Wordless Wednesday

E's picture of the family...Made me laugh...X isn't really shorter than C, yet.

The Cherry Tree

 E's pose for the camera...Not quite sure what she's doing, but she thought she was cool.  She's coming up with all sorts of ideas for her 'age 7' picture.  We are 'practicing'...but I need to borrow a better camera that hasn't been spiked down a set of stairs to ensure a good picture when the opportunity presents itself.  Looks like this one has a nice thumb mark on the lens.

I tried getting a picture of the 'olders'...but that didn't work out very well either.  Too much sun for pictures...but just the right amount for enjoying the day!  The kids loved getting outside and playing in the beautiful weather.  They were even pleading with me to get out the pool, but somehow, I didn't think 65 degrees warranted the pool.  That did not stop X from wearing shorts, however.  They played and played and played outside.  It was great!




The kids LOVE our cherry tree.  I think it is the thing that they will miss the most when we move.  They all enjoy climbing in it.  E loves it the most.  I'll be thankful if we can move without her falling out of the tree and hurting herself.  She's getting entirely too confident in her abilities to scale that tree.  It makes me nervous.  The tree does make a very fun place to take pictures.  Notice that the tree can even hold your lightsaber when you are climbing.

























C climbs the tree as well.  Well actually, he climbs the fence and then perches himself in the tree.  To get out, he generally gets stuck between the fence and tree and needs rescuing.  However, that is better than plunging out of the tree and needing an ER visit.  Doesn't it make you feel better to know he's wearing a bike helmet to protect his cranium?!  He wears it everywhere...in the car, in the house, playing outside.  He must know that his little head needs some extra protection.

 The nice thing about the tree is that more than one child can fit in it at a time.  I think all three have been in it more than once, but I never have the camera at the time.  E does watch out for her little brothers when they are in the tree and bosses  or helps them out.  She is the little mother hen at times.


















This is an even better picture of the safety measures in our house.  On a branch, in the tree, with his lightsaber to keep any crazy birds (or siblings) away. That doesn't scream immanent ER visit...Sometimes I wonder how I will survive life with my boys.  But, I do remind myself that somehow boys do tend to survive their insane antics and crazy behavior.


While all the tree climbing was happening, this is X's activity.  He was chasing something determined to deliver a death blow with his lightsaber.  We are very well protected around here.  Everyone is armed with a lightsaber and the 'force'.  Intruders beware.

Enjoying Spring

We have been loving the nice weather of the last few days.  E was bummed last week when we didn't take 'spring break' when everyone else in the area did.  However, she has loved all the time she's gotten to spend outside this week when everyone else was back in school.  We have spent lots of time outside soaking in the sunshine and nice weather.  Homeschooling does have some wonderful perks!!


My Jedi are practicing their light saber moves.  Don't they look menacing?



They also love posing for the camera in strange ways to look more feriocious.


Playing the backyard...climbing the cherry tree, digging a plethora of holes, and swinging are all in full swing.  It is wonderful that E can finally swing herself.  I thought she was never going to develop that skill.  However, now I worry that C is going to get leveled as she's swings and pays no attention to his wanderings.  I guess I can't have it both ways.



One of course cannot forget, Super C!  He refuses to take off his pjs some mornings.  I made the deal with him yesterday that he could keep his pjs on until I had to change his diaper.  He stayed dry until 4!  Whoo-whoo!  Of course, I did all the work.  I'm trained very well to have him sit on the potty every couple of hours.  Oh well.  It is a learning process and its coming.  He even wore undies successfully today for a couple of hours.  Someday he'll decide that he wants to wear them all the time.  Back when he had no control, he wanted to wear them constantly.  Now, that he has basic control, he refuses to wear them.  Silly boy.  This too shall pass...all the phases do regardless of how long they seem at the time.

Last night, we took our first family walk of the evening.  All three kids rode bikes.  Jut and I got to walk holding hands again...instead of pushing a stroller.  Oh the little things that are nice about not having babies.  :)

X is doing very well on his new bike.  We've had it out several times already this spring.  He's a pro at riding...starting and stopping, now those are skills that are not fully developed.  The years on the balance bike made learning to ride a breeze.  However to stop, he just tips over into the grass and to start, he needs you to balance him.  The bike is a bit too big for him to get started easily, but I think by the end of May, he'll be able to do it anyway as he builds his confidence.

C rode the balance bike most of our walk also.  I couldn't convince him to take the cape off to ride the bike but thankfully he didn't notice it stuffed into his hood.  It has gotten absolutely filthy from bike riding.  And when you wear it all day, every day and to bed, it doesn't leave much time to wash it.

It is amazing how quickly C is picking up on the balance bike too.  You can already see him balancing more and getting the hang of it.  He won't be gliding down the hills anytime soon, but he's learning.  It is amazing to watch how quickly they pick up on it.  He'll do better once we get air in the tires, too.  Everyone's tires are a bit soft from the winter still.

I dropped...or 'spiked' might be a more accurate term...the camera down the stairs to the new house on Saturday. It broke off the shutter and lens protection.  So...the pictures are not the best and I don't know how long the camera will last without any lens protection...but it has made it a week..

I'm the Baby...I sleeping

C didn't fit into E's doll cradle when he was born...let alone 2.5 years later...but here he is.  Pretending to be the baby.  He makes me laugh as much as he makes me shake my head.

An Answered Prayer

So, today I was in the kitchen getting lunch ready for the munchkins.  I look out the back window and see C climbing the fence in the backyard to get into the cherry tree with his siblings.  He is over half way up.  He almost flips over the top in the 5 seconds as I consider my best course of action.  If I go out and take him out of the tree, there will be an instantaneous fit and unless I bring the screaming, crying flailing child inside with me, he'll just climb right back up in the tree.  If I bring him inside, he'll be inconsolable and make completing lunch mostly impossible.

However, if I leave him outside, death (or at least a cracked cranium) is imminent.  But, it is going to happen before I can reach him anyway because in the 5 seconds I've been arguing with myself, he's almost taken a header twice and it will take me 30 seconds to get out there anyway and if I cause him to rush, he'll get clumsy and increase his chances of the cracked cranium.  Where does that leave him, me or us??  There is no quick solution to this problem.

I sighed and asked the Lord to protect my crazy little boy for another few minutes until I could get lunch ready.  Thankfully, He did.  He didn't flip over the fence.  He managed to wedge himself in the tree so tightly that I had a hard time getting him out once lunch was ready.  God answers prayers.  I don't want to test C's guardian angels unnecessarily, but I am thankful that today God said, "Yes, today I will keep him in the tree."

Overheard

I stepped out of the shower this morning and overheard this exchange.

A very excited voice, "I want a cuddle!"

A very grumpy reply, "No cuddles. I DO NOT want a cuddle! Agh!"

"I want a cuddle!" Then scuffling sounds....

"Agh!  Mom! I don't want cuddles!"

I guess older brothers aren't as melted by the request for cuddles like moms are.

And...E reminded me later the cuddles request was from the Cuddly Dudley book from the library  that we borrowed a couple weeks ago.  Kids' ability to remember things amazes me.

Tonight's Conversation

C was sitting on my lap.  He looks at me and says, "I'm your baby."

I agree with him and give him a cuddle.  He is in this stage and says stuff about being a baby or THE baby all the time.  (One might think that his status of the baby was about to be interrupted or something...but unless he knows something that I most certainly do not, his placement as the 'baby' is pretty well established.)

E is sitting across from us and says, "I'm Mommy's baby too!"

C looks disgruntled and replies, "No, you're Daddy's baby."

I laughed and said, "Whose baby is X?"

C was quiet for a second mulling it over and then pipes up, "He's Isbesth's."

X came sauntering in a few seconds later and C quickly informed him that "You Isbesth's baby!"

It made us laugh.  He's such a crazy little boy that thinks Mom belongs to him...and him alone.  He has to be cute and sweet or else I might get too exasperated with his crazy antics.