Leana is 4 Months!

I have finally gotten around to posting some more pictures of Leana.

 Our beautiful little niece is already 4 months old. I can't believe she's gotten this big already!

"Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.

As arrows are in the hand of the almighty man; so are the children of the youth."

 Psalms 127:3-4

It snowed all day Sunday. We ended up getting 9-11 inches of snow. When I woke up Monday morning I couldn't help myself but take a few pictures of the snowy treasures that waited outside for me. IT WAS INCREDIBLY BEAUTIFUL! :)

When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained:

What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?

For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.

Psalms 8:3-5

Happy 22th Birthday Justin!

Happy 20th Birthday Matthew!

I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress; my God in him will I trust. Psalms 91:2

Last Friday our family sang at a church near Cumberland Wisconsin. 

Here are a few snapshots of our concert.

Praise ye the LORD. Praise God in his sanctuary: praise him in the firmament of his power. 

Praise him for his mighty acts: praise him according to his excellent greatness.

Praise him with a sound of a trumpet: praise him with the psaltery and harp.

Praise him with the timbrel and dance: praise him with stringed instruments and organs.

Praise him upon the loud cymbals: praise him upon the loud sounding cymbals. 

Let everything that hath breath praise the LORD. Praise ye the LORD.
Psalms 150

O sing unto the LORD a new song: sing unto the LORD, all the earth.

Sing unto the LORD, bless his name; shew forth his salvation from day to day.

Declare his glory among the heathen, his wonders among all people.

Psalms 96:1-3

Deer? Yes! So far we have shot five of them.

 We've gotten three does, and two bucks. Here are a few pictures of Laurissa, and her nine point buck.

Laurissa, and her wonderful mentor. 

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.  Philippians 4:13

On November 1st, our church had a send-away party for one of the families who attends our church.   
  The Sykora's left on the 14th of November. We miss them a lot! :(

At the send-away party there was a meal, which all the families helped out with. Then after a prayer meeting session, there were activities, which everyone participated in.
 I mean EVERYONE!!! Even the Moms and little kids joined in the fun. 
Sorry about not posting sooner!

The first activity involved three younger kids. Each of them had to race to get a puzzle finished.

Here is Shari Borntrager putting a puzzle together.

~Allison~

 The winner of this game was Jesse Sykora. 

But before I get any farther, I should probably explain how it all works.

First we were all divided into three teams.
Every activity envolved one person from each team, so there were plenty of opportunities to be involved. Every time someone won an activity, there team got a point. 

The team with the most points at the end of all the activities wins.
There were 14 different activities.

The next round you took a paper plate, and balanced 5 blocks on top of your head. 

A person would have to balance them for 5 seconds.

                                           Our winner of the round was Miranda Herrlinger.

One of the next games envolved needles and thread! :D
The person who threaded five needles first wins.

~:~

~ Steve Sykora ~

And the winner of the round was Jonathan Wiltrout!  

One of my favorite activities was this one. 

A person had to keep three balloons up in the air for 30 seconds. 

Dad was the person who kept the balloons up in the air for the longest time.

It was so funny to see him roll on the flour, and claw at the balloons to keep them up!

This one was also really funny! 

 They took a towel, and duct taped it down. And then they used it as a catapult to launch the pingpong balls into a pan.

~ Mrs. Skogen ~

~ Mr. Martin ~

The guys were on the other side retrieving the balls.

One of the last events was this one. One person from each team had to be blindfolded, and have their noses plugged. Then they had to eat a spoonful of mystery food.

Can anyone guess what their were eating??? 

Chandelle Martin guessed it right.
It Was Fried Onions!!!


And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth fruit in his season;
his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
Psalms 1:3

Flowers Anyone?

The past few days our family has been busy doing some singing, babysitting, shopping, cleaning, making flowers, and working at different jobs.

  A couple days ago while we were babysitting, Laurissa wanted me to take some pictures of a few different flowers in somebody's hair. 

  Our volunteer's name is Kylee, and she is 3 years old. She is also the youngest girl in the family. 

~ Smiles ~

~:~

 SAY CHEESE!

This flower would be the biggest kind we make.

This kind of flower is clipped in, instead of glued onto a headband.

~:~

Delight thyself also in the LORD: and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.

Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.

Psalms 37:4-5

Outside House Work

A big project of ours has been to scrape and repaint the house. It was a big job, but with lots of help and team work, it got done pretty fast. We got the house done in about two and a half days.

 This is what the house looked like after it was scraped, and before painted.

 Dad wanted us girls to patch up some of the bare spots.

Here's Allison working on it.

 ~ Miranda ~

~ Me ~

 We used a paint-sprayer to paint the house.

~ Laurissa scraping ~

 One of Dad's customers let us use his manlift.  

~ Dad up in the manlift ~

~ Matthew ~

~ More scraping ~

~ And more scraping ~

We put paper over the windows so paint wouldn't splatter on them.

~:~

~ Joel ~

~ The brand new look ~

Seest thou a man diligent in his business? 

He shall stand before kings; he shall not stand before mean men.

Proverbs 22:29