Update

 

Anna has grown up so much this last year.  She hardly ever misses the bus now.  I love hearing the mad dash in the morning as she flies through the house looking for her homework or calculator and then busts out the door to high tail it to the bus stop.  I don’t think she ever makes it with time to spare, but as long as she makes it I’m happy.  She has a real sense of style and I love how well she knows herself and how her style reflects that.  I’ve been impressed with the outfits and hair styles she comes up with.   She’s also really made huge strides in fighting off her OCD tendencies -- a tender mercy we are so grateful for.  Although recently she babysat for us and when she changed Joshy’s very stinky diaper Abby had to be on perfume duty and keep spraying in front of Anna’s nose, while Anna did the dirty job.  She feels things deeply and as long as you’re not on the wrong side of those feelings, it’s fun to watch her get fired up about things.   I keep thinking that we need to get her involved in a cause, she’s ready to fight to the death.   I love that about her.  We love Anna.

Abigail is still very worried about the kidnapper that has been in nearby neighborhoods.  She’s trying very hard to be brave though.  She’s a sensitive soul.   Her worrying comes in handy though, because she keeps great track of Joshy.  It’s usually her or Ben who discovers him in danger and saves him.   She just told me today that she wants to get good at singing and then go on a show where she can win a million dollars and then use that for her mortgage.   When I asked her how she even knows about a mortgage she told me that I explained it to her once.  I told her that as long she and her husband work hard and don’t buy a bigger house than they need or can afford they wouldn’t have to worry.  “Yeah, but I still just don’t want to worry about a mortgage.”  Cracks me up.  She’s such a grown up.  We love Abby.

Nate had his highly anticipated animal fair yesterday.  We got to go and see all their hard work.  Each child made a poster about their animal and an art project.  We walked around and asked them all questions about their animal.  Nate has been looking forward to this for weeks.  If you need to know anything about a bobcat, he’s your guy.   I love watching him when he’s speaking earnestly about something.  He thinks faster than he can talk and you can practically see through his eyes all the thoughts tumbling around in his head.  His big brown eyes full of sincere intensity.  Yesterday when we were watching the BYU game, and it was do or die for the Cougars, he turned to us with a shy smirk and said, “I feel like I want to say a prayer for them.”  It was so cute.  We love Nathan.

Our sunshine boy has been a little uncharacteristically cloudy with occasional bursts of storminess lately.  He got so sick a few weeks ago and we still feel like he hasn’t quite bounced back all the way.   I also feel like, with my boys especially, the constraints of Winter kind of builds up in their bodies.  The arrival of Spring has been a little bit of a tease this year.  We can’t seem to have any kind of consistent warmth and nice days outside.  Hopefully when warmer weather comes and stays they can work all the winter out of their bodies.  The sunshine isn’t completely overshadowed though, whenever Ben surprises us with a trick or tidbit of knowledge and we ask where he learned it, he shrugs and says casually, “I just learned it up.”  Yesterday when we were leaving Nate’s animal fair where we had met Brennan, we walked out and Ben said, “I really love him”, referring to Brennan and then added, “and you.  That’s why we’ll be a family forever.”  We love Benjamin.

There are just no words to describe this Joshua of ours.  One minute he’s squawking demands at us and then the next winning our undying adoration by turning on the charm.   He’s always ready to be played with.  My parents came over one night and he just kept walking over to one of them and saying, “HI, Papa!”  “Hi, Mimi!”  Knowing he’s irresistible, eager to be picked up and tickled and loved.   It breaks my heart to think there are little ones who don’t take it for granted that everyone around them loves them.   He scared us to death, again, by once again getting on a little bike thing in our garage and down our terrifyingly steep driveway at what seemed like 75 mph.  He went all the way down on an angle right into the bottom of our railing on the side of our driveway.  We watched horrified, in the garage.  Fortunately the front of his little bike took most of the impact, but his head hit the railing after the bike did.  He had two big bumps, but they went away quickly and he was fine.  He must have a crew of guardian angels on him full time.   That scene replayed itself in my head at least 100 times.  I’m pretty sure I lost a few years of my life, but all things considered, a small price to pay.  We love Joshua.