We went to the zoo this morning with our sweet friends, The Dos. We’ve been trying to squeeze in as much playtime with them as possible before they move to Memphis in a few short weeks. Xander and Claire were born just a few days apart, and Samantha and Roman were born just a few months apart. Here are a few pictures of the cuteness…
Xander read his first word this morning…”love”!!! He held up one of his favorite shirts (a Beatles shirt that says “All You Need Is Love”) and said, “Look, Mommy, it says love!” How exciting…go, Xan-Man!!!
He also scored a super cool bug catcher with a giant magnifying glass lid at a yard sale for $1. So, we went on a nature scavenger hunt in our front yard, in our garden, and on our neighborhood trail and found lots of neat things to look at up close…leaves, rocks, sticks, a lizard, ladybugs, a butterfly, flowers, a beetle, and even a granddaddy long legs.
The boys and I were a little stir crazy this morning, so we loaded up and went to the park. They are just all over the place, and it was great to get outside on such a beautiful morning (I can already feel hints of the fall weather coming…yay!!!) and let them burn off some of that little boy energy.
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!!!
While Roman was napping this morning, Tom helped me try out a fun idea for Jonas and Xander…a Tin Foil River. (It’s so easy to do…just roll out tin foil, fold it in half lengthwise, bend up both sides to create a border, and set the garden hose at the top and let it run.) It was fun to see which things floated and which didn’t…we tried flowers, sticks, mulch, a ping pong ball, a bottle cap, cherry tomatoes and strawberries from the garden, etc.
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.
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.
Xander turned three while we were at the lake. It was such a special day for him…he caught his first fish, helped Mommy make his birthday cake, and had his first really big birthday party. We love you, Xan-Man!!!
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.
It was kind of a different road trip morning (we’re headed to NC to spend 10 days at a lake house with Grandma and Grandpa, the Northern Seyfrieds, the Longs, and the Paccassis). Usually, we leave first thing, but this morning Tom had some work to do at the office. So, Roman got his morning nap in, Jonas and Xander ran around the house playing, and Mommy (quite honestly) just tried to hold it all together. By the time Daddy got home, we were all raring to go. Here Jonas and Xander are, checking out their road trip activity bags…Magna Doodles, Color Wonder Travel Totes, Dinosaur Vinyl Sticker Scenes, and road trip binders (drawing paper, colored pencils, and road trip scavenger hunt pages). The hope is that the activity bags plus a pile of paperback books for the big boys, a stack of toys and board books and a first-time forward facing seat for the little boy, and a bag of snacks and a group of DVDs for all of the boys will help wile away the many hours on the road with minimal fussing/whining. We’ll see…
While Roman was taking his morning nap, Jonas and Xander and I headed out front with sand toys, sponges, dish washing soap, and towels. We loaded up the sand and water table with soapy water on one side and fresh water on the other, and they went to work washing up the sand toys. Then, Jonas decided to fill up the bucket with suds and wash the van, so Xander and I joined him. It brought me back to being a little girl, washing the car with my daddy…what a sweet memory.
The boys were super excited to find this turtle on our neighborhood trail!
I was SO excited that Jonas and I got to see lightning bugs dancing in the fields on the way home from the park last night…the first of the summer. I thought this craft would be the perfect tie-in, so he and Xander made some Bandage Lightning Bugs this morning.
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.
