Easter Eggs?

Back in the day, when the kids were little it just seemed like too much to color Easter eggs.  Getting church clothes ready, Easter dinner and finding matching shoes for church was my limit.  So I cheated and  bought Reese's Peanut Butter Eggs and just started hiding them for fun.  The kids would be so thrilled finding them and ripping them open, and devouring the peanut butter chocolately goodness immediately!  So they continued to be our Easter eggs!

When at the store today in our last minute sprint for last minute things for Easter dinner, Ben asked if we had Easter eggs.  So as we're walking around the Easter aisles trying to find them, seeing all the other Easter necessities, I was sharing what other people do for Easter in coloring eggs.

He just couldn't wrap his mind around the fun and excitement of finding a hard boiled egg and eating it!

John 19:30  Jesus said, "It is finished!"

There is nothing I have done that could make Jesus love me less, and nothing I can do to make Him love me more!  Happy Easter!

Cincinnati Zoo

On Tuesday, we (all the kids) went to Megan and Elijah's house for 4 days, while Mom and Dad flew to Fort Lauderdale, FL for the Liberate 2013 conference at Coral Ridge Church. All us kids at Megan's had a blast!! We went to the Cincinnati zoo for a day, (it was about 50 degrees, not too bad, but cold enough)  :)

Here are some pictures....

 Here is all of us at the entrance... Matt, Ben (behind Lydia) Lydia, Megan, Emily, Robbie, Daniel and Joey.

 Daniel in Elijah's top hat

 This sea lion was really cool!

 The zoo had "pet" pigs walking around, they each had their own name, and "knew" it.

 This is a turtle, believe it or not. 

 Lydia

 A Manatee, it weighed 2,040 pounds

 Joey and the Manatee

 Ben

 This Emu sat there and "jawed" at us for a couple minutes. It was hilarious!! 

 They let a couple of the penguins out for a penguin parade! 

 This is at the Tiger "place." The tiger walked back and forth right in front of the glass. 

 Lydia 

This one looks like Megan is actually petting the tiger, so when we got home that night, I told Elijah (who had to work :(   ,   that Megan petted a tiger, and showed him the picture. He said to Megan "Was it soft?" (He didn't fall for it.)   :(

This bird I took about 10 pictures of before I finally got a good one. It has such amazing colors!! 

Seen it all!

With the older kids having access to computers it's inevitable that the younger ones will get more exposure. While Jeff and I celebrated our 23rd anniversary the kids watched a Little House on youtube. Now, I know that LHOP has been a family show, but one of the things we dislike in shows, books, and such is when kids act up, behave foolishly and in the end everything all turns out fine. It just doesn't make sense to us because it's so far from real life.

It only takes one viewing for kids to have things engraved in their minds forever. We experienced it years ago with the older kids. We were at a cabin with cable and watched a LHOP episode. Naughty kids were jumping on the bed and when told to stop they stopped. And then as soon as characters called parents left they resumed jumping. When caught again their response was, "You didn't say forever!" So that was a popular line for some time.

Not wanting to go through this all again with the younger ones, Jeff declared no more youtube videos. Ben's response after seeing possibly 20 of them in his entire life was, "That's okay, I've seen most of them already!"

Jeff just celebrated 25 years with Cutco!  We love and are so thankful for Cutco!  They have been so good to us!  At a meeting they acknowledged him and wanted us to each write a note. They were put in a book along with many wonderful, kind, encouraging letters from fellow Cutco people.    Here's what we said: 

Daddy, thanks for calling me! Thanks for taking us places. Thanks for giving me a bath. Thanks for taking us hunting. Thanks for working so hard that we can buy stuff. I like Cutco that you can cut stuff up, but I can’t touch it!

Love you Daddy!

Lydia Faith

(5 years old)

Wy I am thankfull for Cutco is becase you can cut stuff up. Wy I am thankfull for my Dad is becase he teaches me a lot. Thank you for all the fruit and cookies, mostly the cookies!

Love you!

Ben

I am thankfull

(7 years old)

I’m thankful for Cutco knives and things, for hunting and for cutting and lots of other stuff! I’m thankful for Dad cause he takes time to take us hunting! Fishing! Fun trips! And so many other things. He is the best preacher of the bible and works so hard so we can heat and cool the house. You are AWESOME and SWEET, loving us at all times! Dad, you are the best dad!

Love you tons

Joey

(age 9)

Dear Dad,

I love you so much. I like how you put Christ first. It has really encouraged me. I love to hunt with you, fish with you, go somewhere with you, talk with you, hear you preach, be around you, to bush-hog with you, hang tree stands with you, to drive you around, Dad, YOU’RE THE BEST!!!!!!

Love you!!!!!

Love, Matt

Cutco,

I like that my dad works with the company. I also like the Cutco products, especially my own knife, thank you Dad! I’m thankful for Cutco and my dad!

Thank you all for the packages! They are very tasty!

Love Matt

(11 years old)

Dear Dad,

Thank you for working so hard for us (for 25 years!!), and for being the Spiritual leader in our home.

Some of my favorite things about Dad are: when he takes me hunting, when he calls me “Emmylou”

and asks how I’m doing, that he does Bible studies with us every night, and tells me he loves me. I love you Dad!!
~Emily Grace
To Cutco: Thank you for all the fun packages we get in the mail, they are delicious!

(14 years old)

Congratulations, Dad, on 25 years with CUTCO! Thanks for being the greatest Dad EVER! Also, thanks a bunch to CUTCO for being such a wonderful and SHARP company!

-Daniel Kunkel

(16 years)

Dad,

Thanks for being a great example of someone who works hard to provide for his family. I really appreciate all that you've done for our family, and the example that you show of integrity. I can only hope to be as good of a father as you are to all of us.

Love, Rob

(19)

Dear Dad,

Congratulations! 25 years is impressive! Thanks for being a great Dad. Thanks for taking me to the orchestra concert when I was younger, and for going with me to the fiddle concert last winter! Thanks for trying to teach me how to swing a baseball bat. ;) You've been an incredible husband and father. Thank you for giving Elijah and I an example of a family that follows after God. I love you!

Megan (21 and happily married)

To the love of my life;

Of the 30 years I’ve known you, Cutco has been a part of our lives for 25 of those years. It seems like a branch of our family tree. I deeply admire your genuine love for the product, the company and those you work with. I, personally, have been abundantly blessed by Cutco time and time again! From a paycheck that meets our families' needs and wants, to an awesome product that is put to great use on our counter several times a day. From a group of amazing people who seem more like family than friends, to special holiday gifts, dinners and trips. I am in constant awe by such generosity and ever so grateful!

I remember how excited you were when you first got the job to sell Cutco! The practice presentations on me and my roommates. The cutting and polishing. More cutting and polishing. The moves throughout the Midwest, raising babies and reps. What an incredible privilege to see you grow into a man, a business man, husband and father. I’m so proud of you! It's been a joyous, most thrilling run so far!

Thank you for being you! Thank you for being passionate, fun, purposeful, loyal, intentional and driven. Thank you for your integrity and character! Thank you for calling home every night you're away to tell me you love me! I so appreciate all that you do for all of us! I have more love and respect for you in my heart than should ever be allowed!

Forever yours,

Karen (a bit older than Jeff) Psalm 62:12 And that to you, O Lord, belongs steadfast love. For you will render to a man according to his work. 1 Corinthians 3:13 Every man's work will become manifest, for the day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. Col. 3:23 Whatever you do, do heartily, as for the Lord and not for men.

Merry Kissmas and a Happy New Year!!

I, Emily, LOVE, taking pictures!! :-) So, you are subject to lots of photos! We are enjoying the snow, by sledding, of course. (and Mom went into the creek...) Anyway, the top couple ones are when we went to go get our Christmas tree. Dad and a couple of boys were hunting and a storm was coming, so we were missing a couple of people.

This is Mom, she had her hood snapped on wrong, which was entertaining. ;-)

There was alot of discussion going on about which was THE PERFECT TREE. (ok, I'll admit, it was mostly me saying it wasn't perfect.) Joey is saying "Come on."

Lydia kept saying, "This is our tree!"

Once we finally found THE TREE, Robbie made sure... "This is the one?"

Joey, dragging the tree.....:-)

We had to imitate Love Come's Softly.....By riding the christmas tree!

:-) This was funny!

The dog at the Christmas tree farm. Isn't it cute?

And big? And strong? YES. Mom was having a real tug of war with it!

?????? UMMM, not so sure about this....

This was on top of Dad and Mom's wedding cake. They got married December 16 and just had their 23rd anniversary!

Making Christmas cookies!

Robbie making his cookie!

Robbie and Mom laughing at ???

Ben, frosting his cookies.

Which he decided to do very thickly.

Lydia was very careful...

And very focused!!

However, they tasted delicious!!

Elijah and Megan!!

Lydia eating her chocolate bar! (I don't think she ate it alllll.?????)

Lydia and her hat, which she wore alot!

Matthew and the book "The adventure's of Jimmy Skunk"

Daniel and his M&M shirt!

Megan and Elijah when they opened a present which said "You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you" (which is from Pride and Prejudice)

Emily with her purse!

Dad when he opened Ground Kangaroo!!

"!!!!!!!!!!"

Joey and his burger t-shirt. (if it is far away, it looks like a "scenery scene," which kinda made Joe go "huh?" then when he figured it out, he loved it!

Ben getting ready to eat a crunch candy bar!! :) Then, I asked if I could take some pictures of Megan and Elijah, and they most obligingly agreed!! :D (Be fore-warned....kissing pictures ahead...you can't stop 'em. (But I didn't try) :D

We had a Christmas dinner, and had some friends over from church!!

Then I went outside, after it snowed (YEAH!!!) and took some pictures!

So anyway, we had a awesome Christmas! Now we're looking forward to New Years and Dad's Birthday, which is Dec. 31st! And, Daniel got two "wabbits," which will be very tasty!!