Hmm

Boo Girl: I need for-dee doll-ers.
Mom: $40? What would you do with forty dollars?
Boo Girl: Some damage.

Some ONE is big now.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it....well, you get the idea.

We look like this. Some days.

Better late than never? (sigh, again)

Dear Family and Friends,
Our grandiose vision of finally sending a family update by Thanksgiving this year dissolved when we started receiving your Christmas letters in the mail. We apologize for the long silence. Much has changed for us in the last two years. The two biggest changes involve a new address and a new baby.
Mid-August 2008, we celebrated the signing of our first 30-year-debt agreement by packing truckloads of boxes and depositing them in a cozy house on the edge of a nearby town. Many thanks to all who helped make our transition a smooth one.
Five months later, Tiny arrived on January 15, 2009, at 1:00 am. She weighed 9 lbs. 2 oz. and measured 22 inches. Curt's sister, Janice, joined us for a few months fight before and after Cadence showed up. Her capable cooking, cleaning, and childcare made her presence invaluable to us. But, her company was even better.
After Janice left we developed a few new patterns for our freshly-minted five-person family. During ordinary weeks we don't reach for much in our regular routines, and as a result, we get some of it done.
Curt still faithfully works at Whole Grain Milling. Demand for organic grain remains high enough to keep him hopping most days. His commute doubled from five minutes to ten when we moved, but he still manages to come home for most lunches.
Sarah stays busy at home with the short people. Occasionally, she makes time to read (something other than Dr. Seuss and Little Bear), learn her camera, and keep in touch with friends and family online.
Junior Miss (4 1/2) speaks with authority on almost every subject, even the ones she can't quite pronounce, yet. She's taken some baby steps into the world of phonics and dreams of knowing everything. She climbs like a monkey and possesses mountains of energy.
Boo Girl (2 1/2) wants to be Junior Miss. Her attempts at "grownup" speech patterns induce parental giggles sometimes. She's never met a toy she couldn't turn into a baby doll. While she craves more independence ("Me do it!") than is good for any toddler, her tender heart can still be coaxed to the surface on a regular basis.
Tiny (11 mo.) makes us smile. She's big enough to crawl over and pull herself up into your lap, but she's still small enough to enjoy cuddling once she's gotten there. She spends most of her waking hours eating and investigating. She can melt hearts just by crinkling her nose in one's general direction.
God has seen fit to grant our family several pleasant (albeit, boring to read about) years. We thank Him for these. And, for you. As usual, we would prefer to be telling you all this in person. Stop by, anytime!
Much love from us to you.

Lest I forget. . .

Family Christmas Picture

Explaining Easter

Last Easter season a friend sent me a link to instructions for assembling a home-made version of Family Life Today's popular resurrection eggs.  This year Megan was old enough to understand the story and appreciate being part of a creative process, so we attempted the "Egg Project."  We scrounged for small household items as I explained some of the events of Passion week to my wide-eyed daughter.  Filling each consecutive egg with memory joggers took us back to the parts of the story she had already grasped.  By the time we gathered all the necessary parts for two separate Egg Projects, Megan had mastered enough of the details to explain the story by herself to her cousins (with just a few parental prompts).  Later, I attempted to capture at least some of the wonder I experienced as I listened to the familiar story told so simply.  Granted, Megan has only flickerings of true comprehension, but said flickerings are beginning to happen more frequently of late. 

Things like this are always better in person (hint, hint), but for those far away, I hope this slice of life-with-Megan makes you smile and thank God, again, for His good gifts.  

 

(My apologies for the shaky videography and the length of loading time.)

Singing Lambs

Online Videos by Veoh.com

What Can I Say?

                     

 

                             

AlphaSong

Huzzah!

Having finally figured out a relatively simple way to upload video, I shall now endeavor to do so.

Valentine's Day

Thanks to GrandDad and Grandmother for the pretty Valentine's Day dresses. We love you, too!

Hannah's turn

Megan Pix

Family not-in-time-for-Christmas Letter

Dear Friends and Family,

Our fledgling family had good intentions of starting a brand-new tradition. We planned to start sending Thanksgiving letters instead of Christmas cards. Last year we accomplished neither. Once again, we had good intentions as the holiday season began. We are still thankful, but we've decided to wait until January to tell you about it. Much has happened in the meantime.

January 2006 saw Sarah and Megan flying to CA for an all-too-short visit with Sam (Sarah's brother), Erica (Sam's wife), and their two boys, Cade and Kyler. Sam was deployed a few weeks later for several months in Iraq. Our entire family thanked God for the time together and even more for his safe return.

Sarah began attending a Community Bible Study in our area. The weekly accountability to dig into the Word and a chance for grown-up conversation (they provide separate classes for kids) have been wonderful. They have studied some minor prophets, the book of Matthew, and now the books of Moses.

Since we're on the subject of Bible studies. Our small group from church has only grown more precious to us as we get to know our friends better. We pick a book and meet once a week to go through it verse by verse. Most weeks we don't get far. Lively discussion, entertaining one-liners, and an obvious love for one another permeate each gathering. If you visit on a Tuesday night, we'd love to introduce you to the troupe. We cannot thank them enough for putting up with our frequent toddler-sized interruptions and encouraging us to parent consistently. Megan enjoys all her extra “family”; we hope they don't mind.

We have been learning to be thankful for hard things, too. A child we never met joined our family for mere months before God saw fit to take him or her back. Working through that hurt took most of our physical and mental energies during the fall of 2006. We appreciated the time spent with family and friends during the holiday season that followed, but most of those visits seem rather hazy in retrospect.

2007 promised a fresh start. We started getting cautiously excited about the arrival of a new tiny person. Megan's vocabulary exploded at some never-written-down point between her first and second birthdays. She began participating in actual conversations and asking the most outrageous of questions. She grew big enough to be more physically independent, had many adventures, and started so many new things that we have not the room here to enumerate them all.

Curt has managed to stay quite busy at the mill. He continues to do lots of cleaning, re-bagging, and heavy lifting. His employers were gracious about letting him start late on the mornings when Sarah was sick this spring, but he still puts in a lot of hours.

This summer passed fairly quickly as we entertained family, went to see family, and made ready for the arrival of Jr. Asparagus. We decided to try for a home birth this time. At 4:13 a.m. on August 29, 2007, we welcomed Hannah Grace into the world. She arrived just ten minutes (or so) before our midwife did. She weighed 8 lbs. 7 oz. and measured 21 inches. Sarah required a few stitches later in the day, but other than that, Hannah's birth was completely free of complications. We were (and still are) ecstatically thankful for her safe, albeit unconventional arrival.

Since then, time has flown. Megan has proved to be a wonderful big sister. Hannah has turned out to be an exceptionally good-tempered baby. We tried our first long road trip with both of them this Christmas. Our 3,000 miles of travel included IL, IN, KY, VA, and then more of the same. Both girls traveled really well, but we are glad to be back home. That catches you up on most of the highlights. We would love to have you come visit and hear the rest in person. Feel free to check out our blog where we post updates and pictures from time to time: www.curtandsarah.blogspot.com

Much love from us to you,

Curt, Sarah, Megan and Hannah

Quilts by Mom

Curt's mom sewed quilts to give all the kids and grandkids for Christmas. She did a good job of keeping her gargantuan project a secret from the recipients; she also did a good job. :) Thanks!

Twice the Fun

Our second Christmas took place in January. Curt's entire family got to be together, and we enjoyed the chance to talk in person and watch the kids interacting.

Bring in the New Year

We celebrated New Year's Day with Sarah's Mom's side of our extended family. After the shindig at Grandma and Grandpa Cooper's, we headed south to Aunt Joy and Uncle Garry's house. We hung out with them for a few days before landing, again, at Sarah's parents. Before we left, we got to help Mom transform a storage room into a sewing nook. We drove home just a tad bit early and had a day to rest before plunging back into our regular routine.