Hi Everyone,
It's funny how Christmas feels so long in coming, then when it's here it feels all-consuming, and yet by mid-January, a mere two weeks later, it feels like ancient history! :) I really love this time of year; making plans, setting goals, decluttering, etc.. January always feels like a fresh start to me.
Here's a little of what we've been up to the past few months. I noticed my blog updates keep getting spaced farther and farther apart, lol. Hard to believe we started this blog back in 2012 with monthly updates! You guys must have been getting sick of them. hehe! Well, here we are two kids later... we'll just go ahead and admit it's turning into a quarterly update. :)
Backyard fire and marshmallows one day while Micah was out of town. When you've run out of everything to do inside and you have several boys who are driving you crazy, just go outside and light something on fire. Shazam! Hours of enjoyment.
Not allowed on the blanket, so just going to get as close as possible...
A lovely visit from Pappy last fall! And our only visit to the donut shop last year! Dad knows how to make them happy.
Isn't this the sweetest picture ever!?!
Pilot Mountain over Micah's birthday in October!
Went down the hall and saw this. =O Liza- "Dis is my yittle swimming pool." Oh Lord, give me strength! lol
Liza- "Mommy, can I be in your belly and be your baby?" Um, yes.
Trip to the NC Zoo! We figured out that "world's largest zoo" must actually mean the zoo that's spread over the largest area geographically...we walked a LOT!
Liza said she wanted to ride the giraffe and elephants. :)
Pretty sure the same bear was in the very same spot pacing the very same steps last time we were here years ago. Sad! Poor things. Maybe they are actually animatronics?
First haircut! Just a tiny trim really.
The Burlington Christmas Parade. Never realized there there so many dance studios in our county, unbelievable! I realized I really only like parades because of the horses. We only saw four that day. :( A slight contrast to my days in the Kansas where parades meant everyone gets their horse and rides through town. More likely a ratio of 50 horses per float. Oh well. We decided we'd be good for another couple years before going to the parade again. :)
Blake and Seth are practicing both musical and sibling harmony while playing a duet. :) We have definitely entered a new stage in our family. Joking, teasing, making fun, pestering, challenging each other seems to be making the new normal. I'm SO glad I grew up with three brother, but still. I walked past the piano the other day while someone was practicing (I won't say who) and they were punctuating the last beat of each line of music with a well timed BURP! sigh...
Experimenting with sugar-free goodness!
Liza approves!
Liza looks so grown up in this picture!
This is what she does any time she finds a sticker.
Yes, I realize I have more pictures of Liza on here than the other boys. That's just because she's our favorite child.
Celebrated Big Nana's birthday!
Another Christmas miracle happened this year when we went to look for a tree in our back woods. Amazingly, Owen spotted just the right type of tree, just the right size. How could that have happened? The Tree Fairy, obviously.
Christmas morning!
Christmas at Grandad and Nana's!
Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without a little backyard football at Nana's house (according to Uncle Jesse) no matter how cold it is outside!
Trampoline! Hey, when you have three boys anything that helps the boys exert energy, that's outside, AND has netted walls and soft floor? Um, yes!
Crazy hair!
Liza in her "tippy toes" as she calls them.
Praying before partaking in play-time dinner. :)
So, we spent the week between Christmas and New Year at home cycling through a stomach bug. We pretty much stayed home and did a whole bunch of nothing for seven days while we quarantined ourselves. It was actually kind of nice. Usually when we are all home we end up doing projects around the house, so this was a nice stay-cation. Minus the stomach virus part of course. Everyone ended up in Tar Heel blue one morning, so naturally we had to take a picture.
Owen is so funny. He begs to do school every day and then about 15 minutes in, he says "Can I go play now?" :) He is slowly learning his letter sounds though, so that's exciting.
After our morning reading and memory work time together, Owen and Liza go play together while I go over schoolwork with Blake and Seth. They've been doing so much better lately about playing nicely together. There is still at least one ultrasonic scream each day when some injustice has been done, but overall it's finally getting better. :)
Crazy hair!
Not sure what tragedy happened here.
Micah is currently in Moldova for the second time teaching alongside Mark. They are bringing the message of fathers being the spiritual leaders in their homes to many different churches and pastors. The Lord has really been using them to speak to the people there and it sounds like it's been very much appreciated.
Other updates...
Uncle Scott Shoemaker received a promotion to E5 last fall. He is doing a good job at his post in Japan and we get to talk over the computer once in a while. Funny story...we sent him a Christmas box and when I brought it to the post office the lady wanted me to give her a list of what was in the box. So I said "Cookies and gum". Well, when the box reached Scott in Japan the label on box read "Contents: cookies and gun"!! Not sure exactly how the box made it through his military base and to him without anyone calling him in for questioning, but he got his box safe and sound nonetheless.
Funnies...
Liza was getting exasperated at her hair while she ate breakfast one day and said, "Mom, my face is in my hair!" :)
On an especially cloudy day, Liza wandered in to the kitchen from her bed one morning and said, "Mom, we didn't turn on the sun!"
Now here's a riddle for you. You are the mom pushing your kids to the car in the parking lot and your 4 yr old son says the following and you have to decipher what it was he actually meant: He says, "Mom, can I put my germs on the road?" Any ideas? I was totally lost for several seconds when it suddenly came to me, "You mean, can you spit in the parking lot?" Owen- "Yes." :)
Liza was delighted that Micah was going to take her outside to the trampoline one day and she exclaims, "I'm going to go play with my big whole daddy!"
Overheard Owen and Liza playing make-believe in their room the other day... Owen- "I'm going to be Superman and fly over the bed" Liza replies, "I'm going to be cute." Where does she come up with these things?!
Hope you all are doing well. We are staying busy with school, acting classes for Blake and Seth, helping out at church, etc. etc.. Thankful to look forward to all that God has in store for us to do this year and praying that our hearts would remain obedient to follow though with all He puts in our hearts to do.
Love to you all,
Kari
