E at 6 years old

E is six...hardly seems imaginable.

Let's see...what can I document for E at 6...

E wanted to earn some money so that she'd have more money to spend after her birthday.  So, she designed posters (or 8x11 white pieces of paper with some stickers) to sell.  First, she wanted to charge $1, but I asked her if that was a fair price and she decided it wasn't.  So, she lowered the price to a penny.  Upon reflecting on that price, she decided that wasn't high enough because she'd only make 6 cents.  So, she decided ten cents was a fair price.  Then, she set to selling them.  Her dad and brother bought one.  She tried selling them in the yard but no one passed by.  After her initial success and then stalemate, she made a few more 'boy' posters with hand-drawn Yoda, Thomas, and Darth Vadar combinations.  Then, she decided to sell them at her birthday party and told everyone to bring a dime to buy a poster, but she forgot and so only G'ma Daron got to purchase them.

E decided that she wanted to do a show for her birthday party for her guests.  She had it all planned out.  She was going to be Kira from the Barbie Princess & the Popstar Movie.  X was going to star as Tory (the princess) or Riff (the obnoxious, hyperactive dog).  She decided she need a practice run with G'ma and Aunt Stacey on Saturday...well, she decided preforming was a little nerve-wracking and that they were a big enough audience so the birthday party participants didn't get a show.  But, that doesn't keep her from singing the theme song repeatedly when it is just us at home..

E loves to read.  We've read almost all of the classic American Girl books this winter/spring.  We've read Samantha, Addy, Felicity, Kirsten and now we are working on Molly.  She started a Junie B. Jones book (reading independently) but decided she didn't like Junie B's attitude and put it away.  I was impressed by that decision.  We started Anne of Green Gables this winter.  We are about half way through it...she'll say things about 'scope for the imagination' sometimes and it just cracks me up.   She is constantly reading signs and containers.  It is very strange to have a reader in the house now.  It is difficult to put many things past her since she's mastered that skill.  She also reads with so much inflection and dramatic pause.  She's amazing.  I love to listen to her.  Sometimes, she over-dramatizes things and it is a bit over the top, but regardless, it is impressive for age 6.

She amazes me with her addition skills.  We did a bit of it but not much this spring...nothing over a sum of ten.  She'll just out of the blue add some things in her head and says...'Well, that is 14'...and she's correct.  She surprises me all the time.  It is fun to watch her blossom.

E's handwriting and drawing skills have exploded this year.  That has been a fun development.  Her writing is so much better. She loves to writes notes during church.  Her spelling is even pretty good for someone that hasn't had any formal spelling lessons.  I love reading her notes that she leaves me in the pews.  They always make me smile.  Her drawings have changed from stick figures to body shapes and details in her art.  It is amazing to see her progress through the year.  I love being her teacher and seeing all the changes!

For pretend play, E is sometimes the princess or the popstar, but generally she's Princess Leia or Queen Amadala.  Star Wars reigns supreme at our house.  She loves playing the XWing game or Star Wars Wii.  Jut has introduced the olders into some very basic role-playing type scenarios.    E LOVES it when Jut puts them to bed because he doesn't read to them...he tells stories.  He makes the stories up based on characters that they'd like to see in the stories.  This winter the stories involved Princess Rose and Prince Birch...now they typically are Star Wars themed.

My little girl is gone.  I have a 'big' girl now.  She gets in 'big' girl trouble by having improper attitudes and being mean to her brothers.  Time outs are no longer an effective form of punishment.  I no longer have to brush her teeth for 2 minutes every night...I just have to 'double check' them.  She picks out her own clothes...puts on her own shoes...and is generally self-sufficient (at least compared to the boys).  She is my ever-present helper.  She's always willing to run for diaper wipes or chase down shoes for the boys.  She's my eyes when I'm busy doing something else.  I know she's shout bloody-murder if they are doing something improper.  She's very responsible and a great little mother hen.  If I tell her to keep an eye on C while I run in the house for something, she's his shadow until I get back outside.  I have to be careful to remind myself that she's only six and I don't really want to encourage that bossy, mother hen attitude, but sometimes her help is invaluable!

Happy 6th Birthday, E!

No birthday cake for this 6th year old.  She just wanted a raspberry pie...and truthfully, I didn't mind in the least.  We all love raspberry pie.

Woefully Inadequate...

That is how I'm feeling after today...tired, weary and inadequate.  Today was not my first time dealing with this situation...the first time happened when I was eight months pregnant with E and I had a lady show up on my doorstep at 7:30 at night demanding, "Did you know?"  Thankfully, I was blissfully unaware and had no idea.  So, I sat with her for the next few hours and listened and supplied kleenex, while frantically praying Jut would come home and help deal with the situation.

Today, I got to sit and listen to another lady in a similar situation.  Thankfully, the situation isn't nearly as dire...but the hurt, confusion and anger are still very real and her marriage is in danger.  So, I sat and validated her feelings and was a sounding board for her anger, frustration and confusion.  But seriously, what do you say in those situations?!  Ministers go to school and get classes in dealing with the messy situations of our human existence.  Minister's wives (of which I try not to classify myself in that category...but regardless I am) don't...at least I didn't.  My education solely dealt with children and how to teach them...and if their life was too messy, I'd send them to the counselling office. The problem is I am now part of the counseling office (whether I like it or not) and empathy isn't one of my gifts.  I am very inadequately in dealing with messy life and stupid life choices that I can't fix.

Ugh.  That is how I feel about ministry today.  Ugh.  Stupid people making stupid choices that adversely effects everyone in their sphere of influence.  Selfishness is so short-sighted...but I guess that is the key to selfishness...self.

There is another situation that weighs me down as well...again, one that I have no influence over and can't change the outcome, but I wish for all involved that I could change it.  Life is messy...even in the church.  Sin messes people up and makes them make foolish choices that have adverse effects.  Reality disciple isn't fun...it isn't fun for my children...but it hurts even more for adults because those consequences have lasting results.  .

The answer to all this 'life' is prayer.  I can't make people change.  I can't slap them upside the head and knock some sense into them.  I can't save them from the consequences of their actions.  All I can do to influence them is keep them in prayer.  So, that's the key that I need to remind myself.  People need prayer and I firmly believe that prayer can influence the ultimate outcome in these situations.  So, I guess that means instead of worrying about all these people and feeling inadequate to give advise...or the lack of advise I have to offer...I just need to cover them in prayer.  I can do something...even though I feel that physical violence and just yelling, "STOP IT!" at a few key people might be more satisfying.

Bye-Bye Training Wheels...

 I told E last Saturday that it was time to lose the training wheels.  I made her come inside, put on some jeans and a bike helmet.  Jut took off the training wheels while she was changing. We went to the neighboring church's parking lot and started lessons.  She did great.  I didn't have to hardly hang on and I let go the first time after running with her a bit.  She did well.  But, then she hit the center curb and crashed.  She jumped right up and declared, "Just a bit of damage!" and was ready to go again.  I didn't even have to run with her after that...just had to get her started.  She could go 2 or 3 times around the parking lot without stopping by the time we went home.  However, the center curb was still giving her trouble by jumping out in front of her occasionally, but she never really got much 'damage'...didn't even require any bandaids when we got home.

We went back out in the afternoon.  She did wonderful again.  She figured out how to start herself in her second attempt at riding without the extra wheels.  That made my job so much easier.  I didn't have to go to her each time she stopped.  She just got herself going again.  She did great.  Steering was still an issue and she couldn't ride on the sidewalk because she'd run into things and couldn't keep it on the pavement.

However, tonight she mastered it.  Attempt #3 secured mastery!  She could start, stop and go where she wanted.  She was flying.  It was fun to watch her joy at her ability.  She did great.  When we went home, she rode on the sidewalk the whole way without any problems.  I've very proud of how well she did!

Of course, the boys were with us too.  X and C had more fun throwing dirt into the drain...C even thought that eating it was wonderful...crazy boy.

X rode his bike most of the time.  He is a champ on that little bike.  He can zoom around that parking lot almost as fast as E can peddle...sometimes faster, I think.  I love watching him fly down hills.  Balance bikes are awesome!!

The sun was bright and C wanted my hat.  He put it on himself and left it there for a quite a long time.  I thought that he was too adorable not to photograph...even if it was a touch on the large side.

Spring *finally* arrives

We waited for spring to arrive...and with its arrival it jumped straight to summer...but we'll take that over the snow that was flying at the end of April.  We've had so much fun outside for the past 2 weeks.  Its been so fun to be outside and take some pictures again.  I love the changing of the seasons!!  Every season change brings some kind of excitement.  Although, I think spring brings out the most excitement.

We were suppose to go away for the most of the week, but our plans were delayed/cancelled (depending on how today goes for the family we were going to visit).  However, we've enjoyed our last two days at home.  We met with a contractor regarding the house (Yipee!!) and today worked on E riding her bike without the training wheels.  Fun family times.

*Almost* Wordless Wednesday

This is what happens at dinner when you enjoy playing outside all day and don't take time for your afternoon nap...you can every sleep through your dad's laughter and table pounding.

X at 3.5

The last six months for X has changed in one major way...He was introduced to Star Wars!  His life will never be the same.  Everything has a Star Wars slant now.  He shoots (bazoom-bazoom) everything.  He either has a light saber in his hand or a gun (however, to the casual observer, it probably appears to be a stick).  He loves Luke and Chewie.  My favorite quote from him this winter was, "Chewie thinks Pedialite is nonsense".  The "no wookie noises at the table rule" had to be instituted this winter.  Life has irrevocable changed...a whole new world of boyhood has entered. C has taken over the world of trains as X has whole-heartedly jumped into the Star Wars world.  All pretend play has elements of Star Wars in it.  Now, he hasn't seen the movies in their entirity, but he has seen pieces of Episodes 1, 4, 5 and 6.  They are currently watching 2.

X was hilarious when Jut told him that Darth Vadar was Luke's father.  "What?!  Darth Vadar is Luke's father?  I can't believe it!!!"  We all almost fell off our chairs laughing.  His voice inflections and utter surprise were hilarious.  I wish we would have caught it on video.

X has really matured throughout the school year.  He loves sitting at the table with E and I during school.  He picks up so many random facts about things during our lessons.  He loves to read with us and explore the world map.  He can identify the Eiffel Tower and find Michigan on the map.  I love to see his mind absorb so much from our schooling.  He loves to sit and paint with us or color or complete puzzles when we are working on lessons.  He had a 'workbook' that he enjoyed doing with us this winter.  It was on mazes and practicing his fine motor skills.  He did great at it.  Now, he is fairly good at the mazes within coloring books, too.  Just today, he started at 5 and subtracted 1 until he got down to zero using the language, "I take one away and now I have..."  I was impressed.  He is a quick learner right now.

Reading is a favorite pastime.  He loves to sit and cuddle and read books.  I think he'd spend all rest time each day reading with me if I'd allow it.  Every once in a while, I'll even read him to sleep in the evenings.  He is just so sweet.

He still is my little cuddle bug.  He'll still climb into bed in the middle of the night.  When I ask him about it in the morning, he'll tell me, "Mom, I thought you needed a cuddle so I came to give you one!".  Melts my heart every time.  If he gets tired or frustrated, all he wants to do is sit on my lap for a bit.  Cuddling is one of his major love languages.

C at 18-months

  18 months...a year and a half old...wow!  My little guy just keeps growing and progressing.  He's as fun as he is exasperating.  He is ALL boy and keeps me on my toes throughout the day.

He loves cars, trains, trucks...especially Thomas right now.  He loves wearing Thomas shirts and loves X's undies with Thomas.  He loves to have an engine in his hand at all times.  He loves reading Thomas books.  He is completely Thomas obsessed...however, he does still find the time to play with cars, trucks and tractors.

He's had a huge growth spurt in the last month.  He went from 18-month tops and 12-month bottoms to 2T shirts and 18-month bottoms in the blink of an eye.  I am just taking the shirts from X's drawers and putting them into C's.  (Thankfully X grew just enough to move into 3Ts...although it is strange to see C wearing shirts that X wore late last fall.)  He just keeps growing.  He is a bit over 32 pounds, I believe.  He's a solid guy.

He really isn't talking much.  He says, "mama" all the time.  It means, "Give me that!"  I think I preferred E's non-naming me to C's demanding using my 'name'.  He says "Da-da" for Jut.  I think he intentionally says, "puppy" and "yah" for 'yes'.  Mostly his vocal cues are unintelligible or screeches (especially for the cat...she has her own special C screech).  But, he didn't walk until after Christmas just after he turned 14-months because he could do what he wanted by crawling.  I think that he gets what he wants by pointing and screeching and so he doesn't find the reason to talk.  I've tried signing with him on and off and he just smiles and continues to screech and point.  My little stinker.

Fortunately, he has outgrown his love for emptying the refrigerator.  He will still raid it if he's hungry but we don't have to keep it constantly barricaded anymore.  That's a nice change.  We don't have to keep the kitchen chairs flipped over either.  He'll still climb on the table and do the 'table dance' if we are out there but he doesn't do it all the time and unsupervised.

He does love to color...and rip pages out of his coloring books.  He sits at the table and does 'school' with us.  It is fun to have all the kids sitting together at the table working on their different projects.
He has also learned that he loves watching the television...for awhile.  He really enjoys Thomas but he'll watch most things for several minutes.  Unfortunately when he's 'done', he thinks everyone else should be done also and he turns off the DVD player, which results in much screaming and gnashing of teeth by the other two.

He's adorable, dimpled smile gets me every time.  He's too adorable for his own good.  I love that little grin...or his bashful look when he buries his head into my shoulder.  He cuddles in at nap and bedtime.  Putting him to bed has turned into one of my favorite times of the day now that he will sit and cuddle and not fight it.  I'm so glad we are done teething until those next pesky molars erupt closer to age 2.

Chasing the big kids around the house is great fun.  We have 'poisonous' time most night before bed.  The kids run laps and chase each other...sounds very calming, does it not?!  C loves the chase and the screaming.  It is funny.

A year and a half...hardly seems possible.  He's a sweet guy...loves screaming when he doesn't get his way...but we'd all do that if it were socially acceptable, wouldn't we??