3-2 Full Count

Elia, what have you been up to?

The dragon's hoard.

Our firstborn has no muted tastes.  Her likes and dislikes come as loud and bold as her Frozen: Let It Go singing voice.  She loves chocolate, camping, bike rides, math, playing doctor, playdough, books, puzzles, Nemo, Trolls, the cupcake game (and other board games), ice cream, and chocolate.  So basically she's just like us.  Oh, and she still doesn't like tomatoes.

I guarantee I was not around when Elia was allowed to eat a ice cream puddle the size of her face.

Bored with the same puzzle again and again?  Flip it over and try the other side!

This fall, she would have been eligible for preschool but since we plan to home school, we chose to start that right up this year.  Erin composed an elegant learning curriculum centered on learning one letter each week for 1-2 hours/week.  She's learning to write upper and lower case letters and identify words with those letter sounds.  When I'm around, we practice addition and subtraction with objects or fingers and a Magnadoodle board and review our states on the US map taped up in the kitchen.  We're saving physics and O chem for next year.

Age-old office-supplies, finally put to use in this brand new old-school binder.

We also have a standard bedtime routine featuring either a Jesus Storybook Bible story or now, Bible memory verse flashcards.  Also using an A-Z approach, most of these 26 verses are now more or less cemented into Elia's memory!

Lamination is a non-negotiable with toddlers involved.

Bay, how are you?

One loves shoes.  The other was born to be barefoot.

A few extra shots of Bay to catch up during the cutest phase of her life.  So loves everything that her sister loves.  Perhaps a little extra love for Dora, despite the fact that she's hardly seen any episodes.  She does puzzles and plays with doctor toys, but this one has a few extra shades of independence and contentedness when playing on her own.  She can flip through every page our Creatures of the Ocean book, color with dry-erase crayons, and drag her baby dolls all over the office/playroom for a solid hour without need for adult supervision or attention.

Practicing her l's, I's, 1's, and worms.

Bay So la Exploradora, compiling her hand-me-downs

 Occasionally we'll go places that require our full adult attention, standing still, and/or being quiet.  We all learn a great deal in those moments.  Elia learns to run faster,  So learns to sneak sneakier, and Erin and I learn how much havoc our girls can cause in 60 seconds.  That's why everyone at our church knows the Joseph girls.

Our sneaky climber gets to know the Carvers during a funeral service.

Sophia deserves recognition for her easy-going demeanor, near-constant joyfulness, and mastery of carbohydrates in every form.  She can plow through lasagna, toast, nutri-grain bars, goldfish, you name it, like a grown woman.  And don't even get her started on pancakes.

Road trippin' grub.

Fortunately for all, the girls are becoming better friends all the time.  That's most easily measured by how many toys Elia steals from Bay per hour.  They share all hobbies, pretty much all their toys, and now they split a room too!  While there were a few wild nights at first with limited sleep and many a cranky morning, they adjusted and figured it out, opening up the nursery for child #3.

The Black Forest playhouse on Union Hall Rd

Some activities are now on the rise, such as building Megablock towers together, biking together, exploring the backyard and being entranced by our new ciclid tank.

Behold, the official fish-watching chair.

 I believe I've inspired a love of bikes in Elia thanks to our dozens of bike-trailer trips this summer and rides in the backpack last summer, to and from the parks and libraries and around the neighborhoods and bike paths.  Bay received a push-along trike from some friends, so now we've moved on to taking 1/2 - 1 mile family bike rides on nice afternoons together.  Erin or I push a lazy Bay while Elia sweats and peddles fiercely up our Ohio hills (but seriously, her trike has no gear ratio and barely any crank set leverage to speak of so I'm sure it's challenging).

It's been a full summer.  And a stupendous fall too.  With the wicked wind storm this past Sunday, I think fall has about called it quits and made way for the Holiday Season.  In review of summer, we had a memorable 5-year anniversary retreat to Western Michigan, a relaxing trip to Southern Shores @ OBX with the Joseph clan, and an action-packed long wedding weekend in September with college friends in Colorado Springs (Erin was 32 weeks pregnant for that one).  Somewhere in that mix they scored a cousin Baby Lily, and Dad received some valuable practice soothing and bottle-feeding her.

Ne'er to be slowed, we continued busying our weekends throughout October and made it to my cousin Stephen's wedding in Connellsville with just 11 days to go.  I got to see the first, eh, 4 minutes maybe?  And then Sophia decided she was bored and started wiggling and squawking until I took her to the church basement.  I taught both girls the Hokey Pokey and Locomotion among other fun reception classics.

Our most professional non-professional family photo to date

And yes, as anticipated...there's a new sheriff in town, and he goes by Ezra Clay Joseph!  Also known as the Cheese.  Little Chez, born at 12:39 today (Nov 8) is currently resting with Mom as we speak here at Aultman hospital, as she recovers from a hard day of surgery.  He was 7lb and 9oz and 18" and has the biggest, fullest head of dark black hair of any baby ever born.  He's far surpassed me as the most attractive male in the delivery ward.  More to come on his bright future!

If not before, then certainly now the scales have tipped in favor of the youngins as we enter a full count, 3-2.  A poker full house, if you will.  Many thanks to both of our parents/families for helping us take care of them all throughout the month of November, we're looking forward to these first few weeks of assistance and family time while Erin relearns where her abdominal muscles are.  Thanks God, for all the beautiful children, and we pray you help us raise them for Your glory!