Encouragement of the scriptures

 

On Sunday, Mr. 7 received his first grade bible - a tradition at our church. At the end of first grade, all the kids receive bibles with their name on them. They get to choose one special adult who has been an important part of their spirtual life to present it and Mr. 7 chose his very special first grade teacher Miss M. She comes from quite a family and we feel lucky to know them and to learn from both her and her parents ways to be better parents and teach our children. After receiving their bible the kids recited Romans 15:4 together - “For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.”

Mr. 7 is very proud of his bible and has been hard at work reading it. I told Mr. 5 he needed to be very careful with it since it was so special and he repeated that to Grandma when she asked to see it. "Grandma be very careful with it because it's very special," he told her. Grandma did a great job and returned it in perfect condition!

Super A

 
 

Birthday Bash

 
 
 
 

We had a small party for Master 0's first birthday (it was 2 days early but he seemed okay with it). We invited his posse - J from upstairs, O from down the street, and G who is still very small but will soon be ready for the gang. This made for quite the party as all the babies brought their families - the kids definitely outnumber the adults at this point. We let the younger generation- minus the baby posse - sit in the kitchen with a girls table and a boys table. This turned into quite the battle of the sexes which is amusing when it's the 3-5 year old girls against the 5-7 year old boys. Master 0 enjoyed his first piece of cake and seemed thrilled with all the attention. I'm not sure he knew what was going on but was happy at all the excitement. When you're number three, chaos is the rule and not the exception so this party was right up his alley.

Happy Birthday Master 0

 

Tomorrow Master 0 will be Mr. 1. He's working on his walking skills but with his magic feather - which is whatever nearby fingers will walk him around - he's fast and gets where he wants to go. He says mommy - often "ahma" - and knows all the motions to the itsy bitsy spider. His appetite for lasagna is legendary and he gives the biggest grins for peekaboo and for his favorite book Doggies. In our house he's know as Danger Mouse and is interested in anything his big brothers can do. We're working on locking all the cabinets as there is much exploring he needs to do. We love you and are so glad to have you in our family!

First Haircut

 
 
 

Master 0 has been sporting some pretty nice curls with less hair on top. There was much discussion between the parents as to whether he deserved a haircut especially given the lack of hair his brothers had at this age but we finally decided he would celebrate his first birthday with shorter hair. He took the whole experience in stride. We used our typical technique which is using the mesmerizing flashy box (a.k.a. computer) to distract while I cut as quickly as possible. We think he looks quite handsome with his new look but I'm still hoping the curls grow back - only without the mullet!

Exploring

We finished off our picnic with a walk around the lake. The kids didn't walk as much as throw things in to the lake until they could be motivated to race to the next place where they could throw things into the lake. Mr. 7 found a stick and happily tried to catch green moss with it. When we tried to move on he was worried that there wouldn't be "green clouds of slime" at the next clearing. Boys really do know how to have the most fun.

 
 
 
 

The plays the thing

While enjoying a beautiful Saturday in the park, the boys climbed up on a picnic table to put on a show. I honestly can't remember the story - it involved some songs, air guitar, spaceships, and other things that are stables of pretend around here. At intermission they decided to race and this attracted some followers who joined them on stage to finish the performance.

 
 
 
 

Easter picnic

 
 
 
 

Mealtime

 

Some good friends recommended Tripp Trapp chairs to us last year and we bought one for Mr. 5 to help keep him in his seat at dinner. He generally prefers to be moving at all times and standing in the chair (which is what was happening) was distracting and possibly dangerous. There was an unfortunate night when he got a bit too exuberant and actually flipped backwards out of the chair. Luckily he is mae of titanium and took the whole thing in stride. In fact, I think he asked for another glass of milk before he was even up off the floor. The Tripp Trapp chair worked like magic - he now had a comfortable chair just the right height.

We discovered the baby rail for the chair and thought this was the perfect replacement high chair for Master 0 as our original high chair had not made the move. We love it - and he loves it. He sits with us at the table and seems so happy to be a part of dinner. One of the best part is watching him laugh when the brothers laugh - he doesn't get the joke yet but just wants to do what the big guys do. Mealtime might just be his favorite time of day!

We actually now have three chairs and Mr. 7 uses his for piano practice - it allows him to be at the just the right height!

 

Happy Easter

 
 
 
 

Thank you Nana for finding such handsome outfits for the boys!