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 :)

Holidaze

Christmas is over, and though we made wonderful memories celebrating Christ's birth, I'm not too sorry to see it go this year!
Here's a recap with some random notes thrown in:
- There's a lot of pressure on moms during the holidays! It feels like the sole responsibility of the mother to ensure the children have all the special Christmasy experiences that they're "supposed to", like baking cookies and making hand print reindeer and keeping up with every cherished tradition...it's too much! I reminded myself that having a not-psycho mom is definitely more beneficial for my kids than trying to do too much.
- Along those lines, I don't remember Christmas being so insane when I was a kid! When did Christmas explode??? ?It must have been between my childhood and having kids of my own- Elf on a Shelf?? Seriously??? As if moms don't have enough to do! I always thought I would love having tons of Christmas traditions with my kids, but we're intentionally limiting ours so that we don't feel enslaved to them! What works one year may not the next. Maybe next year we'll have matching jammies, maybe we'll cut down our own tree, maybe load up the kids and drive around and look at lights after bedtime, but I don't want to feel like I've failed my family if we don't. Two things are for sure, though: We'll do advent in December and bring out our growing collection of Christ-centered Christmas books and there will NEVER be an elf on any shelf in our house. Highlights from this year included cheeseburgers at a favorite restaurant with Blake's parents, an evening spent looking at the awesome lights in Williams, a game night with friends, the firefighters coming by in the truck bringing candy canes, making birthday cards for Jesus, having a Christmas carnival/scavenger hunt Christmas afternoon with some friends, special Christmas breakfast, making some homemade gifts (remind me not to do this next year!), loving the kids' enthusiasm for advent each night, and spending lots of low key time just our own little family.

Our backyard is lovely in the snow!

Boots!

Doing advent!

Fun new trampoline!

Her papa paints fingernails :)

Waiting for Papa to get up on Christmas morning!

Sunshine Baby's first Christmas!

The gift I made Blake, which cemented how much I dislike making things.

It was so exciting when the fire truck came by!!

The gift the kids made for Blake

Pin the star over the stable at our carnival

A "sinata", representing Jesus being born to destroy our sins, so good stuff will come out of us instead!

Sick and Stuff

Once again our family has been sick, for a week now- one of those colds that completely takes you out. So, it's been way too many movies, an overwhelmingly dirty house, and homemade chicken broth that I'm so glad I stuck in the freezer a couple months ago.
We're on the mend now and I'm hoping we'll stay healthy for a while! Lots to do for holiday preparationsand catching up on housework and laundry (not to mention Blake's final exams).

Here are some funny Rory sayings from late:
We were talking about Heaven and Rory asked if Adam and Eve were going to be there. I said that I supposed so, and she excitedly asked if they'd be holding fruit! At first I was confused, then realized that probably in every picture she's seen of them they have fruit in their hands, haha.

Rory and Bash scattered a gazillion clear plastic ponytail holders all over the bathroom while I drank my coffee and hoped that the quiet was not a bad thing. When I went to check on them Rory first looked very guilty, then got a calculating look on her face. I asked what they were doing and she replied, "Well, Mama, we were having fun until YOU came in!"  Sorry, baby girl- I am NOT the bad guy here!

She also told me" "I love you, Mama, but really I just want something."

The End of Autumn

I know fall isn't technically over. But Thanksgiving is, and Christmas is only a few weeks away- yikes!!

Sweater vest!

We call Raddie a stereotypical baby, 'cause he does baby things like playing with his feet. Our other kiddos never did that!

Sweet Rory girl was SOOOO excited to get to help Rad eat his first solid food! Her joy is written all over her face :)

Such a sweet big sissie!

Firetruck jammies, good books, and a comfy chair!

Sunshine Baby :)

Trucks and tractors, such a boy

Bearizona Christmas party- the bears got fruit by the foots and bagels.

Classic: Bashy is horrified, Rory is nervously wondering if she'll get the chance to tell Santa what she wants for Christmas (band-aids, incidentally), and Rad is gazing at the lights.

Preparing for the holiday lights parade in Williams.

Doin' the small town thing.

Much of the parade consisted of EMS vehicles, much to Bashy's delight.

Our precious girl is getting so grown up!

Quotes

Rory is an endless fountain of awesome quotes, but we haven't really gotten any from Bash yet. That may be starting to change, though! This isn't exceptionally eloquent but it is completely sweet:

Bash, pointing to a wedding picture on the wall:
"Mama. Princess."

Awwwww! My heart melted :)

And here's one from Rory from a couple weeks ago, because why not?
Talking about Martin Luther and the Reformation, Brittany asked Rory what Luther nailed to the door:

Rory: "Feces!"

That sure would have gotten their attention...

Update

Well, we've been busy, busy. Some of that busy consisted of being sick (24 hour stomach bug that hit each of us, fun times), and being out of town (a speedy trip to the CA desert to see my Granddad and meet up with my brother and sister in law who were there visiting from Juneau). We're settling in Williams nicely. I like that I get smiles and comments like, "Wow, you must have your hands full" said in an amused/affectionate tone instead of scowls and confused looks like I'd get in Flagstaff at the grocery store. Hooray for conservative small towns where the general population doesn't hate kids!
Here are a few random notes:
- Blake is amazing.
- Bash is talking more all the time and still sounds like a robot.
- Rory seems to be outgrowing her awful freakout and emotional stage (Lord willing!)
- Blake graduates in less than six months!
- It's almost CHRISTMAS!
- We seriously should not watch shows on netflix with a plot. Too many nights we've been up until midnight- yikes!
- Rad is the happiest baby EVER!!!! It's sooo sweet to watch the three kiddos interact :)
- Car rides with littles are exhausting. Ours were troopers, but it still made for a couple long days.

Waiting for Papa to get home.

This arrangement did not last long..

Visiting Granddad!

Bashy's Birthday and Mom's Visit

We were blessed to have my mom here for a week over Bash's second birthday! We had a great time showing her our new little town, and exploring it more ourselves. A highlight from the last week or so was a fun BBQ at the home of some of our friends; we met them years ago in Flag and they moved to Williams a couple years ago. We already know a few other families as well; It's nice already having some community here and we're looking forward to making new friends! Of course, Blake's still in school so we're limiting our commitments like we've been over the last several years. However, graduation's on the horizon and we're excited to hang out with people again!

Bud-o's second birthday was a success! Rather than putting together a party like I do for Rory (who loves to play with her friends), I realized that Bashy doesn't really have little friends and could care less about an event like that. Instead, we had a family day on his birthday itself that included playtime on his own while Rory slept (a rare luxury!), a delicious dinner, time with his Gramma and Nana and Baba, and a few fun presents. Rory did chores to earn money to buy him a gift and we gave her her first budgeting lesson: one quarter in her giving box, one quarter in her savings box, and two quarters in her discretionary spending box! It was so sweet watching her labor over the decison about what to get him at the store! We finished birthday celebrations by going to a (sort of) local fall festival and pumpkin patch. They had hayrides, a carousel, train rides, tractors to sit on, a petting zoo, and other fun things. Bashy had the greatest time! We all thought it was a lot of fun!

He had a stuffy nose and had to miss Sunday school, but he got to play with his tractor at church and didn't mind.

Allowance boxes!

It happened that we were all in Flag on his birthday (the kids, myself, and Mom for MOPS, Blake for work) so we met up with Blake's parents and had a special b-day lunch.

Bash really enjoys having some alone time. He got some on his birthday when Rory took a long nap!

He also got to watch Mighty Machines with Gramma!

I had the brilliant idea of making him an indoor sandbox. Yes, those two words should not go together. But he LOVES it and so far it hasn't been too messy :)

He constantly begs to play with his sandbox (which he doesn't have free access to).

Oh, Rad. Such a sweetie!!

Tractor-pumpkin cupcakes for our trip to the pumpkin patch!

Pants are optional. Trucks are not.

So grown up!

Corn maze!

First carousel ride! Her look of wonder was so neat :)