Change of Seasons

We had quite the conversation about summer blankets and winter blankets at bedtime today. Poor Cole had quite the time with it, but finally decided to cuddle with his old worn green blankie in lew of actually being tucked in with a bigger blanket. Andrew chose a sheet and small lighter baby blanket. Tomorrow, maybe I'll have them chose a special summer blanket for their beds. Hopefully, we'll avoid the chaos of change in the future.

Ben loves the mimicking-growl game. It's very fun to watch. He'll grunt or growl or roar, and then you answer back in echo, he laughs uproar-ously, and he starts it all over again. He loves to explore all over the house, but will answer when I call out for him (it almost sounds like a 'yah?' to me... yes, he's that brillant). He also loves to tickle toes and climb on his brothers (Andrew is not sure how he feels about this). He gets right into their space and messes with their toy-set ups; He's pretty strong and withstands their pushing away pretty well, but I've yet to convince his older brothers that he really is more fragile than he looks.

Cole had his last day of gym-nastics last Friday. We start swim lessons in the next couple weeks. He's still unholy-attached to his hat, which is not helping him stay cool in the least. He loves to come into our bedroom between 1100 and midnight, hunker down in his 'special' bed (the floor on mom's side) and promptly fall asleep. This is how we've discovered he both snores and talks in his sleep.

Adam will be done with Kindergarten in a couple weeks here! He is sounding out words and writing really well. One of the games he likes to play is adding and subtracting numbers, and he's getting pretty good at it! I'm looking forward to Mike being off work for a bit, and practicing all these cool new skills with him over the summer. Everyone, just know you'll be getting some mail this summer! Adam's favorite song right now is 'Since You Been Gone' by Kelly Clarkson. He thinks she has such a beautiful voice.

Andrew is fully toilet trained, and sleeps well once he is asleep, but is currently in the phase of getting up several times after being put to bed to ask for 'one more thing'. He will copy anything the other boys do, which is mostly good, but sometimes frustrating. If the older boys are struggling, he's usually right behind them. Like a row of dominoes. He loves to read, but mostly, he wants to tell us all about the books, not so much have us read them to him. He counted 40 waterfalls with his brothers on our drive up to white pass today.

Guess that's it for the update. We're all still happy and healthy for the most part. I'll be posting some pictures as soon as our main computer decides to stop being difficult.

Pool day

We got the pool out! It's officially (almost) summer. The boys were beside themselves. I baricaded Ben inside with me and opened the windows. He keeps catching his little fingers in the screen door. He's smashed it up pretty good a few times too.

Speaking of smashing things, warmer weather and my boys in shorts...... Andrew has biffed it enough times already with his bare knees on the concrete to have both knees scabbed up. Adam has one side scabbed, Ben is producing rubber on his knees (plus perpetual grey streaks), and poor Cole has an ouch on his upper thigh from his shot at the drs a couple days ago. He has a bullet-speed lunge, and the nurse, while attempting to not poke his hand, scratched his leg as she was pulling the needle out. So he has a little scar there too now.

Poor boys. I also made them eat their broccoli salad before they could get seconds of their dinosaur-chicken nuggets. It just never ends sometimes.

But, their drawers are now all stocked with clothes that fit and that is appropriate for the summer weather. Yeah for me! Now, we move on to the toys, starting probably with the boxes I whisked away to the basement after the third day of them not putting them away. Hopefully, in a few weeks once school is out, Mike and I can finish Adam's room, move him and Ben back in, and start to store things where they actually belong.

we're raising weeds

Beautiful day out today. I'm almost done weeding the front bed behind the big driveway tree, but i'm at a bit of an impasse. To get to the weeds, I have to step on some plants. hmm. And weeding in the evening (which seems the best time) gives me a tingly cold feeling in my spine about all the things that are living in the mesh of old leaves and weeds and actual plants. And why is it that I can't keep a plant alive that I actually plant, but that the weeds I'm pulling up by the roots come back the next week in hordes. I should start cultivating weeds. My garden would be prolific.

Andrew pooped twice today in the toilet. And they all got down for their naps at the same time today, all of them actually sleeping (!) when Adam's school called. He got engrossed in his computer lab time and had an accident. I hurried three bleary-eyed boys into the car, raced over, thinking my oldest boy was traumatized by this, only to run into the office to find Adam smiling and saying, 'oh, it was just an accident.' Glad to know that Adam is the 'bounce-back' type.

my babies

Ben is definitely standing now, pulling himself up. He's tucking his little knees under him and starting to push with his knees too. He gets into everything. I've recruited his brothers into helping keep things out of his mouth that shouldn't be there. He started on graham crackers and scrambled eggs and even tried some apple juice. Adam loves to make him laugh and will break every rule to get that giggle out of him. He'll spit his food all over the table just to get him to smile. funny boys... :)

Adam has been working towards getting his stars every day in his kindergarten class, and he's done it two weeks in a row, but last week, he got a warning on friday. He didn't get his pokemon mac and cheese for dinner that night, but before our little incentive idea, he was only getting stars maybe every other day. I've really been proud of him actually. He's been working really hard.

Cole is insisting on sleeping with four to five pillows a night, and won't take off his hat unless we're sitting down to eat. Makes me wonder what this summer is going to look like, cause it's a crocheted yarn winter hat that covers the ears. I've tried trading with a baseball cap, but Cole is yet to be convinced. He likes that the weather is getting warm enough to go barefoot outside. He runs straight to the dirt, and at least one plant is missing, or at least, not in the same place I had seen it before. He's introduced his dinosaurs to the dirt and learned to blow bubbles recently. When he's not doing those two things, he's most likely drawing with chalk on the driveway. His favorites to draw are dragons with wings.

Andrew has successfully pooped and peed on the toilet. He refused to wear his diaper last night, and had his first dry night. We got to use his birthday present (a sprinkler ball) yesterday. He liked that! He loves to help me with dishes and dusting and pulling weeds. Big helper right now. He wants to see everything I'm doing and why I'm doing it. Our conversations pretty much consist of him saying 'what' and 'why', followed by yet more 'what' and 'why'sssssss. I usually give up before he does. Had to tell him a couple times today to rest his mouth. He seemed to understand that for a little bit, but then he scrunched up his little forehead and said, 'why?'

thursday

Cole is writing numbers now. His favorites are 8 and 3. Andrew can do a number 2 and the letter A, but past that, his interest wanes a bit. Ben is standing for a minute or so at a time, and is really into putting things in his mouth. The last thing I found in there was the edge of a fruit snack wrapper. He seems content to chew on things, and not swallow them, but I'm keeping him in my line of sight for now.

Adam's class has been taking care of a butterfly house. Today, they got to watch one come out of the chrylassis. I have no idea how to spell that.

It's been nicer outside lately, and the boys have spent a lot of time outside in the dirt and riding their bikes, and throwing balls around. They keep asking if they can swim yet.

I'm ready for summer!

We were invited to join family home evening at a neighbor's place yesterday evening. There were 4 families total, and a LOT of little kids running around. Adam got to lead the song, and then for the activity, our friend handed out 3 m&ms to everyone, to share three things about themselves, to get to know each other better. Cole shared that he flew and was a dragon and could throw fire. They asked about his hat. I don't think he's been without a hat (except for mealtimes; very respectful fellow) for the last year or so. He's a bit attached.

Adam set up his paints on the backporch and did a nice painting. His brothers were very good about not touching it. They've been into drawing with the chalk on the driveway the last week or so. Cole likes to do pictures that resemble spongebob with wings, but that he describes as dragons breathing fire.

Ben was pulling himself up today. Almost got himself on my lap as I was sitting on the couch. Andrew esp doesn't understand why Ben likes to climb on us or pinch our skin or our hair. Speaking of Andrew, he's trying the toilet thing. not quite convinced yet, but he has peed a few times, mostly at bedtime. We've yet to hit during the day yet, but he's warmed up to the idea of wearing underwear during the day, so that's progress.

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day! We went up for a drive up to White Pass. There's still quite a bit of snow up there, and lots of run-off with the waterfalls. Very beautiful. The boys got to run around in the wild, Mike got some water samples from the creeks for his classes, and I took a little nap in the car. All in all, a very nice day. Mike BBQed some chicken for dinner and checked the boys' heads for ticks during their baths.

Mike brought me breakfast in bed this morning, with a rose on the side. He brought me roses early this year, on Friday, a big bouquet of red roses. I've been feeling very special.

Ben has been eating dirt, crawling on the flowers and generally charming everyone he meets. He crawled under the bench at church today, and the nice lady behind us (with her own children btw) scooped him up and held him when he started fussing. Two teeth have cut through on the front bottom. He is feeling a lot better now, although I can sense more teeth coming in the future. At least he's sleeping now.

So, over the weekend, we got the baseboards for Adam's room. Next on the list is a rug. We also got a new toilet seat to replace the vinyl nasty old blue one. Cole, for one, is really grateful for the new seat. The old one hurt his bottom, he's said. Other than that, we did a lot of yard work, and, if I do say so myself, it is looking quite nice. The bushes are edged, the beds are weeded (for the most part), and the yard is mowed. The fence fell down while I was at work, and Mike had to prop it up with the help of some neighbors. That's next on the list too.

We've decided we really are liking our neighborhood and feeling like we're taking good care of our place here.
That feels good.

the meaning of burgersmeasly

i'm watching an elephant play soccer. who knew?

Andrew has developed a fascination with waterfalls. he likes to make them in the sink when he helps me with the dishes. He'll stack dishes in this formation so that the water cascades in riverulets. I have to make sure and put them away when he's not looking though. He gets a little attached to his work.

Made the boys burgersmeasly this morning and then had a fifteen minute (well, it might have only been 5minutes) discussion about why we call it that. I tried to tell him that it was the german word for what our breakfast was, but he was having none of it. I think he actually wanted to know the origins of the word and what it would sound like if we said it in english. The kid's 6! You'd think he'd slow down a bit!

Ben is definitely teething. He was up between 10 and 11 last night, cause he NEEDED a major cuddle on the couch, which turned into a big-eye charm turnon to get the remotes. I can still see the front bottom two sticking out, but the rest of his gums are pretty swollen too. poor kid.

This is Ben, same location as below. I think the finger in the mouth is priceless.
This is the most recent photo of the three oldest, taken at the mountain goat feeding area. I think we went in February or March. Anyway, they're all very cute.

hello

welcome to the world of my blog! I'm sure you're all very excited. me too.

So, the updates:

Adam is learning to read, and insisted on checking out all-snake books from the library this afternoon. We were at the library because I'm a pushover. We stayed at the library and played with the puzzles while Ben crawled on the rug and pushed over neatly stacked piles of books, and waited for Mike to come and rescue my keys which were stuck in the van. It's been raining hard since about 1 this afternoon, hence the library. At any rate....
Andrew and Adam swept off the driveway in the middle of said downpour for 40minutes after we got home, during which time Cole quizzed me on multiple diverse Pokemon names, Ben stuck old food in his mouth and I made taco soup. Adam very kindly told me that we should have that more often because it tasted so good. He is a sweetie.

Ben prefers to lean his head on my left shoulder, which feels akward to me, but which must be pretty comfortable for him. Yesterday, Sarah Ditto commented after RS that she didn't know my baby could talk. Well, that fallacy was corrected. Ben is definitely feeling better. He is back to bouncing when he's picked up, but can't stand to hold still if he sees something that needs holding and exploring: his favorites right now are mom's cellphone (he doesn't care to punch the numbers so much as just hold it and feel important) and the TV remotes. Those buttons he loves to push. He gets a kick out of frustrating the system.

Mike and I are thinking Montesorri for Cole starting this next school year, but there are two in the area, and I've only checked out one so far. When I went to for my tour though, Cole jumped right in with his usual enthusiasm with the classroom activities. The director told me this was very unusual for a 4yr old to do right off the bat. He was right in there doing the activities with minimal direction. The director asked me if he had ever been in childcare or preschool before, what kind of training he'd had. I told her he'd just been with me, although he got out to playdates now and then.
Anyway, made me feel kinda good. Oh, here is where I insert a little shout-out to Rebekah's KinderReady kit.
Let's see.... nothing else right now I guess. I caught up on the laundry, we did some weeding before it started raining (leafs= good mulch, but offer lousy sunshine ratio, by the way), and I found out today that me at home during the day is equivalent to a 100k+salary.
sigh. some things are priceless, but hook me up with some of that!