When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” - Luke 2:15
Merry Christmas! Blessings to you and your family.
This was Zeke’s first year participating in a Christmas program and the above passage was the theme. “Come and see! Come and see! Come to Bethlehem and see!” Izzy was in the same program, both in the preschool class. Zeke did his part of standing and singing what he knew and Izzy did a good job performing.
Our family highlight this year was a road trip out west, replicating much of our honeymoon, to celebrate our ten year wedding anniversary (details here and highlights here). We stopped at seven different national parks, monuments, or forests. We camped for three nights in Yellowstone which was quite a bit cooler than we thought it would be in the middle of July. We were again impressed by how well the kids did with all the driving and all the hiking/walking they did. We caught quite a few geysers at the right time in Yellowstone, but were a bit underwhelmed with the number of animals we expected to see. Theodore Roosevelt National Park, on the other hand, was a surprise as we saw way more bison there than expected and the kids had fun seeing all the prairie dogs. Another thing the kids had fun with at all the national areas was working to obtain their Junior Ranger badges. Some were easier than others, but it is a great program to encourage learning about the history and unique features of each place.
Soon after returning from our trip, we were excited to go down for Steph’s sister Danielle’s wedding. All three kids had roles and did a pretty good job doing what they were supposed to do.
A unique find of our family came from traveling to Minnesota’s Largest Candy Store, not too far from our home. They carry over 150 varieties of root beer. What started as a treat for Isabella has turned into a mission to find the best root beer of all time. We have started holding blind root beer tastings and all vote on our favorites. Once we get through as many as we can, we will start retasting our favorites to determine a winner.
Ryan and Steph were mostly up to the same things this year. As mentioned above it was our ten year anniversary this year. We can not believe how fast the time has flown. We have truly been blessed with each other and by the little family we have grown. We can not wait for the next ten years (if anything, this little family will be close to all moved out!)
Ryan coached Elisha’s flag football team and Steph ran in a couple bigger 5Ks in the Twin Cities. She even convinced Ryan to run with her in next year’s Warrior Dash.
Elisha started third grade this year. He also started taking piano lessons which has opened a whole different part of his mind. He’s done very well so far and we think he is committed enough that we bought a used piano. We bought it from a company that collects and fixes old pianos and then sells some and donates others to places and children that can’t afford them. Ours over 100 years old and is in somewhat rough shape, but sounds great and looks very cool. Elisha continued playing sports this year. He was in a new baseball league where his coach did a really good job developing the team’s skills to prepare them for kid pitch next year. He also did soccer and flag football again, and tried out a la crosse camp. It went well the first couple days, but the last day had kids of all ages, so the interest dropped off quite a bit. We’ll see what next year brings. He has kept this fall busy by being in another fantasy football league. He was able to draft his favorite player (Odell Beckham Jr.) so the rest of the results are secondary (although looking like he’ll play for a second straight championship).
Izzy started preschool this year. She goes all day three days a week. It was a bit of a rough transition at first, but she seems to have hit her stride now, and has always been so excited to go. She loves her teacher and has made some great friends. Izzy has gotten pretty good at sight reading small words. She’s ready to move on to level two pretty soon. She lost one of her front teeth a few weeks ago, but we’re not sure if both will be gone by Christmas. Izzy started a gymnastics class last winter and has been going all year. Her coordination, focus, and concentration has greatly increased and you can see those skills developing her personality as well. She tried out t-ball this summer (another thing with brother Zeke). Mom and Dad both ended up assistant coaching as it was pretty much a four station skill camp each week with a couple kids kind of participating while the others sat and played in the sand or cried. Finally, Izzy signed up for dance this fall and we were very impressed with her recital last week (dance 1 and dance 2).
Zeke started the year off with another surgery to remove his nevus. We were amazed that he was healthy enough to go, but the surgery and recovery went well. He had second surgery at the beginning of December to hopefully remove the rest. The surgeon was hopeful that we got it all, but the biopsy came back that there is still some left past the edges that were removed. We have a follow up scheduled for the middle of next year, but chances are we’ll have to have at least one more surgery to get the rest. As mentioned above, Zeke also tried out t-ball this summer. Besides that, he loves hanging out with his buddies at daycare and at home is always roughhousing with Elisha or Dad (and even sometimes Izzy). He has somehow turned out to be the storyteller of the group and always has something to tell us to crack us up.
God’s richest blessings on your 2016!
Love, Ryan, Stephanie, Elisha, Isabella, and Zechariah
