Categories of May 2020

May can be summarized in a few different ways.

Category 1: The Helpers.

Taft helped Erik install a hitch on our van. We wanted to take our bikes to Utah and the only feasible way seemed to install a hitch and get a hitch bike rack. Erik ordered the hitch on Amazon. It was quite funny when it arrived and the bemused mailman knocked on our door with a large, heavy hitch. I was impressed with the strength of these fine, strapping men to install such a heavy hitch.

Joel helped cut the watermelon for dinner. Joel was happy and proud to help. He did not want me to participate in anyway. He carefully and diligently did his part.

 

We have started working together as a family to clean up dinner. This is the kind of help the kids aren't always quite as eager to offer, and sometimes it is hard to get everyone to stick around to do their jobs. But when they do, clean up goes pretty fast and we all work together!

We made delicious chocolate chocolate chip cookies for a Saturday night activity!

Category 2: The Funny Things Kent Collects

Kent's bathroom sink collection:

Notice how cute he is on his tippy toes so he can see what he's collected!

Kent's pebble collection, stored in his diaper.

Kent likes to throw rocks over his head at the playground, but they don't get very far. They mostly land on his head, roll down his back, and land in his diaper.

Alyssa confessed she built the tower, but it looks like a Kent collection.

Kent often throws things in his bed throughout the day so that he is prepared for when he has to be trapped in there.

Category 3: The Friends to whom We Said Good-bye

Many of our friends have moved away because it's that time of year and the much anticipated graduations are happening. We said good bye to a few friends ahead of time because the work could be done from home and there are more appealing places to live than deep in the heart of Texas during the summer.

The Browns

Helen - she lived next door and would play outside with the kids. She was very dramatic and often danced around, swirling her dress and looking adorable.

The Roys and the Powers - both are still in Texas; the Powers still in Austin. 

The Hatches were our number one playground buddies from the day they moved in last June until COVID hit. We spent hours together outside, no matter the weather.

Not pictured are the Haderlies, the Stanleys, the Shepherds, the Vergas', and Ayse and Aysa Farah. We are blessed to have known all of these people. We truly lived in this complex at a unique and wonderful time! It was so fun to have so many families around all of the time. There never really was a dull moment!

Category 4: The Bike Rides We Took

Erik and the kids went on a few bike ride/runs together. I don't know all the details. Alyssa was often the heroine, carrying bikes up impassable trails or pulling Joel in the trailer.

Category 5: The Matching Clothes We Wore

Argentina for the win! Erik had a variety of Argentine soccer jerseys and the kids have each claimed one and wear them as PJs. Joel calls it his "ballerina jammies" because Alyssa taught them some ballet moves one night when they were wearing them.

Erik found these shirts on clearance at Walmart for $1. 

Category 5: The Ways We Slept

I love to see how the kids are sleeping. Kent loves all 4 of his blankies and sleeps with them close to his face.

Joel fell asleep with his legs up at an angle.

A view from the outside.

Sometimes when sleep overcomes you, you just can't get your pants pulled up...

Alyssa doesn't often nap, but when she does...

Category 6: The Hikes and Runs We Went On

Erik and I ran around Lake Lewisville a couple of times while visiting Dallas. One time we found this catfish carcass. 

Erik took Alyssa and Taft on a bike ride around the lake trail. Kent and Joel and I met them near the turtle portion along Barton Creek.

This duck was hoping for a snack, which we did no have.

Category 7: The Food We Ate

Kent got a pancake just like him!

The kids made "drone" pretzels when we borrowed Papa's drone for a few days.

Taft put so much whipped cream on his French toast that when he picked it up to eat it, all the cream fell right off!

Joel likes to notice the colors his tongue turns when he eats certain foods.

Category 8: Nana's House

We took a couple of trips up north in June. One was over Mother's day, the other was over Memorial day.

Playing balloon toss with little kids is interesting. The balloons don't last very long unless they are normal balloons filled with water.

Nana asked for a thumbs up. This is what she got...

Taft used his thumb but it is almost as straight as Archie's index finger.

Category 9: The Things We Do To Not Go Crazy

After being home for a few weeks, we decided we needed some excitement. Erik found this car wash for us to visit so that we could wash our car and get some entertainment! There was also a dinosaur that spit when you drove under it!

This was a little kayak, canoe, raft trip we took at Nana's.

Erik has made good use of our very small bedroom. It is an excellent maker space, especially if you can use the bed as a surface.

Category 10: The Sweetness We Showed

I caught Taft reading Joel a book about animals.

Category 11: The Haircuts We Received

Kent got his first buzz haircut. He had the sweetest curls, but it was getting a little gross. Erik did the honors.

That's all folks! There were some good times in May. They got even better in June and July. Stay tuned!

April 2020

While March dragged on FOR-EV-ER, April flew by in a wink! I don't know what happened but all of the sudden it was GONE.

Alyssa celebrated her 9th birthday in April. She just wanted to play outside all day, which I think she managed - at least most of the morning. She had half a Texas Sheep Cake and got a few new skirts, which was what her heart desired. I can't believe she is already 9 years old! She is the backbone of sibling love in our house. She is so good to help out. She sees what needs to be done and will do it! I love reading to her. This is my favorite activity to do with her. She is active, always riding her bike and jump roping. She loves math and can write a pretty well thought out math quiz. We are all so thankful Alyssa is in our family!

In other news...

Kent sported a stylish mullet all month long. He has some luscious curls on the back of his head that I did not want cut off. He liked to use his food - especially yogurt and peanut butter to style it!

Kent is also very independent. He likes to raid this cupboard because it is the only cupboard that I didn't put a lock on. Sometimes he even feeds himself raisins from it!

He also likes to help Dad with projects. Where everyone else is, there Kent is also.

And this picture is significant because of the magical position of Ken'ts cup that he was throwing while the picture was taken.

Alyssa's Children group at church has a challenge that happens each week. One of the challenges in April was to build a temple. Taft and Alyssa both built temples out of Legos. Taft accidentally broke his so Erik used this picture to put it back together, which gave insight into how Taft designs his Lego creations. The verdict: he has no method it his madness.

Later in the month, the challenge was to make an origami Easter thingy. Alyssa made a rabbit.

The kids play together remarkably well. I love to see what they come up with. On this particular day, Kent was the prince and Alyssa was ??? I'm not sure. Taft and Joel were most likely animals. Kent was pampered and escorted all over the house on the royal rolly chair. I feel very grateful that Alyssa does not mind playing with her younger brothers and that they absolutely adore her. Having her home makes my life easier as she is always entertaining them and caring for them.

Here are some playdoh creations. Taft made some food out of his playdoh.

Alyssa made pizza and Joel had the stickiest playdoh in the bin.

I love the nose scrunch in this picture. And the boots. And the Santa Clause PJs, which Joel really does like. At the end of everyday, Joel is so excited to put is pajamies on. He lives to be comfortable and relaxed!

Another goodie of Joel:

Erik got a new rolly chair that has better back support since now he works in our bedroom. Taft was trying it out for him!

A Taft Duplo Creation

We dyed eggs for easter! Joel was cranking them out like crazy! He probably dyed 2 dozen himself. We had a few hard boiled eggs, but we mostly died raw eggs. When we would eat the hard boiled eggs, Joel always wanted one just for the thrill of peeling it. He wasn't really a fan of eating them. And Alyssa got a dyed egg out of Taft's dyed egg box planning to eat it hard boiled. It turns out it wasn't hard boiled though. Always do the spinning test...

Another Easter tradition we have is making Resurrection rolls on Good Friday. The kids enjoyed the endeavor this year. Even Kent got in on it. They have marshmallows in the middle. Then you bake them on Sunday and the marshmallow is gone, leaving an empty tomb!

We also did the traditional egg hunt. We did an Easter symbol egg hunt in the morning and then did a candy/goldfish egg hunt later in the afternoon.

Taft unloads the dishwasher every morning. It is not always easy to persuade him to do this thing that he has done everyday for nearly 9 months. On this particular day I took a picture of him because he did it immediately. I told him it would help us remember that he can do it when he tells he can't.

Erik decided we all needed masks. So he and the kids cut out fabric to make their own masks. We made all the kids' masks first and then by the time it was his turn, it was too late, I was too tired, and we were out of elastic. Blessedly a friend had made a bunch and gave Erik and I each one. Now Erik can sport Paw Patrol whenever he goes out.

Taft wore his for the first 24 hours straight.

A little extra PPE. You can never be too safe.

Erik has been trail running. We also took the kids on a couple of hikes along Barton Creek - featured here. Joel had great hopes of seeing animals, but unfortunately all we saw were dogs.

We've also had a lot of bike riding happening around here. Alyssa discovered she can use the bike trailer on her bike and loves to tow Joel and Kent around the neighborhood. They like it because it means they don't get left behind when Taft and Alyssa take off. She will pack them snacks and buckle them up to keep them safe.

Erik's dream came true when he invested in a 3-D printer. He was so patient and let the kids help him build it. They print something almost every day. It's fun, though the products are not always as durable as one would hope.

Alyssa's homeschooling adventure consists of some attempts to do the public school projects, and a lot of me counting every day stuff as education. She made a food web out of stuffed animals and pictures (school project). 

She learned the importance of putting water in the bowl when cooking ramen in the microwave. If you don't put water in, then the microwave will burn your ramen black and melt your bowl (everyday occurrence counting as education).

Alyssa pictured with her Geometrocity made from 3-D objects (public school project).

Alyssa helped me sew some masks for local medical providers. She cut the strings and stacked them as I finished (everyday occurrence counting as education).

Naps are my saving grace as a mother. I feel greatly blessed that most days all 3 boys still nap. And even if Taft doesn't nap, he is pretty good at keeping to himself for at least an hour. I use this time to practice the violin, do family history, update this blog and help Alyssa with those public school educational experiences.

Alyssa is indeed out in this picture. She sneaks a nap in every once and awhile. She is reading The Little House on the Prairie series. I think she really enjoyed On the Banks of Plum Creek pictured here.

And sometimes naps just happen during dinner because nothing is as relaxing as eating bread for Taft.

This was one of our evening adventures - the 360 Pennypacker Bridge! Camera technology can make real things look pretty incredible.

Finally, we all participated in the Archibald First Vision Art Show!

Some were a little more abstract.

Some were called nursery worthy...because of their cut and paste elements.

Oh, and a little brotherly love at the playground.

Until next time!