Colorado 2022

One of the most fun gifts I've ever given is surprising Sophia on her 9th birthday with a trip to see some of her favorite people. 

There was tea at a castle with matching dresses.

Our extended family's willingness to be covered in coal ash so that Jason could live his dream of sitting in the very front seat of the very first car of a steam locomotive. 

We were cared for by cousins who share their things as well as themselves. 

And an Aunt and Uncle who not only tolerate but celebrate the desire of our two youngest to help.

The flight delays and cancellations were entirely worth it.

Sophia's 9th Birthday Letter

To Sophia girl,

You are great! I love your vision for life, and your desire to try and read everything. You are the ring leader for pretend games with your siblings and remain a comforter and helper in chief in the family. Your third-grade teacher Ms. Kelly has commented about your gift of empathy. This makes both your mother and I very proud. We pray that God will bless that special gift and use it in your life to advocate.

As an example of your empathy in action, you put extra coins in the Kindergarten class jar at school during a penny drive because they had the least coins, even though a pizza party was on the line.

This year you created a team mascot for our family and membership cards to be on your team, and we were happy to be invited to be a  part of the team cheering you on. You have a blossoming social life with a kind group of friends from school, church, and the neighborhood.

I continue to enjoy our times one on one when we can have deeper conversations about life in the car, or when you are trying to delay bedtime as you are turning into a night owl.  

Reading has become a big part of your daily routine. Book club once a month at the Thomas Crane Library, and twice using your good behavior tokens at school to read in front of Jason’s classroom instead of other prizes you could have picked. 

This is not to say that your love for other topics like math, and social studies have not prompted many conversations at home about what you are learning. We pray that your love of learning will continue to grow, and a whole world of adventure and wonder are ahead of you.

Our prayer for you this year is that you continue to take opportunities to step out of your comfort zone. Your mother and I will commit to walking this path with you.

We love you, and can’t wait to see what is ahead in your 9^th year,

Love,

Dad  

April Adventures

The adventure started on the way to the airport.

A walk, train, bus, and airplane brought us to North Carolina.

We arrived that evening at the farm of our friends the Bell Family.

Everyone enjoyed interacting with the animals. 

From tiny week-old bunnies to horses much larger than them.

And milking goats!

Additional highlights included: driving the tractor,

playing in the creek,

 

roasting marshmallows, 

and exploring downtown Forest City.

Halfway through the week we got to see cousin Marsha and Denny.

We were taught about local plants,

 and hiked to a waterfall.

Our next road trip stop was the North Carolina Pickle Festival in Mount Olive.

Then our final destination of lake living with the Larsons.

Easter 2022

We began our Easter visit to Philadelphia with a trip to the Academy of Natural Sciences.

We encountered all sorts of creatures, living and

no longer living,

but the highlights of the museum were the dinosaurs, and

time with Danny.

That evening we were able to be with Aunt Rachael on her birthday.

On Saturday morning we enjoyed an egg hunt at the Colonial Plantation where I used to volunteer:

Sophia was excited to ask me questions about it, and everyone was a fan of the ox.

We participated in a second egg hunt on Saturday afternoon while the littles were sleeping:

And celebrated at church with Nana and Bop-bop on Sunday morning, and Uncle James and Aunt Rachael in the afternoon:

Baby girl J turns 3!

 

Dear J-Joy, 

“I be da parent Dada” will be the phrase that I remember the most from your second year of life. You know what you want, and when you want it. You have vision, we are just trying to figure out how to be part of it somedays. 

You are full of life, often with your favorite soft rainbow blanket in tow as you run around the house in a diaper. 

You delight when Sophia and Jason return from school, running to the door to give them big hugs. You are not a big hugger, so that welcome or a rare snuggle that your mom and I can sneak in mean that much more.

Your desire to be helpful in the kitchen, or do anything yourself that could end in a big mess, is strong for a three year old. You want to climb on anything, grab anything, and unzip everything. You love to walk around the house with a backpack on telling us you are heading to school, which is just a few months away for you.  

You are also full of two year-isms like "Can we go snowing?" When you want to play in the snow or calling bathing suits “bathing soups.” You loudly yell,  "stop the book!" and get up and sprint off to grab something when we are reading to you. You live life at 10, and throw yourself in head first.

My prayer for you this year is that you will continue finding ways to love your brother as you lead the pack, while being more flexible with those around you.

Love,

Dada

Baby boy J turns 3!

Dear Little J-man,

During your second year of life your language has blossomed, and I love when you run into a room to alert me of something that you are able to do. “Dada I am reading!” or “Dada I am running!”

You rarely walk, you are either running or marching. You have surprised me with your love of singing—most often Paw Patrol or Jesus loves me recently. 

You love your sister fiercely, even as you often want to bump into her, take her toy, or wrestle her whenever possible. When she is not around, you ask repeatedly where she is. 

You don’t love nicknames, as you often give me a confused look and correct me by saying, “no dada, I am J_____.” 

You love making a mess outside or on the table, but want to use a napkin to wipe your mouth or hands between bites of food.

You love to grab a book and ask someone to read it with you, especially if it is about trains, dinosaurs, or paw patrol. Or we will often catch you in the living room flipping through a book by yourself.

You love to tell people you love them, and welcome any chance for a hug or to be tickled. You often will come into the kitchen to just check in and say “I love my family.”

We love your many old man sayings that you declare in very deliberate language, like “actually I changed my mind" or “Thank you for saying sorry.” Also how you can be very present in the moment, for example when you asked your mother to get a potted plant down at the grocery store so that you could smell the flowers and then breathed in deeply, two days before a blizzard when everyone else around us was running around.

We also like your funny two year-isms when you combine words like salsa and ketchup and call salsa "salsup" or "Mama, be smiling at me," while you are trying to get out of being disciplined.

My prayer for you this year is you will keep finding new and creative ways to show those around you how much you love them, but figure out ways that don’t result in so many other little people, or yourself, on the ground.

Love,

Dada