Writing skills

Parker loves playing video games, but we have a rule you can only play on Friday and Saturdays. So then one day (on a Thursday) he brought me a note that he claimed he had found in my room. He said, "Mom, look what you wrote. 'I would let you play games on Thursday!" I complimented him on his writing skills but stuck to our normal game schedule. He was not happy with this, so a tantrum ensued. He disappeared for a few minutes and then came back downstairs and threw another note at me. "I hate the family". Then he stopped away. A few minutes later, another note. "I hate mom." Then again a few minutes later, "I hate mom the most." If I weren't so proud of his inventive spelling I'd be crushed! 

Happy 6th Birthday Parker!

How is my baby 6? I know I will probably say this every year of his life, but it seriously has hit me like a ton of bricks lately that he's not this preschooler anymore... he's a real boy... with thoughts and opinions and questions. He is awesome and I'm so pleased to see how he is maturing and it's so much fun to see where his passion and talents are. After I had him on the podcast, he told me, "Mom, now I don't need to have another job when I grow up. I'm famous and I'm just going to be a star!" (He also told me that if I want to move my podcast up the rankings, I should stop listening to other podcasts so that they aren't able to accumulate more downloads from my listens... haha!) I told him I needed to go pick up a book at the library the other day. He asked me why I like to read? I told him I like what books can teach me or I like the stories and the characters. I explained that sometimes I read books about how to be a better mom. He replied, "Well you don't need to do that, you're already the best mom." I love the perspective of a child. We can be so hard on ourselves, but to our children, we're extraordinary.

Parker had his b'day party at Chuck E. Cheese with two of his friends from preschool last year, Bradley and Ben.
Here's Bradley....                  

All his friends (and their siblings) and he and Ben. Parker can be a bit dramatic:)

Austin loved this dancing game.... and Parker wanted brownies for his dessert!

Parker hit the jackpot and got 100 tickets on a game! He quickly became a gambling addict. I see how these types of addictions come on quickly. 

I love how Parker is so polite. He holds doors open and lets me go first (except one time I thanked him for letting me go first and he said, "Well, I don't even know where I'm going so I had to let you go first). He thanks people when they do something kind. He acknowledges strangers and tells them to have a good day. He gets off the bus and runs to me with such excitement. He is so patient with Austin. He is so good at explaining himself and is very perceptive about how to work things out with Austin. He loves Pete and is taking a greater interest in watching sports and movies with him lately. He loves to sing, read, and watch shows and play games. He loves all things Legos, Star Wars, and Nerf. He loves cereal and would exist on that food alone, but we try to mix it up. He also loves tomato soup. Here are the b'day questions I asked him:
 1. What is your favorite color? Green because I like dinosaurs. 
2. What is your favorite toy? Jackson. He is fun to play with. 
3. What is your favorite food? Honey nut cheerios, and daddy's cereal and elephant cereal. And tomato soup.  
4. What is your favorite tv show? Scooby Doo. I'm not into "Jessie" anymore
5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? Ham sandwich (what????)
6. What is your favorite outfit?  I like to wear this. (He's currently wearing a new army green ninja turtle shirt). 
7. What is your favorite game? Star Wars game on the blue iphone. 
8. What is your favorite snack? I like bagels. Cranberry from Einstein's toasted with cream cheese 
9. What is your favorite animal? Still Rhinos... strong horns and it's tough. 
10. What is your favorite song? "My Guinea Pig" (a song they just performed in Kindergarten 
11. What is your favorite book? The lego book. 
12. Who is your best friend? Bradley and jaden and Ben
13. What is your favorite cereal? Again, I already answered that question. 
14. What is your favorite thing to do outside? Play with dad. Soccer. I'm better than him. 
15. What is your favorite drink?  Sprite
16. What is your favorite holiday? Easter because I like doing treasure hunts. 
17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? Guns and swords. hahahahahahah! It's so true. 
18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? Pancakes and sausage. Papa makes it the best. 
19. What do you want for dinner on your birthday? Texas Roadhouse because I like the rolls.    
20. What do you want to be when you grow up? Police. I like catching robbers. 

*What's the best thing about being six? "I can't wait for my legs to get longer so I can run fast. Jackson is my best friend because he is cute and cuddly. Austin is my best friend too."

Behind in blogging

I have found that I've been lacking in my desire to blog lately. I love the blog for journalling purposes, but as the kids have grown and they've multiplied, I'm finding so much more enjoyment in just living the moments instead of always documenting them. It's a tough line to tow, because I don't want to neglect photographing moments I want to remember or quotes that I'll look back upon fondly, but I simply don't have time during the day to blog and then at night when I'm exhausted, there are other things I'd rather do. And I've noticed that when I do blog, I'm in such a rush to just upload the photos and create a caption, I'm not writing near as much as I used to anyway. 

Maybe I'll just do it on Fridays and make that a habit. Hmmm... 

We just had my parents visiting for a week and sadly, they came down with the flu hours after they arrived. So they were sick and tired and quarantined in our third bedroom for their entire stay! Boo! Not exactly the trip we were hoping for. To spend all that time and money flying across the country and then feel awful is terrible! I felt so bad for them. We still loved seeing them, but just wish it could have been more fun for them. Thankfully, none of the kids got it. 

But before they got really sick, they were able to go to Austin's Valentine's Day party at school, right after I picked them up from the airport (bless them for enduring the redeye). Austin loved having them in his class. We are so grateful that he is in such a wonderful preschool environment. If you can't be in Grammy's class, this is the next best thing. 

 Our little Valentine!

Parker's birthday is tomorrow and I just can't believe it. 6 years old. He's such a neat boy and has grown up so much lately. He has been watching a Disney show that I probably shouldn't be letting him watch since it has some more teenage-type themes in it, but he says it's so funny and when I ask him what's so funny he replies, "I don't know. I just hear the audience laughing." So some of it is going over his head. Thank goodness. Evenstill, the show discusses dating and he's become very intrigued by the concept. The other night after bath time, he combed his own hair and came out so proud. I complimented him and he said, "Well I have to look good for the girls at school if they're going to date me." I explained that that's not appropriate at his age, and maybe he shouldn't be watching that show. He replied, "Well mom, I know I can't date till I'm older but I'm watching the show now to learn how to learn about girls for when I'm older. I know they like tough and strong men." Then he proceeded to drop into pushups. This kid! He's going to give us a run for our money. Don't worry, we also followed up with what is appropriate behavior and talk for his age. Geez!

Austin is my little love and just kind of hangs out during the day. He's not demanding at all and he loves singing with me to Jackson. We love cuddling up on the bed and taking turns telling stories to each other. It's so fun and his story telling is really progressing. He is really into asking addition problems all day long. "What's 100+300??" He's really observant and while he puts little effort into academic things so far, he is always listening and we're surprised by his vocabulary and recall.

Jackson is still struggling with sleep at night. Having him in our room for the week my parents were here didn't help and he had a little cold that contributed to VERY frequent wakeups, but we're trying now to let him cry and self-soothe a little more often. Naptimes during the day are awesome though. He's a happy boy who loves baby food, but nothing he has to chew. I gave him a puff and he threw up from choking, even though it had completely disintegrated by the time it reached the point of swallowing. He loves when we sing to him and do hand movements. They don't come much better than Jackson Dahlquist. He's such a love and is so cuddly.

Okay, that's the catchup for now.

Podcast update

The podcast has been going really well. It got off to an amazing start and has slowed down since then, but we are consistently getting over 500 downloads for each new episode within two weeks of them airing, so that's a good pace. I have gotten a lot of great feedback from people saying how encouraged they are by the interviews. It has been so much fun and I'm finally getting faster at putting them together. 

I have also been reaching out to some "stretch guests" who have amazing stories and also some notoriety. I have been so pleasantly surprised that some of them have gotten back to me. Halleluia! I'm so excited for some of the interviews I have coming up. It is such a highlight chatting with such extraordinary women and I love that I am able to branch out from my inner circle of friends and meet so many new amazing people. This podcast has been such a gift to my soul. 

I tried a new episode format this week by chatting with my friend about a book. So many moms I know want to read but don't have the time. So by summarizing a relevant book and then commentating like a book club, I thought it would be a really practical and fun episode. And it was. My friend Stephanie is such an awesome mom, and she's my go-to friend for book recommendations and parenting advice. And she was also fantastic on the podcast! Can't wait to do it again with her. 

 Almost 7 months old... time is FLYING!!!!

 My boys LOVE Where's Waldo books... when we first got them we were afraid they would be too hard, but they've really enjoyed the challenge.

 Every week after an episode goes live I post a few quotes on Instagram. I love pulling out nuggets of value from the episodes.

Mix of things

Pete has been counting down the days to National Signing day, when high school age football recruits commit to a college. He thought it'd be super funny to sign my phone up to receive alerts on signing day. I got about 15 texts before 9am... thanks Pete. Glad to know Michigan's team is looking good this year. 

 My boys love to match each other. Love these cutie pies.

 We had a random snowfall one morning... freezing! It's been a  pretty mild winter for us overall. I think tomorrow we'll get some snow as well. But hopefully not until after the morning, because I'm picking up my parents from the airport for a visit and then we're onto Valentine's parties at school.

 Look at Jackson the photo-bomber. What a happy little cherub!

 I loved this quote. I feel like this all the time.

 Any time I am feeding Jackson, these boys are like moths to a flame... here we are all piled into my feeding chair. So much love.

Books

"Bossypants" by Tina Fey- Funny book. She's very smart and funny. I like how she never shied away from a job because she was a woman and was never afraid to be herself. I love hearing how nervous she was to interview for jobs in those early days. We all have to start somewhere. My favorite story was when her daughter brought home a book from the library about a little girl who hated how her mom worked outside the home and her character was a witch. Tina was feeling discouraged that her daughter felt so sad that her mom worked. But when she finally asked her about it her daughter just said, "I thought it was a book about Halloween." Sometimes we are just too hard on ourselves.

"Hands-free Life"- This was a great book about being more present with your children and in your life. I love the idea. What I didn't love was that she told LOTS of stories of her own children and used exact quotes from them, but none of them sounded like they were coming from children. First of all, there is no way she remember the exact quotes from each and every event she recalls. Second of all, she wrote such eloquent responses coming from her daughters, it just seemed unrealistic. And then after every time she'd recall such a tender moment, she said how her eyes welled up with tears and she couldn't help crying. We're talking on EVERY OTHER PAGE. It got old. But still, a good concept.

"The Five Love Languages of Children"- I read this for the podcast and did a Book Club episode on it. It really got me thinking about my kids and how I communicate love to them. It's hard to know what your child's love language is until they are about 5, but for Parker I was able to determine that his is Acts of Service and Quality Time. He desperately wants you to pay attention to him and spend time with him. When I do that, he has fewer tantrums and a better attitude. It's also important to know because when I am not filling his love tank in this way and it is running low, it has the opposite affect and leaves him feeling alone and questioning your bond. Check out the podcast episode on Feb 2nd if you want more info on this book.

"In this Together" by Ann Romney- Wow She's an amazing lady. This book covers her diagnosis with MS and her heroic journey in confronting the disease (of which there is no cure) and finding a way to continue living. I can't believe she managed two presidential campaigns with her condition, and I love how mindful her whole family was of her needs during that time. And she has all sons... so she's my hero:) A great read. Man I wish she was our first lady.

I'm half way to my goal. 10/20 book completed. I have a few coming up that I am really excited about reading.

A single snowfall

Snow in southern Virginia is so dramatic. The weatherman had us bracing for quite the winter storm, and granted DC did get totally buried, but we just got a few inches... just enough to throw some snowballs. But then because our county is so conservative, church and school were cancelled. So Monday we had no school and it was sunny and then on Tuesday it was 60 degrees and we were at the park. It's hard to keep up with this weather. 

But snow sure is pretty when it is first falling. Seriously the biggest snowflakes I've ever seen! 

 Even Austin enjoyed it this year. Last year he wouldn't touch the stuff.

 And Jackson is very well-prepared, no matter how bad the storm gets.

 Here's our park day on Tuesday. What a difference two days makes.

Bunk brothers

Austin has slept in a pack n play since he was born... and he's continue to sleep in the pack n play... he will be four years old next month. We've offered to get him a big boy bed, but he's declined. He's loved his pack n play. He can no longer stretch out length-wise and we'll often find him with his legs straight up in the air while he's sleeping. It was time. 

We were planning on getting bunks from Ikea but there isn't one close by so that kind of stalled our decision. So I went out one afternoon to look locally and found a good deal on a very similar bed. Two days later it arrive and Pete went to pick it up. I can't believe he fit it in the van! Then we set it up together in about an hour. Go us! 

The boys were pretty excited. Aside from Austin frequently hitting his head, it's been awesome. I love how the room looks and it's a very practical option. Hopefully there won't be any rough housing on that top bunk. But I think that's pretty wishful thinking. 

Great Wolf Lodge

We are pretty frugal. We tend to do the same things around the house during the week and on the weekends, and our major outings usually involve Chick Fil A... Don't get me wrong... I love me a spicy chicken sandwich, but it's nice to change it up every now and then. The boys had two days off of school and so Pete decided to take those days off too.  Then we got thinking about what we could do. We were determined to not waste those two precious days. So we decided to head up to Williamsburg to go to the Great Wolf Lodge, a big indoor waterpark. We decided to surprise the boys and it was awesome. We even sprung for the Kids Camp room with bunk beds. And they got cute little wolf ears when we checked in. Parker's had a party hat on it because we were also celebrating his b'day early. 

How cute is my little wolf cub??? He was so cute and patient. The first afternoon when we went down to the waterpark, I had him in his swimsuit and I just held him. I would dip his toes in the water or sit him on my lap so he was slightly submerged. He was expressionless... he just sat there so confused the whole time. No smile... no scowl... just confusion. Hilarious.

 Daddy even bought them cool light up swords. Souvenirs are always the thing they like the most, no matter how cool the trip is.

 So hard to get a normal picture of Aussie these days. "Look at the camera Aussie!" "I am!!!!"

 Austin loved splashing around the small pool and going down a simple slide, as long as one of us caught him at the bottom. He also loved going in the wave pool with Pete. His excited face is just priceless.

 Parker liked climbing up the treehouse and going down the big slide with Pete. He also went on a tube-raft slide with me. He described it as "shocking!" haha. That was a one-time event. He also loved the wave pool and the hot tub. Our skinny little man gets so chilled in the water.

 Day two for Jackson... no swimsuit this time. He fell asleep in the stroller and so Pete and I traded off staying with him.

 There would be a wolf howl sound whenever the waves would start up in the wave pool. No matter what the boys were doing, when they heard the howl... they went sprinting into the wave pool. So cute!

It was a short and sweet trip. We all had a great time and it reminded us how nice it is to just get away sometimes. So glad we made the trip.