Mother's day 2020

Each year, I try to take pictures with each of the kids on Mother's Day. Here are the pictures from this past May:

Theodore was first to get a picture with me. He's always available!

Lincoln was the next most available. I love his smile!

Cecil took some cajoling to come over and smile.
Later, we played Carcassonne together as a special Mother's Day activity.

Daddy made Levi laugh for the picture!
I believe we did a puzzle together for our special activity.

Theodore: 1 year

Theodore is a year old now! 

remnants of the birthday cake adorn the birthday boy

He loves to:

flip light switches

play peekaboo

 put things in containers

eat cucumbers and tomatoes from the garden

swinging at the playground

eat blueberries straight off the bush 

get wagon rides from his big brothers

Some things he does now:

Goes up and down stairs with ease

Points at something interesting and says, "that"

Stands on his own for brief moments

Copies everything Lincoln does

He'es also adorable, but that's nothing new!

Growing!

I love Spring! I love the flowers, the promise of new life, little bitty plants in the garden--all of it! Here are some pictures from our spring this year.

Heading out to the garden!

Pointing out the watermelon seedlings :D

I promise he's not trying to look grown up! He's just proud of our green blueberries

Grandma Laura's roses are really something!

This gorgeous rose bush was cut down several times in the name of the hedge, but just kept coming back! This year is its most beautiful yet. We're going to find a way to keep it from getting chopped this year.

This bush has gotten so big! 

Cucumber

Zinnias--to attract pollinators! (don't worry, I'm going to thin them)

Carrots! (also going to be thinned)

Levi's trying to point out a developing pear.
We're finally going to get pears this year! (I planted the tree at least 4 years ago)

Can you smell this picture?!
Look closely for the photobomber.

Just precious.

He looks so worried!

Levi cleared out this area with just loppers and brute force!
Before, the area was impenetrable and you couldn't see the fence back there.

The thorns on these trees are vicious. It's called Callery pear and it's an invasive species.
These trees made up bulk of what Levi cleared out, along with a fair amount of privet.

This is similar to what the other area looked like before it was cleared out.

He likes to nibble on the clover

 I have to say, my garden is coming along nicely, but I love my crop of boys even better!

Father's Day 2019

Father's Day started out pretty well for us. We went to Stake Conference, and the older boys handled the 2-hour meeting really well! It helped that we had new activity books for them with a special coloring mechanism (they're called Water Wow by Melissa and Doug and I totally recommend them for keeping littles busy! Lincoln even enjoyed them for a while!)

The password of the day was "Happy Father's Day!" and it was cute to see/hear Austin asking for the password and the kids' chorus of "Happy Father's Day!"

Austin has been teasing the kids for the last month that they'd have to fan him and be his foot rest, so this happened...

Neither Levi nor Cecil wanted to be the foot rest, but then Cecil suddenly volunteered. It was super duper cute. Right after I took the pictures, Austin thanked Cecil for being so sweet and told him that he didn't need to be a foot rest anymore. Levi made the fan himself!

Levi's recent accomplishments

Levi sewed this bag all by himself! I was patching some holes in the knees of his pants, and he wanted to try out sewing for himself. I showed him how to thread a needle, knot the thread, and that he needed to have all the sewing on the inside of the bag to make it look better. I also showed him how to sew on a button. Months later, he also repaired his favorite stuffed animal with no supervision from me. All I did was thread the needle and tie the knot; he did the rest himself!

Levi has also been honing his cooking skills! He cooks Pasta Sides (like Hamburger helper) all by himself! He regularly asks to be allowed to cook. He and Cecil love it. He also has made macaroni and cheese.

I am so proud of Levi for learning these important life skills. I look forward to teaching him many more!

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!