A couple of weeks ago, Selah did something and then looked at me and asked, "aren't I clever?"
Well yesterday, clever Selah got the lock off the snake cage. It was probably a fluke, it is too difficult for her to really figure out...I think. But Jonah's expression says it all...
~Sarah
Elijah enjoyed some time hanging out in Noah's bed, yesterday. He knew just what to do...perhaps he's trying To say he's ready for a big boy bed?
We were promised a beautiful weekend. Sadly, it was cold and not so beautiful. But Bryan was kind enough to grill some burgers and start a fire while cleaning up the mess from all the wood cutting and we enjoyed a cold, late dinner by the fire after the kids were in bed. It makes the desire for the warmer weather ask that much stronger!
~Sarah
He had taught himself how to spell and write everyone's names and loves to do so on paper, magna doodles, and out of magnets on the fridge. He also love to write letters to family members. He writes both his and Selah's name better than Selah. And his math skills are amazing. Love the "easy" kids to homeschool....the ones who just love to learn. That is so Micah.
~Sarah
Nor it's it sleep-able tonight, but it is study enough for Bryan. Hopefully they can both sleep in then tomorrow night.
We were blessed with a nice day, mostly "wasted"because we had co-op, but it was great in the evening because 40 degrees was warm enough to cut some wood outside! (Don't worry, Elijah only came outside for the picture, he was safe inside for the wood cutting.)
~Sarah
We went out to Lowe's last night to buy wood to start Jonah's and Noah's beds. Elijah was a great helper. I don't think Daddy could have managed all that wood alone.
~Sarah
And Selah's worn her swim suit every single day so far this week... too bad it's snowed 3 out of 4 days this week.
~Sarah
Elijah was the best paint stirrer I've ever seen this evening. We were so lucky to have him to help us paint Jonah and Noah's new room. We probably couldn't have done it without him. At last not the mess part. By the time we were done, he needed a bath.
Finally done for now. It, obviously, needs decorated but it's time to get the boys'new room underway so that will have to wait. Unfortunately, it has not created a new awesome sleeper of a baby, but he doesn't seem bothered by the move, either, so I'll go with that positive!
It's March 25. That's spring, by all accounts. And today, it was 27° for a high, and the low tonight is focasted to be 7°. If that wasn't bad enough, it snowed today, and yesterday. It'll be April in less than a week. PLEASE send us some warmer weather. I'm not to picky, not asking for anything crazy like 70s and sunny (though I wouldn't refuse it if that's what you sent.) Upper 4Os, maybe some low 50s, the occasional glimpse of the sun...that's all I'm looking for. We all just need to get out of the house. I'd be ever so grateful...
(Though it wasn't bad when I took a picture, we had flurries off and on all day and it was downright blizzardy a few times. The kids were so excited thinking we'd get a foot of snow. Unfortunately for them, we really just got a dusting.)
~Sarah
Elijah's first night in his new room. Here's hoping it's a good night's sleep for all!!
~Sarah
Last year, I waited to buy Selah a new swimsuit because it seemed ridiculous to buy swimsuits when there's snow on the ground. Of course, then I had trouble finding one in her size that was modest enough. So when I saw them out at Costco this weekend, I didn't hesitate to grab her one. And she didn't hesitate to put it on as soon as she saw it. And today she asked every so sweetly if she could wear it again. After the winter we've had, I couldn't say no. Dream away, little girl. Eventually summer will come and winter week be a distant memory. I hope.
(And for whatever reason, she wanted to make a sad face for the picture. Sad she can't swim yet, perhaps?)
~Sarah
Well it's a mess, but it's now blue. We felt the brown would probably be too dark in the whole room. So we switched to a light steely blue. Not what I envisioned, but probably a much better fit for a little boy!
~Sarah
Bryan was ambitious this morning and made French toast BEFORE Mass this morning. (We usually attend the 8 am Mass, so the kids have a snack before and we have a big brunch after.) He decided to surprise the kids with breakfast in bed.
Selah: I can't believe it! We've NEVER gotten to eat upstairs!!
Micah: why can't I eat at the table?
Yep. That's Micah for you. He wanted to come down and eat at the table all by himself. He's such a rule follower!
Bathroom and closet painted. Tomorrow our house will have no more pink walls. It's a little sad, we just finally decorated Selah's room last summer after Bryan got home. And it really was the only room that was totally decorated.
~Sarah
What was the only girly room in the house is about to be transformed. Selah hates sleeping alone, and cries every night because she's so scared in a room by herself. She begs every night to work in the boys' room. So we've decided to switch things up and she's moving into the castle with Micah. Jonah and Noah are moving into Elijah's room, and Elijah is moving into Selah's suite. Stay tuned...
~Sarah
Let's just say...all the kids learned was patience. It's virtually impossible to make a lemon battery with Elijah talking on the multimeter. And removing wires every time someone inserts one into the lemon. Micah's face sums it all up.
~Sarah
Selah's at the table, having a snack. On the chair next to her is this box of sweet potatoes. I'm washing dishes, my back to her.
Selah: Mom, who made sweet potatoes?
Me: well, nobody. God made sweet potatoes.
Selah: (pause, then incredulously) THAT'S GOD AND JESUS?!?
The boys were also at the table and they couldn't control themselves, they were laughing so hard. I was clueless, until I turned around and saw her pointing at the box.
Seems like we don't have enough pictures of Jesus in our house! Our poor daughter is confusing him for a modern day sweet potato farmer.
~Sarah
Daddy had salt and pepper in his lunch bag, and Mr Elijah was grumpy so he was hanging out on the counter getting into trouble. Playing with the salt and pepper was simply musical until he figured out how to open the salt. And sticky baby hands and feet attract a lot of salt-this one required a bath.
(No, he didn't use the drill to open the salt, just his little baby hands. And I have no idea what is up with his clothes. I'm thinking we may have started to undress him in all his saltiness and then realized he may as well keep playing while we finished making dinner.)
~Sarah
I was rearranging Elijah's room, in an effort to hopefully put his crib in a location that was less noisy. It was in the corner of two outside walls and it was very loud when it was windy. Plus, it was over both the kitchen table and the sliding door in the kitchen. So if anyone opened the door or made noise at the table, he would generally wake up. (Which meant the kids started eating lunch in the entryway on a regular basis.) That whole "the kids will learn to sleep through the noise" Philosophy just isn't true here. It hasn't worked for any of our kids, most of whom have been exposed to large amounts of noise from birth-or really from the moment their ears with in utero!
Back to the point of the story that includes the picture, he was quite the helper as I moved the crib! Such a sweet child!
This kid loves to clean! Hope that's not a phase and he'll keep it up as he gets older!
What happens when you have not a single pair of matching shoes or boots in the closet? You get to wear your sister's brown and pink boots to church! Lucky for him, I don't think anyone noticed. And maybe he'll put his shoes away properly now...
~Sarah
I'm a sucker for sleeping babies. Even ones who pee on their clean sheets right before I put them to bed and therefore have to sleep on the mattress pad because I can't put dirty sheets back on the bed, even if I just took them off. Good thing it's a soft mattress pad!
(Don't mind the pink sleep sack. It's all I could find at the mom 2 mom sale in his size. And since I could buy it for $2 rather than the $25 it would be new, my reasoning was no one will see him in it. Which works just fine until you post pictures of him sleeping...)
Yesterday, I went and got Micah clothes and brought them downstairs for him to get dressed for Mass. Then, Jonah and Noah came down separately, both dressed in the same sweater as Micah. They all thouht it was pretty funny. If I hadn't already picked out Elijah's clothes, I probably would have gotten him his Christmas sweater, too!
(Selah wasn't dressed yet in this photo. I promise she didn't wear that to Mass!)
~Sarah
Micah helped make lemon bars for dessert last night. I guess they were good because it was already gone by the time I went to take a picture!
~Sarah
We took advantage of the 50 degree weather today, despite the wind that ruined what could have been an amazing spring day. It was essential to take advantage, tomorrow's high is 37, Sunday's is 23. And Monday brings us St Patrick's day and a high of 29.let me tell you, they'll be sine massive green in the house for st Patrick, since we haven't seen grass since last year some time. Okay, there's been some thawing in the last week and we can see some grass, but there's still a lot of snow. Maybe we'll go paint it green...
Back to taking advantage of the weather...we finally changed the battery in the van. Now that the risk of freezing to death when stranded somewhere with a dead battery has passed. (Hey, it was too cold to even change the battery in the garage!) Noah was fascinated, he loves to learn how things work. Of course, we have no idea what we are doing and tried our best to keep him away in case something went wrong. Happy to say, the new battery is working just fine and no one was injured.
~Sarah
It's hard to say if it was Jonah's loud laughing thatwoke watching a movie (that ironically was on to keep them quiet while the baby napped) or the horrendous wind that woke Elijah after less than an hour after he went down for a nap. But it was quite obvious that he was still tired, since he went right back to sleep while nursing. And slept in my arms for more than an hour. I'll be honest, I'm not much for sitting in a quiet room holding a baby for an hour, but I tried to really enjoy it. He'll be 19 months old tomorrow, the number of opportunities to hold him, especially while sleeping, is very limited. And there's nothing that really compares to a baby sleeping peacefully in your arms.
~Sarah
She's been really handing it to us this year! It's mid March and we were just starting to see a few grass spots peeking through the snow. Never fear, another winter storm was in order! It was blowing quite fiercely out there, so thug can still see the grass on side spots, but you can see how deep the drifts are. They were calling for 6-9 inches though I didn't hear how much we actually got. It's pretty, I love the look of fresh snow, but it can stop now!!! On the plus side, the highs are in the 20s tomorrow and Bryan and the boys plan to hit the slopes. Nothing like fresh snow under your skis!
~Sarah
While Micah isn't an unusual name, it's also not a common one. So it's rare to see something with Micah on it. Bryan and I had a grocery shopping "date" the other night and happened upon this gotten free cornbread mix. Titled "Micah's mouthwatering southern style cornbread." We couldn't help but buy it for the sheer novelty of it. And he carried around for hours after we gave it to him, he was so excited. Particularly So because he can recognize his name and he showed everyone that it says Micah on it!
We made it with dinner tonight, and Micah asked me if I would like a piece of his "water-mouthing cornbread." Who could resist? Don't we all love water-mouthing cornbread?
(Note, if it didn't have Micah's name on it, I would never have bought it. One, because virtually all gluten free mixes are ridiculously overpriced. Two, because rarely is a mix as good as making anything from scratch. And I have a great cornbread recipe we love. Three, cornbread isn't difficult to make gluten free and therefore is totally not worth the markup in a gluten free mix. I hoped it would be good, even though not likely worth the price. I honestly didn't think it even came close to the recipe I normally use. Which was disappointing because I've (once) used that brand's spice bar mix-made into pumpkin bars-a it was delicious. Not worth the price, but at least very good!)
~Sarah
Selah: MOM. I need a hamster.
Me: umm, really?? Why? (No. Way.)
Selah: because I don't have ANYWHERE to put my dirty clothes!
Me: (whew!) Ahh! That's not a hamster, that's a hamper!
Selah: oh. Right. I need a hamper!
THAT I can handle!
As for the picture, I'm not sure what's up with her outfit, but Micah is threatening her at gun point to profess a love for Ohio state, and Elijah is dashing in from the side to steal the gun. He's quite the protector, isn't he? (Actually, he just wanted the gun and he really thinks he gets whatever he wants. Probably because he does!
~Sarah
Bryan stopped at toys r us with the kids today and happened to find the duck tales game for the wii u. This may not seem significant, but there's a background story. Recently, I found duck tales at Costco, and bought volume 1. I loved duck tales as a kid, and thought the kids might enjoy it. Of course they've loved it...minus Selah being terrified of the mummies in assign episode and refusing to sleep in her room alone the last few weeks. Over the course of some discussions about the show, I mentioned how there used to be a duck tales Nintendo game and it was my favorite. We didn't own it, but we could rent it. And wherever it was my turn To pick the game rental, I picked that. I couldn't remember much other than collecting diamonds in the Himalayan mountains.
So, needless to say, he surprised me with the game. Is it as fun as I remember? Well, I'm thinking I'm far worse than I used to be at Nintendo (not that I was ever good!) So I didn't do well, but it's fun having the little forgotten memories pop up. Although, I'm sure for Bryan and the kids, watching me play was pretty painful!
And it's led to some if those other discussions that make you feel old...reminiscing about life before the internet, cell phones, cordless phones, computers. Talking about doing research at the library in books, typing papers on a typewriter, rotary dial phones, VHS tapes and VCRs, cassettes and boomboxes, NO DVD PLAYERS IN THE CAR (kids are horrified. Funny, they've only had them for 3 years!), car phones...the list seems endless, really. And it's so crazy to see how much has changed in our lifetime. Can't imagine where it will be when our kids are our age. Sure does make you feel old.
~Sarah
