The ABC's of 2012

A is for Addyson.  Addy is 8 years-old and in 3^rd grade.  She loves purple, pink, and all things girly.  At the same time, she likes green and red and has no problem keeping up with the boys!  She loves tumbling (gymnastics), Barbies, nail polish, and American Girl Dolls.  She is also a huge horse lover.

B is for Basement.  The basement is the favorite place to hang out in our house!  Addy and Creighton have their bedrooms down there and the big room is full of toys.  This is also where the tumbling mats are for practicing for Homeschool Tumbling.

C is for Creighton.  Creighton is 11 years-old and in 5^th grade.  He loves video games, video games, and more video games.  Did I mention he likes video games?  Since he’s not allowed to play video games during the week, he has discovered some other hobbies.  He enjoys tumbling, reading, and working on Legos.

D is for Dog.  We gave our dog, Mocha, to a new family this year.  The kids miss her very much, but Mommy is kind of enjoying not having a dog around.  Somehow the floor under the kitchen table seems really messy all of a sudden…
E is for Excitement or Energy.  These are things we never run out of around here!!
F is for Foster care.  Nate and Sadie (with the help of some wonderful babysitters) completed ten weeks of foster care classes.  We look forward to growing our family in the near future!

G is for Glasses.   Tyson has been through 3 pairs this last year (possibly 4 pairs by the time you read this letter).  Hopefully he doesn’t keep up that pace, but nothing seems to indicate he will slow down soon.

H is for Homeschooling.  Currently, our kids are all homeschooled and we love it (most days)!   It brings a new level of crazy to a house with four kids, but we can’t imagine it any other way!

I is for Innings.  Creighton and Addy participated in Homeschool Softball this summer for the first time.  Nate helped out as a coach for Addy’s team.  Everyone had a great time and all are excited for next year’s season.

J is for Jesus.  Our Lord and Savior, our King and Redeemer.  He is the reason that we celebrate Christmas! 

K is for Kindling.  We use a lot of this to light fires in our fireplace.   The fires sure make our family room cozy and warm!

L is for Landon. Landon is 2 years-old.  He is so amazingly cute and has all of us wrapped around his finger.  He has learned that if he says something with a cute face and a whiny voice, his siblings will drop everything to help him!

M is for Monkeys.  We have 4 of them!  They all love to tumble and climb.  We go through bananas like crazy which only confirms our suspicions that they all really are monkeys.

N is for Neighbors.  We are so thankful for the neighborhood that God has placed us in!  The kids have adopted the next-door neighbor as another grandma.  Our neighbors on the other side are wonderful and have been so generous in helping us fix our junky cars! 

O is for Organization.  We have tried to become more organized by adding a closet to Creighton’s room and building storage shelves and cabinets in the basement.  It seems like we still don’t have enough room for all our “stuff”.  I think it’s time to downsize.

P is for Plumbers. Plumbers have become our friends this year.  Tyson and Landon have had a handful of experiments with flushing foreign objects down the toilets.  GRRRR!!

Q is for Quiet.  A very mysterious word….we’re not quite sure what it means??

R is for Relaxing.  Not quite as mysterious of a word…occasionally we relax by playing games, reading, watching movies, putting together puzzles, or catching a nap.

S is for Swing set.  Landon and Tyson got a swing set for their birthdays this year.  Everyone enjoys the swings, the slide, and the climbing!

T is for Tyson.  Tyson is 5 years-old and uses his cuteness to mask his craziness.  He is our rough and tumble guy who also loves big bear hugs, having his neck rubbed, and snuggles.  He enjoys jumping on the trampoline and pumping his legs to swing on the swing set.

U is for Undeserved.  We are completely underserving of all of God’s blessings!!

V is for Vacation. We enjoyed a week at family camp in Clear Lake, Iowa, a day trip to the state fair, a trip to Wisconsin to visit Sadie’s sister and her family, a trip to South Dakota for the LifeLight Music Festival, a couple of trips to Oelwein, Iowa to visit friends, and a couple of trips to Ocheyedan to visit Grandma and Grandpa!  Sadie also took a solo trip to Colorado to visit a friend.

W is for Working.  Nate is still working at Broadlawns Medical Center doing community-based mental health social work.  Sadie is working baking Butter Braids at home.  The kids are a huge help with the baking and it has been a fun job to do together!

X is for Xenophobia.  Xenophobia is the fear of strangers or foreigners.  This is something our kids definitely do not have!  Just so you know, we had to use the dictionary to find an “X” word!

Y is for You!  We are so thankful for all of you, our friends and family!

Z is for Zany.  Most people think we are pretty zany for having 4 kids and wanting more!  We get some pretty interesting comments about how many kids we have and the fact that we homeschool them all!  Sadie’s favorite comment from this year was a guy at the grocery store telling her she needed a raise!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!