Updates!

It's time for some little people updates... how they're growing, changing, developing.

Clara, our lovely little lady, is pushing 5 already!   A little lady she sure can be, as she likes to dress up and twirl and dance.  She also has thought and concern for spiritual things.

 A mover and a shaker, would apply pretty well to her too.  She could direct the house hold (or at least try) if we allowed that.  :-)

 She and Hil and spend lots of time playing together, and sometimes she get's bummed when I put Hil down for a nap, saying "But then I won't have any friends."  They're buds. And sometime... they're NOT buds.  :-)

We've been doing some preschool and she's learning!  We don't do a whole lot, but slowly, bit by bit we're making progress.

She's is a dear and is getting to the age where she can be more helpful.  She got out cereal, milk and spoons this morning for breakfast.

Clara is also a good interpreter.  There are times when I'm NOT getting what Hilkiah is saying, but she does.  :-)


Hilkiah is finally clicking with potty training!  Yay!  Makes Mommy happy!  We've got a lot of improving to do, but he's made some huge strides in the last few weeks!

Hil's vocabulary continues to grow and he's becoming quite the little talker!  :-)

He's spends lots of time playing with sis, and has hit the stage of playing imaginary games in a big way!  He can go hunting or take care of babies, or be an injured individual that Doctor Clara is caring for, etc.

He can eat like crazy, putting away almost as much as Mommy or Daddy at times.

He can sure be a handful, but he's got tons of cuteness to make up for it.


Ittai, our sweet little dumpling, is eight months now.  He's not crawling yet, but rolls and scoots and squirms his way around.  He's also sitting pretty well on his own, but will eventually topple over.  

We've started regular solids in the last week or so. He'd been trying stuff here and there before, but he wasn't too impressed and it would generally get pushed back out.  But he's now swallowing it down!  Yay!

Generally, he's a pretty easy little guy, and can keep himself pretty busy for good lengths of time playing with and chewing on toys.   


We're so blessed to have these three precious gifts from the Lord!

More From the Trip

Grandpa and his boy.

Happy Birthday Aunt Amy!  (I'll add here, that my dad also had his birthday when we were out there, and Clara wanted to give him a gun for his birthday!)  :-)

Uncle Josh with a niece and nephew.

Cousins!

LOVE this shot!  Some priceless smiles there!!!

Sister outing!

Helping Uncle Josh with the garden!

One of the great blessings of this trip was that my brother David and his wife Amity had there second daughter two days before I left!  So, I got to meet sweet Anika Carmicheal before I left!

Clara showing off her "big" tummy!

 I'll add here that Clara loved "helping" Grandpa in his office and garage (which are affectionately dubbed "the salt mines").  One time she was answering her imaginary phone and would say "Hello, this is the salt mines".  :-)

Us with the Family!

The camera battery and charger arrived and now, here are some pictures from the trip to see my family!  I think this one of my Mom and Ittai is lovely!

Aunt Melissa and Ty

I got to meet my sweet niece, Sabina, for the first time on this trip.  Here she is "holding" Ty.

Hilkiah and Uncle David

Another one that is simply lovely!  Clara and Aunt Amy

 Playing with "Uncle Wany" (Randy)

Me and my dear Dad!

More coming soon, Lord willing!

The trip home...

 My battery and charger are in the mail... so I'll soon be sharing pictures from the camera of our time in CA with my family.  However, for now, here are some great ones from the very end of the trip.  My dear Mom, drove us down to LA and we were reunited with my dear hubby, who we hadn't seen in four weeks!  Here are some shots of us while waiting for our train to leave for the trip home.

 A sweet lady we met who held Ty for a little while.

Following this, we had a 20-something hour trip home on the train.  The train really is a great way to travel.

We're settling in here back at "the homestead".  We have had a round of sickness going through the ranks... mostly the little people ranks.

We've enjoyed some lovely spring weather, and the bulbs are coming up!  We're also dreaming about spring planting... more on that later!