Stutzman update

Hi Birky's!

Sandy, your white crookneck squash seeds are doing great! They are now double in size from what the picture shows and agressively competing with the zucchini squash.

We have had a fun summer and have started our school routine. Seth gets to do core subjects with me at home and goes to the local school for art, music, and even gets to do Suzuki violin. Levi likes to sit in Seth's desk and feel big. Speaking of big, Levi is 15 months and is a tank! He just learned to kiss and is very cute. Shane has his last big bike race this weekend.

How was the Disney trip for the Millers?

-Kara

Some of you may not have copies of these pictures. I have been scanning some of Mom's pictures, and would love to catalog a Birky Photo archive. If you have pictures to add, please scan them and e-mail them to me. Thank you!

The Millers managed to set up a tripod when everyone was home for Christmas. We are looking forward to a trip to Florida this summer where we will all spend a few days at a Disney resort, then visit Dad's family in Sarasota. If anyone has tips on coordinating a trip for a group this size, we could use your advice!!!

... and a few more...

Is it too late to post Birky Christmas Photos?

Just found the invite, so I'm a few months late to contribute, but I thought that those of you who were unable to come may enjoy a few pictures of the Christmas gathering.

It was, as always, a delight to get together with our beloved family. The site would only allow me to post a few photos at a time, but I believe that there are more on facebook.com.

Never too old to learn!

03/25/10

Merv showed me how to "blog"! I'll see if I figured it out!

As I write, Merv and Venita should be boarding the plane in Atlanta - heading back to Springs.
We enjoyed and appreciate their coming out to visit - it was a blessing to get to see and spend time with them!

Love to All,

Denny

Hi Birky's!

I'm looking forward to seeing some tropical pictures on here soon! :)

We have finally been given an adoption date--May 5 for Levi. So by his 1st birthday he will be officially a Stutzman! We are so thankful. He is doing wonderful: crawling very fast, eating like crazy, and getting really loud. He has even mastered climbing stairs- it must be his very sturdy build. :)

Seth is doing so well and really showing improvement in his therapies with integrating sensory input into daily life. We are getting a school room ready and are starting some of those routines now, and he is taking to them well. I'm so glad that I have the sped background and can advocate for him in this area!

Shane is doing more and more bike training and often rides to church in addition to work. We will have fun this summer watching his races and camping as a family.

I am gearing up for the state testing, where I have to find childcare and proctor tests for 7 days (not my favorite time of year).

I have to share this: today Seth and I were talking about windchimes and he said:
Windchimes are my favorite sound do you know that buns are connected to legs? :) (all in one thought. )

I'd love to see and hear what all is going on in your lives!

Love, Kara

vacation

If I ever get this figured out I will write something. :) We are home from vacation and missing the beautiful south carribbean!

Again this year, our family got together at a 'cabin' in the mountains for two nights & most of 3 days. It was great that JJ & Emily could be here from OR. This year we were at Emily's parents house above Woodland Park, CO, where Venita lived during high school. Emily's parents have been in London, England the past three years, serving at the London Mennonite Center. They will be back next month. The house is a lovely large mountain home, so there was plenty of space for us.

On the last day of our gathering we went to the Mt. Princeton Hot Springs, about an hour away. It is a natural hot springs along a cold mountain stream. You can go sit in the stream, or swim in the two large pools--one quite warm and the other more normal pool temp. In the stream, the hot water is bubbling up from the ground right at the edge of the stream, so the farther into the stream, the colder the water. Was very enjoyable & relaxing for us all--except maybe for Levi; he didn't much enjoy the water.

I'll add a couple of pictures, for what they're worth. We were too busy having a good time, so not many pictures got taken.

I saw a few pictures of the Birky gathering--made me wish we could be there again. Maybe if I change jobs... Not easy to be gone over Christmas in my work.

I think I have everyone added to the list to post on this site now (at least, for everyone whose current email address I have). So it would be great to have more people posting! It works best is you create a Google account (it's free). Then you can log in to do your posting.

Blessings to all,
Merv

yeah! We can now finally add to this blog. :) We enjoyed seeing Birky pics and reading letters from the family over Christmastime. We had a good time in Idaho over Christmas and with my family over New Year's. Now we are trying to create a new routine for a new year.

I'll post more of our fam when I get pics on the computer. I'm looking forward to seeing Birky Christmas pics too. (if anyone else is having problems adding stuff on the blog, just email dad-something with the set up)

-Kara