week fifteen

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Elise & Caleb: 5,000 students from 250 area schools. One mile, one act of kindness, and one book read - each week for 26 weeks. They've been going to school an hour early every Wednesday since November to run with the team from their school. Today they ran their final 1. 2 miles around Forest Park with all those kids from all those schools - it was awesome!!!

The Bigs -"Teamwork makes the dream work!" Especially when they're cutting limbs to put into the fire pit so that we can roast marshmallows after dinner!

Lucas: Lucas, Eden and I began attending a local church Bible Study earlier this spring and it has brought Lucas such joy. This week he and his classmates performed five songs that they've been working on for the past month. "I have my very first, very own concert" he told us over and over again!

Eden: This week has brought an explosion of words to her little (but growing!) vocabulary. It seems to finally have clicked that using words helps other people understand what you need and want!!! Here are a few of our favorites (quite a few context clues are still needed, but we don't mind!):  

De-jus (Jesus), ee-we (kiwi), blue, purple, help, stuck, self (sneaky little rascal likes to pretend to get stuck and ask for help "stuck, stuck, help" and then declare "self" with a big grin as she wiggles herself free!), Otay (Sote'), dook (book), roll roll (any kind of bread)

We are also loving her attempts at counting -"two-a, two-a, two-a" and  spelling "a, a, a, a,"

Can't help but remember back to when Elise's very early words included mom, dad, eyebrow, and banjo!

week fourteen

Elise:  Our lovely leading lady!

Caleb:  The highlight of his weekend was the purchase of a tackle box to go along with the fishing rod he got from Grandma Judy and Grandpa Sam for his birthday.  Next stop, the pond at Tilles Park!

Lucas:  Super excited to be in charge of prepping the dye for our Easter eggs.  He had been waiting for days and days!

Eden:  Our trip to the Botanical Gardens on Saturday was made even sweeter by the opportunity to participate in a flower arranging activity for kids (hosted by the Greater StL Daffodil Society).  They had painted recycled "vases" and had buckets of flowers at the ready for kids to enjoy making Easter bouquets.  Since we ended up with four bouquets we decided to take some to share with our neighbors.  Eden got to help with the deliveries! 

week thirteen

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Elise: This sweet girl wrote a song this week and then she and Caleb spent several hours practicing it. They talked about when to come in with the hand drum,what rhythm they should use, and whether or not they should "ooohh, ooohh, ooohh"; each of them sharing their thoughts and working it out as a team. Later that evening they had a concert for us in the living room - it was a delight.

Caleb: Another cooperative endeavor for the big kids was opening up their own stores in each of their rooms. They produced artwork to sell and then proceeded to create laptops, cash, credit cards, club cards, etc... I laughed to myself more than a few times when I heard them calling back and forth between their rooms, things like:

"Elise, are you logged in to the system yet?"  "Yes, Caleb, I'm putting in my password now."

"Caleb, don't forget to bring your club card.  We've got a good sale today."

"Elise, what's the expiration date on your credit card?"

"Does anyone remember my password?"

All this fun with some paper, pencils, and paint!  

Lucas: Mr. Yard Work! He's been super sweet and helpful with all of our spring cleaning in the yard. Eeeeek, and he's getting so big!

Eden: Not the greatest picture in the world, but since I managed to capture her with both feet off the ground I couldn't resist. She loves to grab a jump rope and bound up and down...near the rope, if not over and under it. Quite the jumping bean!

Lyrics to Elise's Song:
Lift it up to the Lord Almighty.  Lift it up to Jesus Christ, the Son of God.  Oh, yeah.  The Lord is mighty in praise.  He's holy, holy, holy.  He commands us to do what is right.  He gives us life.  Yeah. Jesus saved us from our sins.  God sacrificed his only son Jesus Christ for us.  Ohhh, lift it up...

week twelve

{This week was the kids' spring break at school!  Here's a peek at a few fun things we did during the week with my four amigos at home.}

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Elise:  Sunny and seventy-eight degrees...made herself a tent on the porch and dug into (yet another!) Diary of a Wimpy Kid!

Caleb:  "Get Dressed Up and Have a Tea Party" said the card we drew from the "Mystery Jar"...we decided we should taste test the cupcakes we made for Josh's co-workers, too!

Lucas:  The fearless foursome is ready to ride!  We did the "Kirkwood Circuit" - which included stops at the park, library, train tracks, donut shop, and soap making store.  

Eden:  Each Saturday the kids take turns going out on a Daddy Date with Josh (a wonderful tradition that began many years ago when his dad did the same thing with him and his sister)...we decided that Eden would get her chance to begin having Daddy Dates when she noticed she was missing out on something.   Well, last week was Lucas' turn and as he came around to kiss us all goodbye, Eden practically jumped out of her seat to join him.  When I got her out of her seat, she said "bye, bye" over and over again and blew us kisses and clung to Josh's leg.  It was really really sad when I scooped her up into my arms while she sobbed and called for Josh.  (Note: She recovered fairly quickly with some redirection to the play kitchen downstairs.)  All that to say..."She noticed"...and this week was her very first Daddy Date (although Josh may reconsider the offer since she ate three quarters of the cinnamon roll he bought for them to share!)

week eleven

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Elise:  We enjoyed a lovely performance of "The Spirit of America" by Elise and her second grade classmates.  Elise is so earnest when she sings and I love it!

Caleb:  Still working out the kinks, but having a blast with the electronics set he got for his birthday!  Josh has been wanting to buy this for one of the kids for as long as I can remember...six seemed like a pretty good age and since this guy lives for projects, we thought it would be just right!

Lucas:  A newfound passion for "Where's Waldo" books was sparked by a birthday card Caleb received from Uncle Ben and Aunt Libby (thanks guys!)  Lucas loves anything puzzle, seek and find, etc...we have our third book on hold at the library now!

Eden:  A girl and her accessories...She is quite doting on her babydoll these days and sleeps in her crib with more things than any of the other kids ever did.  (Baby, "pillow", two blankets and sometimes a book!)  In other news, her sing-songy, slightly lispy "yes" makes my heart melt every time she says it...usually with a big smile and her little tongue tickling the fronts of her teeth. 

week ten

{My brother Grant came to spend his spring break in Missouri and we absolutely LOVED having him here!!!}

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Elise:  Off to the zoo to explore a bit of Forest Park with Uncle Grant!  Brrrr!

Caleb:  So proud of this guy for braving great heights at the City Museum.  We had an awesome adventure and other than mentioning a few times that he was "terrified of heights"... he seemed undaunted.

Lucas:  Many, many, many thanks to dear Grant for playing game after game with this guy.

Eden:  That time when she wore the mixing bowl on her head while wandering around the house and singing to her baby...

week nine

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Elise:  Snow days are the best...and this girl is so much fun!

Caleb:  Ahhhh, our handsome "little" man is SIX!  We had such a wonderful time celebrating with our clever, creative, silly, talkative, loud and fun-loving No. 2!

Lucas:  Please pray that I will learn to be more gentle and gracious with my dear Lucas.  He has been passionate and intense since the day he was born and yet he has the sweetest little soul.  I want to be a good momma to him with all of my heart, but I feel like I fail him more times than I'd like to admit.  He really is an awesome kid!

Eden:  Diggin' in with the big guys!  Sorry, Laura Ingalls Wilder...our maple candy is not nearly as cute as yours looked in the illustrations, but it sure was a hit!