My sweet Olli, How are you 2?! Where did this second year go?! You are changing and learning and doing SO much.  I can’t fathom that you aren’t my little baby anymore.  You were a surprise addition to our family, and we absolutely can’t imagine life without you.  I tell Daddy often how I’m so thankful for our “oops baby” 💙💙💙 Your smile and laugh are infectious.  Your sense of adventure scares me.  You delight in life and love us all so much.  And we love you right back.  Happy 2nd birthday, Oliver Flynn!  We think you’re just fantastic 💙 I love you bunches,  Mommy

Every year on this date, I plan on doing the same interview with my oldest. I’m sure I’ll add a few questions as he grows. And boy is he growing! In wisdom and in stature. I pray those words over him often. I watched the interviews from previous years , and this momma-heart squeezed with how much he’s matured and how his little voice has changed.  He still loves to “work” with Daddy, and he’s not wrong about what I say often 🙄😆.  And he’s not wrong about who loves him ❤️

Ella Hope. You are 4!  You have grown leaps and bounds this year, literally and figuratively.  You are mere inches shorter than Jack, and I think you might weigh more, because you are solid and all muscle!  You are beautiful and have the best smile around! You keep a tan better than any other member of our family.  You love your brothers, but you are partial to Jack. He’s your best friend, and y’all talk about getting married often haha!  Olli thinks you hung the moon and tries to get your attention every chance he gets. I pray the three of you will always be sweet friends. You are adventurous and daring but still anxious about new things until you figure them out. And then when you do? Look out world!  You are smart, but you like to pretend you’re perplexed often.  You love to pretend, and you love to sing. Watching you create crazy buildings with legos and seeing you take care of your babies and hearing you sing worship songs all make my momma-heart smile. 

Oh Buddy! How you’ve grown! One Two Three Four Five!  Sweet oldest boy!  How are you already 5 years old?!  Where have the years gone?  You are so adventurous.  You are so smart.  You are so kind.  And you are so good at testing the limits.  And you are so wild.  And you are so silly.  You are so many, many things.  You, my boy, are asking more questions about God.  You love to count and tell me the alphabet and all of the ocean facts you’ve learned.  You enjoy painting and creating artwork that involves monsters and dinosaurs.  You build with your blocks and legos, but when quiet, you most love to look at books and to be read to. You could listen to books all day. ❤️ You adore your baby brother and play chase with him to his great delight.  You love your sister, and she’s your best friend.  You fight like cats and dogs and squeal with joy with one another mere minutes apart.  You are my oldest, my most affectionate, m

Yesterday, Ella turned 3 1/2.  My cough has been pretty terrible, and attempting asking a bunch of questions to a toddler sounded less than fun.  So, I didn't. But I didn't want it to get too far away and me forget, so I decided to do it right after breakfast today.  This is last year's interview .  What a HUGE difference! I miss her tiny voice, but I love how verbal she is now.  For the most part, she speaks clearly, and she expresses herself well.  We love listening to her sing and pretend with her baby and other dolls.

This was our second year of doing what is basically a minimalist Christmas. Our kids are young enough to have no idea what the “norm” is for most kids. They don’t expect a lot, and they haven’t really reached the age where they ask for things (mostly because they don’t watch commercials and have no idea what they “should want”). We started the morning with stockings in their beds, a tradition The Husband’s family always did. I loved it.  And then, they came downstairs, we sang “happy birthday” to Jesus, and we opened our gifts. We went with the “Something they want, Something they need, Something to wear, Something to read” theme again this year, and it was perfect.   I love the simplicity of 4 gifts from us.  I know as they grow, the gifts will be larger and probably of more monetary value, but this year was easy. And they were so excited and so grateful.  The kids played outside, and then they came in and drank their first cups of hot chocolate.