Tis the season for.....Birthdays!

Birthday#1:
It all began on May 26th at around 5:30, when our dear Adam was born.  It was Memorial Day, and our family had just finished putting in a new, big sandbox.  Mike was cleaning out the neighbor's truck he had hauled the sand in when I told him I thought it was about time to go to the hospital.  Adam's labor was awesome.  I felt like the pregnant mom from the movie Big Business (for any of you as old as me and remember the film), when she tells her husband, "It's time again," in her country accent with somewhere around 10 other children swarming at her feet.  She then goes to the hospital and simply and quietly has her baby.  That clip had a familiar ring to it as I was in the hospital during labor, all until it came to the delivery at least.  So, Adam was born weighing 7 lbs. 9 oz and 19 inches long.  He was born with lots of hair and a set of good lungs.

Daddy giving him his first bath

Elsie did her own hair.

A few days later, I was home alone with the kids and Kimball decided we should make a cake for Adam's birthday.  It sounded like a fun thing to do with my younger kids at the time, so we had a bit of a birthday party that evening with the family.
These past 7 weeks Adam has proven to be a bundle of contentment and sweetness.  He loves to be held and snuggled really tight and close.  It's absolutely wonderful until I need to set him down to do something, which happens often with 4 other children buzzing around me.  However, Adam seems to have found a good niche in our family and we are all settling in quite nicely.  I've enjoyed a post entiteled "The Baby is the Lesson" which has inspired me with an extra dose of patience.  It's always chaos around our home, but the chaos is filled with love and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Birthday #2
Anna's birthday was on June 20th, and she turned two.  For her birthday, she got to move into Elsie's bedroom and sleep in a toddler bed.  Elsie was really excited to share her room.  Partly so she could play the role of "big sister" more fully, and also because that meant she got to sleep on the top of a bunk bed Mike built for the girls.  Elsie really has been a great older sister and has watched out for and helped Anna as she has adjusted to a new bed.

  Elsie is reading her bedtime stories

Anna also got other fun gifts, like new sippy cups and sheets for her bed.  She was so excited just to open a present, it didn't quite matter what was in it.  She also had a bunch of fun playing "duck, duck goose" with the family.  It was so funny watching her go around the circle saying, "guck, guck, GUCK" and run off, ready to be chased.

Anna has really grown-up a lot since Adam was born, and I feel kind of bad for all the changes that have been inflicted upon her.  Within a 3 weeks time, she got a new brother, kicked out of her room and crib, got her tongue clipped by the dentist (that was not fun!), and got her binki taken away from her.  The poor little girl has done remarkable with everything, besides the little clepto she's become with her baby brother's binki, and has been the sweetest big sister to Adam.  She gives him kisses and loves and watches out for him all the time, and then she takes his binki and runs off before she gets caught.  It's pretty cute.  Since she got her tongue clipped, she's started to talk more and more.  It's fun to listen to her express herself.
Anna is lots of fun.  She loves music and dancing.  Whenever there is any form of singing or music playing, she is dancing in circles, begging me to watch her performance.  She also loves candy.  When she's not asking for candy, she's asking for more and more spoonfuls of peanut butter.  She loves the stuff, straight from the jar!  Anna is very playful, independent, and loves to be helpful.  When it's time to go, she runs around the house, handing everyone their shoes.  She loves to take Adam's diapers to the garbage, and to help clean up.  She has been a joy these past 2 years, and I can't wait to continue watching her grow up and develop into the person she is meant to be.

Birthday #3
Peter turned 9 on July 3rd.  Someone told me he was half-way to "adulthood", and it kind of scared me.  How is it that little boys and girls grow up despite our mistakes and desires for second chances so we can slow down, enjoy the moments, yell less, and teach more.  As a mother, I sure try hard to do everything right, but it's impossible to do it all perfectly.  I never know if I'm expecting too much, or too little.
Peter had a great birthday - watching our city's firework show with extended family and cousins.  He loves fireworks and was ready to forfeit his cake and ice cream in order to insure a good spot for the fireworks.  Mike and I told him there was plenty of time and to enjoy his day.  For his birthday I was inspired by this article that explains what is going on in an 9-year-old's life, and so we decided to celebrate his individuality.  We got him some gloves and a hand-trowel for him to connect with his surroundings more.  I painted (yes, I....painted) a Calvin and Hobbes mural on his wall, since he has really shown a great interest in the comics.  I'm still not sure what Mike thought about the whole thing, but Peter has loved it.

The kids loved watching Peter's worm "fireworks"

A week later he had a friend party, which he did much of the planning for.  He wanted to roast hotdogs over a fire with watermelon and homemade root beer.  Then he wanted to play some night games and light off fireworks.  I got a big old pack of fireworks, way too many boxes of pop-its and glow-in-the dark necklaces, and let the boys (and 1 girl) go for it.  I had so much fun watching them play Ollie-on-over and no-bears-are-out-tonight, hang out while they ate their self-cooked dinner, and jump around while the fireworks went off.  Lucky for us, one of the boys' dads came while we were putting off the fireworks and took some great pictures of all the action.

This is a picture of the kids playing with their glow sticks with a 3 or 5 second shutter speed

Peter sure is a joy in our family.  He is a great older brother, and has a keen sense of his responsibilities.  He is very honest and intuitive to people's feelings.  He is a good friend and a friend to all.  I am proud of how hard he tries to make good choices.  Currently he is loving reading the Guardians of Ga'hoole series and bargain shopping (like his dad!).  He just started learning tennis, and has a real knack for trying out a wide variety of things.  I love being his mom!

To be a Lion.

I know there are plenty of other things to write about that many are eager to read, but another time, another day.  Right now I want to talk about lions.
I was just reading a children's book about elephants and found out they eat 20 hours a day.  "Whoa," I thought, "Wouldn't that be nice!"  Then I thought about lions, who sleep for 20 hours a day, and I wondered which one I would rather do; and if I had to pick, would I choose to be a lion or an elephant?
Being an elephant first sounded appealing.  Then I started thinking about food, especially elephant food.  I don't think I would like to eat acacia leaves and bark for 20 hours out of every day.  Then I thought if I could be an elephant and still eat human food, would that change things for me?  Hmmm.  I decided food is a love/hate relationship for many of us.  First off, it costs.  There's always the grocery store bill looming over me, especially when I splurge on indulgent food.  Then there are all the food choices that get tricky:  would I spend my time eating really healthy food or junk food, or some kind of ratio of both?  What even is healthy food any more?  Solely organic (yikes, that could be pricy eating 20 hours every day!)?  Vegan or at least hormone free?  Maybe a gluten free diet?  How about a raw food diet?  Who knows.  Maybe it would be simpler just to stick to an elephant diet and eat leaves and bark all day after all.  Obviously, it didn't take me long to revert to my old desires of wanting to be a lion.
I decided lions have the good life all in all.  Heck, male lions don't even have to hunt for their food; the ladies take care of that.  Maybe if I had to be an elephant, I'd outsource all the food decision making, just like the male lion does with the hunting.  However, it was the sleep that really appealed to me.  Sleep is precious; it requires nothing but a relaxed body.  One doesn't have to over-think when it comes to sleeping and lounging.  In fact, over-thinking can really be a problem when it comes time to sleep.  Since lions are on top of the food chain, there is nothing that could bother a good slumber - no intruding fear or worry.  Oh, to be a lion:  to not have to worry, to eat what's given you, and to sleep and lie about most of the day.  That's what I'd sign up for.
If anyone happening to read this would like to share their thoughts on what animal they'd like to be, please do share. I'd love a new perspective on this one. 

A Busy Week

This is posted late - I was hoping to find our card reader so I could include some pictures.  The kids have got the upper hand again!
Just as the title of this post infers, this week was full of happenings - some planned and some a surprise.  It was Peter's "spring break" through his online school, and it also happened to be his cousins' and Aunt Michelle's spring break as well - so we all got together and had a fun-filled week. My sister Michelle came with my nieces, Eden and Cosette, on Monday afternoon.  Elsie and Eden were so excited to see each other and play.  They quickly disappeared amongst the mayhem.  Cosette, being almost 3, had a fun time exploring the baby toys and the plethora of books at our home.  It was fun and cute to watch her wanderings.  Between Kimball's moodiness, Anna's clinginess, and Cosette's potty-training, Michelle and I were on our toes!  I tried to fix dinner that evening, but gave up after messing up the biscuits due to so many interruptions and called Mike to bring home some hamburgers.  The kids had a great time eating burgers and watching part of Frozen that evening.
Tuesday was a lot of fun.  Michelle and I made paper bag lunches, got the team of kiddos together, and we headed out to feed the ducks- first stop to the day-old store to get some bread.  When we got there, we couldn't resist getting all the kids a yummy hostess treat as well, and what a bargain!  Again, our trip to First Dam was a success.  The kids had such a great time throwing bread at the geese and ducks.  We went through three loaves!  It was feast day for those fowl, for sure.  It was fun watching the ducks chase each other, and when we saw the geese fighting, I cracked up.  Peter, Elsie, and Eden tried their hardest to sneak-up on the ducks and try to catch them.  They explored, climbed, Kimball found a "cave", they all found secret hiding spots, and they even found a couple green duck eggs.  They all felt like they had some great adventures!  That afternoon a guy from the city stopped by and told us we had a leak in our water line.  Surprise!  I quickly finished my laundry for the week and we turned off the water. 
On Wednesday our visitors got to enter the realm of homeschooling for a bit with us as we went to biography club.  Peter did a short presentation on Almanzo Wilder, Elsie on a fictional character, Kirsten (an American Girl), and Eden dressed up as Abraham Lincoln and she and Peter both talked about him.  Eden was the cutest Lincoln there ever was!  That afternoon my sister Michelle had to go back home, and I was left solo.  As brave as I may have seemed, I was a little scared, I must admit.  However, everyone continued to have fun, and no one got hurt, so I count that a success!  Our water situation at this point, hadn't changed much.  We used lots of hand-sanitizer, paper products, and water stored in bins and sinks to drink and wash in.
Thursday Mike started digging a hole, in hopes of finding the leak.  That evening he called and scheduled for a back-hoe to come and dig the whole pipe out first thing Friday morning.  I continued to watch kids and have a fun, busy time.  Eden joined Elsie for her American Girl Club, as they talked about Kirsten and St. Loisa day.  Eden is a no nonsense girl and wanted to dress up in an apron.  Elsie, however, needed a white robe, red sash, and a grapevine wreath to wear in her hair.  We had fun making wreaths that morning (and pruning our much needed grapes at that), and somehow we all managed to be out the door at 10:30 with homemade lunches and bottled waters in our hands.  While the two girls were at their club, the rest of us had a great time at our little park.  The rest afternoon was full of naps, reading books, eating cookies, and playing outside.
Friday morning was exciting when a back-hoe showed up at our home and dug a massive hole.  The kids were mostly captivated.  Afterwards we went to the park and played before it was time to go home.  Everyone played hard and had fun, but alas, 12:30 came and Eden and Cosette said their good-byes and piled in the car to meet Grammy part-way home.  With cousins gone, it was time to shift my attention to the bit pit in our front yard, until I realized our breaks to the van were going out as I went to get more burgers with my in-laws that evening. 
Saturday was full of first-of-the-season soccer games for Elsie and Peter, fixing car breaks, and shoveling dirt back into our pit.  I worked as hard as I could being 7 1/2 months pregnant, but Mike really wore himself out with a very long day of shoveling.  We have great neighbors that helped here and there as well.  We got a little over half done, and will finish up this week, I'm sure.  This is a lengthy post, and more info than most wanted, but it was one of those weeks I wanted to remember.

Our Family's 5 seconds of fame

Okay, I'll take what I can get, even if it is being the butt of a joke.  Our family went to a story time and got ourselves a picture in the paper.  Jimmy Fallen found it pretty funny and decided to share it with his viewing audience.  If you are really interested, you can go to this link:
nbc.com/the-tonight-show/episodes/28
It's the entire episode, but we are about 15 min. and 30 seconds into the show, and we're there for about 5 seconds, so be sure not to blink! 

Winter Snippets

 Maybe some of you are dying to know what we've been up to for the past couple months.  Regardless, I thought I'd post some of our favorites.  I was scrolling through pictures, and thought these were too cute.  For a while Elsie was really enjoying putting her castle on top of her bed and pretending to be a princess.  There were a couple evenings Anna sneaked into Elsie's room before we swept her off to bed, and they would have a good time together.  I love the smiles on their faces!

 

In the middle of February, Mike's dad still had a ton of apples left over from the fall in his apple shed.  We had just finished our last bottle of applesauce, so we decided to spend the day making some more.  At the time, we were in the middle of reading Farmer Boy and learning all about how hard Almanzo worked to help his family.  Hence, the kids were inspired and eager to help!  It ended up being great fun, and we got around 50 quarts done.  Everyone was tired at the end and pretty sick of applesauce. As a reward, we treated them to go see Frozen at the theater with Grandma and Grandpa.  It was a fun, memorable day.  We really connected with the movie, since the girls in our family are Elsie and Anna as well!

There were lots of little holidays to celebrate in February and March.  One being Groundhogs day.  I got this idea from my sister, and the kids look forward to it every year!  We spend the day (or until we can't stand it anymore) down in the basement - I bring food down the previous night and we picnic for breakfast and lunch.  We play games and build a really cool fort out of blankets.  It's always anticipated and a lot of fun.

There was also Valentine's Day and St. Patricks day.  Both were celebrated starting the day off with crepes, nutella, yummy fruit, and whipping cream.  Ummmm.  On Valentine's Day Dad always comes home with mylar balloons for the kids.  On St Paddy's a leprechaun visits and leaves coins scattered around the house and a treasure box full of chocolate coins and something green and fun to wear.  Traditions are fun and we all look forward to a day that's a little different from the others and laced with fun!

Valentine's Day

St. Patrick's Day

We have enjoyed such unseasonable warm weather!  Although Spring wasn't until March 21st, we've been enjoying hikes and the outdoors as much as we can.  We took a walk around a marsh and looked for birds.  We spotted some sand-hill cranes and red-winged blackbirds.

One evening we were headed to a really cool theater in the round that is set in a barn of all places.  It's a great small town attraction.  We were going to see the play Tarzan (which the kids LOVED - they've been acting like apes ever since) and decided to stop at the marshes on our way and enjoy a picnic.  It was really windy, and I though the picnic was ruined.  But quite the contrary.  The kids figured out cattail seeds are distributed be the wind and we had a pretty intense cattail seed war!  No one wanted to be caught down-wind with their mouth filled and hair covered in seeds.



We also enjoyed a trip to a 1st dam - where we fed the ducks and geese.  Each child got the experience of having a Canadian Goose feed right out of their hands!  They were all pretty excited - except Anna who cried out, "Owwww!"  in a whine.  She was cute to watch and really enjoyed the ducks as well. 


Although I have no pictures to document, we just recently enjoyed getting together with my side of the family.  We were able to all be together and go swimming, watch Frozen, and enjoy great food together.  It was good to see everyone.  Life changes quickly, and it's nice to keep up with my sisters' and their families' lives, as well as my parents'.  My sister Becky seems to be doing better all the time, and that is exciting. During our stay, our family stayed at a hotel, which is always a novelty - they love the continental breakfasts (who doesn't!) and swimming.  Thanks Mom for feeding us and making the plans!  During the weekend, Mike and I divided and conquered.  While I visited my fam, he visited his family.  His sister was enjoying a big weekend as she was getting sealed to her husband in the temple.  His sister also has cancer.  Although cancer is never easy, she seems to be doing really well and enjoying some great blessings.  It was eventful.
As always, homeschooling continues at our house.  I have really been enjoying gleaning some ideas off of milestonesacademy.com.  We've started a great introduction to the Alphabet through fairies, songs, and coloring pages.  Although Elsie is reading quite well these days, she's fine-tuning her writing development and Kimball is somewhat learning the sounds of the letters.  It's been really fun.  Peter is working hard on his math facts and multiple digit multiplication.  Math seems to be the focus as of late for him, but he is really enjoying reading as well.  During his free reading, he and Elsie love to read Calvin and Hobbs.  We've enjoyed learning about Columbus these past couple weeks.  I've started having devotionals every morning, trying to get us (more especially, ME) started out on the right foot.  We study a scripture and sing a song every morning.  At the end of the week Peter writes out the scripture correctly for a little spelling test.  We seem to all be enjoying it. 

Kimball has me take a picture of his pattern block works before we can put them away

One devotional we talked about healthy eating and where we should be casting out nets to get the right foods.

 And now it's spring!  We are enjoying the crocuses, weather, planting seeds, pruning, and making yard plans. 

Elsie Turned 6!

My little girl turned 6 last week.  I just noticed this week how big she is getting and how much more independent she is.  She is a driven little girl, and it's fun to watch.  It's fun to teach her things and then watch and listen to her process it.  I taught her the spanish alphabet, and for a month everywhere she went she skipped and sang the alphabet.  She practices counting to 100 in the car, and stays up late reading books.  Yet, if anything gets too structured, when it's not her doing the scheduling, she is sooo not interested.  She loves painting and all things arts and crafts at home, but getting her to her art club every week is such a hassle!  Elsie definitely has her own mind.  Her school lessons are often self directed and lead.  This girl knows what she wants, which is why planning a birthday party with her was so fun!  She had some great ideas and was all about helping implement those plans into action. To begin, she wanted a Jungle/Safari birthday where everyone could come dressed up as an animal if they so desired.  It was inspired by her favorite stuffed animal, "Tigey".  Hence, she dressed up as a tiger.  She wanted to bust open some pinatas, so we spent one day with balloons and paper-mache, and another decorating them into animal pinatas.  Elsie knew exactly how she wanted to decorate them, but put up with some suggestions from Mom (phew!).  Here they are:

 Elsie also wanted a game of tag and pin the tail on the tiger.  With a couple extra games I turned it into a hunt where the "animal" children had to escape from the zoo and find their way back to the jungle.  I think I had just as much fun pretending as the kids! 

 This was the first time I had a birthday table with everything set-up together beforehand.  It helping in organization and made for a pretty picture.

 Here is Elsie, our little tiger birthday girl!

 Mike was amazing and found a cotton candy machine at a second-hand store for a few dollars.  It really loaded the kids with sugar and added to the excitement!  He was good to make some for each of the kids.

 Here goes all our hard work with the pinatas!  It was fun, all around!

At the end of the day I told her I was glad she had such a great birthday.  She said, "It was more than great!  It was more than awesome!  It was the best birthday ever!"  I was happy to hear it. 

First Pinewood Derby!

These next 2 posts are a week old.  One of the children stole our card reader and I felt these posts were useless without some great pictures.  But, it turned up, so now I'm posting.

This Wednesday, and actually the couple days leading up to it, were really exciting at my house as Peter got to race his own homemade car in his Cub Scout Troop's Pinewood Derby.  He was soooo excited.  He thought of his design, sanded about 10 seconds (Mike couldn't take it, so he did a bit more to finish it well), painted, and weighed, and reweighed, and reweighed until.... Ta Da!  The car was done.  It was off to the races.  His car didn't do great.  The car came in first on the first race, but ran into some axle problems and somewhat hung on for the rest of the races thereafter.  The success of the car didn't deter Peter from running around with a big grin on his face.  He was very happy to be involved and share in the excitement.  He worked hard, and so did his dad.  It was a lot of fun.  Peter came home ready to practice the whole year round to make the perfect car for next year.  What fun.