A new post.

Wow, a new post. It's only been, what, ten (10) months since my last post? I'm telling you, Facebook has been the demise of my blog. What I was using as a means of sharing funny stories with family has been replaced by the ease and instant gratification (feedback) of Facebook. This year, I gave up Facebook for Lent. I *gasp* have cheated a little, and it's all my sister-in-law's fault. She went and had her baby early, so I logged in to Facebook to check on how the little guy and family are doing. All. Shawna's. Fault. :)

Let's see what's new (major stuff) since my last point:

• Katrina is 5 1/2, almost 6 (13 May); she is in Kindergarten and loves it, for the most part. She loves reading, music, art ... pretty much everything but PE. In fact, we gathered from a story she told us that she was skipping PE class! Katrina had figured out that she could spend a long time in the bathroom and get out of PE. We mentioned it to her teacher, who spoke with the PE instructor, and all is well now.
  
• Mikayla is 3 (19 December); we spend our days hanging out around the house, playing dress up and reading, running errands and being part of two Bible studies. Each day is an adventure with this silly girl! We went through a rough time in November where some really strong-willed tendencies appeared, but thankfully are through that now.
  
• Sydney is almost 7 months (29 August) and is a delightful baby! She sleeps, eats, smiles, and sucks her thumb all day. Her face lights up when she sees her sisters or her daddy. She's starting to develop a personality and it's funny to see what she likes and doesn't like. Sydney does NOT like banana baby food! She wrinkles her nose, turns her face away, and spits out every bite of it.
  
• Ryan is about to celebrate his (counting on my fingers ... and toes ...) 13th anniversary with Sycamore in May. The company was sold in the fall and is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of a larger corporation. So far the sale has been fairly seamless, and we continue to be blessed by a wonderful company.
  
• I have been staying home with the girls for about 18 months (since late August 2009). I enjoy my days with the girls at home and volunteer twice a month in Katrina's classroom. A year ago I was granted a District License by the Mid-Atlantic District of the Church of the Nazarene, a major step on the road to ordination.
  

I guess those last two bullet points are not major updates, just continuing status. :) The girls and I will be traveling to Illinois at Easter to visit our families. Pretty much daily Katrina informs us that she misses Grandma/Papa/Grammie/[insert family member here]. We saw almost everyone at Christmas (Shawna and Bobby stayed in Texas), but it will be four months between visits and that's a long time for a 5-year-old! We hope to visit for two weeks in July, after school and VBS and before summer camps and other busyness.