Around here, we have been…

CELEBRATING birthdays for both of the girls! {K} turned 8 and {M} turned 5! Last year we celebrated their birthdays together, but this year we decided to have small family parties for each of them separately.

{K} had a ‘magic pony’ aka unicorn party. We even bought her a a unicorn headband so that she could pretend to be one herself. She received many art supplies and creative tools, which she loved. Her biggest wish, though, was to unwrap her ‘stinky present’ – her purple arm cast. ha ha! That wish was realized about a week after her birthday, and she is now cast free!

{M} had a confetti/ celebration themed party and received gifts that included a magnet learning toy, drawing book, and a wooden pizza party set to use with her play kitchen. She soaked up all the attention, especially at school with her friends – while passing out cookies and listening to them sing the ‘Happy Birthday’ song to her.

We are blessed to have these two little girls as part of our family and pray that the year ahead of them is filled with favor.

GETTING our exercise.  Before the very cold weather blows in, and the snow begins to fall, we are trying to pack in as much outdoor time as possible. Both {D} and {L} continue with their football programs.

Being the first year for {L}, he is still very much learning the rules – along with his teammates. It is sometimes funny to watch them out on the field. That being said, we are proud of {L}’s hustle and his ability to follow instruction.

Craig is coaching {D}’s team, and reports that they are a great group of boys. As of the writing of this post, the ‘mean machine’ (team name determined by the kids) is undefeated, and have yet to have any points scored against them! In his free time, he is still living and breathing field goal kicking. Through a series of events, he was able to match up with a former college football kicker – who is willing to give {D} private kicking lessons!

This Fall has found {I} doing a lot of running, and he seems to really love it! His first experience with distance running was the elementary 1 mile fun run, which is an optional event for all 4th and 5th graders in our school district. Though he was hesitant to sign up, Angela took him on a practice run. Once he realized that it was possible for him to go the distance, he was all in! He finished his mile race with a time of 7:47! Since the race, he has run with Angela a few different times – up to the distance of 3 miles! He is always trying to beat his time for the mile, and now has a PR of 7:25. Perhaps he will have a cross country career in his future?

WORKING our jobs. This month, Craig took a work trip to Philadelphia where he was able to take in some of the famous city’s historic landmarks, such as the Liberty Bell and the ‘Rocky steps’. He was also able to eat a classic Philly Cheese steak sandwich.

Angela began her new part-time work venture – as a para/ aide in the Preschool room at our kid’s school. She is now with {M} for half of her school days on M/W/F. She loves the position so far. Because it is part time, she is able to run errands in the afternoons on those days and ‘recharge’ on the days between.

CHANGING some of the design aspects of our future house. While doing a bit of fine tuning and simplifying, Angela somewhat stumbled upon a major planning change for the new house. It adds so much value, including an attached bathroom for the main floor bedroom. We are really excited about that!

We will soon be contacting the bank and getting our preliminary estimate/appraisal done. At that point we will also work with our contractor and excavator to determine the house position, and begin to cut down some of the main trees that will need to be removed. The large trees, we hope, can be milled into boards that we can use for furniture pieces in the house.

This is just a glimpse at what our family has been up to. If you’d like a closer look, be sure to check out our weekly ‘mini vlogs’ on our YouTube channel ARROW HILL FAMILY. Be well everyone!