Merry Christmas to All

and to all a good night!

Isn't that all that a family with young kids really wants anyway? We could all use a little sleep over here but somebody had to go handout a Christmas card this year promising an update on the lives of the Genho family. What was I thinking? Since I haven't blogged well enough this year, this will be one heck of a post but just realize, you were forewarned! Here it is, in all it's glory -

JANUARY/FEBRUARY:
We started the year with a foot of snow left over from Dec 2009 -we regretted not getting any pictures of the first storm until the end of January brought us 2+ more feet of the stuff.


We cried as our old friend Allie (John's border collie) passed away


but smiled as 2 new baby lambs were born in the middle of the storms.



Cabin fever and 2 weeks out of school must have made us crazy-in-the-head


cause by the end of Feb both John and Lynnie applied to yet more school - John for an MBA at Duke, Lynnie for an ADN (RN in Nursing) at the local community college.As if we weren't busy enough: Lynnie with juggling the kids and a few classes to get ready for nursing school and John with his calling in the bishopric, running the farm and moonlighting for ranches all over the US as a genetic consultant. Luckily, we had an awesome family friend/nanny, Jocelyn, that came to live with us in Nov 09 and helped make it all work.



MARCH:

John and Lynnie stole away to see the off-Broadway production of "Wicked" in Richmond


before the spring rush started on the farm.



Lias' obsession with John started to emerge



(Uncle Dan is a good substitute but Mama is NOT)



while Nathan has started a strange habit of wearing a single glove on his hand.


John continually teased him by calling him "Micheal" and Nathan frustratedly told him that his name is "Na-fen". Ava deftly balanced between princess and farm girl, wearing both hats equally well.





APRIL:

Spring blooms all over,


especially next door in Jenkins apple orchard.





Nathan lives for Ride N Romp every other Monday and burns up the gym on his bike.


Lias is moving from baby to big boy and tells us so all the time. John gets sophisticated with his acceptance to Duke, so takes up coon hunting with a neighbor to balance it all out.


May:

The craziest month ever. Nathan turns 4 with an awesome, impromptu trip to Litchfield, SC to play in the ocean with the indispensable Ryan family.


Clover Hill is fancied up to host Lynnie's sister Laurel's wedding and over 300 guests.





Lynnie's whole family is invited




- the chickens

bunnies


and naughty little boys that color


all over themselves are not.

Papa (John's dad) drops by to get a shot at a Virginia turkey



but has no luck -darn, that just means he'll have to come try again!



Jocelyn decides to leave us for greener pastures in Boston and Lynnie cries tears of despair.


JUNE:

Even though he turned 2, Lias held onto his spot as baby of the family and both Lynnie and John were quite relieved at that feat.


John started his time at Duke with a week long visit so Lynnie and the crew ditched Ava's last day of kindergarten for impeding adventure.



Thankfully, they still let her graduate even though we pushed the limit for "excused educational absences".

After an awesome 8 hour roadtrip we arrived in Kentucky at the DeLuca home



and settled in to wait out John's return with Lynnie's old college roommate, Kristen and her adorable little man


Connor.


The garden survived just fine without us


and soon John came back to lead the kids around on horseback after a day of work.





(More to come - it's 3 in the morning and I'm dead! As if anyone is still reading this monstrosity!)