See - we really DO have four kids!

I *finally* have pictures of all four kids together now! I had a big mental block somehow thinking that it was too hard...but yesterday I just told them all what to get dressed in and we ran outside and did it. They're not perfect, but at least I have something! :)

This was at the end of their 3.5 minute attention span!! "Huh?! What camera?"

Brotherly love

Gavin and Abby often have days where they fight like cats and dogs, so it's so nice to have moments like today where we can see how much they do love each other.

We had been at a friend's house visiting this morning, and on the way home Abby started wailing that she didn't know where her straw cup was. I asked her if she had put it back in the diaper bag when she was finished, but she couldn't remember and was way too upset to try and think where it could be. (It was definitely time for a nap...) I assured Abby that our friends would bring it to church on Sunday, but she was heartbroken that she wouldn't have her favorite cup to drink out of at quiet time.

When we arrived back at home, Gavin took Abby with him downstairs, and every few minutes one of them would appear upstairs rummaging for various supplies. I try to give them pretty free reign when they've come up with a project, as long as I don't see anything dangerous heading to their rooms with them. ;) A little while later they came back upstairs with this:

Gavin had taken a pink plastic cup, cut out a cardboard circle from a cereal box, made a hole in the lid and then taped it onto the cup so Abby could have a pink straw cup for her quiet time.

Those are the moments when I think they really will turn out okay. :)

Sometimes that boy really impresses me...

We're currently reading Understood Betsy for school (probably my favorite book so far!). In the chapter we read today, an older aunt is explaining how a sundial works to a little girl who had never heard of such a thing. The aunt comments that "sometimes it seems to me that every time a new piece of machinery comes into the door some of our wits fly out at the window!" I stopped and asked Gavin what he thought that might mean (not really thinking he would have caught the intended meaning)...

"I think it means that every time someone invents a new machine that can do things all by itself, instead of a person doing it, we lose some of our skills and ability to do that thing." He went on to give me the example of the dishwasher and how people used to have to take their dishes down to the creek to scrub them. :)

I'm pretty proud of that boy! :)

Butter making!

We're reading Understood Betsy for Gavin's school right now, and after reading how butter was made in the olden days, we decided to try it for ourselves!

It was actually much easier than I had anticipated (I thought we might be shaking our little jars for hours...) and it turned out great! The kids loved watching the cream change from liquid, to whipped cream, and then suddenly separating into buttermilk and butter! We all enjoyed some of the fresh butter on some fresh bread this afternoon! Yummy!

Snow day :(

Well, at least the kids were excited!

(Gavin taught Rachel how to make a snowball, and she promptly threw it in his face - she thought it was hysterical!!)

Kids watching hockey

Gavin told me they were in 'the cheap seats!' :)

Welcome back!

Well, thanks! It has been a while! :)

I'm sure I have tons of pictures and stories to tell, but all I have right now is a random piece of information. Rach was in for immunizations the other day, and I got Abby weighed as well (I wasn't convinced she still outweighed Rachel...) Here are our kids' percentages on the growth charts right now:

Rachel - 90th percentile for both height and weight

Abby - 50th percentile for both height and weight

Gavin - 50th percentile for height and not quite 25th for weight

I think Rach will still thin out a bit...Gav was in the 75th+ percentile for weight when he was that age (and he was only 25th percentile for height, so it wasn't as proportional!). Abby's always been right around the 50th for both, although she was a very chubby baby (remember all her arm rolls??). We will see!!

Fun at the park

I THINK spring is finally here, and I took the kids over to the park close to our house to enjoy some late afternoon sunshine. :) Rachel loves to be outside (she doesn't always get to go out when the big kids do since she needs a little more direct supervision!) and she tries her best to keep up with Gavin & Abby!!

My attempt at Mother's Day pictures...

Man, oh man, getting more than one little kid to cooperate for pictures is practically impossible!! :)

On Mother's Day morning, I got the kids all dressed and only realized afterwards that they were all in shades of blue and white. Clearly a sign that I was supposed to take pictures!! ;)

Rachel wanted nothing to do with her brother and sister, prefering to run down the road instead, chasing after the neighbor's cat. It was also all of about +3 degrees outside, so everyone was complaining how cold they were! Sigh.

Maybe in 20 years I'll forget what a hassle it was to try to get decent pictures of these cuties!!

Gavin the pianist

Gavin is really doing well with his piano lessons! He certainly has his days where he whines and complains and huffs and puffs through his short daily practice time, but overall I think he would say he enjoys it, and he's so fun to watch when he figures something out and gets really excited about it. :)

Here's a short video of him playing one of his recent songs - Holy, Holy, Holy. He's already played offertory in church twice, and this might be what he'll play next time it's his turn on the schedule.

Pictures for you!

I've realized that if I don't leave my camera sitting out, I just don't get around to taking any pictures! I've left it up on the top of the piano for the last week or so, and I've probably taken more than I have in the last two months! *Ü*

Here's Gavin and Rachel having a little 'picnic' together:

Watch out - it's gonna blow!!

Gavin loves any kind of science, and the last time we went to the library he got a book called 'Science School.' He's been having a lot of fun doing many of the experiments from the book, including a volcano!

A few more pictures

I sent Gavin & Abby to their room the other day becasue they could not stop harrassing each other, and told them to just sit on their beds and not talk to, look at, or poke at each other until I came to get them. Must have been a good idea, because this is what I found them all doing when I came to check a little while later...

Gavin's plans for the future

There are some moments that make me believe the kids really will turn out okay...

Gavin stayed up later than the girls tonight and was helping me put lights on the Christmas tree (those of you on Facebook know this was the SECOND time putting lights on the tree, as the first time several strands mysteriously stopped working...after they were on the tree). I was debating with myself whether or not we were going to need yet another string of lights, and getting frustrated that it's taken almost a week to get the stupid lights on the tree. ;) Here's a peek at our conversation:

"Mommy, even if you don't get lights on the tree, I will still love you. Even though I really like the tree being up with lights and really like to look at all the lights on the tree, if you can't do it, I will still love you. I will always love you, no matter what."

"Thank you, buddy - you really have the gift of encouragement, you know that?"

"Yeah, that's my second favorite gift. After my family and friends, of course."

"That's a different kind of gift, honey - encouragement is one of the spiritual gifts that God gives to people."

"Oh...right. Being an encourager is my first best spiritual gift, and it's my second best gift of all the things God gave us."

"It's going to be fun to see what God's going to do with your life, Gav."

"Like what, like what I will be when I grow up? What kind of jobs do you need to be a good encourager for?"

"Well, maybe a pastor..."

"Oh yeah, pastors do a lot of encouraging. I might be a pastor." (pause) "Or a cheerleader."

(stifled laughter from me)

"I don't really want to be a cheerleader, but if that's what God wants me to do, I would do it."

Man, I love that kid. :)

A little holiday music courtesy of Gavin

Gavin's latest thing

I've just been noticing over the last week or so that Gavin's really gotten into doodling on things...I picked up his Clubhouse magazine tonight, and noticed he had drawn something on one of the pages. As I started looking through, I realized that his doodles were on nearly every page! I took a few quick pictures of a couple of pages - they're not great quality, but you'll get the general idea. (Click on them to enlarge)

And of course he has quite the story to tell about what's happening in each picture...

Ready to play

Gavin lining up ready to play in his first tournament today. His team won all three of their games, and he had so much fun! I was worried he was going to be really tired and just lying on the ice by the end, but even after their last game (when they had just played two games back-to-back) he said "I'm not even tired! I just wish I could skate and skate some more!"

I took some pictures with the good camera this morning as well which I'll try to post soon. :)

First snowman of the year

I'm still refusing to admit that yes, it really is winter now, but we did have a few inches of snow last week and Gavin was so excited to get out and build his first snowman of the year. Daddy helped with some creative touches! ;)

Halloween cuties

We're not a big Halloween family around here - my first thought of what costumes the kids would wear was maybe October 30?? Fortunately we have a few costumes around (this is the third year Gavin's been Superman, but he gets so excited every time...and it finally fits him!) and everyone had something to wear. Rachel's a monkey, but didn't want to keep her hood on for the picture. :) She was as excited as Gavin was - she dragged the costume around for most of the day making little monkey noises and trying to say monkey, something like "mah-KA!"

Abby was a little bit unsure about the whole Halloween thing - she loves to dress up, but everyone doing it at the same time and running around outside seemed a little weird to her. She changed her mind several times during the day about whether she'd rather be the bunny or the caterpillar, and right before we went out she was set on not wearing anything, but we convinced her. :)

We just went to a few houses around our neighborhood this year - we usually go drive out to the country and visit a couple of friends, but Greg was at a youth conference this year and I wasn't feeling adventurous enough to go by myself.

So what do they do all day long???

Well...today they seem to be reenacting the entire Olympic games in our living room. Gavin has a schedule of all the events, and he and Abby are taking turns participating (complete with uniform changes for each sport). We've had men's boxing (apparently women don't box?), men's and women's fencing, and we've just finished men's swimming. "I have some sort of sad news," Gavin reports. "I tried my hardest, but I finished in sixth place. It was a personal best, though." Stay tuned for women's swimming - Abby's getting dressed as we speak.

Some excerpts from the Men's Fencing competition (that's Abby cheering him on in the background)

Gavin getting ready for boxing (note the garden..ahem, boxing gloves!)