noisyvillage

Happy Christmas Everyone!

This year has been a bit of a wild ride for our family, but I’m starting to think every year is crazy in it’s own way. Melissa started out the year quite pregnant and having the roughest one yet. With lots of help from Matt, we made it through to the summer, and welcomed the sweetest baby boy we could have asked for – William has successfully captured the heart of everyone who’s met him! Round and chubby, smiley and cuddly, the biggest problem he presents is that not everyone can hold him at the same time! At five months he’s getting bigger, eating messily, and still making us all talk in ooey-gooey voices to make him smile! We never knew what fun having a little boy would be!

Speaking of little boys, we now have two! While pregnant with Will, we also started the process of adopting a foster child. Thinking it would take a few years, we decided to get the paperwork going. God surprised us by bringing Zander home just a few months after William. Zander is six, just about Hannah’s age, and is a grand little fellow! He’s introduced us all to the fine world of legos and dinosaurs, racecars and bakugan toys! He and his sisters get along smashingly, make all kinds of fun noise and keep us busier than we had ever planned! We’re so glad he’s here- it feels a bit like he always was! He’s happy and affectionate, smart and silly – good stuff for a little guy to be!

Belle is losing lots of teeth, reading more books than mommy, excited to be getting her first pair of glasses, and playing lovely piano pieces for us all to enjoy. She has a few lessons and classes out of the home this year, and has loved the independence they have brought (she looks rather cute in her backpack, too, since it’s almost as big as she is!) Oh, and she’s a brilliant babysitter – however did I manage to have babies without an eight year old before?

Hannah is still sweet and silly, and is a pretty clever little second grader these days. She’s taking a piano class, too, and is loving it! She dreams of owning her own small pet (shhh…don’t tell her a parakeet’s coming at Christmas!)Her favorite pastime is holding William (and she would do that all day if I didn’t force her to get some schoolwork and such done!) -they have fun times together. She recently lost her first tooth, and apparently bribed the tooth fairy pretty successfully (with a piece of popcorn and a little jewel), as she ended up with a golden dollar coin!

Naomi is getting taller and taller – I tried to tell her to stop growing, but it doesn’t seem to have worked! She’s learning to read and write, helping mommy whenever she can in the kitchen, and enjoying having a big brother to jump around and play with. Actually, she’s pretty talented at jumping around – I took her to a gymnastics day and I’m pretty sure she’s a natural! She’s lately been excited to learn how to curl her locks, and she’s been losing teeth too! Too much candy around here, apparently!

Juliette has such an imagination that sometimes I get lost in the translation of all her thoughts and dreams! She’s learning to read, too (and write and use numbers, and all manner of kindergartenish things!) She loves to watch over baby William, and has the most interesting conversations with him in the process! She’s also the best at ‘becoming’ various animals – you never know when a cute little yipping Juliette puppy will start pawing at your leg around here!

Alyssa continues to prove herself mommy’s personal penguin. She rather likes to stay in the same room as me – even going so far as writing her school papers on my back if there’s no other table around. She likes pretending to be an elephant. It must have given her good ears during the kindergarteners’ school time, as she’s already managed to learn all of her letters and their sounds. I sometimes think her greatest talent is getting into mischief, but at least we never lack amusement with her around. She’s pretty sure she actually runs the house and takes care of the rest of us. She’s a little blond beauty with a smile that melts our hearts! And she’s dinky, so she gets to ride around on my back more often than three year olds might usually do if they were bigger.

Matt’s still the most handsome motor cop I know, and he loves to read aloud to his crew of little people here at home. He also happened to build us the cutest little bedroom out of a tiny, ugly extra room downstairs. It’s great – our own special retreat in our busy home! We had fun picking out colors and paints and such, and were so happy to complete the whole project (including a gorgeous wood floor finished by Matt!)

Dobby continues his happy existence of wandering from one heater vent or pillow to the next, occasionally being stepped on, as he’s often underfoot. I’m sure this is made up for by the fact that seven children manage to drop lots of food for him to enjoy!

Farah is having the year off to finish growing and getting strong knees, and perhaps next year we’ll actually have some more time to go and play with her! She’s currently hoofing it around with her horsey pal, April, in a friend’s pasture (with a few icicles hanging off her mane!)

I sure like my seven little munchkins (it is the number of perfection, right?!) I’m certainly busier than before and trying to convince myself to get up earlier in the morning to make up for the extra people around here. It doesn’t seem to be working… I think my favorite part of this season has been going sledding with all my people!

Hope you all have a blessed holiday and rejoice in celebrating the birth of Christ in your little corners of the world, as we shall in ours’! All our love to you this Christmas season, and prayers for a blessed new year!

Lots of good cheer from all of us!

Matthew, Melissa, Isabelle, Hannah, Alexander, Naomi, Juliette, Alyssa and William