Giggles

"Grace"land

Life is wonderful in "Grace"land, and this sweet little girl loves to explore the world around her. These days Grace gets a kick out of turning on and off lights, opening and closing doors, putting anything and everything into her mouth, eating yummy yogurt, giggling incessantly at her brothers, passing things back and forth to her Daddy, banging things together and reading (okay, mouthing) her books.

Just for the record her brother's germs from school, saline nose drops and the nose sucker are the main enemies of "Grace"land.

Colors

I can't get this picture to rotate for some reason...sorry!

Sawyer is very interested in coloring lately, and he works hard to stay in the lines. I think this is yet another example of how much he strives to be like his big brother,

At first, Sawyer often chose only one color to fill in the entire picture, but lately his creations are looking more like a rainbow. This little boy adds beautiful colors to his drawings and our lives!

Rub a Dub Dub

Three cuties in a tub. No room for a fourth in here!

Lent

Our family has been discussing Lent and its meaning this week. It's hard to say what hits home for the boys, but I know that Jack has the main ideas down. He often writes/draws in the evening, and on Ash Wednesday he created this image. I think God is okay with his inventive spelling.

All Grace got for Valentine's Day was....

...her two front (bottom) teeth! Okay, she did get a few other things, but her teeth were our most exciting discovery last week. Thankfully, they popped through before our trip to Chicago last weekend.

If you look past the pumpkin and apple mess on her sweet face you can kind of make out her new prized possessions.

Toasting our romance

Toaster vs. toaster oven. This heated debate has been a hot-button issue (all puns intended) in our marriage for the past 10 1/2 years. We registered for a toaster oven per my hubby's insistence, but when it had toasted it's last piece of bread I chose to replace it with a simple toaster...smaller in stature but quite powerful at browning my english muffins.

After a few years of seeing Scott heartbroken and listening to him lament about the delicacies he could be preparing in a toaster oven, I finally broke down. Happy Valentine's Day, love. Now please go make me a yummy toasted cheese sandwich.

My funny Valentiines

I loved the gorgeous roses that my hubby gave me for Valentine's this year, but these three kiddos are truly the greatest gifts he has given me.

Ready, set....

It's not quite go time yet, but Grace started getting up on her knees last week. She rocks back and forth as her brothers cheer her on. Time to put away the Legos and marbles!

100

Jack and his classmates celebrated their 100th day of kindergarten this week by bringing in a collection of 100 items (Jack chose legos), have special "100" snacks, playing fun "100 games" and making these cool hats.

Always looking ahead, Jack is already thinking about what he'll be doing/learning on his 100th day of 1st grade. SLOW DOWN!

Trains x Infinity (a favorite number of Sawyer's these days)

Sawyer is still beyond obsessed with trains. Train books, train puzzles, train games, train movies, toy trains, train snacks, train parties (yes, it looks like I'll be planning a third train-themed party for this little guy) and of course the beloved Train Museum in Elkhart, IN. Scott took Sawyer for a special adventure there on Saturday afternoon, and my sweet little boy beamed for 2 1/2 hours.

Special time with Daddy + trains = a perfect adventure for Sawyer!

Cloud Nine

A perfect start to our weekend. Scott and I have watched this video at least 50 times in the last 48 hours.

Please excuse the over-excited mom on this video

Love

Grace has chosen her Valentine this year. I think her Daddy has, too.

Silly day

My kindergartner has bounded out the door for school every morning this year. Today he woke up and said, "Could we just make it a silly day, and I stay home with you, Sawyer and Grace?" I said yes before he could even finish his sentence.

On his silly day, Jack counted his money (at least three times), wrote love letters to Daddy and Gracie, read books, entertained his brother and sister, rode his bike through the neighborhood, enjoyed his swing set/trampoline, played with his cars, obsessed over tail fins (spoilers) on cars and enjoyed a Curious George or two. There were a couple rough spots during the day, but today left me yearning for some more "silly" days with my big boy.

Here's a pic of Jack with his new Build-A-Bear, Camo. He's often seen sporting underwear around our house!

Seven

Seven things to love about our seven month old (the list could go on, of course).

1. She's the happiest little baby. In the car, at home, running errands, meeting new people, playing with her brothers, sleeping, eating, reading, sitting solo and chewing on anything she can find, jumping in her Jumperoo, singing songs, having a cold, teething...she continues to wear a smile. She does have some tearful moments, but Grace's smile is definitely her most beautiful accessory.

2. She babbles constantly and tries to keep up with the chatter in our house. "Mama", "Dada" (a new one) and "Baba". Scott swears she has a name for Sawyer already..."er"????

3. When she touches your face with her hands and gives you an open mouth kiss, you would do just about anything to make time stand still.

4. Gracie lets her brothers kiss her, lay all over her, hold her hand and basically invade any bit of personal space she has. 95% of the time she just smiles and loves their endless doting.

5. When she nurses she loves to either twirl strands of my hair or grasp at parts of my shirt. We just stare at each other and the rest of the world seems to fade away. She's starting to enjoy her other mode of feeding now, so I am soaking up every last nursing session.

6. She gives high-fives to her Daddy and brothers. They are her heroes and excellent examples of how boys/men should treat her in the future.

7. Girls clothes are adorable!!!