Christmas 2013

Merry Christmas!! Happy New Year!!

Happy Thanksgiving, Happy Halloween, Happy Easter...it's been awhile :) Are you ready for a Frye family update? So many of you sent us the infamous picture of the four boys and one baby girl via Pinterest, Facebook, text message, and email. We happily obliged with a similar picture of our new baby girl and her four big brothers. (If you have no idea what I'm talking about, then great! That makes ours an original in your mind!! :) ) 

Where do I begin? Let's start with the adults for a change! Derek's clinic is booming, and he loves everything about his job as a chiropractor...except for the paperwork. For those of you in this type of field, you know paperwork is done at every possible moment when not seeing patients or sleeping. It is what it is, and Derek is a trooper. We are so thankful for his hardworking attitude, his love of his patients, and his commitment to our family when he does get a second to himself. He never takes a day off (or even an hour) just for himself. I call him an energizer bunny, but I know he pushes through a lot of exhaustion and stress for the sake of my sanity and to play with the boys. We love him, and his patients think he hung the moon. On top of working like a dog, Derek took it upon himself this year to coach Justus' select baseball team. He has coached the boys' baseball teams off and on, but this was on a whole new level. I was pregnant with Naomi, and Titus and Eli were also on baseball teams for a different league (not to mention dragging Josiah around to every practice and game.) Needless to say, we were running ragged. It was a whirlwind of a season, but Derek was such an amazing leader to those boys. It was stressful for Derek and for me, but it gave me great joy to see him excel in that area and I think he enjoyed it.

I found myself barefoot and pregnant yet again after our 10 year anniversary trip to Costa Rica in January. Talk about a surprise!! Speaking of which, our trip was AMAZING. It was the first time we had left the boys, and we didn't miss them a BIT! (just kidding, we thought about them once or twice) I'm sure some of you saw our pictures on Facebook. It was so beautiful, so relaxing. Like I said, we even got a gift out of it! I'm still homeschooling Justus and Titus, although that hasn't happened much since that gift arrived. New Year's resolution? Get back to school...and maybe try to get my house in order. I'm exhausted, overwhelmed, and trying to survive. I cannot believe we have 5 children. It's so surreal, but even while I'm in over my head, I am head over heels in love with these crazies and can't believe God saw fit to put them in my care for the time being. We are a walking circus, and I love it most of the time ;)

Justus is 8 and in second grade. He loves whatever sport is in season, so he's obsessed with football right now. His favorite team is the Packers, so he's getting almost everything Packers-ish for Christmas this year. He will be starting a new select baseball team in 2014, so hold onto your hats...we are in for another tornado baseball season. (Derek's not coaching this time, whew!) Justus loves making paper “art” and also enjoys writing sweet notes to his brothers and sister. He is such a thoughtful, helpful child. I truly don't know how I would survive without his help. He is still enthusiastic about being his siblings' second mom, so I'm milking it :) Funny story: he even gave Josiah “mom eyes” once when Josiah was acting up (and it worked.) It was priceless.

Titus is 6 and in first grade. The boy is just plain smart. It blows me away and cracks me up at the same time. He knows almost every NFL player's name, number, and birthdate. I'm kidding...kind of. He doesn't draw as much as he used to, but he still loves legos, baseball, football, and cats. He swears he is never going to get married but that he will also have no less than 15 cats when he grows up. I figure those 2 things probably go hand in hand, so I'm letting him run with it. An odd dream, indeed!

Eli just turned 5 and celebrated with his first friend birthday party at Chuck E Cheese. Call us crazy, but we love Chuck E Cheese. Considering that baby being born thing, we figured this was a good year to let Mr. Cheese throw the party. He had a blast, and we all survived. Eli is in preschool 3 days a week and is starting to read. If you know anything about Bob books, I can tell you that the 3^rd time around listening to them is just as torturous as the first. He's so proud of his newfound skill, though, and we are proud of him. Eli loves playing board games and card games. Oh and video games. I think the child lives for screen time.

Josiah is 3. Hilarious. Smart. Clothes. Those are the three words that best describe Josiah. He makes us laugh constantly. The conversations this child can have with even a stranger are so funny. He also cracks us up with his love of clothes. He asked for clothes for Christmas. (not your typical 3 year old request...at least as far as boys go anyway!) He changes his clothes 15 times a day, and that is not even an exaggeration. He is laundry's worst nightmare. It's pretty cute, though, especially because his favorite color is orange. He will come downstairs decked out in orange baseball socks, orange shorts, an orange shirt, and if you're lucky, an orange hat. It is a LOUD outfit, and he has many other “outfits” he has put together that are equally as “color coordinated.” He is a fashion genius ;)

Finally, we have Naomi...lying in my lap while I type this, smiling away and trying her hardest to have a deep, meaningful conversation with me (at least that's what her eyes and mouth are telling me.) The poor girl never gets much time to herself or any quiet. We end up paying for that when bedtime rolls around, because apparently she's so used to the constant commotion, she doesn't like to sleep in the absence of it. Naomi was born November 16 and weighed 8 lbs 1 oz. She was our biggest baby, so the boys have translated our mentioning of that as her being the biggest baby ever. They mention that often...(their world is very small.) She's precious. So loved and doted on. The boys talk to her in little sweet voices that I've never heard come out of their mouths before. It's so funny. Our past 3 babies have started crawling right when they turned 6 months old. It simply is not safe for me to give Naomi much tummy time, as the chaos in this house involves indoor football and running like madmen to do flips onto and off of couches and other furniture, so I'm assuming she'll be late in that area!!

We are so thankful for our sweet princess, as well as the many other gifts and blessings 2013 has brought. God's grace is evident yet again. We are most thankful, of course, for the gift of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection. We honestly have not done much this Christmas, as we have in Christmases past. Normally, we are learning names of Jesus or keeping traditions of advent trees and other family pastimes. This year, we haven't even made cookies. It makes me a little sad, but I have to say I have appreciated having less on my plate as far as the planning and stress that goes along with keeping up with all of that. 2013 will go down as a Christmas of simplicity amidst the everyday events that are already exciting enough in and of themselves. We hope you all are well, and we appreciate your keeping up with us on Facebook and through reading this extremely long letter. We love you and do wish you a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!!!

Love,

The Frye Fam

Derek, Anna, Justus, Titus, Eli, Josiah, and Naomi