it's about time ...

wow, i had no idea life would take over, and there would be a two year gap on this blog! actually, what really happened was i forgot my username and password, and got locked out of the blog. it was too much of a process for me to be interested enough to figure out how to fix it!
i got somewhat convicted lately, of how little i'm documenting our life, though. a friend of mine writes in journals for her kids, and while the thought of writing in 5 different journals (yes, 5!!) is somewhat akin to nails scraping on a chalkboard, the idea of the blog came drifting slowly back to me. so here i am, password issues fixed, and all set to start blogging again for our sweet little family. or BIG family i should say ...
we've seen lots of changes these past 2 years! we added a sweet little boy who is going to be our caboose - levi anderson holman. he is a precious baby who's not even just the slightest bit naughty. well, ok - maybe sometimes. he is a momma's boy through and through, and i will eat that up for as long as i can! cameron, claire and caloway went to ashland christian school last year, and they loved it. cam and claire are back again this year, but we decided to bring caloway home, and homeschool him for 3rd grade. i was really afraid he was going to be left behind academically, for a number of reasons, one being that 3rd grade was tim and cam's hardest year, and two - he was already struggling with the curriculum change and expectations at a private school vs. public school. so armed with my brief homeschooling experience with cam and claire, i compiled a curriculum and began homeschooling caloway.
he is a trip, i will say that. it's been interesting having him home alone, even though the other two little boys are here too. yesterday, we had a short conversation in between spelling words:

cal - 'mom, can i have a no-bake?'
me - 'no, you just had breakfast. finish your words.'
cal - 'can i have grapes?'
me - 'ok, yes - when you are DONE with your words.'
cal - 'in about 10 seconds ... there better be a bowl of grapes on the TABLE!'

... in about ten seconds i'm going to introduce you to the back of my hand! haha - he is a lot of fun. it is challenging managing the naughtiness that is mac and levi, who are rapidly becoming a dynamic duo of destruction, but i'm hoping we settle into a good rhythm soon.
 here's little levi at 6 days old :)