It's been a while!

Well! I MEANT to keep this up but am most certainly not doing a very good job of that am I?

A lot has happened since I've last updated. I don't even know if I can remember it all! Our trip to Florida, Matthew's 4th birthday, Thanksgiving and Christmas!

Our trip to Florida was really great. The 21 hr. trip there straight thru went very well and that's including all of our stopping. We left at about 2pm and drove right thru the night and we'll never do it any differently. It was perfect since we could get a lot of driving done while the kids were sleeping during their normal bedtime hours. We arrived at about 10:30am - in time for lunch and naps!  Ron and I both smiled ear to ear and didn't stop for quite a while once we walked into Ron's parents house that first day we arrived. It's such a haven for us. The five of us stayed in one room. Ron's parents got 2 blow-up beds for Matthew and Mia! They were so psyched about that! And then Kayla slept in a porta-crib that was just perfect for her. We got to be with Ron's brother Ryan and his family, Ron's sister and her family and of course Ron's parents whom we stayed with the whole time. On top of that we got to see Ron's Aunt and Uncle AND his Cousin and their family whom we haven't seen in 4 years!  It was nice celebrating Matthew Thomas's 4th birthday while we were there and having lots of people attend. It was a fun, special birthday party.  We got to have a couple of low-key outings like going to see Christmas lights and going to a place to see some Manatees. Besides that, we just laid low, hung out with the family, baked, celebrated Thanksgiving together which was lovely, and ate a whole lot. We got together with my brother Matt and his family and my Aunt & Uncle who live about an hour and a half from Ron's parents house. We visited their church and spent the day with them, plus we met the newest member of the Iamaio family - my cousin's wife!  I am realizing that we really did fit in a lot of visiting now that I'm writing this all down!  There was very little stress on our trip considering we were away from home for 15 days.  Ron's parents are great hosts and we were right at home! Probably too much at home! :)  Even our trip home, back to Fulton, NY was fun and went smoothly.  We were sad to leave but glad to arrive home and get back to our "spot".

We still have not gotten back to our routine though cuz Christmas came so soon after we got home! We put our tree up the day after getting home and decorated. The kids were looking so forward to that and we were glad that we didn't put it up before we left for Florida. It helped the kids be excited to be going back home even though it meant that we were leaving our vacation. Between our arriving home and Christmas, I've been baking SO much!  It's so much fun and I love getting the kids involved too.

We had a beautiful Christmas. This year was the first year that we stayed home for Christmas Eve and began a tradition of spending the whole day together doing meaningful things.  Long before we had kids, Ron and I discussed that we were not going to tell our children that Santa was real.  (Matthew says: "The only person who 'sees you when you're sleeping, knows when you're awake and knows when you've been bad or good' is God!")  He picked up on that himself from the "Santa Claus is coming to town" song.)  Matthew and Mia know that Santa is only a story that is fun to talk about and that's it.  They know the gifts are from loved ones and that Mommy and Daddy fill the stockings. They know very well what Christmas is truly all about.  So, we wanted to firstly recognize the true meaning of Christmas as we celebrated. We began before light with Ron reading the Christmas story in the Bible.  Matthew said, "I'm not going to think about the presents, I'm trying to think about Jesus." :) He really is very spiritually minded and we are grateful for his love for God and his attention to spiritual things.  Mia is right behind him with that, although she get embarrassed each time she prays out loud and ends up repeating herself a lot. :) Anyway, we all prayed separately and thanked God for sending Jesus to be born into the world to be the Savior of all who believe in Him. We thanked Him also for all of the gifts under our tree and for all of the people who gave them to us. Next, we opened our presents and then our stockings last.  It was so fun and the kids were so thankful and not in a rush.  That was a relief! It's no fun when there is just chaos and no one stops to take into consideration each gift and appreciate them.  The only thing Ron and I bought for the kids besides stocking stuff was snow sleds!  Other than that, all of the gifts were from other family.  There were a good bunch of presents under the tree!  Everyone gave the kids such great gifts including a basketball hoop from Grandpa and Grandma Tumbry which we've ALL been having so much fun with!  The thing I'm mostly excited about is my new cookbook!!! Taste of Home!  I've been looking thru it and putting post-it's next to all of the recipes that I MUST make!!! (Thank you family for all of the great gifts you gave us!)  So, that was Christmas Eve.  On Christmas morning, we took our time getting ready, ate breakfast and packed up our stuff to head to my parents house for the night.  My brother, Nathaniel and his wife and their three girls were there too and we all spent the night. We had a wonderful prime rib dinner and the kids had so much fun playing together and sledding/playing in the snow in my parents backyard. Then the adults had some fun time together after the kids headed to bed. A very enjoyable Christmas!  It was sweet waking up and having all six kids playing in the living room already - they were so happy!  Watching them buzz around when they are together brings us great joy. :)

Kayla Evangeline will be turning ONE already on 12/29! The poor girl. I hope we can recognize her birthday in a special way each year despite it being so close to Christmas. She took three steps to her Daddy the other day and is saying a bunch of cute words including her most recent "What's dot?" (What's that?) I love it! She's a sweetheart. 

Well...so Christmas is over.  As always, it's bitter-sweet.  Just a little bit bitter though, and mostly sweet. Sweet, because it means that a new year is very close by.  New possibilities! New goals and new opportunities!  We depend so much on our routines in this family so we are very much looking forward to January 1st, 2010!  Back to eating better and keeping up with the day-to-day stuff that's been getting purposely left behind or forgotten.  I still am feeling sad that I did not get to publish my 2009 Christmas letter and send it to all of our loved ones.  I will have to get back on track with that early this time in 2010. 

We are beginning school with Matthew in January!  He's just turned four, so I was planning to start in the fall with his schooling, but I have chosen to start early. Given Matthew's personality, I thought it would be a good idea since he takes a while to become settled into a new routine. Things are going to get very busy around here. My Dad made Matthew a wonderful desk for Christmas! He was thrilled! The top opens, and it really looks like a nice piece of furniture.  The height of the desk adjusts for when he grows!  Matthew is already reading some and he's writing all of his letters too. He is always writing his name on everything and he is looking forward to getting back into his reading lessons. He'll also be working thru some PreSchool and Kindergarten workbooks which include quite a bit of Math I realized. I'm very excited about all of this! I know that it won't be easy, but I really am looking forward to teaching Matthew on a little more of a formal level than what we've been doing. I have a schedule of the day planned for school, but I know that most days it will not be possible to stick to with Mia and Kayla needing attention too - not to mention housework and meals. Mia has expressed an interest in starting Matthew's reading lessons too and she enjoys working in the pre-school books so she may be occupied with some of those things as I work with Matthew with his lessons. My Dad is working on Mia's desk next and she knows it and keeps asking when it will be ready!  Right now, I am working with Mia on her letters and their sounds. She knows her ABC's just fine, but doesn't recognize the letters or know their sounds so obviously that is first!  We have an abundance of craft supplies now and are already doing quite a bit of that kind of stuff regularly.  That is the kind of stuff that is just so fun - for me too!

Ron and I will be turning 30 in February!  It's crazy. When I was 20, I thought 30 sounded old, but now I am just about there and I still feel young! I guess that's good. My Mom always says that having kids keeps you young - there are some days that I don't agree with that! :) I DO have a few gray hairs now!

Okay, I guess that catches people up to speed. We are leaning on the Lord to persevere us through whatever He brings our way in 2010.  He only knows the future and we are so thankful that He has given us the gift of faith. What a blessing to be able to trust in Him and have peace and contentment in all circumstances! Thank you Jesus!

Thanx so much for reading! :) Take care!

(I don't know how to add pictures to my blog or anything like that. I haven't really tried to figure it out yet! If you are reading this and you know, then give me a clue please!)