X is 4!

X turned 4 on Saturday.  He and C had their b'day party that evening.  It was a good time.  Aunt Jenna, Lydia and G'ma Daron arrived on Friday evening.  So, they got to spend the entire day with us.  Aunt Stacey came to our house Saturday afternoon to take the b'day boy and E out on an errand...and they managed to weasel donuts and a trip to the park out of their generous aunt.  It was a wonderful day for my little guy.

Let's see...things that I want to remember about X at 4.  He is a wonderful older brother.  He has so much patience for C's antics.  They are playing together more and more.  It is fun to watch them together.  X is a good younger brother too.  He and E typically get along very well and have lots of fun with with their imaginative play.

This summer the kids started digging holes in the back yard.  I don't think our landlord will ever believe us that we never had a dog here.  There are so many holes out back.  X loves digging the holes.  After he gets it deep enough with a shovel, he brings all his construction type toys over and plays in the dirt.  He is undoubtedly a boy with his love for dirt!

X also decided that standing on his head was fun this summer.  He loves to run to the couch or a chair and pop upside down and stay there for a bit.  I thought it was kind of weird but I read in a book that it is a 'normal' phase for boys.  Go figure.

He learned he could climb the fence to climb into the cherry tree this fall.  He loves being up in the tree with E...but he can't get down.  So, it does lead to some issues.

The boy is still completely obsessed with Star Wars.  G'ma Daron got him a millennium falcon for his b'day and he loves it...although, he loves his Thomas and the Shark too...he'd been waiting for that for a LONG time.  So, although he loves Star Wars, Thomas is still a huge favorite.  The boys spent forever playing with their new play sets today that they received for their birthdays.

School is a favorite time of day.  Lately he's been asking me, "Mom, how can I be helpful today during school?"  That means, "I want something to do."  He has a dry erase maze book that he loves..but he enjoys the math manipulatives of tangrams, pattern blocks, unifix clubes, etc.  He can generally write an "A", "L" and "X"...so, we'll get his name one of these days.  He memorizes scripture with us...he can recite the books of the new testament.  He loves to add.

He's still my cuddler.  He wants morning cuddles.  Climbing into bed in the middle of the night still occurs.  He is just the sweetest little guy.  Whining is sometimes an issue, but we continue to work with it.  Its difficult being stuck in the middle!

We started 'commision' jobs this fall.  X is so reliable.  He does his jobs every day.  He always earns his full commission.  He is a dependable guy...and he likes to make mom happy.  But, I love his willing attitude to be a helper.

We'll see what age 4 brings us!  :)

C at 2

C at age 2 is a lot of fun.  He is so much fun, but he also takes a lot of my energy.  I joke that if he were in school he'd have a one-on-one aide.  Mischief always seems to land in his lap.  Part of that is just the normal 2 year old curiosity about life and part of that is normal boy, but I think C might have received an extra spoonful of 'mischief ' when he was getting his attributes assigned.  I just found another place that he colored all over the carpet with a marker (thankfully it is washable...and grr to his sister for not taking care of things!)  He loves coloring...on everything...if it is someone else's paper or something other than his own paper, it is even more enjoyable.

He's just starting to say letters and point to words.  Now, the letters don't correspond to the words, but he's starting to become interested.  He loves doing 'school' with us...if that involves coloring or his own 'worksheets'.  He loves the dry erase boards.  He always asks for 'green' but only about half the time does he really get green out when he asks for it.  But, it is always exciting to see that initial learning occurring.

Trains are a favorite.  He loves, loves, loves Thomas.  He seems to always have an engine in his hand.  We read lots of Thomas books.  However, he does play with all of the different types of trains that are around the house...Big trains, little trains...the boy just loves trains.  He loves anything with wheels really...matchbox cars, tractors, trucks, construction vehicles.  Right now he loves the tractor and combine.  G'pa is harvesting using both and so C has spent quite a bit of time playing with his too.  He also loves playing with Duplos and building stacks.  His imaginative play is beginning to develop and I'll hear him talking with his toys.  He is at such a fun stage.

C's vocabulary is exploding like crazy.  His sentences are typically around 3 words..."Moon up sky" or "Need drink, Mom." or "Watch 'coveries, Mom" (The Great Discovery) or "Dad home?  No church.".  He LOVES to talk.  He loves that he can communicate his wishes.  He just started tattling on his older siblings.  I hear, "Mom, Nander blah, blah, blah" , or "Mom, Espeth blah, blah, blah."  I can usually only understand the first two words and then he goes on talking but I can't decipher what he's saying but I can tell by his voice inflections that he's tattling on his brother.  If the olders are excited talking about something, he has to be right there talking too.

He runs everywhere.  He's lost that toddler gait...he's all boy running.  He loves to jump...loves to jump off things (especially the furniture).  If he's not jumping off things, then he's climbing up on to things.  He has the cutest gallop.

He still likes to rock at nap and bedtime.  But, many times, he'll look at you after a few rocks and say, "crib".  And that means cuddle time is up and he's ready for bed.  Most nights he'll put himself to sleep but sometimes we end up in there for quite a while because he doesn't want to be alone while he gets himself to sleep...but that is happening less and less frequently (but it happened tonight).

His favorite book right now is a non-fiction children's book called Eruption.  It is all about volcanoes and how scientists decide to evacuate an area.  It has great pics of volcanoes but isn't your typical book that 2 year olds would enjoy.  He likes looking at the maps and point to them and say, "Casey Thailand".  He can generally point to SE Asia where Lindsey is.  But, his love of that book amazes me.  He has chosen to read it almost every nap time and bedtime for the last week.

C is currently adamant that he wants to wear undies.  But, he has no real concept about using the potty.  He's had a couple #2 successes on the potty, and he goes everyday that he naps when I wake him up but he doesn't really get it.  .  However, that doesn't stop him from refusing to wear a diaper and pulling out X's undies and putting them on.  Thankfully, he typically has very small accidents that only wet his undies when he's wearing undies, but after the second pair of undies in a morning, I get fed up with changing wet undies and force the diaper issue.  Tonight we solved the underwear issue by wearing them on the outside of his clothes...looked rather funny but much easier to clean up.

C can be a rather shy guy.  Object permanence hasn't become a reality in his world yet.  So, he shuts his eyes when he doesn't want you to see him..  He'll get shy with people and bury his head in my legs or turn his head so that he can't see them when he wants to be coy...or is feeling a bit sheepish or shy.

We sang "Happy Birthday" to him...and either our singing was awful or he didn't like the attention or something, he was quite distressed through the whole thing.  He wanted nothing to do with the candles, either.  He perked right up when he was given his piece of cake, though.  We'll see how he does this weekend for his and X's b'day party.

One last note:  C outweighs X by 1.5 lbs...he's roughly 37.5 lbs, but he's still a couple inches shorter than his big brother...so X is still mostly a clothing size ahead of him.

Happy 2nd Birthday to my Whirling Dervish

See You Later...Part 2

We bid our good friend, Lindsey, 'farewell' back in January 2011 as she left for a 27-month stint in Thailand with the Peace Corps.  She came home last spring.  She instantly became one of the kids' favorite people again.  She always made them feel special and loved.  Tomorrow she is leaving for another 1.5 year stint to teach English in a rural village back in Thailand with the Churches of Christ in Thailand.  Once again, it was hard to say goodbye, as she is one of our favorite people, but we know she's doing what God wants her to be doing (despite all the hiccups in getting back to Thailand this fall).  It is funny to think that X is now about the same age as E was when she left the first time, and C is about the same age as X was.  We know that C won't really remember her when she returns, but we'll all remember how he always called her "Casey" (her younger sister's name) until the night before she left when finally he said, "Lindsey" when looking at her picture on the camera.  But, he'll know who she is...we'll pray for her daily and send her lots of letters...and get the fun of looking forward to seeing the elephant stamped letters delivered to our mailbox.

Lindsey, you fit right back into our life so seamlessly this spring.  We treasure all the memories that were made.  We look forward to hearing about all your new adventures in this next saga of life, but we also will be very excited for when you come back again!!  Shalom, friend.

G'pa's New Ride

Last fall at the end of harvest, Dad got a new combine.  The kids have been excited for harvest season ever since because they had their own seat in the new combine.  They have spent hours climbing in and out of the combine as it sat in the shed throughout the year waiting for a chance to ride on it with G'pa.

Finally, harvest season came around.  G'pa started with beans.  One Saturday night, we all ran over to the farm to help jockey vehicles between Dad and Ronnie.  G'pa was still running some beans.  I asked if the kids wanted to go and see if they could ride with G'pa.  Without missing a beat, X jumped on that suggestion.  So, I walked him and E to the edge of the field.  Dad was dumping in the bins and I walked X over.  He tensed up as I took him up the ladder, but as soon as G'pa had him inside the cab, he was grinning from ear-to-ear.  I walk back to the edge of the field and E was in tears because she wanted to go to.  G'pa noticed and waved her over.  She scampered up the ladder and jumped in right beside X in 'their' special seat.  Away they went down the field.

They came back just chattering as fast as they could.  They were so impressed.  They can't wait for corn harvest so that they can ride it again!

C loves the combine when it is off.  He loves playing with our toy combine.  He loves climbing around the cab and ladder of the real combine when it is not running.  But, with the engine running, he has no desire to be anywhere near that noisy piece of equipment.  So, he was very content to play on the tractor while the 'big 'ns' went for their ride.

Watching the combine come down the field

Just some life...

How is it that time passes so quickly?!  I look at C and think, "Wow.  X was this old when C was born."  I can't imagine having another one right now.  I can't keep up as it is.

C is coming up on birthday #2...just a few weeks.  Crazy.  He's crazy but so much fun.  I love this age despite all the boundary testing, gravity defying behaviors and general mayhem that 2 brings.  I love the exploding vocabulary.  He had his first bleeding incident a few weeks ago involving the 'monkey tree'.  So, he loves to tell you about it.  He says, "Tree hurt knee!" all the time.  Very cute...reminds me of E when she was about the same age and got her finger caught in the toybox.  Whenever he replies to me, he always ends it with "Mom"..."yes, Mom" or "danks, Mom".  He does the same with the kids too.  He loves calling out for E...or "Esbet" and he's just really starting to say X's name..."Dersh" or something or other.  Mainly he calls X, "Luke", "R2", or "Han".  Its funny.  Imaginative play is really picking up, too.  "Monsters coming!" is another phrase frequently expelled.  He is too cute and too funny for my sanity sometimes.

Birthday #4 is drawing neigh for X.  He's still my sweet, cuddly munchkin.  He loves school.  He loves his maze book to work on during school...I think it is his favorite thing to do right now, but that may be because it is the only thing that is just his that C or E don't get to play with.  I'm beginning to see how he's getting 'squished' as a middle child...C is more physically dominating...E is just 2.5 years cognitively older.  He gets bullied by both siblings in different ways.  It is interesting to watch and help him navigate this new territory.  But, he's generally a happy-go-lucky little man and makes the best out of his situation.  He's a great little brother and an awesome big brother on most days.

E is no longer a little girl.  Thankfully the attitude is settling down now that school is into a routine.  She loves learning...loves math, science and social studies.  She is so much fun to teach (the majority of the time).  She's loving dance this year.  She's in preballet and thinks it is great.  She's already all excited about the recital next spring.  I'm hoping she'll love her class all year.  Last year got rough but she's learning new things and I think she'll enjoy the more structure to class that she has this year as opposed to last year.

School is going well again.  It took us awhile to get into a rhythm and days that we have to do errands really mess up our schedule, but we are doing pretty well.  I like the curriculum.  E likes the curriculum.  So, that is good too.  I miss FIAR somedays...the freedom to choose activities and theme and sometimes worry about the rigor of what I chose but I'm certain that it will be fine in the end.

Deconstruction (by us) has started on our house.  Financing is getting worked out.  We joked last night that if the financing doesn't go through, we are going to have quite the mess to clean up!  The baseboards are coming out slowly but surely.  Mom has been a great help each night coming out too.  We are having fun and learning a thing or two already.  I think it gets more fun each time we go out.  It is interesting to start pulling things out and figuring out what is underneath.

Jut and the kids are having fun playing Xwing in the evenings or afternoons.  X would play it every day if he could.  StarWars Wii or Xwing are his favorite things to play.  Jut loves having the kids involved.  They have a great time.

Extreme Home Makeover Daron Edition...And so it begins

After months of waiting, we are finally beginning to remodel our house.  It is hard to believe that we hatched this idea a year ago and are just beginning to move forward with our plans.  We've met with our contractor numerous times since May discussing the possibilities and budget.  He gave us the go ahead two weeks ago to start demolition.  Hopefully he'll start in a couple more weeks.

Thursday night we started the demolition process...Mom came out to help and we pulled the majority of the kitchen cabinets off the wall.

Today was a not great weather day...so Dad decided to take down the cedars that needed to come down in front of the house.  I'd never seen the front prior to today...I really liked it.

This is what the house looked like on Thursday night when we were there...

This was the view when I got out there this evening...Dad, Mom and Jut worked all afternoon but got it all taken out.

Part of me would love to keep the three stone pillars in place...I love the look from the outside...However, I'm not in love with them on the inside of the house...so they'll probably go...but I love the character that they give the outside.

So, our next goal is to take out the trim...without damaging it...that will be next week's project.