Aryana Joy Age 2

Two years old. The years can fly by, even as the days seem long, so it seems a little strange to think that she turned two in April.

Aryana is a dainty little thing at barely 20 pounds, but there is a whole lot of person in that little body!  She is very verbal, the most verbal any of my kids have been, knocking big sister Briana out of that status.  Over and over again, people look at me in surprise at her sentences and say she sounds like a three-year-old.

She is definitely a mommy's girl, needing to be near me every moment, even to the point of yes, still having her time in momma's sling.  Perhaps that is part of why she loves playing mommy with dolls and stuffed animals, wearing them in her little sling.

She also loves to be outside and play with all the animals, from baby lambs to baby chicks, cats, dogs. . .she doesn't care. It's so cute to see the lambs following her around.

She is absolutely the most "MORNING PERSON" I have ever met.  She gets up in the 5 o'clock hour every morning and is just the happiest person you have ever seen.  She sleeps great, goes to bed willingly (with her little dog "Rosie"), she is just ready to go in the wee hours of the morning.  Someday I am going to use this to my advantage and she can make breakfast for the family while I sleep until 7 am.  wink

All settled into her "big girl bed", moving from the crib to a toddler bed.

HAPPY, HAPPY second birthday, you precious little cutie.  You are aptly named as joy simply emanates from within you.  May you trust in your Heavenly Father as the source of Joy throughout your life.

Savor: February

February was a great month to practice "my one word": SAVOR.

I think Destry is beginning to realize he won't be living here much longer, and he is being more deliberate in spending time with his younger siblings.  I treasure the moments I see him spending purposeful time with them reading books. . .

or playing card games.

My children can be the best of friends, but they can also push one another's buttons without mercy.  I savor the times I see sibling love:

Big sissy Kiana chose the girls' outfits for the day. . .

 Easton and Tyrell played happily with airplanes. . .

Easton, Kiana, and Tyell played "picnic".

A stomach virus hit our family in February, and while I can't say I appreciated it, it did remind me to appreciate our general health.  I also just had to grin that even when Mom is sick on the couch, she is still the best place for a sick boy to lie, and the preferred place for a wiggly almost-two-year-old to perch.

I am delighting in this man and in our marriage.  We got to go on the Love Like You Mean It cruise again in February (maybe I will get around to posting about it someday. . .) and my very favorite part of it was the relaxed time spent with him.

We also got to enjoy time on the cruise with these dear friends--John and Wendy and Troy and Caren.  Friendship is ever so precious to me!

I love to dwell on the relationship my two big kids have.  While Briana was visiting one day, she regaled Destry with stories from her two jobs and I sat watching them, dwelling on their laughter and joy.

 As residents of Iowa in the year of a presidential election, we enjoyed getting to caucus for the first time.

This son of mine is so weird and crazy and fun and loving. . .I'm savoring these moments of spontaneous, neck-choking hugs before he goes off into this big, wide world.

And this spunky, ornery, delightful not-such-a-baby-anymore. . .

And finally, I "tasted and enjoyed completely" an evening at Johnny's Steakhouse to celebrate the 20th birthday of my daughter in the wonderful company of my mom, sister, sister-in-law, and daughter.

The word savor is just perfect for this year!

A New School Year

It's that time of year again, time for school to begin.  This year Briana is a nursing student, Destry is a senior, Easton is in third grade, Kiana is in second, Tyrell is in kindergarten, and Aryana is "into everything".

I knew it was going to be a busy (read:  challenging) year, so I've been doing all I could think of to get ready and set us up for a successful year.  In addition to lesson planning, I made schedules for everyone and hung them on the wall, created a list of quick and easy lunch ideas, and even cooked up some hamburger, pork roast, and chicken breasts ahead of time.

Most importantly, I stocked up on Pepsi! ha!  Really, cubes were on an amazing sale (how timely, don't you think?).

I have some incredibly cute students this year, if I do say so myself.  One of the many reasons I enjoy homeschooling is because of the relationships it fosters.  My children get to learn how to work things out with one another and really are best friends (and some days, best enemies, but we won't get into that right now).

Easton has been very excited to study Spanish and he is catching on very well.  I finally invested in Rosetta Stone for him and for Destry to get his second year's credit.  Easton loves computers, so I'm not always sure if he loves Spanish itself, or the opportunity to work on the computer--and to wear the cool headphones!

Tyrell is loving learning how to read and melted my heart on our second day of school as he exuberantly cried "Mama, I LIKE learning!" at the conclusion of our day's reading lesson.  Oh how I hope I can nurture that love for learning throughout his childhood!

Briana, with her servant's heart and love for science, has discovered her niche in the nursing field.  She has completed her first CNA class (she plans to take the advanced course next month) and loved every minute of it.  I giggled at her final score of 99% as I remembered her disappointment the day she missed two questions on a test.

Destry has a full but interesting year planned with classes like anatomy and physiology, psychology, pre-calculus and of course the ubiquitous literature and music.  He has been invited as a guest speaker  in October for the 100th anniversary celebration at a congregation we used to meet with in Missouri, so he also has that to prepare.

Aryana is just as cute as she can be in her piggy tails these days, even as she is a force to be reckoned with.  Above she's pictured on our first day of school with the bag of brand new pencils.  She had a grand ole time using her teeth to pull the eraser out of every pencil and spit them on the floor.

Please excuse the screenshot above, but a friend texted me this picture of Easton with his friend at their Lego Robotics meeting and I didn't know how to remove the trappings of the screenshot.  (Hey, I only recently learned how to TAKE a screenshot--and I was QUITE pleased that I figured out how to cover my name and phone number.  Technology is not my gift!)  I'm still not 100% sure what this Lego Robotics thing is all about--Alan is taking him--but I do know that Easton is loving it.  Something about building robots with Legos, computer programming, and problem solving--right up his alley.

Kiana is SUPER excited for her homeschool tumbling class to start next Thursday.  Until then, we continue working on our other subjects.  I must insert here that I am happy that the Dianne Craft sightword cards are helping her with her reading.  I will never cease being amazed at the ways our brains work.  She is a right-brain learner and thus can "take a picture" of the card and store it in her brain.  I tried this for myself, but I see nothing.  Absolutely nothing.  It's not the way I learn, but I am grateful for others who have figured out ways to accommodate different learning styles to pave this path before us.

We now have eight days of school under our belts.  Six of them have gone well/as I planned.  The other two were pretty rough (and necessitated some editing of the schedules and perhaps a mama-retreat to the bathroom for prayer and a few tears).  But overall, we're off to a good start.  Full speed learning ahead!

MIA

Isn't summer supposed to be a time of relaxation?  Isn't it supposed to be a leisurely time when one does what they want to do (such as read books, reflect, and write)?

Somehow my summer missed that memo.  And here it is AUGUST!  I haven't written a post in six weeks!  I was thinking it's time to let the blog go, but then a friend asked for book recommendations and I was able to send links to some book reviews on my blog.  And then another friend wanted to start a group to do freezer cooking and I was able to send her to some of my posts with tips and recipes.  And then I realized how fun it is to have these records. . .so I'm thinking I'll try to get back into the routine.  We'll see how it goes, especially as school will soon be resuming.

Aryana is sleeping much better now.  She is an extremely busy 15-month-old, but she's starting to learn what's okay and what's not--and I'm not so tired exhausted as I had been for the last. . .what seems like the last entire year.

So, I'll try to share a few book reviews this week, and maybe a couple posts about some of the highlights of our summer, and we'll see if I can get back into blogging a little bit.

It's What You Do

What are you doing these days?  I decided to have fun with a meme I saw on Stephanie's blog (instead of writing the guest post I should be writing--because it's not due until April 15 and why would I do anything early?!).

AS FOR ME, I'M:

realizing Briana and Destry will be out on their own before I know it.  More and more often, we have just four children with us when we go places.  Wondering if we've made the best use of the time we've had.

checking the calendar multiple times a day.  April is always full of opportunities, and I have to keep checking what dates are available while deciding what all we can handle.

remembering why I'm doing what I do.  It's easy to get caught up in the day-in and day-out of homeschooling, but we had a Moms' Night Out meeting of homeschooling moms last week and I was reminded that it's all about pointing my children to their Savior and keeping their hearts.  Academics are important, I'm not saying they aren't, but they aren't the MOST important.

reading several books at once, as usual.  I'm reading Great Expectations with Destry for literature, Unwind on the recommendation of a couple friends, and trying to finish Raising Real Men.  We also have one week left on our book study of The Prodigal God.

anticipating homeschool conference season.  I'm a homeschool conference junkie!  Alan and I are going to one in Kansas City the end of this month, and then a good friend and I are going to the conference in Des Moines.  Two is always better than one!

watching Aryana learn something new each day.  She stands up in the middle of the floor, but has yet to take her first steps.  She'll be one next week!

trying to write in my subject journal at least 3-4 times a week.  A good friend shared her Bible study journal which is divided into subjects, and I couldn't resist pulling one together for myself.  I think it's the neatest idea, to study a subject off and on and build my understanding "line upon line, precept upon precept".

cooking has been scarce of late.  I have been using several freezer meals lately, but Briana and I just worked up a new menu plan and went grocery shopping.  Some tasty meals in our near future will include Cranberry Mushroom Brisket and Lamb Roast with Plum Sauce.  I'm actually ready to cook something yummy again, and a plan always makes me feel better.

eating at Bonefish Grill with my husband and our friends, the Knights, this weekend because we got coupons! Yummy!

looking at colleges.  Destry has visited UMKC (Kansas City, MO) and Drake University (Des Moines, IA) He still wants to check out the University of Iowa (Iowa City) and Indiana University (Indianapolis).  He's interested in music, music, music (what else?!).

Destry dominated the teen boy races last year, hat and all

Kiana's softball throw last year

planning our upcoming Homeschool Track and Field Day. It's always lots of fun for the kids and most of our local homeschool community participates, which makes it a fun end-of-the year wrap up.

Tyrell's race (he's to the right)

sharing my home.  Freezer cooking, hosting a party to welcome new friends, hosting the book study of The Prodigal God, hosting a planning meeting for the Track and Field Day.  I tell the kids to pick things up and they immediately ask "Who's coming over?"  That's what our home is for, right?  (and it does help keep things picked up!)

Aryana's Adoption Finalized

It's always such a relief when an adoption is finalized, and this one has taken the longest so far.  Aryana is now ten months old, and we finalized her adoption last Thursday.  She is forever and always a part of our family (the poor kid! wink).

Briana had to work, but here is the rest of the family

Time slips away from me so fast, so it's been four months since I've featured Aryana in a blog post.  She is changing and growing every day.  She is a very verbal child.  She says up, more, "aaaa-key" (what I say when she puts something gross in her mouth), uh-oh, and "hi."  When she hugs a baby she says "ooooooh" (long o), and when she puts a phone to her ear she says "hello".  She makes monkey noises and dog noises on cue and pokes me in the eye proclaiming "eye, eye!"  She also loves to give people fives and wave bye bye at every opportunity.

Some pictures of Aryana at nine months taken by my sister

Aryana has two teeth now, and loves table food.  She has started sucking on dum dum suckers in the last week (which she loves) and when she wants a drink she gives a big dramatic sigh "aaaaawwww" which daddy taught her at the end of a drink.  She is on the go constantly, crawling at the speed of light, pulling up to everything, and cruising around things.  She is definitely a climber and has recently learned to not only climb up into a child-size rocking chair, but when the rocker is near another object, she continues climbing into a "big person" chair, onto the coffeetable, or onto the couch.  She has no fear and just smiles proudly.

She is busy, busy, busy and is getting into everything.  

Constantly.

All the time.  :)

Aryana has a stubborn streak and thinks she should have things her way, all the time.  It doesn't help that she has five older siblings who dote on her and say "that's ok mom, she can have it, I don't mind!"  Her current squeal/scream when she doesn't get what she wants is being worked on.

She loves to read books and play with cars.  I don't know if I've ever seen a 10-month-old girl crawl on her knees pushing a car while making car sounds--I guess it's evident that she has three older brothers!

What a blessing--and a joy--our little Aryana Joy is!