Thorson Family Live: An Update of the Past Months

How can it be so long since I've posted? It seems like time so quickly gets away from us, more and more each year! I want to give a few highlights from the past few months as well as some photos and quotes from the kids.

As with many other years, we celebrated Christmas with my (Jenn's) family and then made our way down to Illinois for some New Year's fun. The kids did pretty well on the trip this year, except Jude didn't sleep much in the car. We stayed with some friends in the cities so that broke up the trip.

We made it 10 hours the first day on the way back and everyone was pretty cranky the next day. We had some great friends who graciously let us stay with them on the way home, even though we were all tired and probably not the most exciting company.

Will's birthday party in Illinois and spending time with Andy, Julie and family.

Walk in the park near Grandpa and Grandma's.

In January, we jumped right into speech season. This is my second year coaching and with mom being at practice two days a week and gone some Saturdays, the kids have spent some time with their favorite babysitter, Haily, on Tuesdays, and daddy all day Saturdays. Kirk enjoys being with the kids but is glad to see me come home at the end of the day!

I also continue to blog at The Purposeful Mom.

Will has been enjoying school immensely and his teacher informs us that he is a kind and helpful friend. He still LOVES reading and sometimes we find him reading to Jude (and occasionally Leah).

Leah's really fond of pretending that various things are boats: the laundry basket, mom and dad's bed, the changing table pad (which she takes OFF the changing table thankfully). She enjoys reading in the laundry basket and pulling Jude in too. And she loves anything princess. She already wants "Buy-bees" (Barbies).

Jude is a smiley 11 month old now and accomplished several milestones in just a few days' time--doing a real crawl (instead of the soldier crawl), standing up, standing with only one hand for balance, and pushing through three teeth. No wonder he sleeps so well at night!

He is a tough little cookie and is learning to "fight back" when his sister tries to smother him with kisses and hugs. She also likes to try and pick him up and carry him across the room. She told me the other day that she carries him by putting her arms around his neck because she wants to be "very careful"!?! I instructed her it might be more comfortable for Jude if she carries him under the arms or just leaves him alone :)

Kirk has had several good ministry opportunities with families from church and has also enjoyed bringing Will along to the Lenten services he's done at area AFLC churches on Wednesday nights. Will is a good sport but likes it best at the churches that have treats afterwards :)

Leah and Jude have been going with me to MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) group in Grand Forks twice a month. And we're looking forward to long-lasting warm weather so we can be outside a lot! We're VERY thankful that this past winter was one of the warmest on record and that it has been so beautiful this spring. A gentleman from our church who is 79 and a life-long North Dakota resident told us he's never experienced a winter so warm!

A recent video of Jude:

A few of Leah's quotes from the past few months:

"Yup, I'm going to turn into a bird. Maybe tomorrow."

"When I grow up, I'm going to watch adult shows--like Caillou." (Caillou is a show about a 5 year old boy.)

"After I'm 3 then I'll be 4 then I'll be 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10." Pause. "Do I have to die? "Yes." I say. "Okay," says Leah. "Maybe when I'm 1-0-0."

Before a big cleaning project today Leah told me, "Let's pretend I'm the mom and you're the kid." I was happy to say yes :)

Seeing a picture of Grandma Ann: "Mom, is she a friend of yours?"

Will has had some interesting drawings that he's brought home from school. Here are a few examples:

"I cannot belive how hot it is write now in March! 65 F and 71 F!"