Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Alexander

Alexander is full of clever remarks, sweet songs, "I love you Mommy"s, and silly faces.  If you ask him how he is doing, he always replies, "Great."  One of his favorite things in the world is a "holly pop" (lolly pop).  He often blocks the doorway and the password to get through is usually "holly pop."  He doesn't like anyone to talk about how cute he is or laugh over cute things he says.  He gets very upset and feels like he is being made fun of.  I have to be really careful of when I choose to tell Jackson stories from the day in order to not offend Alexander.  He LOVES to help.  Any time I start to cook, he grabs a chair and wants to be my helper.  If there is a job, he wants to help do it.  He enjoys helping me in the garden just as much as he does cooking.  He doesn't like to go potty.  He doesn't like to wear underwear or shoes.  He loves primary, which I am so happy about because he really didn't like nursery at all.  




He still mixes up his s's if they are at the beginning of a word.  For example "spoon" is "psoon," "school" is "ksool," "small" is "msall."  That combined with this little raspy voice is so cute!






He likes to have his hair done.  He always wants it done with gel and "psikees" (spike-ees).  








He LOVES his blankies.  The original set of 4 that I was given when he was a newborn were in tatters.  They were all ripped into small squares and rectangles and were various shades of grey and brown.  He would bunch them all in a pile to sleep with.  I bought him a new set for Christmas and he took to them right away.  In fact, as soon as he opened them, he ran to his bed, got the old ones, and threw them in the trash can!  I was so surprised!  My other kids have all preferred their old blankies over any new ones I get them even if they are identical.












He loves to collect eggs from the chickens every day.  He gets very upset if anyone else brings them in.  (Yes, that is chicken poop on the bottom of his shoe).  I am getting really sick of chicken poop.  I can't decide yet if my love for the eggs outweighs my annoyance at the poop.
He also loves to get the mail for me every day.  He is starting to understand that the mailman only comes once a day and it is usually right around lunch time.  He keeps his eyes out and as soon as he sees the mail truck he is ready to go.  He won't go out, though, until the mail man has gone on to the next house.
We had a mail box casualty.  The massive bush got loaded down with snow and started pushing on the mailbox.  The wood post was pretty old and had some rotting.  It started out as just a slight lean toward the road and over about a week's time it eventually hit the cement.  We tried propping it back up in the bush to buy us some time, but it was no good.  I knew I wanted that bush out of there, so we used a basket as a mailbox for about a week until we had time to rip the bush out and install a new pole (which was kindly crafted by Jackson's dad).


Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Estella Switches to Piano

Estella has switched from playing the violin to playing the piano.  I had been noticing for a while that she didn't seem to be loving the violin.  She wasn't saying it out loud but it was just different than the older boys had seemed to feel about their instruments.  It sounds silly as I type it out, but it just seemed like they clicked with and loved the instrument they were playing.  That doesn't mean it was easy for them or that practicing was a breeze.  In fact, it was hard and practicing was often, if not usually, a challenge for everyone involved, but there was an underlying connection and love there that Estella didn't seem to have.  I thought maybe she was just different and we kept on our merry way, but then she started asking to learn to play the piano.  She didn't ask to quit violin, just asked to start learning piano.  I didn't give much thought to it until she had been persistently mentioning it for a long period of time (I think it was 6 months or more).  I decided to start her with piano and continue violin for 6 months and then make a choice.  I obviously wasn't thinking straight because I was having a hard time practicing with everyone as it was, but that is what I decided.  After a few piano lessons I could see that she loved it.  I was convinced, and wanted to quit violin, but Jackson wanted her to continue both.  We made a deal that I would practice piano with her and he would practice violin with her.  He just flat out didn't have enough time to do that, so it slowly became apparent that we were quitting violin, at least for now.  I am sad that she won't have the special time each week with her violin teacher (Grandma Chelle).  I am happy that she has special time each week now with her piano teacher (Aunt Amber).  I am also happy that I am learning more about the piano by going to lessons and practicing with her.  









Monday, March 24, 2014

Once there was a Snowman


One morning, as I walked back from the mailbox, I saw a few things on the ground.  I went over to pick them up and realized they were the remains of a snowman.  It made me so happy for some reason to see those sticks and a wilted rotten carrot.  I love the evidence of a good time had.

Sunday, March 23, 2014

Eleanor Walks

These pictures are from...maybe 4 months ago or something ridiculous like that.