what a difference 2 years makes

we have been enjoying a little spring-like weather here at the end of winter. the kids rejoice when it is warm enough to eat outside. i was watching them eat their quiche (miles and graham's favorite) the other night while adam was at work just thinking about the meals they have eaten there at that little table. look how much they have grown in just two years!! soon there will be another little baldie to add to the mix. it would be hilarious if this baby had hair.

i have been slowing down and feel grateful to be in a quiet content season before this little one arrives. i don't want/am not able to hurry, so we might just spend 4 hours on a Sunday afternoon reading a gripping book while miles drops off in my shrinking lap. we might take meandering hikes as a family and pregnant mama and slow miles hang back and chat. sometimes during our chats i make discoveries about the goings on in miles' head. we were talking about the baby and he said something about everyone holding one. "miles, how many babies is mommy having?" "silly mama, three!" so he thinks we are having a baby for each of them. we have tried to explain, but he thinks we are kidding. hopefully the reality won't be too much of a disappointment. we have been working on a few growing in independence things. here marit is making her own oatmeal for breakfast...she almost put cumin in instead of cinnamon.

oh. hello.

it's been a real long time since i've posted anything on here. we're doing fine and we aren't really busy, but just have not been on here much lately. we lost our camera for a month or so. maybe i'll post some pictures from our Christmas later, but for now just a few from the last couple weeks.

 the baby is getting bigger and stronger at 32 weeks and is already head-down...the end of pregnancy anxiety has hit and i wonder how in the world we will take good care of 4 kids. it will be God's good grace that will enable us, i know. my emotional state has been less than stable this time around, but really i'm fairly emotive in normal hormonal states so i should not be surprised.

homeschooling is trucking along...moments of joy, moments of "what in the world are we doing?!" also. adam has been working his weird schedule, so if he is around in the morning sometimes he takes chatterbox miles out on errands. i call him my mother's morning out and it really helps us get school done. still, i don't love adam's schedule and it gives me a frequent opportunity to repent of ungratefulness and discontentment.

it has been a loooong time since i have felt up to an art project with the kiddos.  thankfully my mom does them when she visits and they do some at our co-op too.  the other evening we just decided to do a monet project.  he is our artist of the week.  i highly recommend the anholt books for young kids.

finger painting monet's water garden with the bridge made out of tape

focused

surprises me how much this outside boy loves to paint

pull the tape off and look!

she lost her first tooth!  she tells me not to put anything under her pillow because she really wants to test and see if the tooth-fairy is real.  what are we going to do?!

we saw four armadillos on our hike today

right before pax pulled adam down the hill

i miss running

my sweet parents sent us away for just over 24 hours of rest.  it was fun, but freezing!

it snowed in the south!  marit and graham were still awake when it started and saw it out the window.  they came tumbling down the stairs, so i let them play in it for an hour or so in their pjs.  i just could not squelch their joy.

not a big fan of snow balls...

some friends came over to play