Happy 3rd Birthday Ari

My Dear Ari,

Many mornings I wake up with sore ribs from you making your way to our bed to sleep with us, also known as operation sleep on top of or as close to mom as you can get. This morning my ribs were not sore. It was a new feeling. I realized you were not in our bed. I feel more rested, but was a little disappointed I wouldn't have little arms hugging my neck as tight as you could. It was your birthday after all. I thought just maybe I could give you birthday snuggles in bed. You didn't disappoint because I slowly heard our door open and felt your little body jump up on our bed and squeeze yourself between dad and I. You wrapped your arms around me and tried to sleep. I loved it. I am thankful it was not an all night affair. We both knew no matter how much I said go to sleep you never would, regardless I tried.

You jumped down after 10 minutes and ran downstairs. I knew it was not 7:00 and within minutes I would hear, "mom can I get an apple or banana." It would depend on what you found first. I figured it would be bananas since I just bought them last night. This would cause frustration, because you would not be able to get the banana off where I would hear you start screaming and crying. I would reassure you I was headed down. You must know it was your birthday, because today you calmed down. Some mornings this may send you into a day of frustration. 

No matter how frustrated and upset you get, I am so thankful for you. I keep waiting for you to magically not need me so much, but it hasn't happened. Some days it can be exhausting, but I LOVE that you LOVE to hug and kiss me and be held. You are such a little lover. I wouldn't trade it for anything else.

I can't believe you are three! Nobody would have guessed that such a surprise would turn into such a loving, excited, kind, and energetic boy.

You are the family clown and love to make us laugh with your silly "jokes" and thoughts. Your laugh is contagious and sometimes no matter how hard we try, we can't keep a straight face.

Happy 3rd Birthday Stinky Pete! Mommy loves you so much.

Love, 

Mom

June 2015 10 on 10

It is so hard to believe it is June already. I can't believe how quickly the past couple of weeks has flown by. 

Today was a relaxing day as we have just been gone a lot the past couple of weeks.


The boys were outside well before 8:00 a.m. I hadn't even had coffee or eaten. They had eaten, picked up, and were dressed ready to go. We still need to convince Ari that sweats are only for cold days.

I quickly went out and picked produce. The lettuce, spinach,and radishes are taking over. James follows me every where when I do this and is my helper. He was meant for the kids, but like the dogs he has bonded with me.

Finally I got breakfast and around. Then I took care of all the lettuce, spinach, and radishes. There was a lot. It is so nice not having to buy produce at the store right now. 

The kids spent most of the day outside. They run around and play all sorts of pretend games. Many times I get asked to come out and watch a spider build a web, or help them identify some plant or insect. They spend a lot of time in the sand and on the trampoline.

This girl wears these glasses everywhere. This is her second pair that is the same. She loves Hello Kitty. She even wore them to the physical therapist twice now.

We finished school two weeks ago, but I just barely finished Eli's end of year photo. I didn't even care he was dirty and how terrible the red on red was. I just figured better get it done. It is so Eli at this point. Blue shirt is his first day, red is end of year....

After nap I worked on getting pictures in albums while watching the kids out the window. I like just watching them. It is fun to see their imaginations work.

We ended the night outside mowing the lawn and jumping.

Ari follows Anthony around and copies him. Tonight Anthony let the boys help. They beg every time and loved being able to participate instead of just pretending.

It was another perfect summer day.


To follow the blog circle and see Flor's 10 on 10 click here. http://www.lifeinprogresstheblog.blogspot.com/2015/06/10-on-10-june-edition.html

It Feels Like Summer

It may not officially be summer, but it sure feels like it is around here. I am loving every minute of it. Winter and I do not enjoy each other. I would rather spend my days curled up under a quilt reading or watching tv. Spring, Summer, and Fall can stick around forever. I realized this year as all the trees were blooming God knew exactly what we would need to brighten our days after the cold winter days.

It has been absolutely beautiful, with no bugs and not too much rain. The weekend of the carnival was actually really nice compared to most years. The kids of course loved it. It was Ari's first year to be able to really ride. Eli and Lilliana don't get as excited. We decided that the first year they really get to ride is the best to watch. Ari wasn't too sure about everything, but he promised us he had fun. Eli also rode the bumper cars by himself which he loved. He was tall enough to ride some of the other rides, but did not want to.

I borrowed a telephoto lens and have been stalking birds. We did a nature pal exchange for school and gathered a lot of things to sent to two cute little girls in Texas. I also took some pictures of our birds for them per the kids idea. They love bird watching. The night I picked up the lens I took a couple of the kids. They wanted to be monsters. It was huge and heavy, but surprisingly very sharp for non Nikon and also not being a prime. I won't bore you with details, but I enjoyed it.

James has been been catching all the said birds. He will sometimes average 3 an hour. That and the baby bunnies have no chance with him around.

A big part the kids homeschooling for science and everything really is the idea of getting out on Nature Walks and really observing. I know some families love doing winter nature study. I think we will to when they kids are a bit older to trek through snow without me carrying them. For now, we stick to spring,  summer, and fall. The past two weeks we have averaged two a week to make up for our lack of winter ones. We  are loving it and have learned some knew things. This is helping them become very observant. Who would have guessed a two year old would sit and study a spider for 10 minutes. He has been, they can name more birds than I could at their age. We even made our own ant farm. I sat and fed ants sugar in my house during my coffee time. LOL They learned so much about ants that they dug up a queen and tried to convince me to let them keep it in another colony and watch it. Unfortunately we were headed out for an appointment and so I insisted they put her back and we try again another day.  This was a huge reason I was drawn to the Charlotte Mason education style.

We have had a lot of appointments for dentist, check ups, and special appts. Lilliana got orthotics to help her with her pigeon toes. She likes them and it is helping with her leg pain. Ari has some other ones coming soon and Eli has had a dentist appt. rescheduled 4 times on the dentist part. We won't talk about that as it has been a little annoying.

We also have had family visit. Anthony's brother and sister were in town. We got all the cousins minus one who could not make it, for a few photos. 

We are enjoying the days that feel like Summer!!