Aren't we so RITCHIE?!

2010-03-09T10:03:00.001-08:00

Luke turns 2.

2010-03-09T09:39:00.000-08:00

Josiah & Nathanael's
Snowman in Feb. 2010

2009-09-20T13:31:00.000-07:00

Here's the pic to go with the caption below. If I blogged more often, I'd probably be better at it. :)

Josiah's Birthday

2009-09-20T13:25:00.000-07:00

July 31, 2009 - Josiah's 9th Birthday

Luke gave up before the party even started!

09.09.09

2009-09-20T13:20:00.000-07:00

Nathanael's first day of preschool. He's attending Pana Christian Preschool and he LOVES it!

2009-09-09T18:10:00.000-07:00

Our handsome young men 9-9-09.

2009-09-09T18:05:00.000-07:00

Nathanael before his first day of preschool 9-9-09.

2009-09-09T18:01:00.000-07:00

Josiah, Nathanael & Luke at Holiday World in Santa Claus, Indiana (July 21, 2009)

2009-03-09T10:01:00.000-07:00

Luke Turns One!

Although our little Leapling didn't have a birthDAY, he did turn one year old! We now officially have three rambunctious boys.

2009-01-07T19:33:00.000-08:00

Mommy, Josiah and Nathanael singing for Christmas.

2009-01-07T19:25:00.000-08:00

Luke on Christmas Day, 2008.

2008-12-24T08:07:00.000-08:00

Karen and Boys In December, 2008

2008-12-24T07:44:00.000-08:00

Mom & Boys Singing Christmas Song At Church

2008-12-24T07:39:00.000-08:00

Our Three Boys At Christmas Time.

2008-09-26T07:05:00.000-07:00

Our three boys being crazy and having fun. Okay, Luke is actually crawling for cover (i.e. mommy).

2008-09-26T06:20:00.000-07:00

Here's a clip of Nathanael holding his precious brother. He has been getting a little too friendly with him in the last few weeks.

2008-08-08T05:32:00.001-07:00

Vacation in July - MAGIC HOUSE

2008-08-07T07:42:00.000-07:00

We loved the Magic House (St. Louis), especially on a day that was way too hot to be outside! We recommend this experience for you and your family, but suggest you wait until late 2008 or early 2009 when the new construction will be complete and it will be more than double its current size!

Have you ever tried this? . . .

2008-04-26T13:34:00.000-07:00

. . .Creating masterpieces on the front porch with sidewalk chalk in your undies (diaper) while wearing mud boots on the wrong feet and a shirt that says "It's my brother's fault"? . . .Apparently, it's an enjoyable way to spend a beautifully warm Spring day! Just ask this kid.

All Smiles

2008-04-26T13:25:00.000-07:00

Luke turned 8 weeks old on Friday. Hard to believe. He's been practicing all week on this beautiful smile! I love it when babies are finally able to give a little something back - melts my heart. There's nothing like motherhood. I wouldn't trade it for the world. Thank you, God, for this awesome gift, this "job" I have of being mama to three wonderful boys!

Who needs a daughter?

2008-04-26T13:14:00.000-07:00

Who needs a daughter when you have a SON that so beautifully applies makeup? He has even been experimenting with different hair-dos, especially those using hair clips! Isn't he a dandy?

EARTHQUAKE damage!

2008-04-26T12:58:00.000-07:00

The earthquake last Friday, April 18, woke Derrick and I up from our sleep. The boys, however, slept through it. So, the next morning, I told Josiah what he missed, and he started talking about huge cracks in the earth and lava. Sorry, kid, but not in Central Illinois!

Anyway, before I knew it, he was up looking around the house looking for evidence of the earthquake. He opened the snack cabinet and said, "Look at the Cheese Nips, mom. The earthquake shook the box crooked - it used to be straight!" And he was serious. :) (See Cheese Nips on top shelf, orange box.)

So Says Josiah . . .

2008-04-16T10:43:00.001-07:00

"I'm glad I have two brothers: One to wrestle with and one to kiss on and love!"

"C'n I hold him?"

2008-04-16T10:38:00.001-07:00

Notice Nathanael's idea of "holding" baby Luke . . .no hands! Both boys still adore their little brother. They want to kiss (slobber on his head), hug (smash), and hold him all the time. However, I'm already hearing talk of Luke needing to grow up fast so he can wrestle with them. Ahhhh, boys!

2008-03-16T19:43:00.001-07:00

We are getting in the groove of having three boys. Nanny came up from Oklahoma for a week and helped. Our biggest challenge is keeping two year old Nathanael entertained. Josiah has been a big help and is doing a great job at being big brother to both Nathanael and Luke.

Luke Leaps Into The World

2008-03-02T19:20:00.001-08:00

Luke Jameson Ritchie was born February 29 at 2:14 p.m. He weighed 7 lbs. and was 19 1/2 inches long. He has been greeted lovingly (thus far) by his proud older brothers Josiah and Nathanael. More pics to come . . . !

2008-02-25T08:50:00.001-08:00

Here is Karen at 8 1/2 months. We are expecting little Luke to arrive anytime, so we'll keep you posted when he does. Luke's due date is March 3, but Josiah and Nathanael were each one week early.

Our New Home In The Winter

2008-02-20T19:41:00.001-08:00

We had a nice snow a few weeks ago as the boys got to stay home and play in the snow. We have a hill just West of the house that is great for sledding down.

We are almost 100% done on the house. There are still some boxes to unload, but it is finally looking like a home.

Boys, Boys!

2008-02-20T13:08:00.001-08:00

2008-02-20T13:05:00.000-08:00

SWEET boys!

2008-01-04T18:50:00.001-08:00

Beautiful gingerbread houses made by the Illinois cousins . . .Josiah, Nathanael and Jackson! Of course, the best part was sneaking candy throughout the whole project.

Christmas Program 2007

2008-01-04T18:43:00.000-08:00

"It All Happened in the Country" was a hit! Many have said this was the best musical our church has done yet. The kids did great. Their favorite song was "Jingle Rap" which explains the picture of Josiah and his "cool" shades!

A Special Room

2007-10-14T17:30:00.001-07:00

Well, if you haven't heard, we are expecting our 3rd little miracle at the end of February. Tomorrow is my 20 week appointment, so we are halfway there!

AND, as you might guess from this picture of the baby's room, we have been told that its gender is again, male. Here's the story:

Last Monday at our sonogram, the technician said it appeared that, with our two boys, we were due for a girl, and it looked like that was what we were having. BUT, he said he'd do some other looking around, then come back to make sure. So, for 5 minutes, we were having a girl. Then, she turned into a boy as he found a different angle that revealed obvious boy parts! I just laughed.

We haven't really started playing the name game yet since this house project is so consuming and our communication is limited for the time being. We'll post more when we finally know more.

COLOR!!

2007-10-14T16:48:00.001-07:00

Well, we did a LOT of painting this weekend! It was incredible to have the help of so many friends to get this job mostly done in 1.5 days.

Utility Room: brown ("chocolate indulgence") and green

Living Room/Kitchen: green and cream - okay it turned out more yellow than I was really wanting, but we are NOT redoing it for at least 10 years! :)

Boys' Room: red and muslin - or "muslim" as someone accidentally quipped .. . .NOOOOO!

Master Bedroom: chocolate indulgence and muslin

These are the main rooms I thought you'd like to see. Flooring begins tomorrow evening, so we're moving right along. Did I say MOVING! Yikes!! How are we going to get that accomplished in 2 weeks, too??

Shingles on the Roof!

2007-09-01T06:26:00.000-07:00

It's been a hard week for Derrick and the different guys who have come to help shingle our roof. They've done a great job, don't you think? We LOVE the color we picked out (Burnt Sienna) and hope we love our siding color as much (Champange). They aim to start siding this next week.

For this next picture of the back of our house, picture a bright yellow ladder leaned against the roof and a TWO-YEAR-OLD making his way up to the PEAK! Oh, yes, it happened!! I was down there with the boys trying to clean up. I had just realized Nathanael was out of my sight, and I was headed out and around to look for him when I heard Derrick holler for me. He and Tim were on the front side shingling, and when Derrick heard a familiar voice sounding oddly close he turned around to see Nathanael standing at the peak!! We are amazed (and THANKFUL) that he didn't slip or fall. Needless to say, if we ever take both boys down there again, we will have to conduct a full-house safety inspection before he gets loose. Stinker!!

AND our 10th Anniversary!

2007-08-27T13:32:00.000-07:00

As if we don't have enough going on with our boys' birthdays, we also celebrated our 10th Anniversary on July 26! Derrick planned our overnight excursion and kept it all a surprise:

Dinner at Guzzardo's in Lincoln, Illinois where we ate the evening we got engaged.
Pictures at the park by Guzzardo's where he proposed to me. (see pic above)
On to Champaign, Illinois to the Holiday Inn where we spent our honeymoon night on the way out of town to Door County, Wisconsin.

You didn't think he had that in him, did you. Neither did I! He's probably regretting he did all this because now I KNOW he can if he tries. :)

Fun Fact: Our hotel bill ended up discounted by 50% - there was no hot water in the hotel the next morning!

And Nathanael turns 2!

2007-08-27T13:26:00.001-07:00

One week later, on August 7, Nathanael turned 2. We celebrated his day a few days later when Nana Pam and Papa Ron were here from Colorado. Uncle Dave, Aunt Kristin and Cousin Jackson were here too. Nathanael loved his "bug mountain" cake - he's always gotten a kick out bugs (yuck!)

Josiah turns 7!

2007-08-27T13:19:00.000-07:00

Josiah turned 7 years old on July 31. Although I didn't think I did a cool enough job, Josiah thought his volcano cake was "totally awesome!" I guess that's all that matters.

Progress!

2007-07-13T14:00:00.001-07:00

Rough plumbing on Thursday and concrete today! And the weather looks good for next week's work, so things could be picking up really quickly now. This concrete is just the main house; the garage, front porch and back patio are still to be framed and poured.

The first picture shows the house to the East of us (and the only other house on the lot); the second is taken from the back of the house facing North. You can see cars passing by on Route 16 from this view.

Hot Dog, Big Bird?

2007-07-08T15:41:00.001-07:00

Nathanael enjoyed sharing his hotdogs and apple juice with Big Bird. In the last pic he is signing "bird."

Good Land!

2007-07-08T13:45:00.000-07:00

You're looking at 6 lots in Tower Hill, half a city block, that are now ours. We will be building a house here over the next few months (with a really big back yard!) so we can move out of the parsonage to make room for our first full-time Youth/Associate Minister! Both of these things are very exciting . . . the new house and the new (additional) minister.
The land was sold to us by a family in the church and we are so grateful to them for their sacrifice! (By the way, Derrick said, "But we only need one or two lots." He answered, "It's all or none." :) Thus the reason we own 6 whole lots!)
Also, many friends have offered to help do different projects on the house in order to help keep our labor costs down - and let me tell you, we have some really talented people in our church that know how to do almost anything and everything. We are also grateful for their encouragement in this way.
At this time, the footings are already poured and we're just waiting for the rainy days to stop interrupting our building project. Isn't that how it goes?

Boys!

2007-07-08T13:29:00.001-07:00

By far, the favorite pastime of the boys is wrestling with Daddy! I love this picture . . .I had it made into an 8x10 black & white and framed it for Derrick's Father's Day gift.

Hello!

2007-07-08T13:23:00.000-07:00

Welcome to our blog. Not that I know what I'm doing yet, but I decided it was time to get keep in better touch with all our family and friends. Seems blogging is the pop thing to do, so here goes nothin'!