It’s been a rough couple of days emotionally for me, so it was really sweet to see the boys have fun playing in the rain this morning like I did when I was a little girl. They grabbed their umbrellas, rain boots, and swim suits and went exploring…and then the sun came out. It was a good lesson for mommy…and refreshing for all of our souls.
The boys and I stopped into the garden center this afternoon to pick up a few perennials for our front flower bed (I think I’m finally realizing that swapping out annuals twice a year is not worth the time or the money). We grabbed some tomato cages while we were at it for a few of the tomato plants in our garden that have started getting big. And I cracked up when I looked over and saw this…they said they were “growing themselves”.
The boys and I went out to visit MeMe and PaPa this morning. It was a rainy day, but they still had a big time…picking onions from the garden, painting watercolor pictures with MeMe, throwing Xander’s stuffed penguin up in the air with PaPa, playing with the wooden train and tool toys, and eating lunch on the back porch. We’re so thankful for the lazy days of summer!!!
The boys were so excited to get a package in the mail from Aunt Sherri yesterday…she sent the boys wooden rosaries to put together themselves!!! Jonas and Xander worked on theirs this afternoon while Roman was napping. What a great spiritual learning activity…thanks, Aunt Sherri!
Jonas and Xander started swim lessons this afternoon. They were so excited about their goggles that they wore them in the car the entire way there. I had to document the cuteness…
We were a little bit early, so they sat on the side of the pool and had fun kicking their feet in the water (and water at each other) until their lesson started. Their classmates were another set of brothers (ages 3 and 5) which I thought was pretty perfect.
I prayed for Xander on the way that he would be able to move past his fear and enjoy it. He is the daddy-deemed “water dog” of the family and could easily play in the water all day. But when he took his first crack at swim lessons last summer, he was TOTALLY not into it (even the swim school director felt that it just wasn’t the right time for him.). So this summer he’s going into it with a year of preschool under his belt and his brother who’s in the same class. He still put the breaks on when he realized I wasn’t going with him into the water, and he freaked out a little bit and cried a little bit when I handed him off to his coach. But she just took it all in stride; and, within a few short minutes, he went from holding on to her for dear life to patting her on the back and smiling and splashing with the best of them. Go Xander!!!
Jonas was all about it…going under water and just all around chomping at the bit. The gymnastics camp that he’s doing one day a week over the summer (where they do gymnastics and get to play in the pool) and the thought of going on his first beach vacation in a few short weeks has got him fired up about swimming. Here’s hoping we’ll have some swimmers pretty soon!
The boys and I ventured out to the zoo this morning. It always takes a certain amount of energy for me to go there with them, and I wasn’t all together sure I had enough today but I thought I’d give it a shot anyway. (We’ve been trying to keep it fairly low key after a crazy last week of school and first week of summer, so we were all ready to get out and about a little bit.) We were supposed to meet up with some of Xander’s friends from preschool but ended up doing our own thing as they were all spending the morning on the jungle gym which was not my idea of fun after losing Roman there for the worst few minutes of my life the last time we went to the zoo. SO we rode the carousel, fed the lorikeets, pet the goats, and checked out the red pandas and the leopards. I realized later that I didn’t get a good picture of Roman, but here are a few good ones of Jonas and Xander riding the carousel.
To celebrate the end of Jonas’ baseball season, Tom invited all of the boys from the team out to the fire department to run through the water from the fire hose. Jonas was a little hesitant but eventually got into it, Xander was all about it, and Roman would have none of it. (The crying picture of Roman might be the first in a new series I’ll post, directly inspired by Greg Pemboroke’s hysterically therapeutic blog “Reasons My Son Is Crying”…he was crying because I wouldn’t let him take pictures with my phone near a 50 foot jet stream of water from a fire truck.)
Xander freaked us all (and himself) out by running into an electrified barbed wire fence…all I can say is that Tom got to him quicker than I did and I was running for my life down the hill. He was amazingly and thankfully okay except for a vertical scrape down the length of his chest and understandable tears from being hurt and scared. I saw something in that moment…the difference between Tom and I and in what we’ve passed on to our kids…I would’ve just wanted to go home and certainly wouldn’t have gotten back out there…so I was so proud to see that Xander tended more in this moment towards what Tom would’ve done…he got right back out there and had more fun than most of the other kids. I’m so grateful for these little…these big triumphs of character in the little things. Go, Xander!
The boys and I went strawberry picking this morning. We were headed to a local patch with our moms’ group, but we found out at the last minute that it was closed. So we ended up driving out to Valley Home Farms where we’ve gone the last two summers in a row…since we got out there a little later than we would have if we had planned on it…it was HOT. We enjoyed our picking time but didn’t last that long in the heat. The boys were so drained that I ended up pushing all of them in the stroller back down the little dirt road from the strawberry fields back up to the home store. We cooled off in the shade and treated ourselves to the best homemade strawberry honey pops in the world. We’re looking forward to visiting our favorite u-pick farms this summer and picking more delicious, in-season fruit!
Today was Jonas and Xander’s last day of preschool for the year. It hit me this morning, as I was trying to keep a peaceful heart in the midst of a van full of wildness, that this would be my last morning to drive Jonas to preschool EVER. And that’s when it started…that lump in the throat thing. So far, I’ve been surprised at my out-of-character, non-emotional response to: talking with friends and family about Jonas starting kindergarten in the fall (he’s ready to go and I’m ready for him to go), attending the kindergarten registration meeting and turning in all of his paperwork, and buying his school supply kit. But there was just something about walking him to his preschool classroom for the last time and getting to witness a few of their daily morning activities (circle time, prayer, and the Pledge of Allegiance) that really got to me…it was definitely a slow motion and a fast forward moment all in one. Here are a few pictures of him with: his best friend, Henry; his dear teachers, Mrs. Deese and Mrs. Nofi; the American flag; his yearbook; his classmates; and his Mommy (I totally have the same look on my face as I did the day I brought him home from the hospital).
Tom spent time with Xander and Roman in Xander’s classroom, where Xan-Man was delighted to receive his yearbook as well. Here’s a picture of his sweetness with his precious teachers, Mrs. Cathy and Mrs. Lynda.
I ran by the dollar store earlier this week to surprise the boys with a small end of the school year gift…among the winners were these sticky foam animal mosaics that have been a big hit with the big boys (especially Xander) and a bag of pipe cleaners that they all have been playing with in different ways. We were having a restful morning, and the boys had all settled into a project…Jonas was doing a paint-with-water page and Xander was working on a sticky foam mosaic…and Roman was restless so I busted out the colander and pipe cleaners for an activity I’ve heard can keep toddlers busy for a little while. It did and then the big boys wanted to join in too (we only had two colanders so Jonas found a cheese grater that worked just as well). Yay for easy mornings and for the creativity that rest brings.
Tom and the boys and I went to Touch-A-Truck this afternoon at Pinkerton Park (it’s an annual event where the city brings out trucks from the Fire, Police, Sanitation, Streets, Water, and Parks to celebrate and honor the City Public Works Departments). It’s so awesome and what a wonderful educational opportunity for the boys to learn more about our community helpers! They checked out a SWAT truck, a Bobcat, a John Deere tractor, a garbage truck, and a school bus. The favorite by far was the bucket truck that held a man high up in the air who threw down soft earth balls to all of the amazed kids below. A sweet surprise for this mother’s heart was…when each of my boys climbed into the Bobcat…the first thing they did was look for the seatbelt and try to put it on! The boys were chomping at the bit to play at the super fun playgrounds the whole time, so they did that before and after too. There is NO way I could have managed it all without Tom, so yay for Daddy being so hands-on and for being able to come with us!
We enjoyed spending Mother’s Day making breakfast for Maw and hanging out with Maw, Uncle Kerry, Aunt Julie, and Aunt Jeanne. What would we do without our mothers? Here are a few pictures from our time together…
We loved hanging out with Aunt Heather and Cousin Annabella at Jonas’ baseball game this morning. Annabella, Xander, and Roman had fun playing in the dirt/sand, and Aunt Heather and I enjoyed catching up and cheering for Jonas. I ended up having to make a quick exit with the little boys right before the game was over, as Xander and Roman were inconsolably melting down and ready to eat lunch and take a nap. Tom stayed with Jonas while he finished out his game and won…Go Lake Monsters!
I’m finding more and more these days how much the boys and I really enjoy and NEED our one on one time together. Xander and I both had a rough day today, so when Tom asked if I could run to the grocery store to pick up a few things for dinner and if I could bring one child with me…I knew exactly who that would be. We went to Kroger which is the perfect place because they have those child sized grocery carts (that I would have loved to have had the opportunity to steer alongside my mommy when I was little)! Xander was super excited and proud of himself…it was so adorable. He helped me in the self-checkout line…looking for barcodes, swiping items across the scanner, and bagging everything up. And he did a great job listening while I helped him navigate the parking lot with his cart full of groceries to unload it all into the van. I thank God for one on one time with each of my precious boys and for what we learn from each other when we slow down long enough and get quiet and still enough to listen.
I had lunch with Jonas and Xander at preschool today in honor of Mother’s Day. They gave me the sweetest gifts, hugs, and smiles. (We ended up leaving a little bit early as Xander had a meltdown about the Oreos I brought him just in case the treats they provided were not peanut-free which they weren’t…some meltdowns will forever be a mystery to me…oh well…I just keep trying to take a deep breath and try again.) Anyway…Happy Mother’s Day!
Jonas has been sick all week, so we’ve been taking it super easy. This morning, the boys did some painting with watercolor and fingerpaints. (I couldn’t find the paint brushes in our overflowing craft bins, so I found some q-tips in our bathroom closet for the boys to paint with while I did a little bit of craft supply organizing.) In my mini downsizing project of our slightly out of control collection of coloring, activity, and skills books…I was so excited to find a Paint with Water book that I think Aunt Sherri gave the boys a while back!!! I have the fondest memories of spending countless summer minutes on these with my sisters and cousin at my Granny and Grandpa’s house, and I loved watching Jonas and Xander have just as much fun with them.
Xander is such an individual…he is an observer (a true noticer of life) and loves just doing his own thing. Here are a few of the things he’s said recently that just lit up my heart:
(While playing with bubble wrap, he said…)
“I think God made this for boys to play with.”
Mommy: “Xander, what do you want to be when you grow up?”
Xander: “I want to be myself…I want to be Xander.”
Jonas got the coolest gift for his birthday last year…a crystal mining kit. He has totally loved digging through the rock with his special tools to unearth crystals. So, when Tom found a few dinosaur bone digging kits on clearance, he brought them home for the boys. It was the perfect thing to bring out this week, as Jonas has been sick and we’ve been taking it easy at home. It definitely made a mess (next time we’ll take it outside), but they had so much fun with it which is what matters most.
Jonas and I have been enjoying an ongoing conversation about all of the first bloomers of spring (inspired by Pops, we’ve been talking about how it’s like a symphony of nature that God orchestrates). Jonas has an eye now for daffodils, tulips, Bradford Pear trees, redbuds, dogwoods, and forsythia and likes to point them out on our drives to and from preschool.
This morning we got to school early (I was feeling ready to have them all strapped in and going somewhere). Jonas is always going 100 mph, Xander is always going 0 mph, and Roman is always screeching because he doesn’t like being confined to the stroller (but managing three different speeds of independent mobility is not my idea of fun at preschool drop off and pick up with the busy parking lot and chaotic narrow hallways packed with teachers, parents, preschoolers, and siblings so Roman has to roll with it in that moment for Mommy’s sanity). Anyway, Xander is a true observer…constantly bringing up the rear to investigate a worm or pick a dandelion or lick the snow off of the sidewalk…who often (admittedly and sadly) gets hurried up. But, in my heart of hearts (outside of the busy pace of life that I let so often take over and consume me), I know he’s got the right idea. So, this morning, I just had to spend our extra time on our way into school, joining with him in enjoying the beauty of the flowering trees that have covered the flower beds in a pool of pink. Thank you, God, for life and for children who teach us how to live it.
The boys and I were SO excited to see our dear friends, the Bowens, who were in town this week. They moved to Texas over a year ago, and we have missed them so very much. I love these pictures of all of our little ones playing in the sandbox together. Lizza was pregnant with Bennett (in the red checked shirt) when I was pregnant with Xander…and they were born a month apart. She was also pregnant with Isabelle (in the green and white shirt) when I was pregnant with Roman…and they were born a few days apart. It’s just amazing to see them all together…what miracles of life. Her newest little one is named Roseberry, and this was our first time meeting her…so that was really special too. I praise God for the dearest of friends for whom distance on the map is no distance at all.
