Ten Things I Love About Austin Today

1. Austin loves his family and is very affectionate. He has not yet outgrown sitting in my lap, snuggling against me while we read, or giving random little boy hugs. He shows equally enthusiastic affection to his siblings, who may not always appreciate it, but I think his intentions are good.

2. Austin loves to read. He is a little bookworm. Lately he and I have been spending afternoon time while (one or hopefully more) siblings are asleep reading Little House in the Big Woods. Then we research things we're not familiar with like "salt rising bread" and watch videos about how maple sugar is made. This is so fun and makes me look forward to more formal homeschooling next year.

3. Austin loves to learn. He and I have been slowly working through Phonics Pathways for awhile and he is starting to really take off as a reader. He points out words all over that he knows. I have loved watching him grow in this way.

4. Austin likes things to be organized. Just like me, not coincidentally. He helped me organize the pantry one afternoon a few months back and I thought, if he's this much help as a four year old just imagine the projects we'll be able to tackle together when he's older!

5. Austin loves to help me in the kitchen. This is kind of a love/hate thing for me, actually. It makes for slower, messier cooking, but I love to cook and bake and passing on kitchen skills to my kids is important to me. So I am learning to just relax and enjoy working with a little sous-chef.

6. Austin has become a really good eater in the last few months. It is so nice to make dinner and know that Zach and I will not be the only ones enjoying it. He is not a fan of spicy food but otherwise he'll try, and usually like, just about anything I cook.

7. Austin shares things with me, like candy from his Halloween treat bag. And just now I witnessed him offer Esther a bite of his Three Musketeers. He can be so sweet and generous.

8. Probably as a result of all the reading we do around here, Austin uses phrases like "to and fro," "it so happens that," and "in spite of."

9. Austin asks a lot of questions about God. Sometimes his heart seems so hard and I get discouraged, but then he asks a question, I do my best to answer, and I remind myself that God is at work and I must be patient.

10. Austin is learning to tell jokes. He likes knock knock jokes in particular because Gran and Pops have been texting new jokes to him every few days. He thinks he can take the beginning of a joke like "Knock knock, who's there, boo, boo hoo..." and then add any ending he likes, such as "why did you call me an owl in a tree?" Then he laughs hysterically. It is certainly funny, albeit not in the traditional way.

Ah, my firstborn! What a gift--a challenging, make-me-laugh, make-me-cry, beautiful gift.

Ten Things I Love About Zach Today

Okay, it took a few days but here is my second top ten-style post, inspired by Ashley. I realized when I read her posts how easy it is for me to focus on the challenging parts of my marriage and parenting when I'm in the middle of the daily grind. The old sinful self rears its head in complaining and dreams of a perfect easy life. But in reality I am blessed beyond measure by my husband and children and I think it's good to remind myself of all that is wonderful about them. So let's start with my dear husband of 10 years.

1. He is the one person on earth around whom I can be 100% myself. No putting on a front, no pretenses, just me. I hope this doesn't sound like I'm fake around everyone else--I think no matter how genuine you are, there are always things you hold back from people. But not Zach. Zach gets me. He's my perfect complement.

2. No matter how busy he gets with work, I find Zach up early at the kitchen table reading the Bible. Usually on his ipad. :-)

3. No matter how busy he gets with work, Zach finds time to spend with me and the kids. Family is a high priority to him.

4. Zach is good at playing little boy activities like cars, trains, and pretending to be bears. I am not so good at this so our sons are blessed to have him!

5. Zach tolerates my desire to have a neat and organized home and the purchases the pursuit of such a home entails. Like when I came home with a shoe rack for the front hall along with my groceries from Aldi, he smiled and assembled it for me. And now he puts his shoes on it every day.

6. He is a really, really talented musician. I am so proud to be married to someone so dedicated to his craft.

7. Zach and I have lots of interests in common when it comes to entertainment for our child-free time. Watching Mythbusters, The Amazing Race, even Jane Austen movies (this man is practically perfect!), doing the mental_floss quiz, or discussing the Sherlock Holmes we've read lately...all good stuff we enjoy. And he doesn't give me a hard time about not liking 24 or Midlake or Bon Iver like he does.

8. Zach does fun daddy stuff like making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches into the kids' initials. (True example from Sunday's lunch.)

9. Zach enjoys delicious food as much as I do. In particular, he has a sweet tooth to match mine. So he is always willing to indulge in a little dessert with me.

10. Zach listens to me. A lot, because I talk a lot. And he's not just indulging me, he makes intelligent conversation back. He likes to tell me what's going on in his work life, too. His experience as a musician and growth as a teacher and my past experience as a (much more amateur) musician and as a teacher give us a neat set of overlapping interests. We enjoy talking together about that stuff, or just about anything else. We just enjoy life together.