conrad jay - week 44

Beware...Conrad's got the hair cutting scissor...

Conrad has been slowly transitioning to taking milk from a sippy.  He’s been really easy and laid back about it, but that’s how he seems about most things.  He’s moving all over now and finding more things to get into.  In the last few days, he’ll crawl to the gate at the top of the stairs to the playroom and just sit there listening to his brothers play.  He wants to be where they are and now that he can do something about it, he tries. 

Ivan has got the silliest/cutest expressions going on this week.  He pays so much attention to other people, that he’s learning to work his expressions to match the situation. Most of the time, it results in my cracking up.  He also wants to everything that’s BIG!  Everything.  Not yet, not yet, not yet, my son.

Silas is always my first one outside. No matter the temperature!  And if not outside, most of the time he’s building with Legos.  He loves all his brothers and us too.  Lately I’ve seen how closely he notices details.  He’ll remind me when we’re all out of something or notice a subtle feeling someone has about something.  He’s got the big countdown going for SPRINGBREAK!  Every day….how many more days until skiing???

Amos is always thinking.  If he’s not crafting some Lego spaceship, he’s designing an adventure through art, on paper, or crafting a story to share.  He leads the charge most days, but when he’s ready for a little more peace and quiet, he’ll grab a book and find a secluded place.  He’s a good leader for the crew. 

This week’s movie night brought an old, old favorite….The Brave Little Toaster.  Who didn’t watch this one growing up??  The boys loved it and I’m sure we’ll be watching it again.

Sunday brought haircuts for the boys.  We reached our end of the attempt to grow it out.  No matter how long it got, I don’t think Silas would have ever managed to keep it out of his face.  And when they hate you brushing it and want it short, what can you do?  I think they turned out pretty good.  I’ve got lots of little heads to practice on.  However, they are a lot harder than big ones.  

That's it for this week.  The weather has cooled off again and we'll be spending most of this week prepping for our BIG trip to Colorado!  Last night we worked on our ski-jumps and watched a four year old skiing.  We are all inspired.  Or frightened...

conrad jay - week 43

Someone's found a new place where he's just tall enough to see out the window.

I'm sure he wanted to be on the other side, but his favorite was to make faces at Ivan and later Daddy as he came home from work!

On Silas' special day, he chose the game we would be playing.  And he picked one of his favorites.  As you can see, he's working very hard at it.

Meanwhile, this little one was working very hard at crawling, and he figured it out!!  He's still been a tentative crawler this week, but he's getting around.  Our slick hardwood floors present a little bit of a challenge for a new crawler.

On Thursday, we were going to meet up with friends for lunch, but when our plans got changed, we improvised!  We headed to a closer park and had it all to ourselves.

Conrad and I hung out on the blanket most of the time and the boys ran around playing.

Later, the youngest three got in some high flying on the swings.

One of my favorite scenes.  Some days they play so nice together.  Others don't go as smoothly.  This week, Amos has been going off and doing some things a little more independently. It's presented a chance for Silas and Ivan to figure out how to play together.  There's always more conflict between the two of them, but they did make some strides this past week.

More examples of his new skills.  The cabinets are always a favorite.

On Saturday, we busted out some Christmas gifts that take a little more time and thinking.  Amos was working on circuits and Silas with magnets.  They sure are little thinkers.  And Ivan was around just in case things needed a little messing up.

Amos' special day was Sunday.  He and Dad went to the park all by themselves and then picked up ice cream!

Monday brought an outing for our newly formed nature group.  We had fun, despite the wind, looking for rocks and marching along.

What a joy to share God's Great Outdoors with friends!

conrad jay - week 42

The weather was gorgeous this past week so we spent a lot of time outside.  Below, the boys were drawing in the nature journals.  I sent them out to find something "cool".  And boy did they.  Thing after thing!

Ivan is becoming quite the problem solver.  Part of school time, he wants to sit with us and do everything we are doing, but sometimes, he'll go off and do his own thing. He wants to do everything himself these days, and most of the time he can figure it out.  We had friends over on Thursday and decided to eat in our sunroom.  Here comes Ivan bringing me the gallon of milk, with the lid off because he needed more!!

We try to write stories on Fridays.  You can tell they are working hard.  Silas has his tongue out.  

After a date night on Friday, we headed to Chanute to celebrate Clara's 3rd birthday with her!  What a sweetie!

It had been too long since we had been there, so it was fun to get to spend most of the day just hanging out and eating food.

SISTERS!  

Whenever we get together, Gramps looks like this most of the time.  One in each arm!

This is our version of calendar time this year.  We try to keep track of the things going on in our week.  We say the date and Silas gets to count how many days we've completed so far.  I can't believe it's already time for March's calendar.  As you can see, our February calendar was dearly loved.

Monday's are turning in our day to go on a hike as a family.  We just keep having really nice weather.  And this Monday, we decided to finally hike up to the praying hands.  We're constantly driving by them and Ivan let's us know they are there, so it was time!

Amos said, "That was our first adventure today."

Our next adventure was running around the pavilion!  That thought the echo was awesome.  And they were even willing to recite their poems for Dad on the stage!!  It sure made all our time memorizing them worth it!