May 2012

Looking Out My Back Window

May 21, 2012

I glanced out my back window on Saturday and saw this

Only, I didn’t just see this precious moment in time, but simultaneously, my mind flashed back to several other similar moments over the past 5 years….

September 2009

August 2008

And, April 2007

One can’t help but notice a few things when observing these father/child bonding moments in the back yard.

1. Believe it or not Scott, we’ve been VERY successful in growing grass in our backyard these past 5 years! Look at the dirt our son is mowing back in 2007!

2. While the girls seem to prefer following close in step to Dad while mowing, both sons take a “I’ll take this section, you take that one Dad” approach to the lawn mowing duties.

Love those sweet moments of repetition… passages of time that remind you that while so many things change, some things stay the same.

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A Smile to Start this Rainy Monday morning..

May 21, 2012

in Darndest Things

Heard round the circus this past week…

From my 4 year old:

“Your right hand can’t know what your left hand is doing…unless your giving a hug, then it’s ok.”

Again from my 4 year old:

After pouring peroxide on her cut, she looked up at me with tears in her eyes and said, “Mom, that burns like Sprite!” (soooo hard not to laugh while she was obviously in pain)

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When my almost 2 year old spilled milk all over the table, I said, “Thanks so much buddy.” He looked up at me with a huge smile and said for the very first time, “Your welcome!” (apparently sarcasm is lost on the under 2 crowd)

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Going Cold Turkey

May 15, 2012

in growing up,Motherhood,Sleep

For the past four and half years, this has been her “go to” position for comfort.

As a baby it was great… she totally self soothed… no pacifiers to chase down or beloved blankey to snuggle. Just pop her index and middle fingers in her mouth backwards and start rubbing her ear (or twirling her hair) and she could instantly calm herself to sleep.

We knew of course this would have it’s trade off. We knew that the cost for an easy night sleep would pay its dues when it came time to break her of the habit. Because unlike the pacifiers her older siblings used, you can’t exactly throw away her fingers when you want her to stop sucking them.

And so, we put forth our best efforts to rally a campaign of no more finger sucking at age 3….

which then became age 4….

So, here we are, almost 2 months from her fifth birthday and she’s still sucking her fingers in the car, when she’s falling asleep, and when she’s snuggling on the couch….

Until this weekend….

At around 10pm Thursday night as we were driving to my SIL’s in Va, I hear here say to herself in the back of the van… “Look at me not putting my fingers in my mouth. I AM NOT PUTTING MY FINGERS IN MY MOUTH” We of course affirmed and praised this decision of hers.

Next day, “Guess what? I didn’t put my fingers in my mouth, the whole way to Aunt Karen and Uncle Jim’s or all last night or this morning in the van.”

Every now and then, when she was tempted to put them in her mouth, she’d proclaim, “Here I am not putting my fingers in my mouth.”

This was the most telling to me, because I knew it meant she was making a conscious decision not to put them in her mouth. For whatever reason she decided she wasn’t going to do it anymore.

And we praised her for it and I promised to paint her nails when we got home on Saturday night if she kept them out of her mouth.

Saturday night I painted her nails… 5 bright shades of fantastic with a top coat of glitter!!!

So, you can see all it took was ~~2 years of nagging~~ her finally coming to the decision on her own to stop doing it and she broke the habit. Cold Turkey!

I’m pretty sure this says something about her will and personality and the *fun* we’re going to have when the teen years arrive…

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Finally a GOOD season for baseball

May 13, 2012

in baseball

My son has loved baseball since he was 2. A fan of his own right. Loves it inside and out. But, I thought last year the flame might die.

Or be killed a slow and painful death.

It was a painful combination of not yet seeing a winning baseball game in his life and playing on a team which didn’t win a single game all season, topped off with having a coach that didn’t coach, just yelled in frustration at the discouraged players. My poor guys face just got longer with each game.

This season has been a complete turn around. Not only did he see his first winning Orioles game (season opener none the less), but he got put on a team with a great coach. One who knows how to instruct the kids on actual baseball skills and how to motivate them when they are behind and keep them motivated when they are ahead. He’s positive and encouraging and has truly helped bring the fun back into the sport. (and as an added bonus, the team is actually pretty good… as in I think they only lost 1 or 2 games so far this year)

One of my greatest joys is to watch my kids playing their hearts out, and having fun. This season has been great for that.

He’s scored some runs and had a few RBI’s…

He really gets the game now. He knows where the play is going to be at.

And you can see the ol’ love of the game in his eyes again… especially as he slides into base

often for no other reason than the joy of sliding in the dirt.

To make a great season even greater, his coach nominated him for the All Star team. He got to have his name called on the loudspeaker and even got an All Star pin for playing in the game. It was a memory we’ll cherish for a long time.

I gotta tell you… he’s made a fan out of me. And it’s been a great season so far.

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Monkey See, Monkey Do…

May 9, 2012

in gymnastics,siblings

Love this picture I snapped of my youngest trying to do a handstand like his sister!

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Bird Watching

May 8, 2012

in baby birds,home school,homeschool

We’ve had an exciting little addition to our homeschool room this spring… well technically, it is outside of our room, but it is best viewed looking out the window from our school table.

It seems the nest that was used 2 years ago, has been revisited this spring. Given the fate of our feathered friends 2 years ago, we were all a little nervous when we saw a Mommy robin sitting on the nest this spring.

I am not sure how many eggs she started with, but we have been able to observe one baby bird grow up in that nest.

Look at them snuggling!!

Here the Mom appears to have spotted me with the camera and is telling me to stay away from her baby!

I know this picture is kinda blurry, but you can see the little baby head sticking up to get its dinner…

Look how much the bird changed in just one weeks time!

I love his fuzzy little head. The kids decided to name him Robin Hood… since he is a robin and all. Look at him getting brave and standing on the edge of his nest.

Here he is looking like he’s ready to take flight.

I love his expression here… stretching…

Even though he’s getting older, he still snuggles up with his Momma.

I LOVE these pictures of the two of them together…

Not quite able to leave the nest for his food yet, so Mom and Dad bring it to him.

These were taking on a Friday and we don’t go down to the school room much over the weekend… It appeared he left the nest that weekend and we thought our bird watching excitement was over for the spring.

But, then a week, maybe two later, we noticed the Momma bird sitting on the nest an awful lot again. Confused, I asked Scott to take a peek inside when she was away. And this is what he found!