Quoteable Joel

One of my favorite things about Joel's current age (almost 4) is the hilarious way his little brain processes things and the resulting funny comments he makes throughout the day. He has been cracking Philip and I up daily, so I decided to write down a few of our recent favorites:

While helping put away silverware: "I'm not going to put away the knives, because I might cut off my hand and then I would have to get a robot hand...well, that might be kinda cool. But, it would hurt."

While on a walk in our neighborhood: "I have a good rule for our walk; do not touch the cars on the tire or the engine."

When crossing the street and having to be corrected for not going when we said it was time: "Dad, next time I'll be more careful crossing the street. I'll go real slow."

While watching a duck that landed in our pool: "He's just so adorable. But he won't be cute if he poops in my pool'"

While playing with his cousin Asher: "You can't see a Ninja turtle's penis because it's inside the shell. But the tail looks like a penis and they are boys"

When I was nursing Nathan: "only Naters can touch your breasts, they are just for milk for babies, even though they are soft and squishy."

While listening to a Bee Gees song int he salon during his haircut: "Why is Mickey Mouse singing on the radio?"

After a big meal: "I ate so much lunch, now my bottom is so full of poop!"

That's all I can think of for now, but I just may update this post with more as long as Joel keeps it up :)

5 Months with Nathan!

Natey my matey is 5 months old!! He continues to be a super sweet little guy and we all enjoy spending time with him. I cannot believe that he is almost half way through his first year of life. Slow down time! I'm a little more emotional about how fast he is changing because he might be our last baby (I say might, Philip says will). Everyday I try to soak in his babyness and enjoy all the things only a baby brings (dimpled knuckles, sleepy snuggles, nursing, huge gummy grins, squishy thighs, silly gurgles, giggles and squeals etc). Nathan can be exhausting and his disdain for the carseat often makes my ears hurt and all of us in the car want to pull out our hair, but he also makes me feel like my heart is literally swelling with joy. Oh how I love my baby and the baby stage!

So, what's new with my littlest love this month? He has found his voice and uses it all day long. He growls, sings, coos and squeals. We always know when he is getting sleepy because he will start making some very sweet little sounds we have labeled his "night night song." Nate continues to be easy to please and generally happy (such a gift!). He smiles with his whole body and can get complete strangers to talk to him. He is also starting to take off in his physical developement and I think in the next month he will be hitting some of those first big milestones. Time to pick up the legos...eep!

New Skills:
can sit up when positioned just right
rolls both ways and can scoot himself forwards or in circles when on his tummy
can reach out and grab things with more purpose (gotta pay attention to what his doing while I hold him now)
puts everything in his mouth (including his feet)
can stand up well in his exersaucer and play for 20-30 minutes! hooray!

Favorite Things:
mouthing his hands and feet
grabbing my hair or face (of that of his daddy and brothers)
hearing himself
watching his brothers
nursing
being sung/spoken to
chewing on his tongue or rubbing it along his gums

Considers Torture:
riding in the car seat (especially for more than 10 minutes...and he can scream for an impressively long time)
being offered a pacifier when fussy (such a bummer)
taking a bath with his brothers

this was a success...

I've said it before, but Nathan is a huge source of entertainment for our family. We all love watching him and cheering him on at each new accomplishment. Levi and Joel adore him and get great joy out of making him laugh or smile. They both request to hold him every day and love to be near him. Unfortunately, Joel is not the most calm and gentle and while holding Nate a couple weeks ago he accidentally pushed him off the couch and onto the coffee table (giving him a black eye!). A couple of days before that Joel threw a toy at Levi in anger and instead hit Nathan in the face giving him a bloody nose. Poor guy, it's rough being the 3rd boy! Thankfully he bounced back quickly, and hopefully it will encourage Joel to be more careful in the future. I think there are a lot of "adventures" in my future as we raise three busy boys!

Spring Break!

We had a fun spring break last week! Philip took the first two days off work so we made a long weekend trip out to the ranch and enjoyed our time together as a family. It rained quite a bit while we were there which made for a muddy/messy trip, but also made it seem like we had the whole place to ourselves. The boys had a blast riding, feeding and watching the horses, collecting rocks, fishing, playing baseball and relaxing in the club house. 

The rest of the break we did other special things like go to pajama movie night at church, the aquarium and park with cousins and itz pizza (a cross between chuck e cheese and dave n busters). When we weren't doing anything special we spent lots of lazy mornings in our pjs enjoying yummy breakfasts, watching movies, playing games and racing match box cars. Those things ended up being pretty special too :)

The boys had a great break and we were sad to see it end. It made me both excited for and scared of summer...I enjoyed the more relaxed schedule and extra family time, but the all day long noise and hyperactivity was also a bit exhausting!

Karate!

Papa and Nana D gave Levi and Joel 10 lessons of Karate as a gift a few months ago, and we just finished their last class. It was a fun activity and Levi ended up really loving it! We are about to start T-ball, but if he is still interested when the season is over we may sign him up for some more lessons. At this age we have decided the boys don't need to be in more than one activity outside of school and church at a time.

The first couple of classes were rough for both of the boys. Levi even refused to go onto the mat the first class and even though Joel was out there, he hardly moved the entire 30 minutes. The second class they both participated and by the end of the class Levi was doing some of the moves. Both of them required lots of correction and reminders to pay attention for the next couple classes and then Levi finally caught on. The last 5 classes Levi did great and earned several "belt links" for doing well in class. Joel tried, but he just didn't have the interest or focus to do well in the classes at his age. Maybe when he's a little older. He never earned a single link because he was almost always off task, spinning in circles, day dreaming, making silly faces in the mirrors or trying to distract Levi. I would have never guessed at the start of the classes, but Levi grew so much and became one of the best in the group and was very sad when he finished his last class. His improvement in focus and being disciplined in listening made me so proud! Thanks for the great gift Papa and Nana D!

More Snow!

Last night another snow storm moved through and we got several inches of nice snow! I was really excited because when it snowed a few days ago I was too sick to have any fun. I like to think God treated me with one more beautiful snowfall. Unfortunately, Philip had to go to work, but the boys and I had a fun day playing, making a snowman and having snow ball fights. The snow was a great consistency and I think we had a day of fun the boys will always remember.

We made snow ice cream :)

snow ball fight :)

Levi would just ran around and then fall in the fluff

angel making Joel

Levi and Joel were very proud of our masterpiece. When we finished he ran inside and made a sign with a list of all our names for him to hold because "he's our family snowman" (not sure what that means, but it sure was cute!)

Frozen Days

Last week a big cold front came through our area, which resulted in some very chilly days and lots of freezing precipitation. On Sunday night into Monday morning we got quite a bit of sleet and freezing rain which caused the roads to be very slick. School ended up being canceled much to Levi's delight. We enjoyed lots of time snuggling, watching movies and roasting marshmallows after dinner. We played lots of games, enjoyed our legos, play-dough and kinetic sand. Colored, painted, and made collages with paper and played video games on the kindle. However, the ice wasn't all that much fun to play with, and we were running out of indoor activities, so by Tuesday evening we were all ready for the ice to melt and to get back to our normal routine. Thankfully, it warmed up enough to melt the ice and Wednesday we were back to school and driving.

 
Wednesday and Thursday remained cold and on Friday morning, as we were driving to school, beautiful fluffy snow flakes started to fall. Levi was so excited and pretty bummed to be heading to school instead of staying home to play. Luckily, the snow continued to fall until about 5pm and we got about 3 inches of snow! It was so pretty and so much more fun to play in than the ice from earlier in the week. Unfortunately, I ended up having fever Friday afternoon and was feeling pretty crummy Friday evening and all day Saturday. Philip spent some time playing with the boys in the snow, and they had a blast! The only dissapointment was that the snow was so powdery that it wouldn't stick together to make a snow man. However, on Saturday it was a little wetter and the boys helped make a family of tiny snow men complete with berry eyes, stick arms and grass mouths. I wish I had been feeling up to playing more, but I couldn't resist going out for a few minutes to snap some pictures of my cuties in the snow during one of Nate's naps.

lots of bunny prints were discovered :)

Running around the tree listening the crunching snow

Joel loved slipping on the icy driveway, even though he fell often

 

L to R: Philip, Me, Nathan, Levi, Joel :)

After a week of  "real" winter weather I can say I am so thankful to live where snow and ice are rare. I don't think I am cut out for the needed bundling, cleaning, and work that comes with the fun of playing and living in the snow. Major kudos to the moms who live up North and keep their kids entertained, fed and warm during the cold frozen winter! I'm ready for spring!