Full hands

Little miss is 2 months old already, and Spring is in the air! Not really, but wishful thinking is. :-) It's February 6th and the birth month of my favorite Valentine, Bennett Shepherd. For his birthday this year he's chosen to do a trip to Great Wolf Lodge, sprinkled with a few other family things. Pictures to come-maybe(because, real life)! Fair warning this post may be a little stream of conscious, because it's nap time here, the coffee is hot and I was in the writing way.

I'm just loving this season of life at home with my kids. The big boys are growing into more independent and interesting creatures, and speaking of creatures we often joke that Asher is our "class pet." Those trying twos have hit in full force, but we are ready and the bathroom plunger is on standby haha! Thankfully the big boys are I make a nice team to tame the wild child that is our sweet and sour Asher Elliot(okay okay, he's mostly sweet!). I jest, but truly the poor toilet has seen its share of foreign objectS lately. Amelia is a doll baby. The boys, big and small, dote on her daily and she really is a dream come true. I am drinking in this baby stage now because it goes by much too fast. Already she's holding her head up more and more, almost rolling to one side and cooing up a storm. We think she's going to be one chatty little girl. Plus, I can't even with all the bows. #obsessed :-)

We are all forging forward on the homeschool horizon. The flexibility it's given us in this season of life is invaluable. The boys are continuing to thrive in our local CC group, and I just signed them up for Spring soccer. They are currently gearing up for the annual Pine Car Derby with their fun "Rangers" group at church(Bennett just joined as he is turning 6!) and Evan is enjoying his weekly piano lessons.  Also, Asher is officially registered for preschool for the next school year! Let the backpack brainstorming begin...

With four kids under 7 it's no wonder that life seems to be moving quickly. I'm relieved to add that having baby girl join our crew hasn't slowed us down or divided our time too much-those later babies just get more and more flexible! We seem to have found a nice, new stride and I wouldn't change it for anything. Even this morning was a pretty impromptu adventure, full of schoolwork for the bigs, lots of eukalale playing by Asher(it has been thus confiscated for the day), a trip to the library followed by exploring a new park and a mile hike around a new lake, and topped off with hot, heavenly McDonalds french fries. Currently the littles are quietly napping while the bigs are out back jumping on our trampoline with neighbor friends. If someone would just deliver to me a tall White Mocha from Starbucks, it might just be the perfect day!  Extra whip cream please, mmmmm...

At a recent marriage conference we attended through our church, Dr. Paul Tripp reminded me that "gratitude is the DNA of joy." What a great theme for me as I am planting seeds in the trenches of many small children. I am so so grateful for the opportunity have this front row seat to my kids everyday, every moment learning and growing. It's beautiful and fun and funny, give or take the tube of toothpaste in the toilet which I will politely ask my hubby to get out when he gets home. Have I noted that he is an excellent fisherman? ;-) Seriously though the boys did all get fishing poles for Christmas, so I do predict some lake trips in our future. He took them out for their first go recently and they caught some seaweed...everyone has to start somewhere!

PS-Our little piece of North Carolina was a winter wonderland just a few weeks back, and I just had to share these pictures for posterity's sake-and as a reminder to myself to pick up my real camera more often! I think a snow day blog may be in que..