I Don't Want to Forget

I don't want to forget....

As the kids were trying to help me think of ways that God helps us, Serena said solemnly, "God helps me through picking out my dress on Sundays."

In another conversation about God, we were talking about how God's love makes us strong to do hard things.  Bret thought of an example of this right away, "Just like Bret and Cody love Mommy, so when we fall down, we don't cry.  And I love Froggie and Crab."  This was accompanied by Bret's signature cocked-head nodding, squinting eyes, and furrowed brows.  I'm not sure he quite grasped the concept, but he was pretty sincere!  ;)

I love that Serena says "Make sure-ing" instead of "Making sure."

Cody is potty-trained, except for nights!  Almost done with diapers!  I almost hesitate to write this down, lest anyone think I'm too weird, but I actually feel a little sentimental about finishing up the diaper stage!  My eyes are still drawn to diaper deals, and I have to remind myself that I don't need to keep stocking up on diapers.  We're only using about 5/week right now!!

Serena fell in love with all things James Herriott for a few weeks.  Here she is reading one of the stories to Bret.

Bret is quite the boy.  He loves to set up hypothetical situations that usually involve someone (often himself) getting hurt.  For example, "I have very sharp teeth.  They could bite off a finger.  Would there be a lot of blood?"  Incidentally, he has never bitten anyone.  ;)

Cody, our one-man band.  He spends a lot of time EVERY DAY with a couple of Popsicle sticks, banging them on something and "singing" (more like yelling) at the top of his lungs!   This is usually accompanied by jumping, stomping, marching, rocking, or just bouncing.

Serena took it upon herself to write her first book in January.  She called it "The Book of Funny Railroad Horses."  To make the book itself, she glued some half-pieces of white printer paper between two half-pieces of red construction paper.  She was apparently a little self-conscious about the fact that her book had no spine, because she explained to me very seriously, "Some book don't have the name on the edge, so how about I make this one of those books instead of risking my life writing such small letters."  She decided to send the book to Nana.  "She might not think it's true because it's so funny, but it is true because Lady [one of the horses] is real!"

Dress-up happened almost daily this winter.  I love seeing what Serena in particular comes up with for her outfits.  She loves wearing dresses on top of dresses, hats, slippers for shoes, and using scarves and ties and aprons in many different ways!

The other day, Cody bonked his head pretty hard, but was tough about it, so Jordan and I commented on his hard head.  Moments later, Bret went walking by smacking his own head with his hand.  "See?" he said in his big-boy voice (which is significantly deeper than his normal voice), "I can hit it as hard as I want and it won't break."

One morning, the kids had a bunch of beads out and were playing at the black table with them while I was still cleaning up the kitchen from breakfast.  All of a sudden, Cody was crying inconsolably.  As I started in with my usual "Please don't cry, just ask" he was still not calming down, but kept pointing to his nose.  Finally, it occurred to me that he had a BEAD up his nose!  I looked, and sure enough, there it was, just past the bone.  As soon as I figured out what was wrong with him, Cody calmed down and remained calm for the rest of the ordeal.  Tweezers seemed out of the question, since it was pretty tight in there, and being round and smooth it didn't seem likely I'd get a hold of it.  I tried having him blow it out, but that wasn't working either.  Running out of ideas, I was getting nervous that we might have to go to the ER, so I googled what the Dr would do about an item lodged in a child's nose.  The first thing the article said was to expect a long wait since an item up a nose would not be considered a great emergency.  Imagining a long wait in an ER with my three munchkins was very motivating to me to find a way to get the bead out myself!  The article went on to say that a Dr would probably have a child try to blow the item out (check), or get it with tweezers (out of the question), or use suction.  Suction.  I have a Dyson.  It has a lot of suction.  I found a hard plastic straw and duct-taped it to the attachment hose on my vacuum.  I turned on the vacuum and was happy to find a good strong suction!  Taking Cody's head in my arm, I maneuvered the straw into his nose.  Cody was amazingly calm until the moment that the vacuum grabbed the bead, then he started to cry!  I think maybe it hurt a little when it went over that bone it was behind!  I was SO relieved to have avoided the ER, I had him take a picture with our little contraption and the infamous bead!  ;)  Incidentally, Bret tried the same thing a few weeks later, and the vacuum trick worked again!  ;P

Cody went through a phase for a couple months where his prayers went like this, "Grandma's house, Grandpa's house, Grandma's house, Grandpa's house, Grandma's house, Grandpa's house, Grandma's house, Grandpa's house, Grandma's house, Grandpa's house, Grandma's house, Grandpa's house.  Amen."  Sometimes these prayers could drag on for a couple minutes before I'd finally get him to stop!

Bret is terribly afraid of heights.  Of course, Jordan likes to try to get him to work through it and stay calm.  Lately, Jordan has come up with the perfect motivation for Bret to face his fear of heights:  So Bret can be ready to help Daddy put a roof on a house someday!  Bret is eating it up, and takes his height-training very seriously now!

Bret's description of Grandmas:  "Grandmas don't have kids.  They just have decorations and pretty things in their hair.  And grandchildren."

Serena, "This summer, Cody will learn to pump his swing as quickly as a bud grows in warm weather, because I will be teaching him!"

Those munchkins had a LOT of fun playing in the snow!  ;)

Bret's mail obsession continues, and with it his constant begging me for envelopes.  As my stash was running out, I thought this might be a perfect opportunity for Bret to have his first purchasing experience.  He received some money for his birthday.  What better way to spend it?  I told him my envelopes were running out and that if he wanted to keep using envelopes, he would need to buy some himself.  I would take him to the Dollar Tree and he could use one of his dollars.  Bret latched onto the idea immediately.  We decided to go on Monday after storytime at the library.  I had him bring one dollar and one dime (for tax).  Serena offered to carry his money in her purse (which she carries for the sole purpose of transporting her library card to and from the library).  Everyone was very happy with the arrangement.  As we walked into the store, I felt like it was one of those moments when the kids were just soaking up every bit of the experience.  They had big eyes and walked quickly.  I made sure we went straight to the stationary aisle.  I was a little nervous we might get side-tracked if Bret realized he could buy ANY one of the items in the store with his dollar!  ;)  We surveyed the selection of envelopes.  A box of 40 business envelopes, or a box of 80 smaller envelopes.  Which one?  "Uh, how about those big envelopes?"  Bret asked, pointing at the brown mailers on the top shelf.  Well, those were $1 each.  It took a little doing, but I finally convinced Bret to leave the mailers and stick to the envelopes, since that was what we came for.  ;)  Being the boy that he is, he chose the business envelopes, since they are bigger.  Serena said she would have chosen the smaller ones so she would have had more.  Heehee!  ;)  Next, Bret marched up to the cash register.  Serena doled out his money to him.  As Bret put his box of envelopes on the belt, he turned to watch the person in front of him finish up their transaction.  The cashier was handing them their sack of purchases and a receipt.  Bret LOVES receipts!!!  He turned back to me.  "Am I going to have my own receipt?!"  "Yes."  "Do I get to keep it?"  "Of course!"  I think he grew about 4"!  He stepped up to the cash register, and I walked on through and stood off to the side so he could be by himself.  He had to stand back because he couldn't even see over the counter!  But, he watched the cashier very carefully as she scanned and bagged his box.  "$1.05."  Bret handed her his cash.  He was a little surprised when she wanted to give him a nickel back, but he took it gladly.  He took his receipt even more gladly.  I walked out of that store with a very big Bretsterboy!  He has been one happy kid with his own box of envelopes! ;)

I couldn't narrow down this series of pictures of the boys in matching PJs to any less than five favorites!

The Culvers restaurants around here celebrate National Library Week by giving coupons for free ice cream to the local libraries.  The librarians hand out papers to the kids who come to the library all during the month of April and ask them to draw something from one of their favorite books.  When they turn it back in to the librarian, she gives them a coupon.  It's only for ages 4-11, so Cody didn't get to participate, poor guy!  Bret drew a picture from "I Wish That I Had Duck Feet" by Dr. Seuss.  Serena drew a picture from the "Little House" books (which she still reads incessantly, even when she is also reading other books), of course.  ;)  They are obviously both very excited about going and getting their Culvers ice cream sometime soon!  Bret keeps talking about how he's going to buy his own ice cream all by himself with his coupon.  "Will they give me any money back, Mom?" he asked in his big-boy voice.  ;)

I just couldn't get enough of Cody in this snowsuit!

We went to our very first homeschool co-op and we all loved it immensely!  Cody stayed with me and we helped out in Bret's preschool class.  They served little cups of dirt cake to go along with their theme, and I offered one to Cody.  He looked as if I'd gone crazy, and refused to even consider eating it!  Haha!  Also in Bret's class, they each had a little cup of dirt that they got to plant a pea seed in.  You never know what's going on in that boy's head, or what idea he might fixate upon!  We brought it home, and placed it on a (high) window sill.  As soon as Jordan walked in the door that afternoon, Bret ran to him excitedly.  "Dad!!  Dad!  Do you notice something different?  Does the house look different?!  Did you notice what we did?!"  Jordan was trying to look around (probably thinking I'd rearranged a room or something that he should dutifully notice and appreciate ;) ), and not seeing anything.  I honestly had no idea what Bret was talking about either!  Finally, Bret couldn't wait any longer for Jordan to figure out what had happened.  "We made a garden!  Dad!  There's a garden in the house!"  Of course.  The pea seed.  In the tiny cup.  It's a garden.

Serena LOVES making "pot-pads" on her loom she got for Christmas!  And wearing her flower-girl dress from Luke & Lulu's wedding.  ;)

After a conversation about common flies and how they don't hurt anyone but people generally don't like them because they are annoying, Bret said:  "I'm going to catch a fly.  It might not be annoying because we could just tame it."  He's very anxious for the warm weather to get here and bring all the worms and bugs and toads with it!