Art show!

Meredith took an art class at the YMCA and when the class was done they had an art show!  Daddy even came during school to see the young Da Vinci's work. Well actually, it was more like the Van Gogh. Her teacher had them recreate the Van Gogh's Sunflowers. I know I am her dad and everything, but these are truly cool pieces.  I think they are really good.  Here are some pics of the proud artist and some of her works...

Meredith pointing to her pumpkin and leaf picture.

Our family portrait

Meredith's take on Van Gogh's Sunflowers

Overlapping circles 

Watercolor Landscape

Go Colts!

So about a week ago I had a church meeting that started at noon.  The Colts just happened to be playing a certain team from Wisconsin that day.  I decided to wear my Colts jersey to the meeting.  You have never heard so many people get on my case at the same time!  I was getting score updates from the Packer fans all through the first half.  By the time I got home the Colts were down 21 - 3.  I got to watch the second half and I wish I could have gone back to church to rub it in the Packer fans faces.  It was a great second half of football! One that I should not have been holding Micah as I was yelling and screaming at the TV and would make him cry.

No tears at the end of the game...the Colts won by a score of 30 - 27! GO COLTS!

Pajamas!

Helping with Harvest...

A couple weeks ago Kelli and the kids went to SD to "help with harvest".  Our kids had never seen that before and it was quite an experience for them.  Daddy enjoyed the quiet time, but was ready for them to return. Enjoy the pics!

Cornhusker?

It has been too long...

Trust us when we say we are still here....Life has been a bit crazy in Wisconsin. Kelli is now a full-time stay at home mom. She says she "retired" but I think she is working way harder now than she ever did. (I know she is. She was sick a few weekends ago and I had all three kids all weekend. Even with her in the house not functional it was way too hard. She has them by herself alone!) I love her for that! Meredith is learning how to read every day with mommy. She is really getting good and is expanding her reading skills daily. She loves to ask mommy and daddy about words she doesn't know the meaning to. She is very inquisitive. She is not going to preschool at our church this year. However, we did sign her up for classes at the YMCA. She starts art class on Monday morning! Gabrielle works very hard at trying our patience. She is learning to say certain consonants that she still struggles with, such as F, K, R, etc. She always finds a way to make us want to scream, cry and laugh at the same time for the same thing. It was cool today and she had to wear actual shoes instead of sandles today. She came running out of her bedroom and into the dining room to tell me, "Look at my running shoes daddy! Now you have running shoes and I have running shoes!" There may be a future there... Micah is HUGE! He is currently in 9 mo. clothes and is eating a ton. He hasn't slept through the night since we got back from South Dakota in August, but he usually only wakes up once to eat. His hand-eye coordination is getting better. He grabs all sorts of stuff and tries to get it to his mouth. Every once in a while I will hear one of the girls yell that he has their hair! He is showing signs of wanting to sit up. If we sit him up he can hold it for a couple seconds before flopping over. I think we need to work on some core strength for him... I am three weeks into the new school year. I have the same old music classes but am now teaching two new classes called "Praise and Worship" and another called "Christian Ethics" with another teacher 50/50. It is an adventure trying to get the planning down with another teacher when you are used to being by yourself. It is a good challenge for me. My top choir was chosen as one of four choirs in the state of Wisconsin to sing with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra again this year! It is so cool that our small school of 145 has been chosen 3 times in the last 6 years! What a blessing! This year's tour will be to see Big Brother Michael in Texas. I am very excited but dealing with airlines and two coach bus companies is a bit of a headache. Cross Country is in full swing and I think my girls have a decent shot at the state title. My boys have been very strong lately as well. We are poised to win the conference if I have anything to say about it. So, that about wraps it up. Sorry, no pictures. I am too lazy to go upstairs and find the camera. I will have to work on that another day. Until then, I hope you enjoyed this little "letter". We love you all! Aaron, Kelli, Meredith, Gabrielle and Micah

Monkey and a hula girl

I think the pics say it all...

Grandpa and Grandma came!

Grandpa and Grandma Staub came from Indian to see us. Here are some pictures from their visit.

When Grandma showed up, she and Gabby matched!

Mom and Gabby coloring.

Grandma feeding yet another Staub boy.

3 generations of Staub men!

Grandma and Grandpa and all their grandchildren.

Quick trip to SD

In June, Aaron received a "call" to serve as an administrator for a new Lutheran school in the Black Hills (he declined it). After receiving it initially, we were forced to do a quick 1800-mile, 4-day trip to SD. Dropped the girls off at Meema and Papas. Here's some highlights:

Meema & Papa with the girls & Kadyn.

Meredith & Gabrielle got to spend lots of time with their cousin Kadyn and his pet toad, "George".

We were very fortunate to get to spend an evening at our niece's birthday party. Micah got to meet his great-grandpa Wilbur. My "Papa", as I've called him, didn't get married until he was 36. He got married in later in life and only had two sons, yet has 8 grandchildren and 7 great-grandchildren!

Daddy had to spend Father's Day driving.

The girls travel well. :)

What "The Boy" looks like

Micah sometimes looks like he's from Aaron's family: (he's directing)

He sometimes looks like he's from Kelli's family:

And it looks as though he's decided on a baseball team. He will surely die defending the title-less Cubs like his father:

The kids...

Kelli snapped this picture a couple nights ago while we were reading the Bible before bed.

Our "little" man...

Here are the latest pictures of our litle guy. He is turing out to be pretty cute!

Little Hams...

These pictures simply mean that I will be in trouble in about 10 years...or now!

Baptism Recognition

Since Micah was baptised in the hospital, we did a baptism recognition during church on Memorial Day weekend. Our good friends Craig and Leah are Micah's Godparents. Between the two families there are six kids...yikes!

Broken leg, day 40

Gabrielle broke her leg on April 6th, so today marks day 40 AND the first day of her not having to wear anything! She wore a split for the first week, then a hot pink cast for three weeks, then a black boot for two weeks, and now nothing! Final xrays and appt are May 23rd. She crawled most of the day today and has a terrible limp when she does try to walk, mostly because she is so used to dragging her bum leg on its side. Hopefully she'll walk normal again someday.

Gabby never really complained about her leg or thought anything of her cast, splint, or boot.

All three kids with Meema and Papa last week. Meema got to be with us for two weeks and Papa flew here over a long weekend.