Wednesday, February 4, 2015

My Dear Family

"Happy February! I recently turned 9 months old. I love sweet potatoes and avocado. Peaches and pears cause me to make a silly face that gets quite a funny reaction from my brothers and sisters. I am never by myself. Someone is (almost) always holding me. I just got over an ear infection, but mom is wondering if I still have it because I have not been sleeping very well. I love spinning the tires on trucks and cars, and I love looking at the baby in the mirror. He is funny! Bath time is another one of my favorite things. I cry when I have to get out. Crawling isn't quite my style, but mom says it won't be long. I love signing "more" and sometimes "so big". 
Clapping is fun too!" -Theo

Late in January, we got together with GG, Gampy, & Reuel and his parents to celebrate Christmas Stoffel-style: fire in the fireplace, gifts, lots of food & football!

This may have turned out better if we took the picture right when we got there. These 5 little monkeys just wanted to play!! 

Mom came over and brought with her all the essentials for gingerbread house- making. 
Here is Lou Lou's.

And GGs!

And mine! 

The same day, we had some friends over to make another ginger bread house.

"Hmmm. Which piece should I eat next?" -Ethan

"I just want to live there!" -Clara

"Who is going to pull this thing??" 

It's sooooo cold outside. Let's bring the snow in!

Theo and his friend Leroy... It is so amazing how "big" he looks by such a new baby!

We all loved this jungle book that Grandma Nelessen bought. Laughs all around!

Tim has been helping coach a boys basketball team this year. We go to the games to eat popcorn cheer him on. Go Eagles!!

A-L-L-I! G-A-T-O-R! Alligator, Alligator, Eat em up! Eat em up!

We had Granny spend the night & we played Skip-bo & hide-the-(really small)tea cup with the kids. She is such a blast. The next morning I took her to the airport to head to CA.

She loves sweets and coffee (though generally eats things like red salmon and steamed spinach)....well, here we are. I love this picture. Moments later we thought we would check what time her plane was boarding. We looked at our watches- WHAT?! One minute ago?? Run!! So there we ran, she, up the steps, and Theo and I in the elevator...and she was stopped in security for her "large" container of face cream. Since it was almost empty, they let her through. She had a smile the whole time, and ran on to catch her flight. The security guard assured me that she is in good hands. I praised God that we made it literally in the nick of time!

This is our families' second year in Classical Conversations and my second year tutoring. These gals are all 5 year olds in my class. One boy was sick, and Silas just didn't want to be in a picture of all girls. They are so fun!

One night, Theo would not go to sleep for anything, so we let him play on the floor. 
Here he is, folded in half, asleep!

Our dear friends from Arizona sent us some fresh oranges, tangelos, lemons and grapefruit...along with some great herbal medicines, cars for the boys, paper cut outs for the girls and a sweet homeschool book. The timing couldn't have been better after the long day we had. We are so grateful!

The School House by us has activity days that we love to be a part of. This time, we made ground hogs coming out of their den. These hats were on major clearance. Though we didn't buy them, we just couldn't resist a few pics!

"Were you looking for Silas? I ate him! AH AH AH!"

Adorbs as usual.

Ha Ha! He will get me for this some day!!