We have five, amazing children whom we affectionately call our gnomes. For the sake of protecting their identities we have chosen to give them nicknames through-out our blog series. Being a blended family has been quite an adventure, and because we value each of them so deeply and want for them to have creative say on what is shared; rest assured that they have all been brought into the discussion of writing about our family and are okay with us sharing our story. Uniquely, we have been a blended family twice. The very beginning, we had our three oldest; Sassafras, BooButt & Buddy. They were 6, 4 and 2 at the time. We had just conceived Squizzle when our blend was unmixed and when we reunited again in 2019, WallyBingBong was our youngest member. We’ll give a little more in depth story with each one after we introduce them to you.
Sassafras
Our first, is our sweet Sassafras. She recently turned 14, has just graduated from the 8th grade, and is officially a High Schooler now. She was raised as an only child until this year when we blended back together; as a shy introvert she was hand tossed into the crazy garden with the rest of our gnomes. She has handled it thus far like a champ. We see her weekly to every other week, and we have Squizzle & WallyBingBong with us for a few days and then BooButt & Buddy join us so we alternate between two to three to five and then back to two when they all go home. In these transitions, Sassafras maintains her quiet dignity and is very loving and patient with the rest of the gnomes; who adore her and are very much “up in her grill”. Her main mode of distraction and occupying her time is either gaming or drawing, which she is very good at. She loves anime and is continuously growing & improving her skills.
BooButt
Our second oldest, is our sweet & sassy BooButt. She just turned 12, graduated from 6th grade and has officially moved into Junior High. She started as the oldest, but between two houses she is now the second oldest. She is intelligent, funny and quite the helper. Always known for her compassion with others outside the home, she is known for her quiet guidance and observatory style within the home. She admires now having a sister to spend time with after being raised with all brothers until this past year. Sassafras & BooButt have developed quite a solid friendship, It has been beautiful watching them blossom. She also has a future minded spirit, dreams of living in a tiny house and traveling the world, dreams of being a marine biologist, and desires to write guest posts on our blog. All of which I admire and encourage her to work towards.
Buddy
Our oldest boy, Buddy, recently turned 10 and has begun his 5th grade year. He is a quiet spirit, fairly low key. He loves imaginary play still and dressing up in superhero costumes. He admires young lady gnomes far too much at his age, we are teaching all of our boys to be gentlemen and learn how to treat young ladies respectfully. He is also an amazing big brother and makes sure to include both of his younger brothers in play. He talks often of going into the military like his dad was, and this makes me proud that he can explain for himself why he would choose to do so-not just because his dad was, but because he admires what they stand for and that his dad chose to honor that his best as well. Buddy is a very good dancer and should he practice and continue, I believe he has the potential to be great. He will do great things.
Squizzle
Our bountiful Squizzle is the older of our two firecrackers. He is quite the extrovert, and has been since the day he was born. This quarantine due to COVID has really put a kink in his chain. He is vivacious, opinionated and has quite the mind of an engineer. He is in the 2nd grade and will be closing out the year with his 8th birthday. He is loving, compassionate, quick to forgive, very affectionate. He has a solid heart for truth and justice and definitely has the mind of a protector to all those around him. I lovingly call him my sunshine baby.
WallyBingBong
Little WallyBingBong is our youngest child, and the younger of our two firecrackers. In my grandmothers’ words, “quite the little pistol”. He is funny, charismatic and deeply intuitive. He stands firmly for what he wants & what he believes in and refuses to budge even one step if he feels he will be persuaded away from that. He is prepping at home for Kindergarten next year and will be closing out this year as an official 5yr old (He has been insisting he is 5 for the last 2 years). He loves to dance and sing, memorizes lyrics better than anyone I know; and though incredibly intelligent, really has no patience for the school work thus far. It has been entertaining and quite the adventure to maintain his academic focus during the quarantine the last several months. Proudly, I can say, we made it!!
This is our formidable five. Among them we have various talents and gifts, wonderful emerging personalities and interests from one spectrum to the other. We have trauma, grief, medical challenges and still a whole lot of love and grace among them. This is just the beginning of our story.
