It's About Time- part 2

Today I'll update you on the one and only princess of the house.  Julia continues to delight us every day.  We love to hear the things she imagines and tells us about.  We love to see her dress up and dance around, always tossing her hair in dramatic fashion.  We love to snuggle with her and see her lovingly care for her babies.  She's still the best cleaner-upper of all the kids.  And we won't focus on that stubborn streak that has her sometimes standing on the steps out front, screaming her head off because I won't carry her into the house...nope, let's not linger there!

So what is Miss Julia into lately?  She has had a few new experiences--or at least new to her because she didn't remember them from last year.  She squealed with delight the whole freezing time we went to the pool on Memorial Day.  Loved it.  Laughed like crazy.

She also enjoyed a tea party at Nanny's with all her girl cousins.  I didn't tell her what she was doing till we got there and she was so excited to find out.  It was very fancy and she got to eat lots of treats.

BYBC was very different for her this year because she was at a different house than I was.  She cried all 4 days when I left her, but stopped as soon as I left.  She ADORED being at the house with a few babies and took on the persona of one of the moms there, imitating the things she had seen her do with her baby.  My friends say she did just find without me and I was glad I decided to let her go alone.  She's been crying when I leave her in nursery, which she didn't even do as a baby, so it was good to get her a little more independent experiences.  And she did have her trusty "night-night" with her the whole time. My friends say night-night got to do all the activities along with the other children:)

Night-night has become like her invisible friend.  She tells me all about night-night's feelings and emotions (which are actually what Julia is obviously feeling but won't admit).  She says she is night-night's mom and that when she's afraid, night-night says, "It's okay mom," and then she feels better.  Sadly, night-night is rapidly deteriorating and will likely not make it through too many more washings!

Lately, Julia continues to adore all things princess or fairy and is slowly getting back into playing with her brothers.  She wants to help me make every meal, which of course makes things a little more difficult, but I have a vision of one day being able to commission her to make dinner and that keeps me going!  She LOVES telling the boys all sorts of announcements.  i.e. If I tell her what we're having for a meal, she immediately jets out of the room and shouts to them, "Boys!  We're having ____for supper!"  They are usually in the next room and heard me say it and respond to Julia in a less-than-enthusiastic manner:)

The theme of Julia's life lately is "don't leave me out!"  She wants to do everything everybody else does and greatly resents being told she's too young or too little.  I once told her Daddy got to do something because he was big and she told me, "I'm big as Daddy too.  I just looked at mine-self in the mirror and I was!"

Other Julia-isms:

She loves to talk on and on about nothing that makes any sense.  (please no one say she's like me in that regard!!)  The other day in the library, she walked around in circles chatting away to no one in particular about all the "childlen in their countries and their relationships".

She was sick a few weeks ago and asked me, "Mommy is my theether gone?"

She was convinced the holiday we celebrated last weekend was "Thodder's Day" and could be for anyone in the family.  No amount of explanations cleared up the fact that fathers and daddies were the same thing.

She's into getting married and having babies lately.  She told me she wants me to have a baby (don't get excited, we aren't on the same page on that one!) and she said about herself, "I got married cause I have a Daddy husband."

And my personal favorite, while playing cars with the boys, she said, "Which car are you?  I'm the racist!"

It's About Time! part 1

I know, I know....if anyone still bothers to check this blog, I have been sooo behind on posting.

The end of school, our first ACT for Justice meeting, KNO, and Backyard Bible Club all collided in a matter of a couple of weeks and something had to give!

This post will also be painfully devoid of pictures, as I have taken very few in the last couple of months.

So such as it is, here is our update:

(I'll start with Gray today)

Gray finished off the school year well.  Academically, he had an awesome year and his teacher was very pleased.  Emotionally, he survived his first year "away from home" and made friends easily.  Behaviorally, it was definitely tough for him at times.  He is a silly boy that likes to make people laugh and much prefers keeping things light-hearted, as opposed to focusing and being serious.  He has a lot of trouble tuning in to what people are saying when there is a lot going on or he's in his own world.  These things don't bode well for a group learning environment, but he did improve a lot.  Discerning what is lack of discipline vs. immaturity vs. personality has been a continued challenge.

He enjoyed a fun-filled end of school time, with a Mother's Day lunch, an ice cream party, a final project celebration, a classmate's birthday party, and lots of fun projects at school.

I made a chart of things the boys must do before watching a movie each day this summer.  It is long and it turns out we are much more on the go than I imagined, so some days, we've pared it down to the essentials.  Gray has done really well with this.  He's already improved a lot on his bike riding and basketball skills.  We've had some great conversations from his prayer journal work and he's had a good time doing lots of drawing.

He's gotten to do a few special things this summer already.  He got to have a campout with Pa, Joshua, and cousin Jackson last weekend.  It was full of fun boy stuff-- a treasure hunt Pa made himself, shooting a bb gun, catching lightning bugs, staying up late.  Gray was so tired he took a rare nap the next day.  Joshua didn't nap, but spent the evening in a very obvious daze.

Gray also got to participate in his second year of Backyard Bible Club, along with Julia, Joshua, and me.  I was at the boys' club this year, which was good to be with them...I wasn't ready to give them up so soon after school ended.  It was a ton of fun and Gray was his usual enthusiastic self, happily taking part in all the activities.  They played a game the last day similar to Duck, Duck, Goose, but instead of tapping people with your hand, you did it with a dripping wet sponge and then squeezed it on the person who was "goose".  Some of the kids barely squeezed it on their selected person.  Gray watched lots of other kids get picked and patiently waited for his turn.  Then he was chosen and when he went around the circle and got to the "goose" he chose, he didn't just squeeze a little- he squeezed every drop out of that sponge, howling with laughter.  That's Gray.  He just eats up the silly, fun stuff and always has.

Finally, Gray has gotten to try a new activity- Jiu Jitsu.  On Thursday, Matt all of a sudden decided to take the boys to a free kids' class at the place behind the gym.  Gray was ready!  Didn't hesitate a bit.  He enjoyed it Thursday and they went back Friday.  On one teeny problem.  Jiu Jitsu is serious business.  Gray is not up for serious business.  I didn't see the classes, but Matt says he just wants to be silly and laugh and interact with the other kids and was the only one who wasn't following directions well.  Ouch.  It's tough to have your kid stand out in a negative way--and this isn't even really a big deal!  I think we're still going to give it a go, though Gray says he's sore and it makes him too tired so he doesn't want to do it:)  Did I mention he's not into hard work?

But I know God made this child just the way he wanted him.  His enthusiasm for life and fun-loving spirit is a treasure that we just have to figure out how to direct.  I'm so interested to see how he'll do as a first grader.  We did decide, on the last week of school, to send him to Joshua's school.  He has a few reservations but is mostly good with the decision.  I'm praying the teacher he gets is just right for him and is able to encourage his strengths and patiently work through those weaknesses.  I'm excited to see him make new friends and for us to feel settled at this school, able to whole-heartedly support it, rather than feel torn between the 2 elementary schools.  In the meantime, now that the busiest part of the summer is behind us, looking forward to lots of time with Gray and the others!

Last piece of news-- Gray lost his first tooth this month!  It didn't even seem that loose, but we were at a party and all of a sudden it was gone.  We figure he ate it.  Typical Gray, since he's eaten all sorts of interesting things in his little lifetime!

Lately....

No time for words this time, but you can imagine your own captions:)

Mother's Day Reflections

It's Tuesday and I'm just now looking at my creations Joshua made for me at school last Friday, which apparently didn't dawn on him to give me on Friday or Saturday or Sunday, but were casual tossed to me as we headed out the door for school on Monday.

I love how much Mother's Day teaches me about myself.  For example, did you know my favorite food was "puting" (pudding)?  Me neither, but Gray did.  He also enlightened me to the fact that I am a "grayt cook" (pun intended??).  At least it was no surprise that the thing I like to do is to hug Gray.

Joshua also said I'm really good at cooking.  I need to remind him of this the next time he come hopping expectantly over to the dinner table and his face falls when he sees what's on his plate.  He said if he could buy me anything it would be flower seeds...sweet and I would love that!  He had two Mother's Day questionnaires in a book for me and both mentioned my love for naps and that I'm 30 years old.  Well I'm 31, but who's counting?  And I really have toned down the nap-taking this year!

I love that Joshua answered "What does your mom do while you're at school?" with "I don't know."  Yep, I just wander around all day, staring into space, taking naps, and thinking of what a good cook I am.

Last in the book Joshua gave me was a poem that I think says a lot about me and him:

My mom is as pretty as:  a parrot.
She is as sweet as:  a kitten.
She is as smart as:  a dolphin.
But most of all, she is as special as:  me!

A few months ago, Matt discovered frozen gluten-free waffles that are pretty cheap.  Thus was established Saturday frozen waffle breakfasts.  Apparently this is the greatest thing I've ever done for my children as it was mentioned multiple times in every Mother's Day thing given to me.

So how was Mother's Day here?  It was nice.  Saturday Matt gave me some chocolate and forced me to pick a Red Box movie, since I never will decide what we watch.  Sunday he made breakfast (but he usually does that) and we went to church and had lunch with Matt's family, prepared by his sister.  It was nice.

But I think this year was different.  I have been reading so much about the terrible suffering of so many that I looked at this day of celebration with new eyes.  In the past, I've always thought what made a good Mother's Day/birthday/etc was people serving me, getting some fun gifts, feeling special.  This year I remember all the people that have never been treated kindly a day in their lives.  Makes me feel ridiculous for wanting these extra special days every year.  Every day of my life someone has shown me kindness and love.  Am I some sort of queen that needs even more attention, even more nice things?  I don't think so.  And what has that mentality ever gotten me over the years?  Certainly hasn't made me any more like Jesus, who was so perfect, so loving, so holy, yet didn't ever demand to be treated like the king that he is.

So yes, this Mother's Day was nice, but really?  Every day of my life is nice.

Catching up...Julia and Mommy museum trip

I took Julia to the Museum of Life and Science about a week ago and she was thrilled to have a trip of her own with no brothers along.  It was very nice to take things slow and just let her sit and watch the animals.  The alpacas were new and very funny to look at.

Fun Fam

We had a great time celebrating Mama's 60th this past weekend.
The highlights:
-cousins enjoyed lots of play time (Sawyer: "I just wuv my cousins!")
-Matt and Hunter graciously spent lots of time with the little guys so we could have more time with Mama and the other adults
-Daddy and Matt took our kids out to eat--a lovely time in which Julia threw a fit and also peed on Matt
-The ladies had a great time at the Mint Museum and out to lunch
-We threw a fun party with lots of family, food, games, laughing and more laughing
-We all gave Mama cards/notes to show our appreciation...except Miss Abby, who made an entire book, complete with table of contents.  She "reluctantly" wowed us with a dramatic reading of her very impressive story.

Easter Weekend