Sunday is coming...

We had a great time preparing for Easter this year. Our best friends, the Seiler's, came up from Indiana for a visit. On Friday morning, we went to Grandma Denyse's for an Easter egg hunt. The weather was less than desirable, but the kids had a great time! After that, many, many eggs were dyed and overall just lots of giggles from the toy room over the weekend.
It's Friday....but Sunday is coming! And the reminder of victorious victory will be celebrated!

Opening Day Picnic

Brooke was super excited for Opening Day this year. She brought down an old shirt and asked if she could decorate it. We bought baseball cookies from Cake and Bake. She had me DVR the game and we crossed one more item off the Snowman List of the year "Picnic Dinner in the Living Room." We had hot dogs & french fries followed by our festive cookies.

Four year old logic...

I've learned that four year old logic needs to be embraced and enjoyed for its season or it has the capability to publicly embarrass. Here are Clayton's stories. Generally if he does something or explains something to a complete stranger that we won't come into contact with I've learned to care less what their judgement or thoughts are about me or my family; however, if it is an individual that we make regular contact with like a preschool teacher, librarian, etc. I typically take the time to explain his logic further.

"We have 3 dads and 2 moms." Typically said as a stand alone comment to a wide audience. Clayton knows that boys become daddys and girls become mommys. SO - in our family we have 2 girls and 3 boys....hence, 3 dads and 2 moms.

In Walmart the other day I had parked the cart not quite on our side of the aisle while I was looking at something. A lady tried to squeeze by but knocked our cart. I said sorry to the woman and Clayton says, "It's okay mom - it was HER fault!" The lady very graciously also found the humor in his comment...whew.

19 months

Seriously, where does time go? I can't believe my "baby" is rounding the corner to being 2 years old! Lincoln is still such a joyous person. We constantly are asked if he's always so happy and for the most part....minus teething and 3 rounds of antibiotics to clear an ear infection...he is! These days he's into doing anything the older kids are. He's working on putting on his own coat and shoes, but LOVES walking around in big sister's shoes because they are so much easier to get on. This past week the accomplishment was opening and closing doors - I've gotten quick to remember to deadbolt the door to the garage. Overall any activity that can prove his independence is a winner and gets a huge grin - climbing up and down on the couch, sneaking through the baby gate that an older sibling left open to beeline the stairs, hat on, door open, close, open, close, open, close...

His "18 month" pictures are scheduled for tomorrow...illness prevailed and this was the 3rd attempt in scheduling!

It's who she is...

As a parent, there are many traits we try to impress upon our children but some are just God given gifts they have. Compassion and seeing others needs above her own are Brooke's. She's still a six year old who is an oldest child would prefer to organize the world (and her brothers) to run the way she sees fit, but the past couple days have opened such a window for me into her heart. We've been fighting illness for over a month in our house. This weekend was particularly rough with a LOT of laundry, Tylenol, antibiotics and carpet cleaning.

Brooke has just done whatever she could to be helpful:

• Friday morning she was late coming down for breakfast so I went up to see what she was up to. Clayton had forgotten to make his bed, so she was taking care of that for him so that I wouldn't have to do it later.
• Sunday after church, I found Brooke in my closet and when I asked what she was doing she says, "Mom, I noticed that your shoes weren't very well organized, so I thought I'd help you and take care of that."
• Sunday night we downloaded the music for Annie (the broadway version) because she wanted to learn the music before she goes with Grandma Denyse and Grandpa Mark to see it over Spring Break at the Fireside. After she found out we could put it on a CD to listen to in her room, she wanted to call Grandma Denyse and see if she needed a copy too.
• All of those things were fabulous to see, but today I got a phone call that brought me to tears (not easily done.) Her teacher, Mrs. Stein, called to say that she was running a low-grade fever, not high enough that the office would send her home automatically, but she really didn't look well at all. Mrs. Stein asked Brooke if she wanted her to call home so that I could come and pick her up. Brooke told her teacher that she thought she'd be okay to ride the bus home BECAUSE "my brothers are really sick and if my mom has to come and get me then she'll have to wake them up because it's their naptime right now - I can make it through the rest of the day and ride the bus home."

Thank you Jesus for giving her such a compassionate heart -

may she serve you well with this gift.

Treasures

Clayton has a box of "treasures" that are his absolute favorite toy to play with right now. It is the box of things that most might label "junk." His treasures are the leftover and broken pieces of other toys, McDonald's toys, the free toy at the bottom of the cereal box, random pieces of string, etc. We had such a good time this morning with his box. Lincoln is sick - again - so we're spending the morning at home. Clayton created a game where I could "win" the prizes of his treasure box if I could guess which one he put into his bag (an old make-up bag). He could then win the prize back if he could tell me which letter the prize started with. I think my favorite part was the clues that he gave me to help me guess. "It has four legs and goes WOOF!" I was really struggling with one and he finally says, "Alright mom, it's a lizard, can you just guess the color? Here feel the bag and see if you can guess the color." I think it's funny that of all the games we have to chose from the treasure box wins most often.

One down...30 to GO

During the month of January we made our 2nd annual "Snowman List" - each morning the kids picked one thing that they wanted to do this year. It was fun to watch them come up with things together. When I reintroduced the concept, I let them know that they needed to agree on the items.

Brooke says, "Clayton, I think we should go to Disney World again this year."

Clayton responds, "Okay, Brooke."

B: Mom, we're going to Disney World - we both agree.

Mom: You might want to check with your dad on that before you write it down.

Brooke returned a few moments later, "Clayton, we're NOT going to Disney World. Let's think of something else."

During the blizzard last week we had plenty of family time to finish our 500 piece Wisconsin puzzle. CHECK - one down, 30 to go!