January 2007

Some of the happenings in the Boling family household over the past year: Projects Events Kids! Liliana's Birth Bili Lights Historical Content

Miriana, Alex, Matthew, Shana June 2006

(Click photo for larger copy)

Once again, we are sending out a “beginning of the year” letter! 

2006 highlights:

January
Matthew learned to read!

February
We finally got the van we spent two years saving for

March
Charles was able to hire someone to help ease his load at work (finally!)
Alexander learned to ride his bike with out training wheels!

March-June
Michele watched two other young children while their mother worked full time

April
Shana learned her alphabet and numbers (1 to 20)

May
Alexander lost his first tooth

June
We found out that Liliana Crystal planned to join our family the following year
We went camping for the first time as a family (*twice* that month!)

July
We’ve been in our house for five years now!

August
We went to Monroe, WA (near Seattle) for a few days to visit old friends
We celebrated our 9^th wedding anniversary!

September
We got the satellite dishes up and running
We begin converting our garage into an apartment

October
Miriana started writing stories
We all took a fun school trip to the fire station

November
Our first Thanksgiving that we didn’t host in our house since we’ve lived here!

December
Charles traveled to Ohio for a week on a business trip

January 2007
Michele got to visit with a college friend she hadn’t seen in years
Shana potty trained!
Liliana Crystal joined our family!

Here is a little synopsis of what each family member has been doing over the last year:

Charles:

Charles has kept very busy at work, home and church. He is now completing his seventh year at The Intelitech Group – still doing “geek” stuff from programming, to research, to building servers (and being in charge of anything else that plugs in). He was kept busy at home with all sorts of projects both he and Michele thought of. He procured, set up and got working, on the cheap, two large satellite dishes to capture all sorts of interesting church and educational programs (see the “projects” page for more details). We also started converting part of our garage into an apartment – a huge undertaking, but something that will be helpful to us and others in the future. He has also operating as a full-service Internet Provider (ISP) for many people, from our home. Charles continued to work twice a month for seven hours a day as a volunteer ordinance worker at the LDS Portland temple and is still the “Stake Technology Specialist”.

Michele:

Michele spent the first part of the year working on homeschooling the children and then March through June were dedicated to watching two children (ages 2½ and 5) while their mother worked full time. The end of June started summer, and school was put on hold yet again while summer activities, camping, beach trips, a trip to Seattle, 4^th of July party, the county fair (opening day!) all took precedence. The end of September schooling started up again and was the priority through the fall and winter. She has also spent time procuring things – both building materials and furnishings – for the apartment project. In June she was released (after 3½ years) as nursery leader at church and called to be a teacher in the Relief Society.

Alexander James (Six in November 2006):

Organization and structure fascinate him (that’s not to say that he voluntarily puts his toys away though!). Anything that can be categorized or ordered, he excels at. Chemistry and electrical components and their structure are his favorite subjects in school as well as what he plays with in his free time. He’s at about a 3^rd grade reading and math level and something higher in science. He could spend an hour connecting telephone wires and other odds and ends to form pretend circuits, batteries and anything else he comes up with. While he’s never been that interested in reading, he is learning how to use books to learn and look up information he needs or wants to know about. He’s also developed a love for music, and his piano playing ability has improved considerably this last year. He is also very athletic; he enjoys riding his bike (without training wheels, over any kind of surface), and prefers it to just about any other activity when he’s outside.

Miriana Celeste (Five in December 2006):

Animals and nature are her loves. Anything that is creative, imaginative and “relationship-oriented” are her passions. Bambi is the main character in the stories she writes. She loves books and during our daily “quiet time” she sits and reads in our library for an hour. She also reads at a third to fourth grade level and her math is at about a 2^nd grade level. She is our “loner” – the one who is content to play quietly by herself for hours if allowed to – with her little animals, people and small dolls. This Christmas she developed a love of the story of baby Jesus and acted that out many times a day over the course of the season. She is our drama queen; when she’s not hiding in her room she loves to be the center of attention, and has no “stage fright” at all when it comes to speaking into the microphone or singing loudly in primary. She shies away from anything athletic, having a very cautious, non-adventurous nature in that regard.

Matthew David (Three in June 2006):

Matthew had been interested in books for a long time, but finally the beginning of 2006 it all “clicked” and he started reading on his own. He spent the year going to bed with a book tucked under his arm. He reads at about a second grade level and is working on first grade math. Matthew’s favorite activities include spending time with his grandma Cooke, seeking mommy’s attention, bothering his older sister, chasing and wrestling with his older brother, and playing pretend with his younger sister. He is a very sensitive child who loves to give hugs to anyone that comes into our house. Just this month he caught up with Miriana in both height and weight – he is destined to be built like his daddy!

Shana Marie (pronounced “Shawna”) (Two in November 2006):

Two words describe this little pint-sized vocal powerhouse: Strong-willed and musical. She has her mind made up about anything before you even know she was thinking about it. If it goes along with what you want, then GREAT! If it doesn’t – be ready for a full blown kicking-screaming temper tantrum. She also has a unique gift of being able to memorize words and tunes to songs. By Christmas she knew at least 50 songs – half of which were difficult Christmas songs. Her favorite is “Jingle Bell Rock”. She also loves to pretend to read, and has started to learn the basics of “real reading”. She is totally fearless, and loves to go exploring in new places (not usually a good thing!). She loves climbing and, in general trying to (and usually succeeding) keep up with her older brothers. 

Liliana Crystal (pronounced similarly as the other two girls) (Born January 2007):

Finding out about Liliana was such a joy, especially after a couple of miscarriages. She was born at home on January 25, 2007. It was a private afair, with our midwife (Laura Hamilton), Charles, Michele and Liliana being  the only ones present. It was a wonderful experience – our second home birth, – and we plan to have future children born at home as well. Michele's mom (Bev Cooke) looked after the other children during the delivery, and the kids are spending a couple of days with her and Grandpa Cooke at their house while we "recover".