One morning everything looked so pretty that I left the kids inside working on schoolwork while I ran outside for a minute to take pictures of the daffodils.
It was about two seconds before someone followed me.
And before I knew it everyone had escaped and was running around on the hill. Free! Free!
And that's what happens on nice Spring mornings.
We haven't seen Abe emerge much from his homework-lair this semester. He has some really hard classes! But he did get out to dress up as…Scooby-doo? Someone from Scooby-doo? I don't know much about that show…and go to a dance with his cute friend Ava.
Another fun thing…Miss Daisy got glasses! And she is thrilled with them. So am I. I still remember how AMAZED I was at seeing all the clarity and detail in the world after I got my glasses in third grade. So miraculous. I'm so happy for Daisy that she can see now! And it doesn't hurt that she looks adorable. Maybe people will have an easier time telling Junie and Daisy apart now! (Which from their perspective is a sad thing. But Junie is also getting taller and taller so…it's not all Daisy's fault.)
And then there's this little Gussie-boo. Oh my goodness. Do you remember what he looked like a year ago? DO you? Let me remind you:
Those scrawny legs! Those scrawny arms!
Does that former skinny baby bear even a passing resemblance to this current rosy, round, blond-haired baby? He does not. They don't even look like brothers, let alone the same baby. This current baby is so much more, ah, substantial! In fact…not to put too fine a point on it…downright chubby. If he keeps this up, who knows WHERE we'll be! Sam and I were discussing this alarming state of affairs (during Zoom Sunday School, to our discredit) and Sam sketched out this on his phone:
Whereupon I couldn't stop laughing for the next twenty minutes and we had to turn off our camera.
But I mean…the resemblance is more than passing, isn't it? Chubby little cherub.
He is a busy little bee, too. Always finding pens, toothbrushes, cups, stools—there is one stepstool he particularly loves to push around the floor because it makes the most horrible scraping noise—and getting into, onto, and under things.
He's a pretty fast runner, too. Surprisingly so.
Everyone loves to hold Gussie and carry him around (except he's soooo heavy, and the other day I told Sam that I would rather do ANYTHING ELSE besides carrying him up the stairs)…
which is, I suppose, why THIS ^^^^ happens if someone ISN'T holding him. Soon he will learn to open doors and then we won't even be able to have THAT much peace anymore.
During Holy Week we built a model of Jerusalem out of blocks (stunningly accurate, as you can see) so we could talk about how and where everything happened during Jesus' last week.
And for Family Home Evening we painted little peg people to go in the city. We have, from left to right, Mary, Peter (holding a key), Pilate (holding a jug of water to wash his hands with), Mary Magdalene (holding ointment), one of the angels at the tomb, Jesus, Judas (doesn't he have a sly look!), John the Beloved, Caiaphas, and a Roman solider.
During Seb's Spring Break from school, he built me a planter bed for my herbs. (I mean…not just out of the goodness of his heart. I paid him for doing it. But, he did a very good job so I guess it was PARTLY out of the goodness of his heart.) He figured out all the supplies he'd need and then just…built it! And he very sweetly let Teddy help him. It looks so nice and I love it!
Oh, and here we are making pretzels for Good Friday.
We've been studying the American Revolution for homeschool, and for our celebration at the end of the unit, we made red, white, and blue jello and watched "A More Perfect Union" (such a great movie!). The girls wanted to dress up, so Daisy was General George Washington (she is posing like this portrait, if you are wondering).
Junie went through a couple different iterations of her costume. Here, she is King George III of England.
And here, she is a British soldier trying to shoot George Washington! In front of his wife Martha! Horrors!
But they worked out their differences.
And lived happily ever after (Martha too).
This was from another day when the kids made up a play to act out for me. They are all soldiers here.
And speaking of dressing up…this wasn't Revolutionary War-related, but just for fun. They make a handsome couple, don't they?
With a darling baby.
Here is the pretty Easter table set with the bunny plates. This was actually the week after Easter when my mom and brother's family came for Sunday dinner. See the cute bunny napkins Daisy folded?
Our ward had a "Paint Night" activity via zoom that the whole family could participate in. It was lots of fun! I was making cookies at the time, so I didn't paint anything, but the kids had a great time (and Sam stepped in to dabble with his canvas here and there as well).
They were VERY proud to hold their paintings up to the camera at the end so everyone could see them. Giving credit where it's due, these are, from top to bottom and left to right: Marigold's, Malachi's (note the rogue owl he added), Sam's rather…free interpretation of the subject matter (I requested that he put in the bunny), Junie's, Daisy's, and Teddy's.
We've had lots of lovely warm days this spring, but there have been a few chillier ones. One chilly and windy day I looked out to the hill and saw that Ziggy and Teddy had carried alllll their blankets and stuffed animals out there and made little nests to snuggle in. On the utility box because…why not?
They also had the porch swing all cozied up for themselves.
Zig is such a funny little guy. He spends all day every day outside, singing and playing "UPS Man" or "Lawnmower Man" or "Sprinkler Man" or "Leaf Blower Man." He hauls all sorts of stuff out there with him—his stuffed dog, the maracas and shakers, the broom, empty boxes—and uses it to pretend whatever he is playing. He happily just lives in his own little world, coming in every now and then to announce "Here's your package!" or call me outside to see a "cute, cute, cute pillbug."
Such fun to have a set of little boys!
Too too many things to love in this post. The glasses are darling. But WHEN did Junie get so much taller! It does always throw me off when kids quit lining up, height-wise, from oldest to youngest! And the two little boys out making nests on the utility box. And Abe’s amazing planter! And on and on! Wouldn’t it be glorious if our moms had been able to keep blogs like this of all our doings with pictures attached!
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