Saturday, April 25, 2015

And way back over half a year ago...

Tait jumped over to the "big boys" this year. Now that his years can no longer be counted on 1 hand, he's no longer one of the littles.

Tait is so full of love and joy! He loves to make people laugh and is always getting up to some mischief or other with that goal in mind. He loves pranks and practical jokes (and is trying to navigate what kinds of pranks are acceptable and which are likely to get him in trouble...)

He adores his baby sister, often sighing, "Mom, I wish Zoja could stay like this forever!" More often than not, after we turn out the light in the room he shares with Tola, we hear footsteps as Tola climbs into bed to snuggle with her big brother, who always welcomes her and keeps her from being scared!

Happy Very Very Belated Birthday, funny, crazy, mischievous Tait! We love you!

Remembering Our December Birthday Boy

11! I'm not even going to think about how that happened. One day at a time, we have arrived at 11 years!

Ziven is such a responsible young man, dependable and honest.

Legos and books are still Ziven's favorite pastimes. He's discovered the fun of customizing his legos this year, and his favorite literary pursuit this year has been everything Greek Mythology. This kid knows far more Greek mythology than I could ever learn!

And he now considers himself a "chicken enthusiast" as well, having taken the care of the chikens under his wing, so to speak.

He loves to play around with words and create puns and new jokes, trying them our nightly on dad as soon as he walks through the door.

We love you, Ziven, and are so blessed to have you in our family!

Happy Really Belated Birthday, Sonny Boy!

Happy-belated-Birthday, Sweet Tola!




February. You know, as in nearly 3 months ago... Sigh. How does the time go so quickly? This poor blog has sat here silent for 10 months while life has gone on. And on. And on. So many ordinary moments chock-full of ordinary loveliness.

And several not-so-ordinary, once-a-year kind of happenings. I can't possibly go back and capture them all here belatedly. But I do owe a few birthday posts! I've done birthday posts every year for the past 7 or 8 years and I can't just skip over them now.

So, working my way backwards...

Little Miss Tola turned 4. Again, she wanted a pink birthday. Again, pink frosting and pink cake adorned her birthday cake. This year, she was delighted to have a little sister to fawn over on her special day.

This sweet girl fills our days with singing and dancing and princess dresses, lego building, and making her sister giggle. She loves to help mama in the kitchen, peeking into every bowl and asking what ingredients I put in this one... Every day she graces one of her brothers with allowing them to be her buddy that day, and they are all happy to compete for the honor.

She has such a loving spirit and brightens our day with cheer! Happy Birthday, my sweet Tola!

This Little Light, I'm Gonna Let It Shine!

I was puttering around in Tait and Tola's room when Tait pipes up from his bed,

"Hey, Mommy?" (This is how he starts a lot of his conversations with us--Hey, Mommy? Hey, Dad?)
"Yes, Tait?" I say, my back still to him.

"What do you think I should be when I grow up?"

"Well," I say, turning around to face him, "what do you think you should be? How do you think God wants you to use your talents, the things you're good at?"

"The things I'm good at?" He muses, then continues in his high-pitched little-boy voice, "Wellllll.... I'm really good at fighting! And hey, Mommy? I'm good at building Legos. Oh, and I'm really good at walking through the woods without getting stuck with prickly thorn bushes! What do you think I should do with those talents?"

Ummm...Anyone?