valentine's day party!!

We had 22 kids come to the preschool co-op yesterday! It was crazy and chaotic, but we had a great time learning about the letter 'M', exchanging valentine's, and eating. :) I'm going to miss this group when we're gone. What a blessing to have other moms to spend time with, and to teach our children together with.

This group picture captures so many cute little personalities...

Had to throw this pic in here, too. I realize that I've had a lot of pictures of Leighton recently, but she is just getting into so much...we found her here...looking at the toothbrushes (contemplating which one to use first, i think). She climbs on the toilet and then onto the sinktop from there. I told her to look guilty while I took the picture....she did a good job. :)

more leighton antics....

So, Leighton's been in the habit of taking her diaper off during her nap. This one day, she had purple bloomers on under her dress and managed to get those off, her diaper off and these brown capris on...sort of. She had placed both legs in one leg hole. :) Thankfully we caught her before she had an accident.

She had an x-ray this past monday morning and everything looked normal!! Our next follow-up appointment is in three months (which is nice that it's so far off)...she'll finish up her TB meds in May (which will be a reason to celebrate!) Thanks so much for all your thoughts and prayers with our journey since November with Leighton. It's hard to believe it was three months ago that everything was so unknown!

Ever since A-ma was here and let the twins "wash" their baby dolls in the tub, they've been continuing to enjoy doing that. Sweet Matthias, who is home all day with his twin sister and big sister enjoys playing with their baby dolls.

John and Angie Pearson (friends from VA) came by last weekend and spent two nights with us. It's always fun having visitors and we enjoyed walks around the block, catching up with them and watching the superbowl.

Trying to keep up....

It's been a little crazy to try and keep up with life recently. This was from a while ago, Leighton enjoys getting into the bathroom and squirting toothpaste everywhere....of course I told her to stay put while I got the camera instead of scolding her....and i told her to look guilty while I took the picture. :) She continues to be the stinker in the family....dolls in toilets, toys in fishtanks, diapers off whenever she gets a chance...whew...it's hard to keep up.

Matthias got these batman jammies for christmas and LOVES them. he runs around with his cape flapping....and thinks it's the coolest thing.

So, Leighton loves her baby dolls...big, small, teeny....she is always wanting to put diapers on them. I actually went out today and got some newborn diapers for her to put on her dolls...these dolls will still be too small.

Matthias is helping out with the wet wipe.

Sweet siblingsOkay....so, AJ has been wanting to cut her hair for a couple months now. Ever since October or November she just started talking about it. I think she actually saw an old video of when she was 2 and liked how the short hair looked. I LOVE her long hair....it's so smooth, and straight... and if I forget to brush it in the morning it usually doesn't make a difference! Anyways, after months of asking and asking I finally agreed to let her get her hair cut. It was way hard for me, but she has been so happy about it.

It really is very cute. :)

Paynes Creek Park!

A picture is worth a thousand words? These pictures have no explanation. :) For all our friend who prayed for our assessment week, thank you! We are disappointed that we were not reccommended for overseas missions at this time, but are trusting that God will make clear where He wants us next! (our mothers were very glad)

We got a chance to leave the babies home with my parents and take the big 3 to the park this weekend. It was a lot of fun....I'll let my pictures show you how much fun we had. :)

My 5 sweet children

Kylie Grace....sweet helper daughter with her 25 dollar glasses from zennioptical.com :). She is one of 2 kids in her class who are writing for the bobcat express (the school newsletter), taking piano lessons, singing solos in church every chance she gets, and reading voraciously (just finished the 3rd Harry Potter book).
Josiah Thomas...my boy that loves to have fun and create. He is enjoying being a part of the Beartooth club (a boy scout-ish group at church), doing experiments and creating inventions out of anything he can get his hands on (mostly cardboard and duct tape), looking forward to karate starting up next week at the "Y", and becoming a major Wii player.

Ashley Joy.....a true source of joy in our family...she is riding her bike (with training wheels) and scooter (or "cooter") whenever she can, drawing stick people for fun, playing littlest pet shop and my little ponies, and always looking to be a big kid and/or take care of a little brother/sister.

Matthias Timothy....my mama's boy who knows how to have a good time. He is loving playing ball, cars and train...driving a car or train around at any given point in the day, trying to keep up with his talking twin sister.... loves: his blanket, to sleep (when his sister isn't keeping him up), to have books read to him, to watch "wiggles", to play with his "yay" (leigh)

Leighton Ann.....my spunky, sweet daughter who is little miss independent. She is loving to eat...anything..., talking up a storm and likes to tell me all day what Matthias is doing (Sigh-ee seeping, Sigh-ee kying, Sigh-ee dink?...Matthias sleeping, Matthias crying, Matthias drink?), loves books and her 2 stuffed "tinky's, resisting naps like crazy (she spends most of her nap putting covers on her brother while he sleeps), and getting into everything and anything (i.e.: dipping toothbrushes into toilets and brushing, pulling out entire packages of wet wipes, drawing on her belly with sharpie markers)

It's chaos....and we love it! :) pray for my parents next week....they're going to need all the help that they can get.

Christmas 2008

We spent a couple hours with the Shanks (friends from Harrisonburg) a couple days before Christmas. It was nice reconnecting with these dear friends.

On Christmas Eve, Tom sang at a funeral in the morning before he preached at the Christmas Eve service that evening. Needless to say, it was very nice to get home that evening and relax...open up a few gifts and put the kids to bed. Christmas Day was a lot of fun for our family. We woke up and got some rolls in the oven to cook while we started to open presents. Leighton was not as into unwrapping things as Matthias was. Everytime Leighton unwrapped something, she then wanted to sit and play with it. We were so blessed this Christmas with a lot of fun things for the kids. It's a little crazy having so many kids and so many things....but the grandparents continued to do their job well. :) We got a Wii, which has been a source of fun for us (especially the older boys).

Leighton continues to eat like a champ in the family. We went to the doctor this past monday and he has given us a schedule for stopping her oral steroids (we'll be done in 2 weeks). We'll go back in early February for an x-ray and will hopefully see a good bit of improvement. Anyways, Leighton will chow down on her meal, say she's "all done" and the proceed to wander around to the people who aren't done eating and beg for a "bite!".

Did I mention that our dishwasher has been broken?? We went without a dishwasher for at least two or three weeks (it felt like more). Here the kids are playing in the box of the new one that we had to buy. (the water is terrible here)

Here are sleepy babies...the beds are a bit close, and naptime is a bit of a challenge, but they are definitely getting the hang of their toddler beds. Generally, Matthias will fall asleep first (after they spend at least 30 minutes climbing in and out of each other's beds) and Leighton will yell "Momma!, Sigh-ee seeping!" (Matthias sleeping) at the top of her lungs over and over again while patting him on the head. I should probably move their beds further apart, but it's been a lot of fun to watch them through the video monitor.

My parents are coming in a week!!! They are going to stay with the kids while Tom and I head to Atlanta to do MTW's assessment week. Japan has invited us to be a part of their team, and if MTW approves us for mission work then we will be free to begin fund-raising. It's a little crazy to think that we will know after this week which direction we're going to head in (job-search or fundraise)...and we're excited to go and move forward whatever way God would lead us! Anyways, pray for my parents....it's going to be a lot of work....hopefully it will be uneventful for them. And...pray for us! That this assessment week will be confirmation (one way or another) for what our next step will be! Thanks for checking in....hope everyone had a restful and joyful Christmas! I cannot believe it's 2009. :)

Josiah's birthday!

Josiah's new bike

water balloon target practice

(note to self: don't use construction paper...which is raised...on a pin the ___ game again)

Pirate cake

We survived 8 other kids in the house for 4 hours! :) I think they had a really good time...we played a few games, ate some hot dogs, watched a bit of a movie (they didn't sit still for that, soo....) and played some games. One little boy, as he was leaving, said "This is the best birthday party I've ever been to!"...a little dramatic, but nice to hear. :) It's always a little crazy this time of year trying to celebrate Josiah's birthday and keep it separated from Christmas stuff, but this year it worked out well. I cannot believe he's 8 years old!!