Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Well, I guess it's about time I got back to this.  To start the year off fresh, I'll post holiday pics.  I was thinking of recapping, but I haven't posted since August and so much has happened.  There are many new adventures ahead for our family this year, so I figured I'd dust this blog off and chronicle them for your amusement.  :)

Marley got her ears pierced at the doctor.  Thanks Nana and Papa!

I was really trying to get my act together with Christmas cards this year.  Every year I get them addressed and everything and never mail them.  This year I took the pic early, and I was so hopeful.  Sorry everyone!

Normally I say that Rory doesn't look like me, but this pic makes me think twice about that statement.

 Our little broken tree this year.  A couple days of it up, and the lights wouldn't work anymore.  One less thing to store for the move.  Rory got to put the angel on top this year.  She's in rough shape though, so my parents gave us a new to us one to use for next year.  

This little girl wanted to try and see if the water would freeze outside in the container.  This is what she wore to check it.  I froze just taking the picture.

Date night: Kevin, me, and this guy!

Rory made a gift for her friend.  She's getting pretty good.  Even K'lyn commented on her neat lines.

Throughout the holidays Relic continues to display and relate to my feelings.

This was my biggest mistake of 2019.  It went something like this:"Hey Kevin!  We should do this thing where you make snowman out of the gifts.  It'll be so cute!"  Ten hours later: "Hey Kevin!  Let's NEVER do this again."

Logan has his eyes closed.  :(  We have a pic without Adam too, but I was trying to be nice.  

Christmas night and how it all turned out.  I think it looks exceptional especially since it's our first year with no one believing in Santa anymore. :(

Then we went to North Carolina to spend some time with Nana, Papa, Uncle Brian, Aunt Paula, Samantha, and their 7 dogs.

Meet Logan in North Carolina.  I'm hoping North Carolina Logan shows up more in Maryland.

Nana and Kevin

The gifts and headache of the year.  K'lyn texted me on December 20th and asked if I wanted to go in with her on doing gifts for the girls of the families.  I signed up for my DOOM.  "All" I had to do was choose pics for Grandma, Auntie Dita, Auntie, Riri, Nana, and Aunt Paula.  I would print them out small enough to fit on blocks and copy them on a library copier for their ink cuz ours would smear.  At least everyone liked them!  I didn't get pics of my mom's or Dita's, but they were a hit.

Logan got a light board for Christmas.  He hasn't been off it but to eat and sleep.

And Relic continues to get me.  This is his new bed he got for Christmas.  He LOVES it.

Still trying to encourage youth!

Happy New Year!  We woke the kids up and had a call from K'lyn shortly after.  Here's to 2020!

Another Teenager

My third kid has hit teenager-dom.  Since this one is a boy, I don't know what to expect.  So far he's the same, except he's not.  It's weird watching your children grow up in front of you, but for Logan, it's an entirely different experience because of the type of kid he is.  K'lyn and Rory are pretty independent.  They go after what they want or they don't.  They're fine either way.  They're highly adaptable to various situations, and I wouldn't necessarily call them "planners."  
Logan is a planner.  He wants to know what's happening when.  He reminds me of appts I have if it's getting close to them to make sure I remember.  He doesn't like change, or even going anywhere.  He's a homebody in every sense of the word.  At the same time, he needs to get his boy energy out.  That's what everyone is telling me.  The emotions and testosterone are flying, so he needs an outlet.  Working at the gym should be helping except he sprained his ankle at camp this past week.  In the future, I'm hoping that will help, but I'll definitely need to find something else for him that's physical.  Maybe the Ninja Gym Classes will be his thing.
Other than that, he's waiting for his growth spurt.  His cousin, who just turned 15, had a major growth spurt and is now taller than both his parents.  Logan has had to hear his whole life how tall his sisters are, and I think he's just waiting for his turn.  If his cousin is any example, it looks like Logan will have another year to wait.  He sure is eating enough to produce a spurt.
We had his birthday at grandma and grandpas (Red Lobster) with some of his cousins.  We did the traditional beach day trip, but this time it wasn't on his actual birthday.  Here are some pics-

Someone didn't remember to put on sunscreen at the beach.

Birthday dinner

Leaving for Encampment

He's such a fine young gentleman, and I can't wait to see what the future holds for him.  I just hope there's enough food.  :)  I love you, Logan!

Summertime

It's been a while.  Sorry about that.  Get ready for lots of posts because I am way behind.  I'm starting back in the beginning of summer, June.  Nana and Papa bought Logan and Mars Tinkercrates and Doodlecrates for some occasion.  Mars got a Doodlecrate in the mail while Kaelyn was home, and K'lyn was interested in it.  Before I knew what was happening, they were doing it together.  I love it when things like this happen.  You know, when the kids actually get along with one another, especially these two.  

After they finished with what the Doodlecrate provided, K'lyn grabbed a huge canvas she has in her room.  They went outside and used their new technique on that too.  Here are some pics.

 Here's what the crate came with.

   I might be biased, but I think it looks amazing!

Rory!

Since I did a post about Logan, and Marley blogged, I figured I'd tell you what Rory is up to.  She's been job searching.  We think she might follow in her sister's footsteps for now (in more way than one) until a store opens back up nearby.  Until then, she's bee fighting a sore throat and not feeling well.  She's been out and about with friends some, but later this month is when the real stuff starts happening.  For now, she's been resting and dyeing her hair.  

First up was bleaching her hair because we had purple hair dye leftover.  It was a light purple, so she wanted to bleach first.  I thought this was cute, and she should've kept it.  But she wanted purple so...

It didn't work out so well, so we tried blue instead.

All of it has pretty much washed out, so there's just a hint of blue/bleach in the back.  

We have a couple weeks until we're off to a retreat together.  Then she goes to work camp.  She's growing into such a lovely servant of the Lord.  It makes my heart swell.  

A pic of how else she is following in her sister's footsteps.