warm thoughts

there is just something about spring. it makes us so happy. maybe seeing all of the new growth after a bleak winter... just being outside in the fresh air... it inspires us.

we learn new things



and teach


and have fun

half birthday

we decided to celebrate sean's "half birthday" for a few reasons. 1: we remembered for the first time, 2: it gave us a fun reason to celebrate and eat cake, and 3:we hoped it would make the second half of sean's seventh year a little better than the first. seven has been harder for sean than i thought. i built it up so much as being my favorite year of life and it just wasn't so for sean. he has been stuck in a transition from little to big and couldn't find his way. it's weird though, as he approached the half year all of his struggling seem to fade away. the half year is one of the great lessons i have learned from my older sister and it is always true! the half year brings change - sometimes good, sometimes bad. he is so much more relaxed and content with himself. he is not really bored as much and seems generally in good spirits. he wants more responsibility and freedom which is extremely hard for me! even this morning he refused to let me make his breakfast and he even made his own half birthday cake. i think these 6 months are going to be harder for me as i watch him grow. the worst part is that he is only a foot shorter than me now. i can't believe that i will have this big tall guy one day...


angie rae, ann, mia, and leif came over and we had a great day. the kids played inside and out and it seemed like a great start to sean's second half of seven.

and of course, there's nothing better than snuggling on the couch and playing pokemon on nintendo ds with your bff...

mulch mountain!

our delivery of mulch really inspired us today. it became a family project. the kids claimed it as a mountain at first and even dug tunnels, acting like the many hamsters we have left behind. then they went to work. they all worked for hours hauling piles of mulch to the back play spot. lila found her old wheel barrow and sean squeezed himself onto his backhoe for maybe the last year. as usual, it tasted great to benjamin!






look what jason managed to find while he was loading mulch...




ben did his best to climb our tree on the front yard. luckily he didn't get very far. i see some mischief in his future!







after hours of hauling and digging and lifting, the kids were just ready to go! they persuaded us into a family trip to the park. how do you say no to that! we all geared up as it had gotten much colder and set out. sean got such a kick out of ben riding a "vehicle" to the park just like he and lila. ben enjoyed it so much - he knew he was doing something cool.

gym fun

on thursdays we get to go to this really cool playgroup. it is a big group of crazy homeschoolers, boys and girls of all ages. the kids play pokemon and trade and meet up and when its nice, we go out and play. going upstairs to the gym is the craziest and most exciting part. it is a full scale gymnastics center that we are allowed to use. it is padded everywhere and has the coolest equipment. it is so loud with the screaming of excitement and full of the brightest colors.

















the girls had so much fun hanging upside down on the bars and swinging on the rope. it was hard to capture sean as he spent a lot of time running wildly with the boys.

spring brings fun times

we sure have been making up for lost time! sean, luckily was well enough to go to his first flyers hockey game. i was a little nervous that he wouldn't enjoy himself or wouldn't be able to sit through it or that he would still be feeling sick. boy was i wrong!he had the time of his life. any time sean gets to hang out with "the men's club" is a great time. it usually evokes one of his 2 stock phrases of "this was the best day of my life." we try to avoid the alternative worst day of my life experiences as much as possible but they slip in from time to time. he had so much fun. here is a pic of him just as he was leaving and one of lila watching them go...feeling a little sad. nothing that a shopping trip couldn't fix, though!









we have a new goal of trying to let sean and lila have some special times. this involves some time away from each other which is rare for us. we are usually together. it's just how we like it and we always feel like something is missing when 1 of us is not there. however, since ben joined our family its been a little crazy and we thought that the kids would like this. today lila got to go to the ballet to see cinderella. pop pop drove her and nana to the city to the academy of music. nana rode in the back with lila and pop was the chauffeur. lila had the most wonderful time and i believe nan did as well. lila has been dreamily dancing since she got home, even while brushing her teeth. i think she will have sweet dreams tonight.

we have also been busy working outside. this great weather has put us in happy spirits. we love outdoor projects and have been so busy getting the outside ready for spring. sean and lila each got a new scredriver and got right to work. sean, ben and jason worked on putting our new chair together while lila and ben worked out back.








we even spotted a thankful cardinal on our newly filled and positioned birdfeeder. its amazing how the simple act of bird watching can be so exciting.

catching up

well, after some camera failure, we are back. the kids finally got over their sickness. we celebrated a little with the help of Nana Beth and pop pop Henry who brought lots of laughs, yummy treats, and some much needed companionship. the kids were so happy to see someone other than me after being in quarantine for 2 weeks!



and in our family, grandparents always seem to bring 1 thing...DONUTS! and for some reason it always works...the kids were so content after their treats that all 3 snuggled up together with blankets, using sparky for a pillow. he loved it as much as they did.



being sick wasn't so bad after all. we had 2 really great weeks ( after all of the throwing up and fevers were done). we relaxed, snuggled, read stories and did some art projects. there was no where to go, nothing that needed to get done...except the sheets, and luckily no stress of making up missed schoolwork! we learned more when were sick than we do on most days. we learned much greater lessons. we got to sit back and enjoy each other, have quality time and talk. we took care of eachother and we actually had fun. the exciting visit wore them out though. i never saw the three of them fall asleep so quickly. they were so precious.

why is ice cream so much fun?

is it the presentation? the colors? the taste? maybe it's the thought that someone took extra time, extra time to finish off a great dinner, a happy birthday, a sore throat. add it on a cone and it becomes really exciting. this one was hand made by sean for me as a surprise (before the flu knocked him down).





it was so much fun! there is just something about sitting around eating ice cream cones. ben caught on quickly that everyone had something cool except him. in seconds he had tears and total sadness. i persuaded jason to give him the rest of his, reassuring him that ben would just sit and eat it...not rub it on the wool rug... he rubbed it on the rug and thought it made crawling way more fun. we hurried up and switched it with an empty cone and had serious doubts. he fell for it! he smiled and laughed had his treat right along with us.

birds that poop out love...

well, the kids are sick again. this winter has been pretty rough - especially after such extreme efforts to remain healthy. oh well. the only good thing about it is all of the quality time that we were able to spend together. we have been in the house for a week now and have sort of settled in to a groove... except ben who looks longingly out of the windows wondering about this mysterious outside world. i let them venture out during one of the nice days last week and poor ben fell asleep swinging on the hammock with jason.



photo shoots are always crazy when it comes to sean. the whole family settles in nicely and without fail, sean usually manages to dive in and make us remember that we do not have a nice calm family...it is pure madness! you can see him getting ready to jump and he succeeds at the last minute.







they finally got some rest and seem to be on the mend (we hope) it is hard keeping them down. we decided to try and update our seasons tree and as i added some leaves, lila was busy making a bluebird. she worked so hard...erasing and drawing. she found a picture of a bird in a book and used it as her inspiration, adding some of her own flair of course. when i was finally allowed to look at it, she stated very matter of factly, it's a bird...pooping out love (it had little hearts coming from it), it is eating a worm...they are both girls. ok...up on the tree it went...hearts and all. if only birds really could poop out love. jason has something special that he wants to add as well...i'll keep you posted.



trying to calm things down for a relaxing bedtime, we decided to have a nice dinner by candle light. we hoped the darkness would inspire quietness. no such luck. as it was pleasant, quiet it was not. ben keeps things nice and loud! he demanded food. not dinner cut into small pieces, but a very large chunk of meat that we named his "meat banana" after the way it looked when he held it. he was finally content.