The Magical World of Childhood

     I know I say this all the time, but it is so fun to watch my kids grow up!

     Lately I have loved watching the world through Ellie's eyes. She just turned 5, and everything is so magical. She loves to play with her princesses and her dolls - she's either "princess" or "mommy."

     Right now she is on a coloring/painting kick, and she always puts her pictures on the fridge when she is done. This is what my fridge looks like at this very moment:

     I absolutely love it. It brings me so much joy to see my kids doing "kid" things.

     This morning we went to the park, and the kids made some new friends. They played under the huge pine trees for quite awhile. (Have I mentioned how much I LOVE Rexburg this time of year?) When we got home they told me all about how they were pretending to go to a party with their new friends, what the party would be like, where it would be, etc. I love getting a peek into the magical world inside their little heads.

     Nathan adores Sam and all the manly things he does, like work in the yard, and the other day while Sam and I finished up the run for the chicken coop Nathan asked me to start a screw for him. I did, but I honestly didn't think he would be able to get it screwed in all the way - well, he proved me wrong! He screwed it in all the way, we taught him how to push the button to take the screw out, and he took that screw in and out for about 45 minutes! He felt so big.

     On Saturday we spent a lot of time working in the yard, and one of the kids' jobs was to pick up weeds that Sam and I had pulled out of the flower beds. They thought it was so much fun since they got to ride in the trailer to each pile of weeds, jump out and put the weeds in the trailer, then jump back in and ride to the next pile. 

     (In case you couldn't tell, Jonah loves to play in the dirt...)

     And I can't forget our sweet little Thomas! He will be 5 months old tomorrow, and he is at such a fun age right now! He rolls all over the place, loves to play with his toes, loves to grab anything within arm's reach, (especially Ellie's or my hair...) bounces like nobody's business in the jumperoo - seriously, he jumps higher, crazier and longer than any of my other kids have - and laughs and smiles. He doesn't have a tame little smile either - he has this huge, open-mouth grin. I wish I could get a good picture of it, but this one will have to do:

     Being a mom is my favorite thing in the world, and I am so grateful that I get to be home with my kids every day.

     

Jumping Hard or Hardly Jumping?

Sometimes little guys get sleepy... But a boy's gotta jump!

Big Sister Makes Everything Better

Nathan was sad, so he looked around for Ellie and asked her to hold him.

He cheered up pretty quickly and they both ran off to play. I love the relationships my kids have with each other.

B-A-N-A-N-A-S

(Every time I spell bananas I get "Hollaback Girl" by Gwen Steffani stuck in my head... Ah, high school...)

Anyway... 

We buy a ridiculous amount of bananas around here, and they never go to waste. These boys LOVE bananas more than just about anything. If bananas are a choice with breakfast or for a snack, that will always be what they pick.

And they are very specific about how they eat them, too. They must be peeled precisely so that the banana doesn't break, but there is enough banana to eat easily. Every time Nathan asks me to peel one for him he says "peel it like this," then he acts like he's peeling it and says "1,2,3" with each peel.

I'm sure someday soon I will miss these cute, silly things my kids do. 

The Evolution of Picture Taking

More Messes

Ellie never got into things when she was younger, but the boys sure do - especially Nathan! The other night Sam and I were outside working in the yard after the kids were in bed, and when we came in to check on them this is what we found:

That's the cake mix Ellie had picked out for her birthday. No, he's not sleeping. When he heard us coming, closing his eyes was his version of hiding from us. After that incident, I put a lock on the pantry door, hoping that would help.

Well, I forgot to close the door to the pantry when I got in the shower yesterday.... When I came out of the bathroom and went to check on the kids downstairs, Nathan was not down there like he was when I got in the shower... So I went searching.

I found this in the hallway outside his room:

And this inside his room:

This is his face when I brought in the vacuum so he could clean it up - completely un-phased.

We have our family rules hung up on the wall, and he knows that one of them is "if you make a mess, clean it up." But it doesn't really phase him to clean up his own messes. I think he likes to use the vacuum....

He is really trying my patience, but I keep repeating to myself, "It's just a phase. He will grow out of it." 

...And then I remember that I have two more boys after him... 🙈

Good thing I love them so stinking much!

Dancing with Daddy

There is just something special about the relationship between a girl and her daddy. I love watching these two.