Muah!

Almost

 These days are pretty near perfect. Sure there's fighting and frustration, but there's also sweet little moments of peace and contentment if you look closely. Watching Ollie run across the kitchen bursting with excitement at the sight of his Dad first thing in the morning is a treasure. Finley followed a few seconds after, crashing into Daddy's legs and wrapping his arms tightly around them in a squeeze hug. It melted my heart to see it.

 I braved the grocery store with these three monkeys this morning. They were being so cute as we got ready to leave that I couldn't pass up a picture! 

 We spent the rest of the morning in the kitchen making monster cookies! I love that they have no flour and are jam packed with m&m's and chocolate chips. 

 I lost count of how many pans came out of the oven. It always makes a tonne! I threw half in the freezer for school lunches, knowing they wouldn't last long in the cookie jar.

 This sweet boy almost made it to his bed at nap time. Ha! After tucking Finley in for his afternoon snooze I peeked in to check Ollie and found him sleeping like this. I scooped him into bed and cozied him up with a warm blanket. He was pretty tired!

 I started a batch of artisan bread last night before bed and put it into the oven while the little boys were napping. 

It doesn't always turn out this nice looking, so it had to be documented. I love listening to it crackle as it cools on my counter! We enjoyed it with our white bean chicken chili for dinner. Yum!

Hands On

 Joe loves to learn, but he doesn't love to be taught. He expects to just know things without being told how to do them. While he enjoys his workbooks most days, learning to read has been a struggle. He just wasn't ready, and I wasn't going to push it. Last week we tried to learn some sounds and small sight words and it ended in frustration. 

 I recently saw this "build a word" thing on pinterest, and thought I would give it a try! Joe is a super hands on learner. He's smart, and his mind sometimes moves too fast for him to keep up. Manipulatives have been a huge help for him. So today I took out our little blocks and wrote out the "at" family words. He sounded them out letter by letter while he built them, and then he wrote them down. When I noticed that he was just memorizing their position, I rearranged them and had him read them again. It seemed to help, having something tangible to hang onto with a sound attached to it. It was incredible watching him finally catch on!

 The blue sky begged us to go outside for the afternoon. We wandered over to the park and spent some time swinging. It was lovely to get some sunshine and fresh air!

I finished off my night bathing the little boys who jumped in the tub one after the other. There was water everywhere by the time they were through! Sometimes I wish life would just slow down so that I could soak up my time with these growing kids of mine!

Day of Rest

Happy Sabbath!

Spiritual Enlightenment  HERE.

Warm Winter Days

 The morning brought us outside to enjoy the warm winter weather and sunshine! We walked down to the pond to enjoy the sled hill. The boys took turns going down and over the jump. Finley giggled the entire way down, running into the bushes at the end. Joe rescued him at the bottom and lugged the sled back up the hill like the good big brother that he is. Ollie toddled around the wide open space, up and down the hill, looking like a marshmallow. I sat at the top of the hill on a cement block for quite a while, with the puppy perched on my lap, watching the scene unfold. My heart swelled with joy as the sun warmed my cheeks. Slow days are the best days. 

Double Trouble

Sleep has been scarce around here lately. When one kid finally sleeps through the night, another one decides to wake up three times in the middle of the night. We've played a lot of musical beds and I've even spent a few nights curled up in the toddler bed with a sad teething baby.

While I started the bread today, Ollie helped himself to the box of shape cards. He was happy and quiet, so I let him have fun for a while. He also has the best side-kick a boy could ask for! These two are quite the pair around the house.

Sitting on the counter next to Mom always makes a teething boy feel better...

"That" is one of the few words he actually says. So when he points to the bananas in the fruit dish and says "Dat!" you listen. This boy is a bottomless pit and could eat all day long. His cuteness is balancing out his throw-himself-to-the-floor tantrums these days. I'm sure it's a survival mechanism! I adore this boy of mine.

Naptime

Sometimes I sneak into my children's rooms after they've fallen asleep just to see their sweet faces and enjoy the stillness. Then I quietly shut the door behind me and help Joe with his school work while I clean up the kitchen. Naptime is one of my favorite times of day. 

A Little Nudge

 Today was slow and quiet. As I busied myself around the house I noticed my sweet Ollie looking longingly out the window at the snow sparkling in the sun. I quietly stopped what I was doing and helped the boys into their snow gear. Three pairs of boots, and a couple of zippers later and they were out rolling around in the glittering, wet snow.

I shoveled off the back deck in just my long sleeved shirt as the boys giggled and played. They made tracks around the entire yard, bounced the ice off the trampoline and dug the sled out of the corner. Watching them play was a nice break from dishes and the regular hum-drum of household chores.

The sun warmed our faces and our hearts and we came in feeling more joyful than when we went out. Life is made up of little moments like these and I am so grateful I listened when I felt that little nudge to put things on hold and enjoy my boys! They grow so fast!

Hello Monday

 Today's joys were found in...

 fresh baked bread,

 yogurt and juice boxes,

beautiful pink tulips to brighten my kitchen.

Saturday Skate

 This morning we woke to the most beautiful Winter's day. The warm temperatures called us outdoors for some fresh air and sunshine. The kids dug out their skates and we walked up the street to the pond. As we were lacing up our skates the sweetest man came out of his backyard with a snowblower and cleared off the entire pond for us! The littles were all pretty excited, especially Mr. Hyrum! He loves being on his skates and has improved so much since last Winter thanks to his roller-blades. He went around that ice lickity-split at high speed. He still hasn't learned to stop, so when it came time for that he would just throw himself to the ground in a slide. He was totally in his element though and loved every second! The others enjoyed themselves for shorter stints of time, before complaining of sore feet. Fin tried his skates for a few minutes with Daddy and then begged to put his boots back on. Ollie wandered around the ice, crawled through the snow, and enjoyed exploring. He loves being outside and was pleased to have some independence! After lunch the big kids walked up to the pond and laced up their skates for a second go. This time they brought their sticks and passed the puck around. I walked over after the little one's woke from their nap and hardly recognized them as they sped around the ice and gave smooth crisp passes. We are looking forward to warmer weather and more skating this week!!