Texans in Shell

We have some Texas visitors in Shell this month - the Hardin family who lived here for 4 years and are back to help out for a few weeks.  They treated us to a Hoedown, Texas style.  Now I don't quite claim roots in Texas, but this sure did feel like home!  And 3 of the boys are born Texans and my husband might as well be.  So all in all, it was great fun, from two-stepping, to sunflower seeds, to line-dancin, to spittin' watermelon seeds. 

Nathan won the watermelon-seed spitting contest in the kids category!  He was thrilled because in his words, "I don't usually win things!"

Isaac was very attached to Paul all night, giving him double the work-out.

Sammy square-danced with Mom and was an excellent partner.

Josiah enjoyed the deputization of the kids and the chicken dance.

Number 3 is four!

Here is our big four-year-old:

Josiah is our exuberant, enthusiastic, rascally little boy.  He is inquisitive and loving, but seldom gentle or quiet.  He can talk for hours and when we tell stories on the nights that the power goes out, he goes on and on.  He also makes up songs on just about any topic, usually something that catches his eye when he looks around the room.  Last night he sang me a song about a toucan based on the letter "T" on the wall that Nathan made in kindergarten.  Josiah has the role of pesty little brother down pat, but he can also play well with the older boys.  He loves the chance to be a big brother to Isaac, who alternates between looking up to him and being afraid of him!  He can also play for hours by himself constructing things with magnatiles and using his cars as characters to live in his creations.  He loves to dig in the sand pile behind our house.  He would rather play pretend games than board games, although he is recently into Candy Land and Chutes and Ladders.  He is the first one up in the morning and the first one in bed at night.  It's hard to believe he is four already.  He was only 2 months old when Paul and I visited Shell with him and he was 16 months old when we moved to Ecuador.

Josiah requested a pirate party this year, mainly becasue his other favorite toy is an Imaginext pirate ship.  So his 3 friends and his 3 brothers joined us for a Treasure hunt.

The pirates made hats, walked the plank, pinned the eye patch on the pirate and ended with a treasure hunt that required some serious digging!

We love out little pirate and can't wait to see how God uses his unique gifts and personality to His glory.