Three n' Thriving!

If you were to ask Daniel how old he is, he'll probably still say he's two.  And he'll smile at you in such a fashion as to say "You're just joking" if you insist that he is three now!

"There's candy inside Mommy!"

Daniel loves to share, so he wasn't the only one to enjoy the sugary insides of this gift!  

 You can tell when a gift is an instant success, there's no pretenses at age 3!

Cupcakes were requested this year, and Daniel really wanted the pink one with the hippo plastic ring on it.  After all, if you're the birthday boy, you can have what you want!

Daniel is such a lot of fun.  His imagination is fantastic, and when he pretends he is someone else (for example, Emily) he will not answer to the name Daniel!  He can be so sweet and gentle with Jennifer, and loves to tell me about the baby growing in my belly.  He must remember the big change when Jennifer came, since he, of all the kids, talks about it the most!  When asked to do something Daniel will usually "I don't want to."  And if you repeat, in a "do this" fashion he'll say again "But I DON'T want to."  After which, he will likely say "No!" and require a fair bit of effort to induce cooperation.

PJs and sibling time

 

Jennifer got very cute pjs delivered.  They were just what she lacked-a set of warm winter pjs, just in time for the cold.  And wouldn't you know it, she looks adorable in white and red!

Book reading is funner in company.

 Nathan refuses to enjoy reading books (but often forgets and is reading/looking at books for a while) and here he is helping Jennifer enjoy her book by being a commentator-speed is of essence if Jennifer is turning pages!  Daniel just likes the company, and the upside down literature.

Nathan and Melanie tried very hard to keep Daniel interested in this puzzle while Matthew quickly added some finishing touched to his homemade birthday gift for Daniel.

Barefoot in October

 Assuming the date stamp on these pics is accurate, these were take on the 22nd of October.  Both Daniel, Melanie and myself are barefoot!

Matthew likes to be sure that I am also photographing his handsome self!  If you were as good looking as him, you would too!

This fall, I only helped cleaning up the last big batch of our leaves, and all the other bags and bags, the kids did themselves!  The ones I did do, about 12, they helped with too.  I'm sure they did at least 12 too, just over a longer span of time, cause the first leaves take their time coming down!  A few of our yard waste bags suffered mild damage due to being worn as scary monster suits, and one old rake gave up the ghost--but I guess we can't have it all. ;)

Science class for the month

 We don't normally bother with formal science lessons, but when this bird died on our doorstep we took it in for further examination.

 It was weighed and measured and examined, and we have come to the conclusion that it is/was an immature Cooper's hawk.

Cause of death was not obvious, and we refrained from performing a biopsy for further clues.  Maybe if we find another dead hawk when the kids are in highschool...

spoiled

Even Matthew helps to keep our most demanding family member (besides Daddy :p) content.  He had to "read" really fast to keep the pages turning for Jennifer.  Good thing he knew it well!

After a year or refusal, Jennifer finally permitted our family friend to hold her.  Even for half an hour!

Happy faces

 of the cutest kids I know!

They are all growing up so fast!

Melanie is 6

 (Or maybe I should say, Melanie has been six for quite some time now...)
 About a month late, here is the much anticipated birthday celebration.

Melanie, although eager to have all her friends, was willing to compromise and have just one, for a sleepover!  (Sleepover, by the way, is a word like homesick, not at all meaning like how it sounds-sleepovers have as little to do with sleep as being homesick has to do with being sick of home.)

6 Years old!

  Melanie's biggest wish was to have a magic wand, and then she'd make a wish that it'd be her birthday every day!

Melanie wanted to do a craft on her birthday, and her favorite kind is one with the "messy paints".

 So we made bouquets out of plastic, and it was a lot of fun to do-I was also very happy to only have one extra person to help out with this craft!

 The boys got right into it too, they didn't mind the idea of a vase of flowers, if they could paint too!

 The finished bouquets looked a little disappointing to the kids-not as flowery as they'd hoped, but still, they're not throwing them out 'til they wilt either!

On her real b-day (the girlfriend over was the day before) we had family over, and she was spoiled absolutely rotten.

 But it's hard to not spoil such a gorgeous helpful girl who is growing up so fast!

(Yes, that is Martine in the background.)

Sun and smiles

 Since it was 15 degrees out today, I thought some old pictures from a warm sunny day will fit in.