Welcome To Adulthood

We hit a big milestone in the Leingang family this week! There are now THREE ADULTS living in the house! I am not sure how or when this happened, but Zack is now 18 years old!!!

We celebrated his big day by doing school and chores, going to kung fu, opening presents and eating out at the Mongolian grill! YUM!!!

Guitar Praise for the PC

Airman’s Bible

A chin-up bar (now that he’s an old man, he’s gonna have to start working out) LOL

A phone of his very own!

He wasn’t quite sure what it was at first, but every man needs to fill out their Selective Service form. :o)

Then on Friday after co-op, we had Zack and Hobo’s (Elijah) birthday party. Thankfully God held off the rain so we could have the picnic in the park after all!

The kids (and Chris) all had a BLAST tossing the football, playing Ultimate Frisbee and a bit of soccer! I had fun visiting with my mom friends (oh, and Hobo’s dad)… :o)

Oh, and we also ate some good food, too! Thanks to everyone who contributed to the potluck supper!

When we were done at the park, we trucked all of the boys to our place for the sleepover. We had 19 boys hanging out at our place! They are 19 of the GREATEST guys ever! We are so blessed to have such super friends!

The pile actually got BIGGER as the evening went on!

One thing I have to say about that much testosterone is that testosterone is loud, smelly and hungry!!! LOL I didn’t get many pictures because I was too busy cooking, watching them have fun, chatting with some of the boys, laughing at YouTube videos, or enjoying my alone time. :o)

They got a lot of good gifts (especially candy)

But every gift exchange HAS to have the duck-tape gift!!!

Happy Birthday Zack! We are so proud of you and the MAN that you have become! May God richly bless you in the upcoming year as you seek to do what He is calling you to!  

Family Flashback- Zack Turns 4

Today’s Family Flashback is in celebration of Zack’s birthday! Today he turns 18 and in 1997 he turned 4.

Zack chose a “whoo-whoo truck” (aka firetruck) theme for his party. Everybody came out to join in the fun!

He also got his first “motorcycle” (aka Big Wheels) that year. Zack LOVED riding that around the dining room wall in our apartment, and in the backyard and in driveway at Grandpa & Grandma Ide’s house! And to think he didn’t ever wear a helmet… :o)

Happy Birthday Zack!

Easter Eggs & Birthday Cakes

Stella turned two on Easter Sunday this year! So we had two celebrations in one!

For party favors, Amy filled all kinds of Easter eggs and hid them around the yard for the kids to find  in between rain showers…

The little ones didn’t seem to have any trouble finding their brightly colored eggs…

The camo eggs hidden in the woods for the older boys were a totally different story…

At first we let the boys search for the carefully hidden eggs all by themselves. They’re teenagers, they shouldn’t need help.

When we learned that they had barely found half of their treasure, more people joined in the search…

Before long nearly everyone was searching for the elusive camo eggs…

It took almost an hour but eventually we found all of the eggs! Well, all except for the last two that were discovered earlier by the neighbor kids during their egg hunt. :o)

Then it was time for birthday celebrations! It was not only Stella’s birthday… We also celebrated birthdays for Greg, Zack and I.

In keeping with a proud tradition of fantastic birthday cakes, Amy and Theresa produced an entire fairy village in cake, frosting and molding chocolate…

The kids couldn’t wait to eat it but it was really hard to cut into the quaint little village!

And then it was time for gifts…

               As if the cake were not enough, Aunt Theresa made Stella her very own Princess & the Pea playset…

The rest of the evening we just spent playing and visiting and just enjoying the day…

A very Happy Easter and Happy Birthdays all the way around!!! 

Easter Morning

After a gorgeous sunny Egg Day, we awoke to pouring rain on Easter morning… Thankfully we do not need sun to feel the joy of our risen Savior!

We got up, showered, ironed, baked, opened baskets and hunted for eggs all before heading to church for breakfast and worship. It has sure gotten a whole lot easier over the years! How did we do all that when they were little??? :o)

Baskets before boys…

Baskets after boys

The hunt doesn’t end until ALL of the eggs are found!

As usual, Will got stuck finding the last (and hardest) few. But he doesn’t give up!

Then we went to church for Easter breakfast, the egg hunt and our worship celebration. We had a good turn out of visitors (we were missing quite a few regulars thanks to the rest stop) and the music went much better than I had feared. :o) And, of course, the cross was the best we’ve had yet!!! The colors were just brilliant…

It really brightens up the parking lot on Easter Sunday!

   

The Leingangs Easter 2011

"But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive." 1 Corinthians 15:20-22