April on Daddy's Phone

It's no secret that daddy is a much better photographer than mommy.  Here are some cute pics from his phone this month. 

Baby S's before and after haircut photos.  He always looks so much older without his curls. 

Little boy blue. Loves everything blue.

 Cousins going into the church toghether the day of baby L's blessing

Big sister baby helper

More tree climbing. At the neighbor's house.

Family Schooling Summary

Baby L is getting better at using her hands.  She likes to grab her shirt and pull it up:

Picnicking season has started again.

Brother M was reaching for something across the table and slammed his chin down on one of the chairs, split it right open.  Having seen my younger siblings get this same injury I knew that it would need stitches.   I was getting him all psyched up to be brave at the urgent care place.  And then he was so happy to find out that they just use glue for this kind of injury nowadays. Glue and tape - no biggie.

Brother M made a "Rain stick" instrument in his music makers class this week and A made a butterfly poster in Spanish culture class.  They learned about Costa Rica, which is one of the world's largest exporters of butterflies and also a promoter of Ecotourism.

Baby L had her 3 month check-up this week. She had some shots and the pediatrician said "she is really strong and holding her head up well. I think she is ready for the jumper".  Good suggestion.  We dusted off the jumperoo and bouncer this week and she tested them out.

Daddy is the CubScout Leader and so the older kids went along to "help" with the pinewood derby. Brother M brought one of his cars to test out on the racetrack. 

Baby L's Blessing

Last weekend we had baby L's blessing. Grandpop came and took these awesome pictures for us.  He also toured a couple of houses with us on Saturday.  

Family Schooling Summary

I am the assistant teacher in the Spanish Culture Class at co-op school. This week the main teacher was away on vacation, so I volunteered Daddy to teach the kids about Honduras.  Thay made clay versions of Mayan sculptures.

I made corn tortillas, beans, and rice -- which is what Daddy ate almost every day when he was a missionary in Honduras.

Daddy showed the kids pictures and artifacts from Honduras. Then they played a game with wooden tops in the parking lot. I asked A what her favorite part of the class was. She liked the game with tops the best.

Daddy really enjoyed M's Lego class:

M made a Japanese pellet drum in his preschool music class at co-op school.

We also had a field trip to one of our local nature centers for Joy School this week. We visiting one of the exploration play rooms and saw a variety of reptiles and amphibians.

This nature center is great because it has a series of indoor caves for the kids to explore. One of them even has underground windows into a small pond.

It is the same one that has the wigwam and tree canoe.

Brother M climbing a tree for the first time.

We also celebrated Daddy's birthday this week. The kiddos got a little carried away with the candles.  We had 37 or so on this rhubarb pie. 

Another illustration of why 4 kids in one small bedroom might be too many.  Still looking for the right new house though.

Garden Progress

I pruned all the fruit trees in March and they look a lot healthier. The plum trees are all blooming now. I counted at least 5 different types of pollinators buzzing around this one. Hoping for lots of fruit this year.

A bunch of lettuce varieties self seeded themselves again.  They look like flowers coming up through the leaf mulch.

Our neighbor was tired of having blueberry bushes, but not getting much fruit. He dug them all up and put them by the side of the road. We saved them. Another neighbor took 5 bushes over to his house, we took 5, and we gave about 5-7 more to my brother's family. They might not all survive the transition, but I hate to see a homeless fruit bush.

I think the honeyberry bushes liked the cold winter.  They are all leafed out and covered with blossoms already.  

And my faithful giant rhubarb is shooting up again. It seems to me as though all the plants are growing twice as fast as usual since winter took so long to let go this year.

Family Schooling Summary

This week was Easter break for most of the school districts around here. Co-op school and dance class were cancelled. We did have Joy School though. The kids are working on pages for their "All About Me" books. 

Big sister A did her usual workbooks and history studies.  She is listening to Ramona the Brave in her tape player at night and The Wizard of Oz on cd in the car.  Both are great stories for her age.

Baby L started drooling this week. I am sure that we won't see any teeth for a couple months yet. It's just a shocking reminder that she is already 3 months old!  She is also becoming more chatty -- making lots of cute noises at the dinner table with us, as though she wants to be part of the conversation. Baby L is making her transition from the co-sleeper into her crib now. I have been laying her in her bedbox in the crib so that she can get used to her new sleeping cues before we take the bedbox away. 

And finally - this is what all the rooms are starting to look like. Piles of boxes!  We keep telling the kiddos that we are "pretending to move".  That means that we are getting ready to sell our house, but we won't be putting it on the market unless we find "the one" we want to buy. Our realtor came over last week and walked through our house with us--advising us on what to do to get it ready.  We are going to get a storage pod delivered and take most of our stuff out of the house so that it looks bigger, do lots of touch-up painting, and finally get the exterior painted. 

 We are in a good situation because we know that our house will sell quickly. But the type of house and the amount of land that we are looking for is unusual around here.  I think that their is only about a 50/50 chance that we will actually move.  We are having fun looking at houses and I am excited for both possibilities. I love our current house and it will be great to check some things off my list of house projects or "moving to the farm" and having more space would also be wonderful.