Derek
Derek has really been a trooper this year. Despite being crazy busy at work, he has managed to take on a ton at home with little sleep. He is still working as a actuarial consultant and is enjoying his work. He continues to travel quite a bit and has gone on some trips this past year that made me a bit jealous. In January he was made Principal, which means that he is a partner in his firm and we are now small business owners (yikes!). I am so proud of all of his accomplishments! Being principal has been his goal since he moved over to consulting and he has definitely worked hard and put in the hours to achieve it.
Tonya
I am still staying home with the kids and loving it. It has taken some adjusting this year getting used to being a mom of FOUR kids. It definitely takes a lot of planning and organization to manage everyone's needs and schedules (which I am still working on) but we are surviving and even (sometimes) thriving! :) In Novemeber I completed a 5K race which was a culmination of a 12 week long training program I participated in through a sports store in town. I didn't run a stellar race or have a stellar time. In fact, I actually rolled my ankle when I stepped on a rock (only me!) and ran the rest of the race with a sore, swollen ankle. But I finished and hope to run another 5k soon. More recently I started attending boot camp. I have been attending for six weeks. I'm not a huge fan of the 4:40 wake up call each morning (class is at 5:15), but I am definitely noticing a difference and I have much more energy! I still love taking pictures, although I haven't been able to pick up the camera as much in the past year as I had hoped. I plan to make it more of a priority this summer though!
Adalyn
This has been one busy year for Addy. She started kindergarten in the fall and loved it from the very beginning. Addy was in Mrs. Nelson's class and really enjoyed having her as a teacher. She learned SO much this year. She loves math and is always asking us to give her challenging math problems. She is her father's daughter, which makes Derek so proud. She also enjoys reading and has progressed as a reader. She is transitioning to beginner chapter books and has a whole list of books she plans to read over the summer.
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This past winter Adalyn played her first season of organized basketball through the Upward program at our church. I'm not sure who was more excited about her first basketball experience, her or her mom. OK, it was her mom :) She did a great job and learned a lot from her awesome coaches. She's already talking about her next basketball season and is begging us to put up a goal in the driveway. This spring Addy turned six (birthday post coming soon!) and learned to ride her bike without training wheels. She lost time last summer because of a broken arm so she was determined to learn as soon as it got warm enough. Nowadays, she's zipping around on two wheels like a crazy person!
Addy continues to be our sassy girl. She's definitely full of personality and is a very caring. She loves being a "mother hen" to her three brothers. She's growing up SO fast! We are very proud of our( not so) little girl.
Carter
Mr. Carter continues to be such a happy and loving little guy. He truly loves his siblings and spends much of his day loving on and playing with Holden and Wyatt. I am so glad that he get along with them so well. It melts my heart everyday to watch them interact and to see how much the babies love him and look up to him. It has also been a busy year for Carter. He attended preschool this school year on Tuesday and Thursday mornings at a preschool at a local church in town. His class was very small and he got to know his classmates very well. He loved going to school and really enjoyed it. His teacher was Mrs. Busse and she is such a patient and wonderful teacher. She was the perfect teacher for Carter to have for his first school experience!
This year Carter has become much more of a social butterfly. He does well interacting with his peers in his church classroom and makes his way into the center of a circle of peers very quickly. Before last summer he was a very shy and was leery of group situations. Now, he makes friends easily and is much more social with peers and adults. He is a science buff and is interested in all things space and dinosaurs. He goes back and forth between wanting to be an astronaut and paleontologist when he grows up. He is certainly a curious little boy and is just full of questions!
Wyatt
Wyatt is our easy going little guy. My Dad has nicknamed him the "thinker." He is fine to sit and watch and loves to be held and to cuddle. He was a late crawler and is proving to be a late walker as well. I was getting concerned about his development (even though the doctor said he was fine) and had Easter Seals do an evaluation. While the therapist did find that his joints were a big looser than normal, the fact that he crawled late and isn't walking can mostly be attributed to his demeanor. He is just so happy. He is always smiling and will smile at ladies across a restaurant and melt their hearts. Wyatt is definitely our little ladies man! He also loves to blow and give kisses and seems to be a bit of a Daddy's boy. His face lights up when he hears the door open and sees Derek walk in. It is super cute! Wyatt enjoys pushing his walker around and around our main floor and playing in his playhouse. He also really enjoys playing ball. He is such a joy and brings us endless smiles and laughter.
While my dad calls his brother the "thinker," he refers to Holden as the "stinker." My parents often say that his personality is the spitting image of his mother--into everything! He is a climber, a ring leader, a talker, and a stinker all rolled into one! He started walking around 13 months and hasn't stopped. He loves to play with his siblings and is quite the eater. He loves hot dogs and eggs. When we give him something to eat that he doesn't particularly care for, he throws it at you (which is something we're working on). He also loves to play ball and enjoys playing with his brothers and sister. He is a harder nut to crack when it comes to getting him to smile and is happiest when he is on the go.
