The Sankeys & Anne!

Early March we had the fun of a visit with Amy's Aunt Elaine and Uncle Murray!  We always enjoy seeing them very much.  We had planned to try and see them twice, but Kaleb got sick that week so we scratched the first dinner and they went to eat with Steinke's alone (avoid the virus at all costs! - although Kaleb quickly got better so hopefully he didn't have the virus, and none of us have gotten sick from exposure to him).

So great to see them!

Addison fell asleep while we all sat in the living room chatting -- Amy's leg fell asleep being the pillow for her!

We had a really fun outing where Amy took Grandma, Kaleb, Addison and London to see the Anne of Green Gables.  Amy does love Anne - what a fun story!  The original movie is also the best, so Amy has not watched any of the remakes - why ruin a good thing!  There can only be one true Anne!

Addison had her karate belt testing and successfully went to the full green belt - good for you girl!

Karis had a fun day when he got to take off of work and go help with the 7th grade pig dissection.  He had a fun time with the group of 7th graders, and he was clear when he texted Amy that he was pretty sure Zachary would never go into medicine - too grossed out by the whole experience! :)

The Sugar Fast Ladies & Valentine's Day

At the beginning of the year, our friend Erika invited a group of ladies ot participate in a 40 day Sugar Fast to focus on eliminating things that draw us away from God and to devote the time to bible study and prayer.  It was an amazing experience, and such a wonderful opportunity to look at areas of life that we are distracted with.  Amy did not focus so much on sugar, as that hasn't been a "go to" instead of God but instead she fasted from her kindle (which is a constant distraction) and spent the time commuting in the car in prayer and listening to the daily thoughts from the book instead of doing Marco Polo etc. All the ladies agreed that we were sad to see the experience end, so we have started our next book together "Risen!"  At the end of the Sugar Fast book, we had a potluck dinner at Reiner's - which Addison in particular thinks is about the most fun place on this earth as their subdivision is under construction so there are dirt piles and there isn't a lot of traffic so the kids can play at will on the road.  Pure delight!

Thanks for the amazing experience Erika!

In a line ready to race down the driveway!

The closest that the kids will ever get to a cat while they live at home, as Amy and Zachary are allergic to them!

Playing in a dirt pile!

Our church hosted a Valentine's Day evening, which is always fun to go to.  We went with Jennifer (thanks for inviting us!) and it was lots of fun.

Getting our caraciture done

The church had a really neat church service experience where they simulated Jesus' entry with the donkey into Jerusalem.  The kids had on old time outfits and got to lead the way shouting "Hosanna, Jesus is Coming!"  It was a really neat way to bring it alive!

In a stroke of "it was the best of times, it was the worst of times" Karis managed to get free tickets to see Tampa Bay play Edmonton Oilers.  He was super excited to see Connor McDavid, young phenom in the NHL but in a terrible stroke of luck, Connor hurt himself 2 days before the game and wasn't playing -- so Karis didn't actually get to see him play.  He took the boys and Blake, and Jeff and Aunt Ev (who also had tickets) drove down with him so it was a nice visit and a good memory, but not quite as exciting as he'd hoped!

Random pictures: 

Proof that sometimes they play together - Kaleb and Zach playing basketball!

Addison and Sadie riding around in the green motorized car

London and Addison sharing secrets together!

So sweet these two - like sisters!

Fun Run?

Early in February the school had their 5K Fun Run.  Karis has normally been skiing over this particular weekend in past years, so this was the first time that he was able to come. As he was there, he decided to support Kaleb and run it with him - a family affair!

Nice to have him here!

 Zachary won the whole school race last year in 6th grade, so he was particularly sad that he wasn't able to run it this year to try and have a repeat success point due to his healing back fracture - his friend Luke from the soccer team that ran it last year with him won this year, so he was happy to cheer on his friend!

Until 4th grade, the smaller kids just do a small fun run, so Miss Addi didn't have to run the 5K - although she is starting to show some interest in not being the last person in the race!

And off she goes in her white hoodie and pink pants!

Addison is in the pink pants and white hoodie slight to the left of this picture

Coming through the finish line

Big brother - always supportive!

Miss Londy and Addi

After the fun run, it was time for the 5K so everyone lined up.  Karis had gone out with Kaleb over the past few weeks to run, but hadn't exactly been a runner -- it is a good thing he always has a certain level of fitness!

Ready, set!

Karis ran with a friend for a while and they joked that they were the "broken ankle group" because they have both had serious ankle breaks over the course of their adult lives!  Kaleb had this point was zooming on ahead with his friends

As in a typical tortoise and the hare story, Kaleb zoomed ahead and then burned out his energy so Karis slowly caught up to him and then encouraged him to keep a steady pace the rest of the run.  Kaleb had two goals 1) finish in under 30 minutes and 2) be 6th or higher for the boys in his grade.  He did both!  Yeah!  He finished in 29 minutes and 30ish seconds and was 5th for boys in his grade.

Here they come

Coming to the finish line!

So happy to be done-great jobs!

In a surprise ending, Karis ended up being the fastest runner for his age group in the 40-49 bracket!  Good job man!  In a "funny" twist though, he then went home and sat on the floor building something for his tractor for several hours -- and then when he went to get up and move around he realized that his level of physical activity/training did not suffice and he was now super SORE!  His poor hamstrings were sore all week! :)

Kaleb and Evan

Zachary with friends after the race - most of which are from the soccer team.  They always seem to gravitate towards eawch other when they are at events :)

January Birthdays!

We have the fun of celebrating two birthdays now in January with both Mom and Sadie celebrating another year of life!  With Karis' annual men's ski trip happening late January this year, we didn't get a chance to get together though until the first part of February.  That worked out super well as Amy's aunt Ev from Canada (Jeff's mom) was here, so we got the chance to visit!

A whole 2 years old!

Happy birthday with a lemon fruit tart!

Always so great to see family!

In surprising news, Zachary's back has been hurting since early January after a soccer game - to a fairly high degree of pain.  After coming back from skiing in Colorado, we decided that it was time to go to the doctor as it had been 3 weeks.  He ended up with an MRI and we discovered that he has a pars defect (spelling?) in his L5, and there are tiny fractures in his pedicles.  According to the doctor, it is hard to say whether he was born with the tiny fractures or whether they just occurred but clearly something has been inflamed in there now.  He also has a bulging disc because of the muscle spasms.  Poor kid - with that news, he is now sidelined per doctor's orders for the next month while we attempt to let it heal.  He is feeling MUCH better as the weeks go, so we are pleased about that but are praying that he has a full recovery.  We aren't sure what this will mean for his back over the longer-term for his life, but are hopeful he won't deal with too much back pain.  So for now, no soccer, no running, no sports.  You can imagine how happy he is about that - but we are trying to remember that four weeks for a proper healing and less life-time problems is a fair trade-off!

In other fun events, we had the chance to go to the Cochrans for the super bowl, which is always fun. The men/teen boys watch the game while the kids play and the women chat - win-win for all!  Reminder for next year, don't stay the whole game as the kids have a VERY hard time getting up for school the next day!  Bad parenting fail there! :)