Horrible procrastinator!!!!

I know that having a baby is a pretty good excuse to not posting, but really?? Over a year?? Four kids is busy, but we love this kind of busy. It is just prioritizing differently. Feeding the kids is higher priority than cleaning the house, making sure everyone is one time for school is higher priority than making sure Luke is out of his pajamas.
"Who is Luke?" you say?? Lucas Ronald Winter is our missing puzzle piece. He has made waking up the boys for school fun. They wake up trying to get the first smile. Luke made the fab four complete June 10th... couldn't wait one more day to share his birthday with Gram and Papa Ron. He is a joy! He is the happiest baby and a great baby! Very tolerant of his brothers and sister who love him so much!!

Garrett is 7 and loves school! He is reading very well. I miss him because he is gone all day now. I love the smile he gives me everyday at pick-up! He has a heart of gold!

William is 5 and loves school, too! He has a male kindergarten teacher... very rare, but perfect fit for William! His giggle is infectious and he is my peace keeper! Very giving and caring.

Maggie is 3 and is good at it!! Who knew 3 was the new 2?? DRAMA QUEEN! She wants to do everything her brothers are doing in her dresses! She is awesome and makes me laugh daily.
Bob is busy at work. Still loves his job (most days) and is loving his new hunting spot!
I am loving being a Mom and wouldn't trade it for the world. We are so blessed!!

Summer Time!!

What a beautiful summer... I love the cool nights and the not too warm, but warm enough days... no a/c, play outside and not get too hot. The kids love Gram and Papa's heated pool... perfect year to put that heater in! Love it! Don't blink, it will be over before we know it. The boys ran in the first ever kids fun run at the Kindleberger fest this weekend. 1/2 mile run, they ran the whole way... Garrett said a big kid beat him at the end, otherwise, he would have won it. Either way, they were both first for their age group! They are awesome! Maggie does her best to keep up with them. She is one tough cookie! Watch out! loving life! ...The Winters

Happy Fathers Day!

Bob had to work for Fathers Day this year, so we celebrated last week, but still got to see him on and off today... in between calls to work. How blessed are we (the kids and I) to call Bob "Daddy". What a wonderful Dad he is! But I thought I would take this chance to tell my Dad how great he is...
Woobs, Thank you for everything you do for us! Thank you for working at VBS with me this week. What an awesome example you were for those kids! I had a blast! Thank you for showing me qualities to look for in a husband and father for my kids... the number one quality being faithful to God. Your love and support for Bob and I and the kids is immeasurable. I love you!

Happy Birthday Mom and Dad, or Dad and Mom!!

30 some years ago, your birthdays changed forever.
One could say this was for the worse, not the better.
June 11th became a day to share.
Was this whole thing really fair?
Instead of cake and presents for one,
You had to now divide the fun.
Grandma or Papa, Ron or Sue-
Which one do we sing first to??
Happy 60 and 59!!
Both call for a real great time!
And so we celebrate you two,
and hopefully pulled one over on you!
In the end, it's just another day,
these are earthly treasures anyway.
And you've got treasures that others can't see...
And where your treasure is, your heart will also be!
So, Happy Birthday Gram and Papa, or Ron and Sue!!
Hope you know that we all love you!!!!

Hope you had fun at the surprise party! I know we did and the kids loved it! Happy Birthday guys! love you! steph

A new heart for our friend!

Our dear friends Suzie and JR are in Ann Arbor tonight while their daughter Lindsay (who will be one next week!) is getting her new donor heart. Please pray for them and for the donor family and their gracious gift of life!
As I was talking with Suzie tonight, Maggie was screaming in the back ground and the boys were running around and I said to her "hear what your house will sound like next year!" Can't wait for it to sound like that for them!

pictures

Garrett At T-Ball #5!!


Happy Easter! He is Risen! He is Risen Indeed!

Lindsay and the kids... now everyone can see how tiny she is... Maggie looks huge next to her. She loved Williams curls (so did I before Daddy buzzed them off!)... She loved Garretts glasses, too. A picture of her with Garrett is on her blog...

So much for staying up to date!!

We have been so busy enjoying life and each other, that I haven't had time to update the blog with what we've been doing! Thank goodness May is here and summer is right around the corner. We can hardly wait to be outside more!
Garrett has started t-ball! What fun! Everyone bats, every inning and they advance one base each time, except the last batter gets to run all the way around the bases... well when you bat alphabetacle order, Winter gets to go last and so he got "3 grand slams" the first game. He was so excited. He only has 2 weeks left of young fives and then he is going on to Kindergarten! That is just crazy to me. What a blessing!
William is loving his school... he has 3 weeks left and is very excited that next year he will get to play t-ball and go to school where Garrett goes! He is our rascal and asks me every day "When do we get to go back to Disney? I miss the monorail!" Oh William, if you only knew that your mom would take you back in a heart beat!
We moved the boys up to the 3rd floor and they love it. They have their trains set up and play so nicely up there together. Bob thinks he might actually get the living room back from being a play room before they are teenagers now.
Maggie finally has hair long enough for pig tails... or at least little antenae on top of her head. She is growing and talking more and more every day. Trying to catch up with the boys. She calls Garrett "Gar-gar" and William "Wee-wee", and wants to do what ever they are doing. She is so much fun.
Bob is staying busy at work and having fun turkey hunting, but no crazy stories of hunting down the turkey yet this year... only 1 more day of turkey season, so keep your fingers crossed for him.
We are looking forward to more camping this summer... hopefully it will start warming up soon! I promise to work more on remembering things and posting them, at least so I will remember them someday!