stinkable

If only I could record everything my kids say!  Especially Levi lately, he's full of one-liners.  The other day when he was headed into the bathroom to take care of business he said, "It might be stinkable in there!"  Lately he's been saying, "Okaaayyy, what are we doing here now?" (Even when we're at home.)  I think it was Sunday morning he told me I looked really pretty, and I thought I might melt.  :)  Many times when I tell him to do something I get a cheery, "Okay, yes, Mom!" And, when I've been going outside to work in the yard lately, he asks what work he can do.

Tuesday evening was Libertas' spring showcase concert.  Caleb and Logan sang in about four different songs, and recited a Bible verse.  Some of the skit type stuff that other classes did struggled with the sound, but the musical numbers were great!  "America the Beautiful" at the end of the concert with all the classes plus the band was neat!  And, my nephew Nathan's class sang a fun "Nifty Fifty States" song.  Always interesting to watch my kids up front.  There were plenty of times it looked like Caleb was just moving his mouth and not actually singing the words, but he was really into it!  :)  Logan was much more refined and by-the-book.  They were very happy to whip out their kazoo's during one of the songs.  :)  At one point early on Mike had fed Jackson a bottle.  He was burping him and made a comment that he would probably burp then since it was really quiet.  I was watching him and saw the look on his face, said, "He's working on one.", grabbed the burp cloth, and what do you know, a super loud burp/spit-up came, and everyone around us got a good laugh.  :)

We've been chipping away at some of the yard work around here.  So much to do after last year's project!  Trying to focus on one thing at a time and not get overwhelmed with the big picture.  This week Mike got our new lamppost installed, and I love it!  I moved the lovely clematis from the old lamppost to the new one and it's looking quite sad right now; I sure hope it perks up.  I also split off part to move over by the little spot by the garage (which I got a trellis for and Mike helped me attach it to the wall last night), but that's not looking too hot either.  We'll see.  A couple weeks ago some friends of ours gave us some plants they were getting rid of, so I planted them in the flower bed around the dining room windows.  Doing this work on a budget!!  :)  It's hard to find a large chunk of time to work on things, but at least Jackson will be content in his stroller or on a blanket for a little while here and there.  Getting the lawn mowed this year is going to be a little tricky once Mike gets busier at work.  I've been looking at video baby monitors so that I could mow while Jackson is napping, but $$$...  Last year our mowing was almost cut in half thanks to thing being tore up from the project, but now with the new grass we have even more than before!  Yikes.  Once the boys are old enough we're going to buy each of them a walk behind and let them have at it...  :)

spring!

It's spring now!  Of course, one weekend there was snow on the ground and the next weekend we were running around in shorts - and not because we're crazy northern people, it was actually warm enough.  :)

Last Friday was my birthday, and I had a very nice day.  The weather was gorgeous, the boys and I went for donuts with my friend Amy and her girls, Caleb and Logan went to a friend's house for the afternoon, we went out for supper as a family, and then headed over to my parent's to see my niece's from WV who were there with a church group (and, of course, my mom still had a cake with candles for me).

A couple things to note from that day: when the boys came downstairs they each immediately wished me a happy birthday, and then the next thing Levi said after seeing me in capri pants was, "So, are those shorts or what??"  Ha!  And when he came to the table for breakfast he said, "Okay, where's the cake??"  He cracks me up.  (After hanging out with Amy and her girls this morning, I said something to Levi about being pretty quiet while we were there, his response was, "Oh, I'm just not used to girls."  Also, last week we hid the paddling spoon!  Mike had brought it upstairs one night just in case and accidentally left it there.  The next day it was needed so I went looking for it and couldn't find it.  Levi managed not to say anything to me, but it came out that evening that Levi had seen where Mike left it, took it and put it behind his dresser to hide it.  Stinker!

Jackson rolled from back to tummy for the first time on my birthday!  Gotta keep a closer eye on him now that he's starting to move around just a little bit.  I suppose we should start figuring out what we're going to do to gate off our stairs...  For the most part Jackson has been doing well at night.  Maybe waking up 1 or 2 times just needing a pacifier, but many nights sleeping through.  And, most of the time he takes at least one longer nap during the day.  What's also really nice is that sometimes when he wakes up sooner than I'm ready, I can just open the curtains in his room and give him a toy and he'll stay content for a while playing in his crib.  This is such a big improvement for him!  There are still plenty of frustrating moments, but he really is becoming much more fun.  :)  He still only has eyes for me, his smile melts my heart every time, and I love listening to him "talk".  It's fun to watch him play with his toys  - absolutely fascinating to watch babies grow and develop!  He's mostly eating 5x/day now, and I haven't been giving him any solids anymore.  We'll try again another time.

For as much as they fight, Caleb loves his brothers and can be very kind with them.  Different times when Levi has gotten hurt while playing outside, Caleb will help him back to the house with his arm around him or holding his hand or something.  Last week when there was a morning that Levi woke up not feeling well, Caleb helped him downstairs and was sticking close by him to make sure he was okay.  This morning he held Jackson's bottle for him and loved being able to do that.  Brings joy to my heart.

I've especially been enjoying seeing how Logan has developed at school.  He's quite careful with his handwriting, and really enjoys various art projects.  He's become quite creative and has a good imagination.  I think more and more I'm seeing his similarities to me, and that's both good and bad...  :)

sprinter

I guess "sprinter" is a good name for the season we are currently in.  Not unlike other years, winter keeps hanging on a bit but we get a taste of spring here and there.  I'm not complaining too much, it would be nice to have warmer and dryer weather, but the way it's been has enabled Mike to still have Friday's off.  This week it looks like things are supposed to warm up a bit and be pretty nice by the end of the week, so I imagine they'll probably have  big planting day on the farm this Friday.  Which, of course, is my birthday.  :)  I've had my hubby home on Friday's much longer than expected, though, so I can't complain if his first one back is on my birthday.

Once the weather turns I really need to get cracking on some areas around the house.  One main flower bed that needs to be planted, and the garden.  We completely let the garden go last year with everything going on, so it'll take some effort to get that ship-shape again!  I have plenty to do in the house, though, until that time.  And, it still seems rather hard to get anything 'extra' done beyond the daily tasks around here.

We survived Spring Break and it really wasn't too bad.  The first day felt rather long, but after that the week went better.  Tuesday my mom, the boys, and I drove to Grand Ledge to visit my grandma.  I was SO HAPPY with how the boys behaved.  We had a very nice visit.  They played on the floor of her apartment for a while, and then we all took a walk.  Wednesday was rainy and cold, but my mom had an afternoon of activity planned for the "staycationers".  :)  My parents, my sister-in-law and her two boys, and me and my boys went out to lunch and then we had a shopping challenge at a dollar store, and then back to my parent's to play bingo.  We haven't really done a lot this weekend other than run a couple errands and go to church.  (And it's so nice!)

Jackson has still been hit or miss with his nighttime sleeping.  During the day he'll usually take at least one decent nap, which is so refreshing after months of 30 minute naps!  It seems like he may be having some trouble with the introduction of solid foods - more spitting up, not all that excited to eat, etc.  So, we'll continue to see how things go and he has a 6 month check-up next month anyways.