First Snowy Day

Where's Jacob?

Along with the Christmas season comes the kids' programs. This is the Christmas program we had at church last Sunday...see how long it takes you to find Jake!
If you click the photo it should make the picture larger.

Happy 6th Birthday Jacob

Last night Jacob had two of his buddies over for his birthday. They had a lot of fun! Dad took them to Laser Quest. You can see from the pictures they had a blast together!

Jake, Mason and Grant

Boxer Submission

This morning Jake was pretending that Matsu was his horse. He tied her up on the ground and laid on her. And the entire time Matsu just had a "whatever" attitude about it all.

Happy Thanksgiving

We hope that each of you enjoyed your day of Thanks! It would be a perfect holiday for us if some how we could have all of our family and friends together in one place. However that is not reality. But we are so thankful that we got to spend some time with the Wehr side of our family. Jan, Ben's mom has 2 brothers. Them along with their wives and Jan's mom came to visit from Iowa. It is always a WONDERFUL time when we see them!! AJ, Ben's cousin also came with his girlfriend. They drove from New Mexico. One of the highlights of the time with everyone was seeing AJ and Holly together. Ben and I could see how much AJ has grown in the Lord and we know that Holly has been instrumental in that. There is nothing more sweeter than seeing someone you care about begin to understand that Jesus is real and truly amazing!!

I forgot to take pictures on the Thanksgiving. And the next day my batteries died. But I did get a couple of us around the table working on a puzzle.

Holly, Jan, Kacie and Pat

Kacie took this picture of me and Betty (Jan's mom)

Turkey Trot

Last Saturday on November 17th, I ran in my 2nd race. It was a beautiful morning and I couldn't have asked for better conditions for a 10 mile run. Not only was the weather nice, but my family came to cheer me on.

On the homestretch...

At this race it was truly for the entire family. Jake and Kacie jumped in the moonwalk and had their picture taken with the "Turkey".

Like I said, the entire family came. Even Matsu had a fun morning!!

More Birthday Fun!!

This weekend Ben's side of the family came over for a Birthday Brunch. We celebrated Jake and Kacie's birthday. Jake sure didn't mind celebrating his a couple of weeks early:)

Thanks Grandpa and Grandma, Uncle Eric and Aunt Cherith, Addi and Logan for taking time out to make our kids feel special.

I asked Jake what type of cake I should make. He said that I should make a cake that was one side boy and one side girl...this is what we came up with. One half was monster truck and the other half was my little ponies.

Kacie is now officially 3!!

Jake with his new laser tag guns...

Princess Party

Kacie was able to have 2 of her friends over during the day for a

PRINCESS BIRTHDAY PARTY.

Thank you Tymber and Faith for making her 3rd birthday special!

Princesses: Tymber, Kacie and Faith

Kacie with her new toys...

Kacie in her new sweater hoodie...TOO CUTE!!

Pump it Up

Our good friends Jon and Angie have 2 kids who both celebrate their bdays in Oct. This year the party was at Pump It Up. It is a place with huge inflatables. We all had a good time! Thanks guys for a great evening!

Ben getting ready to launch Jacob

Ben and Kacie going down the slide

Birthday Celebrations...

Happy Birthday Grandpa

Grandpa Denny and Ben have October birthdays only 3 days a part.

All of Ben's family came over for a fun birthday party!!

October Festivities

We had such a great time hanging out with family this weekend. Ben's brother and his family invited us to come to the Maize (a town outside of Wichita) festivities. We started the morning bright and early as Cherith (Ben's brother's wife) and myself ran in the 2 mile FUN RUN. Then we headed into town to watch the parade. After the parade the kids rode on the ponies and we went to the car show. Here are a few pictures of our day...

Cherith and Jodie after the race

Cousins: Jake, Kacie, Logan and Addi

Waiting for the parade to start...the kids are ready to get candy!

Kacie LOVED riding the pony!!

Walter's Pumpkin Patch

What a wonderful time Jacob and Mom had at the Pumpkin Patch with his kindergarten class! Not only was it exciting to take a ride out to the patch and pick out a pumpkin, but the place we went had so much other stuff for the kids to do...

Walters' Pumpkin Patch gives your family a day on the farm that everyone will enjoy and treasure! This pumpkin patch surpasses any that I have been to. Here is a link if you live around Wichita and you are interested http://www.walterspumpkinpatch.com/

Mason, Jake and London were the "Kings of the hay bails"

Jacob and Brycen proud owners of a new pumpkin!

For those of you who know Jake pretty well, you know that he is a little bit of a chicken when it comes to trying things that are high and fast. We spent 30 minutes WATCHING his classmates going down the tunnel slides. But by the afternoon he talked himself into trying it one time...he loved it!

Jake's kindergarten class

6 Days in Taipei, Taiwan

Ben was in Taiwan for 6 days on a business trip. Actually 4 the other 2 were spent on an airplane. It was overall a good experience for him. We of course missed him here on the home front...I am so thankful that I have Ben to do life with!

This is a picture of the scooter traffic. Ben said that they are everywhere...he saw a family of four on one scooter, a guy who rode barefoot. Rain or shine there were the same number of people out on their scooters.

When Ben would call, he would tell me about the food that he had the opportunity to try. This meal actually had a steak with it, so he was pumped! One of the delicacy's that he ate was a bird's nest. He said it actually tasted OK...however he was sure glad to sink his teeth into a burger when he was on his own soil.

Ben on a scooter. He said that the Taiwanese people were laughing at the tall white guy on the little scooter. They found it quite entertaining.

A Typhoon was on its way just north of Taipei. Ben's plane was the last plane to take off before they shut down the airport. As the plane took off it was shaking very hard due to the high winds and the rain. Ben said that he was actually a little bit nervous. But mostly he was glad that he did not get stuck in Taipei and have to endure the storm.

Finished...2:06:51

This past Sunday morning I (Jodie) ran my first half marathon (13.1 miles). The race was held in downtown Wichita.

I want to say THANKS for those of you who prayed for endurance for me! It was much needed...at mile 10 I hit a huge wall and wanted to quit. But the Lord carried me through the last 3.1 miles!! I also want to say THANKS to my #1 fan...Ben. He was such a great source of encouragement before, during and after ther race!!

So...would I do it again? Yes. I am thinking maybe I found a new hobby. We will see...

Here we go...the start of the race

I am trying not to talk myself out of running

Homestretch

After the race...

Hurry and take my picture before I fall over

"Feeling Spoiled"

Today I (Jodie) took Jake to the bank to cash his first check. He felt like a big boy!! All of Jake's hits in baseball really paid off...literally. Great-Grandpa and Great-Grandma Karsak challenged Jake by giving him a little money for each hit he got in baseball this past season. Jake got to spend his money any way he wanted and he bought some of the cars from the Disney Cars movie. Kacie too got a little bit of money and she picked out a diaper and t-shirt set for her doll.

Thank you Grandpa and Grandma! You really made our kids day...

A Blast From the Past

It was in the middle of the afternoon and I was getting Kacie down for her afternoon nap. The phone rang and it was my friend Jenni Huddin. She was one of my dear friends from college and one of my roommates while attending WSU. It has probably been at least 5 years since I have seen her. Well, she and her beautiful family came into town and met some of us friends at Burger King for lunch. Jenni, it was great to see you! It brings joy to my heart knowing that you are doing well!! And Ben says hello to you and Grant.

Here is a picture of some "old" friends and WSU teammates.

From left to right...Jodie, Jenni, Susan and Deana.

Yes, I was the shorty on the team :)

Kacie is a "Big Girl"!

Kacie has been asking to go to school everyday because she so wants to be "big" like her brother. So...we decided it would be good for her to go to "school" one morning a week. Today was her first day and she had a blast. She was having such a good time she did not want to go home when I picked her up.

Kacie's first day of "school"

Kids Having Fun

Last Saturday we went to our local Amusement Park for Ben's work picnic. These are a few pictures of the kids having a lot of fun...

Jacob Starts Kindergarten

Jake's first day of school was Aug.20Th. He was very excited about going...and still loves it! His teacher is Ms. Adams. He goes to school from 8:10a-3:25p. You can probably imagine the most difficult adjustment is the long day. However we are 1 1/2 weeks into it and he is getting a lot more used to it.

Handsome "lil" man!

Jake in front of classroom

Jake rode the bus for the first time this week