Snow Day!

My kids can't remember a night when they fell asleep with snow dancing outside their bedroom windows - or a day when they awoke to a glistening white world outside their front door.  You can imagine the shouts of joy and jumping and dancing that swirled around our house on Tuesday night when the snow started falling. We let them step outside and catch a few flakes on their tongues before shuffling them back up the stairs and into their beds - though school had already been cancelled for the next day. In the morning, along with more shrieking and happiness came the inevitable whining that always accompanies the ritual of adding layer after layer of warmth (after we dug all the snow clothes out of the attic, that is).  Thankfully, once they finally made it outside, their sheer excitement and continuous giggles more than made up for the aforementioned drama.  Without further ado, our snow day fun:

Moses: When Harriet Tubman Lead Her People to Freedom

We came across this beautifully illustrated piece of historical fiction about a year ago and fell in love with the powerful story and melodic flow.  Josh's newest song is a tribute to Harriet Tubman; the strong and selfless woman who led hundreds of slaves to freedom along the Underground Railroad.  Hope you enjoy it!

Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom
Caldecott Medal Award Winner
Written by: Carole Boston Weatherford
Illustrated by: Kadir Nelson
Music by:  Josh Arthur

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Elise:  Friday night fun with our homemade version of "Don't Break the Ice"... and the hair tie around her wrist in her new "thing" - doesn't it make her seem so grown up?

Caleb: inspired to make paper airplanes after watching this video...we spent our rest time following "how-to" directions to make this "special super fast dart plane"

Lucas: "Moms, what is this?" - we get this question at just about every meal these days.  He wants us to guess what shape his food is.  If you guessed that this is a "turtle sitting on a rock" then you are absolutely correct!  (We never guess right, but it's a cute little phase and I LOVE that he calls me "Moms")

Eden: carrots, and green beans, and bananas, oh my!  oh...and a little bit of chocolate oatmeal cake, too!  She kept saying "mmm...mmm...mmm" so I HAD to give her some!

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Elise:  Mr. Atkinson, her wonderful kindergarten teacher from last year, gave us a year of Family Fun magazine...it's so special to do crafty projects together (A loopy "E" for Elise...backwards.)

Caleb:  Enjoying some bright paints (Thank you, Aunt Beth!) and asking question after question about artists.  "Mom, artists can even take a mistake and make it into something really neat."

Lucas: A new definition for "tough love"

Eden:  So curious!

A few of my favorite things...

I've been thinking a lot lately about how much I want to be present and content in these whirlwind days with my four little sidekicks.  I can get so caught up in my endless list of "to-dos" - even just the necessities like laundry, cooking, and the occasional mopping of floors could keep me busy all day - that I sometimes look right past these beautiful gifts that I have been given to raise and train and love.  Today, a few simple things brought me such joy, I just had to write them down...

...the sound of the boys playing Legos (for over an hour...I repeat...over an hour!) and talking back and forth in deep "macho" voices about all kinds of tough guy things.

...the moment when we bring a new batch of library books home and the kids can hardly wait to dive in.  They'll plop down at the nearest available free piece of floor (I usually try to coax them in by the sofa and fireplace) and read and look through the pictures and pass the books around for ages.  They usually protest even coming to dinner that day

...a singalong time with Eden and Lucas, when Lucas looks up with big eyes and asks me to sing about Harold the Angel. (by which he meant, Hark the Herald Angels Sing)

Eight months old

Sweet baby Eden, I know that the previous seven months have been filled with much growth and many milestones, but this month you have changed so much. 
You scoot (usually backwards!), roll, shimmy, and sometimes nearly fold yourself in half so that you can reach for a toy (or crumb) nearby. You're so playful and interactive now, too.  Just in the last few weeks you've started to wave, clap and lift your arms high for "so big."  It fills us with joy and awe to watch you learn and conquer all these new things.  

You just about jump out of my arms each night when we head towards the bathtub to start the warm water.  What a nice way to end our day together.

We're still trying to make progress with solid foods!  You're eager to try things, but getting you to eat more than a few bites can be rather tricky...

Oh, that tongue.  What a fun and funny phase.  Everyone we meet laughs at your silly tongue twirling.

Over the Christmas holiday you got your first two teeth!

Ready or not!

P.S.  One of my favorite parts of the day is after you nurse and we rock and I get to hold you close.  Then, you sleep on my shoulder while we stand beside your crib. I treasure those few moments of quiet calm while I listen to you inhale and exhale and whisper a prayer to thank God for such a beautiful gift.  

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Elise:  Bedtime stories by the fire.  We're almost done reading By the Shores of Silver Lake (Book 5 of the Little House Series)

Caleb:  Very sweetly babysitting Eden in his quiet time tent while I attempted an epic recipe for dinner.

Lucas:  Rainy day tents are the best.  Lucas opted out of the pillow, but the doggy blanket was a MUST.

Eden:  How can you get enough of tiny fingers and toes?

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My friend Becca had an inspired idea from this blog for a way to document some of life's moments during these joy filled and exhausting days of parenting.  All too often, my mind is filled with quotes and images I want to remember as each of my children grow, explore, learn, and mature and I barely have the chance to recount them to Josh or our families, never mind making a scrapbook, writing a journal or even scribbling them down on scrap paper.  I'm hoping this will be a way to capture a few more of those beautiful, silly, and sometimes overwhelming moments that fill our days.  One photograph of each child, every week, for one year...here we go!

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Elise:  She's so proud of her long hair these days and recently learned to braid.  Almost every night she asks if she can brush and braid my hair while we read our bedtime stories.

Caleb:  Spending hours at a time making Lego creations, usually while singing made up praise songs.

Lucas:  That Eagles shirt is one of the three shirts that he requests constantly...the frozen yogurt is a current fav as well.

Eden:  Our little ray of sunshine