is this the first time i've posted with NO pictures!?

We're still alive over here! Just busy and haven't taken many pictures or had the time to update the blog! But, I've vowed to take the evening off, and just veg tonight.

I'm back at work part time (15 hours) for our church, and am a few weeks in and having fun thus far! Feeling challenged, but a little overwhelmed at times.... :) Hoping God will use me however he sees fit! My homeschool group is going well, it's nice to have had a Weds morning off this morning though. I'll pick that back up in January.

Geneva's still liking kindergarten lots, loves to write and draw. Really into playing house lately. She's about to lose a big front tooth! She keeps wiggling and wiggling... She's excited for it to fall out.

Brookie's her usual follow-my-mommy-around-and watch everything she does type self. She doesn't really play much, but is happiest to help me do things... and really, I don't know quite what she does all day!

Micah is super happy when his teeth aren't bugging him one-year-old self. He definitely keeps me busy, this busy, busy boy. He's recently figured out how to get our baby gate loose and sneaks up the stairs. He's also mastered going down the stairs, when I point him in the right direction instead of face forward! Actually, the other day I left him on the main floor while I did something with the girls upstairs and when I came back down after 2 minutes he was gone... the basement door must've been open a tiny bit, and he either fell down the stairs and didn't hurt himself, or somehow miraculously remembered to turn around and went down! It kinda scared me, but he just smiled at me and crawled away quickly. what a guy.

Derek was excited to hear the news that he's getting full time status in January! A schedule! Benefits! Vacation time! Nothing's in writing yet, but they say it'll happen, so here's hoping and praying! We're excited to see this happen!
He's taking a break from doing youth group at church, he did it for 7 years and was ready for a break. He's enjoying having some free time to do some more projects around the house and loving having power in his shed to work on stuff at night! Loves his shed. :)

Well, that about brings us up to speed, sorta! Sorry, no pics, but I'm sure we'll take some over Christmastime. :) Our camera's not the most reliable these days... Still trying to convince Derek we should get one on a boxing day sale.

Anyway, Merry Happy Blessed Christmas to everyone! May you be able to celebrate the true reason for this holiday!

Side note: Brookie asks me every day, "How many days until Christmas?" and I usually tell her, but today she asked a different question: "Is Christmas in the morning time or night time?" I tried to tell her that Christmas Day is all day and really the 1 special day we celebrate Jesus' birthday, but all the days that lead up to that special day are what makes Christmas so neat. Then Geneva and I talked about how really, ALL YEAR we can celebrate that Jesus came to the earth too! We can sing songs to him and pray to him and thank him all year that he was born as a special, special baby. Not sure how much B actually got out of that convo, but its' been really neat to see her little mind try to figure things out. :)

All right, enough writing for me! Thanks for letting me share our lives!
Love, Andrea