Mother's day 2019

We had a nice quiet Mother's Day here. Lincoln was sick, sick, sick, so after church (Austin stayed home with Lincoln) we just lazed around and spent time together. I took some pictures with the kids, Levi gave me a card, Austin made the meals and also cleaned the kitchen, Cecil gave me a hug and said, "Happy Mother's Day!" and Lincoln gave me the best snuggles all day long (too bad it was because he's sick!).

We had some really nice family time on the couch. Levi has recently finished reading the first Harry Potter book (!!) and watched the movie, so he made a wand for himself and was casting spells on all of us. We took turns being petrified and levitated. Austin joined in and was pretty successful at sabotaging Levi's spells by either blocking them with his hands or saying words almost the same as the ones for the spell, but not quite. When Levi and Cecil working together were finally able to keep him from using his hands to block the spells at the same time Levi was able to say the petrification spell without being messed up, Austin fell down and the boys laughed with joy, and Lincoln even cracked a smile and let out a tiny laugh despite feeling so bad.

Cecil got out our baby doll and Austin had him hold it like a new baby. Cecil was very gentle and careful; it was so cute! Then he wrapped the baby in a blanket and carried it around for a while, placing it on the couch and re-wrapping it at intervals. At one point, he asked for a diaper, which I coached him on putting on the doll but he mostly did it himself. I told him that he was getting good practice in for one day when he's a daddy, and that seemed to make him feel extra special. 

I also mentioned that when the new baby is born, Cecil won't be big enough to change his diaper, but Levi probably could! Levi seemed pretty taken with that idea and wanted to get some practice in immediately, and changed Lincoln's diaper! He even thought to give Lincoln a toy to hold without me saying anything. I was pretty impressed! I don't think Lincoln will cooperate so well in the future, but this time he seemed so taken with the novelty of Levi changing his diaper that he just watched and listened in fascination.

Cecil was pretending the hat was Cappy from Mario Odyssey. That means you can control
whoever's wearing it, even if it's a bad guy!

Poor sick Lincoln showing the camera his nose (I'm not sure why...)

Levi wanted a silly picture! He did smile normally for later pictures, but for some reason my camera had stopped working, so you don't get to see those!

The Big(ger) Boys

Here are some fun pictures of the older boys from February!

"My googly eyes are looking at you!"

The aquarium at the Columbia zoo (and a fish face!)

Even though the lighting was terrible, I couldn't pass up the photo op.
I remember having my picture taken in the very same place when I was a kid!

We didn't expect it to be so cold the week we visited, so we had to borrow heavy coats
from the girl cousins (and they were just the right size!)

At the penguin exhibit. The brochure next to his hand is the map, which both
he and Cecil were enamored with and referenced often.

The weinermobile was at our grocery store! We stopped for a quick tour and photo-op.
We have a toy version that Levi went bananas over when he was little, so it was extra exciting to see it in person!

When he finally came out. When I told him it was time to go, he said, "But what about the ride?!"
It was very spacious inside. I counted 7 seats, but there was room for a lot of other stuff if need be.

Cecil took this picture for us! 

Levi has had a bit more practice with pictures, haha

Choo-choo!

Lincoln repeated everyone and chimed in with his own "choo-choo!" It was pretty adorable, what can I say?  :D

 

I came downstairs to get everyone ready for church one Sunday and there they were, dressed all by themselves! They know that they get a free screen time on Sunday mornings if they get themselves ready for church (including breakfast). It had been harder for them to do it ever since we started meeting at 9 am at the beginning of the year, but there they were!

January

Hey guys! It's been a while, but I love sharing my life with you, and I'm looking for an alternative to Facebook. Hopefully I'll find this to be a better way of sharing my life with my family and friends.

Here are some pictures from January:

Big L did a science project to see what size balloon has the most potential energy. He hypothesized that the biggest ones would have the most energy.

We used the balloons to propel a straw along a string and measured how far they went. The big ones went the furthest, just like he hypothesized!

I've had to cut short little L's naps ever since our dear carpooling friend moved away. He used to wake up as soon as I opened the door to his room, but you see that he's still soundly sleeping even though I turned on the light as well. We've worked it out so he gets more sleep now, but there were a couple weeks where his naps didn't work out so well.

Little L figured out how to open up our doors! Since the knobs are an unusual shape, I had to make the knob covers myself. I found some examples of crochet ones, made up a pattern, and whipped out a few during a movie with Austin (Ant Man and the Wasp). This photo comes to you courtesy of C, who loves to take pictures with my phone anytime he can.

Big L recently started the gifted program at his school. On his first day, they made "brain focals!"

Eating frozen blueberries makes him look like a monster!

Sitting in the toy box

A was asleep, so the boys got a hold of his glasses

Lots of cuteness ensued!