One Thing - 4/30/14

This guy has been under the weather this week. So, he and I got some one-on-one time today because of a doctor appointment. As we were leaving the office and heading to Target, Jonah saw a mall that we have been to a number of times and asked if we could eat lunch in the food court. So, we did! A little Subway for Jonah and Panda Express for me and some good conversation...although it wasn't under the best circumstances, I sure am thankful for my lunch date today!

One Thing - 4/29/14

Tomorrow is our last BSF (Bible Study Fellowship) class for the year. The kids have all had wonderful teachers this year who have faithfully taught them the book of Matthew weekly since September. Last week, I was a helper in Lydia's room. It was so good to see their faithfulness to teaching God's Word to even the squirmiest toddlers as the teachers made sure all of the kids heard the story and got to see and touch the Bible. Tonight, the kids wrote out thank you notes to each of their teachers. They are excited to deliver them tomorrow morning!

One Thing - 4/26/14

We enjoyed another beautiful morning at the soccer fields!

(Jonah is the one standing)

One Thing - 4/24/14

It's the time of year again for bouquets of dandelions from my sweet boys!

One Thing - 4/23/14

Last night, while taking a few minutes to read through old blogs from the past few months, I came across a post about Lydia's 18-month well-visit. I wrote that she maybe had 15 words. Well, a lot has changed in a month! She definitely went through a little language explosion that is typical at her age. I haven't tried to count, but I would guess that she has at least 50 words. Yesterday, I think she even said a couple of two-word phrases - "Mama go" and "Silas up." One of the more interesting things she has picked up is "why?" She has no idea what that word or question means, but she has figured out that the boys often say it when we tell them something they can't do or something non-preferred. So, these have been some exchanges lately:

Lydia: "Shine" (requesting to listen to Go Fish's album Shine)
Me: "No, we are listening to something else right now."
Lydia: "Why?"

Lydia: (pointing outside) "Outside?"
Me: "It is naptime, but we will go out after naps."
Lydia: "Why?"

Lydia: "Shoes?"
Me: "Put your shoes in the closet."
Lydia: "Why?"

One Thing - 4/22/14

It was a beautiful day for Jonah to play soccer! Silas found a new friend who brought a soccer ball with him to play with while his older brother played soccer. They enjoyed kicking the ball around for a bit before the game started.

Easter 2014

We had a great Resurrection Day today! It started with our yearly potluck brunch at church. I made my mom's yummy caramel rolls, which were a hit like always. The kids had a great morning at church socializing with everyone and playing with friends (Lydia was even walking around during the brunch shaking people's hands!). Mike and I led music for the worship service, and then I spent the rest of the service in the nursery. The weather was gorgeous after we got out of church. A couple of older boys had their Ripstiks with them and showed off some tricks for our boys, which they loved! Do I dare write that after church we grabbed BK for lunch?! This wasn't my plan, but my 35-week pregnant body after an already busy morning wasn't up to thinking about lunch as well as our Easter supper. And, it was Mike's week to lead afternoon church services at the two nursing homes in our town. Kinda funny that we saw another pastor from town at BK, too!

After naps, we had an egg hunt in our backyard. The kids found their eggs that had quarters, dimes, and a few pieces of chocolate in them.

Then, the kids got their Easter baskets...sandals, bubbles, a few art supplies, and small Lego sets for the boys and books for Lydia.

Late in the afternoon, we had some nice rain move through - an answered prayer for our farmers. Then, we enjoyed our simple Easter dinner together. By the end of the night, we were all wiped out. We have made it clear that the boys have no reason to be up early in the morning. Here's to hoping they sleep in a bit!

Hunting for Eggs

Today was our city's Easter Egg Hunt. It is always crazy with hundreds of kids greedy for lots of eggs, but we go and have fun anyway! Our kids were in 3 different age groups this year, but thankfully Jonah is independent enough to go to his field and do his thing. He found some friends from preschool and hung out with them. Mike helped Silas get set for his field. And, I stayed with Lydia on the 0-2 field.

Lydia waited so patiently for the hunt to begin

She did a great job of picking up eggs to put in her basket - she often picked up 3 at a time!

Jonah won a prize - a piggy bank. At our hunt, most of the eggs are empty and you turn them in for a treat bag, but a number of eggs on each field have prize numbers in them that the kids redeem for certain prizes. 

By far, Silas picked up the most eggs. He didn't find any prize slips, but he was happy to receive his green treat bag.

It was a beautiful day!

One Thing - 4/18/14

Lydia tested out the bouncer at church tonight to make sure it was ready for her little brother.

One Thing - 4/17/14

Tonight while I practiced piano and Mike washed dishes, this is what the kids were up to...

One Thing - 4/15/14

Yesterday, Jonah came home with this star from preschool. It was so sweet to read all of the kind things his classmates had to say about him. He was the star of the day! 

One Thing - 4/14/14

Today is my first Monday off from work since early November that I am not out of town. Hooray! Although I haven't typically worked Mondays, I have been in the past number of months to help with a maternity leave and then cover some vacation days. It has been lots of fun to hang out with these two cuties while their big brother is at preschool this morning!

One Thing - 4/13/14

It is Jonah's turn to bring snacks for preschool tomorrow. So, we made Rice Krispy birds nests tonight. The boys put all the eggs in the nests. Yum!

And, this little girl ran around making mischief...

One Thing - 4/11/14

Enjoying a beautiful evening

One Thing - 4/10/14

It's been a crazy week chock full of events. Blog posts, even these simple ones, have been at the absolute bottom of the priority list - even much lower than sleep! And, I don't have many pictures either. But, here is one.

One Thing - 4/6/14

I don't know if she is trying to be like Mommy or Jonah, but she sure is cute playing piano!

One Thing - 4/5/14

Jonah started soccer this morning. This is his 2nd year participating. Last year, he enjoyed it but never got too into the game and would mostly either just stand still on the field or follow the herd of kids from a distance. We didn't know if he would want to play again this year and hadn't said anything to him about it before he brought it up to us saying he wanted to play again. Today was much different than last year. Although he was still timid about kicking the ball during the game, he was right in the middle of the pack of kids chasing the ball. And, he had a smile on his face whenever he was on the field.

These pictures aren't very good since they were taken from a distance with my phone.

Jonah is the one with the purple hoodie on under his red shirt.

Team Huddle

Practicing...

Playing a game...

One Thing - 4/3/14

As an SLP and a mom, it is easy to focus on the speech and language development of my little ones. Jonah has always been ahead of the game in all areas. However, he has always had a frontal lisp. My goal for him was to have it corrected by the time he started kindergarten. We have worked on it off and on for about a year. We've never been too intense about it but practiced a bit here and there. Jonah has been very aware of where the "s" and "z" sounds are in his words and quickly got to the point that he could read whole books using correct tongue placement. But, he had not yet started using it in conversation, which tends to be the most difficult part of learning correct production of a sound. So, a couple of weeks ago when Jonah was asking how he could get more Legos, I made a quick promise that if he could use his good "s" and "z" sounds all the time for a week that I would buy him a new lego set. Little did I realize just how motivating that promise would be...it was like he flipped a switch and started using correct tongue placement with nearly 100% accuracy. Crazy! One week and a day later he met his goal. Today, his new Lego Creator Mountain Hut arrived via UPS. From the time it arrived this afternoon until it was time for baths, Jonah built and re-built and created!