Saturday, May 31, 2014

Happy Things

My happy things:
Homemade play dough and cookie cutters. 
 Baby Einstein. Four babies later and it is still a hit. 
 Quiet baby play. 
 His cheese face. He's actually saying "cheeessee!!!"
 A sweet Eleanor face. 
 And Thatcher again. 
 Reading High Five magazine. 
 Grilling: chicken and veggie kabobs and corn. 
 Eating yogurt. And a head full of curls. 
Classic Eleanor silly.  
 Ellie's first pigtails. 
 And finally…..it doesn't get much better than this. 

Water Play

It is nearly the start of summer and that means breaking out the plastic pool and water table. Unfortunately on this particular day by the time I lathered them up with sunscreen and got all our water stuff ready they had a whole 20 minutes to play and then a random thunderstorm appeared. Oh well. Looking forward to much more of this!






Everett Turns 6

Birthdays continue to be very simple at our home. We make sure the children feel special, however we have realized it does not take much. Everett's "theme" of his birthday this year was dinosaurs. Gigi came to visit to celebrate and then Noni celebrated a couple days later with him. So Everett's birthday really turned into almost a week event! Knowing Everett, he was very thrilled with this. He always asks us if something is "special." For example, "is this a special breakfast?" "Is this a special movie?" "Are these special pajamas?" So for him to feel special and the center of attention for almost a week was well, special! On his actual birthday, which fell on a Friday, Hampton and I went to his class and delivered birthday cookies. He, and Hampton as well, loved that. 

 His aqua cake. 
 Family party! 



 Opening a few gifts. Everett received some fun dinosaur stuff from Gigi, a spirograph from Noni…..and from us he got a remote control car, drawing book, tent with pretend camping equipment, sticker book and a few books. 

 Spirographing…...



And now for a few things I want to remember about Everett at 6:
Everett is a reader! Somewhere during his kindergarten path he has learned to read. He tries to read everything and is very good about asking us how to spell a word. And he scored above grade level on his literacy testing at school. I could not be prouder! I think we definitely have a bookworm. 
Everett continues to love arts and crafts. We got him a drawing book and I am very surprised how good he is. He loves to create. 
Everett definitely has an ear for music. Eric will play him a classical piece and he is able to name the composer. We will definitely be pursuing music lessons as we want to foster this talent. 
Everett, for the most part loves to play with Hampton but we are noticing they are arguing a lot more lately. Probably because they are 4 and 6. But no matter what they are best buds.
Everett has really surprised me with how social he has become. When we go to a playground he goes out of his way to find and meet friends. It is amazing.
Everett has loved kindergarten. When I drop him off in the morning the 4th graders on safety patrol know him by name and give him hugs and high fives. His art teacher told us he is his "favorite kindergartner." He also told me the other day that Everett is the most popular kindergartener. Ha! Who would have thought. I am so proud of him and how well adjusted he has become to school life. 
Everett, although sometimes needing reminders to think of others (mostly his siblings) has a tender heart. On Mother's Day he asked me if I once was a kid. When I said yes, he asked, "So you weren't born my mommy?" I love him. 

Monday, May 12, 2014

Mommy's Day

I had a lovely Mother's Day. Waffles and strawberries for breakfast. Church. Lunch at Green Sage (by myself. I watched a ton of tv on my iPad). A walk around the arboretum. Pizza and tv with Eric for dinner. It was wonderful. 










A Few Things

I'm all about making my life easier. Last week I started a "Menu Book" for our house. I wrote out every snack and meal for every day. Every detail. And so far it has worked! It has helped make our groceries stretch and has taken the guess work out of what to feed the children. I've always meal planned, but this is even more helpful. 

 I found these Windex cleaners at Target last week. I put them in every bathroom (and the kitchen one in our kitchen) with a roll of paper towels under the sink. This has made for easy cleaning. 
 Aldi has pineapples for 99 cents and we have continued to stock up. Nothing beats fresh pineapple!
 A few days ago I caught Hampton like this. He stacked the toilet paper so he could reach the sink to wash his hands and got stuck. I love his creativity. 

 This lights bother Eleanor when she wakes up first thing in the morning. This was her solution. 
 A clean Everett.
 A clean Hampton. 
 A clean (and silly) Eleanor. 

A clean Thatcher Reid.