Soccer players

For his birthday this year, Ames got some soccer gear, and all three cousins got to enjoy playing some "country soccer" together one afternoon.  These pictures are just so cute.  I love how their friendship is so sweet. 

Naamito was a little ref. 

Even though Byron seems to be right-handed, he always kicks with his left foot.

Easter 2017

Unfortunately, this is the closest thing I have to a good Easter picture this year.

Legos

One of the things the kids got introduced to while being at Disney (and visiting their Lego store) were Lego sets.  The kids and Daddy spent almost all Saturday morning after they got back from their trip putting these things together.  Emma was very good about following instructions and putting them together...

Byron needed a little help, but he really enjoyed them as well.

Online conference

One of my delights from earlier this month was listening to this year's The Gospel Coalition plenary sessions over the book of Galatians for their National Conference.  Every day, during either nap time or bed time I'd pull out my Bible and listen thru one of the sessions until I went thru the entire letter.  It was such a rich experience, and from the comfort of my home!!!!

Time alone with my baby

Emma and Byron got to go to Disney World over Spring Break with Memma and Poppa for a few days, and little Naamito and Mommy got to spend lots of "novio" time.  You can tell my phone gravitated towards his sweet face a lot more during these days.  Isn't he a guapo?

A turtle in our porch

One of the many perks of living out in the country is that we get to see turtles out in the wild every once in a while.  This little box turtle was so fun to catch and play with for a little while before letting it go free again.

They told me to take their picture

This was one of those random times when the kids asked me to take a picture of them and the picture turned out somewhat good, so it's worth recording.  We still love Costco... and so here we are (again) at the Costco parking lot.

Emma's in the newspaper

Emma's wonderful school was featured in the local newspaper last month, and guess who was in one of the featured pictures?  Isn't she darling?!?!

Naamen's baptism

This post is completely out of order, but on December 11, 2016 we baptized Naamen.  He was sick that morning, and cried the entire time, and the pastor mispronounced his name (no big deal, we expect it to happen).  But it was a sweet time.  We had a few family members come to our home afterwards and enjoy some taco salad with us.

A fun little something we did was that we baptized both him and his little friend Benjamin together.  We are certain they will become good friends one day.  Sad I don't have a picture of both families together.

Changing the way I fold clothes

A little over a month ago I literally woke up one day and decided I was going to begin folding clothes the "Marie Kondo" way, whose basic premise is that you fold clothes in a way that they stand and don't become unraveled every time you take something out.  It also allows you to see all your clothes at once.  And let's be real... it just looks a lot nicer.

It took me about two days (with normal life and normal interruptions) to refold almost all of our drawers and closets.  And even though the chore of folding clothes in itself has not reduced in time, it is somehow much more gratifying to do.

A funny little unexpected perk of this is that it has caught the kids' attention, so much so that they now like to fold things.  Here you see Byron showing me how he is folding his Doggie. 

They also seem to be more careful in going thru their drawers, and if they put something back, instead of just throwing it back or putting it in the dirty laundry, I've noticed that they "refold it" (to the best of their ability) and put it back.  A big bonus!!!!

Naamen's birthday party

We celebrated Naamen's 1st birthday the following Saturday once my mom and Great Gram arrived.  I only invited two of his little friends (who didn't have older siblings... that was the rule of thumb) plus family.  It was a fun and relaxed day, with a lot of talking and visiting on the front porch.  Beautiful weather as well.  I couldn't help but think afterwards that what we did on that morning was what I hope I get to do in the New Earth.

We had an Easter egg hunt with Cheerio-filled eggs.  The idea was that the "big kids" (aka... brother, sister and Ames) would hide the eggs.

Naamen with Ezra, Simon and Andrew before their egg hunt.

Oma and Great Gram visit

Oma and Great Gram came to visit us for a week.  They arrived late one night and only Byron was awake.  He got out of bed and quickly brought Oma and Great Gram a book to read.  It looks like everyone in that picture is happy!

Part of the morning entertainment while they were at the house was going into their bedroom in the morning.  Naamen and Byron often put on a show of sorts, part of which included putting Naamen some sunglasses and make him all happy by our "wooooowwwww" and "guaaapoooo."

Oma was the one who got us started with our garden last year.  So it seemed only appropriate to have her help us set up our garden this year.

On Naamen's first birthday

We kept it pretty low key on Naamen's 1st birthday (he is, after all, our third child).  We prepared pancakes for breakfast, and made him a special "1" pancake (that turned out to be backwards when we flipped it over... oh well).

That night we had yummy dinner and cinnamon rolls for his "cake."

He loves flowers

Byron seems to be fascinated with flowers.  He is always excitedly pointing them out when we are out and about and he sees them, whether on the ground, whether they are weeds, whether we are at the grocery store... he loves "beautiful" flowers, and loves picking them for me.  I wonder if this little passion of his will ever develop into something deeper.

One morning while Naamen was napping and I was in the kitchen, I peeked out the window and found him picking this "bouquet" of flowers (aka-- weeds) for me.  My heart just about melted on the spot.

My sister made me an aunt

My sister had her first baby in February 2017 -- Sweet little Miriam.  I married into a family where I became an aunt immediately, so I've had nieces and nephews for some years now.  But I must say, there is a little something a little extra special to your own sister making you an aunt.

A few days after Miriam's birth I drove the four-hour long drive to see and meet her for the day.  What a fun day that was!