Standing guard.....

You know how hungry your husband is by the lengths he'll go for food. Sunday was a one-person prep meal, so there wasn't much to do to help, so he took it upon himself to keep the kids out of the kitchen. He tried to play with them, but Ashlyn kept sneaking past and distracting me from the goal, so he stood at the entrance of the kitchen the whole prep time to insure that no needy children got by. What a guy! :)

That's just the beginning of January's little random happenings. My favorite this month was when Ashlyn found the courage of a dinosaur. Eric was wrestling with her and when she finally escaped, she took off for the other side of the room. He called her a chicken, to which she responded with a "Bak, Bak" and hid her face against the wall. That was cute enough, but then she noticed a small toy dinosaur on the floor, which she quickly picked up and turned with all the fury she could muster and ROARED! The house shook, Dad trembled, and fear was struck in the hearts of all who were around. Fierce as that sounds, she really is a scary girl that we are all slightly afraid of!

Every now and then I get these pangs of guilt at how much Ashlyn is neglected...especially compared to when Isaac was her age. We were watching home movies which tripled the pangs, so I got out some paint with water books and let her go. She loved it and it was so easy to get out, so I have tried to be better at doing those kinds of things with her and Carter while Isaac is at school. I'm still far from where I should be, but we've been enjoying painting, glueing, play doh, and games a lot more lately.


Eric and the boys always have a good time with tinker toys. A couple of Sundays ago, the boys requested that Dad help them build a tinker bot. They were pretty proud of it and insisted on a picture. Can't you tell how thrilled they are? I'm not sure what's with their serious faces, but we think they look like the next Wright brothers.

Ashlyn has it pretty rough with two older brothers. She gets her fair share of abuse and Carter doesn't seem to care that she's smaller, that she's a girl, or that he's supposed to be her protector. But....

...she's pretty good at holding her own! She has just as much fun as they do (most of the time) and starts most of the whomping. I'll admit that I'm her biggest fan and love watching her get her brothers. Her favorite pester, and the thing that irritates the boys the most is pulling their ears. I try not to let it go too long before I intervene, but I'm not the first to jump in. They usually deserve it!

Eric's parents have a black lab named Mandy that the boys have been terrified of for most of their years. She's the gentlest dog in the world, and never even barks, but her size has been

quite intimidating to them. They are fine with her now, but are still cautious. Ashlyn is our first true animal lover. She has no problem with Mandy and loves to pet and talk to her. Finally Nana and Papa have a grandbaby that likes their dog!

Most of the posts and pictures are of Ashlyn, but she is the one who is growing and changing the most right now. She is our most defiant, yet helpful child. She loves playing messenger - whether we ask her to or not. She mimics everything we say and then usually adds her own two cents. She's always singing and uses "Jingle Bells" as her punchline for every situation. Whether we're all laughing, she's getting scolded, or there's an awkward silence, she throws out "JINGLE BELLS!" and then cracks up laughing.

Carter has become Eric's right hand man. With Eric's schedule being so easy, he and Carter hang out a lot. Their current mission is to hit every pawn shop in Temple. They both just like to look at "stuff."

Isaac feels the burden of a school aged child. He hates missing out. With school and homework and basketball, he doesn't have a lot of free time. We try to make the most of what he does have, though. Today after school, Eric took him to the field across the street to shoot his bow. He's getting pretty good. Must take after his Dad!