CRIME SCENE: DO NOT CROSS

Yep you are seeing correctly. There was crime scene tape all over our back yard. Wondering what happened? Fil got the boys crime scene tape to play with (it was one of those company promotions one but it looked real to me). That is all to it. If you know our boys you know it was one of the best gifts ever. However, I had to limit them to our back yard so we would not attract to many neighbors. I was hoping nobody was moving into our neighborhood that day. What a sight. Sam was busy taping our whole back yard.
Some of the neighbor kids came over to play with the boys. Well they came first with their parents to make sure everything was ok.



Do not ask me why Nate is wearing goggles.
Jo was a happy girl as long all the kids were playing around her. As you can tell she is starting to get a few more teeth. She has four now.
Our detective

There is never a dull moment in Steiger household.

Just in case you are wondering what I did with 17 pounds of blueberries I made four blueberry buckles, few blueberry pies, froze 18 cups (about 4 1/2 liters) and filled six Steiger bellies (we will have to go get some more for blueberry jam).

Blueberry picking on Tuesday

Blueberries are ready in New England. You bet I headed out with the kids to go pick "few" pounds. People ask how I do it with four kids but to tell you the truth I have done this with my kids since they were very little and they look forward to blueberry picking every year. I wouldn't say they actually pick much for the basket but mostly to their bellies but this year Sam helped a lot. Sam picked 3 1/2 pounds of blueberries all by himself. It is also safe to say that Jordan LOVES blueberries. Nate was her personal blueberry feeder while I was busy filling my bucket (Yes Emma picked blueberries in her tiara). We got a little over 17 pounds of blueberries and it took us 1 1/2 hours. Each year we have a contest who find the biggest blueberry. Sam won this year.
On the way home we stopped at another farm for fresh tomatoes and other vegetables. They have plenty animals around for the kids to feed and Jo loved the goats.
As you can tell we had a busy Tuesday.

Sunday Reflections

O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.

Psalm 63:1

Paving driveway

We have been in need of fixing our drive way for some time (we are in a need of a new driveway but that will have to wait for little bit). Anyway we had couple of guys come this Saturday to do some patchwork and I couldn't resist of taking picture of our kids who were watching them the whole time. Here they are with their neighbor friend on our rocks.
It sure looked interesting and I have to say those guys earn their money by hard work.
Sam in thinking position




Here they are being silly with daddy. The boys got summer haircuts (again) and Emma thought daddy's head worked good as a drum.
just being silly

Jo has this expression on her face like we are the craziest family ever. I guess in a way she is right. We spent that morning on mountain bikes and she was not very happy in bike trailer. I bet this little girl travels more every week that she did in her first 9 months of her life. She is a happy girl most the time.

Creation Camp

The boys spent the whole week at Creation Camp. This was their second year and they had as much fun as last year (they are already asking about next year). They spent most of their time playing and learning about God's creation. They got to see their old friends and make new ones. We also got to introduce Jordan to our friends from CBS (community bible study). Sam with his group
Nate with his
The girls snacking on graham crackers and checking what is going on with so many kids around.

the David's

Today we had the David's over for dinner. We have been looking forward to this visit for some time. This is one of the blogging world friends we made along the way on our adoption journey. Our dossier (papers) traveled together to Ethiopia and our girls were roommates. We have been following each others journeys for some time and it was great to meet them finally in person. They have spent the last month traveling and stopped by to say hi to Caleb's family here in NH. It was nice of them to make an extra trip to see us.

Sakari loved this baby seat. I use it to block Jo from pulling all the books out.
Jo wasn't so sure at first what was going on but she did get to play with Sakari who was busy exploring our house. Here she is with Becca.
Anybody else coming our way?

Saturday - Water Park

Last Saturday we went to the Water Country with our dear friends the Laughner's. It was our first time at this waterpark and I am sure I speak for everybody when I say we all had a great time. In a way it was almost overwhelming how big this park is and since we went on Saturday it was crowded as well. It did not stop us from having fun and getting wet.

I didn't bring my big camera with me and come to think of it I did not take any pictures at the park even with my little camera. These are from Saturday evening after we stopped for dinner on the way home. Boys will be boys.

(being silly after dinner at Chipotle)
Also I have to CONGRATULATE the Laughner's on the referral on Friday. We are so happy for them since they waited for a long time. We are praying for a miracle so that they will be able to go get their baby soon (before the courts close).
Jordan is also getting more comfortable with Lori.

Sunday Reflections

Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser then man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger then man's strength.

1 Corinthians 1:20-25

just chillin

We are enjoying lazy summer days in New England. There is not much on our calender this week so we are just playing around the house. Most of the time we spend in our kiddy pool that fits all of us or we just head out to the public pool that is close by (the slip and slide is done for this season). The boys are always busy reading books or building something from legos and the girls are busy in their little kitchen or in mine. I love this picture of my boys. They are such a good brothers and they are very good kids (so are the girls). It is hard for me to take pictures of them since they are busy but I sat them down last weekend with some bubbles they sit still for few minutes.
I am also SLOWLY getting ready for the upcoming school year. One of these day I will sit down and write more about our homeschooling. For now I will just go pack up for our trip to the pool this afternoon. I hope all of you are having a nice summer as well.

Sunday Reflections

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

2 Cor 5:17-21

Vacation

Fil has been asking me when I will post pictures from our vacation last week. So here are a "few" pictures (it is few when you consider I took over 700 pictures total).

We spent a whole week in upstate New York with the Carpenters. We were pretty much cut off from civilization (the closest store was 30 minutes away and the closest hospital 1 hour away). Gabe's grandparents let us stay at their cabin on a lake and we had a blast.

Josiah Alexandra

Sam
Nate
Emma
Jo
We enjoyed plenty of outdoor activities.


bike rides
baths outside
boat rides with Gabe's grandparents

Water skiing

Penelope and Gabe mostly. Fil got injured the first time he tried to get up on water skis and since he already lost his glasses in the lake and I had to drive home I wasn't about to give it a try. I do have to say that Josiah looks like he is ready to go.

Knee boarding

Helping with laundry

Being silly

reading
Sam playing Connect Four with Josiah
On the way home we stopped for a quick visit at Gabe's grandparents farm. Gabe gave us a tour and a lesson on cows and milk. Thanks Gabe!!!
Can you tell we had a good time? We only made one trip to ER at the end of our stay. Emma got sick and dehydrated. Fil and Gabe spent many hours at the hospital with her. She is doing much better. I got sick when we got home so did Nate.

Here are "few" more pictures

We had a great time Carpenters.

Let's do it again.