Zeke is 8!!

Happy Birthday my wonderful Ezekiel! You are 8 years old today. Let's start off with a birthday interview to remember a slice of who you are at this time in life :)

Birthday Interview: 1/27/2020
What is your favorite food? Jello and pears
Favorite Song? Smoke on the Water remix
Movie? Charlie and The Chocolate Factory  
Subject to learn in school? Science
Thing to do every day? Play with toys
Instrument? The electric guitar
What do you want to be when you grow up? A hydraulic engineer
What is your favorite thing about Daddy? That we have special time together.
Mommy? Having time together.
Levi? That he's my brother.
Zoë? That she's my sister.
Naomi? That she is fun.
What are you most excited about being 8? That I'm the oldest in the family.

- This year we celebrated your birthday on Saturday, January 25. You invited your Kid City leaders, Mr. Eric and Ms. Amy, Zelda and her family, Mr. TJ and Mrs. Tiffany and their kids, Pop-Pop, Mimi, Aunt Teresa and her family and us. I made you this huge confetti cake and it was a big hit! We had hot dogs, pasta, green beans, bbq chips, fruit salad, blue jello, orange fanta, cake and ice cream. On Sunday, Daddy and I took you to Red Robin for lunch after church and then we went to see Frozen II. In the morning, we're making you blueberry donuts and taking you to LegoLand as your birthday present! I think you're going to have a wonderful time! 

- Look at this adorable group of kids! I love that you all love playing outside in the snow. We've had a couple good snows so far this winter. You enjoy sledding, making snowmen, trying to make snow houses, and, really, trying to make all sorts of contraptions to use in the snow. 

- You received some great gifts this year; some of them, you have been waiting on for quite some time! You love your new Gratvitrax set, your snap circuits, and your glow in the dark track. You continue to love building with your Q-Ba-Maze set and even received a motor to build from scratch! Recently, you disassembled our old vacuum because you wanted to figure out how it works. We are working through a chemistry set for school this term and you can't wait to make the rocket. 

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- You earned your high yellow belt in Taekwondo just before Christmas. Next up is the leadership class if you choose to keep advancing at Kick! You have a couple of months to decide. You have made so much progress in your strength, self-control, and listening since you began taking Taekwondo 2 years ago! 

- You seem to enjoy helping in the kitchen! You like trying new recipes with me and recently asked if you could do some experimenting! In January, we have made a giant cinnamon roll, egg salad, and chocolate cookies. I'm hoping that by the time you leave the house you'll have a whole arsenal of recipes/meals that you are great at making! 

- You seem to have a great mind for puzzles/puzzle type games. It seems like you inherently know how to put things together. We received a new game, Qwirkle, for Christmas which you are quite good at already. And just today, I let you play a game of BlokuDoku on my phone. I let you complete one of the daily challenges I had been struggling with (I tried probably 8 or 9 times to complete it) and you finished it on your first try. I believe that means you have some pretty awesome spatial skills! Additionally, in math, you are able to add together 3-digit numbers side by side. I check your work by stacking the numbers and adding them. But somehow, you are able to visualize these numbers and answers in your mind. It's quite amazing to me! You also have an excellent sense of rhythm and have make huge strides in your piano playing this past year. You like to sit down and practice and play for fun which I love very much! You have been working on your 5-finger scales and asking how to put the different keys together to make the major and minor sounds. Your favorite song to play right now is 'Forest Drums' and Daddy and I cannot wait until you choose a new favorite! Other subjects/areas we are studying in school currently include The Middle Ages in History, memorizing 1 Corinthians 13:1-7, learning all the verses to the hymn "I Have Decided to Follow Jesus", focusing on the habit of Kindness, continuing to increase your reading skills (you received an Audible subscription for Christmas so you can listen to stories and I think you're really enjoying this; as you seem to enjoy when I read aloud each afternoon as well and always ask for me to read a little bit longer!). I've noticed you cluing in and picking up more on words as we're out and about. On Sunday morning at church, you walked by one of the door greeters and as we walked past you said, "Hi Russell!" because you had read his name tag. These little bursts and moments make me so proud at the progress you've made in the past year. Reading doesn't come naturally to you like math and science, but I'm proud of you for being diligent and not giving up even though it is hard. We are still working on learning Spanish, we read poetry a few days a week, and we're working on increasing our narration skills. We have been participating in the Northland Wild+Free group and it has been fun to be in a slightly smaller group so you're able to get more familiar with the other kids. I'm hoping we can go consistently and make some friendships with kids who have similar interests. 

- Your current desire is to grow your hair down to your shoulders. I'm not super excited about this venture, but I've also decided to give you some autonomy and let you decide. So we'll see what happens in the months to come. 

Misty of Chincoteague W+F book club down at a horse stable in KC 

Parkville Days shooting range prize 

Exploring out at the Parkville Nature Sanctuary 

The start of your 2nd grade school year! 

One of your handicrafts has been hand sewing

Ezekiel, I am so proud to be your Mom. You are thoughtful and care about others' feelings even more than your own (mostly!). When one of your siblings' gets hurt, you'll stop what you're doing to make sure they are ok or help them up. You are sensitive and often have your feelings hurt as well; I hope to help you embrace this side of you instead of trying to make it go away and make you "tough". I definitely want to foster a sense of resilience and diligence in your spirit, but being sensitive to your emotions is never wrong and I hope you'll always believe that. You like to ask questions about the way things work and figure out ways to solve problems creatively. You still love Arthur Geisert books and received your favorite one, "Hogwash" for your birthday this year! We wrote him a letter last year, but the letter was returned, so maybe we can try to send an email next. You are quiet, always observing the world around you. You are slow to get angry and can put up with a lot (thanks to being the oldest of four!). You are becoming a better helper to me, cleaning the bathroom sinks every day, helping with the dishes after meals, feeding the dog, putting things away when asked. I appreciate you and the calm way you go about your business. You help me remember to be calm! I cannot wait to see what lies ahead for you in the coming year! I pray we will continue to grow our relationship together, that you will grow in confidence in the skills you possess, that you will learn to be diligent when things get difficult, that you will continue to ask questions about God, and that you will feel loved, protected, and cared for in our family! Love, Mommy

January Chills

We're having freezing rain here today, so it seemed a good day to stay inside and write down a short remembrance of our week. It was pretty typical for us --- school, martial arts, piano lessons, eating, and chores. We spent less time outside than usual as it was pretty cold, but I still pushed them out the door for at least a few minutes each day until today.

Lots of lego time. 

Working on letters and all those important scribbles. White boards are the best! 

Sister Selfie 

This weekend we're hoping to see some friends we haven't seen since we moved away from Ft. Worth back in 2012! I'm playing keyboard at church on Sunday morning and hoping the sore throat that started this morning will be over by then :(  Off to have some tea! 

To life... full of icy, wintry days.

January Fun

We're enjoying a snow day today, Saturday! We ate waffles and played outside this morning and watched "Frozen" during lunch.

The Fab 4 shouting "Snow Day!" 

Marshall is growing up too! 

Yesterday (1/10) I took Naomi out for her first official special time. We ate lunch at Chick-Fil-A, picked up some piano books from Meyer Music for one of my piano students, and then finished off with hot cocoa at Starbucks. I forget how quiet those first few years of special dates are because I'm so used to the every day noise from living in a house with 5 others. She was quiet, observant, and a bit overwhelmed by all the people at Chick-Fil-A. At Meyer Music, she wanted to check out all the ukuleles in the corner, but when I asked her to stop and just look, she restrained herself and stared at them. The cashier asked her how she was doing, and she held up her 2 fingers to let her know how old she was :) At Starbucks, we saw some friends from church. Landon asked her how she was doing, and she quietly replied, "good". It was so sweet. It's fun to hear her voice slowly coming through, especially in new situations. 

It was a rainy and cold day, so hot cocoa was just what she needed! We read her new book {on table} that she received in her kid's meal at CFA. 

She ate some of her ketchup with a fork :) So lady-like. 

These special dates are so important to me because I tend to get swept up in the daily grind and can group all the kids together and forget to see them as individuals. I want them to feel seen and heard by me as they grow up. We've been doing these dates since Zoë was born, but I didn't feel like I had a good consistent schedule. Now I've put them in rotation on my phone so I can remember which child's turn it is each month. So they each get 3 dates with me each year, plus a date with both Jeremiah and I right around their birthday. Sometimes it doesn't feel like near enough, but I remind myself it's the consistency over the long haul that will add up to make a difference in their lives. 

To life... full of snowy days and special dates.  

On the Brink of Death

Dramatic title, much?!?! Ha, I know. But it was a thought I was pondering a few nights ago, just within the first week of my new no social media resolution. We're only 9 days into the new year, but I've already noticed a stabilizing to my mental health. I think one of the biggest components for my anxiety was the feeling of imminent danger/death for every decision I made. In years' past, I too have shared difficult moments in life, often reaching out for support when we lived far from family or friends, on social media; and it was a source of comfort and encouragement when people would respond and reach out. So I do understand the reason people share their stories, the good and the bad. But it seems for me, that I was reaching the point where it felt like everyone, everywhere was sick or dying. {I realize, in the grand scheme of life, we are all dying and it's a fact that someday we all will. But living in constant fear of it is more my point here.} I started layering their stories onto mine. I would put myself in their shoes and wonder how I might respond in such a tragic situation. I would imagine what it would be like to be terminally sick, how would I be feeling? Would I respond well or lose it?

~~~ The homeschool mom who had ovarian cancer for 2 years and fought hard, and found joy in the midst, and died in 2019. ~~~The 7 year old girl who fell off a golf cart and suffered a tragic and traumatic brain injury in August and is still recovering. ~~~The well-known Christian author and mom who went to the hospital with a fever and cough and didn't come back out alive. ~~~The child who was vaccinated and suffered an injury to their brain. ~~~ The mom who found her 3 year old unconscious on the bedroom floor in the middle of the night and resuscitated her and took her to the hospital and found out she had a tumor and then it miraculously healed and then the U.S. required her to continue chemo treatments, so they left the states.~~~ 

There are so many stories. There are so many choices. I believe thoroughly in research, being aware, finding answers, searching for truth. There are choices I've made because other people enlightened me and I am thankful. But some of the day to day choices I was trying to make became almost excruciating... if I feed this food to my children, am I causing them to have a stomachache? And ultimately creating conditions for an autoimmune disease? Which will lead to a shortened life expectancy? My child's teeth are coming in too early... will this lead to dental problems the rest of their life? Do they have so many cavities because I didn't brush their teeth enough? Because I let them have too much sugar? Because I didn't give them enough mineralization? Or because I let the dentist put on fluoride at the last visit? Or because I don't use a toothpaste that is fluoridated?

It's exhausting.

Not only that, but it was keeping me from being present in my own life. To be able to actually SEE the people in my life and assess what was/is best for them in the current moment. To seek God's wisdom in decisions for our family. To trust my own instincts as to knowing what was best for myself and my children.

Upon reflection, this might be one of my biggest break-throughs and one of the best ways I'll be able to heal this year. I have done tons of research, received lots of input, been inspired, encouraged, and informed. Now it's time to sift through what I have received, toss out what isn't needed or doesn't work, and move forward in health, bravery, and faith.

To life... full of sifting and shifting. (I remembered my sign-off without looking back :))

Also, a picture. Naomi is starting to miss a few naps nowadays, so this is how we found her one evening around 7:30 pm...

Happy New Year!

Here we are, 3 days into 2020 and I'm trying to figure out how to compose an interesting, coherent post whilst directing children...  "no, that doesn't go on the couch", "Please be quiet so I can think", and "No, you may not go check on your sleeping sister." I feel that at one time, I could be quite creative in my writing, but alas those muscles have atrophied and I must start again. For now, I will post some pictures from the week and think about how I want to proceed in this space.

On New Year's Eve, Jeremiah's mom and grandma were with us to ring in the New Year. We played games, ate lots of rice krispie treats and popcorn, and watched movies. Zeke made it to midnight for the first time, which was exciting! Now he has asked to stay up until midnight again, my little night owl.

Grandma and Naomi ready to play Sequence 

10:30 pm -- one last snack and getting tired faces 

Jeremiah and his Grandma finishing up some more dishes! 

 On New Year's Day we had brunch at Teresa's house and took down most of our Christmas decorations! The next day, we visited the KC Zoo. The sun was shining and it was not bad for being outside! We decided to visit the Australia area because we found out the Red Panda had had triplets about 6 months age and Levi requested to see the new Tree Kangaroo exhibit he noticed on the zoo map.

This little guy was hanging out right next to the train tracks

Showing me their monkey faces 

Our favorite way to end our Zoo trips, the carousel 

Aunt Teresa helping out the girls up ahead 

Thank you to those of you who are going to follow along and read my blog this year. I hope to create a space that might inspire, make you smile, and occasionally learn something new. How did I previously sign off? I'll have to go back and read a few long ago posts. In the meantime, if you haven't read some of my previous posts, the top read posts show up along the left side of the blog, if you're reading from the computer; not sure if you'll be able to see those from a phone. Have a great weekend!