The boys and I skipped a homemade playdough playdate with our moms’ group to go peach picking this morning, so we decided to make our own earlier this week. Here’s the recipe…we used Kool-Aid for the coloring and it turned out great (it even smells good).
Roman climbed up in the chair this afternoon and had a blast playing with it at the kitchen table. Here he is pushing in the molds, loving on his playdough animal creation, and rolling out the rolling pin. So precious!
The boys and I drove out to Pratt’s Orchard this morning to pick peaches. We had so much fun and just love the experience of picking our own in-season fruit. We’re looking forward to making peach pie this afternoon.
I cracked up this afternoon when Jonas and Xander were playing with the water table and Xander got IN it. I had to take a picture of the cuteness because Roman did the same thing not too long ago. I guess that’s how the Seyfried boys roll…haha!!!
We took the boys to the splash pad this afternoon, and we all had a blast. The water was cold, but it felt so good on such a hot day.
Roman was the first to run through the water…a lady stopped and asked me if he was the youngest of the three and marveled at his fearlessness for being so little. Jonas let loose after I went with him to ask another child if he could take a turn shooting one of the water guns. Xander, in keeping with the phase he’s going through this summer, decided to watch from the bench for a while before finally getting in (interestingly enough Jonas did the exact same thing when he was his age). He’s such a water dog at home, so it made my heart happy to see him finally getting out there and running around with his brothers in the water.
Jonas and Roman had so much fun playing in the backyard this afternoon while Xander was napping…Jonas ran through the sprinkler, and Roman ate strawberries Mommy picked for him from the garden.
The boys and I drove out to Franklin this morning to go blackberry picking at Boyd Mill Farm. We went last year when Roman was about four months old…so, it was so sweet to see him walking up and down the rows of blackberry bushes, picking and eating anything he could get his little hands on AND to see Xander this year being the one who was more concerned about picking blackberries (“the black ones not the red ones”) than eating them. Jonas probably could’ve stayed there picking forever (don’t you love his head to toe camo?)…me too. We’re already looking forward to going back next year and to making blackberry cobbler this afternoon. I’m so grateful for the u-pick farms in our area that are so kid-friendly and to the farmers who allow children to participate in such a valuable experience!!!
When we came back from the lake, we brought Lily, Tom’s niece, to spend the week with us as a mother’s helper. It was the perfect timing for our family and, honestly, really: helped to lift me out of a dark place, softened the dynamic between the boys themselves and between the boys and I, allowed me to keep my head above water with the housework and with the toughest transitions of the day (and even get some organizing done), and graced me with the presence of a sweet and strong girl in the house (we painted nails, brushed and braided hair, sewed a reversible tote bag, and shared some wonderful conversations and prayers together). I only hope when my boys are bigger and away from me that they do Tom and I as proud as she did her parents…I was SUPER impressed and inspired.
We had a busy week that included: going on a long road trip from NC to TN (13 hours!!!), taking a walk around the neighborhood, picking up Petra at Aunt Beans house and playing the drums, going to the pediatrician’s office for well visits, enjoying a visit from and sharing dinner with Maw, going blueberry picking, making blueberry crisp and chocolate ice cream, painting rocks, playing on the backyard water slide with neighborhood friends, touring the fire department with Tom, having a blast at gymnastics, and taking a short road trip (just us girls) to East Tennessee to return Lily to her dear mommy.
For the week in pictures, click on the “Lily’s Visit 2013” page to the right.
The boys got to go to gymnastics class this week with our moms’ group while Lily was visiting with us. (There is no way I could have or would have done it without her.) Xander, who has been putting the breaks on most new situations lately, started bawling before we even walked in…sigh. Luckily (or unluckily), it’s been happening a lot recently so I’m getting a little quicker at letting go of my frustration…trying to remind myself that he’s just three, that he’s his own person asserting his own likes and dislikes, and that he’s a lot like me when I was a child (which you and I would think would automatically make me the queen of compassion when it comes to parenting him…however, I’m daily reminded of my tendency towards the exact opposite for some reason). Anyway, after all of the other moms and children spread out a little bit, I had a quiet moment to ask him which station he liked the best and wanted to try…he chose the tunnel to crawl through and perked up right away. By the end of the class, he was running around with red cheeks and sweat dripping down his face. HaHa!!! Here they all are having a blast: Jonas swimming in the pit of foam blocks, Xander doing the bear crawl on the low bars, and Roman standing on the cartwheel blocks.
We were SO excited to go blueberry picking with our moms’ group while Lily was here with us. We picked a pound and a half all together and made blueberry crisp for dessert.
(Let me preface this by saying that in no way did I come home from a ten day trip followed by a thirteen hour car ride with four children to write a post about our family vacation…I’m back posting for chronology’s sake…haha!!!)
We spent ten days in a great lake house (thanks to Grandpa and Grandma Seyfried) on Lake Gaston in North Carolina with Grandpa and Grandma Seyfried, the Seyfrieds, the Longs, and the Paccassis. Highlights of our time together included: taking boat rides, going tubing, swimming in the lake, relaxing in the hot tub, fishing, playing pool and four square, having fun with sidewalk chalk and bubbles, doing crafts (tie-dying pillowcases, painting sun catchers, building and decorating little wooden boats, making homemade Gak, etc.), going to mass, participating in the family talent show, watching fireworks, celebrating the 4th of July with Father Anthony (the Ugandan priest from the local Catholic church), roasting s’mores around a campfire, reading, and cooking and eating and cleaning A LOT.
For more pictures, click on the “Family Vacation in NC 2013” page to the right.
At sixteen months, Roman is: saying “uh oh”, “cool”, “no”, “now”, “fafa” for “waffle”, “hehro” for “hello”, “rara” for “rocket”, and “bow beh” for “brown bear”; becoming fascinated with light switches and fans; loving Little Einstein’s Rocket (the music has captivated him); starting to get really into coloring (he calls it “cuhcuh”); telling me when he has a poopy diaper and sometimes when he’s about to poop (he says “poo”); and continuing to be passionate about books like his brothers (his favorites right now are “Peek-A-Who”, “Look Look”, “The Very Hungry Caterpillar”, touch and feel books, and most recently the kind of books that have little raised parts he can check out like “Five Little Monkeys” and “Five Wishing Stars”.
We stopped just inside the North Carolina state line at a rest stop, where the boys enjoyed checking out a perennial garden of daisies, black-eyed susans, day lilies, roses, and purple coneflowers.
When we got to the hotel where we spent the night, Xander kept asking if Tom and I were staying in the room too, if we were going to be at the lake too…sweet precious boy…we had to reassure him over and over again that we would be.
Roman skipped out on his afternoon nap and was asleep within a minute of laying down in his pack and play…I think he slept the best and the longest of all of us. I didn’t sleep that well on towards the morning, but I loved cuddling up with Xander in his bed when he woke up coughing and wanted me to stay with him and with Jonas when he crawled into bed with Tom and I after he woke up.
We all took a quick dip in the hotel pool before we got back on the road to head to the lake house.
Roman was the first to wake up this morning (which is pretty standard but usually Jonas and Xander are right behind him). This morning, though, they both actually slept in a little.
Roman toddled into the kitchen, reached up for Xander’s booster seat, and then pointed to the coloring box and said, “Cuh!” So, I set him up with a piece of paper and some markers (his favorite…especially dot markers), and he had a blast. Jonas joined us soon after, and I couldn’t help but take pictures of the cuteness.
The boys were super excited to find this turtle on our neighborhood trail!
The boys and I had a real treat this morning and got to meet Aunt Heather and Cousin Val at the park for some play time and bring them back to our house for lunch. I love it when the boys play together, and it was so good for my soul to spend some quality time catching up with my sweet friend and cousin, Heather. Roman was ALL about Val, and Val is so good with him. Here they are at the park with the scooter…so adorable.
After singing on the worship team at church tonight, I met Tom and the boys at a neighboring park to hear the symphony play!!! (I use exclamation points because it’s one of my favorite things to do EVER and because I got to share it not only with my husband but with my three little guys.). It was a little wild, as the boys were all over the place and heading towards the whiny side of past their bedtime, but still it was so worth it. Roman just loves music and put his hands in the air and danced and clapped (he also loves people, so he was all up in everybody else’s grill who came out to see the symphony play). Xander started asking to go home, so Tom ended up taking him and Roman home and putting them to bed, while Jonas and I stayed and listened some more. As I was holding Jonas on my lap and looking around, I decided that this is how life is meant to be…set to music. It’s more beautiful that way.
I took the boys to the downtown library this morning to see a marionette show. They all loved it at first…Jonas sat up front, Xander stood and watched with wide eyes, and Roman said “woof woof” when he saw the dog and “roar” when he saw the lion. Then, Xander got scared (which I totally understand…he reminds me so much of myself as a child in that way). Roman was already a wiggle fest, so he and Xander and I checked out the brightly painted chairs outside the children’s theater while Jonas finished watching the show. They enjoyed throwing pennies and wishes into the water fountain in the courtyard afterwards and coloring a coloring page of all of their favorite storytime friends when they got home.
In his fifteenth month, Roman is: saying “cah” for “car”, “sh” for “shoe”, “ap” for “apple”, “nana” for “banana”, “hop” for “help”, “huh” for “hug”, “ha” for “hat”, “Pepa” for “Petra”, “ba” for “bath”, and “bah” for “ball”; sleeping through the night FINALLY; letting go of nursing; continuing to be all about bath and books; making such a big mess when he eats that we’ve had to strip him down to his diaper to avoid the great laundry pile up/ruining of clothes; starting to throw tantrums (they’re really actually kind of cute coming from him); and being the happiest little ray of sunshine in all of our lives.
Gotta love the dollar store for this $6 find (just like the one that the boys played in at MeMe and PaPa’s on Memorial Day)!!! Xander is definitely the bravest of the three boys when it comes to the sprinkler…he has no fear and could play in it all day long.
