4 years old

To my Sawyer, a very happy birthday. You make me smile daily. You are so incredibly sensitive and sweet and you always want to make sure that everyone is happy with you. If you think, even for a moment, that we are upset at you, your big blue eyes fill with tears and you can't go on until we've reassured you that all is well. You are an amazing big brother to Gavin. From the moment he was born you have smiled at him, played with him, and made sure he was safe. Even now, you can make him laugh like no one else. You adore your big brother Ian and want so much to be a part of all that he does. We often call you our "buddy" because you love to go on errands, one on one, with either me or Dad. You are the first one to ask, "can I go?". And always the first one to help with a task if we need it. You love to be hugged and carried. You love to "snuddo" on the couch and read books. You love to do something crazy for just a minute until you realize that someone is watching and then you cover your eyes and shyly smile.

When you were a little baby, you refused to sleep longer than 2 hours at a time. It seems hard to believe now... but for 15 months I got up with you every 2 hours at night to rock and nurse. It was the hardest thing I had done and I prayed nightly for grace to give you what I knew you needed... comfort. It took you 2 full years to sleep 8 hours for the first time, and only when we moved you in to Ian's bedroom with him. It feels like ages ago but what I remember distinctly is praying for you in the middle of night while I rocked you over and over again. So many people told me to let you cry. But I couldn't do it. My instinct told me that you needed reassurance, you needed comfort, and I was determined to meet you there. And now I see why. I see your gentle spirit and I know it would have been crushed if you were left by yourself when you needed me. I'm so thankful for God whispering grace in my ear when I felt like I couldn't get up just. one. more. time. You were worth it baby. That and much much more. Happy birthday sweet Sawyer. Mama loves you.

A new 1 year old

To Gavin, my amazingly sweet little 1 year old... You love being held and are content to just suck on your two little fingers. When you play with your brothers you laugh at their craziness at all the right times and when your blue eyes light up I can tell you understand far more than we ever realize. You have the cutest two little bottom teeth ever and I'm in love with your gummy smile. You love to rock out to music of any kind, even if it's just a beat. You will watch your Daddy sing and play guitar for ever and then insist on joining in. You wave bye-bye when you know you are going to bed and your favorite thing is to snuggle in to breastfeed while I rock you to sleep. You crawl everywhere and pull yourself to a stand. You open any drawer and pull out it's contents no matter what they are. You love watching the chickens out the back door and you'll escape out any open door to get to the outside, rain or shine. We are so excited for this summer and even though the baby in you will start to fade even more... the toddler in you is going to be so much fun to have around! Happy birthday sweet baby boy!

Amazing what happens in just one little year!

April sights

Rainy day Sawyer

We do a lot of karate chops, high kicks, and hi-yah's on rainy days. And there's been a lot of rainy days lately. Thank goodness for indoor imaginations!

Thank you's

Teaching thankfulness by doing. He grumbled and complained at first. But then it caught on and he wanted to do each part on his own completely. One moment learned... one more action that will hopefully embed itself into his heart.

Snow Day

Taking advantage of a rare sight... snow! 7:00 in the morning and the boys were outside.

One usually gets cold before the other and prefers to watch from the inside where it's warm...

next to baby.

Snow piled clothes all across the floor but no one minds on such a special day.

Rosy cheeked boy fresh from the (inches) of snowy tundra.
Pure joy.

The 6 year old

As of Monday, I officially became the mama of a 6 year old! While we are having more moments like this:


And continue to have moments like this:

Rest assured. There is also plenty of this:

and this:

yep:

and definitely some of:

And like the amazing boy he is... after a busy day of that... there's always room for this:

Happy birthday Ian.

Framed magnet board

In need of some type of controlled space for the boys to hang their artwork, I found this tutorial here for a DIY framed magnet board. It's a big metal sheet covered with fabric and framed. Easy. (BTW...I love the colors of that play room and I'm seriously thinking about stealing the wall color for the boy's new learning/play area!) I hung this up in our hallway in between the new learning area, the kitchen, and the living room.

I made this one really big... 3x3 foot. Mostly because I had mistakenly bought an aluminum piece of metal sheeting first thinking it was lightweight and would work great on the wall. I cut the wood with a miter saw and painted it and even sewed the fabric pieces together before I realized that magnets don't stick to aluminum! Oops. So we had to search high and low for a steal metal sheet that same size. Home Depot had ones that were 2x3 which would also be a great size for this project. Anyway.. here's the pictures... I'm so happy with it and the boys just love it!

Simple

Potage Parmentier ... hmmm, delicious.

Reminds me of this
and this
and this here
and other simple, pretty things.

I like simple and pretty.

Saucin' apples

53 lbs of Hood River apples. 15 quarts applesauce and 2 gallon-sized bags of frozen applesauce cubes for Gavin. Done.