Stuff

Busy, busy, busy. Same old, same old. But in a good way! My sister and her husband (Blake's bestest friend in the world, incidentally) and their two girls visited us for a week. We had sooo much fun with them and are trying to get them to move here. Hopefully one day we'll live in the same geographic area! In other news, we plowed through six seasons of Psych in less than a month while Blake was on break over the holidays. Definitely one of the best shows we've seen in a while! We've also re-immersed ouursevles in the goodness of madlibs :)
Blake: Is getting into some really great stuff at work. He has a lot on his plate consistently and really likes the variety in his days. He'll be doing more emergency management stuff beginning soon, which is going to be awesome. When we're ready to move on from Williams he'll hopefully have a nicely padded resume! Really we only have one more month of hardcore school left; starting in March he just has one class and his internship (which he does at work) to complete!!!! It will be so nice for him to have free time again. He's spearheading our fun new ventures that will commence this summer: raising rabbits for meat and chickens for eggs! I'm surprisingly excited about it :)
Me: Still really benefiting from MOPS, especially being involved in leadership. I've made some great friends and think it's a super valuable ministry. I'm also getting invested in relationships in Williams. We have regular mama play dates; a few good friends and I are hoping to start a biweekly Bible study up including some of the other moms from the park outings. We're also going to be part of a home group consisting of families from our church in Flag that live in Williams. In other news, I just love cooking for my family! I could joyfully surrender cleaning, decorating, and laundry to a housekeeper (in my dreams!) but I never would want to give up cooking. Except to eat out. I love to eat out too. But those days ended years ago, haha. This past week I made homemade yogurt with my new yogurt maker and delicious homemade granola to go with it. I don't really like yogurt but I know the bacteria is good for us. However, the stuff in the stores always freaks me out because it's filled with so many awful ingredients. My first attempt at homemade was a success! With a little maple syrup and vanilla, I'll even eat it! I also made homemade pickles for the first time, out of a couple yellow squashes we got in our bountiful basket. We all hate squash but I didn't want to waste them. We figured pickling them was worth the risk of disgusting failure since we wouldn't eat them anyway, but the pickles are fabulous! Yay!
Rory: Her temperament is definitely evening out. Her freakouts and meltdowns occur much less frequently. She is such a sweet big sister, especially to Rad. She loves to play her first official game, a Disney matching game. I've always been looking forward to playing board games with my kids and it looks like we're close! We're enjoying ridiculously unseasonably warm weather which means lots of time outside for the kids. It's been super great, although I'm sick of the sun. Rory tends to be bossy (an oldest daughter thing, I suspect) but she has a sweet and tender heart and is so very impressionability. I just love to hear her playing with her babies during her rest time- the conversations she has with them are amazing! "I know you don't want to be kind, but you have to. Jesus wants you to be kind and he died on the cross, so share your book, okay? That's so nice of you!" And so on...I guess she really does listen, haha.
Bashy: Growing up more everyday! I hate, hate, hate it! I want my little Bud-o to stay round-cheeked and sturdy-legged and robot-voiced and twinkly-eyed forever! Seriously, everyday he talks more and more. He's even voicing more original thoughts as opposed to just parroting us and answering questions. His intonation is hilarious and enthusiasm is adorable. He's so rough and tumble and independence yet so cuddly and affectionate. He's our spontaneously-hugging child and the one who melts my heart with his grin. He's still a very tormented sleeper and gets night terrors a couple times a week at least. When he's tired or upset he calls for his 'fire (pacifier) and blankie. He loves to dig in his sandbox and play with trucks, trains, planes, cars, and tractors. He's impish and lively and brooding; our sensitive artist and little wild man.
Rad: 8 months old, HATES all food. Seriously. The other kids loved all food from as soon as we offered it; Rad clamps his little mouth shut and purses his lips and shakes his head. I've tried four or five different purees and he wants nothing to do with them; it's so funny! I'm not forcing them on him; he still nurses every few hours and is the largest any of our kids have been  (15th percentile- he's a monster!). Maybe he'll be more interested in finger foods in a month or so. He sits up and is almost crawling and is the sweetest, happiest baby ever. His sissybean and brobro just adore him and he lights up around them too. It's sooo gratifying watching them interact and enjoy each other.
Anyway, we're just so happy. Blake is my favorite ever and our kids are our little favorites and we feel blessed to be in our cute little home in our strange but endearing little town. God is being so good to us :)