Christmas Letter

Dear Family and Friends,

I cannot believe how fast this year has gone by! It's been a good one, full of change as usual. Joseph started last year off with a new job. He works for Bombardier LearJet and has enjoyed his assignments and responsibilities. In May he unexpectedly landed another job as a radio host. The Joseph Ashby Show is a conservative talk radio show focusing on local and national issues. It runs Mon-Fri from 6-8am and they are hoping to have podcasts available on the website soon: http://kqamradio.com/ He loves it.

Isabel (8) is in third grade this year and just becoming more and more capable. She loves putting Titus to bed and singing Christmas songs to calm him when he is upset. She is my awesome second mom and I couldn't run the house without her. August was a special month because she turned 8 and was baptized. Isabel loves sewing (glad someone in the house does), reading, telling stories and making up jokes. My favorite one is: What kind of straw doesn't work for drinking? A strawberry! 

 

Ansel (6) is in first grade this year and is such a little math wiz. He does extra assignments early in the week so he can have math days off later in the week. Ansel's cheerful attitude brightens my days. I love it when he gets into laughing fits. He enjoys building with legos and k'nex, riding bikes and playing sports. He is very excited to start a basketball class this month.

Lincoln (4) has grown so much recently and is finally beginning to mature (a tiny bit). Our little goofball has surprised me with how well he does with his reading lessons. I worried that he would be the hardest to teach, but he has been the easiest so far!! (knock on wood...) He is cute and gets so excited when it's his turn to do school with me. He just learned how to ride a bike on Thanksgiving and feels so happy with the freedom that brings.

Titus (2 in Jan) is huge. I've already been switching out his size 2 clothes for size 3. He loves to be the center of attention and will just ham anything up. He is so cute and funny and has started saying lots of words. Titus' favorite family tradition is running to the garage when he hears it open. He greets his dad by screaming his name with delight, goes straight for his lunch bag which he then dunks in his little basketball hoop. He LOVES balls and playing basketball and recently has started to play football. I love watching Titus run with the ball until Lincoln tackles him. (He likes it too.)

I am doing well, just trying to enjoy the wonderful moments of life. Homeschooling can sometimes take up so much time, but I'm glad to be working with and spending so much time with my kids. At church I got called to work with the Primary, so I've been getting involved in Cub Scouts, working with teachers and the kids. It's been a lot of work, but I really do love the chance to serve others and especially the children.

I know that Jesus Christ really was born to Mary. He lived a perfect life to set an example for us. It is only through following Him and living His teachings that we can experience true peace and happiness in this life [even while dealing with the hard things in life] and return home to our Heavenly Father.

The Ashby Family wishes you all a very Merry Christmas and a Wonderful New Year!

Merry Christmas!

Every year seems to bring a lot of changes, and so it was in 2011. In the earliest news of the year, our forth child, Titus Benjamin Ashby, was born in January. He's a very curious little boy and loves to unload everything he can get his hands on: baskets, drawers, cupboards, diaper bags; you name it. If you saw him from behind it would remind you a of a tree-chipper with shavings flying in all directions as he tosses diapers (unused), clothes, toys, etc. He loves playing with his siblings and is a very happy baby.

Lincoln turned three this year and is such a character. He loves playing with trains and making everyone laugh. One day he tried as hard as he could to say the word “disgusting.” It came out “kerstunkle.” Kerstunkle has since been added to the official Ashby Suburban Dictionary. Lincoln has also become Joseph’s football friend, watching and playing it as much as they can. Lincoln’s favorite thing to do is run football plays where his older siblings block for him as he tries to pass Joseph to get a touchdown.

Ansel is now five and his favorite things are motorcycles, transformers and trains. He got to ride a real motorcycle all by himself this year, which was a big thrill. Ansel enjoys being active by running around, riding bikes, and swimming. We practiced swimming a lot at the beginning of the fall school semester and I think he has his dad's swimming genes. This has been a big reading year for Ansel because he finished his reading lessons and has been able to start reading books. Ansel has been our most patient learner and it’s fulfilling to see him reap the benefits of all his hard work and dedication.

Isabel is my little grown-up, even though she is only seven. I’m so grateful for all her help, especially with Titus and Lincoln. It’s neat to see her confidence grow and her personality develop as she becomes more responsible and independent. Isabel loves horses. This summer she was able to do a one-day horseback riding class and had a birthday party that featured miniature horseback riding (so spoiled, I know, but we have a rural-dwelling friend who did us a favor). Her favorite things to do are read, and play with her brothers (where often times she is the horse that takes them for rides). She and Ansel started piano lessons this year. She practices so much. I can't believe how fast she has caught on and improved.

Joseph has kept very busy this year. He still teaches seminary (a five-day-a-week, early-morning scripture study class for high school students). He really loves those kids and is glad to continue working with them. Joseph studies history and politics and writes political articles almost every week. His work is published on AmericanThinker.com. Several months ago he was asked to be a weekly guest on a Nebraska radio show to talk politics. (The archive of those segments can be found at khubradio.com/about/podcasts/.) I think the most important thing he does is support me with my household and family responsibilities.

The most recent big change for me has been home schooling my two oldest children, something I never thought I would do. We just felt very strongly it was right for our family. Isabel is in second grade this year and Ansel started kindergarten. Since this is our first year, there is a lot to learn.

We focus on work, service and academics. The kids have plenty of time to read, play make believe, cook, play math games, do laundry, practice the piano, help our friend move, write letters and so many other things that Joseph and I feel are important to teach our kids. We love our little school and have learned a lot so far.

The most intense school assignment this year was when we asked the kids to run a real-fruit smoothie stand. They secured start-up capital from Joseph (they dressed up and delivered a multi-slide presentation that explained their capital requirements and pathway to profitability), and sold the smoothies at several different garage sales. There were significant challenges, but, in the end, it was a big success.

Looking back as another year ends, I feel most grateful for the blessing of my family. The most important things in my life are these relationships. I feel so lucky to be able to spend time with my family almost every day. I know the happiness we feel as a family is directly related to how much we center our lives on our Savior Jesus Christ and His gospel. At this time of year when we celebrate His birth let us all rededicate ourselves to live what He taught. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

summer reading

Oh man, I LOVE that my kids love to read. It's so cute and awesome. Yesterday I gave Isabel a surprise book: Black Beauty. She immediately sat down and read the whole thing in about 2.5 hours. Today we went to the library in the morning and got a lot of books, but also some different kinds of books. Isabel read a choose your own adventure book (with all the different possibilities), a magic tree house book, two berenstein bear books, I read a magic tree house book to Isabel and Ansel, now she is finishing up a boxcar children book. Ansel read Go, Dog, Go to me....which is his first long book. I'm so proud of my little readers!!! (Oh, I better not leave out Lincoln. Isabel got a Bob, The Builder book for him and he was thrilled. He "read" his book all by himself three times.)

And we didn't even spend all day reading either. We went to a playground this morning, had a trip to the library and had a rocking my little pony ice cream swim party! (Ansel's leopard came too.)

oh man, I love summer so much!!

oh man...

I just remembered that I have a blog....that I haven't been updating.

It's summer!

I'm so excited that Isabel is out of school! She finished first grade and did a great job. It's so nice to see her teachers on the last day of school and have them all say how much they enjoyed having her in their class. She has been home for only two days so far and she has already been such a big help with the boys and keeping me company. I also LOVE that I don't have to wake up all the kids for that long morning drive.

We are getting so excited for our vacation next week. We are going to the historical city, Nauvoo. We've been learning about it for the past few weeks and are getting real excited to actually be there!

sitting with some boppy pillow help

Here is Titus. Feeling pretty happy to be sitting up and getting attention.

first kid to the ER

Joseph stayed home from church with Ansel who seemed a little sick (and Titus who was not sick). Isabel, Lincoln and I were walking to a pew to sit down and Lincoln fell down just at a great angel to hit his head right on the corner of the bench. He started screaming so I picked him up and took him out. After I got out of the chapel and into the foyer, I looked and realized his head/face was bloody. In the bathroom I got some paper towels to blot it and try to stop the bleeding then I realized it was a HUGE gash. I got it covered and went to find a friend. We went to the kitchen where the first aid kit is and got the bleeding to stop. We had a nurse come in and she confirmed that we better get him stitches. So...off to the Emergency Room I went!

I think we were really lucky to get right in and it didn't take SO long to get taken care of. Lincoln was his usual silly self and made a lot of people laugh. Some of my favorite things that he said were that we had a pet cat, his sister's name was Thomas the tank engine and when the doctor was doing the stitches he said "ouch!" (instead of just crying/screaming).

We are so proud of our brave little boy and hope it's at least another 6 years before we have to go to the ER with one of our kids again.