The beauty of infrequent updates, is that there is so much to say! And so many pictures to draw from. Our kids are ridiculously cute [and they won't always be], so we're more than happy to let their faces tell the stories. Service update: these annals can continue to illustrate the many stories of the Joseph children and their cute button noses, while our flashy new fancy blog at www.josephsgo.com/blog shall provide life updates for our family and mission in Mexico, with a slightly different focus and far fewer button noses.
Starting where we left off, here is the story of Christmas with the crew, newly-recognized this past year for its gift exchange portion as "Consumable Christmas". The Advent season featured many time-honored traditions: the Santa Event at Timken (our last ever!), adorning a plastic indoor tree, a Christmas dance performance by the "S" kids (new to Summer!), the Schumacher babysitting + gift-wrapping night/party, an
attempt at an AWANA nativity play, NUCLEAR Christmas, and our easterly kinship voyage. Among these, we made room for the new: a choral performance with our girls on a Canton stage (Majestic Voices), and a romantic Chagrin Falls date featuring the Parkside Christmas concert for Mom and Dad.
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| The shortest babysitter, really you can keep them for a little while longer |
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| Love |
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| (Behold, Nuclear Christmas, it's nothing dangerous. #orisit) |
The Pennsylvania week was a beautiful and lengthly opportunity to see extended family, an evermore precious gift. Finally spending a good amount of time with almost-uncle-Kevin, a bro/sis jog around the lake, time to play with Hartland cousins, lots of games (Splendor, Catan, Everdell and of course Hogwarts Battle!), precious nugget Noah and other notable Dombachs, and all kinds irresistible smoked meats including bagels and lox.
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| Even more danger |
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| Patience...he will open it eventually |
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| Tasting root beer for the first time at the debut of Opa's Bar! |
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| Overcoming the darkness...with Charms and Potions! |
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| Almost Aunt Courtney |
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| Shutterstock models: baby & mother |
Then of course there are a few other notable holidays, like Sophia's 8th birthday, New Years (spent with our new missionary friends, the Falkenbergs), and Daddy's birthday of some ordinal number.
The new year initiated many new activities--a new dance (Summer loved it and is continuing with big sis), musical for Elia--she'll be Elsa's mom!, and soon a new U7 soccer season for Daddy and Ez. Co-op resumed, church busyness too, and notably a lot lot more days up past bedtime
with dessert thanks to the beauty of support-raising for missions! The kids love it.
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| Concentration! |
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| Everdell and wool socks for a happy January birthday |
Early March marked the most exciting activity so far this year, our long-haul trek to Orlando for the cordial nuptials of now Mr. and Mrs. Kevin and Courtney Lin! It was a long drive, but many thanks to Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone on audiobook, Costco pizza and smoothies, and the Piazza family's amiable hospitality. This magnificent wedding weekend included time for Dad and the guys (axes and drinks), for Mom and the gals (massages and manicures), time for Mimi and Grandpap and Pappy and Kathy (fun at the pool!) and time for the bride and groom, a beautiful couple who will undoubtedly make beautiful babies. Everything about the wedding was exquisitely beautiful, including my new favorite food "har gow" (shrimp dumplings) at Peter's Chinese Restaurant, and even the rain that came down in sheets just 2 hours before the 5 o'clock wedding start, which made the grass verdant and skies and sunset brilliant.
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| Nieces and nephews |
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| Ez and his chasing buddy! |
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| Summer started a gang called the Hearts |
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| Flower girls and the ring bear |
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| Chinese food? With my younger self! |
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"Grad school is killer..." "Ya I haven't even started my taxes!"
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| "Your MAHjesty..." |
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| Lookin' selfie-worthy |
Part two of the Orlando trip was about Disney. We walked around Disney Springs on Monday, spending a lot of time carefully selecting our M&Ms, playing with the Lego derby cars, acting brave around the Rainforest Cafe animatronics. That afternoon, the pool at Mimi and Grandpap's was in constant use regardless of its lack of heat, and pizza finished the evening. Tuesday was the grand finale! Magic Kingdom! We spent pretty much all day in the part, open to close, and conditions were just as magic as the rest--lines were all 30-40 minutes or under, weather was ideal, and our kids had all the energy and snacks they needed, so we rode pretty much every ride their hearts desired! So many animatronics.
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| Smiling between shivers! |
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| This dare devil wanted on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad! |
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| Doing science with co-op friends |
Ezra--he is growing in sensibility and responsibility every month, which really leaves us scratching our heads as to how forgetful he must have been before! Good thing Sophia can find everyone's shoes and water bottles for them, except when they leave them at co-op or AWANA. But poor Ez is the spice of life, he makes every activity energized, fascinating, and quizzical all at the same time. He's in speech therapy so make sure to give him a good tongue twister next time you see him, especially words with "R"!
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| Finished the whole Lego car within hours of opening |
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| The Place for Smiles ®! |
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| I have NEVER looked this cool |
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| Superboy & Blankie save the day! |
Summer--her hair speaks its own language, and is just as sassy as her personality. She's starting to say some things that make sense, though we still get a fair amount of the funny anti-jokes and ridiculous babble. She's learning to read, and write her letters, thanks to 100 Easy Lessons! And just like last time, please note that we are not picking favorites, we just happen to have a lot more pictures of the Dimmeister.
