The View

Do you ever catch yourself in the kitchen, hustling like a crazy person to finish supper before the evening activities begin, then turn around and see a counter-full of kids and think to yourself,

"Woah, I have four kids."

Ok, so maybe not four, but the number doesn't really matter, does it?

I know, I know. I see this view every single day. Multiple times a day. Actually, the whole herd follows me wherever I go... in one room and out the other. To the toilet, and beyond. And in case you were slightly concerned, yes, I know, I've had four kids for quite a while now. I haven't completely lost it. Yet.

But this time, no one was fighting, whining or throwing food.

Not that my kids do that or anything.

In fact, they were being so cordial that I almost forgot they were sitting there. Miracles do happen. About 10 seconds went by before someone actually spotted me staring at them. It was a rare moment and definitely worth taking in.

I giggled inside, wondering if Tyler really knew what he was in for all those years ago.

I watched them interact, and couldn't imagine my life with one less.

I witnessed love shown with each Veggie Straw Tess shared Lady and the Tramp style.

And I decided that I need to stop more often, and take in...

the view.

Homework

I love this kid...

Today is someone's birthday...

...and he's FOUR!

Happy Birthday, darlin'!

The 5 minute blog post about nothing...

It's 9:49pm and Tyler should be rolling in from work in the next few minutes. Darn those 1:30-10pm weekend shifts. Oh wait, I gave a kid-lecture on that once. Thank you God for one great job. Really.

Parenting is hard, but more on that later. I asked my mom the other day how she did it, and she said that we were the most compliant four children on the face of the planet. Or something like that. Anyway, that didn't get me very far. :)

Had the privilege of taking Trey by myself to his 2nd baseball practice today. I loved every minute of it, even though the wind was a bit chilly. I took a book to pass the 90 minutes, but never got it out. Couldn't take one eye off of my boy. He played catcher, wasn't bad, and definitely never complained. Couldn't hit the ball until the coach told him to stop closing his eyes, then he slammed every one. I wanted to cheer like a crazy woman, but just smiled inside and answered his thumbs-up.

My OCD is really kicking in. I make mental lists in my head all day long of things I want to organize. Especially this time of year. Then I remember that I have a one year old. My lists will have to wait, and at kid number 4, I'm getting closer to being okay with that. Could someone please come and wash my windows though (I have someone who likes to lick windows!)? :)

Planning Chase's birthday party for next week, and it better be good, because if you heard him talk, you wouldn't want to disappoint him either. The good news is that a good party equals a Darth Vader pinata. He's a sweetie, and sure has waited a long time to turn four. Now that I can't believe (the four part).

Summer scheduling is in full swing! Scheduled so far: swimming lessons, VBS (x2), Lego Engineering, Purdue's Super Summer, Baseball, Mini 4-H, and a Florida trip! Lovin' the thought of having the older boys home all day in a few short weeks!

Jack cut his own fingernails for the first time today. I know that doesn't seem exactly blog-worthy, but that means that my weekly count just went down by 20 finger and toenails!

And.... my favorite person just walked though the door. And guess what?

He ranks over you... :)

More nonsense at a later date!

Who has time for egg hunts...

when you can just stop and eat the candy?!

Still reflecting on Christ and His amazing gift to us!

Letter of the day...

Changing Chase. I can almost see the wheels spinning in this kid's mind some days. Sometimes he loves being silly with Tess, doing everything to make her laugh, content to play simple baby games with her. Other times he really wants to learn things. Hard things, like Jack and Trey. He spends most days talking non-stop, asking what something is, or how it works, or why it does that.

His questions the last couple of weeks have centered around letters. He really wants to read. He sees the older boys spending lots of time in books, and will curl up with his own, making up the story as he goes. He has memorized some of our favorite reads, and will now point to words and "read" along as he turns the pages. "What's this word, Mommy?," I hear him ask, about 20 times a day.

He knows his letters quite well, and can write most of them without thinking. But I realized that we still have a few letters that we've not practiced the sounds of yet. So I'm a mommy on a mission, trying to take advantage of the momentary motivation of my almost four year old sponge. :) So we're tackling a "letter of the day," each morning after the big boys get to school. We're keeping it super simple... mostly so he doesn't get frustrated! I spent a few dollars at Wal-Mart and got him his very own supplies (way cooler to know that they're all his instead of someone else's leftovers, trust me):

Crayons, glue (the colored, sparkly kind, for sure), scissors, a bound notebook of 3x5 cards, and a Crayola Beginning Alphabet and Numbers pack... We start off by practicing writing the letter of the day. While he's writing, we say the sound or sounds the letter makes, and take turns shouting out words that begin with that letter. I've found that a little excitement can go a long way... he doesn't even realize he's learning half the time. It's more like a silly word game with his nutty mom (silly voice inflections and all!).

We found some larger letters in fish shapes online, and printed them off to color and cut out (what a great way to sneak in a couple of other skills to practice!). After he colors and cuts out the capital and lower-case versions of the letter of the day, he glues them into his 3x5 flip book, that we fondly titled, "Chase's Letter Book." What's great about this is that he can flip through and review each letter that we've covered. He loves looking through it and seeing how much he's accomplished! Best of all, I get some planned special time with my sweet boy, who might otherwise feel a little lost in the crowd...