crab-sitting

Our friends, the Fredericks, are traveling, as they always are, and asked us to crab-sit for them. The kids couldn't have been more excited about this idea. The kids take them out and watch them walk every day, and feed them food, and talk to them. I was a little nervous we would kill them, but it turns out we are good crab-sitters.

Dries

Charla and Peter took us out to eat at Five Guys, our new favorite restaurant. (Thanks guys!) Matix and Dries are crazies when they get together. They love each other so much. We will certainly be missing them all, but I think Matix will be missing his Dries the most. That's what Matix calls him, "MY Dries".

his letter

Hawken is obsessed with his letter "H". He finds it everywhere we go, and has to point it out. He also likes writing it, and has been making artwork with his letter lately. So funny.

favorite things

Lullaby's favorite things; her brothers (either or both, she's not picky), a necklace at all times, and her stroller.  The only favorite that is missing from this picture is her baby doll, but really, who needs a doll to push around when you have a brother?

goodbyes!

Paul took the morning off from studying and the Hutchins' girls didn't come over to be babysat on Wednesday, so we had lots of family fun while they were stalling from returning home to Wisconsin. We played outside and in the playroom mostly. It was a pretty nice day too.  Hunter raced the boys down the driveway a million times. What a good sport.

Hawken was SO excited to see BIG Chloe (he has a friend at church his age, also named Chloe, who is now called "little Chloe"). He played with her the most. She was so sweet to play all the games he asked for.

Another few meals at a crowded kitchen table, I love it. :)  Paul made pancakes.

They played and chatted and hung out all morning and on into the afternoon, even though they had a 12 hour drive ahead of them. Yuck! It was so nice to have so much time with them.  Good-bye family!! We love you guys and hope to see you again SOON!

Matix was less than excited about them going. Poor thing. He was ready for his nap and couldn't help but cry when they left. He loves them so much.

Lulli and Ridge

Ridge was a little standoffish but not scared of Lullaby this time, which is an improvement. (By the way, I use the word standoffish all the time but had no idea how to actually write it. Well, I looked it up, and I think it looks weird on paper.)  Eventually, Ridge even let Lullaby play with him. She pushed him around in the stroller. He though this activity was okay, and she thought it was the best thing ever. See their expressions...?

Later before they left, Ridge let Lullaby give him some kisses. She is a kissing fool, and was happy to give them.

visitors!

On Tuesday night we got a surprise visit from some Wisconsin family. Heather, Alex, Mackenzie, Matt, Hunter, Ridge, and Chloe were all driving through on their way back to Wisconsin from their winter vacation in Florida. They got in at night, so the kids were already sleeping, but we made them some food and got to chat a bit before crashing out ourselves.  Poor Alex drove the 9-ish hours straight with no relief.

It was a FULL house, but it worked really nicely. Matt, Kenz and Ridge took our room, Hunter and Heather took the futon, Alex got the twin bed and Chloe got the couch in the playroom, while Paul and I took the living room couches. Full.

shooting

Matix and Hawken had such a fun time shooting arrows with their cousin Gavin and their uncle Dale over Thanksgiving, Paul got a bow and two arrows for them for Christmas too.  The boys love it, especially Matix.  We have been outside, even when he is still in his jammies, and even when it's really cold, shooting. We had a bale of hay from Halloween and Thanksgiving still in our yard, and we use that as the target.

Matix is actually getting pretty good. Shooting with his left hand, of course. I love the concentration and the tongue in the weirdest positions.

games

Matix and Hawken got quite a few games this year, and have been LOVING playing with them. They are really good at following directions and remembering all the rules. Paul even tried to shorten a game by skipping one of the steps, but the boys wouldn't have it. :)

Every day we have played at least one round of games. Memory, Jenga, 5 Monkeys, and Candyland are all regular activities in the house now.  The only problem is that Lullaby is a mover and will move game pieces from the board to another area of the house, regularly. It's tricky to keep her away, but she is getting better about just moving other things, shoes, keys, etc.

busy

Lullaby is a busy body. She NEEDS to be entertained. She is the world's best baby as long as there is something for her to do. One day the boys were playing outside, and normally she likes to be right there with them, but it was pretty chilly, so she only stayed out for a few minutes. When she came in, I was trying to cook dinner, so I didn't really want any helpers. :) Anyway, I spotted the toothpick container and thought, I bet Q-tips would fit just right in there... and they do. And Lullaby quickly turned all her efforts and energy toward getting each one in that tiny little hole. The perfect activity for a BUSY girl.

Simple enough that she could be successful, but challenging enough to make it interesting.  She worked at this for almost 30 minutes, which was long enough for me to prep dinner and get it cooking and even get some pictures. Then after dinner she played with it again, and a couple times on other days too. Who would have thought?