happy easter!

This morning, the Easter Bunny brought the boys their baskets as usual. Mike and I each got each other something small, just so the boys wouldn't wonder why they got stuff but E.B. totally ignored us. We didn't consult each other on this, and neither one of us had any idea what the other had in mind before this morning. Here is what we ended up with:

Mike: a case of Parmesan cheese (believe me when I say that Mike loves Parm)
Holli: a variety of interesting cheeses in cube and block form

Hee! In lieu of Easter pictures, please accept this video of Henry getting his groove on last night. His dancing is hilarious!

we've got talent

Friday night, Liam and Max, along with cousins Cassidy, Kelsey, and Emma, took part in the annual 4H talent show. I think they did a great job.

into everything

Henry is in a phase, as they say -- the phase where he is into absolutely everything. You can't turn your back on him for a second, or he will be, say, finding the bag of powdered sugar you forgot you had in the pantry, quickly dispatching the clip, pouring the whole thing on the floor, and covering himself, the kitchen, and the world in the process.


And it's no good just putting things up in a high place, either. He simply finds something he can push up to the area (a box, a stool, an end table, whatever's handy), and climbs up until he can get the thing he wants. This morning, he proved his climbing prowess by making it all the way to the top bunk of the big boys' bunk beds. I ask you: How do we baby-proof THAT?

It seems like there's no stopping him, but it helps just a little to remember that Max went through a phase just like this (see evidence here and here and here), and that we're sure Liam did too. And since they're no longer dumping giant bags of stuff out on the floor (they've moved on to occasionally bloodying each other's noses instead), there is hope for the future. We think.

opening day

It was a very cold and windy way to start the season, but Liam's team was victorious! By a final score of 4-3 if you listen to me, 4-2 if you listen to Liam. Henry enjoyed being a spectator, at least until he managed to get the pom on top of his hat tangled in the net of a high-school-size goal. That kid is into everything!

outdoors in indiana

We had a couple of warm days this week, so we got to spend some time outdoors after a long, long winter. Henry was all over the place, so happy to have a taste of freedom. Down to the fenced area, up to the sidewalk to watch his brothers draw with their chalk, back down to the fenced area, back up, then down the alley for a little neighborhood adventure. Don't worry, I was right behind him. He went all the way to the end of the block, and would have kept going if I hadn't turned him around and pointed him back toward home.

And now there's snow on the ground again, just in time for Liam's first soccer practice of the season. Hopefully it'll warm up a little before Max starts practice next week!

guess it was worth a try

Liam may have thought this would actually work:

liam takes a survey

[All spelling original]

Some things that make me a LITTLE angry are:

my brother piking on me.

Some things that make me VERY angry are:

when he gets me in trodle.

Some things that make me BOILING MAD are:

when my bother dos't stop.

Are you sensing a theme here? Read on for the back side.

When I am angry it is important that I find some safe ways to deal with my anger. Instead of screaming or punching I will:

Tell my mom.

And if that does not work, I will:

?

That has to be the most ominous question mark I've ever seen.

a boy and his dog

Whatcha doing? Reading?
Sounds fun! Can I help?

Please? I'll get real close so
I can see all the words!

No? Then I guess I'll just chew on
your shoe until you pay attention to me.
And you will pay attention to me.

goofballs

the reader

Liam has always loved to read (or be read to), but he's really getting into it lately. He finished his school challenge to read 100 books during the school year, and now he's more than halfway to the 200 mark. He reads at night when he's falling asleep. He reads in the morning before breakfast. He reads when I want him to do something for me. I'm sure this is all sounding very familiar to my mom, and possibly to Barb, too. Right now, he's really into the Magic Tree House books. It's so much fun to watch him devour them and then tell me all about the latest adventure of Jack and Annie.

thoughtful

Is he thinking about kindergarten round-up, which is in three weeks? Dreaming up a path for world peace? Probably not. But for a second there, he sure looked sweet. Glad I happened to have the camera handy!

jabber jaws

Henry has finally reached his vocabulary explosion! He's adding new words every day now, and just in time -- the pediatrician told us he would need speech therapy if he didn't have 15-20 words by 18 months. Well, he's 18 months today, and he has met and passed the 20-word threshold this week. I stopped keeping track after the first 20, but if you're interested, here they are:

1. mama
2. dada
3. uh oh
4. ball
5. dog
6. cat
7. light
8. bye bye
9. boo (as in peekaboo)
10. banana
11. go
12. baby
13. hey
14. no
15. yes
16. shoe
17. Max
18. boom
19. shoot
20. Greta (one of the cats)

He can also point to his nose, ears, eyes, and shoes with a fair amount of success. And he definitely understands what we're saying. The other day, I was shopping with all three boys. I slipped some marshmallows into the cart when they weren't looking (for hot chocolate), but eagle-eyed Liam spotted them immediately, so Liam and Max bent over the sides of the cart to peer in at what else I might have added. "You boys sure are nosy!" I said. And Henry pointed at my face and said, "There!"

max at five

When Max gets a pass from school and spends the day at home with us, which he does fairly often, he is a nonstop fountain of questions. He wants to know everything, and it doesn't even cross his mind that Mike or I might not know the answer. And he remembers everything, too, so if we don't know, we better not give him the wrong answer.

At school this year, Max has really come out of his shell. He runs inside to greet all of his friends, and at the end of each day, we have to wait for the hugfest to run its course before we can pull him away from his pals. He doesn't seem to be very shy there at all anymore, either with teachers or classmates. Every night, he's full of funny stories to tell about the things he did during the day. I think it will be really interesting to see how he handles the transition to kindergarten, considering he has been in this same building, with these same teachers and fellow students, since just after he turned one. I think it's going to be a big change for him, but hopefully having Liam already there will make things a little easier.


It's easy to know what Max's favorite things are because he talks about them all the time. This morning, Mike and I took him out without brothers for a special birthday breakfast, and he constructed stacks of half-and-half and jelly, then told us a long and involved story about how it was a special world from the game Mario Galaxy. When Max likes something, it really permeates all the areas of his life. And it's so much fun to watch him right now as he makes the transition from little-kid stuff like Backyardigans to big-kid stuff like Star Wars.


It's been a really fun year, watching Max become more confident and (slowly but surely) less scared of things like going upstairs by himself. It's going to be even more fun to watch him navigate all the changes and new things that his year of being five will bring. Not only the kindergarten thing, but a whole host of other things from playing soccer and doing 4-H for the first time to riding his first bike (which he got from Aunt Bethany and Uncle Joe for his birthday). And I'm looking forward to a great ride with him.

Happy birthday, Max!

dreaming of spring...

Last time I took the boys to get their pictures taken, it was a disaster. It was a couple of weeks before Christmas, and we went on a weeknight with Bethany and Klaudia (one of our goals was to get a picture of all four grandchildren for Christmas for my folks). Really, truly, it was awful. Henry wailed in distrust of the photographer (who, it must be said, really didn't give much of an effort by way of connecting with the kids), Liam scowled and sighed and wouldn't cooperate (though he was the best of the three), and Max faked being sick -- complete with tears! -- so he wouldn't have to get his picture taken.


So it was with great trepidation that I ventured back to the picture place with the boys on Saturday. This time, I was prepared. I took Avalon and Klaudia as backup, so we were playing man-on-man instead of zone defense, as it were. I made them take naps before we left the house. I stopped along the way for some chicken nuggets (even though lunch had been only 90 minutes before) and drinks. We got there early and played. I tried not to display any irritation, even when we had to wait for a long time or the boys bickered. All good things. But the best thing was that we got a different photographer, one who introduced herself to the boys, talked to them, made them comfortable, and asked me what I had in mind. "I don't necessarily want to worry about getting formal posed shots, or about making them smile for every picture," I said. "I think it's more interesting when they're just being themselves." And the photographer, to my great relief, smiled and said "Good!"


And the boys had no problem just being themselves. They spent the next 30 minutes or so taking turns posing for pictures and rummaging through all the props on shelves around the room. When Max was getting his picture taken and Henry wandered by to stand next to him, Liam would jump in to try to get a good one of all three of them together. And vice versa. It was so easy and smooth! And so many great pictures. I am still pretty amazed. And also pretty sure that next time, the pendulum will swing back around. Or could I get this lucky twice? Anyway, these pictures are just a sample. If you want to look at the whole album, go here.

off to the office

Henry's got his briefcase and his cell phone, just like every other harried commuter.

the great chocolate chip caper

Maybe you've heard, we've had a blizzard. It came through on Tuesday, and on Wednesday, everything was closed. Well, almost everything. Bethany braved the weather and headed to the local big-name supercenter to stock up on some provisions, then she stopped by our house to give the boys some things to entertain them while they were stuck inside. And she was nice enough to give me a bag of chocolate chips so I could make cookies with the boys.

In the late afternoon, Henry started fussing. The bag of chocolate chips was on my desk, and it was his regular snack time, so I opened the bag and gave him a few. Then I closed the bag with a binder clip and buried it under some papers so he wouldn't see it and start crying for more.

This morning, while I was brushing my teeth, I heard a strange noise. I came out to find this:


I guess his memory is sharper than I gave him credit for! Luckily, his big brothers were happy to help out with the cleanup. (The paper scraps are courtesy of Max, who is obsessed with cutting paper -- I just hope he doesn't get the idea to apply his scissor fixation to his hair like Liam did at his age!)


And it wouldn't really be fair if I didn't show you the result: a sugared-up baby who had his treat taken away and thrown in the garbage. And after he worked so hard to get to it!

on the ice

Yesterday morning, we packed up, loaded up, and headed to scenic Elkhart for a day of fun. First stop: the ice rink. This might be a good time to point out that Mike hasn't been skating since college, and I've never been skating, so we weren't sure quite how it was going to be to take the boys skating for their first time. But it turns out we had nothing to worry about. They were pretty wobbly on their double-bladed skates at first, but by the end, Max was doing a happy little foot dance across the ice, and Liam was having the time of his life, boldly trying all sorts of moves even though he fell approximately every 5.8 seconds. Mike had a great time out there too, which made me a little jealous since I decided to stay on the sidelines with Henry and cheer them on. It was probably for the best since I'm clumsy and would no doubt have broken an ankle.




Anyway, after skating, we scoured Elkhart for a place to have lunch, but apparently all the places close down on the weekend, so we ended up at Mexican restaurant. Then we made a quick stop at Mini Delights Bake Shoppe to use a groupon I serendipitously got the day before. Tiny cupcakes: what better thing to take to go meet a new baby? So we headed off to nearby Goshen to see my cousin Amelia and her newest daughter, Leigh. What a cutie! I didn't get to hold her since she was sleeping in her swing the whole time, but I had a really good visit with Amelia, and the boys had a blast exploring the foreign world of girl toys. And once we finally got back on the road to head home, all three boys crashed right away. It was so peaceful. And yes, I'll admit it: We took a few detours and drove around town longer than necessary just to enjoy the silence.

snowed under

Work has been overwhelming for both of us lately, with mandatory overtime for Mike and a bunch of unexpected (but welcome!) gigs for me. It's all we can do to get dinner on the table, spend time with the kids, and occasionally say hello to each other in passing. We've got a birthday to look forward to next month, which happily coincides with the last of my big deadlines, so in the meantime, please enjoy these strange but somehow wonderful pictures of Henry celebrating a belated Christmas with the extended family at my grandpa's house.

2010 by the numbers

Emergency room visits: 3
Surgeries: 3
Pounds of furniture moved (approx.): 8,000
Loads of laundry: 412
Family vacations: 1 (yay!)
Adults-only vacations: 1 (double yay!)
New cousins welcomed: 2 (just in time -- welcome, baby Leigh!)
LEGOs stepped on: 357
Clothing items sewn or repaired by Yami (min.): 10
Airplane rides: 2 (Mike and Liam)
New pets: 1 (but he's a doozy!)
Teeth lost: 2
Teeth gained: 11
Trees chopped down: 1
Trees planted: 1
Easter prayers interrupted by one of our children screaming "Dragonoid!": 1 (thankfully)
Works of art shown in galleries: 1
Photos taken: 1,658 (not counting all the ones I deleted right away)
Blog posts: 82 (including this one)

I'd say it all adds up to a pretty good life. Here's to more great things in 2011!

timber!

We almost made it to Christmas without one of the boys/pets pulling down the Christmas tree. We were so close! But this morning, Henry managed to walk (!) off by himself just long enough to get behind the tree, give it a shove, and send the whole works crashing to the floor. There were countless ornament casualties, though Max was very pleased that the candy canes seemed to have survived unscathed. We've got a lot of work to do to replace everything (including the fake tree, which was probably in its last year of service anyway), and the plans for next year will definitely include a barrier. Look, but don't touch, kids!

The boys reenact the scene.

The survivors.