Dear Leah,

Not a day goes by when we aren't incredibly thankful for the gift of your life. God knew just what he was doing when he gave us the most wonderful and kind daughter. You are an absolute joy and we cannot imagine life without you. As you turn six, we look back on the past years and wonder how they could have gone as quickly as they did. It truly feels like just yesterday when we wrapped you up in a soft, pink blanket at the hospital. We looked at each other wondering how life would change with a daughter. We wondered how life would change with two kids instead of just one. We wondered how we could ever love any child as much as our first.

Though there have been challenges, we can honestly say that parenting you is faaaaar easier than we ever could have hoped it would be. You have such a gentle and kind heart. You aim to please people. You love in the most genuine way. It might be the girl in you, it might be the fact that you're a middle child, or it might simply be that God has created you to be a daily reminder of His goodness.

Throughout the past year, you have continued to grow and change so much. You now go to school five days a week. Thankfully, it's just for a couple hours each morning because you'd be missed quite a lot at home if you were gone any longer. More time at school has meant a lot more time learning new things. You're a timid learner and often doubt yourself, but you're doing way better than you realize. You're reading, writing, spelling, and doing math with ease. There's no doubt that school is your thing. You come home each and every single day and instantly run to your "school" that you have created and reenact all of the parts of your day. We're convinced that Joel won't even need to go to kindergarten because he's currently being homeschooled the entire kindergarten curriculum by his big sister! Indeed, you might have that teacher gene in you and there's no doubt that you'd make some people quite proud if you chose that path in life. You've already declared that when you grow up, you want to be a "teacher mom". You want to have your own babies, but you also want to be a teacher.

Babies. That's your other true passion in life. Your baby dolls are real humans in your world. You have three different carseats, a small crib, a baby bed, and more babydoll clothes and accesories than a real baby might ever need! And if there's an actual, real baby in your presence....game on. If it's just a stranger passing by, you lock eyes on that baby and just stare. You watch everything about how the baby acts and how the parent cares for the baby. If it's a baby that you actually know, you are happy to step in and play "mom" to give the real parents a break. You want so badly to have a baby brother or sister, and knowing that won't biologically happen, you ask constantly when we're getting a foster baby!

Seeing your passion for taking care of and nurturing others brings us so much joy. You are our child that has an endless amount of energy and you put your all into what you play and do. Combining those two things makes for a delightful little girl who never tires of serving others. You notice needs before they are even brought to your attention and you jump at the chance to bless others. God is truly growing a servant heart in you and we are eager to see how that develops as you grow up. We watch in anticipation of what your future holds and look forward to the years to come. We love you dearly Miss Leah, Leah Pia, Bug!

Christmas Memories

As always, Christmas is the most magical time of the year...especially with three kids! We had a wonderful Christmas season filled with such great memories. These pictures capture just a tiny bit of the fun we had all month long. Mixed in with these memories are plenty of other moments that we will cherish for years to come. We are so thankful for the amazing family and friends that we get to share this special time of year with!

Sturmie the elf came on December 1 and left us each new jammies!

We enjoyed preschool family night...crafts, treats, and a visit with Santa.

Look who FINALLY got close to Santa!!!

We hosted a very fun gingerbread house night with friends.

We got to go to a DELICIOUS brunch with Grandpa, Grandma, TiTi, Nana Pam, Ed, and SANTA!!!

We celebrated Christmas with Nana Pam and Ed.

We had our annual Lamont family cookie decorating day.

The kids decorated a gingerbread house with Grandpa and Grandma.

We hosted a fun neighborhood dinner and game night.

We went caroling with friends and enjoyed hot chocolate and treats beforehand.

Christmas morning...with a few less smiles because we were on day three of tonsillectomy recovery.

Circus Fun

These are the faces of three happy kids on their big trip to the circus. Caleb and Leah have both gone before, but were quite a bit younger. This year, when Grandpa and Grandma invited them, all THREE got to go and so did Mommy! We all had a great time and it seems like Joel enjoyed it the most. Everything is just so fascinating through the eyes of a three year old! Thank you Grandpa and Grandma for always spoiling us with such wonderful events and special memories!

Halloween 2015

The kids all had a blast celebrating Halloween this year. We started the fun-filled week with pumpkin carving at Grandpa and Grandma's house. They all enjoyed getting the gooey insides out and carving their own pumpkins. The kids also LOVED eating the cooked pumpkin seeds.

The rest of the week was one celebration after another. The first day was at Joel's school. Leah and I had fun handing out candy while the preschool kids walked around and trick-or-treated throughout the building. The next day was Leah's party. It was a great party and the kids were all so cute in their costumes. The day after that was Caleb's party. We had a great time with lots of fun stuff for the kids to do. I sure love being able to help out at all of their schools for special days!

On the night before Halloween, the kids went with Tyler and some friends to trunk-or-treating at our church. They had a great time and I enjoyed getting to stay home and watch our friends' newborn (it was a bit too cold for her to be out at the trunk-or-treat). Halloween day was rainy and icky for pretty much the entire day. It finally cleared up just enough to sneak in about an hour of trick-or-treating. In that hour, the kids did some serious damage and had their entire buckets filled....so much so that we had to start shoving stuff into pockets until we got home for the big dump-and-sort.

Thank goodness Caleb's school takes candy donations to send to the troops!

Field Trip Fun

There's something about being the last-born that makes even the most ordinary events seem special. Joel had a field trip. It wasn't anything extravagant. Just a hike through the woods with his preschool class. I've done it twice before with my other two when they were this age and I honestly can't remember much about it. Yet, because he's my last, and I know this is the last time I'll do this field trip, I knew I had to enjoy it and take it all in for good. Those cute little binoculars they get that are made from two toilet paper tubes? The ones I threw away not long after the novelty of them wore off for my first two? Somehow I just can't part with the binoculars this time. It is such a gift to be home with my babies and to get to take in these little, ordinary moments. It's an especially wonderful gift to be doing this all with my last child. I feel like I have learned to slow down and savor all of his moments so much more. Perhaps it's because I don't have anyone younger than him that is needing so much of my time and attention. But it also might be because I see just how quickly it all goes by and how truly enjoyable each of these fleeting phases is. It was a blast to walk through the woods holding my three year old's tiny hand. We looked for leaves, stopped and stared at a spider spinning a web, and saw all kinds of cool animals in the nature center. To an average person, it wouldn't be much of a memorable morning, but to us it was filled with moments to cherish forever.

Fall Tradition

In carrying on what appears to now be a tradition, we made the journey down to Champaign for tailgating, football, time on campus, and time at Curtis Orchard. It was another cold day for tailgating (not quite as bad as last year, but not ideal either). The kids had fun, but we didn't last long sitting in the cold. Tyler and Caleb were lucky enough to go to the game. Caleb has reached the golden age where he really understands sports and enjoys watching them. He absolutely loved going to the game and the icing on the cake was a come-from-behind win. The other two were happy with going for a walk to see the stadium and then heading to the hotel to swim. We all had a yummy dinner, stayed overnight, and then spent the next day enjoying some of our other favorites in Champaign. First stop was a trip to Curtis Orchard for donuts apples and pumpkins. After that, we hit up the bookstore on campus to get some shirts and other gear. We enjoyed a tasty lunch at Murphy's and then spent a little while walking on campus. It was a great weekend filled with wonderful memories.

Saying Goodbye

Labor day tends to be known as the "end of Summer". With that comes saying goodbye to some of our favorite summertime people - TiTi's baseball players. This year, we really made a big to-do over the last game of the season. We had friends and family together in a suite, where we enjoyed the game from afar and it was a blast! The kids all loved watching the game with their cousins and showing off their favorite players. This year was especially hard to say goodbye because TiTi had the most wonderful guys living with her all summer. All three of them took such an interest in the kids and became like big brothers. Leah fell in love with them, of course, and therefore couldn't even be near them for a picture because she was so heartbroken! We hope to stay in touch and see them again. We know they will all have great futures ahead of them because they have hearts of gold and so much ambition.