It has been a ridiculously long time...

It is July 19, 2012. Let's just start with where we are. Powhatan, VA. Four kids. What else is new? ;-)

Caleigh is reading like a pro, speeding through my beloved "Black Stallion" books. She is reading about 1 every 2 days and there are 20. It warms my heart that she said she'd like to give them to her daughter one day. She is now a fish in the water. Eight swim classes ago she was a timid water-goer. Now she is jumping in by herself, swimming underwater, can swim the length of the pool without stopping, and is gleeful for hours in the water. She loves to ride her big girl bike, run, jump, dance, kick the soccer ball, make Josiah laugh. Her sense of humor is developing. She cracks jokes and loves to read us things from books she deems funny. She has a shyness about her humor, though. She has a slow, small smile like she is trying to hold it in a bit, or wait to make sure you agree or wait to make sure you even get the joke.

Zachary is his own man. Scooting from balance bike to big boy bike w/o training wheels at a mere 4.5. He is a thinker and has recently been more apt to let you in on his thought processes. He is an inventor. He would like to build a conveyor belt linking Oma's to home and Grandma's to home so he could go quickly and whenever he wanted without having to wait on the parents. There is also talk of helicopters and airplanes (he told us recently we needed to buy seatbelts, and seats, and probably a whole lot of other stuff for the airplane he wants to build). He told me today he thinks I should watch his John Deere tractor video as they said it was "entertainment for the whole family." He is protective of his younger sibs, telling us when the yarn isn't securing the kitchen cabinet doors (Josiah), holding his sister's hand across the parking lot to church, and patting Caroline on the back reassuringly when he is sure of what is coming next. He has recently taken over the hall as his farmland.

Caroline loves to sing. And smile. And tell you a whole lot about whatever is going through her mind. Sometimes you ask her a question and you can SEE something clicks and she is going to give you an earful. And you listen intently because you need to catch the words you can (to make sense of the ones you can't understand) and because her little voice is so cute that you sink into rapt attention easily. She is happy to have been promoted to the balance bike. She is independent -- getting her own milk out of the refrigerator, putting her used snack bowl in the dishwasher, getting dressed, going about and playing on her own. I love to see her off by herself nodding her head and talking to herself, in her own little wonderful world.

Josiah is 1. Can't believe it! He is almost walking, cruising around on everything he can get his hands on. He loves the cat and doesn't mind when the cat jumps over his head or races in front of his face...he just waves and makes a high-pitched "meow/hello" sound. He likes to "hide" standing behind my back and pop out when I ask where he is and peek-a-boo with a huge grin and laugh. His humor is coming along. He likes to page through books and sit in the plastic bin on top of and with his toys.

And that is all for now. We cleared and acre of land and put up a play set...we lost 6-8 trees in a recent storm...it's hard to keep up the house and play with the kids and enjoy life...it's fun to host friends and family and have space to spread out and be back in VA...we're making it well here. More soon!