Williamsburg

I know that most of the blog focuses on these two cuties. It is their baby book, after all! But look at what a cute group of InterVarsity college students Anthony and I have, too! My small group of girls are seniors and Anthony's guys are juniors. We really enjoy having these "kids" over every week for Bible studies. Back in December, we took a family trip to Williamsburg (paid for by going to hear a schpeel about timeshares.) It is rare that we take a trip except to visit family or friends, but we had a good time with just the five of us (baby counts). Genuine brotherly love.
The trip back in time was especially enjoyable for Micah and me.
Micah, 1.5 months later, still talks daily about the Red Coats and the Patriots. Plus, he decided that the apprenticeship he would have chosen was to make barrels. So, Micah finally has a nickname: Cooper.
This picture captures, however, that the Tongen boys seem more interested in science--figuring out what lives in this hole, than history-- learning about who lived in the house pictured below.The Christmas decorations were beautiful!

We also enjoyed the Yankee Candle Store -- warm, dry fun for the whole family.

Thanksgiving

Micah's Thanksgiving feast at his preschool was fun for him and his guest, Grandma Bev!
My mom's report was that before nearly every song they performed, Micah said, "This is my favorite!"
We had a wonderful visit over Thanksgiving weekend with my brother, his family, and my mom. (This was one of Sarah's many amazing meals, not on the big day.)

For the real Thanksgiving feast, the Lacey's next-door-neighbors joined us, which was extra neat since we ended up having mutual friends!

This picture accurately captures the fun and excitement of our time together -- four busy boys (Micah, 4; Charlie, 3; Paul, 2; Joey, 1) having a blast with their cousins.

See what I mean? I think Joey still looks more like me than Paul does.

I really like this picture of my brother as a fun dad in front of the college where he teaches.

I am SO thankful for Anthony -- a great husband and dad.

Freeze Time

It is really good that God has not given me the power to freeze time. I would be pretty tempted to hold onto Paul right here -- a two year, three month old. In this picture, he is sweetly waiting for the doctor to take out his three stitches. Of course, if I could rewind time, then I wouldn't have to apologize for the long delay in blog posts. I'll need to start back at Thanksgiving and eventually I'll get back to the current stories like Paul tripping and falling into a door frame. In the meantime, you can take a poll -- you might be surprised at how many moms would want to freeze their sweet two-year-olds! Terrible Twos? Nonsense! I don't think Paul has had to be in time-out for four days!