Magic Freezer

James has given our freezer a nickname: 'the magic freezer.' For some reason ice cream seems to magically appear in our freezer almost all the time. I think it is because it is creamy and not overly sweet. How can I live without it?!? James has learned that he has to check randomly for it because it magically appears but does so silently as to not make a commotion. :) Funny enough the boys never tell him when we have ice cream in the house. I have yet to determine why that is but I'm sure it will make for a funny story!

Gardening Adventures

We are truly grateful for this beautiful spring weather in March and are determine to take advantage of it, so we started gardening this weekend. We bought a tiller, so we could till our new garden beds which worked remarkably well. I'm pretty sure James loves using this new tool! We pulled some dying plants and tried to level out our yard in the places where trucks came driving through last summer. We definitely have some more work to do in that area. But then, the fun began when we put in some strawberries. The boys get one bed all to themselves and strawberries were the first things in. I can't wait to see what else they choose.

Then, we started putting up string to mark 1 square foot areas as we plan to try square foot gardening this year. While stapling the strings on we had some visitors come up to say hi.

Yes, that is a nest of baby rabbits. Apparently our great, tall boxes were not enough to deter the rabbits as we had hoped. We are grateful that they survived the tilling. But in the end, they cannot stay, so we moved them to a bucket and hope they survive and find a home elsewhere. :)

Apparently, they like to burrow and stay underground where it is warmer.

We didn't have time to finish everything, so we will be hard at work again on Monday, but we had a great start and look forward to much more gardening this week!

(This is Jacob excited to be able to jump on the trampoline after we were done.)

Big Brothers

I remember being the oldest and having my parents tell me that my younger siblings are watching and mimicking me. Well, now I have my own children and love watching Jacob mimic his older brothers (well, only when it is in good things he is imitating). Here is Jacob eating his apple just like Michael! He used to eat it cut up but now he wants to be like Michael!

And here is why Jacob loves helping with the dishes so much! Joshua asked to start the dishes before the other boys were even done eating. What great examples!

Spring is Here!

I have finally decided that Spring is here to stay and am definitely not sad about it. Here are some fun things I did today to celebrate:

1. Wash and put away the snow pants.

2. Fire up the grill and enjoy some grilled chicken!

3. Wore capris.

4. Enjoy a strawberry, peach banana smoothie for breakfast.

5. Let the boys stay out late playing to enjoy the nice weather and the extra light.

6. Turn the furnace off (though it did get a little cool in the night).

7. Open the windows!

8. Go fly kites at the park (we bought a couple more so each of the boys could have one).

Now we just have to decide if we are daring enough to plant our garden in early March!?! We might have spinach and lettuce growing already!! Welcome springtime!

First Tooth!

Last Monday Jacob realized that he had a loose tooth-his first loose tooth. He was so excited that I thought he would never calm back down. He spent the next week showing everyone his loose tooth and making me feel it at least twice a day. Jacob finally lost his first tooth Saturday night right before bed. Fortunately, the tooth waited until daddy was home. He then showed the entire ward the next day the new hole in his mouth. I forgot how exciting it is to lose your first tooth!

Daddy is Home!!

Boys love their daddies! This first picture is from before James left for China just enjoying some boy time. They were trying to convince me that they were asleep. I think we should play this game more often.

While James was away Jacob would ask me every day if it was the day to go to Chicago and get daddy! We just did normal things while James was away but on 'the' day to go get him we decided to make a trip out of it. So, we left in the morning and headed into Chicago. We spent an hour in the Art Institute where we got to see some fun things. Michael's favorite (and mine) was Seurat's Sunday Afternoon, Joshua loved the architecture exhibit and Jacob liked the armor. I would definitely not want to wear that armor, it just looks so heavy!

Then, we headed down to the Museum of Science and Industry (free to home schoolers!!!) and had a blast. I am pretty sure the boys could live there and be happy. Jacob loved the wind tunnel with winds up to 80 mph and the other boys had fun standing in a tornado, playing with trains, learning about trajectory and much more. We will definitely have to go back!

Afterwards we picked up James and then spent the night in a hotel which is always a treat! On Friday we headed into the Field Museum where we enjoyed some mummies, Ghengis Khan, animals and more animals. Joshua and Jacob loved the underground adventure where they got to enjoy being less than an 1" tall. It was fun to see what things underground would like like at that size. Michael, of course, loved the animals more than anything!

It was a great trip and we made it home safely. We also got to enjoy some of the fun things James brought home for us. I got a couple of necklaces which I hope to remember to wear because they are beautiful. Michael got some money and a nice paint brush set. Jacob wanted marbles, so he got some 'marbles' on a string which he loves.

Joshua had asked for a kite and after much searching James finally found one. We did learn, however, that it was not meant for flying. Fortunately, we didn't ruin it before we discovered that. So, I think we'll hang it in Joshua's room (I will definitely have to post a picture because it is really cool looking).

After the disappointment of the kite not flying we grabbed a kite at Target and James spent the afternoon teaching the boys how to fly a kite. If you want to see pure joy, it was watching Joshua fly a kite. I am sorry I wasn't able to capture the joy in these pics. But they had a great time and the boys are still at the park playing and flying their new kite. I guess windy Illinois is good for something!

So, it has been a blast having daddy home and the boys are in heaven. Jacob continually stops just to get a hug and will get in between daddy and anyone else if he sees affection going on that he is not a part of. Well, we're off to the park for more fun! This weather is perfect! Welcome springtime and welcome home daddy!

Our little man

For some reason many of Jacob's mannerisms lead him to act like a grown-up, which is super cute in his little 5 year old body. Today I was printing when the timer to the oven went off. He headed off to turn the timer off, or so I thought. It only took me a couple of minutes to finish and head up but by the time I got there he had hot pads in his hand and was ready to take dinner out of the oven. It was SO cute. I am sorry I don't have the camera (it is in China) or else I would have taken a picture for you. I am definitely going to have to keep an eye on that little man.

Snow!!

It finally snowed enough for the boys to go sledding! But apparently all of our sleds are broken, so I headed over to Target to buy some 70% off sleds! I love that the snow didn't come until the sleds were on clearance. Go figure! So, they hit the slopes after lunch, well, until it all melted. This weather is sure not accommodating for little boys who just want to play in the snow!!! But maybe tomorrow they can put on a sweatshirt and play basketball outside in the 60 degree weather we are expecting. I think the weatherman is just rolling dice to see what the weather will be like tomorrow! Lets see what he has in store next!

Happy Birthday!

Today is James' birthday, but for him it is already over. But regardless I wanted to post a big

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

James got to spend his birthday with his brother, Justin, in China! But we couldn't let him leave without celebrating a little! On Monday we had his birthday dinner (this was the only night he was home) of Salmon, rice and lots of veggies! Mmmmmm. . . Then, on Thursday we surprised him with some fun books to read . . . Bossy Pants by Tina Fey and Steve Job's biography. I'm pretty sure the first one got read on his long flight. I hope he enjoyed it!

As for us, we played hard on his birthday. We played Risk, went to the YMCA to play some basketball and are now getting ready to watch Hugo and eat ice cream! So, again, Happy Birthday, James!