Where has the time gone?

So I realize that I have been neglecting the blog. The summer was so busy and went so fast that I didn't find time to blog about what we were doing! We had a wonderful summer filled with Parks, swimming, friends, slumber parties, family, my brothers homecoming from Afghanistan, Kyle sisters visiting from sunny California, season passes to Adventureland, BBQ's, movie nights, game nights, some school work (i know that's mean :), bike rides, birthdays, anniversaries, McClain walking and now running, hotel stays, ice cream runs, well you get the picture. We enjoyed the summer to say the least. Here are a few pics from the last couple of weeks. Mayah and Mason started school. Mayah is now a big 3rd grader and Mason is a very excited 1st grader. Madison starts preschool tomorrow!! They are loving their teachers and I'm so happy that we continue to have wonderful teachers for them.



Mayah and Mason on their first day of 3rd and 1st grades!!



In front of their school


McClain walking like a big boy



Madison swinging at the Squires house :)


This is a picture Kyle took of our wonderful friends the Squires!! We had so much fun spending the night with them on Friday and playing games into the wee hours of the morning. They have a wonderful family and I love this picture and I love them :)

Love this song

Happy Fathers Day :)

Celebrating Kyle!!

It's Kyle's birthday!! The kids are more than excited to celebrate Kyle's big day because they think every birthday comes with a party and cake :) Things we love about Kyle: His love for the Lord, the way he loves and provides for our family, I LOVE his sense of humor.....he cracks me up all the time!! I love the way he teaches the kids, I love that he's not to proud to get down on the ground and play with them, I love that he can be a softy :) He is so kind and generous. I love his love for sports. I love that he shows his kids how much he loves them. I love that he puts up with the dogs :) Have I mentioned his sense of humor?!?! I love that he plays games with me even though I mainly win ;) He is sensitive, thoughtful and caring. I love that all of his hangers are facing the same direction. I love his love for ice cream :) I can't believe that he wasn't able to drive when we first met and now he is welllll...older :) Kyle, we love you very much. The kids and I are so blessed to have you. Thanks for everything you do for us! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

Celebrating Mason

Happy Birthday to our first son Mason who is turning 6 today!! He is the most sensitive, funny, caring, basketball loving, sweet, kind, DS playing, fisherman, sister chasing, brother loving, little man! He is growing into a wonderful little guy who makes us very proud! It's hard to believe that he is 6! Mason is such a good big brother who loves to play with McClain, looks up to Mayah, and protects Madison when needed. I remember the Childrens Church teacher coming up to me after Church saying that Mason did the best thing in class! It has been a while ago but he and Madison are in the same childrens church class and they were handing out treats...crackers to be exact and Mason saw that the teacher had given some to Madison. He got the teacher and told her that Madison can't have the snack because she has celiac disease. I was so proud of him for thinking of his sister and speaking up to the teacher! I loved it!! He loves the Pistol (pete maravich) and playing basketball.....which makes his Dad just a little thrilled :) Mason we love you and are proud of you!

Friday night fun!

It has been beautiful here this weekend!! Friday night we decided to take the kids to a state park that is by us and have a picnic dinner and play on their huge wooden playset!! The kids had so much fun! It was a nice way to end the busy school week with a nice picnic! There is a nice lake that we overlooked while we ate and played. We also took a walk on the path that goes around the lake. It was a perfect way to spend a Friday night :)

Celebrating McClain

Happy 1st Birthday to our sweet McClain!! You are such a special little guy who is so funny, laid back, and loves to play with his sisters and brother. You are cruising along the furniture starting to let go by yourself. I'm sure you'll be walking before we know it. You have such a sweet disposition and we are so blessed to have you! It seems like yesterday that we were in the hospital to have you and the crazy day it turned out to be. (I'm sure everyone knows the story :) We are so blessed to have such healthy, active children and I wouldn't change it for the world. Many times people ask me how many children I have and when I tell them 4 I always get "wow, you must be busy!!" and I always think... Yes, I am busy but what a great way to be busy by serving my Lord while serving my family! Happy Birthday Sweet McClain.....We love you SOOO much!!

BTW....this pic is kinda old, but since I still need to put our new pics on the computer this will do :)

Celebrating Mayah!!

Today Mayah has her golden birthday.....turning 8 on the 8th :) I can't believe that our first baby, that the Lord blessed us with, is 8 years old. She is the most kind, loving, caring, sensitive, funny, friendly little 8 year old. She has been such a blessing in our lives. The Lord says that we are to be like little children and I learn things from Mayah everyday!! She is growing into such a fine young lady and I'm so proud of her!! Happy Birthday Mayah! We love you very much and thank God for blessing us with YOU!!

Hilarious Hair night at AWANA

Wow, it has been a long time since my last post. Our AWANA has theme nights once in a while and hilarious hair was our last one. The kids looked great! It was so much fun and the kids loved getting their hair done. It's fun to see the kids loving AWANA and enjoying learning all of the verses. Sparks-a-rama is tomorrow and the kids are really excited!!

Lovin the old pics

So Kyle has the external hard drive hooked up to our new computer so I can look at all the old photos!! So much fun!! There are a lot of pics :)

Name That Baby

Here is a little flash back of all the kids as babies. We tried to be a little tricky ;) Do you know who is who???

Christmas Vacation

We had a wonderful Christmas vacation. The kids have been off since the 22nd and Kyle was home pretty much the whole time too. It was such a great time together. We stayed at our home for Christmas eve and Christmas morning. We watched the polar express on Christmas eve which has become a tradition, had hot chocolate and the kids were very excited to get to bed for Christmas morning. They got up on Christmas morning came into our room to see if they could go check to see if there were presents out. We opened all of the gifts, had cinnamon rolls and played with everything for a while. Christmas afternoon we traveled back to our home towns to visit the grandparents and cousins. We had a blast spending the next few days with family. There was amazing food, presents, sledding, games, movies, snowball fights, pranks, and late night chats until 2:00 in the morning. The kids LOVE the time they get to spend with their cousins. Mason had made a gift at school brought it home wrapped and told me it was for the cousins, so the picture with him holding up the paper is the gift he made for them. It was his handprints made into rudolf, it was super cute and I wish it would have been for me and not the cousins :) One of the highlights was getting to skype with my brother Phil in afganistan while we were all home. It was nice for him to be apart of Christmas! We traveled back home on Thursday, picked up the dogs and spent the rest of the weekend relaxing and enjoying some time with each other. New Years eve we played games and had snacks which was a lot of fun. The time always goes so fast but it was a wonderful Christmas vacation.

Merry Christmas!!!!

Mayah

Mason

Madison

McClain

Merry Christmas from the Gorsh's. We have had a wonderful Christmas eve and look forward to a great Christmas celebrating the birth of our Savior. It is a white Christmas in Iowa and it looks picture perfect outside with the lights. We went driving around looking at Christmas lights tonight and it was so pretty out. The kids are super excited for tomorrow morning. I'm sure we will be woken up quite early :) Wishing you and your families a wonderful Christmas.

Love this song

Our youth group sang this song tonight and I loved it! Thought I'd share :)

11 years ago.......

It will 11 years tomorrow that Kyle asked me to marry him on a beach in Santa Barbara California. It was a wonderful day which I remember like it was yesterday. I was in my last year of college. Hollie, Kyle and I went on a trip to visit Kelli & Matt in Sunny California. Kyle (with the help of his sisters) planned a day for us to go visit Santa Barbara. We shopped, looked around at the pier and then had a picnic on the beach. And it was at that beach that Kyle got down on his knee and asked me to spend my life with him. I was so excited and I remember coming back into Kelli and Matt's apartment where Hollie and Kelli were, so excited to tell them what happened. I don't think I could have made a better decision that day :) It has been a wonderful 11 years since that day. I still have the picture frame that I made at Color me mine with the date of our engagement on it. Who would have thought that we'd be so blessed with four wonderful children, a home, a amazing church family, friends, family and loving every minute of it 11 years later?

Congratulations Kyle!!

Congratulations to my sweet hubby Kyle on his graduation from Drake University CPM class today! It has been a long 18 months of classes and he is beyond thrilled to be graduating today! He has his final group presentation and the graduation this afternoon. I'm so proud of your hard work Kyle and still having plenty of time for your family. No more late nights at the office working on projects...YIPPEE!! We love you very much! CONGRATULATIONS!!

McClain vs the Christmas tree

As you can see we have been having a McClain vs the Christmas tree challenge ever since we set up the tree. It doesn't matter where we sit McClain he manages to make his way under the christmas tree to play with lights and bulbs. He doesn't see the problem with it, but Dad and Mom do :) He is all smiles when we find him by the tree like it's no big deal he's just hangin out. It cracks me up. I'm sure there will be a day when I'll miss having a little babe around that I have to move from under the tree, but for now I need to keep my eye on this little guy because he LOVES the Christmas tree!

A post with NO pictures ?!?!?

Wowzers!! It has been a while since I have done a post. Things here have been super busy! I guess with four kids, school, Kyle's work, holidays, Church, AWANA, dr. appts. time gets away from me. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving and long weekend!! Actually so wonderful that we didn't take many pics :) It started Wednesday with both Kyle and the kids having the day off from work and school. So we spent the day shopping, cleaning, relaxing and getting ready for Thanksgiving on Thursday. Thursday I got up at 5 in the morning to go workout and when I got back home everyone was still sleeping so I did my devotions and spent time in prayer. I had an awesome quiet time that morning and I can't think of a better way to start Thanksgiving. When the kids and Kyle got up we had breakfast, watched the Macy's day parade while I was cooking away waiting for my parents to arrive. They got here in the morning and I had some appetizers lined up for a little lunch because I was preparing for the dinner around 5. The kids loved having grandpa and grandma here! My meal turned out great!! Everyone went away from the table with a full belly that's for sure :)
Friday we got up and Grandpa made gluten free german pancakes, did a little shopping, set up the Christmas tree and decorated the house for Christmas! We listened to Christmas music while we decorated and the kids had some Christmas cookies too. Friday night we played some games with the kids, grandpa and grandma. Disney scene it and pass the trash were the games of choice :) We love game time and it brings out the competitive spirit in the house that's for sure :) Saturday after breakfast Grandpa and Kyle took the 3 oldest kids out shopping to Bass Pro shop and a few other places while Grandma, Me and McClain hung at the house getting it back in order after the last two days of craziness. But one of the best parts was yet to come!! Saturday afternoon we had tickets to go to the broadway play "Mary Poppins" Grandpa, Grandma, Kyle, Mayah, Mason and myself all went to the show. I had a babysitter come to watch Madison and McClain because you had to be five years old to go to the show. Poor Madison :( Anyways the play was FANTASTIC and we had such a wonderful time!! We brought back Madison a Mary Poppins purse and she loved it!! She also had so much fun with the babysitter that I don't think she missed us :) After we got home from the play Grandpa and Grandma took us out to eat at Outback steakhouse which was YUMMY!! We had an amazing weekend and we have so much to be thankful for. I love Thanksgiving because it's a great reminder of our need to be thankful in all things! We are so blessed and so undeserving of all we have. It's so humbling to have such an generous, loving and caring God. We are thankful for so many things, and we were definitely missing family that weren't here with us. We hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving too!

Happy Birthday Madison!!

Happy Birthday to our sweet Madison!! You are so special to us and we thank God for giving you to us!! You have the sweetest little personality and it's so much fun seeing you grow each day. You love all things girly but wouldn't pass up playing super heros with your brother!! You are the sweetest, loving, funny, determined, thoughtful, kind, passionate little 3 year old. You have a little temper but are very quick to say "sorry mom and dad" :) You have been through quite a bit in your three years and I can't believe how much you have changed in those years! We love you very much, Madison!! Happy Birthday.