Seven

Seven years ago today, our sweet Brinnly Ruth Ward became God's own child through Holy Baptism and it seems a fitting day to think of all that is special about her now.  Gracious as she is, she'll forgive us for not having this post done on her actual birthday. After all, her birthday month was filled with activity for this family--all 8 (!) of us. 

Brinnly has grown in maturity so much this year. Somehow our first "little sister" has become the go-to "big sister" for all of us.  She's eager to help, but fiercely independent.  She's usually the first one ready in the mornings although she would MUCH rather sleep in.  On Saturdays, she's been known to announce "you won't see me until lunchtime!" since that's how long she would ideally sleep. (In reality, 9:00 am is probably her best).  And just this past Saturday she took advantage of another sleeper-inner in this house, and cuddled up next to her dadddy before either of them were ready to face the world.

Brinn started piano lessons this year and her music filled our house with joy.  She's very new to it but making quick progress.  We are sorry that it's on hiatus for right now, but are hoping that she will pick it up again quickly once we get more settled in.  We are thankful for the music program at their new school and that we get to hear her singing voice in church choir. Her reading skills also took off this year and it is a blessing to see her cuddled up with a good book.

Brinnly-Bugs, you make us smile, laugh, and aim to be the best parents we can be for your kind spirit.  We love your style (purple! accessorries! fashion!) and your tenderness. We think you will be a great mom someday to all 11 of those kids, especially to your son who you plan to name "Bob T. Nutjob", even if that doesn't necessarily mean that you will get to live in a mansion and drive a limo.  Somehow, you would be fashionable in any gig. We love you bunches and bunches and are so thankful that God placed you in our family.

September 2014--More exciting than we could have imagined!

I have never been as behind on blogging than I have this month.  But with good reason!  First, I owe you lots of posts about our dear, sweet 7-year-old Brinnly.  Such a month for her!  And did I mention, that we moved?  Seriously!  Across the country, more or less!  We are settling in here in lovely Milwaukee.  It was a ton of work and still is in many ways, but all is good.  More details on that to follow.  And, four days before we moved, in the midst of packing and good-byes, we went in for a first ultrasound of "Baby E". 

As soon as the doppler was on my stomach, Jonathan noticed something different than any of the many ultasounds we had before.  The tech asked us "How about twins?"  And we laughed and cried tears and tears of happiness as we watched "Baby E" AND "Baby F" wiggle around on the screen.  It was the most wonderful surprise ever.  Thanks be to God for his gracious, generous gifts!

And even MORE news

Okay, so this isn't exactly "our" news, but we are still very excited about it!  We got the call last Saturday morning that Tobias Nathaniel Ryan was born, healthy and handsome! A baby, especially a Ryan baby, is always wonderful news, but this little Toby is extra-special since we can now picture him as partners with our own "Baby E".  We love the idea of those two Badger babies growing up relatively close to each other. Congratulations to Mike, Kellie, Jack, Abigail, Iris, and Opal on this new precious gift from God!  I plan to cuddle him the entire time of our next pizza night together.

And more news!

As if a move wasn't enough, we are THRILLED to announce that Ward Baby #5 will be joining us in that journey.  "Baby E" is expected to make his or her appearance out of the womb around March 22nd.  We are so thankful for all of these upcoming blessings.

Our news

That's right...we are going west.  As far west as Milwaukee, that is!  Thanks to a new job for the provider of this gang, our family is packing up really soon, and settling in to one of our favorite cities.  We will miss Pittsburgh dearly but are excited for this new opportunity and to be much closer to all of our Midwest family members.

Summer Round-Up

 

All in all, it was a nice and calm summer. Good thing, since our fall will be anything but that!  The biggest development of all is that all THREE of the big girls completed the bike riding goal (around the hilly block, sans whining) and were rewarded with a trip to the mall for pierced ears!  Mali went first and was really excited but pained by the experience.  Brinn opted to wait until Carrigan was ready so I took the two of them the last day of school before summer.  What a rite of passage.

 We spent a lot of time outside enjoying both our front and back yards.  Especially when our neighbors repaved their driveway.  Laney, especially, could have watched that for hours.

 Besides our two big trips, we squeezed in another Michigan visit.  Coordinated with the fair, of course. The baby animal barn wasn't quite as impressive as last year, the the llamas were a hit!

 We went regularly to our sweet little neighborhood library, especially during the Summer Reading Program.  They had some great events, including this one from the Carnegie Science Center.  The girls made their own silly putty and sidewalk chalk!  All of the the girls participated in the reading incentive program and Mali even won the GRAND prize...a Kindle Fire!  Not that we were especially ready for that one!  But she did work dutifully at reading harder-level books and documenting them so she's pretty psyched.

 Speaking of reading, this one's into it big time.  LOTS of Magic Tree House books now. We also read
 aloud some new winners like the Tale of Desperaux and Encyclopedia Brown. 

 

Jonathan did a few home improvement projects, with his ever-willing helpers. 

But mainly my days were spent at home, lounging with this sweet crew, playing games like Sorry and Sleeping Queens before we headed to the pool in the evenings. Not a bad gig I have!

First Day

We now have a third grader, a second grader, and an Kindergartener! Where have the years gone? There's a good thing an ice cream tradition is involved--this mama sure needs it!

(Please note the matching messenger bags)

Celebrating 80 years of Grandma Dena

 Speaking of birthdays, we had an absolutely beautiful day in the park to celebrate a certain GREAT-grandma's milestone birthday.  I wish I had more pictures from that day, but there was just so much to soak in from everything happening then, I didn't want to miss anything. The park was the perfect place with a playground and creek (with crawdads!) to entertain and a pavilion to eat and relax.  Charlie, the newborn kitten was next in line as guest of honor. We spent all day enjoying each other's company and celebrating the lady whose love, faith, and football enthusiasm has blessed us all over the years.  Happy 80th Grandma Dena!

Scenes from a five year old's birthday

 We packed the weekend full of specialness for our girl.  It was filled with marmalade-making, burgers at Five Guys (get it?  FIVE Guys?) lunch with Grandpa, Grandma Sandy, and American Girl Doll Emily, fruit pizza, and bike riding.  Her present from us was a balance bike which she put to use very quickly.  Her sisters were intent to join in.  Then on her actual birthday, a Monday, we picked up sushi and met her daddy downtown for lunch at the fountain.  She was all smiles. A sweet day for our sweet Carrigan.