max at eight

Being the middle child is hard. I get it (though not as well as Mike does, of course). Especially with brothers who tend to suck up all the oxygen and/or attention at every step. But this year, Max has really come into his own, striking out with his own interests, doing his own thing, and developing a perfect -- and perfectly understated -- dry sense of humor that sneaks right in underneath his bawdier brothers.

For Christmas last year, Max asked for a guitar from Barb and Kevin. They were happy to oblige, and now every Wednesday, Max takes lessons at our local music shop. It's really good for him to have something that is all his own, and I think the one-on-one format of the lessons gives him some needed time where the focus is just on him. He can't play any songs yet (he's working on the fundamentals of positioning and notes and chords), and honestly, it doesn't matter to me if he ever does, because seeing him happy about learning something new, something Liam didn't already learn before he got a chance, is reward enough.

Our Max is quite the little charmer at school. His teacher loves him, and so do his classmates -- I'm pretty sure there isn't a single person he doesn't get along with. At home, of course, that's a different story; here, he doesn't hesitate to mix it up with the others and demand his fair share of everything. ("Fairness" is a big theme around here that I would like to just go away, but that's a different story.) He wishes that he, like Liam, could have his own room, but alas, the limitations of this house just don't make it possible for that to happen.

At dinner the other night, we had something particularly good, and Mike asked the boys how it was possible that they all cleared their plates so quickly (since both of us still had plenty left on ours). Liam and Henry launched into a loud argument about who could eat more/faster, but Max got this very serious look on his face, and looked at Mike and said, very calmly, "Well, you pick up your fork, and you stab it into a piece of food and bring it to your mouth. And then you repeat that about 50 times." Then he gave Mike this perfect little sly look and waited to see if anyone would notice how funny he was. (We did.)

Happy birthday, Max! We hope that the year ahead is filled with fun and laughter. And hopefully someday we can work on getting you your own room...

punishing boards for their intransigence

As faithful followers of this humble blog know well, these kids have a lot of activities. Liam plays baseball in the summer and basketball in the winter (as well as other basketball events/camps sprinkled here and there on the calendar). Max prefers soccer as his spring/early summer sport of choice. The older boys take swiming and tennis lessons in the summer, and they have both been involved in 4H. Max got a guitar for Christmas from his grandmother (thanks, Mom!), and he's now taking guitar lessons. Hmm, did I miss anything? Or anyone?

 

Ah yes. Henry. Poor, neglected child. He wants to do everything his older brothers do, but he's just not old enough yet (although I think he may be able to take swimming lessons this summer). He has preschool for a few hours, two days a week, but that's it. So what were his already overextended parents to do?

Actually, Henry (unwittingly) decided for us. He loves watching the endless iterations of the Power Rangers on Netflix (a hobby his dad both tolerates and absolutely detests), and he constantly tells friends, family members, squirrels, Lowe's employees, trees, strangers at the grocery store, and clouds that he's a kung fu master. So we thought he might enjoy and excel at some actual martial arts instruction.

Thus, Henry is now training at Plymouth Family Taekwondo. He loves it, and in addition to the benefits of the physical activity, we hope the lessons of discipline, respect, and responsibility incorporated by the masters there resonate with him. So far, so good.

During Henry's most recent session, Master Castle brought out the board-breaking equipment and gave Henry the opportunity to practice what he had learned. Henry didn't disappoint on his first attempt:

winter break/crafty beavers

Having all three boys home for two weeks for Christmas break while Mike and I still have to work can be a challenge. Having them home pretty much every weekday for the next two weeks *after* break because of snow/extreme cold brings the challenge to a whole other dimension. Our strategy is usually to try to keep them as busy as possible. It doesn't always work, and there is still plenty of time left for them to play video games and run wild through the house (and outside if it's warm enough) and bicker constantly. But at least we're trying.

We built a tin can robot with Liam.

 We made ice cream out of snow.

We broke geodes open with hammers and screwdrivers.

We helped Liam put together a 1,000-piece puzzle. (And Max and Henry put together 100-piece floor puzzles.)

Max built some model airplanes.

We made sand art.

We made and "erupted" a volcano.

We grew crystals.

We excavated dinosaur bones.

We also set up a whole room as a "crime scene" for Liam to investigate with a CSI kit he got from Johnny and Erin for Christmas. He had to use blacklight to find and take fingerprints, string up crime scene tape, and make a record of the thing. But we were too busy subjecting ourselves to printing and booking, so we didn't take any pictures.

At this point, we are just plain out of ideas, and so far beyond ready for winter to end. Too bad spring is still so far away...

merry christmas!

The boys were all cleaned up and looking spiffy in their new sweaters, so I tried to get them to settle down and give me one good picture while we were at my mom and dad's house. Of course, they were too amped up to cooperate, so I give you three different pictures, which you can cobble together in your mind to (maybe) make one in which all three boys aren't scowling, looking away on purpose, or smiling in a way that is wild-eyed and terrifying. And hey, there's always next year!

a snowmound celebration

Mike's older brother was in town this week, so we celebrated Christmas with Barb and Kevin a little bit early. It was really nice for us (and, I imagine, *very* nice for Barb!) that we could all spend some time together. We had a delicious brunch and opened gifts, and I got my baby fix by spending some quality time with my nephew Richie ... then the kids started getting a little restless, so despite the fact that none of us was really prepared with the proper gear, Erin and I took them outside to play in the snow. We tried to make a snowman, but we just couldn't get the ball rolling (har har), so what we ended up with was more like a ... snowmound. Barb popped out to give us some pistachios for eyes, a carrot nose, and a green bean smile, and Liam gave up his beloved Santa/reindeer hat for a little while. Voila! Right after they let us take their picture, the kids suddenly realized they were cold and wet, so inside we went. (On the way in, Liam started a snow fight with Erin and ended up with his glasses full of snow.) Barb threw Lucy's pants in the dryer, and we gave the boys their spare set of clothes (ever since the horror of St. Patrick's Day 2007, I never go to Naperville without a spare outfit for all of us!), and then it was time to head home.

second place, by a hair

Last weekend, Liam had his season-ending basketball tournament. It's been a good season, with him switching back and forth between the A and B teams (which is a pretty fluid distinction) and honing his skills the whole time. There are five elementary schools in our town, so the first round had two games, and rounds two and three had one game each. Liam's team won the first game handily, then had to play (arguably) the best team in town, our local Catholic school, in the bye round. Amazingly, our team won 16-10, and then it was on to the finals, which didn't disappoint. Our kids were pretty tired, given that this was their third basketball game of the day (and it was only early afternoon!), and the other team had a definite advantage because they played in the first round, then got to sit out the second round, so they were well rested. Still, it went right down to the wire. My sister Bethany was at work, so I was sending her text updates that went a little something like this:

Liam just scored again! Up 14-13. A nail biter!
Down 15-14, 1:20 left.
Up 16-15, 1:09 left.
Tied at 16, 0:22.4 left!!!!!!
Kid hurt, still tied, 0:09.6 left.
WE'RE IN A 2:00 OVERTIME.
0:08.9 left, down 18-16.
And that's the game.

Liam played so hard and so well. He got 10 points over the course of the day, plus a ton of rebounds and great defensive plays. We were so proud of him ... but his disappointment at coming in second just about broke our hearts. There was just nothing we could say to make him understand that getting as far as he did was a major accomplishment that he should be proud of.

Which brings us to yesterday. During school this week, the kids who signed up did the first round of a basketball shoot-out. Liam made the cut for the second round, which was yesterday. And of all the kids in fourth grade at all the schools in the whole town ... he came in second. By one shot. And he was heartbroken. He is the alternate for the district contest at the end of the month, and he did so well, but that doesn't matter to him because he didn't win the trophy. Poor kid. We wish we knew the right words to make it better, but for now, we just keep telling him how great it was for him to get that far, and how proud we are of him.

snow day

Just in time to start their Thanksgiving break a day early, school was canceled today after we got about five inches of snow. It's the first real snowfall of the year, so we made sure to take advantage of a little outdoor time.

carving time

Every year, the boys seem to forget that carving pumpkins is kind of gross. And then they remember, and there is a chorus of disgusted squeals that lasts about 10 minutes until they finally get engrossed in the task. Then it's mostly quiet concentration, punctuated by an occasional "eeewwww" when they get to a particularly mushy/stringy part. This year, we got a pretty interesting variety of pumpkins, and we saved the seeds to try to grow some of our own next year. We have done this before, but the critters usually manage to gnaw off the vines before the pumpkins get big enough to carve. But hope -- and hopefully, pumpkin seeds -- springs eternal, so we'll see. In the meantime, we'll have these frightful visages to gaze upon for the next couple of weeks...

pumpkin patch

We hit a new pumpkin patch this year: Dinges Farms, which is in Michigan, not too far from Barb and Kevin's cottage. They met us there, and the boys had fun exploring the area with their grandparents. The place really went all out with the activities! There was a huge corn maze, creative spiders and UFOs and other creatures everywhere, hayrides, dirt track racing, and a great selection of funky gourds (and pumpkins, of course). We'll definitely have this place on our list for a return engagement next year!

raking time already

I can't believe it's fall already! It's still warm, but the leaves are coming down, and the boys are still at the age where they like to do helpful things like rake up big piles of leaves (most of which they either jump in and scatter, or leave too far away from the road for the town leaf truck to reach, but oh well) so we're taking advantage of it while we can.

enchanted gardening

Have I mentioned that my sister Loni is engaged? Next year, she will get both a husband and a step-daughter, which means we get a new niece. Lilly is a sweet girl, but she can totally hold her own with the boys, which is why it seemed like a good idea to have her come spend the night and then take a little adventure to Linton's Enchanted Gardens with us yesterday. Max ran into some trouble behaving Friday night/yesterday morning, so he didn't come with us, but Liam, Henry, Lilly, and I met up with my brother J, who lives near Linton's, for a morning of fun.

So really, Linton's is a garden center where people buy all their plants and supplies, but it is set up with extensive grounds that have winding paths that lead around this kind of fairy land, with miniature houses and trains and barns sort of strewn all over the place. The place was all decked out for Halloween, so we had a great time following all the paths and checking out skeletons riding bikes, mowing lawns, and just sitting in a rocking chair having a "jaw." We made our way to the petting zoo, where we fed a some animals, then to a pond, where we fed some creepy giant fish (these guys have creeped me out before).

Back inside the garden center, in honor of Halloween, there were lots of fun activities. J opted us out (by which I mean he begged us not to make him do it!) of building our own scarecrow, but the kids happily went through a super-hot hay maze and came out all sweaty and ready for some pumpkin bowling. And afterward, just in case they had any energy left to work out (they did), we headed to a nearby fast-food emporium with built-in playground for lunch. A short but sweet visit for the boys with Uncle J, and a good way for them to get to know their future cousin a little bit better.