10.8.6.4.1

 It's time for the yearly update...I started this updating when my kids were 1,3,5, and 7.  Three years and one additional kid later, here we are.  Blessed to be happy and healthy and though there are occasional headaches, I'm trying to think of another "h" word...we are full of hope.






 Speaking of hope, we'll start with Juliet Hope.  20 months.  She is awesome.  My favorite word she says right now is "help-come"  which means "you're welcome" and she says it in place of thank you.  Whenever I sit down on the floor she plops into my lap like a magnet to metal and I kiss her head and smell it.  Like I did just now.  Because she's currently sitting in my lap and banging the mouse as I type.  She loves the Muppets soundtrack, Elmo, and the Beach Boys "Barbara Ann".  We all call her Ju-Ju.

We'll go youngest to oldest I guess.  Penelope is doing wonderfully.  4 1/2 years.  Reading easy books, excelling at home school, and swimming like crazy.  She drinks a lot and eats a little.  She likes to play dollhouse and do puzzles and watch Dora and Diego.  She is extremely independent in opinion and free play.  She is not a good snuggler because she's super squirmy but that's who she is.  Always moving and shaking.  Her giggle is the BEST.

Cash is stuck in the middle but has found himself.  6 years.  He is his father's protege, meaning he likes to push people's buttons, but everyone likes him in spite of himself.  Most often heard saying:  "I'm hungry, Mom."  He is super loving, telling me so constantly and giving me lots of kisses...on the lips with a head turn so we look like the movies.  He begs to be the one to open Juliet's door after nap time.  He has been reading these books at night in his bed.  He loves to play Mine Craft.

Libby.  8 years.  Quiet.  Artist.  Little Mommy.  Reader.  Writer.  Libby is who you want for your sibling.  All the kids are lucky to have her.  She is very unselfish and lets others go ahead of her often.  She loves all of school except Math but we're working on how to access her left brain...she lives in a world of stories and pretending, which has taught her younger siblings how to play with such abandon.  She is taking ballet and piano.  She is always the last one awake at night.  I hear her singing in her bed sometimes.  It is beautiful.

Jackson.  10 1/2 years.  Jackson continues to ask me question after question, which is our relationship.  Talking and thinking and throwing ideas off each other.  Jackson puts up with a lot being the oldest...I tell him it is good practice for being a dad!  He has somehow managed to find enough quiet around here recently to read The Hobbit on his Kindle.  (He got one for straight A's last report card)  I had to read The Hobbit in 7th grade which forced me to learn what Cliff's Notes were.  I don't remember anything from it except the main characters but Jimmy has been able to discuss it with him a little.  He is a Safety Patrol.  On the School News Team.  Piano too.

I LOVE YOU GUYS!!!!