This Last Week....

Life just keeps going, doesn't it?  We have had a busy week, but it's been fun!  And maybe even a little productive too. :)  Here's what we've been up to.....

 Badger and The Little Lady are the best of friends.  He is the first one she looks for in the morning.  She says his name!  And he is so patient and good with her.  He loves to make her giggle and I think he is enjoying his first experience with a little girl adoring him.  It's really fun to see their sibling relationship develop.  I'm loving it.

 She is all cuteness....

 She has the sweetest expressions....

 And she has started eating Cheerios. Which is so fun.  She loves to eat and is super sensory with touching and mouthing everything.  I literally save her from certain death several times a day, because she puts everything in her mouth.  And though I watch her without leaving her at all, it is really hard to keep all the little pieces out of reach with four big brothers.  Today I found a teeny, tiny rock in her mouth!  And I had just vacuumed!  Anyway....she is my little monkey.... I am smitten.

 And I'm not sure if you can see it in this picture, but she just got her one top tooth! 

Also this week....we made spring cutout cookies.  It's getting more fun as the boys are more able in the kitchen.  I mixed up the dough while they did school and then let them have at it.  They rolled the dough and cut it mostly by themselves.  Then the next day I frosted while they decorated. 

 Look at those goofy smiles.  We were having a fun time.  And I didn't think of it until I saw this picture, but Badger was reading an encyclopedia about the Revolutionary War (i think it was volume 4)  while decorating cookies.  That's normal right?  This kid still plows through books faster than I can provide them. 

 Also this week, the boys had their first sleepover.  Well, first "friend" sleepover.  (we get to have our cousins usually once a summer!)  It was just two extra boys, but super fun for them.  And as you can see although it's supposed to be Spring already, we still have snow!  That didn't stop them though from playing out in the sun.  They were playing "The Battle of Bunker Hill".  And all I have to say about that is, it's really, really good to have other homeschooled boys to be our best buddies. 

 One of the highlights of my week was one morning when I got a bit of alone time with my boy.  This one just can't get enough of the outdoors.  So while the baby napped, I bribed the eldest boy with a new book to watch her so I could get outside too.  We chipped away at the thick ice that still haunts our front yard. 

 We drank some warmth together.  This boy loves coffee.  (don't worry I only let him have a sip)

 We chatted while he lay in the hammock and I pulled ice off the sprouts from the bulbs that are desperately trying to come up through the cold.  He told me about his hopes for the Summer and how much he loves his brother.  What he wants for his birthday.  How he loves that his Papa has been going for long walks with him.  This kid is such a dreamer and has such a soft, wistful heart.  Of course he is also the one who gets into the most trouble sometimes!  But oh how he has my heart!

 

 And over the week the ice slowly melted away.......

 ......enough so that we could clear off the little side porch and pull out the red chairs.  In the morning it's the best spot to grab a little sunshine and some attention from a brother.

 And lastly....I just had to include these pictures of the littlest three playing together.  The little girl just has to be right where they are.  Notice the boy's hand trying to keep the Legos away.  They are so patient with her and she so persistent!

 Look at how big they are compared to her.  That is boy #3 and boy #4.

 My little punkin.....

Love.

Learning With Friends

The boys had an awesome opportunity today.  One that they will be talking about and thinking about for quite some time, I think.  A friend of ours, a young man, from our community, brought over his Lego creation.  His amazing Lego creation.  The boys were in awe.  

 It's a tank hunter. (looked like a tank to me!) It was truly amazing.  Can you see the little blue minifigure in the above photo.  We put that guy there for scale.  This thing is really large.

 Here it is with its remote.  Yep.  It moves and turns and shoots with a aimable, reloadable gun.  Crazy neat!  I do not describe it well enough to do justice to it.  I do not have an engineering mind.  But our friend does and he explained the three motors and levers and design very thoroughly to the boys, who listened eagerly and asked all kinds of questions.  They were so impressed.  Truly.  It was such fun.

 The photo below is of the inside, with the armor removed.  

What a treat for the boys to be able to share this with our friend.  There was such a nice conversation following, such showing of Legos by the boys, showing the hermit crabs, talking about boy things.  There was even some talk of this young guy guiding our boys in the "next step" into learning about simple machines and building with Lego motors.  Cool.

The Sale

This past weekend we had a rummage sale! And I'm pleased to say that it was indeed a success! Phew! It's so much work going through everything and getting everything set up, even without four littles "helping". :) The boys were awesome though, and with the help of two good friends that also had some things to add to the sale, we were able to make a little money and clear out our home of unwanted or unneeded items. Hurray!

The boys had a lemonade and cookie stand. (chocolate chip of course) Friends and neighbors supported them in their efforts and they made almost $10. I was impressed.

Our friend, Sioux, stopped by. I think she may be one of the boys' biggest fans. :)

And today, we did quite a bit of this.

Oh, you can't tell what she is doing? Yeah, nothing. Well, perhaps dreaming about the birds and squirrels outside the window....but mostly nothing. :) We are in need of a little down time. Our sweet nieces are coming for a visit soon and we want to be ready! So we are saving up our energy and cleaning up our home in anticipation. We can't wait to see you girls! (and the mama and papa too!)

Signing off for now....time to dish up the spaghetti and meatballs with vegetable marinara (the tomato season has begun!)

Loss

Hi, friends. Just stopping by for a brief moment to ask you to pray for my dear friend J. Her mom passed away last night unexpectedly. She and her husband and her sister and brother could use your prayers. There are also 5 small grandchildren that are affected by this and countless others. If you feel led please pray for them as they deal with this tremendous loss. Thank you so much.

love,

r

Friends and Brothers

I have a big brother.  He is a cool cat.  I like him.  Ok...I love him.  I even tell him that sometimes. :)  It is a relationship that is growing, and I am thankful for that.  I want us to know each other more and like each other more.   I say this because the truth is he and I are so very different.  Really different.  But different is okay...and it didn't stop us from having lots of awesome play time together when we were kids.  There was playing "wilderness" outside in the big backyard at the old house.  Sledding, snowmen, snow caterpillars. (do you remember that b?) Swinging on the wooden swings at grandma's house.  Singing to our cassette tapes and making up dances. (is that too weird to mention? and what ever happened to that Olivia Newton John tape?)  Fun times.

Anyway, I've been thinking about this alot lately as I watch my boys play.  They do all the same kind of crazy things we did. (okay, well not the singing and dancing part...yet)  It's fun.  And funny.   They love each other.  They are bonded in a way that I can't explain even if I tried.  I want to be purposeful in nurturing their relationships with one another.  I want them to be brothers but also friends.  And I wonder what needs to happen for them to cross that imaginary boundry that takes them from one to the other.  Yeah.  That's all really.  I don't have an answer.  Just been thinking about it.  Thinking about what it means to be a friend.  

Well, now that I told you some of my thoughts about that....I will mention that today was a day of friends coming to visit.  We cleaned this morning, all together, which was kinda nice.  Then we waited for our friends to arrive, all tucked up on the big bed so we could see out the windows.  Then we played and played and fun was had by all.  Hurray!  

Thanks you two girls, who brought your kids to play.  I like both of you so much and am glad we are friends. :)