Elijah is Six!

Elijah turns 6-years-old today!

He has been counting down since the day after Christmas and the day finally here. We will be celebrating with balloons and presents, as usual, and Elijah has requested that we eat inside McDonalds for his birthday dinner. I guess that's doable, even with the single digit temperatures that are suppose to be going on tonight. You only get a birthday dinner once a year.

Elijah has been keeping himself busy this Christmas season.

 Him and his art clothes line. That stocking has been there since last year. He couldn't bear to take it down. He made the Christmas tree out of paper strips for art, when we were studying symmetry. The Santa is an advent calendar. He glued a cotton ball on his beard every night, faithfully (for the most part). The Jesus picture is from Easter (another one he didn't want to take down). Next is a family tree picture from daddy's side and the last thing, you can hardly see, is his Build-A-Bear puppy Brown's birth certificate.

We also built a gingerbread house out of Styrofoam (since the real kind never get eaten and go to waste.)

He also (helped) decorated the tree. He could reach up even farther this year. 

We still have to work on disbursing the ornaments instead of hanging them all 

together in various spots, but I'm sure he will have it down next Christmas.

I hope this is a wonderful year for him. He is such a great kid. I wish him many more happy years just being a kid, having fun.

One Little Word - Contemplate

Happy New Year!

I don't know if people even do the One Little Word anymore, but it has kind of become a tradition for me around New Years. I started a few weeks ago trying to figure out what I wanted this new year to bring and the big thing that kept coming up for me is "change". I'm not opposed to change, but I thought it was a little too harsh to put into action for a whole year. I really like some things in my life and I don't want them to change, but there are also things that I would love to change.

This is why this year my One Little Word is "contemplate". There will be a lot of this going on, hopefully. We are paying off things this year and with that, we need to think about a new budget and see where the "extra" money will be going. We are really close to getting rid of cable, but are still contemplating what we are going to do. And since we are staying where we are for a couple more years I am starting to contemplate the boys sleeping situation and whether to move them into the same room or not (scary thought).

But lastly, once all of our debt is paid off (we are almost there!!) we are contemplating moving. The big question that is looming is "where?". Pretty much anywhere in the US is up for grabs. But then there's all the smaller, yet still important questions. Where will be the best place to settle down? The best place to homeschool (if we decide to keep doing it)? The best place for Caleb to get the speech therapy (and other things) he needs? Where is inexpensive, so I can stay home at least-part time? Where are there jobs that pay a decent amount of money? But above all, where does God want us to go? It's a big decision and hopefully a big (direct) answer will be given.

So with lots of things to contemplate over the next year or two, we will continue to follow where the Lord leads us and maybe we will be surprised at the outcomes.