What's coming...

Soooo, it's August. I've done one post year (I think) and have about 20+ prepped. Know this isn't sustainable but don't know what platform I'm going to move to for recording family memories and pics so I'm pressing through it for now. Future self reading this - know that I'm tired and don't really care about the order of things and honestly probably can't remember a lot of the details...so that's how good this is going to be. :)

Eleanor Elizabeth "Nora" Murray

After a long wait, this sweet girl, officially became Nora Elizabeth Murray on January 13, 2017. What a gift to know and love this family and to witness God's provision for Nora through them...and for them in Nora.

Party at FTCC!

January Pics...in July

To say I can't keep up with the blog these days is an understatement. Life is busier and its taken me until we're well-into summer to have a quiet evening at home sans kiddos to get some old photos up here. So, gonna have to without all my normal commentary and just get the snapshuts up, so at least at the end of the day I'll have a photo-book. 

Rebecca's hunting day w/ Daddy - look how EXCITED she is!

 

And look at their haul! I think the story was something like he dropped these 3 all within minutes of getting out of the car, before they even made it to the blind.

Skirts for the Rebecca's by the littlest Rebecca. Material provided by Bee (an dust-ruffle). Bee actually dressed hers up and rocked it for New Year's Eve and Rebecca's wheres hers almost every week to church, because why not.

Kate moved out in January to her new house and we got to do quite a few fun projects to spruce the place up! You can't tell but that light has huge mason jars on it now where the old shades used to be so the whole thing was basically free and we did it all ourselves. #soproud #amateurhour

Maggie at Regents for her assessment for kindergarten. Spoiler-alert - she got in! :)

Hunting (aka looking at deer) with Daddy

Ooooooooweeeee Reunion

There hadn't been a CB Staff Reunion over New Year's since NYE '07 - we went with Baby Owen and Baby Bailey - so 9 years! It was about time. And although there were a lot of staff we would have loved to see that couldn't make it, it was so good to see all of the faces there. And of course, sooooo good to have some Other Mezger/cousin time which is harder to get these days with both of our family's schedules. 

So much has changed around camp - new buildings, a lot of land cleared, some really cool additions, but also some that just don't quite feel right - that's probably true of any change. 

The Ranch House is all redone (and not in a goodway) but part of the hallway outside the DOG office still had some of our history...

 

Can't help but get super nostalgic here. It's where I met Jesus, and Kyle. The two most important things in my life. So, there's that.

The sad realization that our kids won't really know this place like we did (and that we don't really know where we're going to send them to camp) is made a little happier by a weekend of all 5 of us sleeping in the top bunks of our own cabin. Oooooooooweeeeeeeeeee

Lots of good cousin time.

Going through ALL of the clothes we packed...

Staff

A recreated pose from Cabin 4 circa 1998?

More cousin time - precious.

J girls and boys.

Family photo at the Fish Bowl.

Christmas

Christmas Cookies 2016 will go down in history as the year-to-date that produced the 1) messiest kitchen, and 2) most awesomely decorated cookies, ever.

This is where the mess began. Flour (or was it powdered sugar at that point?) + speed 10 = whoa!!!!!!!!

Here is some whoa for you. And I can't even describe the floor. Ya'll, I mopped and I never mop.

Rebecca and I almost went to blows over this cookie because I am ridiculous. She made it to look like Kate (high pony tale). But it got all fat in the baking so she wanted to turn it into Santa. It's a great little Santa cookie and it almost didn't happen because I was being a persister and didn't like her changing her mind and not making the Kate cookie. I know, ridiculous.

Too lazy to rotate this picture. Minion. Bee/angel. Merry Christmas.

Happy bakers.

Random pic of "Rebecca's" Christmas tree upstairs. She puts all sorts of crazy stuff on it and loves it. And I actually love letting her have her little space of Christmas crazy.

"The birth of Jesus" - by Rebecca

(Closely inspired by the Jesus Storybook Bible)

We had a different Christmas schedule this year than we've had in the past. We celebrated with Bee/JoJo and Alex/Deidre on the 22nd, with Dahdo/Pam and that crew on the 23rd - but without Kyle because he was on call that night (also, perhaps our best white elephant gift exchange yet!), then "fake" Christmas morning on teh 24th - the kids woke up (right after Kyle got home from the hospital and we pretended it was actual Christmas morning, then Christmas Eve service that night at church (because he had to work actual Christmas day from 7a-3p). Then a relaxed day at home on real Christmas day which ended with time with Franny and the Other Mezgers on the afternoon/evening of the 25th. Whew - we made it! Clearly - I have gotten worse and worse at actually taking pictures over the holidays. 

#lettinggo #butIwantmorepictures

"Fake" Christmas morning. Oh, did I forget to mention that Maggie had a major puke-fest on fake Christmas Eve? Yep, cute Christmas PJs definitely ended up in the wash in the middle of the night. Kyle was working and Miss Kate definitely earned her Aunt title - she cleaned up the bed/carpet while I bathed Maggie and washed her hair, then helped me shake chunks off of sheets in the street. It was a real bonding experience for all of us. Maggie was pretty much back to normal

The stockpile after Bee arrived - need more under-tree-space!

Jesus' birthday cake at Nana's.

We've had a few iterations of this guy over the years but my favorite has been this one - with the Little People nativity people on top. I hope we're still making this with the cousins (or at least eating it with them) when these kids are all teenagers and in their twenties, etc. Just kinda love it.

As quickly as I put Christmas decor up this year...that's how quickly I took it down. I always look forward to the clean-slate feel in my house after all the extra goes away - love starting the new year that way.

Family & Friends – Merry Christmas!

No time (or page space to waste) so here is our Mezger family snapshot for 2016.

Owen is nine. He’s in 3^rd grade and for him that means a move upstairs at school, homework that isn’t always easy, an increasing love for chapter books which now includes everyone’s favorite wizarding boy, and football references to catching like Odell (google it). He’ll be taller than me in just a couple of years. (Did I mention he’s almost halfway out of our house? Can you tell we’ve entered the everything-feels-like-it-is-speeding-up phase with this one?) He was on his first lacrosse team in the spring – he had a lot of fun learning a new sport (and we had fun watching something other than tiny soccer-tots kicking each other in a pack). He spent his birthday at Kyle Field (his first game) cheering on the Aggies toward an epic win against Tennessee (which made both Daddy and Mommy happy). His love runs deep for Star Wars, Minecraft, strategy board games, and trying to convince his sisters to do his chores.

Before I move on to the girls, I want to introduce you to the newest member of our family, beloved by all: Vader Tot, the hamster. Our gift to Owen on his birthday (no, he didn’t ask for a puppy…but maybe now he won’t?), she (yes, Vader is a girl) has already persevered through much in our busy household. She is right at home in Rebecca’s ever-expanding Vader Village comprised of, you guessed it, toilet paper rolls. She appreciates it when Owen tries to enforce all of his rules for playing with her, but handles the drops and glitter well when the girls don’t obey. And she went on a harrowing adventure in our ice machine (aka Planet Hoth) thanks to Maggie of course – and survived! Hamsters typically live 2—3 years but given the harsh environment of our home we’re feeling pretty great she’s made it three months! We’ll keep you posted.

Rebecca is seven. She still wows us with her creativity, stockpiling of potential party supplies, recycling-through-art, and ability to go through scotch tape in mass quantities. Her baking continues to be “experimental” in nature – part hypothesis-testing, part parameter-less dreaming, part sugar (lots of sugar). But don’t let her creativity fool you – she’ll rattle off facts in her robot encyclopedia voice about any number of subjects: Mexican history, the Orion Nebula, and her latest Minecraft world. In the spring she (and Maggie) played kickball in an all-girls league which means 75% of the little kid team names included Unicorn. No surprise, Rebecca has a super-intense ninja-like kicking stance. We’ll definitely be back next year – for all the benefits of a team sport, and for the laughs. The transition to first grade from half-day kinder went super smoothly and we are beyond thrilled that reading has clicked! It’s like a switch went off. Most of the credit goes to Dr. Seuss who wooed her with his silly rhymes. Combine her new lyrical repertoire with her dramatic flair and sometimes it feels like we live in Seussical (the musical)…and it’s pretty wonderful.

Maggie is five (sometimes going on 2.5). The best way to describe her is to say that for Christmas she asked for a hugging, napping, back-scratching minion robot. If you are feeling sad and need a smile and a bear hug and 37 sloppy, sticky kisses, she is your girl. If you are feeling sleepy and need a snuggle buddy, she is your girl. Basically, she is all joy and heart (and goo). Her favorite phrase right now is By the Way, I love you. She says it often, always without prompting, and she means it with all of her heart. If she’s not right by my side, she’s hiding somewhere with the iPad or Vader or both. She loves swimming (finally!) and kickball (though if there is too much action going on at 1^st base she might just skip it and make a b-line for 2^nd), minions, deer hunting with daddy (just sitting in a deer blind watching animals), and naming all the letters on anything that has letters. She is usually missing at least one important article of clothing (varies by situation) and can’t wait to start kindergarten next year – a combo that should be very interesting.

Kyle is…wait for it…FORTY. Yep, he crossed over. We celebrated pretty big with a surprise trip to Estes Park (with a party diversion) then an actual party (with a date-night diversion). I may have overdone it a little bit but it was worth it. He took another guys-only backpacking trip to Wyoming and is already dreaming about his next adventure. But the biggest news of the year was his confirmation as an elder in our church. It is a privilege that is weighty and humbling and beautiful.

Alison is not forty yet. Wahoo! I am loving my role in women’s ministry at our church – planning classes and events, teaching some, and the occasional use of a walkie-talkie pretty much make it my dream gig. When I’m not working or mom-ing I’m in the carpool line which is where I think best about both. Throw in our love for hosting events at our house and every day I don’t mix up field trip duty with my team meetings with a Costco run is a banner day.

As a family, we enjoyed another fun-filled road-trip to Colorado for a week during the early summer – there was still snow on top of Wolf Creek Pass so the kids had a summer-snow-day. And we spent Thanksgiving in Mexico with extended family, where Kyle lead the cenote-exploring and Alison lead the hammock-reading. What a treat to get to be in such beautiful places and expose our city-kids to the glories of hiking, fishing, snorkeling and street chicken. Trips and battery-operated Halloween costumes aside, the best moments of the year were shared with family and friends, including two very special gals that each lived in our guest room for half of the year. Miss Sam and Miss Kate will always have a place with this family.

Every night our kids ask us for “the story of tomorrow.” They want to know the plan, the play-by-play. Some days unfold just like we told them they would the night before. Other days we get surprises – both good and bad. But one thing is true of all of our days – they are written by a God who loves us enough to write Himself into the story - as a baby born for sacrifice, as the King of everything who became a servant to make our way back to Him. He is writing a better story for us than any we could write on our own. So this Christmas we are grateful for the shapshot we find ourselves in, grateful for or all of you, and grateful for our great Savior, Emmanuel – God with us.  

                                   

Love,     

Kyle, Alison, Owen, Rebecca & Maggie Mezger