An Update!

So, it has been a while, friends! We don't mean to neglect you, we have just been so busy as a family of four! But, here is an update on each of us:

Nora: She is now 11 months and growing fast! She is now saying Momma, Dadda, Ball, Uh-oh, Whooooa!, and (we think) Hi there! She absolutely loves animals and squeals in excitement when she sees a dog or a cat! She has been crawling for a couple months and started pulling up regularly a few days ago. She is a big fan of her daddy--in fact, if she had a choice between Mommy and Daddy, it is Daddy most of the time. She is eating solids and finger foods. Her favorite finger foods are Mum-Mums, Gerber puffs, sour dough bread, sweet potatoes, regular potatoes, and macaroni. She does not care for bananas or banana flavored anything or apple sauce. She absolutely loves her big sister and watches everything she does. They play so well together and I am anxious to watch them grow up to be close friends (I hope). She is still holding strong with 2 bottom teeth but about 6 more are coming in at the same time. She is a trooper and handling it well, though! Our little bug will be 1 soon and it is just so hard to believe!

Meredith: She is 3 now and a little smarty pants. We get told often that she is leaps and bounds ahead where she should be by her teachers. She can count to at least 30, knows how to count to 20 in Spanish, knows her colors in English and Spanish, and is our little mirror in the fact that she does what we do--sometimes it isn't pretty! She is a wonderfully caring and kind big sister. She has no problem playing with her little sister and entertaining her for hours. She has been potty trained for months and has not had an accident at night. She seems to be turning into our little athlete and loves all things sports. Our little toots would spend the whole day outside if she were allowed to. Her favorite things to do are swing, ride her tricycle, dress up, write her family member's names, and read books.

Our prayer every day with the girls is that we will be the parents that God has called us to be and grow them up in Christ.

John: John has been incredibly busy with his 311 bypass project and is wrapping up his round-a-bout projects--he does such an incredible job. He and I are training for a 5K at Wheatmore High School in two weekends--John smokes me and runs like the wind! He has been busy loving on his little girls and it just warms my heart to watch what a great, loving, and supportive father he is. He speaks kindly to the them, disciplines them with gentleness and love, and teaches them all kinds of fun things! I sure do love that man!

Me: We are wrapping up the school year and it is always an incredibly busy one at the high school. We have testing coming up amongst all of the graduation events (Bacceleaurate, Capping, Graduation, etc). We also have Prom and our Warrior Festival (outdoor spring festival during school on a Friday). This class that is graduating is a special one--they are my first class since I started teaching. I had alot of them as freshmen and many of the 3 times for different classes at this point. The thought of them being finished and leaving me makes me quite sad. My kids are experiencing Spring fever as I am...thank goodness we just had a 4 day weekend! I have the best three classes this semester and I try to tell them every day! I am taking my Physical Science class to Carowinds this week and my Astronomy class to Morehead Planetarium the first weekend of May. Busy Busy Busy. Oh, and I am still trying to be a mom and wife. John tells me that I do a good job balancing everything, but I often feel like I could do better. I sure count my blessings every night for the gifts that God has given me in my girls and John!

Perhaps it won't be so long for the next update! See you later, friends!