Lots of firsts

Yesterday was our first day of school. Now we have a third grader, a first grader, and an almost three year old. We had our annual pizza celebration at lunch.Yesterday Toot lost no only one,

but both of his top front teeth. His smile is so adorable. I made him say, "Sufferin' succotash" ten times.

Yesterday at tennis lessons, Toot played his first "match".

Yesterday Lydie had her much anticipated first day of dance class.

Yesterday not only did my husband cook dinner, but he made enough for two nights. Does anything speak love more on the first day back to school?

And we ended the day with chocolate cupcakes and sang,

"Happy school day to us..."
Can't believe they look so much older than last year!

A new combination

Andy took Jaybird camping with his two best buddies last night. Their dads were gracious enough to come along, too. So that left Toot and Lydie bug here with me over night. Normally when we are apart, the boys are with Andy and Lydie is with me. Or, we are spending one-on-one time with a child just for an evening. But I can not recall ever having #2 and #3 overnight alone. I noticed some interesting things about this new combination.

First of all, these two are polar opposites. And right now opposites are not attracting. (It doesn't help that we have been home swapping viruses for 7 days in a row!)He likes quiet, she LOVES to talk. He has a high pain tolerance and rarely complains, she is a whiner (or just 2 years old, time will tell). He loves to explore, she doesn't take risks. He loves to build, she only likes to build relationships. Even though we ultimately enjoyed our night together, I found many new opportunities for...character training. I wonder how wealthy I would be if I had a dollar for every time I said, "Stop and think about your choice right now. Are you choosing to be selfish or put your brother/sister ahead of yourself? Let's love well." And also, "Lydie, stop and decide if you want to be a whiner or a solver. A solver talks calmly and fixes a problem. A whiner has to go and be by herself. No one likes to listen to a whiner." This character building work is hard and tedious and slow. I am a little weary. But not enough to give up or lower my standards. I want to do everything in my power to help them reap the benefits of self-control and obedience. "Honor your father and mother that it will go well with you and that you may have long life on earth." (Ephesians 6:2-3) A clear conscience and an enjoyable life are worth fighting for! As for their hearts, I pray more and more every day that they will grab hold of the gift of salvation and be captivated by His love.

Learning with the younger one

Last year I was very pleased with the school work I did with the boys. However, I was not satisfied with the amount of one-on-one time I had with my daughter working on developmental skills. (We mainly just colored, painted, sang, cuddled or read together.) She will soon be 3, and I feel very convicted to be more intentional with her this year.

I have done some research and made a list of activities to do with her. The materials used for these activities will be kept on a high shelf in the pantry, only for use when we are together. Because she is a third born, I only had to buy a couple of things. These activities would work with a 2-4 year old. I hope to choose around 4 a day to enjoy alone with her.

Ideas for Learning with Older Toddlers and Preschoolers

1. Put dry noodles in the holes of a sugar shaker
2. Blow up a balloon and bat it with a wooden spoon
3. Lacing cards
4. Lacing beads
5. Melissa and Doug "Sequencing Bead Set"

6. Sort pattern blocks by color
7. One letter per week with a craft
8. Counting/Sorting teddy bear counters
9. Tantagrams
10. Stacking cups (Plastic, paper, etc.)
11. Play dough
12. Dress up (She will keep these items in the play room. But I want to join in, too!)
13. Leap frog magnetic letters
14. Leap frog magnetic animals
15. Puzzles
16. Cheerio book
17. Coloring books
18. Shaving cream paint (a little on a baking sheet)
19. Painting
20. Write numbers in a box 1-8 on paper. Match that number of stickers
21. Use big tweezers or tongs to transfer objects (Pom poms and tongs from an ice bucket)
22. Cut long thin strips of construction paper and put stickers every few inches. Have her cut between the stickers.
23. Peg board game
24. Painting with water outside on the sidewalk
25. Sidewalk chalk
26. Shape sorter

27. Save a plastic butter tub. Cut a slit in the top. Put plastic poker chips in the slit and count.
28. Spooning beads into a paint palette/ sort by color

29. Q-tips in a Parmesan bottle
30. Watering flowers
31. Emptying dish washer
32. Dumping trash cans
33. Feeding cat
34. Transfer water from bowls with sponge
35. Plastic instruments or pots and pans
36. Mr(s). Potato Head
37. Outdoor toys- Sandbox/swing/slide/trampoline/balls/ water guns
38. Tricycle 39. Tunnel
40. Bubbles
41. Thread beads on to pipe cleaners
42. Play in beans- put in cups with funnel
43. Connect four
44. Look for objects in bowls of rice
45. paint prints with fruit
46. finger puppets
47. Gluing with glue stick
48. Painting rocks
49. Mini-clothespins- pinch and move from object to object
50. Stacking blocks
51. Wooden cutting food
52. Bean bag toss game (can also fill old socks with beans for bean bags and seal with

rubber band and toss into an old bucket)
53. Put a colored dot on a ping pong ball. Match the ping Pong ball with correct crayon
54. Barnyard Bingo 55. Aqua Doodle
56. Hopscotch
57. Dry Erase Board (dry erase markers stain- use a smock!)
58. Colored water (water + food coloring) transferred with dropper
59. Washing plastic doll in basin of water
60. Digging in dirt (take pie tins for mud pies)
61. animal markers
62. Linking toys (cubes, rings, etc.)

63. Tracing and using stencils

64. Making stamp art

65. Sand box and water table- shovels, letter molds, watering can, etc.

66. Gardening/ making flower arrangements

67. Letter bean bags (oriental trading)

68. Nature walk around the creek or lake

Every day:

~Lots of books (See: Honey for a Child's Heart)

~Nursery Rhyme and Praise cds for dancing and singing together

~Read a Mother Goose nursery rhyme or a poem for her every day (Use hand motions when possible)

~Toddler devotion- Memorize catechism questions &/or verses together

Is this really my life?

Time stood still today when I took my only girl, the one I thought would only be a dream, and shopped at the dance store. We bought her first ballet outfit and ballet shoes. She has been dancing as long as walking. She is so excited about her first dance class on Monday!

Her tiny little size 6 foot is all of a sudden not so pudgy. We put on her digs for Daddy and she danced around the kitchen- me beaming and her begging to be photographed. Her beauty overwhelms me. I am so thankful for three precious children. What an honor!

NOT back-to-school blog hop week: School rooms

Take a look at My Life With Three Boybarians for a month of great links.


Here's a link to our school room (from this time last year).

It's so good to be Mom

The boys are sick. High fever and vomiting. Sometimes it's good to have an excuse to do nothing but shower them with love. I am enjoying that part of today!

Pictured above: A gift for me made by Toot- the paper says, "I (heart)"

The camping party

Three hours after getting home from Mimi's house, my Jaybird has his birthday party! What a fun, long, crazy day it has been. I still can not believe he is 9 years old!J decided on a camping theme this year. We put our tents and canoe by the pool for fun. Our backyard is like a jungle, so it lends itself well to this theme! The only decorations I bought were a few streamers, a camo banner, and some brown disposable tablecloths. I also filled Mason jars with stones and tea lights for the tables.
Our cake was the easiest ever! It consisted of chocolate sheet cake, chocolate round cake on top for a hill effect, crushed graham crackers for the dirt effect, and plastic bugs and snakes on top.

For fun we swam
Had a marshmallow war

Embarked on our annual treasure hunt. But it was more like letter boxing this year. And, it was harder because all the clues had a letter and the kids had to unscramble the letters to make a word.Ate camping foods in the tents
And made smores on the grill. (We had a campfire planned, but we had to improvise b/c of time. J wore his mask to protect his eyes from the smoke. Love that idea.)The kids took home a granola bar, fruit roll up, glow stick, gum and plastic snake in camo bandannas. The birthday boy was delighted and felt very celebrated. I hope he never outgrows birthday parties!

Home Alone (not really)

We are ending our last night of being home alone. The kids have been with their grandparents' for 6 days. I have relished the time to have conversations alone with my husband. We are experiencing what feels like a modern day miracle- my house, car, clothes, closets and sheets are all clean- all at once! We have gotten a lot done around here- both around the house and for the new school year. No matter how much I love to accomplish things, the time I enjoyed the most was just the quiet time to think. No fretting, no convincing, no disciplining, no noise. It has been so refreshing.

Still, I can not wait until tomorrow. I have missed my little ones SO much! Bring on the lovely chaos!

“In solitude we give passionate attention to our lives, to our memories, to the details around us.”
- Virginia Woolf, A Room of One’s Own

Kitchen love

I am finally done with the kitchen. Why do I always set unreasonable deadlines?? We have a small house with (obviously) no upgrades in the kitchen. No stainless steels, solid surface countertops, etc. (check out our microwave!!). But I can honestly say, I love my kitchen! It's just right for me and I'm thankful.

Looking in from the play room (aka dining room)

A view of the table from the sink area

A view from the doorway that leads to the foyer

Cleaned off the frig (again). There are always some veggies and Mason jars up there waiting for us to can or freeze food from Andy's garden.

I adore the beadboard back splash. It was NOT easy. Many more steps involved than I imagined. But I love it.

This corner of the kitchen is completely non-functional. So I just display fun little pretties.

My $4 wooden thingy turned out as I hoped. I used white spray paint for a primer. And then mixed white paint with a little brown for a finish.
My Dad gave us fresh peaches. I don't want to eat them because they are so beautiful, especially with the other oranges in the kitchen. But my love for peach cobbler will soon win that battle!
Another little corner. I mix creams and whites all over. I'm such a rule-breaker!
The coffee corner. Along with a little artwork from our favorite artist, Mrs. Porter.

Voile, new kitchen!

Happy Birthday, J!

Today my oldest son turned 9 years old. I can not believe we are HALF WAY TO ADULTHOOD! In fact, I think I said that phrase so many times today that I freaked him out a little. Maybe the little crying episode I had when we looked at his baby book this morning contributed, too. What a strange thing time is the way the days are slow, but the years are fast!

I've said before, we love birthdays around here! Jaybird awoke to Daddy's yummy french toast. He was serenaded by many family members over the phone through out the day. Each of those calls are so special to him- he loves his family! We met some friends at Monkey Joe's and the kids spent 4 hours playing and enjoying pizza. This afternoon the boys almost completed Jay's lego set that he got at breakfast! And then we were off to his favorite restaurant for dinner...Fuddruckers! Burgers, apples and birthday cake were enjoyed by all. And we had our traditional topic of birthday conversation, "Name your 3 favorite things about the birthday boy!".

This year, Jaybird stood out as a servant, an honest person, funny, and someone who is quick to share. I reminded him of how he MADE MY WEEK on Monday when he made me breakfast in bed after I was up most of the night with sick Lydie. (He even put blueberries on my granola!) And he's always very honest, which he proved at dinner when he told Daddy the truth about his breath! :) He thanked us over and over again for a fun day and assured me at bed time that this was "a really great day!!".

I can feel his young childhood slipping by and the pre-adolescent years creeping in. (Is it really already time to care about his hair cut and begin to need deodorant?) I look forward to walking this new and mysterious phase of parenthood with him. My heart is bursting with pride tonight. I have been blessed with a magnificent boy! Happy birthday kiddo!