Begining Engineering

So who would have thought that playing can be art and engineering lessons? For one unit of Art Erik used his K'Nex to build a motorcycle. There are all the pieces he had to assemble and the directions he had to follow.

Here is the finished product. He loved playing with this toy and I think part of the reason was he had to take the time, energy and frustration to build it first! He also learned that following the directions is much more important than it looks. Although, we did have to make some adjustments so as to distribute the weight evenly so it could stand up on its own (minor details!). For his next forage into the wonderful world of engineering I want to buy some model airplanes for him to build so when he is done we can hang them in the newly redecorated play room. (It is in an Army theme. Uncle Ben would be so proud!) Oh, and since Jeremiah is almost in Kindergarten, he will also be doing a few. I love how in Home School you can incorporate seemingly meaningless activities to further teach them about their subjects!

Seth's 1st Birthday Party

Yes, this is our 1 year-old baby. I am still slightly amazed that he is now 1. I am trying to figure out how a year went by when just yesterday he was an infant!

Somehow we missed a picture with him in front of the cupcakes. He did get to eat one and loved every minute of it.

Bumps

At swims lessons earlier:

Jeremiah: "Mommy that guy must be really strong."

Mommy: "Why do you say that, love?"

Jeremiah: " Because he has bumps on his arm."

I am now trying not to laugh; I do however have to turn my head as discreetly as possible and smile. Kids say the cutest things!!

Catch-up

I was talking to a friend last night and we remarked how we are always trying to catch up with our friends lives. It seems like we never know what is going on since so much has happened since the last time we talked. Unfortunately this does not happen with just one or two friends. It seems to happen with all my friends. Just one more of many joys of motherhood that no one tells you about until after you are in the midst of it. In the coarse of the last month we have moved, our baby turned one, amongst many other things. I put the computer in my room when we moved and I am now on it so infrequently I have to go back and look at what people wrote 2 months ago just to find out what is happening in their lives! I keep thinking that one day life will mellow out a bit. Since I now have to go do laundry, vacuum and shampoo carpets, clean up all the "little messes" that happened in the last 30 minutes and get ready for Seth's Party this weekend I know that time is not upon me now nor will it be in the near future. I am also begining to wonder if that is just a pipe dream.

My favorite moments

These kind of pictures happen to be my favorite. When one brother tries to comfort another, not because mom or dad prompted them to but by their own sheer desire to comfort one another. There is just something so touchingly sweet about these moments. (They do not seem to happen all that often and when they do happen, there never seems to be a camera around to capture them.)

BTW if you could not tell, Matthew is trying to give Seth a pacifier to make him feel better!

Have you ever noticed?

That as you have more children you tend to worry about less things.

No, that is not poop and, no, he did not get into it himself.
There is a great reason he is so happy!

Have you guessed what he ate. A chocolate and peanut butter cookie. His dad gave it to him and no, no that is by far not his first cookie. (Side note: Erik did not even get cake on his 1st birthday. Yes, I was a mean mom!)

Wall Art

Matthew loves his Mam-ma. She is his "favorite." This was taken when I was frantically cleaning the house, due to an upcoming inspection.

Now mind you what they are scrubbing off is the "Art" that he so lovingly put up there on one of his many rampages. Notice how he does not seem to be doing much of the scrubbing. (Hmm, maybe that is why he loves her so much.)

And just when you are sure that your house is truely marker free, one finds that there is another wall to scrubb. I am not sure what I did with all of my time before I had kids!!