One month old!

I can't believe that Aaron is a month old today! These past few weeks have flown past. It's been such a joy getting to know Aaron and watching him grow. He was already up over 9lbs at his 4 week checkup Friday - what a chunk! He's getting lots of rolls and his eyes are turning a beautiful olive green. He's starting to look more and more like Chandler, I think.

Look at that face! What a cutie!

We started back to ELO almost two weeks ago. It's been going really well. The older kids love going and were so thrilled to be back. It gives them a creative outlet and they love being with their friends. We usually go to to Chickfila or Double Dave's for lunch with several of our friends afterwards. I look forward to the fellowship of that more than ELO itself, I think. :)

Monday we start the homeschool choir that Dana leads. I'm super excited about that. The kids are going to have a blast. I loved children's choir at church growing up and that's one thing I've missed in our church. I took them to the First Baptist choir once, but not knowing anyone else there, I wasn't very comfortable dropping them off like that. I'm so glad our homeschool group has a choir now! (Thanks Dana!)

School is on track - surprising, considering all that's gone on this year! We haven't taken much time off and that's really helped. Taylor is flying through all of her books and is developing a big love of .... MATH!! She doesn't get that from me! Tom excelled in math so I'm glad he'll be there to help her with the higher stuff. ugh. :) She reads several books a week - aided by the book night light we stuffed in her stocking. It was one of her favorite gifts! :)

Chandler is halfway through the learn to read book. I haven't been overly diligent with him, knowing that I started him very early, but he's an insatiable learner. Even on the days we don't do a lesson, he still reads to himself out of his lesson book or the many readers we have - whether it's on his level or not. :) He's also taken up writing out his his letters and numbers on his own. I haven't worked on writing with him thinking it would only frustrate him. He's learned so much without me doing very much at all. He'll be ready for 1st grade next semester at this rate. I wasn't sure about doing K with him so young, but there hasn't seemed to be any problems at all.

Brayden is knows all the preschool stuff... again, not by much that I've done! He learns a lot from the older two and from his own love of learning. He comes to me with the magnedoodle wanting to learn shapes. Very quickly I had to go to more advanced shapes because he knew all the regular ones!

I'm trying to gear up in my mind for taking on 2 more kids in a few weeks. I know I can do it but I want to make sure it's what the Lord wants and will bless. We'll still be doing all the normal things we do, ELO, piano, library and park trips, and now choir. It's quite a lot. Tom's left it totally up to me - knowing he'll support me in whatever I decide is comforting.

God's been doing many things in our lives over the last few weeks, both as a couple and individually. Last week wrapped up our church's Prayer Advance - a time of dedicated prayer and intersession for the church needs and the needs of the body. It was a very refreshing time for both of us spiritually. Tom was able to go up everyday after work and I went with the kids several times too. It's amazing what a dedicated time of pressing into the Lord can do! Tom and I have been able to talk about what God's doing and I feel so connected to him again. We just hadn't had time to focus on each other in awhile with everything that's been going on. I'm loving having our time again and feeling so overwhelmed with love for him and from him. What a gift! :)

We'll be going to Oklahoma in a few weeks to pick up the beef we buy from my dad. And all of my family who hasn't seen Aaron yet will get to meet him! This trip will be short - just a weekend. The kids and I are going back up during spring break to stay for a week. Tom is going on a mission trip to Ukraine that week in March with some men from our church to help Bruce Crowe finish the house their family bought there. The Crowes are moving there in May to be missionaries. It's such a great opportunity for Tom to serve in a capacity that he was made to do and that he loves! So while he's gone, we'll be in Oklahoma. I figured it'd be more fun than sitting around here missing Tom! :)

We'll also be in OK in May! I just remembered that. Hannah and Noah are graduating together. There's about 54 CHEF graduates this year. It's always fun to see the families from my old homeschool group. Since many of my graduating class have multiple younger siblings, each year is like an unofficial reunion. :)

Ooh, hey. I've lost all but the last few lbs of my pregnancy weight!! I'm happy! Yay for breastfeeding! :) Of course it'll be a a little while before I'm back to the tone I was at before. But Tom and I are starting a training program together soon. We both want to run in the Dallas marathon at some point. :) What a goal! He's going to train me hard (being a Marine!) and I'm so ready! It's going to be fun working out together. It's something we've always wanted to do, but never made time for.

Ok I think I'm done with the updates! :) It's been a full month! Enjoy the pictures.

Oh the dimples!

Big boy