Merry Christmas!

Can you believe it? We're all looking at the camera! Actually there were multiple pictures where all of us were looking and I had to select this one based on facial expressions. 

We had a wonderful Christmas. We spent a few days in Iowa over the weekend and enjoyed time with Grandpa Don and Grandma Sue and our Iowa cousins, aunts and uncles and great-grandparents. With the new snow Iowa got last week, we were able to get in some pretty good sledding and had a great time. Sam preferred to slide down the hill on his tummy, head-first, and did not try a sled. Matthew got all dressed up, then played in the snow for a few minutes before going inside. Abby, of course, stayed inside as she refuses to wear a hat without extreme fussing. But Jason and I had a great time and with cousin Blakely, we were the last ones outside sledding. Matthew and Sam have both asked at least five times when we are going back to Iowa again. 

Our Christmas festivities then continued yesterday with Christmas Eve at Grammy and Papa's church (Abby didn't cry all through Silent Night this year...Jason had already taken her out!) and some yummy goodies at Grammy and Papa's with Uncle Brian and Aunt Stephanie and our cousins. Christmas morning brought stockings full of socks, toothbrushes, toothpaste, stickers and some candy, more gifts, cinnamon rolls and lots of playing. After Abby's nap, we went back to Grammy and Papa's to open more gifts and enjoy a spaghetti Christmas meal. The kids got lots of great gifts and they bounce from one toy to another and none seem to have arisen as a particular favorite, although some toys get taken to bed. 

We are exceedingly blessed to have such wonderful family and that we get to spend so much time with them, especially around the holiday. We have been given so much, here on earth and eternally, more than we ever deserve. Merry Christmas!

Matthew 1:21And she will bear a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for it is He who will save His people from their sins.

Havin' fun

This is what the kids do for fun in Iowa when confined to the indoors. 

Sick

Well, I had meant to write something about all the snow we got last week, but never got around to it, so now we're on to the next topic. Stomach flu. Yuck. Jason got it on Saturday. Abby got it on Sunday. Sam got it tonight. We'll see Matthew ends up. I got a stomach bug a few weeks ago so I hope I already got it and am immune, although I'm still washing my hands raw and rubbing down door knobs, chairs, faucets, light switch plates, toilets, etc. etc. etc. Poor Abby ended up getting three baths in 24 hours and two change of sheets. Sam ended up getting two sponge baths tonight and one change of sheets (so far). I ended up ...wait...I need to change my last sentence. Sam ended up getting two sponge baths and one regular bath tonight (the regular bath was 10 minutes ago...9:25PM), he's gotten three pillows dirty (they're waiting in line in the laundry room) and two lovies (BaaBaa...he's on his second wash cycle now...and a plush dog).

Sam, while he's extremely pale, is handling his sickness quite well. Not that he's bouncing around, but he's not crying despite his tummy troubles. Abby got pretty scared when her tummy was yucky and cried a lot. She's still quite cuddly and suffering some ill effects, but she's much better than she was yesterday. She doesn't seem to have much of an appetite and only wants to eat cheese and drink water. Cheese? Yes, cheese. Her favorite food.

I don't think we'll be going out much this week. The Y is out until the kids are healthy for at least 24 hours. While I stay home while the kids are really sick, if they're in recovery mode and up for a little outing our usual destination is Har Mar Mall and the pet store.  It's really not very busy (just don't go on the weekend), so the kids aren't going to spread their germs around much and it's something that can cheer up a sick kid. Sam I'm sure will want to watch TV all day tomorrow and I think he sometimes looks forward to being sick for that reason. Matthew will enjoy that for awhile before he gets bored.

Anyway, that's all I have for now. It's that time of year.

Sam's acting debut

So here's the backstory. Jason has to give a presentation on "hyperbolic discounting" which has something to do with delayed gratification in the economic sense. So he thought it would be fun to have a video clip at the beginning of his presentation in which Sam is the main actor. He thought it would be fun to play off the famous psychological marshmallow experiment of the 60s (I believe it was the 60s) where kids are given one marshmallow and told that if they wait a few minutes without eating the marshmallow, they will be given another one. There's a video of the experiment on YouTube which is very cute. Apparently, the study was longitudinal and so the kids who had the ability to wait (delaying gratification for greater reward) turned out to be more successful down the road. 

Anyway, the plan was that Jason was going to present Sam with the scenario of one marshmallow, and told that he could earn another one if he waited a few minutes and Sam is supposed to say, instead of playing into the experiment, "Dad, is this about hyperbolic discounting, again?" Sam was coached and coached and coached and practiced practiced practiced his line. And this is the result. 

Cold days

What do we do these days? Well, the boys tend to find all sorts of things to climb on and jump off. Including Matthew's chest of drawers. Did I already write about that? They can be pretty naughty sometimes, although they haven't yet figured out yet (at least Matthew hasn't) that unless you want to get caught, you need to be quiet. So, the seriously loud thuds coming from Matthew's room was a clear indicator of illegal activities. That jumping has ended, but they've found other things to jump off. And then they run around in circles. Sometimes they hold onto a scarf or a measuring tape and run around after each other and sometimes they just run around. And around and around. I'm pretty sure I wrote about this last winter and now here it is almost winter and we are at it again.

We also do a lot more crafts, puzzles and painting/coloring. Almost every day Sam wants to do a craft and I usually only have one per week. Now we're not talking elaborate craft stuff, this week I bought a Christmas necklace kit from the fabric store's $1 section and that was it. Sam loved it, Matthew started his necklace then took it apart and Sam finished his too. And he's been wearing it around including to the Y this morning where he proudly showed it off. What a cute little guy. So here's the puzzle making activities. Sam is getting pretty good at putting together 75-100 piece puzzles although he usually needs a little help getting started. Matthew's mastered 12 piece puzzles and is working toward 24 piece right now. They often sit right next to each other and put together their separate puzzles and Sam often lends a helping hand to Matthew which Matthew really appreciates and I do too.

What does Abby do these days? She busies herself saying lots of new words (lately she's added "cheese", "dessert" and "no" to her repertoire), following the boys around and grabbing their toys and hurrying away in that cute little toddler pre-running state. She makes the most of opportunities when I'm on the floor as she loves to sit with me when the option presents itself and she also likes to horseplay if I'm lying down and she will come and belly flop on me. We all generally have a good time together despite our extended time indoors. Of course, the kids fight some and I get a little crazy too every once in awhile, but we're making it. We'll see how it's going in February, but the cold season is off to a positive (and late, thankfully) start. Now, I know this picture doesn't have anything to do with this post, but it's post-worthy, so here is Abby, post-nap.

Scary caterpillar

Yesterday the kids and Grandma Sue and I went to the Java Train Cafe, a coffee shop/cafe with a small caboose inside of it. The caboose has two levels and some toys inside, so the cafe is a fun place to go since the adults enjoy food and beverages and the kids can play. Anyway, the kids were playing a bit in the caboose when Matthew came over to our table, shaken and shaking. He started talking about being very scared or seeing something scary in the caboose. I had no idea what he was talking about. Then he started saying he saw a caterpillar in the caboose that was trying to lick him. I'm not kidding. I couldn't come up with this on my own. Poor Matthew, the little guy was terrified of a supposed human eating caterpillar. I told him that caterpillars don't eat people, they eat leaves, but that didn't calm his fears and he refused to go back into the caboose.

For the rest of the day, Matthew periodically mentioned the scary caterpillar and asked if it was still there or if it would be there when we went back to the caboose. I told him that I would be sure to check out the caboose when we come again to see if the caterpillar was gone or still there. So I will. The kid really has an active imagination these days and I haven't a clue as to what he really saw, but we clearly know what he thought he saw: a man-eating caterpillar. Scary stuff for a two-year old.

Samisms

Sam: (To me one morning at breakfast): "Mommy, if you got up earlier you'd get to say good-bye to Daddy." Jason usually takes the boys down and gets the breakfast started before he leaves for work, then I come when Abby wakes up and finish up breakfast with them.

Jason (trying to leave for work): "Now where did I put my keys?"
Sam: "Daddy, you should hang them on the hook." That's my boy!

Sam: (After we got done cleaning the main level of the house) "Wow, Mommy, we should keep the house this clean all the time!" Later in the day after the boys had left their mark on the space, I commented to Sam that I thought he wanted to keep the house all clean. After looking around the main level and finding a small space that was not scattered with toys, he replied, "I meant over there". Ahh, I see.

Thanksgiving

These pictures are a couple of weeks old, but I had to get something up so you weren't all looking at Jason at 72 anymore. I really can't hardly bear to see him that way either, so here's an Abby's having a crazy hair day picture.

And here's a picture of Matthew engrossed in his blocks. He was building towers and knocking them down (if he could knock them down before Abby, the destroyer, knocked them down. When she destroys towers she doesn't leave a single block unturned...)

Matthew doesn't wear pants after lunch. Those are his own words, "I don't wear pants after lunch" so that's why he is sans pants.

And Sam was into loading the dump truck with blocks and dumping them out.

On another note, we had a happy Thanksgiving with our family in Iowa. Abby really came out of her shell and allowed herself to be held by numerous cousins and aunts and uncles, some of whom she had never met before. My family was wondering what happened to the little one who cried the moment someone other than myself looked at her or tried to hold her. She saved all her wrath for Uncle David. For some reason, she decided early on that he was no good and cried when he came too close to her or she went "frozen" when he came into the room where she was. She would just become completely still as if she was trying to blend into her surroundings so as to not be seen. It was so silly. I've never seen her like that before. But other than her dislike of Uncle David, she was quite pleasant and cuddly toward everyone. The boys were themselves, sometimes quiet and reserved (when we were around unfamiliar family), and other times (ok, most of the time) loud and rambunctious.

Jason spent some time working on his home protection skills while I spent some time enjoying good food and good company. We had a wonderful holiday and certainly have a lot to be thankful for.

Jason at 72

I was mistaken. Jason said I could post his age-progressed photo of him at age 72. He was given a series of photos aging him from his current age until 72 and he, well, looks, um, I don't know how to say this but wow, he starts looking pretty old pretty early. But for your viewing enjoyment, here he is at 72.

Non-naps

The boys didn't have the best day today and this face shows how Jason felt at the end of the day. Actually, Jason had me take this picture a few weeks ago as he had it "aged" to 72 (he didn't want to post that picture for some reason) for a work project. Yeah, for work.

Anyway, after a less than ideal breakfast and morning routine, I was a little unsure of how church would go. However, it went surprisingly well. Matthew didn't hardly make a peep, and he colored and looked at books by himself the whole time. Sam was also very good, coloring and playing with cars. After church we went to a playground to enjoy the warm weather (mid-50s), then home for lunch and naptime. Ah, naptime. Well, naps didn't really happen. Ever since Matthew has been freed from his crib, he often will not take a nap. Before Matthew's emancipation, Sam took a nap most days, missing a nap once or twice a week. But now with the new freedom, the boys prefer to spend their nap time together and they will go to each other's room and read each other books, play with toys, or otherwise run around inside their rooms. Jason and I try to deal with their non-nap activities (as at least Matthew still really needs a nap) in various ways but we have yet to figure out what really works. I sometimes take sentinel duty and sit in the hallway between their doors and while that works, it also means I have to remain on watch and can't do anything else. Like clean up the kitchen or the "accident" Matthew had before naptime. Fortunately, Abby is napping well and naps through the boys' antics. Who would have thought that the time would come when Abby would be the easiest? For now that's the case, although that can easily change and probably will. Each child has his or her time in the spotlight.

So after the boys' non-nap, they were exhibiting symptoms related to non-naps. Like irritability, anger, lack of patience, volatility, etc. While some more outside playtime in the afternoon was positively received by the boys, afterward they resumed their previous non-nap demeanor and it was a rather unpleasant evening. After an interesting dinner, we undertook haircuts and had an early bedtime. And now (8:29PM) Jason is almost asleep on the couch.

Entertainment

A few days ago I had a 4 or 5 yard piece of yarn that I wound up into a little ball. There were a few inches of yarn hanging out of the ball and Sam came across it and was inspired. His first inspiration was that the ball was a wrecking ball, so he took it around bumping it into various things. It's really quite light so there wasn't much wrecking going on. However, what happens when you pull on yarn from a yarn ball is that the yarn unwinds, so after all his wrecking, Sam ended up with a long piece of yarn. This then spurred another thought. Fishing. So Sam and Matthew took turns with the yarn, one would hold onto one end as the fisherman, the other would grab the other end as the caught fish and they would run around the main level in this arrangement. After they bored of that, Sam's next thought about what to do with the yarn went back to the crane. But this time, Sam draped the yarn over the side of the arm of the couch, then he'd attach some kind of load (a toy train or car) and use his crane to lift it up to and over the side of the couch.

Then when the boys tired of the yarn, it was Abby's turn. She picked up the yarn and draped it over her shoulders again and again like a scarf and walked around like a beautiful princess. Everything seems to be for her adornment these days. That kept her occupied for a good 15 minutes or so. Anyway, that was our cheap entertainment lately. So with a nice stretch of yarn I got at least a good hour of entertainment for the boys and some fun for Abby. Now that it's getting colder and we can't play outside much, we'll take whatever form of entertainment we can get, including a scrap of yarn.

Progress

After posting about Matthew's difficulties lately, I thought I'd better write about some of the progress the kids are making these days. Last night I made tater tot casserole for dinner and I thought it would be a good time to have Sam help in the kitchen. He loves to help me out and I admit that I don't give him the opportunity very often. I was feeling especially ambitious a few weeks ago and decided to let Sam try to crack an egg (he had been wanting to do it for awhile) and it actually went pretty well. I let him softly tap the egg and make a crack, then I opened the egg. He tried opening an egg once and got a little dirty, so he was not too anxious to try it again. Matthew also wanted to crack an egg, but he didn't quite understand that you tap gently (so he pretty much just crushed the egg on the counter) thus we ended up with a lot of egg running down the cabinets and on the floor. I knew that was a possibility going into our egg-cracking so I wasn't disappointed or upset. Hey, I let a two- and four-year old crack eggs. What do you expect? They enjoyed it and learned a bit too and we cleaned up the mess and moved on.

So back to tater tots. I remember putting the tater tots on the casserole when I was growing up, so I passed on the torch to Sam. He was excited to help and did a great job.

The picture below is what the kitchen counter looked like after breakfast this morning. The kids have been working on clearing their dishes after they're done eating and while I have to ask them to do so, they are making great progress. Sam is very brave and stacks up all his dishes and carries them at once, while Matthew takes his one by one. Either way, they are growing up! What good little boys!

Independent and opinionated

Those of you who know the kids well will know from the title that today's post is about Matthew. So today I was telling Matthew that he was an independent little boy. He replied, "I'm not d..d..dent! I'm pokey little Matthew!" This was when he was trying to put on his own shoes (which he now does quite well). While that is a good display of Matthew's independence, he has had other displays which haven't been so good. Take church yesterday, for example. Why does it seem that many of the challenges we have with the kids are at church? Well, I guess the most public of our challenges occur at church. Just when we think we're being such good parents, we go to church, and despite not being able to pay attention to the sermon, we leave church more aware of our own weaknesses (and our own sinfulness) as our children likely just put on a display of bad behavior which of course reflects directly on the parents.

Anyway, back to the story. Matthew hasn't been sleeping well as I thought it would be a good idea to convert his crib to a toddler bed. He hasn't been climbing out of his crib, but the doctor said he should probably be out of a crib by now, so we converted it to a toddler bed that he can get in and out of by himself. So he was pretty tired on Sunday despite the "extra" hour of sleep which used to be so fun, but now it just means that your kids will be getting up at 5 or 6 rather than 6 or 7AM. So we went to church with a crabby Matthew. The morning started by getting the boys some busy bags with toys and books. We got to our pew and sat down and Matthew was quite pleased to find a car/truck book in his bag. Church started and (ok, actually church had already started when we walked in, let's be honest) Matthew read his book then put it down. At that point, Sam grabbed it and started looking at it. Then Matthew started screaming "I want my book! I want the book! Ah ah ah ahhhhhhh!" It was very loud. And very embarrassing. I was fortunate enough to be taking care of Sam, while Jason was "managing" Matthew so he had to take the brunt of the screaming and squirming Matthew.  We quickly got the book back and gave it to Matthew, then it was calm for a few minutes.

So then it was time for the children's message. Sam got up and said he wanted Matthew to come with. After Matthew's poor behavior at the children's message in the past, he hasn't been going up lately, but I thought Sam would erupt if Matthew didn't come, so I grabbed Matthew's hand and told him to come up to the children's message. Then he erupted, "I don't want to go! I don't want to go! Ahh ahhh ahhhhh ahhhhhhh!!!" Seriously, I grabbed Sam's had and quickly moved away from the volcanic child and heard him screaming all the way as we walked up to the front from the second to last pew we were sitting in. People were turning around and laughing or glaring. I can laugh about it now, but wow, it was loud and embarrassing. We made it through the rest of church without much difficulty, but the damage had been done and we walked out humiliated.

Let's talk about some more Matthew-induced humiliation. On Saturday I decided to do swim lessons with both Sam and Matthew. Sam is in one class and Matthew in a different class which is a parent-child class. So I got in the water with Matthew and he was a tyrant. He sobbed, screamed and refused to get in the water without extreme fuss. We were right in front of the bleachers filled with happy parents watching their happy children in swimming lessons and I was fighting with my very unhappy child. Ugh. Now, we have gone swimming before. And Matthew likes it. He jumps in (trying not to get his head wet), but has a good time. Not in swim lessons, though. It was terrible. I don't know if we'll go back.

I could go on and on about how Matthew is exerting his independence with his new toddler bed, but I will save that for another time. Now I know that independence and strong convictions will help Matthew out down the road, but it sure can be tough at times! That's our pokey little Matthew.

Abby's check up

Abby had her one-year check up yesterday and Matthew had his 2.5 year check up. The poor little sweet pea had to get 3 shots and have a blood sample taken so she had quite a rough appointment at the end. Otherwise she was cheerful and didn't cry at all. Matthew made quite a turn around from his two-year appointment and he also didn't cry at all. He wasn't too cooperative at times, but he didn't fuss and actually talked to the doctor and looked at her some. Anyway, here are their stats.

Abby's one year stats:
weight: 19 lbs., 25th percentile
height: 29.5 in., 60th percentile

I can't find Sam's one year stats, but Matthew's one year stats were:
Weight: 25 lb, 75th percentile
Height: 32 in., 93rd percentile

I looked back at the boys' stats and Matthew was 19.5 lbs at 6 months. Wow. I'm sure Sam was a little bigger than Abby at 1 year, but smaller than Matthew.

Matthew's stats from 2.5 years are:
Weight: 34 lbs, 90th percentile
Height: 37.5 in, 90th percentile

Apparently if you multiply your child's height at age 2.5 by 2, that is supposed to be a close approximation of their adult height, so Matthew is on track to be 6'3". Whatever he ends up being, he and Abby are growing like crazy and we are blessed to have healthy and happy children!

Halloween fun!

Tonight we got the kids dressed up for some trick-or-treating fun. The boys decided to be farmers. Sam has wanted to be a farmer for a few weeks and Matthew decided on Tuesday that he wanted to be a farmer. Prior to that, he wanted to be a farmer or a green walrus. Glad he went with farmer. Abby was a Care Bear as we got a cute Care Bear costume as a hand-me-down from our Kirchhoff cousins. The attempts to get them all looking at the camera at the same time was of course unsuccessful (for those wondering why you haven't seen any pictures with the five of us...well, we can't get the kids even looking at the camera at the same time, and certainly not smiling, and given Matthew's aversion to strangers like a photographer, well, it would be an exercise in futility and just cause unneeded stress. So there won't likely be any family pics for awhile.) but at least we got them all in the same picture facing forward. So here are our little trick-or-treaters.

Sam was holding Abby back as she likes to be on the move and Matthew was trying to rake the concrete. Our little farmers looked an awful lot like hunters, but often they're one and the same, so I really don't see a problem with that. About the mini rakes, they got them from a neighbor on Monday so decided to use them as farmer props. Here's a couple of other pictures.

While Matthew was in a good mood in the pictures, he wasn't in much of a good mood when we were trick-or-treating. Rather, he looked down and didn't want to talk to our friendly neighbors and even he faced the street rather than the door of a house we were visiting. He was even a little shy when we went to Ken and Cheri's house. After a few houses I decided it was time for Matthew to be done trick-or-treating and he happily went home and then was himself. Abby went to a few of our closest neighbors then she was ready for bed. Sam and I then trekked down the rest of the street and he was very polite and enjoyed himself and got a pile of candy. Most of the neighbors noticed Matthew's absence and gave Sam extra candy to share with him. We had a good time and now we have a bunch of candy to enjoy! Happy Halloween!

Almost Halloween

Today we went shopping for our Halloween costumes. Now, Jason and I are not anti-Halloween, but we just don't get into it that much, plus we're just too tired to "get into" much of anything these days. While our tiredness has definitely improved as the kids have gotten older, there is a lot going on at our house with our little ones running around. Anyway, so this year, same as last year, we got our Halloween stuff put together the day before Halloween. Sam wore his outfit some after our shopping trip and was quite proud of himself and Matthew reluctantly tried his on, but wanted it immediately removed. He didn't shed any tears, though, so maybe he will not have a hard a time with wearing a costume this year as he did last year. Abby didn't get her costume on yet, but I have a feeling it may not go well. She likely won't wear the hood portion of her costume without much fussing, so she probably wont' wear it or will be crying in pictures with it on. We can always hope for the best. Come back tomorrow for some pictures of the kids all dressed up.

I am smiling

The other day I took out the camera to take some pictures of the kids. Sam especially wanted his picture taken and I said, "Ok, Sam, smile for the camera!" To which he replied, "I am smiling" and this is the face he was making.

So this is the phase we are in for Sam's smiling. We are no longer in the mouth-wide-open phase, we have matured to this.

Later in the day I was taking pictures of the kids on the stairs and here are a couple of keepers.

Happy Birthday Abby!

So our baby turned 1 on Friday. I guess she's not a baby anymore, but she is certainly "our baby" and will likely remain so for the rest of her life. We celebrated by having mac and cheese for lunch and opening some presents after dinner. Then today we had Jason's family over for a party (we celebrated with the Iowa clan in September). Despite having a cold, Abby had a pretty good time at her party. She wasn't quite sure what to make of singing "Happy Birthday" and blowing out her candle, but she did enjoy her cupcake in a very clean sort of way. She daintily would scrape off some frosting and eat it, then go for some more, then pick off a small piece of cake and eat it and so on.

After awhile Abby started running her fingers through her hair, but other than that she was very clean. Sorry, no face smeared with purple frosting pictures.

When we opened presents Sam was very eager to help her, so were Matthew and the cousins. It was like bees to honey when she started opening her gifts.

She got some toys, books and clothes and the big winners for her were the clothes. While she paid some attention to the toys, she loved the clothes. After she finished opening her gifts, she would pick up her clothes and wrap them around her neck or hug them. What a little girl. It worked out pretty well because the boys wanted to play with her toys, and she wanted to play with the clothes, so there wasn't any fighting (other than the boy fighting over Abby's toys...).

Anyway, we've been blessed with one year with Abby and what a year it has been!

Eating breakfast

Just took a few photos of Abby at breakfast this morning as I haven't taken many of her lately.

She's almost 1! What a cutie!

Sleeping

All the kids are sleeping now. All of them. It is very quiet. As much as I enjoy the kids, I still relish the quiet when they're sleeping. Abby went to bed around 7, and she chatted to herself for about 15 minutes before nodding off (I assume, since she's been quiet for the rest of the evening). The boys and I got ready for bed about 7:30 and calmly read stories in Sam's bed for awhile. Usually group storytime isn't so calm as the boys have a hard time sitting still for any length of time when they are together and prefer to run around, jump and touch each other. While they will sit still for indeterminate periods of time when I'm reading stories to them each alone, together is another story. I started using towels for storytime before naps (and bedtime when Jason's gone) so they each get a towel and have to sit on their towel (which I space a few feet apart from each other) while I read stories. It works pretty well (those preschool teachers know what they're doing) and has done much to alleviate the storytime craziness. So we read stories, prayed and sang our night night songs then the boys went to bed.

And I went to the master bedroom to do some work on the computer. Then Matthew started "Momomomomom!" He wanted to tell me that he wanted to go to the zoo. And the children's museum. And back to the zoo. And he asked if there are kangaroos at the zoo. And he kept throwing out random statements and questions until I finally told him to go to bed and left his room. So back to the master bedroom to work on the computer. Then Sam came in and said BaaBaa want to give me hugs and kisses. So he did, and then Sam told me that BaaBaa wanted to stay with me and Sam kept talking about something or another. I told him to go to bed and he kept talking. I just have a hard time getting the kids to bed when they just keep talking. Anyway, he finally left (and left BaaBaa with me with the instructions to bring him into Sam's room after 3 minutes) and I got back to work.

So after a few more interruptions, the kids finally fell asleep. Every night before Jason and I go to bed we sneak into Sam's room and shut off his lamp and I enjoy so much seeing him sleeping. He has all sorts of various positions for sleep, although his favorite seems to be on his back. It's not that I'm grateful he's finally asleep, there's just a surge of love and endearment that I feel when I look at him sleeping so peacefully. Matthew has started sleeping with the door to his room open, so I usually sneak into his room to peek at him too. The kids are just so cute when they're asleep. Matthew sleeps in various positions too, usually covered by or sleeping on top of books. I don't usually get to see Abby before bed as she sleeps with her door closed and I don't want o disturb the little princess. But I get to see her sleeping when I get her up sometimes when one of her naps is going too long. She seems to favor sleeping on her tummy with her legs tucked under her and butt up in the air. I remember the boys sleeping like that sometimes too.

Anyway, the kids are all sleeping and all is quiet.

Raking

Sam needed to redeem himself after the last pictures I posted of him, so here is a great one of my little four-year old sitting in a pile of pine needles after we had raked them up. Yep, that one's going in a frame. Anyway, about raking, Jason and the boys were outside raking when it came time to load up all the needles on a tarp to drag into the garage until their final destination-the dump. Jason pulled out the tarp and flattened it out, then the boys started throwing it by the arm-fulls onto the tarp. After a minutes or so of that, Jason got the idea that using wagons might be helpful for the boys so they both got a wagon and started loading it up with needles, pulling it over to the tarp and dumping it out.

Here's Sam and his wagon (with Abby helping???).

And then he finished off his load with a big effort-filled heave.

Matthew had a wagon that we got from Grandma Sue and he was making the most of it.

On a different note, today after church I brought Abby home for her nap while Jason stayed at the church with the boys so they could go to Sunday School. Anyway, it was around 10AM, which is normally Abby's nap time, so I took her upstairs, read a few books and put her down for her nap. I then went downstairs to clean up, look at the paper, and relax in my quiet and almost empty home. However, Abby did not want to go to sleep. I could hear her chatting over the monitor and she talked and talked and talked. She wasn't fussing, so I just let her go at it and she continued chatting for at least 30 minutes. I wondered if she was ever going to nap. Finally, it was all quiet. Then the Kirchhoff men got home.

So when noon came around I decided it was time to get Abby up in the hopes that we'd have some overlapping nap time in the afternoon.  If she sleeps beyond that, she generally won't take an afternoon nap and although that gives me a lot of quality time with her, mentally, I really need a break in the afternoon. As I was making lunch, Jason ran upstairs to get Abby. Moments later, he came down and said I had to come upstairs and see something. We gingerly entered Abby's room and saw her sitting, but leaning forward with her head propped up against the slats of the crib, sound asleep. After all her chatting, she had apparently fallen asleep sitting up. When Jason got her out of her crib she had a good sized crease on her forehead. At least she got a nap in.

I'm like you, Mommy!

Today after I put Abby down for her nap the boys and I were upstairs in the master bedroom as I was trying to get ready for the day. Sam first got out my tote of wrapping paper and gift bags and picked one out for cousin Josh while Matthew was playing on the bed, and then playing with curling ribbon. He was fully engrossed in the curling ribbon and left quite a mess of it in the bedroom, but at least I was able to get ready without interruption (yeah, in like 5 minutes).

And then there was an interruption. Sam called out to me, "Mommy, I'm like you." I was in the bathroom so I came out and there was Sam, without a shirt, but wearing my eye mask (which I use when I try to take a nap in our very bright bedroom) around his chest. Here's a look and there's Matthew enjoying the curling ribbon.

Big blue ball

Today the boys were outside playing with their two big blue bouncy balls. They were both straddling their balls and bouncing on them when Matthew's basically split into three pieces and he fell to the ground. He was unhurt and just a little surprised and nonchalantly got up and went about playing with other things. Sam, however, was devastated by the loss and threw his head back and cried about the broken ball. He repeatedly asked me if we could get another to replace it. After a few minutes of mourning, the boys picked up the pieces of broken ball (two of which were very large), covered their heads with them and began running around and chasing each other. Abby even discovered how much fun the broken rubber ball pieces were and exerted herself in trying to get one (i.e. she cried very loudly...see the picture below).

Later in the afternoon Matthew was preoccupied with his snack and Sam was playing with the remaining inflated ball. He looked so cute and "senior-photo-like" that I grabbed the camera and took his picture playing on the ball. Then I asked him to make funny faces and he offered me his sad face.

Then it was Matthew's turn for the ball. Sam was ok giving up the ball for Matthew to take pictures with, so he handed it over and Matthew began bouncing on it.

My last great idea was to have both the boys sit on the ball together (hoping it wouldn't break like the other one), with their backs together and faces toward me. Wouldn't that be cute? So I told Matthew I wanted him to make room for Sam to sit on the ball too. Well, that didn't work so well. Matthew picked up the ball, hugged it and ran around the yard screaming, "No, it's my turn!" He basically threw quite a loud fit and didn't stop until I told him that I thought I saw the neighbors staring out their windows at him, wondering at the noise. Matthew and Sam both really like the neighbors, so that stopped his crying, but he was certainly in no mood for sitting on the ball with Sam for a picture. Maybe another time.

Check up

Sam had his 4-year check up yesterday. The morning started off with him saying that he wasn't going to go. Then when it was time to go, Sam went into hiding. I got Abby and Matthew in the car and found him upstairs. He was not happy about the prospect of getting shots. He was quite distraught and crying on and off during the morning and on the way to the doctor's office. I had visions of him screaming, "I hate the shots! I hate the shots!" when it was time for his shots as I had heard a kid screaming that in another exam room on a different check up. However, once we got to the office, he calmed down mostly and was just quiet and anxious (chewing his fingernails/hands). He said he had to go poopy when we got there so I started off with him toward the bathroom and was stopped by the nurse who said he needed to give a "sample" so she gave me a little cup. Since Sam claimed he had to go poopy he sat on the toilet and I held the cup for him. I made the mistake of standing in front of him as he was a little overzealous in "aiming" into the cup and instead, sprayed me on my bright green shirt a few times. At least it didn't get in my face. But I had two very distinct lines of liquid across my shirt. And I mean lines, not drops. Fortunately, I was also wearing a white cardigan (one without buttons, unfortunately), but I was able to hold it across my shirt for awhile until the pee dried.

Sam has excellent vision and hearing, is growing like he should and seems to be doing pretty well for a 4 year old. When it was time for the shots, Sam got a little teary and his lower lipped quivered, but he "took it like a man" and afterward he said he was very brave and didn't even cry. He did have to take off his bandaids soon after the appointment as he associates "shots" and "pain" with the bandaid and not necessarily with the puncture from the shot. Someday he'll figure it out, but for now, taking off the bandaid produces a nice placebo effect.

Here are his stats:

Height: 41 1/2 in., 75th percentile
Weight: 35 3/4 lb., 50th percentile

The kids have been bathing together lately (I know we will get ridiculed for this by the children when they are older) and this is what they look like. Aren't they cute? And they are all looking at the camera! Wow.

And here is  our four year old with his new bike. He was shocked when he saw it and didn't really respond immediately. I wonder if he even thought it was his bike because it is so much bigger than his old bike. But he can ride it and he looks like such a big boy on it!

Sam got another Cars cake this year. He continues to be enamored by Cars. Although we don't own the movies and he's only seen Cars maybe two or three times (and Cars 2, once, unfortunately), he just loves Cars.

Although Matthew handled Sam's birthday pretty well for a two year old, he also had some unhappy moments. However, today when we got back from a quick trip to Iowa Sam was preoccupied with his new toys so Matthew got all the other toys to himself which he seemed happy about. 

Sam is 4!

Sam told me he didn't have to stand as tall to see himself in the mirror when we were in the bathroom yesterday. So, wow, our little boy is 4 years old (yesterday). And while he makes me want to pull my hair out sometimes, he can also be a sweet, polite, helpful little boy. So about the sweet and helpful part, sometimes he helps Matthew take his shoes off. He puts away his own clothes, helps make the bed, puts away some of the dishes, clears the table, is an excellent toy picker-upper (especially when motivated to do so before watching a cartoon)...and on and on and on!  He is also pretty organized as he was telling me on Thursday his plans for his birthday. He was going to get up, turn off his fan, change his clothes, have breakfast, play a little bit, go to the Y and tell everyone it's his birthday, come home, have snack, play, watch tv, have lunch, nap, then birthday! Yes, he really went over that entire list with Jason and I. Anyway, here is Sam.

September 21, 2008

 December 2008. Sam's love of everything TV began at an early age

March 2009

July 2009. His habit of chewing/sucking on a finger started at an early age (and continues today)

Christmas 2009

April 2010. Big brother.

September 2010

October 2010. Sam the walrus.

Spring 2011. Catching bubbles.

Summer 2011

December 2011. Big big brother.

Spring 2012. 

Come again for pictures of Sam's birthday party so you can see what a 4 year old looks like.