two littles, three bigs

We added to the family in a bit of a rush in 2012 - after three years with just Julianna, Lydia and Isaac, Luke (March) and then John Paul (August) joined the clan.  And pretty much from the get-go, we called them the bigs and the littles.  {of course, at the time Isaac was only three years old.... so big! - ha}.

At some point in the next decade or so, I wouldn't be surprised if both of the littles surpassed all three of the bigs in actual size!  but for now, and maybe even then, we are still calling them the bigs and the littles.

so here they are, some photos of the littles, and the bigs.

It's only 22 months between Isaac and John Paul, but those months have been exaggerated.  First, John Paul's profound speech delay made him seem so much younger.  And the way we've chosen to start school has put two "grades" between them.  So during the day there is definitely a 'big kid schedule' and a 'little kid schedule'.

And so they show up in different pictures!

These three finished another semester of local school - what a big deal!  {proud mama alert!}

They've been wearing masks a lot this winter as the air quality gets worse and worse.  These past week it's been off the charts terrible!  ugh!

And then the littles - The influence of an older sibling is so powerful!  These guys think they are a big stuff to get to lay in bed and read before lights out :)  And I know exactly where they got that idea from!

Luke is a very attentive daddy to Boy Baby (there in the bed beside him).  Lydia made the blanket for Boy Baby as a Christmas gift for Luke.  A few days later Luke requested a pillow too :). He's hard to say no to, and a bit spoiled by a sister who sews-to-his-request!

It's the end of week one in our 4-week "J term".  Four weeks of home school before we fly.  With the bigs done with local school we will definitely enjoy more free time, but I'm still motivated to get through a bit more content before we call it quits for a month!