Lukey is 4!!!!!!!

We had another birthday in the house!  This one is always a long time coming because it is soooooo hard for little brother to wait 20 WHOLE days after Mikey's birthday until HIS!  But it finally came.  And after a lot of practice learning that he is three, now he's four!  He already knows it though and is ready to tell all who will listen.  He also has the four fingers down pat.  When you turn four a lot of things change.  Like now you are taller, you know so many more things, maybe you can take down a brother you couldn't before (maybe!?), and you can for sure pour your own milk on your cereal...????

We celebrated this year a day before since his birthday landed on a Monday and Gil is nowhere to be seen on a Monday.  Instead we had Grandma and Grandpa Koester and Grandma and Grandpa Erwin over for some cake and ice cream and presents on Sunday afternoon.  And since the wind came and blew the snow all around and winter decided to start in February we didn't even get to church that morning.  But we were glad we still got to have our party with the Blue Yoshi cake and some Mario Kart and new toys and lots of candy too.

Luke, you are such a special little boy.  You are sweet and sincere and curious and friendly and love playing "combine" and outside and Legos and keeping up with the bigger kids!  Your big dark brown eyes and long lashes get me every time!  You love getting out of bed to get one more drink or ask one more question or to say, "See ya in the morning!"  You love crawling into bed with me at 6am and getting a few snuggles.  You still love your nap most days, but ALWAYS ask if I can lay with you.  Sometimes I do and I always cherish that time.  You love reading books with me.  Dr. Seuss and Berenstain Bears are favorites.  You love Wild Kratts on the iPad and playing endlessly with cars and building forts and doing all the things.  You have a great sniffer and often say. "What smeeellls?"  You live life with happiness and smiles and gusto.  I admire you Lukey!  You add so much to our family.  We love you and are proud of you!

Mikey turned 6!

So kid number 3 turned 6 last week.  How is that possible?  Man I can (too) clearly remember the panicked drive to the hospital that cold February morning.  And then Michael Johnnie was here, just like that!  And now he is Mikey in the middle, what a perfect place for this blond-haired spunky boy.  

For his birthday we had Trix and a few presents at breakfast.  He got a police parachute Lego, a sea turtle stuffed animal, and a puzzle he can draw his own picture on.  That afternoon I worked hard on the Mario Kart cake!  For supper we had pancakes and strawberries and bacon (his choice) and some birthday cake and ice cream.  We also had our septic tank pumped during supper which made it a little less appetizing...but that is another story...stupid septic issues!  After supper Mikey got to open his last gift from us, a new 20" wheeled bike!!!  It has been too cold to ride it, but I know it will be getting many miles put on it this summer!  Mikey also got $20 in a card from Grandma and Grandpa Ridenour, a pull-ball Lego racer from the Herricks, and a toy chainsaw and a t-shirt from Grandma and Grandpa Koester who came over the next night for a visit.  

Mikey has really changed over the past year I think.  He is becoming such a sweet, caring boy.  Some of his "difficult-ness" of his younger days is waning (thank goodness?!?!).  He loves school and telling tales of his day with great earnest.  He gets along well with his friends and is very good with his baby brother, Thomas.  He plays great with Luke and/or Cora and sometimes even Jude...sometimes not...but when all goes well it is wonderful!  Mikey is hesitant to try new things and craves regularity and routine.  New situations still throw him for a loop sometimes, but we are learning that about him which helps everyone (I think he gets this from his mama:)!  He is learning to read and do simple math problems.  He loves listening to books, building and playing with Legos, riding his bike (Cora taught him at the end of the summer!), helping dad with anything outside or farm/animal-related (wearing his new belt and pliers holder!), he is a GREAT eater even though it doesn't show at all on his tall skinny frame, and he of course loves playing iPad and Nintendo, especially Mario Kart!

We love you Mikey in the middle!

What We are Thankful For

At Thanksgiving time we participated in the good old fashioned going around the table and saying what we are thankful for tradition.  The three year old, Luke, didn't quite understand.  Each time (we did it on two occasions) he started rattling off his Christmas list instead.

Me: "What are you thankful for Luke?"

Luke:  "I want a new bike and a blue combine!"

Me:  "No, what do you already have that you like and are thankful for?"

Luke:  "I want an owl costume too!"

Lists of what we want are always on the top of our minds.  More money, a promotion, a new sweater, a vacation, to lose the weight, that awesome new phone, to be more like so and so...We want want want and if and when we get it we just want some more.  Stopping wanting long enough to be thankful for something is not a thing we practice very often.  I have obsessed with wanting that new pair of shoes for months.  But when is the last time I obsessively thought about how grateful I am to have the 20+ pairs already in my closet?

I have always dreaded this routine of saying what we are all thankful for somewhat.  Not that I am not thankful...it's just how do you say it without sounding trite.  We go around the circle and we all begin to realize what really matters: family, friends, health, etc.  It gets repetitive.  And then there are ones that don't get mentioned quite as often: jobs, healthcare, safety nets, homes, food, clean water, heat, etc.  I gets weighty and complicated.  What about ALL of the people without these basic things?  Then there is the list that almost never even gets a thought, ones that are too much to even utter: air to breathe, lungs that can breathe it, the sun that sustains all of life, our miraculous planet, etc.

For me Thanksgiving is such a vital holiday.  I don't often give it the credit it deserves.  It gets overlooked as I have my Christmas list on the tip of my tongue!  My wish list of all the things I want but don't yet have.  Instead, Thanksgiving is a time to realize what we do have, and maybe what we don't actually need.  This year, I want to try to keep my focus on Thanksgiving.  Keep my mind full of my list of gratitudes, not my wants.

Baby No More!

Baby boy turned one year old last week!  What?!?!?  He has turned into a little monster who screams, throws food, plays in the toilet, and tortures everyone (and STILL doesn't sleep through the night!)...but man is he cute!!!  He also laughs, dances, plays, is taking more and more steps each day, and his sibs just adore him to pieces, and mom and dad also!!!

We had a shared birthday party with Ashtyn (10) and Taylor (3) on the day of his birthday.  I made him a bunny shirt (the struggle was REAL on that one!), some bunny cupcakes and smash cake, and a few banners to decorate.  Turns out I like to craft, who knew!?!  We had a lot of fun at the party with cousins, grandparents, aunts and uncles, bubbles, and glow sticks!  Even Brittany and Bryan were able to join us (although I stink and getting pictures of everyone and regret it afterward!).  Also baby Paisley, just 10 days old, was able to be there.  Just two days released from NICU!

Thomas was lucky enough to be born right before Labor Day weekend so we had a nice few days to celebrate afterward as well.  We went boating in Yankton on Saturday with G and G Koester and the Pick fam.  And were able to relax and get some housework done on Sunday and Monday.  

The birthday kids (plus Luke!)

The crazy cousin crew!

the shirt (not quite finished)

The cake table

the cupcakes

Yummy!

that is a happy scream!

the glow sticks

birthday kid banner

on the boat

he didn't really love it...

just sit still and smile!

last sticker of the pack!

look at that twinkle in his eye!

Cora Clare turns 7 years old!

Our sweet one and only girlie girl turned seven years old a couple days ago.  Seven seems like it is getting into sorta big girl territory.  She has lost her front teeth and big ones have grown in.  That has certainly changed her little girl appearance!  I have become obsessed with buying her clothes this year.  Now that I know I will not have another girl I want to buy her all the things!  This is ironic because they will get so much less use than the boy stuff!  For her birthday I got her a bunch of Matilda Jane clothes, a dr. Barbie, and a new sleeping bag for all our summer camping trips.  Gil got her a batman Lego.  She actually really wanted the Lego.  All the boys have been getting them and she wanted one too!  One to put on her "desk" (aka dresser). She got the Harley Quinn one with Bat Woman (who Mikey calls "Kitty Girl" 😂).  She got to have a party early (May 4th) with her entire class.  They played hard outside and in and had cake and ice-cream and pizza and jello and cheese puffs and NONE of the fruit salad I made...it was fun to see her interact with her classmates and get to know them better.  Then on her actual birthday we had a low-key day.  It is one of the first days of summer vacation so we are all still adjusting to the new summer routine.  Cora wishes she could go to summer school! After supper we had my parents over for a little cake and ice-cream out on the deck. When Gil asked her how her day was going when he came home for lunch she replied, "Goodish, the boys keep trying to tackle me."  And so it goes as the sister of four boys...

Cora, you are just a pure delight!  You are funny and smart and sensitive.  You are a kind and generous person.  You jump to help your brothers whenever they need something.  You do everything with a lot of heart and enthusiasm. You are a true optimist!  You are becoming strong and love trying new things.  You love to ride your bike, swing, run, attempt cartwheels, sing, color, look at your reflection.  You love your body and have no shame which I just love and I hope to keep it that way.  You are beautiful inside and out and we often get comments to that effect.  This year you have lost your two front teeth (as well as some bottom ones), learned to ride a bike, learned to read really well (we like to read Junie B. Jones books together and just started Little House in the Big Woods), finished the first grade, and accomplished so much more...We love you sunshine!

birthday party cupcakes

birthday party friends

last day of school 2018

elementary track meet (she had just finished running a 300! and got second place!)

her batman lego

cake she decorated herself on her birthday

presents from gma and gpa

family party

Jude the Dude...Number Nine

Our biggest boy turned 9 years old last week!  He got a snow day and a Lego so he was pretty pleased with himself!  Also that night grandma and grandpa Koester and the Hendrix family came and had some cheesecake (chocolate mousse!  his choice for a birthday cake this year!).  In fact, he had such a good day that the next day when things went back to normal he had the "after birthday blues."  I get it son, I get it!  But the partying wasn't over yet because on Friday grandma and grandpa Ridenour came up and we went to Pizza Hut that night.  Then on Saturday we took three of his buddies swimming at the Y in South Sioux and to McDonald's AND Dairy Queen for a drive home ice-cream cone (that might have been my idea!).

Jude continues to be our extrovert-to-the-max guy.  He loves a good party and DOING anything.  Which usually means NOT being at home, or if we are then someone ELSE needs to come over.  He LOVES reading and is really into comics or graphic novels:  Dog Man, Captain Underpants, Nate, Amulet, and the newspaper funnies that grandma and grandpa collect for him.  But he will read pretty much anything and therefore knows so many things.  Whenever I ask him how he knew something it is either he read it in a book or he saw it on a PBS kids show!  After Christmas he and I read the book WONDER together.  It was so good.  I may have cried on nearly every page much to Jude's wonderment and annoyance!  I used to have a hard time reading aloud to my students, but reading aloud to my own children has proven even more difficult!

Jude also loves Legos.  He is getting to be a "master builder."  We are very into the Lego Batman series right now.  And can all agree that the Lego Batman movie is up there with the best movies ever made!  And it gets quoted quite often around here ("Stop!  Who is laying down those funky beats?!"- Joker, "Look at my amazing abs"- Batman, etc...)

Jude played his first year of little league baseball last summer which was really fun to watch and played his first year of basketball under his dad's (and mom's!) coaching this winter.  He has improved so much in hoops and loves to practice out on our new driveway and basket.  

He and I attended our first 4-H meeting the other night so this will be the first summer of real 4-H!  Ready or not here we come (NOT READY!).  We will see how that adventure goes...

Jude, you are funny, smart, adventurous, sometimes challenging, competitive, and just an all-around wonderful kid.  We are so thankful for you in our lives.  We love you so so much!!!

birthday cinnamon rolls

just found out we got a snow day...excited even if it is mid-April!

chocolate mousse cheesecake

party time

swimming time

eating time

The Kids...

So I just put all (except one...) the kids to bed.  They are not all asleep, but they are all in bed and for the most part quiet.  Quiet.  Oh what a sweet sweet word you are.  When the noise level in my home gets to where I have to try hard not to pick up a knife and stab my ear drum I try to remember that someday all too soon my house will be all too quiet.  Also I think as soon as Thomas isn't sleeping so much of the day I might not mind the noise quite so badly.  So I try to savor time while also rushing it along.  Such is mom life!  I watched a video of Mikey from when he was two the other day.  Three years ago.  Just three years ago.  I almost cannot imagine it, Mikey being two.  That floppy blond hair and baby dimpled fingers...

Anyway, tonight as my children slumber (or are at least making a minimal amount of noise....) I am thinking about all the things I love about them.  It is so easy to think of these things as they sleep rather than when the noise is happening! Sleeping children magically turn into precious snowflake angels that can do no wrong!

Luke-
Oh Lukey Pie!  You are the constant companion in my days.  Right now I cannot get enough of listening to your sweet baby voice and all the new words and expressions you are trying out.  Some of my faves include, "Oh my goodness!" "That is De-Licious!" "What the Heck?!?" "Sorry Mommy" (you are the very best sorry sayer and I am learning from you in this area!).  You love to repeat things that your big bros and sis say too.  You repeat Mikey all day and think he is just the coolest.  You call Thomas "buddy" and it melts my heart.  You also like to burst into song.  Right now "Country Road" by John Denver is your favorite.  You will belt it out in an ever increasingly louder and higher pitch!  One of these days you will become fully potty trained although tonight it seems like it will never happen.

Thomas-
Oh Tommy Boy!  Right now you are crying in your crib.  Go to sleep baby!  Rest your weary eyes!  You are such a role-poly little thing right now.  Over 18 pounds already and in 12 month clothes at 6 months.  Definitely my biggest baby!  You are smiles and giggles and chewing on everything.  You are pulling my hair and grabbing my coffee.  You are rolling around and trying to get to the toy.  I was telling Gil the other day that I feel like you are right on the cusp of starting to move because you are getting frustrated with life.  You want things that you cannot reach and so you will have to start going to get them!  You study things so carefully.  You love my chew toy necklace and your binky that I never thought you would love at first.  You love your brothers and sister and your toes.  You love chewing on celery and I hope start to love eating baby food again soon.

Cora-
Oh Cora Clare!  You are such a girlie girl and I am so happy for it since you are the only one I get!  You love clothes and want to look beautiful (you do!).  I love your style and your personality and your fearlessness.  I love your spirit.  You love everyone openly and without question.  I feel that you are still your authentic self, not trying to impress or be what you feel you are supposed to be.  I love that you want to be a doctor and also an artist and singer and own your own shop.  I love that you are learning to read and always try your best.  I have much to learn from you as well.

Jude-
Oh Judey Moody!  You and I just finished reading the book "Wonder."  This was my first experience reading a book with my own child.  I used to read aloud a ton to my students and reading aloud always made me emotional.  It has proven to be about 100 times more so with my own child (sorry!).  I loved reading that with you.  You are funny and have a great sense of humor.  You laughed at all the right parts.  And you understand kindness and are getting much better at it.  That is something you will always need in life and always need to work at.  I love your love of reading and writing.  I feel that you get that from me (although your dad would probably claim it too!).  You are creative and visionary.  You are a leader.  You are not afraid to feel and express your feelings.  Thanks for being my first and teaching me how to be a mom.

Mikey-
Oh Mikey Boy!  You are so full of energy and spunk!  You finally learned all your letters today and earned that bag of gummy worms I bribed you with LAST SUMMER!  Man, it has been a long, hard road, but you did it.  And you did not give up.  You are smart and witty and think about things in important ways.  I love that you can play by yourself and are doing so much better at playing with others.  I love that you love preschool and are thriving there.  I wasn't so sure at the beginning of the year.  I love that you love to play outside.  Right now when you talk you always put the wrong past tense ending on words (i.e. work-ed, shop-ed, goed, etc.) it is so wrong, but so cute!  I love that you are a great eater, but a messy eater and still end up with a messy face and table after each meal.  I love  our time together in the afternoons.  I love how ticklish you are!  I am so glad God gave me you!

This is a good pic of each of their personalities!