Little Boys

My little boys are so much fun right now! I remember having little girls this age - all the dress ups and princess parties. Somehow those little girls are growing in to big kids girls. Now we're enjoying these sweet little boys and all their crazy antics.

Conrad keeps us all on our toes. He's fiercely independent and crazy strong. In the last week he climbed the ladder at the park all by himself....

.... and he opened the step stool, moved it over to counter, climbed up, and started helping himself to a snack.

He LOVES our chickens. Any time he sees them of a picture of a chicken in a book he screams ci-KEE. Always a scream and always with emphasis on the KEE part.

He also LOVES to be outside and is constantly brining me his shoes. If no one will help him with his shoes he helps himself to whatever shoes he finds. If you take off his shoes, he cries.

Here's the look you get when it's time to go inside. 

Conrad loves to play with balls. He has quite the arm on him too!

But hands down his favorite things to play with are Hot-wheels. We have a small loop track that you pull back to reset. He was always recruiting people to reset it for him, but recently he's figured out how to do it all on his own. Last week the kids were invited to a birthday party at Chuck-E-Cheese, and Conrad was in heaven with all the car rides. 

My favorite things about both of these little boys is how they play so hard and tough, but they still have the sweetest most tender hearts. Conrad is an awesome little cuddler. When he wakes up he always wants to cuddle for a bit before he will do anything else. He's also developed a love for that little white bear he's holding. The girls named it Blaire and decided it's a girl so they gave her a bracelet as a collar. Once they wanted their bracelet back Conrad decided he liked it too much and would NOT give it up. Guess who owns the bracelet/collar now? 

Another fun thing Conrad does right now is help himself to fruit when he's hungry. He will open up the fridge, grab a piece of fruit from the drawer, and start chowing down. This boy loves fruit! Actually he just loves to eat!

Conrad started nursery last Sunday. He walked right in, found the cars, and that was that. He didn't even look back or think about being sad. I'm glad he loves nursery because he's WAY too busy to keep in class. 

Then there's our sweet Mr. Orson. Orson, you're kind. You're funny. You're a total goofball. You're an awesome little brother to your sisters and a great big brother to Conrad. You're the best builder guy, superhero, and strong man I've ever met. 

Orson's learning new things each day. I'm shocked all the random information he picks up from homeschool. He knows that Denmark is a county and keeps bugging me to study it. He knows about ocean zones and says his favorite is the midnight zone. He can spell his name, sing his ABCs, and knows many of his letters. He's also learning his style and has decided he loves hats just like daddy!

He's in that three-year-old stage that can be a challenge sometimes, especially when he's tired. During one especially tough week we'd had lots of talks about using our words instead of screaming to get our way. Well one day at lunch Orson starting whining when I told him he couldn't have a PBJ because we were having something else. It was close to nap time and he started carrying on about it. Then all the sudden it was like a lightbulb went off in his head. He calmed down then walked over and sats on the step stool with his arms politely folded near the peanut butter. I thought this was his silent protest so I didn't give him much attention. But after almost 10 minutes I asked him what he was doing. He said, "I'm being nice and using my words because I really want a PBJ please." How can you not reward such an honest and sincere effort to be better and do better? In the end, what started as a three-year-old tantrum turned in to an incredible reminder to me that we should be more humble, more teachable, and more willing to do better. Thanks Orson!

Orson loves to build things! He has his own play tools and will carry them around "fixing" things and playing "builder guy." Over spring break we installed a new laminate floor, and Orson loved helping us! 

He's also been learning to ride his bike. I was impressed when he kept up with the girls for a bike ride around the neighborhood. Obviously he still has training wheels, but he peddles and directs all on his own.

Overall I consider Orson a pretty calm boy, but he sure has a silly side sometimes! He loves to make up funny words and silly faces. He will run and jump around you like a silly monkey. My absolute favorite thing Orson does right now is give giant hugs while saying "I could squeeze you forever!" in the silly voice from the Trolls movie. Sometimes he's silly when he does it, but more often he's sincere and it melts my heart every time.

We may have a sleep walker on our hands with Mr. O. One night we'd put Orson to sleep on the floor in our room because Conrad was having a hard time falling asleep. Several hours later Michael went to move him to bed but couldn't find him! He wasn't on the floor, in his bed, our bed, or anywhere. We were starting to panic a bit when I looked in our closet and found him like this...

I love these little boys to bits. I wouldn't trade them, messes and all, for anything!

Winter, sort of

Winter has been odd this year. We've had lots a grey days, lots of rain, and cool weather, but very little snow. We've had a dusting about 3 times - that's it. It's hard to play outside in the winter when it's just wet, muddy, and cold but there's no fun snow to play in. We're all getting a little stir crazy and ready for spring. Still we've had lots of fun. 

Orson started Sunbeams this year! He loves going to Primary and carrying his little scripture bag. Normally when you ask him what he learned he replies, "Um, Jesus!" But today he ran up waving his picture and telling me, "The girl was sick and then Jesus made her bedder." 

Cute boys ready for church! 

Orson has reached the dress up stage, so we've had lots of fun dressing up! I love that all of my kids love to dress up and imagine. Orson's current favorites are pirates, builder guys, and Batman. One day we made Knight shields because Orson wanted to be like Mike the Knight. Even Haley gets roped in to the dress up fun sometimes.

That face says it all!

I made his knight shield from cardboard the the helmet from a milk carton. It turned out pretty amazing I think!

When we can't get out to exercise, the kids like to do a kid's yoga on YouTube. Orson sometimes joins me too!

We have had quite a few nice days mixed in here and there. The older girls have been having me design obstacle course for them at the playground. They like me to time them and try and beat their own times.

We've had some general silliness...

Completely off topic, but these boys are SO cute in overalls...

The girls and I have kept our monthly hiking tradition going for the most part. We caught a beautiful day for a hike in January. There was SO much mud though.

That day the boys stayed home with Michael and he got this adorable shot of them in the backyard. I can't handle how cute they are sometimes! When they're not terrorizing the house that is.

Around Valentine's Day the girls made this heart themed fun house in the basement. It was cute and the "photo booth" part was a big hit. 

Somehow I'm the only one that wore the silly clothes for the picture. 

We finished up our Astronomy unit for science so we went to the Planetarium. We also started a hydroponic garden for Hazel's science fair project. Sadly shortly after this picture they all died so we had to scrap that idea and try something else.

One cold day Conrad wanted to go outside. He brought me his coat and then rushed to the door. He was mad I wouldn't let him go out like this...

We've had a few bumps and bruises. Poor Lenora was all wound up one night when the missionaries came for dinner. She was running full speed down the hall and jumping on to a bean bag. One time she got too close to the wall though and smacked her face on the wall. She had a huge bruise for a few weeks. Shortly after that Conrad fell on our driveway and scraped up his face.

One day for school we made salt water taffy which actually turned out pretty good. The kids loved pulling it. The faces Lenora made while she was pulling it were priceless!

Of course, we've spent a lot of time at the library and reading. Even Conrad is learning to love books! On one of our trips, Orson was adamant about wearing shin guards and these science goggles. Whatever floats your boat kid.

Friday night our ward had a fun activity where people were supposed to share a hobby or talent. Michael made an instructional video about smoking pork and brought some samples. Eliza decided she needed to bring her chicken! Who knew chickens went to church?

Just a few more random pictures. Orson may look exactly like Michael, but he did inherit my dimple! 

 

Since we've given up hoping for a real snow we're just ready for spring. And I think it's close. Already we've seen some daffodils blooming and the grass is starting to green up (though let's be honest, Kentucky has pretty green grass all year round. That's something we love here.) I guess our snow dreams will have to wait until next year...