Really, really long overdue update!

Wow, the days are just flying by and while I knew it had been a long time since I'd updated this blog, I had no idea that it had been this long! Since I last posted, Ellie celebrated her 5th birthday, we've had several holidays, Ben and Madeline earned their yellow and orange belts in Tae Kwon Do, and Sam has had several month-birthdays, has learned to sit up, crawl, and pull up to standing and is eating table foods. Here are a few of the highlights:



Ellie had a farm theme for her birthday party with her friends. Dad made an adorable pig cake, the girls dressed like cowgirls, and they had a lot of fun doing crafts and games and eating cake.

We had a visit from Great Grandma Matthew (all the way from California!). The kids hadn't seen her for a few years, and she and Sam were able to get acquainted.

Sam had his 7 month birthday (November):

And his 8 month birthday (December):

And his 9 month birthday (January):

And his 10 month birthday (February):

And his 11 month birthday (March):

He is such a sunny little guy and we are all really having fun getting to know him. He loves his sisters and his brother and is quite entertained by them (sometimes because they are purposely trying to entertain him and other times because they are just fun to watch). He also loves Daddy and begs for Daddy to play with him whenever Daddy comes near. He just knows the best games.

Ben and Madeline earned their yellow belts and also their orange belts in Tae Kwan Do. They are both really enjoying this and have learned so much in just the short time they have been doing this sport (since September). Here they are with their orange belts:

Other news? Lately we've been busy getting bedrooms switched around so that Sam now has his own bedroom (he'd been rooming with Mom and Dad since he was born and it was time for him to have his own space and for us to reclaim ours). Now Madeline and Ellie share a room and so far it is going very well!

We also recently took a family daytrip to Colonial Williamsburg during their Home Educator weeks where we followed up a unit (at home) on Colonial history and life with seeing for ourselves what life in a colonial town would have been like.

And to cap this all off, Sam just celebrated his first birthday yesterday (April 4th)! We had a small party today with all the grandparents in attendance. Just cake and ice cream, the birthday song, and a few gifts to open. The birthday boy definitely had a lot of fun!