Moments

Emily and Nathan were at school with their bibles and Emily would “read” a scripture and have Nathan repeat word for word, teaching him how to read.  It was nonsensical but it sounded very scriptural.

Andrew came home and cleaned off his bike and Emily ran out so they could clean hers too.

Nathan helping me shuck corn.  He didn’t love all the hairs that came off.

Emily loves color mixing with paints, clay, and food coloring.  I set her up and let her run the experiment with water and food coloring.  She was very thorough in her plan and mixed the colors a few times.  Nathan loved watching but didn’t participate. I just kept my mouth shut and gave as much autonomy as possible while intensely supervising.  I enjoyed watching (but have yet to repeat the slightly stressful) experiment.

Nathan driving his car (or tractor, or mower).  He turns lots of vehicles – the couch, shopping cart turned over sideways, piano bench, and chairs.

This was a tractor Nathan built and Emily joined in for the ride.  The flat pillow is his steering wheel that he moves his hand in a circle around to drive.

Nathan finds all sorts of tiny cracks to stuff things in (like screwdrivers and tissues).  I was surprised to walk by and see a book.

When Andrew was out of town for a conference at the beginning of April I took the kids to Springfest at Purdue by myself.  The big highlights were Emily holding baby chicks and ducks, and exploring the carnival tents.  We stayed for a few hours and I felt like supermom for pulling this off on very little sleep at the end of Andrew being gone for a few days.

Now that it is warm outside I have finally been able to banish water play to the outdoors (no more flooding the kitchen or bathrooms!)  I gave the kids Laura’s toys to wash and they took the task very seriously.  We’ve done variations of this activity a few times and need to do it more often.

We read most Little House in the Prairie while Andrew was out of town.  I read it at lunch and dinner, at bedtime, or in the morning when I wasn’t ready to get out of bed yet.  The kids were totally hooked (and have also really enjoyed Little House in the Big Woods and Farmer Boy).  I am amazed at how they incorporate what we read into their play.   After reading about the Ingalls planting a garden, Nathan spent rest and read time making a garden out of pillows in his room.  Emily followed suite and made a flower garden in hers.

Laura has really gotten the hang of exploring the world on her tummy and grabbing things and putting them into her mouth.  She also rolls back and forth with relative ease, although she still looks a bit surprised. She had a little tooth almost peak through while Andrew was out of town but then in snuck back down.  The banana chew toy lived in her mouth for awhile, but now she is branching out.

Andrew hanging out with Laura during the era of cabinet building that had us all confined to a tiny space of living.