Blog Revival

Well, I've finally updated the blog layout... Hopefully this is a sign of things to come! I'd like to get back to blogging. Both of our cameras have been broken for months and it's hard to motivate myself to blog without pictures. I was reading through some past posts a while ago and realized how much I like having our life written. I have such a horrible memory and it's nice to be able to go back and read about the things we do in our crazy life. So, I'm not promising anything fantastic and amusing, but I would really like to get back on the blogging train. I do apologize about the lack of pictures for a while. Maybe this will also motivate me to actually get the cameras fixed!

I'll try to give a brief mini update...

Ian's still at Bank of America. He's happy to have a job, but somewhat bored. Hopefully he'll be able to move up or over or somewhere that fulfills him and our bank account at the same time. He's also still working with the youth in our church as the Young Men's President, but recently resigned from teaching early morning seminary to the local high school kids. It was just too much. We're happy to have him around the house more and though he misses it, I think he's happier too.

Emma is doing well in school and at home. The change in her diet a year ago has made a world of difference. She still has her moments(and sometimes days...), but overall, she's much better behaved, and much happier! She's still tearing through any book she can get her hands on and talking our ears off when her nose isn't in a book. She's ridiculously creative and always coming up with new art projects or science experiments to try. Alone time is her friend. Being the oldest of 4 can be frustrating to her and she usually asks for alone time at least once a day. Sometimes she just needs her own space for a while. I know how she feels...

Mckenna is still my little sweet thing. She's been a bit of a whiner lately, but we're hoping it's just a phase that will pass sooner than later. She loves kindergarten and ADORES her teachers. I think they think pretty highly of her too. She also(not surprisingly) has more boy friends than girl friends. I love to hear her talk about her day on the way home. It's just so fun to hear what is exciting to her. Homework is just beginning to challenge her, so we might have to come up with some kind of reward system soon. Her newest love is a hat we got free at Chipotle. It's tan and has a little pepper on the front. She wants to wear it every day to school. Kind of kicks cute hairdo's and hair bows out of the picture, but it makes her happy and she's just so cute with it on.

David might be at the tail end of his terrible twos. Either that or he's gearing up for the horrible threes(ok I know there's no such thing, but there could be... somewhere...). He's just been such a sweetheart lately. He'll come and give me a hug, or clean something up and then say, "Mommy! I just make you happy!" Many times he'll say it with such excited sincerity that it brings tears to my eyes. He's such a lover. He likes giving bear hugs and "big" kisses. He'll grab my cheeks, smush my face onto his and hold it there for a few seconds. And he's always very pleased with himself post-kiss. I think he's the one we'll have to watch out for in high school. I adore him and know that any girl who gets one of those kisses will never want to let him go.

Malachi is adjusting wonderfully. That seems to be the question I get asked most often. "How is Malachi adjusting?" I never know how much detail people want so I always say, "He's doing really well," and then see how much more they want to know. I could say... He's not screaming hysterically when he wants something. His language has exploded in the past two weeks. He's calling us Mommy and Daddy and has THE MOST adorable little voice ever. I can't even list how many words he says now, because there are two many. His best word is, "Showwwy," (sorry). Wonder why he's so good at that one? He loves giving random kisses and hugs. He adores dogs, hates nap time, will drink any liquid(including Gymboree bubbles which he tried in nursery today) until you make him stop or he pukes - whichever comes first. We got together with one of his buddies from Ethiopia this week. What a sweet reunion that was! It was a little boy who was in his group, also named Eyob, and the same age as our Malachi Eyob. We had many pics of the two of them together when they were in Ethiopia. It was so fun to see them play together. And I loved seeing the other Eyob's older brother Abel. He and I were buddies at the orphanage. Loved him. And I think he was excited to see me too.

I am (obviously) a very busy momma. Besides the usual mommy duties(carpooling, cooking, cleaning, park days, etc) I've been canning a lot this winter - applesauce is this week, I still hit the gym regularly, and have been slowly trying to become more organized. I was recently called as the Nursery Coordinator for our church. I'm in charge of 4 nurseries that have about 10-20 kids in each. When Sundays roll around I can get pretty busy!

We've lived in this home longer than we've lived anywhere since being married, and I'm loving it. I love our home and I have so many amazing friends. There is always someone to do something with. I love the area and I adore Arizona weather during this time of year. The only thing I'm not liking is the flu season. I feel like we've been sick for three months. Between school, church, and the daycare at the gym, our kids are exposed to soooo many germs that it's impossible to have all six of us be healthy at the same time. We're pretty much just used to functioning with sore throats and runny noses. We better have a healthy summer!

OK, so it wasn't as brief as I'd hoped, but now I'm not so intimidated about blogging! I won't feel the need to fill y'all in and then I can blog whenever I have an inkling! I'll hopefully come on here after Malachi's well check appointment this week. I'm excited to see how much he's grown since he's been home. It's been 6 months!

Hope everyone has a fantastic week!