Grandma and Grandpa drove in from Virginia this afternoon for a visit. We are all excited and looking forward to an event-filled weekend…trick or treating, Jonas’ last soccer game of the season, Jonas 5th birthday party, and Daddy and Grandma skydiving. More to come…
Jonas and Xander were so excited to wear their costumes to preschool this morning for their Halloween parade, trick or treating, and Halloween parties. (I even put Roman in his costume…nothing’s cuter than three little boys on the front porch in their costumes on Halloween morning.)
I was totally inspired by Kim and her five children…to buck up and do what needs to be done without a complaining heart (adding a little Mary to the Martha), to not carry shame about needing and operating on a household routine (enjoying the peace and freedom that can be found in order), and to start the big boys on helping with chores (preparing for the days when I can let go of more and they can take on more). So, I decided to start them on making their beds (to the best of their ability). It was so cute to see them get so excited about their task. Here’s one very proud Xander…
The boys had so much fun playing at the park with Daddy this afternoon.
I was so excited to be able to help out with Xander’s preschool Pumpkin Fest this morning. I enjoyed being at the Storytime station, reading books about pumpkins and Halloween to the precious little friends from the 2, 2/3, and 3 year old classes. Xander had fun checking out all of the different stations…having pictures taken with a pumpkin, doing crafts, working with playdoh, playing games, getting face painting and tattoos, eating snacks, washing and painting pumpkins, and checking out the insides of a pumpkin. Yay for Pumpkin Fest!!!
Xander loves to play Go Fish. Here he is showing off his silly side.
Tom surprised the boys and I by joining us on our drive out to Pratt’s Orchard for an apple picking adventure this morning…what a great way top off the long Fall Break weekend!!! The boys picked mostly Fuji and a few Yellow Delicious apples, and we all enjoyed one on the way home. Now, we’re just trying to figure out what special treat we want to make with them this afternoon.
We took the boys to Walden Pumpkin Farm this afternoon. It’s the same farm we’ve visited every year since Jonas was almost a year old…it’s fun to see how the boys and the farm have changed.
We brought Xander’s preschool class pet, Marshmallow, home to spend the long Fall Break weekend with us. The boys (not to mention Petra…she’s beside herself and has not yet calmed down about it) are super excited about her. They love holding her (Xander especially…she’s so comfortable with him that she almost falls asleep in his lap), checking out her goings on throughout the day, and helping with her daily care. They each even drew her a picture for her…so sweet.
Tom busted out the bow and arrow and the target this afternoon in the backyard. Jonas and Xander were all about it and got right in there with him.
Xander built the coolest Lego creation yesterday at quiet time (the holes are for his eyes to look out from). He was so proud to show it to Jonas this morning at breakfast. Yay for Xander and for his creative building!!!
Xander had his first week of no tears at preschool a few weeks ago (about four weeks into the school year) and has not looked back…yay! It’s been so amazing to see the difference that even just a month has made in his confidence level.
He’s also taken really quickly to his Sunday School class (one of my dearest friends is his teacher and her son is one of his good buddies and classmates) and is enjoying his bible study class as well, learning about the book of Matthew.
Here he is having a blast at gymnastics, and here are some of his sweet, most recent one-liners:
“I love God because he’s so nice. He just hugs me and kisses me.”
“Dad, there’s a sad little dinosaur at the beach that wants me.”
We woke up to a rainy Saturday morning, so the boys and I donned our rain gear over our pajamas after breakfast and checked it out. While Xander decided to work on his Fun to Cut book at the kitchen table and Roman enjoyed toodling around in the backyard with Petra, Jonas and I harvested all of the carrots from our garden (they made for a fun gift for a clean eating neighbor and a delicious base for some crock pot vegetable beef soup). I love slow and easy, rainy weekend mornings with the boys.
Xander, Roman, and I had so much fun at the park this morning (we have a great park close to our house that’s shady and has playground equipment that’s just their size). We enjoyed playing with a fuzzy yellow caterpillar and going down the slides.
The boys enjoyed doing another Cheerios activity at the table this morning after breakfast…tracing their names with glue and Cheerios. Jonas and Xander were so adorable working together that I could not resist taking a few pictures (you gotta love little boy hair in the mornings).
The boys tried out a simple activity this morning that they all had a lot of fun with (including Roman)…three ingredients (play-doh, noodles, and Cheerios) made for six busy little hands.
While I was pulling together pictures for Jonas and Xander’s All About Me projects at school, I realized that it has been a while since I’ve been intentional about planning fun learning activities for the boys. (I think the energy for it comes and goes in waves and lately I’ve been a little overwhelmed with our new fall routine and with the idea of trying to differentiate for three different stages and styles of learning…bless all of you homeschooling moms and teachers of every kind.) All of that to say, I thought I’d try to baby step back into it with this Letter Sounds Toy Wash that I saw on Pinterest (I’m loving my Activities for Kids board…it’s such a great way to collect and store links to ideas).
I ended up setting it up with two sets of sidewalk squares with the letters B, C, and D to try to give the big boys separate spaces to work in (I figured I’d put Roman near Jonas since Jonas doesn’t mind his toddler-ness quite as much as Xander does). They each had their own soap pump, washcloth, and bucket of water. Jonas and Xander both had fun running inside to find toys for their squares that started with a certain letter sound. They both also enjoyed being big brothers by finding toys for Roman to wash too. It’s always interesting how these sorts of activities morph…haha…but we all still had fun.
Xander asked me to show him how to draw an “X” this morning. So, I used Aunt Mary’s dot-to-dot trick, and he whipped several out with a big smile on his face. I decided to step away to give him some space to do draw a few on his own, and he ended up getting really frustrated and wanting to quit. My heart just went out to him because I know so well that inner critic with the impossibly high self standard that compares itself with others and what they’re able to do. One of my daily struggles, as a mother, is trying to learn how to embrace that imperfection. So, I hugged him and talked with him about all of the X’s he drew that looked how he wanted them to and all of the X’s that were his practice in getting there. And because they’re both so important, and a part of the process, we decided to give them all a success sticker. I’m so thankful for how God uses my children to teach me.
