Happy New Year 2024!!

 

Happy New Year friends!!! If you are reading this then this is my Christmas card to you! You’ll get recent pictures and updates on each member of the family. There’s also a few fun questions that I like to use to reflect on the year gone by and look forward to the next! This year I felt was a little easier on us than the previous couple of years. I mean, don’t get me wrong, it had its fair share of challenges, but in comparison to what we had been through recently, 2023 felt like a more restful year. We found better routines, Piper started sleeping through the night and Sam found relief from his back issues.(still not completely resolved, but closer!!) So yes, things have started to feel like I’m not just about to drown. Treading water feels good, even with a little forward movement here and there too. I’ll take it!!

Legend of Zelda Halloween costumes this year!

Here are my 2023 updates for the family oldest to youngest!

Jane bought me a Legend of Zelda phone bag. I love it!!

I am still in the midst of my never ending pursuit of balance in life and becoming more like Jesus everyday. My dear friend, Emmali, opened my eyes to the wonder of audiobooks through the local library using the Libby app. I have loved to read since graduating from high school. After having kids the only thing I could read and stay awake reading was Manga and I love that, but I did miss reading non-fiction. Audiobooks fill that book longing in my heart! I love to listen while I do the dishes or other chores and when I work early in the morning. It helps me stay focused and awake instead of distracting me like I thought it would. I have to pause my audiobook to compose an email and I can't do fiction audiobooks while I work and I don't really enjoy audio fiction much anyway. I would much rather read a physical book for fiction. I did fit in a few physical books that weren't Manga this year! That is thanks to Sarah Mackenzie's Podcast called Read Aloud Revival. She recommends carving out a 30 minute read time for everyone during the day, even mom! She talks about how important it is for your kids to see you reading and enjoying it. So the kids either pick whatever they want to read or they listen to an audiobook together while I do my own reading. The kids are loving the Ramona series right now. Some of my favorite non-fiction books this year have been, Raising Kids Who Read, (actually physical book read!) Take Back Your Family (I already read the physical book but the audio is awesome too!), Essentialism, The Road Back to You, Made for People, Culture Code (loved the physical so much last year I had to listen to the audio too), The Whole-Brained Child, To Hell With the Hustle and Mindset(still reading but so so good so far!). I don't make much time for full novels right now, but I did read one novel this year! Leo the Leper and the Senseless World. It was great! I would definitely recommend it. I can't wait for my Sister-in-law's next Novel continuing the story started in Outside of Grace! It's on my to read list for 2024! Of course, I still read a good amount of Manga too. Because Piper is sleep trained now, I get to play video games again! I had a great time Playing Zelda: Breath of the Wild this year along side Atlas playing his own file. It's so fun to enjoy video games with my kids! Now I'm currently playing Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom(Atlas is playing his own too), Super Mario RPG (Thanks to my bro for getting it for me!) and Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town (Jane and I are both playing files). During the day I am still working 2-3 hours a day (more during the beginning of the month) and went up from officially home schooling 2 kids to 3 this year! Life is incredibly full, but at the same time incredibly fulfilling! I wouldn't have it any other way!!

Drawings for this year

Well, this is my third New Years update to feature a health section for Sam. After it had been some time after Sam got the disc brace put in his back and his swelling and discomfort was still not all the way down they referred him to a cardiologist to make sure nothing else was amiss. The doctor thought it was a vein problem where he would have to get a small procedure done to fix it. When they did the ultrasound they ended up finding blood clots in his leg, which is exactly the thing that they first checked for at the ER when all this started in July 2021 and he had no clots. We figure they either missed it at that ER or more than likely, the sedentary lifestyle that was a byproduct of having back problems created a blood clot sometime in that 2 year span. The good news is no more procedures or surgeries! All he has to do is take blood thinner meds, wear compression socks and go back and get it checked on again to see when he can stop taking them. That appointment is in February. It may get moved up sooner if they have an opening. In regards to his swelling and discomfort, it's pretty much completely gone!! Yay!! He can do almost anything he could do before! Of course having a history of back problems means he should be careful with his activity, like no bungee jumping right? Not that he would have ever done anything like that anyway. He made it through a whole Labor day weekend at Tejas trip with tons of walking and activities with no problems. The only lingering issue is that he can't turn to look behind him as easily or quickly as before, but that is because of the brace surgery and could probably be worked on with a little PT. So yes, it feels amazing to have my husband back!! Another update that is mostly about Sam is that we moved his desk into our bedroom and out of the dining room. We added leaves to our table and made it so all of the family can sit at one table for dinner for the first time in years! It's awesome. Sam loves his cozy, secluded corner in the bedroom. It helps him recharge more fully after work to be on his own for a moment rather than being in the dining room right in the middle of everything right after work. So he has more energy for us! He started helping me with the dishes when he can and it's been so wonderful! Sam started playing Magic the Gathering with his co-workers and they sometimes have a guys night at a card shop/restaurant. It makes me feel better about going to my moms night out dinners when he gets to have some just dudes time too! Otherwise he is enjoying playing Balder's Gate 3 at the moment and is always listening to music or watching a new movie, show or anime in his free time.

I had to google the age range to be sure but Jane is officially a preteen! She’s 9 1/2 and in 4th grade. She made a reading breakthrough this year! (I think partially to all the books I read about reading and applying the tips I learned) She will read for pleasure now! Not all the time, but one time she read for 3 hours in one day to finish a pretty lengthy graphic novel! That book was called Sisters and she says it is her favorite. She also enjoys the branches series of books by scholastic, princess pink and the land of fake believe, diary of a pug, owl diaries and party diaries are a few of her favorites. She just started reading the Graphic Novel Series of The Babysitters Club done by the same Author of Sisters! She still likes to play Roblox and she is really enjoying her new game from Christmas Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town. It’s a farming simulation game by the creators of Harvest Moon. A game I grew up loving! This past fall she enjoyed retaking Perler Beads and PE at Super Friday and loved the crafting Nailed It class. She is so excited to try Sewing, Crochet and Lego Innovations this Spring! Maybe she can teach me to sew! Jane still loves to take care of her baby sister. So much so that when I was thinking of hiring a mother’s helper during the busy time of the accounting month (I’m still home) she agreed to be in charge for the mornings until 12pm. So when I have extra work for the first 5 days of the month Jane will take care of and entertain Piper. She’ll also be making breakfast for the kids. (Cereal and pop tarts usually or warming some mini pancakes in the microwave) and handling any toy or snack requests. She’ll be paid $10 each morning she is in charge and she is looking forward to making some money! All the kids agreed they would rather have Jane than having a teen come to be in charge. So she starts January! We will see how it goes!

Atlas is 7, almost 8 and in 2nd grade. He continues to excel with his school and is enjoying reading the branches series, Press Start. In fact he finished the whole series that has released and is moving on to Kung POW Chicken now. His love of video games only grows. He wants to be a game maker when he grows up. He is loving Mario Wonder that he just got for Christmas! Other games he really got into this year were Zelda:Breath of the wild, (he beat it! I was impressed.) and Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. Sonic Frontiers is still a big favorite as well. Atlas loved his first semester of Super Friday!! He took duct tape warfare, Perler Beads and PE. He says duct tape warfare was his fav. He is looking forward to the spring semester and he’ll be taking Chess, Spanish and Rubik’s Cube!  

Alexandria is 5 now and in Kindergarten!! She has loved starting Kindergarten! There are very few days where she gets upset. She is doing really well forming letters and her remembering her sight words. Math has been pretty simple for her so far because of all the little counting lessons we did last year. She continues to love animals of all kinds. Dragons are still number one! She loves stuffed animals that have a zipper with more little animals inside. She found a snail outside earlier this year and she asked if we could keep it! I couldn’t say no! We kept 4 snails for about 6 months. It was fun, but eventually I was done being the only one taking care of them. So we released them back into the backyard. She can make friends almost anywhere she goes! She has two little girls at park day that she is closest too though. She has started playing more make believe games with Jane and seeing their relationship grow has been so sweet! <3

Flynn just turned 4 and is my little tornado! He is a bundle of energy and activity! He rarely stops moving and talking or making some sort of noise. He became obsessed with tornados and volcanos right at the beginning of last year. He still loves dinosaurs and trains too. He fell in love with a YouTube viral character called Siren Head (it’s so weird to me, haha!) and always asks to watch it(he only gets to watch it on special nights with me or when my dad puts it on at his house) He loves his new Siren Head stuffy he got for his birthday. He does a few preschool activities here and there, but not much yet. He is a snack monster and always going to meet new friends at the park to see if they have anything to share. I meet so many new people because of Flynn. Haha! He has gotten a lot better with not throwing as many fits and reducing his volume. He’s still loud and crazy, but at least it’s a little more controlled and can reason with me much more than he could last year.

Piper is almost 1 1/2 and seems to be trying her hardest to interrupt every single moment of school possible. Either walking around on the table, throwing crayons everywhere, eating marker tips, stealing the glue stick or screaming every moment I put her down or I try to read our read aloud. She makes up for it by being ridiculously cute and so sweet and cuddly! She is a lot while we try to do school, but she brings so much joy! It has also forced the kids to be more independent with school which is good too. She is working on running and tries to jump with two feet off the ground. She can do it on the trampoline, but not quite on the ground yet. She always surprises me how many things she can climb up on. Piper loves to carry around baby dolls pat them and give them to me. She can say momma, dada, night night, hi, ow, uh oh, no, yeah and baby. Ever since she started getting her molars in the only person she wants to hold her is me. Which makes me feel special, but also a little overwhelmed at times. We’ll make it through! Maybe she’ll let others hold her again someday. ;)

I have so enjoyed the tradition of asking these 4 questions at the end of each year! I love the reflection and forward thinking it brings. 

Moms night out with dear friends!

Big family table!

1. What are you most grateful for in 2023?

This year I have a lot of “smaller” things I’m grateful for instead of one big thing. If I had to pick just one I think I would say the return of Family dinners for us. Switching Sam’s desk from the dining room to our room was one the best decisions we have made for our family. It eased so many little tensions I didn’t even realize were there and increased connection!

Honorable mentions: The return of sleep for me, faithful friends, Jane's reading breakthrough and better health for Sam. 

Labor Day Weekend at Tejas!

2. What was your favorite moment of 2023?

Definitely going back to Tejas and staying overnight for the first time in 13 years was my favorite moment of 2023. Watching my kids truly experience Tejas for the first time and doing it alongside their cousins was very special to me. <3

Honorable mentions: Going to Big Rivers with Jane, being back at Tejas for Christmas with my parents and the Riedels.

Christmas at Tejas!

3. What are you looking forward to in 2024?

Honestly? Going back to Tejas for Labor Day weekend 2024!! The kids are always asking when we are going back to Tejas. Especially Flynn! I love it.

Honorable mentions: Trying out our new plan with Jane being in charge for mornings during my first of the month accounting work, still working out the kinks in my routines and forming better habits.

Family pic at Thanksgiving 2023

4. What goals do you hope to accomplish/habits to form in 2024?

Last year I was half and half with accomplishing my goals! I lost the rest of the baby weight from Piper, but did not make any progress on the leftover weight from Flynn yet. I did not prioritize my blog as much as I wanted, but I did implement a habit recently to blog a paragraph a day or so and it's going well. I'm going to continue into 2024. Our family rest day starts on Saturday night with a family night and we have loved it! The kids look forward to it every week! Still working on making our Sundays a bit more restful for me. We did more school outside this year, but I didn't spend more leisure time outside with them. I'd like to do that this year. All in all, I'm very happy with the progress towards my goals! I didn't have this goal on my blog last year, but it was a personal goal. I wanted to limit social media usage to only when the kids are asleep at night and I finally achieved it!! The goal to reduce social media has been on my list since the beginning of 2020. It feels amazing to have it under control.

Ok thanks to my audiobook hobby, I have a new way of looking at goals. Yes, it is good to have an overarching goal or vision to aim at, but you also need daily habits that relate to that goal to help you achieve it and sustain it! So here are my goals and the habits that go along with it!

Goal: Prioritizing my blog - Habit: writing at least one paragraph or working on adding pictures to it for 15 minutes a day.

Goal: making better health choices/losing leftover baby weight - Habits: Meal planning breakfast/lunch for me, going to bed before Midnight, exercising 20 min daily.

Goal: Slowing down to create more bonding moments with kids. - Habits: letting go of my to do list for 30 min a day at least, reading 15 min of picture books daily/being in the backyard 15 min each day as weather permits. Journaling nightly to be more aware of how the day was spent.

Kids answers

Moments?

J: Big Rivers with me and her friend Evelyn

A: Christmas Day

X: The most recent movie we watched. Teenaged Kraken.

F: Water Tornado

All: Tejas Labor Day weekend

Grateful?

All: Christmas at Tejas being a gift from Marmee

Looking forward to?

All: Birthdays, Christmas, Beach, Tejas!

Goal?

J: Doing well with her new responsibility to earn money to give gifts

A: Finish Sonic Superstars

X: Play with Bryn

F: No more potty accidents (I gave him this goal. ;)

Pets are still thriving! 

Cambria got a growth removed from her leg this year and is great!

Milo got out recently and was gone for 6 hours. He came back at 9pm.

Just for funzies.

Most said phrases by me this year: 

Stop it 

Don’t do that 

Do your school 

Good job

Last year I tried out a word for the year and it was Rhythm. It fits well because I do feel like we found our stride last year again.

Let's go again and see what happens. The word that's sticking out to me is:

"Growth"

Goodbye 2023!!!!! Hello 2024! Happy New Year Everybody!

2 Peter 1:2-4

 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

Winter Wonders 2020-2021

I'm still plugging along on my seasonal update posts and somehow still falling more behind, but the kids will get older and I won't always have a brand new Zelda game to play, so I do still have hope I will catch up one day. The 2020-2021 winter season is the most recent year we had snow! The kids are really wishing for snow this year in 2023!! I didn't even realize it's been 3 years already since we've had snow. 

We just had a super beautiful park day in December 2023 and my note for this same time 3 years ago is "Beautiful December park days" So apparently we get some very pretty days in December! It can also be super cold and snow or be 85 degrees and humid. Oh Houston! I still love to look back on old park day pictures. It always warms my heart. Because most work places were on COVID restrictions my mom was working fulltime from home and that meant she could come to park day with us on her lunch break. It was a sweet blessing in weird COVID times.

Jane's first top tooth gone! I actually caught her wiggling this one out on video! She loves losing teeth!

Atlas was sort of a loner most of the time up until this point. Sometimes he would find a park dad or one of the older boys at park day to go and hang out with instead of kids his age. Right around this time Atlas made some friends his own age! We had a couple of play dates and they were friends for a season which was great! It would be another year or so before Atlas made some real lasting friendships.

Flynn had never been a big fan of pacifiers past a couple months old and even when he was that little he didn't use it too much. For some reason he found one right before turning 1 and decided they were the best thing ever! Which was really nice for me. He was very happy with them. I had my first pacifier kid!!

I had been out of work since September from being laid off due to Covid struggles. My income is not purely supplemental. We need it to pay the bills. It had been stressful for 3 months looking and waiting. I was definitely tired of looking for a job. Thankfully by the end of the first week of December my old boss that I had worked with at 2 previous companies and was my first boss in the Oil and Gas industry messaged me and asked if I was still looking for a job. I excitedly messaged back and said, "Yes!!" We chatted about what I would be doing and it was perfect. Still fully remote and only an hour or two a day and using a banking system I had already used in the past! I still can't thank God enough for giving me such a great job with one of my favorite bosses ever. I also learned through being without a job in my life for the first time since becoming a mom that having a job where I worked about 2 hours a day was not the reason for all my troubles and didn't cause what I felt like was a lack of time to get things done. I think I slept more and watched more tv? Haha! I definitely didn't feel like got anything more done than when I was working. Also Sam mentioned that when I work I am very focus for those 2 hours, but if I spread those 2 hours over the whole 16-18 hours I am awake by 5 minutes here doing a small task, 15 minutes there doing another, it feels like it disappears! Especially if I happened to sleep an extra hour.  So yes, over my 3 months of unemployment I discovered to stop blaming work for not getting other things done around the house and that I am a person that needs a little work to get me motivated and get my morning started in the right way. It also helps my mood. If I got to the end of the day when I wasn't working and the kids were complaining about school all day, they were yelling and fighting with each other when we weren't doing school and no one liked what I cooked for dinner or I felt like I had to order out because I was too tired from all the complaining and fighting then the day felt like a failure to me. But when I work and a day like that comes around, like they always do in motherhood, I can get to the end of the day and say to myself, "Well, it was a little rough but at least I got my work in!" It helps me stay positive for the next day and try again! I have a note written down that I go back to often that says something like, "There are very little truly "bad" days, instead they are just hard days that help you notice something needs to change." Work helps me keep that mindset and not beat myself down on a hard parenting day that all the stock of who I am is in how "well" I am mothering. Yes, I love being a mother and it is big part of my identity, but It's not ALL I am. I am also a wife, a daughter, a friend, a sister, an employee and most importantly a child of God! He is so good to give me what I need for life and godliness.

My good friend Melody got to stop by for a play date, The kids had a great time! I believe this is when I gave her my maternity clothes and a bunch of baby equipment for her 3rd baby! We have passed back and forth these things a few times! I love it.

Last co-op before Christmas break! I led a lesson on glow in the dark substances and density with a home made lava lamp. It worked out great, the kids loved it. All you need is a clear container, water, oil, salt and glow in the dark powder.

In a time when finances were very tight, especially around Christmas, God blessed us greatly by Sam receiving an unexpected bonus!! He doesn't usually get them and it was such a relief. Even though I had gotten a job, we had a lot of catching up to do on finances over the past three months of me being unemployed and that bonus took so much stress off of us during the holiday season so we could relax and enjoy the special time of year with our kids. God is good!

Happy 1st Birthday Flynn! We had cupcakes and sang him happy birthday both of which he loved! I was feeling a bit sentimental. At this point I thought it was the last first birthday of our family and I also realized it was First 1st birthday without Papa. A lot of emotions were bottled up about this birthday and when I was planning a party and a few family members told me they weren’t interested in attending I was hurt. I also realized it was my grandpa that bound those first birthday’s together with family. I missed him then probably more than ever. Through choked back tears I said to my mom, “forget a party if no one wants to be apart of it.” (This makes it sound like my mom was the one who didn’t want to come, not true. Basically she was the only one of my family interested in coming) After I calmed down a bit, I did decide to have a party still, but I overhauled its planning. Instead of my house, I decided on my parents house and did it around new years when my brother and his family were already planning to be in town for Christmas. We also had a close friend that lived down the street from my parents so it all worked out.

On New Years Eve we held a 1st Birthday Party for Flynn. It was good! I brought the switch over for kids to play just dance and we had presents and cupcakes. Flynn had a blast except burning his hand on his 1st birthday candle. He’s so fast I didn’t catch him in time. He didn’t even try to touch the candle when we did a cupcake for him on his actual birthday. I was mortified that I had let it happen. He cried a bit, but not too much and then was happy enough to smash his cake. I’m glad I had a party but I was also tired of parties I told the kids this coming year would be the last big birthday party for everyone. Instead we could do fun family events to places we didn’t go very often. They all agreed to my deal. Thank goodness. Birthday Parties had become more stress than they were worth for me.

Before Scott and Anna left after our Christmas festivities we decided to fit in some Family Pictures done by my dear friend Mindy. I love them!! <3 but next time I will be more prepared. I had not thought about the wind that day and my girls hair looked so messy as soon as we started. I also underestimated how cold it was in the wind. So most of the kids were unhappy and hungry because I didn’t think to bring any snacks either. Lastly it was the end of a busy holiday time. Considering all those factors I’m so impressed Mindy still got such sweet shots. I will be ready with hairstyles and snacks next time! Haha!

 It had been 9 months since the first Covid restriction was put in place and we finally had our First Fever during that time. Thankfully it was very mild and definitely not Covid and didn’t get it myself. But worrying that it was Covid was a new experience for me. I didn’t love it. ;)

We were able to go to one of Jane's oldest friend's (because their mommas were friends first), Brianna, Birthday party in January. I remember leaving Atlas at home because he was happy to spend a day a home with Sam playing video games. Xan loved making her own cookie and Flynn was happy to give hugs to Nicole. :)

I don't have much to say here other than the note I left a the time. "Beautiful January park days yet low attendance". Apparently even though the weather was beautiful we still were recovering in our attendance because of Covid. The busy days are great, but the slower days are also great because you get to focus your conversations on just a few people more. My mom was still getting to come and play with us too and that always makes us happy!

Even though Flynn took his first steps right around his first birthday around the middle of January is when he officially started walking more than he was crawling! It's such a big step in development. Pun intended. ;) It's the beginning of the end of their babyhood. We also played a first birthday game where you put out a bunch of random objects that represent occupations and see what they choose. Flynn chose the dinosaur first and that stood for scientist. He chose a baseball second that was for Athlete. Pretty right on so far!

Sam and I celebrated our 10th Anniversary! Wow, 10 years feels like a big milestone. As a present to us my parents took the kids for their first 4 kid sleepover!! Sam and I thought about going to see a movie like we usually would on our anniversary but we considered that we would have to wear a mask the whole time and no movie out then felt worth it to wear a mask for that long. So while we were walking to the car from eating at Outback Steakhouse Sam asked if I would be interested in trying an anime he thought was excellent. I said sure. I hadn’t watched much anime at all since we finished Naruto together a few years back. We watched 3 hours of Attack on Titan that night. Little did I know that it would reawaken my love for Anime, start our manga hobby and begin my drawing journey! We continued to watch the whole series until we came to the current season and had anime date nights after the kids went to bed on Saturdays. Thanks Attack on Titan!

Jane had been attending the home school classes at Alpha omega for a few months and she wasn’t getting much out of it except social time, which is fine but we could get that at open gym for much less and all the kids could participate. Jane had all the skills they worked on mastered already from Rowland Ballard and she told me she was bored at class. So it made sense to close the door on our gymnastics class era. We definitely still loved going to open gym though! Around this time I started trusting Jane to go on more independent play dates without the rest of us. She was very good at being respectful of other adults authority and was able to tell back what happened when I wasn’t there pretty concisely. She loved more friend time!

We don’t do a big party or anything for the Super Bowl but Jane will still ask when the holiday with all the food is. She means the Super Bowl, because it’s all her favorite foods! Being three years ago. I don’t remember anything about the game, the commercials or the half time show but I remember we had a good time as a family!

We finished our 2nd history workbook called Bede history of US. It was the Best beginning history! We loved it so much!! I wish they had more similar curriculum going forward from K-1st grade. 3 years later I’m still searching for a history course that I like as much as Bede.

We were Half way through the school year at this time. Jane was in 1st grade and Atlas was doing preschool. Atlas is great with sight words, can read some, and can count to 100. Video games are a great motivator for school for Atlas. S65Jane is smart but complete unmotivated in school. she can read a lot but hates it. She’s good at math, but acts like She's not. History, science and art are her favorites. Xan just wants to have her turn! and Flynn wants to disrupt as much as he possibly can.

SNOW!!! In January we had a big Winter storm. SUPER cold temps and more Snow staying longer than I think it ever has that I have seen in Kingwood!! The kids enjoyed it! No one liked it as much as Jane! ;) We ended up losing power for about 12 hours. We stayed at my parents until it came back on. All the stores and restaurants were closed for days. Lots of friends had broken pipes. Plumbers were in short supply. Thankfully we didn’t have any ice related damage, but when trying to leave for my parents when the power was out we took the garage off its track accidentally. I’m grateful It was a quick and not too expensive of a fix. When the cold finally stopped being extreme the weather turned super nice right afterwards. Haha, oh Houston weather!!

Back in my Spring 2020 blog post I shared how my drawing hobby began! I started following along with Jane’s YouTube art lessons and found out I wasn’t completely terrible at it like I thought I was. From then I started drawing the kids a simple birthday card with their favorite character on it by following along with the art for kids hub YouTube channel using a sharpie and crayons. When Sam’s birthday rolled around I decided to draw him one too. I branched out and tried something I hadn’t done before. An anime drawing. This was the very thing that had squandered my dreams of drawing when I was young because I thought it was too hard and I could never make them look right. I had such a hard time choosing between Levi and Erwin from Attack on Titan. Levi is my favorite character and Erwin is Sam’s. Eventually I decided on Levi because the reason I love the character so much is because he reminds me of Sam. I couldn’t believe it looked just how I wanted it to by the time I was done. I could give it to Sam as a legitimate drawing/card. He thought it was great. <3 the next day I did a quick drawing of Erwin while Jane was doing school and wrote that sappy/punny note on it and added one for Levi too. He laughed at my silliness and said it would probably go viral if I put it on some Attack on Titan fan site. Not because of how good they are or anything but because they looked like a novice drawing fan made them and because of my ridiculous puns. I wan’t ready to put my drawings out there to the internet public, but I was over the moon that drawing anime was possible for me!! (And that Sam loved them too) Don’t give up on your childhood dreams people! I definitely believe if you have enough determination, patience and passion to learn a skill you can!! I continued to grow in my drawing abilities from then and I will keep up with the journey in future blogs. :)

The end of winter in Texas is always signified to me by Atlas’s birthday. The previous two birthdays he had been sick on his birthday! Thankfully he had been well for both his parties then but finally he was well for both his birthday day and his party! I drew Bowser for him and Jane drew a piranha plant. I think she did awesome!! Atlas loved the cards and his presents, especially his new video game which funnily enough he is playing as I write this blog post almost 3 years later! Haha! We decided on a video game dance party for Atlas's 5th birthday party. He had a blast!! 

Proverbs 3:5-8

Trust in the Lord with all your heart,

And lean not on your own understanding;

 In all your ways acknowledge Him,

And He shall direct your paths.

Do not be wise in your own eyes;

Fear the Lord and depart from evil.

It will be health to your flesh,

And strength to your bones.