A first

Daddy gave Canaan his chocolate bunny from the grandparents, against my better judgment. I actually wasn't even paying attention and when I turned around my 10 month old had this huge chocolate sugar concoction in his hands. He was enjoying it A LOT so I didn't have the heart to take it away from him right away.








On a completely seperate note, HOW cute is my baby boy?! In my estimation, he is THE cutest little 10 month old boy on the planet. You may disagree with me, but you'd be wrong ;)

Siblings as friends

These boys are best friends. When Isaiah came home, he and Malakai became instant friends. There was no sibling rivalry(still isn't), there wasn't any anger issues with Kai being "ousted" by a bigger brother they just got along instantly and that relationship has continued for the past 4 years. These boys never fight with one another, always have the best time playing together and are normally belly laughing over something one of them said or did.

In our family, we encourage sibling friendships and cherish them. Family relationships are very important to us and is one of the great things about home schooling, we get to work on them all day long! Yes, there are times when there is fighting between siblings but, more often than not, they play well, love well and enjoy each other a lot.

Our first garden!

To say I am excited about this project is an understatement. I absolutely cannot wait to eat my own homegrown tomatoes, strawberries and peppers. I am excited about offering my children fruits and veggies that grew the way God intended them without pesticides and getting my feet wet in this whole "green thumb" thing.



See this little 5 year old? He is the hardest worker in my team. We were all working together to pick up sticks that Jonah was uprooting and I gave the kids a break. Not Judah though, he chose to stay in the garden and keep working and did it with a big, beautiful smile.


See that garden gate? My husband built that himself. Isn't it beautiful? He also built the fence that goes around the garden. It's a piece of art that he worked very hard on too.




If you must know, I pretty much kill every plant that has been given to me, save a basil plant I bought last year that sits in the garden window in my kitchen and an orchid Jonah gave me for my first Mother's Day that lasted for 2 years before it died. My in-laws always buy me these gorgeous plants and I try SO hard to keep them alive but, alas, they always start to brown and wither and die.

This is the first step. Next up is making rows and planting seeds. The kids are beyond excited to help with the planting and watching the plants grow. I just hope we actually get some fruit for our labors this year!

Another birthday boy!

Judah is FIVE years old today. FIVE! Oh my sweet, sweet Judah Baby. He's not a baby anymore at all. His best friend(according to him) is his brother Justus, his favorite color is orange and he loves to do schoolwork. This little boy has grown SO much over the last 4 years physically as well as emotionally. He is going to be a strong leader when he grows up as he already likes to think he's the Daddy and in charge of his bigger siblings. I love this little boy with all my heart and am SO glad that God had him planned for our family.


I know this picture is itty-bitty but it shows just how small Judah was in Jonah's arms. Judah is the same age as Canaan in this picture, so 10 months old. He was wearing 3-6 month clothes still and just as cute as can be.


Now, his cute baby face has been replaced by one handsome 5 year old. He has changed SO much, just in the last year. His waist has filled in just a bit so that he can actually wear slim fitting pants with the waist drawn in only 5 times;) instead of the whole way.



My camera was making the pictures have a blue tint to it, he wasn't really that "ashey", I promise.


Happy Whole Hand Birthday Judah Matthew Cassius!

Standing Tall!

It's amazing to me how much joy I feel when my baby stands for the first time. I mean, this is my 4th baby who I've experience this with and it still is so exciting. What a big boy and growing SO fast! By the way, Canaan turned 10 months old yesterday. :)

Isaiah

Today, Isaiah is 8 years old. This past year has seen the biggest growth with him since coming home from Liberia. The change, for me, is astounding.


On his Gotcha Day, he was 4 years old and yet smaller than his 2 yr. old brother Malakai. He wore a size 2T clothes. Today he is 60 lbs., about an inch smaller than his sister Alana(who will be 8 in June) and wears age appropriate sized clothing.


He was shy and scared and had to learn how to give a hug.

This past year he has learned to read really, really well and he loves doing it. He was able to memorize a scripture for the first time and recite it clearly for the family. Actually, it was a long one too(1 Cor. 13: 1-8) and I never dreamed after all the memory issues he has had that he would learn such a long one on the first try! It's as if something in his brain has "clicked". He has the neatest printing of any of my students(his 6th grade sister included) and always works diligently on his schoolwork.



Isaiah has grown into a handsome boy and no longer has that "little" boy look to him. This past year he has lost his first tooth through his 6th tooth. You can see in the above picture the gap from his latest missing tooth. That tooth was stuck crooked and loose in his mouth since November until I finally insisted that Daddy pull it out 3 weeks ago.



Isaiah is my thinker. He sits and observes and takes in the situation before saying a thing. In the picture above he is thinking hard about the wish he wanted to make. After the candles were blown out he went ahead and told his Daddy what he wished for because he asked. For the record, he wants a big truck with lots of trucks inside. I'm guessing he means Matchbox type?



Last, but not least, Isaiah has expensive taste in everything. Cars, clothes, shoes, watches, you name it. If he sees something and says, "Ooooo, I like that a lot", you can be sure that it costs a pretty penny. It's kind of weird actually.

I am so glad that the Lord blessed us with this child to add to our family. He changed the dynamic of our lives in such an amazingly good way and adds fun and laughter to our house on a daily basis.

Happy 8th Birthday my son! I love you so very much!

My baby

This sweet little baby is not so little anymore. He is coming up on TEN months old and weighs in at just under 21 lbs. His big brother, Justus, only weighs 9 more pounds than he does. I love chubby babies:)

Canaan is now crawling on all 4's and is starting to go pretty fast. He loves to chase the kids around the kitchen and will laugh and squeal trying to get them. Right now, he is trying SO hard to stand up on anything he can. Yesterday, he successfully pulled himself up on a kitchen stool and then promptly fell over.

Because of this beautiful weather we are having(which is supposed to end tonight in snow) Canaan got his first taste of playing in the dirt. He didn't like it too much and would try to start crawling but then push back on his bottom to sit when his hands touched the ground. For a minute, he would whine and look at me and then try again. He finally just conceded to sit in the dirt and play with leaves and sticks and had a lot of fun with that.

Breastfeeding is still going strong, although Canaan gets most of his nutrition from table food(avocados are his favorite), he really loves nursing. I am so glad that he has no showing of wanting to wean any time soon.

Canaan says Dada for everything right now but he does know that Jonah is Dada. When Jonah walks in the room he will get a big smile on his face and say "Dada". When I tell him, "Canaan, say 'Mama'" he gets a smile on his face and says, "Dada". It's almost like he knows he's being a stinker. It's OK, I can wait, I hear Mama, Mom, Mommy all day long from 6 other little stinkers.

Life is good. Life is busy. I am thoroughly enjoying this stage of life right now as my children are getting older. Have a great day!


You can see his 2 teeth he worked hard at pushing through. Just look at those cheeks. I kiss them at least 500 times a day:)

Bipolar weather patterns

Last week at this time, it was freezing outside and we had a TON of snow on the ground. Yesterday, it was 80 degrees. Our house didn't like the rapid change in temperature and begun sweating like crazy. Yes, our house. Thank goodness it wasn't something worse but the ceilings, near the vents, were actually dripping.

Now, I do enjoy the warmer weather but I do wish that it could be SPRING first with some high 60's/low 70's weather for a few weeks. Of course, we'll get snowed on again and all be begging for the warmth of the sun. For now, the kids are enjoying running around like madmen with Stella right behind and getting lots of energy out. We are enjoy nice neighborhood walks together and preparing our garden for planting in late May.

I'm looking forward to this summer and all the fun we will have:)