Celebrating!

We have been doing a lot of celebrating this past month! We celebrated my parents 45th wedding anniversary. My brother and his family joined us for a family lunch and an adults only dinner out. We had a great babysitter who watched all 5 boys (ages 8, 6, 5, 4, and 3 years old). K.A. did a great job and got them all to bed while we enjoyed our dinner out. Hooray!

A few weeks later, we traveled to Maryland to surprise my brother and celebrate his 40th birthday. 

The crowd waiting for Jeffrey. 

Surprise!!

Three happy boys with bellies full of yummy food and cake!

My sister-in-law planned and organized a great party for my brother. I'm all partied out. ;)

Preschool Update

A couple weeks ago Aaron finished learning all his consonants and he is zipping along in his phonics skills. We have loved using the "Get Ready for the Code," "Get Set for the Code" and "Go for the Code" series by Nancy Hall. We started Explode the Code Book 1 last week. I highly recommend these workbooks!

As we face struggles and challenges homeschooling (and there are many!), I have to say one thing that really encourages my heart is to get to experience my children learning. To see the lightbulb light up as they understand something for the first time and to see them bursting with new knowledge makes up for the other challenges. (If only I would stop to take note of these precious moments more frequently. Too often I'm too busy whining to realize the great things happening.)

It has been such a joy to see Aaron take off with reading. With all three boys the experience with learning to read has been entirely different. They each have their own strengths and I have to say, Aaron has surprised me. Just this past summer, he hardly knew any of his letters and believe me, I tried to teach them to him. He had zero interest. I'm realizing in hindsight, he just wasn't ready. This fall, something clicked in developmentally and he has flourished. I can't take credit. I didn't do anything spectacular. He was just finally ready and willing to soak up everything I offered him.

I love that Luke and Ethan are eager to sit and listen to Aaron read!! Precious moments!

Here are his remaining "Letter of the Week" consonant projects: (He had help from either Luke or Ethan on each picture.) ** I used the help of various blogs and websites for these ideas. They are not original!

   

 "s" is for snake and "n" is for nest

"h" is for horse and "v" is for volcano

 

"d" is for dinosaur and "c" is for caterpillar

 

"g" is for giraffe and "z" is for zebra

"q" is for quail and "x" is for x-ray

"w" is for worm

"y" is for yak

"Ll" is for ladybug and lion

Lego Kids Fest

Last month we all went to the Lego Kids Fest. We didn't tell the boys where we were going, and just told them we were going on a field trip. They couldn't stand the suspense. They were so excited for our surprise adventure!

Could they look any happier? hee hee

Ethan was convinced we were going to an aquarium that would have glow in the dark fish. Aaron was convinced we were going to a baseball or basketball game. Imagine their surprise when we arrived. Luke was thrilled, but Ethan and Aaron were a bit disappointed. ;) 

They came around and we had fun just being together. It was really crowded though and my shy guys were not very assertive in getting to the play areas. They had fun playing in the huge pile of bricks. 

That's a lot of legos!

Watching their structures get added to the outline of the United States. 

Aaron made the best of it, but his favorite part was throwing a fast pitch. 

The local minor league team had a display to advertise. 

Spoiled

I need to document this moment so I don't forget. I have no pictures, but I was completely spoiled this weekend. I was invited on a weekend away with 3 other women and my dear husband joyfully agreed to be solo dad for two nights and two days. No guilt. No complaints. Just a gracious, "Yes! You need this time." I enjoyed quality time talking, resting, reading and more. The weather was gorgeous for running, walking and sitting on the dock soaking up the sun while I studied God's word. And to top it all off?? I came home to a spotless kitchen and clean house! Did my husband spoil me or what? I am so thankful. Let me not forget this blessing...

Birthday

Last month, I was blessed by my family and enjoyed a great 38th birthday. There were signs...

Remember this sign from last year? It came back out for the month. :) 

There were flowers...

Special lunch and ice cream parfaits with Grammy & Poppy...

(a perfect birthday dessert since I don't like cake)

And then the boys enjoyed an overnight at Grammy & Poppy's so Darin and I could go out on a date. 

After some football in the front yard with the boys and my parents, 

I drove off to meet Darin footloose and fancy free.

If only I could have slowed down the time... it was morning before I knew it!

We were very glad to see our little cherubs at Luke's basketball game in the morning. :) 

Winter Wonderland

We had super fun yesterday in the unexpected snow. The forecasters were on again, off again and we all were so glad we ended up with about 3 1/2 inches. What a delightful surprise! 

It was blustery and the snow was very heavy and wet, but it didn't stop us from enjoying it. 

 Our walk around the neighborhood to find a sledding hill. 

The saucers worked great to protect our faces from the strong gusts of wind. 

Super fun to have Daddy home and thankful for his hard work shoveling the whole driveway. 

The Call

I was born at 7:07am on February 8.

For as long as I can remember... maybe 20 years (?), my parents have been calling and singing "Happy Birthday" to me at the exact time of my birth. They have to set their alarm clocks so they don't miss it. I'm an early riser and I look forward to it every year. I love it!

My mom is a fabulous singer and my dad has had 20 years to practice. He has come a long way. ;)

This morning, after their call (which I put on speaker phone so the boys could hear)
Ethan said: "I love how when Poppy sings on your birthday he makes animal noises too."
To which Aaron said: "Yeah I heard a cow and a horse."
Ethan replied: "Today, I heard a frog."

Hilarious!!