dialysis due to kidney failure. She was dialyzed for that night and Thursday night. On Friday morning she had not improved other than some fluid being removed. We had met as a family and decided that we did not think mom would want to continue like this. We had tried everything and she still was not improving. Friday night we had the medicines removed and the ventilator turned off. She was given some medicine to help her relax and also to prevent air hunger. She passed away quickly and peacefully about 8:15PM on Friday 10/22. We had her funeral on 10/28. We began our drive home on 10/29 at 3PM. We arrived back in Florida on 11/1 at 1AM. Tennille has posted some of the pictures from our journey. We miss you Mom and we love you!

Cotton Pickin'

2010-11-07T20:55:00.001-05:00

This is somewhere south of St. Louis during a break. The kids and Tennille wanted to pick some cotton.
Cotton blossom.

Bowling with some cousins.
The girls bowled too and loved it!

Family

2010-11-07T20:50:00.001-05:00

Sequoyah showing off her skills and her muscles.
Grandma and Grandpa Powell along with Tennille's sisters and some cousins.
The Patriarch's.
Isaiah and Grandpa Powell with his Silver Beaver award. This is a Scouting award that was given to him last year.

2010-11-07T20:46:00.001-05:00

In my dad's front yard the morning after we received 5 inches of snow.

Cousins

2010-11-07T20:37:00.002-05:00

fun with cousins

2010-11-07T20:04:00.001-05:00

Adonyah donated 10 inches of hair to 'Locks of Love'

2010-08-15T21:58:00.000-04:00

Hello SHORT HAIR!!!

2010-08-15T21:53:00.000-04:00

Good Bye Long HAIR

2010-08-15T21:45:00.000-04:00

Time to meet our new teachers!!!

2010-08-15T21:39:00.000-04:00

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!!!!

2010-08-15T21:29:00.000-04:00

Last Summer Field Trip! (across the street from dad's work...good lunch break!)

2010-08-15T21:21:00.001-04:00

2010-08-15T21:16:00.000-04:00

Hands On!

2010-08-15T21:08:00.000-04:00

Nurse Sharks

2010-08-15T20:56:00.000-04:00

Crabs!

2010-08-15T20:44:00.001-04:00

Turtles, tanks, and horse shoe crabs

2010-08-15T20:36:00.002-04:00

4 years old!

2010-08-06T04:06:00.000-04:00

Just some of my favorite things to do!

2010-08-06T03:59:00.001-04:00

Adonyah's Day!!!

2010-08-06T03:52:00.001-04:00

Happy Birthday!!!!

2010-08-06T03:44:00.001-04:00

Time for a LEMONADE STAND!!!

2010-08-04T10:55:00.001-04:00

Rain, Rain, ... BRING IT ON!!!!

2010-07-31T18:48:00.000-04:00

Beach Creatures

2010-07-10T21:42:00.000-04:00

The crab inside this shell was smaller than a dime. It's the thing right in the middle of the shell.
Hi everyone. I am just enjoying everything I see.
Incoming...good thing we had umbrellas.

Boogie Boardin'

2010-07-10T21:31:00.000-04:00

I promise Adonyah was not under the water for very long on this attempt of hers to boogie board. She did great the rest of the time. (This was Dad's fault).
There she is....and above the surface of the water this time!
Sequoyah riding her wave. She managed to stay on the majority of the time. After she spilled, she was done for a while.

St. George Island

2010-07-10T21:18:00.000-04:00

Can I go in too? Nakiyah was content being in her own tub...for about 20 minutes and then she wanted to join the rest of us. We had to fill the tub 1/2 way with sand to keep her from floating away with the waves. (This did happen once or twice).
Isaiah is testing his boogie board skills. He can't wait to get a scurf board and see what tricks he can do. Oh the joys of youth. I would probably break a minimum of 5 bones if I tried it.
Look what Nakiyah found. She loved playing with the seashells. We would put them in the tub and she would throw them back out.

Wakulla Springs

2010-07-08T09:28:00.000-04:00

Notice the gator just below the bushes. Also notice the people swimming less than 50 yards away.
Pretty bird. You can tell I did not pay attention to the guide when he was saying what each animal was.
River chicken...that is it's given name. As for the real name, once again I am not the one to ask. Notice all of the babies around it.

Stalking out its next meal.

Florida!

2010-07-08T09:06:00.000-04:00

Boat Tour

2010-07-08T08:54:00.000-04:00

Independence Day!

2010-07-08T07:56:00.000-04:00

Isaiah performing a fire dance for us with sparklers.
Proud to be celebrating our Independence.
Nakiyah wasn't too sure of all the things sparkling around her or in the air.

Beach Days

2010-07-08T07:48:00.000-04:00

The pelicans were having a feast. They liked diving in the water. The kids loved watching it!
Preparing the mote for the sandcastle.
Houston.....we have liftoff.....well, 2 out of 3.

Beach Girl

2010-07-08T07:41:00.000-04:00

Nakiyah just helped build a sandcastle. The waves tried to sweep her away but she was too stubborn.

2010-02-02T23:43:00.000-05:00

Nakiyah's first black eye from falling down at church on a metal chair.
Ready for church!
My little pet shop at work! Adonyah is only allowed to be an observer for now.
Eric had Isaiah's name for our Christmas swap ... and this is what he made him!
All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth! Maybe next year!

The Girls

2010-02-02T23:33:00.000-05:00

adventures

2010-02-02T22:51:00.001-05:00

Adonyah

2010-02-02T22:42:00.000-05:00

Growing Kids

2010-02-01T15:06:00.000-05:00

2010-01-22T12:29:00.000-05:00

Just a snapshot of the amount of snow for our snowstorm in December. We had another 4 inches to add to this by the end of the storm. 24 inches total!
Adonyah is trying hard to navigate through the snow. It was up to her armpits but she still had fun.

Lawnmower Part 1

2009-10-13T22:18:00.000-04:00

Just a little background: About two years ago, we inherited a "riding" lawn mower from a co-worker for free. While we received it for free it took close to $400 to get it moving (other than dragging it behind the car). It has done fairly well until mid-summer of this year. Parts started falling off despite my best efforts. As of today, the lawnmower is pretty much an engine with a steering wheel. I have had to remove most of the frame in order for the beast to have enough power to move. In some instances I need to get off and coax it to run. I also have to jump start the mower due to something with the starting unit (battery works fine). Well today I decided I was going to mow the lawn. After going through the pre-mow checklist (30 minutes), I thought I was ready. WRONG. The tire that I just pumped up was flat again. No problem. I have the green goo stuff that can be pumped into the tire to plug the holes. (That was an adventure in itself). So after another 30 minutes, I started mowing. Adonyah decided she wanted to help so we were having a great time watching the clippings fly. In a matter of minutes, the left tire was riding on the rims. (By the way, you can have a zero turn mower to the right if the left tire is completely flat). I left the mower running, because if it is shut off then I have to jump start it again, and I pumped up the tire. I thought I was set again. Three more minutes passed and again I was back to the zero turn to the right scenario. Needless to say I carried the pump with me from that time forward. It was quite the event holding onto Adonyah, a bicycle pump and trying to steer a rusted machine that is ready to buck me off. Every three minutes the tire was pumped up and we finished the job!
Eric/Adonyah 1:Mower 0
Pretty sad that I wrote all of this about my lawn mower!
--Eric

Wow....we are not MIA anymore!

2009-10-11T21:21:00.000-04:00

We are sorry for the long departure from our blog. One of the main reasons is that our computer thinks it is a terminator. It has successfully crashed and ruined many things/pictures/reports, etc. at the worst possible times. It may get its memory reloaded.

Anyway.....we are doing fairly well. Isaiah is in the first grade and has at least an hour of homework every night. He gets home at 3pm, does the homework and then it is close to dinnertime. When is he supposed to run around a be a little boy? Somehow he manages!

Sequoyah is in kindergarten and has a struggle on occasion in the dropping off aspect. She has a favorite teacher's assistant that she loves. If that lady is not there.....head for the tornado shelter. She is having fun though.

Adonyah gets to do "Mommy preschool" with Tennille. This is nothing too organized. It is something that she and Adonyah do every day. They match M&Ms, do colors, puzzles, read books and anything else that Adonyah wants to do with her free time with Tennille. She is also doing soccer through the JAG program. She is good for 30 minutes and then all interest turns towards the snack!

Nakiyah is growing at an ever increasing rate. She is almost 7 months now. She is almost crawling. Somehow she manages to spin on her belly and wiggle around the room. She is quicker than I am at removing my glasses from my face. Her new fascination is with all of the animals. She seems to finally see them. She squeals and jumps up and down whenever she sees Dragon or Small One.

ANIMAL NEWS:
We are sad to say that Peanuts, our pygmy goat, is gone. Things did not work out between her and our neighbor's Alpine bucks. Not to worry though...we found her a good home with a handicap boy who will be using her for therapy.

Also, Isaiah finally got his birthday present that he has been saving for....a parrotlet. For all of you who do not know what this is (myself included before purchasing), this bird is like the chihuahua of the dogs. It is a full blown parrot but miniature sized. Not to worry, the beak is still sharp and very capable of inflicting unwanted punctures and lacerations. She is not that bad...just needs some training. Her name is Tinkerbell and she sure can fly for a bird with clipped wings!

We are on round 2 of the chicken raising. Apparently Dragon found a new taste that he likes. Duck was getting old so he found the white meat more delicious. I think he wanted to just play with something. He often watched the chickens roosting on the kid's fingers, heads and arms and wanted to be a part of it. So naturally when we were not there....he seized the moment. (I still have not figured out where all of the feathers go).

That should do for now. WE (Tennille included) will try to do better in posting from now on. Pictures may be a little more sparse until the computer cooperates better.
--Eric

2009-08-04T16:28:00.000-04:00

The first of the three new chickens. Adonyah ended up having this one as her own.
The new duck in the flock. Twice as big.
Fox hunting. I just got off work and I am in my American flag scrub top. I have my headlight and my shotgun...and of course my sidekick, Dragon.

Hot Days

2009-08-04T16:15:00.000-04:00

Well we have entered into August with some hot weather. It's not really the heat but the humidity. I can't complain with where others live where its like living in a shower all day long. We have stayed in the house today in order to preserve our sanity and keep our hydration status up. We just do the chores around the house and yard first thing when we get up.

We recently had a fight with a bacteria known as Shigella. This little thing can wreak havoc in a matter of days. Just a few germs can wipe out a family for a week or longer. Tennille, Isaiah, Sequoyah and Adonyah all encountered this creature at the same time. Lets just say that hydration status was a concern. Nakiyah and I did not get it...luckily. The pediatrician was worried that Nakiyah would get it and told us to keep them informed. This is a bug that the Health Department likes to check up on. So we get calls occassionally from them seeing if they can pinpoint where it is coming from. Lots of laundry and house cleaning. I think if we move into a house that we choose to build...I am strongly going to recommend rhino lining it. That way we can set off a bleach bomb and then just rinse the place down.

We had three baby chickens hatch last week. They are cute and different colors. Each of the kids has claimed one of them as their own. This way they only hold their own chicken and they can name it whatever they want. Isaiah named his Arrowhead because it has a red spot on its head shaped like an arrowhead. Sequoyah and Adonyah change their chickens' name daily....when a permanent one come....I will inform everyone. We also acquired another duck...it is a different kind of duck that is twice as big as the others. When we first introduced it to the other ducks it tried to establish dominance. Let me say to all the other ducks out there that free roaming Indian Runner ducks are not to be messed with! The new duck tried to dominate one of the older females and she put the newbie is its place. After that, the rest of the flock ostracized the new duck for a day or so. Now everything seems to be just fine. I think the Runner ducks are ok with the new one because he/she is slower than they are. That means first pickins for the fox. (We did lose 5 ducks last week to a fox). Not to worry...I have been out several nights with my shotgun and fox calls....he has not been back since.

Mommy/Daughter Date

2009-07-22T15:06:00.000-04:00

Sequoyah is all fancied up and ready for her date with her mom.
Growing up way too fast, and yes....I do own a shotgun.

4 Months Young!

2009-07-22T14:24:00.000-04:00

Nakiyah has an evil look in this picture. She was all smiles during this...of course she just woke up from a nap!
Big blue eyes!
Nakiyah pulls out her binki so she can suck on her fingers. This is how we usually find her after a nap or in the morning.

Daily Life

2009-06-20T19:42:00.000-04:00

Adonyah was playing with some flour and having a great time...by herself. Then Dragon decided to come along and start licking the flour. Well Adonyah seized her opportunity and doused Dragon with flour. As you can see by the next picture, he didn't seem to mind.
He was licking flour for a long time afterward. He had a lot to drink after this endeavor...water that is. He ended up with half his body covered by the time Adonyah was finished with him. I have never read about this in any parenting book.
This is our bat Stellaluna. This bat has made its home in our outside umbrella. He/she is there every time we open the umbrella and decides to stay with us for our meals when we eat outside. The girls think it is "cute." We like to watch him crawl around when we first open the umbrella.

Isaiah's Running Days

2009-06-17T06:16:00.000-04:00

These are the two relay teams that were sent from Isaiah's elementary school. He is the youngest on either team. To qualify for the team, he beat all of the other kindergartners, all the first graders and came in third out of all of the second graders. This final race for the relay teams was a county wide race. Isaiah's team ended up taking 3rd overall in the county!
At the mark and ready to go. He just wants to run.
And they're off! Isaiah is second from the right....just in case you couldn't find him.

Awake

2009-06-02T06:53:00.001-04:00

Adonyah and I just finished breakfast and decided to write on here to let everyone know we are still alive. We are all doing great! Sequoyah is done with school for the summer and Isaiah only has until Friday! As for me....I am taking summer classes to get ahead a little. Tennille and Nakiyah are both doing good. Sleeping schedules are starting to normalize...a little.

NAKIYAH's Blessing Day

2009-05-06T16:56:00.000-04:00

2009-05-06T16:49:00.000-04:00

SUNSHINE

2009-05-06T16:06:00.000-04:00

Picture Day

2009-05-06T15:36:00.000-04:00

OUR special Nakiyah on her BLESSING day

2009-05-06T15:21:00.000-04:00

2009-05-05T22:15:00.000-04:00

Granny's visit

2009-05-05T22:10:00.000-04:00

NAKIYAH SENDS...Kisses, Hugs, and Goodbyes

2009-04-12T22:35:00.001-04:00

Grandma adventures

2009-04-12T22:27:00.000-04:00

Grandma Tracey came to visit when Nakiyah was born. Here she is looking for the LOST set of car keys. Dragon (our tricky dog) set off the alarm the next day once he found them. (or unburied them from his hiding place.)
Granny Gus helping us get ready for bed. Sequoyah loves reading books.

Random Pictures

2009-04-12T21:44:00.000-04:00

Dragon had a hay day when he found a magazine left out! It was all over the yard.
SUMMER TIME IS HERE!!!!!
The kids were so excited to sleep under the stars...they took about 1 1/2 hours to fall asleep!!! They were sure they would wake up when Eric got home from work on his motorcycle, but they were out cold. I even went out to sleep with them (9 months prego) but it only lasted until about 3am. Eric was a trooper, even if he was sleeping on the blowup mattress=)
HAPPY MARCH!!!!
Sequoyah and Isaiah had a great time making rainbows with creative decorating!
LAST SNOW STORM
We need more HORSE power! Small One was just not making the rounds with all three kids...so here comes the lawn tractor....great fun was had by all! What a fun dad.

Nakiyah

2009-03-19T07:52:00.000-04:00

Proud Parents
Checkin' our Dad!
Lot's of hair!

She's Here!

2009-03-19T07:30:00.000-04:00

Nakiyah finally made it! She was born this morning at 0506. We made it to the hospital at 0330 then she came. She weighed 7lbs 11oz. She was 20 3/4 inches long with lots of hair. Tennille and Nakiyah are both doing great. I will post more later.

2009-02-27T22:19:00.000-05:00

They love being together!
Did you know that Snow White wore cowboy boots? Me neither!
Cheese!
This is Isaiah's favorite thing to do...the pommelhorse. He loves swinging on it. At home he does this on our counter tops.

Good Times!

2009-02-27T21:23:00.000-05:00

Isaiah is doing the parallel bars here. He enjoys these and finds many different things to do on them.
AIRBORNE! Sequoyah got a running start and hit the trampoline full speed. The instructors didn't expect anyone to get much air because most of the class cannot hit the trampoline with two feet at the same time. Sequoyah managed to get about 3-4 feet in the air and then she landed on her knees and hands. She loved it!
Parallel bars for Sequoyah! Way to go Koya!
Ready for church!
We are unloading a round hay bale for our horse. We had to roll it over the fence because it was too wide for the gate. These things weigh about 600 lbs. We did not think ahead about how we were going to stop it. Once we got it over the fence it just kept on rolling until it hit the other side of the fence. It broke a support and some of the fence but that was easily fixed. The man with the crowbar is Eddie Cleveland. He is a great guy and helps us out a lot with many projects.

AAAHHHHHHHHH!

2009-02-27T21:04:00.001-05:00

Ok....story time once again. So our furnace has been out for 3 1/2 weeks. We called a repair person who came out and looked at it and did some troubleshooting. He said we needed a new furnace. We figured as much since it has broken half a dozen times in the last year. So we had him order one. After a bunch of confusion and what not, the man and a helper came and installed the new furnace. They were pretty quick...only two days. When I got home from work last night it felt great in the house. I didn't even need to keep my coat on. When I felt the vent for the heat coming out, there wasn't any. I thought that it was weird because the house was warm. I did some more checking and I discovered what was going on. So.....for all of you out there like me who don't know a lot about this kind of stuff, there are two types of vents that SHOULD be in each room; vent (blows into the room) and intake (that returns the air to the furnace from the room). Well....the warm/hot air was coming in through the intake vents. YUP....our furnace is running backwards! It sucks air in where it should be blowing it out and blows it out where it should suck it in. Usually I would not care, as long as the house stays warm....which it does. However, two of our rooms do not have intake spots, only vents. So in the current situation, two rooms....the only bathroom and the playroom/Isaiah's bedroom are still without heat. The guy is coming back Monday to fix it. So until then we will supplement with space heaters.....AGAIN! Maybe this next time, the air will come out of our phone.

More Fun

2009-02-22T21:57:00.000-05:00

This was our first snowman of the season and likely the last. He sort of looks like Shrek. Lemon for a nose, celery for the ears, and tomatoes for the mouth. He was highly edible as we found out from our dog.

This is what you do when you can't reach something. They are partners in crime!

Ready Daddy

2009-02-22T21:55:00.000-05:00

This was Adonyah's first time riding the horse by herself. Notice her riding goggles?!

Almost time!

2009-02-22T21:29:00.001-05:00

Ok...ok. So it has been 20+ days since we have been on here. Life has gone on without us, or with us....whatever way you look at it. We are on the last couple of weeks before the baby comes. Everthing is set up and ready for her...we think.
I am going crazy with all of the school work and papers. I was 85% of the way done with one this past week and I hit the save button, like I had been doing through the entire paper, and I got a fatal error. Basically what happened is....I LOST THE ENTIRE PAPER AND FILE where I had saved it. It shut down so I couldn't even print it before it closed. That was on Thursday morning and the paper was due Friday morning. I e-mailed my teacher to let her know. I worked all day Thursday and Friday morning and I finished it. Right before class, I was talking with another student, telling her my ordeal, and she said that the teacher just e-mailed everyone Thursday night that it wasn't due for another week. There was some blood shed over this! I turned the paper in that day so the "experience" would be over. That is my week in a nutshell......loaded with gunpowder! Tennille and the kids have been troopers putting up with me and my not so pretty moments over this past week!
--Eric

Sledding with Small One...and Daddy

2009-02-03T10:00:00.000-05:00

Bringing in the NEW YEAR!

2009-01-22T16:47:00.000-05:00

Our special gifts from GRANNY

2009-01-22T16:41:00.000-05:00

Granny Gus made all of the grand kids an "old fashion" monkey sock! It is a treasure to us!!!

2009-01-22T16:34:00.000-05:00

2009-01-22T16:28:00.000-05:00

2009-01-22T16:23:00.000-05:00

My turn!
Your turn!
Our new towel collection!

Daddy Time

2009-01-17T20:53:00.000-05:00

Taking a quick spin on the motorcycle with Isaiah's new helmet!
Daddy's little helpers...can you tell these girls LOVE to dress themselves!
A little DADDY time! What a fun night for Isaiah to have some one on one in his bunk bed =)

Welcome home ... "SMALL ONE"

2009-01-10T09:09:00.000-05:00

Our new adventure has started the year out FUN! Eric, my amazing husband that he is, has the most sensitive heart when it comes to children and animals. He was looking on our new addiction of crag's list at a bookshelf...when he wondered off to Farm and Garden category. It only took one look and he ran in to get me. I just smiled and told him it was a nice dream, but we have to think REAL ... you know, fence, food, care, and of course...we don't have a clue what to do! Eric then had the great idea of just emailing the family to talk about the horse. That was a mistake in the makings....this amazing family (about our age) has a field of RESCUE animals. You see, the dad is a FARRIER and when he cares for people's horses he will run into many sad situations where animals are starting to be neglected because of the economy. Many people will ask if he will just take them with him to find a good home. Now that our heart strings were being pulled, we let it go for a couple of days while we quietly researched Miniature HORSES. We then kept our contact with the family... and they were keeping the mini horse on hold for us, while we were figuring things out. She said there was quite a list of waiting families to take him, but she wanted to give us a try.

As time ticked away, we thought we had things figured out....with the little research we put into it and the encouragement from our Farrier family, we took a drive JUST to meet the mini horse and see the children around him. At that point, our hearts thought for us. We took about 3 hours to play with him, brush him, ride him, get more advice....and he was ours! It was sad to see the all of the goats and horses that were in 'foster care', but the amazing part was the family really only charged what they have had to spend for the upkeep while they were there. To put that into perspective, we payed almost 1/2 for a horse as what we payed for our Labrador DOG! (which we got a very good deal on as well!) We may turn into a 'rescue refuge' once everything is said and done with how adventurous this has been!

It is all in the NAME....SMALL ONE! On the way home, the kids were brain storming the perfect name....and this is what they came up with. Our neighbor's (the Sidwell's) have a very special book about the Donkey that Mary rode on (with baby Jesus in her tummy) while Joseph let them to Bethlehem. It is a sweet story of this strong donkey that took care of them through their many adventures. Hence....we may be going through many adventures our selves, and that is a fitting name for our MINIATURE HORSE ............. SMALL ONE!!!

Loading and Unloading "SMALL ONE"

2009-01-10T08:47:00.000-05:00

Sequoyah is ready to to take him home!
O.K. Small one....take a walk up the plank! NICE TRY
1-2-3- LIFT... they say little, does not make him light!
Unload was much easier! We just pulled down in a dip on the side of our drive way....and Small One just jumped out! Lucky Eric =)

Fun

2009-01-10T08:06:00.000-05:00

Isaiah is great at taking care of Small One. The kids love to ride him. He does very well with them even though he is only 2. We walk around the house with the kids on his back....not all at the same time. Don't worry....he can take it. He is over 200lbs himself.
What a mess! This is the back of the car after we brought the horse home. The kids are smiling because they did not have to clean it up.

Hello there!

2009-01-10T08:01:00.000-05:00

Dragon's first encounter with Small One.
Part of the family on the way home. It's interesting to discover how Adonyah's hair looks like hay.

Our New Addition

2009-01-10T07:52:00.000-05:00

This is Sequoyah leading our new addition to our family. This is Small One. He is a 2-year old mini horse.
This is how we got him home that first night. We lifted him into the back of the Expedition. He fit alright. We placed a tarp underneath him but there was still some "cleaning" to do when we got him. He rode in the back for 90 minutes to get home because of the wet and slippery roads.
Adonyah is helping to manage the leaves after a wind storm!

Santa Delivered

2009-01-05T14:38:00.000-05:00

Christmase Eve ..... Complete!!!

2009-01-04T19:47:00.000-05:00

Letters written, carrots for the reindeer, cookies for Santa (there were more), fireplace open to make sure he can get in, new P.J.'s on, all the kids sleeping in the tent, and rocking chairs set up....for his delivery!
Adonyah working hard to write her thank you to Santa...for an umbrella.
Sequoyah thanking Santa for her new shoes, Isaiah thankful for his new motorcycle helmet.
Dad helping the kids set up the tent in the play room....what a fun traditions for Christmas Eve!!!

The Nativity

2009-01-04T19:42:00.000-05:00

Sequoyah the angel over seeing Isaiah/Joseph.

2009-01-04T19:31:00.000-05:00

Adonyah was an angel in the Nativity that we acted out with some friends on Christmas Eve.
A CAROLING we will go!!!!
What a sight to see all of these kids running from door to door singing Christmas carols!! It was a FUN night with many friends that made this such a memorable evening.

Gift giving

2009-01-02T22:41:00.000-05:00

Eric and the kids made me a BAT HOUSE this year for Christmas....how cool is that!!! Between our ducks and the bats, we are doing our share of bug control! We are still looking for the perfect place to set it up...I will let you know how that goes.
Isaiah drew his dad's name for Christmas and this is what he found....for them! It was a great pick on Isaiah's part, they love this little helicopter.
Let us not forget Dragon on Christmas! The kids were so excited to give this to him and laughed hysterically when he ran laps around the house finding the perfect spot to bury it.

Christmas Eve

2009-01-02T22:32:00.000-05:00

BETHLEHEM ... LIVE

2009-01-02T19:08:00.000-05:00

Is is cold enough? Poor Adonyah was frozen by the end of the night!
Warming up by the camp fire!
The camel enjoyed the attention just as much as the kids!
Smile for the camera
Waiting for the birth of BABY JESUS!

BETHLEHEM ... LIVE

2009-01-02T18:52:00.000-05:00

Isaiah, waiting for baby Jesus to be born .... up and personal with the cattle!
The wise men have arrived and are telling us their story.
The Shepherds and and the angels praise Jesus.
Joseph, Mary, and Baby JESUS!!

Sequoyah's Christmas Program

2009-01-02T18:44:00.000-05:00

COLD?

2009-01-01T23:36:00.000-05:00

I just want you to see who is really in charge of this BLOG ... isn't he AMAZING!!!

Having Fun

2009-01-01T07:04:00.000-05:00

We went to a live nativity that included the entire city of Bethlehem. Isaiah got his chance to say hi to the camel.
Sequoyah giving Adonyah an after program Christmas hug.
Sequoyah in her preschool Christmas program. She sang all of the songs and even managed to twirl her dress in the middle of it. Great job Koya!

2008-12-18T22:51:00.000-05:00

What do you do when your 2-year-old is so excited to see Jesus that she starts climbing on the statue and, while pointing at him, is saying see Jesus?
Favorite spot!
Full of smiles!

Washington DC

2008-12-15T21:55:00.000-05:00

In front of the Washington DC temple. It was cold but it was worth it!
The Vietnam Memorial. What a powerful experience...no matter how many times we go.

Whew

2008-12-15T21:15:00.000-05:00

Sorry about being slackers on our own blog! I just finished up the semester and what a chore that was. A few papers and two presentations later....here we are. We have had an eventful 2 or 3 weeks since we last were on here. Tennille made it back home alright. We picked her up in DC last Saturday (9 days ago) and spent the night there. We went to the monuments on Sunday and then to the temple for the evening. We watched the Joseph Smith movie and then we got to see the lights. They were beautiful. My mom then went back home on Monday. She was here for a week helping out while Tennille was out West. While she was here we al managed to get sick...except for Sequoyah and Adonyah. Even Tennille caught it when she came home. I would like to know what those girls are up to that makes them immune when then rest of us suffer. We were extremely glad to get T back. The kids had enough of just their dad! The funeral for Grandma Wilkes went well....as good as a funeral can go I guess. T said it was sad but good also. We will miss grandma very much.
Dragon managed to chew on another duck about a week ago. We caught him in time and we managed to save the duck. She basically had all of her feathers plucked from her neck and some skin was missing. Isaiah and Sequoyah held her while I bandaged her neck. She is doing great now and is with the rest of the flock. She keeps her head tucked in to keep her neck warm when the wind blows. I'll keep this posting somewhat short so as to save some adventure for later.
--Eric

Grandma Wilkes

2008-11-25T22:45:00.000-05:00

Grandma Wilkes passed away on Monday November 24, 2008. Tennille was able to be with her for a few days prior to. We love you Grandma!

2008-11-23T18:48:00.000-05:00

This was Sequoyah's sunflower that she planted and took care of this year. As you can see it did very well. I have never had to chop down a plant with an axe before.
Isaiah loves when we pick him up from the bus with the lawn mower. He can drive it by himself...stopping is the tricky part because it is so old. I have to do that for him.

Out WEST

2008-11-23T18:42:00.000-05:00

Tennille is making an unexpected visit out West in Wyoming and Idaho. She is visiting her Grandma Wilkes, who is very sick and not doing well. We love you grandma and the kids pray for you every chance they get. That means that I am flying solo with three kids. It was our first full day today and all went well. We had stake conference and then we came home and did some activities. We played outside...while it was somewhat warm. Then we came inside and made a fire. We baked cookies, ate dinner and then roasted marshmallows. The kids are now in bed and it is 6:45pm. I am not too far behind them. Another full day planned for tomorrow.