Milestones

Matthew has rolled from tummy to back plenty of times in his short life.  However, I don't think they "count" because, let's be honest, it was just the weight of his gigantic head knocking him off balance.  But today, I witnessed a real roll! With some honest effort and strong kicks from those chubby little legs, he got himself from front to back on his own.  And then he cried.  Go figure.

Matthew had his 2 month well-visit.  He is 12 pounds, 12 ounces (50%) and 24 inches long (81%).

I think I can finally say with confidence and without jinxing the situation, that Hannah is potty-trained.  She hasn't had an accident in several days.  She is going on her own and is trustworthy enough to wear undies out of the house.  Now that she has control of her faculties, she is working the system to her advantage whenever possible.  The girl who one day went 12 (yes, twelve!) hours without peeing, will now squeeze some out hourly, then demand M&M's for her accomplishment.  She also thinks she needs to go anytime we are out anywhere (oh, how I hate public restrooms) and anytime she wants to stall (i.e. bedtime).  She's a wily one, but at least I don't have to change her diapers anymore.  :)

Old Friends

I won't be watching Jackson on a regular basis this year, but we did get to have the Oyster boys with us today.  Here's Micah and Jackson playing the classic game of "smell my feet!".  :)

Having Carter here today made me reminisce a little bit to when I first started watching Carter.  He used to call Micah "Muck-mah", and Micah called him "Tar-tar".  I love that five years later they are still such good buddies.

Fall 2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

And 2013 - eating ice cream cones, just shooting the breeze...

 P.S. Micah's full day on Thursday went well, but he was exhausted that night.  And this morning we dropped him off at the door, and he did great all by himself.

First Day of Kindergarten!

We did it!!  We all made it to school on time, clothed and fed (well, Hannah and I ate in the car, but that counts).  Micah settled right into class with no problem.  Hannah, Matthew, and I went to the gym for a dedication service, then stayed the rest of the morning for parent fellowship until it was time for Micah to be dismissed.  (Today was a short day - just 3 hours.)  Both Hannah and Matthew did wonderfully for all that time.  I really liked this way of easing into the school year, and it was great to get to know more of the other parents.

he wanted a picture of his new backpack

Here is his teacher - Mrs. Kropp.

walking into the gym with his class

the headmaster - Mrs. Chivers

Hannah and Matthew holding hands

It's a bit blurry, but here was my favorite part of the day - the parents and staff surrounded the students to pray for them and dedicate the upcoming school year to God's glory.  I know we've just begun, but I already feel so blessed to be a part of this community.

On the way home we stopped to have frozen yogurt and hear all the details of Micah's morning.  :)

Tomorrow might be a little harder for me, since he'll be gone for a full day.  And then on Friday I'm just dropping him off at the door and letting him walk to his room by himself.  Letting go a little bit at a time...  :)

Big Day

It was a big weekend for Hannah.  Firstly, she has been petrified of using the potty.  The last time I tried involved kicking, screaming, crying (from both of us), and pee on the floor.  Scott and I chose Saturday morning to try again so that we could both be there to help her, and it went tons better.  She was still scared, but just had a few tears - not the crazy mess she was before.  And she did it!  We're not all the way there yet, but it's going pretty well so far.

Scott took the kids to Pump-it-up on Saturday.  (We had a Groupon that was about to expire.)  Usually Hannah refuses to go on any of the inflatables.  She likes to go, but she just watches and plays on the toddler toys.  This time started out the same way.  Scott was trying to convince her to try something, but she wasn't interested.  Then a few minutes later she took off running and joined Micah in a bouncy house!  Conquering fear #2 for the day!

Later that afternoon, I was playing out front with the kids.  Hannah received a hand-me-down bike from a neighbor a few months ago, but we just recently repaired the tire so she could ride it.  Earlier this week she practiced for a while with me, but couldn't get the momentum going.  She could only get the pedals around one or two rotations at most.  But Saturday was just her day.  Here she is riding down the street!

  We've started giving Micah a small allowance each week.  He has had his heart set on buying ice cream from the ice cream truck.  (He generously wanted to buy some for Hannah, too, but I ended up paying for hers.)  He has been saving his money and listening for that tinkly music for weeks.  Finally, as we were riding bikes out front, we could hear the music in the neighborhood behind us.  The kids waited in eager anticipation until the truck finally made it to our street.  A sweet treat to end a big day!

Great Photo Ops

 I finally got a picture of Matthew smiling!!!  (Ok, I got more than just one....it's hard to stop taking pictures of something so cute!)

no longer smiling, but still just as cute

Last night we went for a family bike ride.  It's a lot of work to get all our gear to the path, but it's one of my favorite activities to do together.  Incidentally, this is also the first picture of all five of us together.  (Matthew's car seat is rigged in the bike trailer very securely.  It's totally safe. Stop judging.)

Today Micah had a "mixer" at school.  He got to take all his supplies to put away, do a few crafts, and start meeting the other kids in his class.  He already knows one girl from preschool and two other kids from church.  His first day is next Wednesday!

hopefully this picture is not some kind of foreshadowing....

And lastly, Micah is five and a half today!  In celebration, I surprised him with half of a rainbow cake.  (Now I just have to figure out what to do with the other half...)

Proof of Fun

This weekend we (and by "we" I mean "mostly Scott") finally cleaned up the flower beds in front of our house and mulched.  The kids love getting dirty and having an opportunity to ride in the borrowed pick-up truck.

Hannah was reading to Matthew and her baby doll.

Matthew mostly stayed inside, avoiding the dirt.

Today the kids and I went to the pool!  Due to an unusually cold and rainy summer, we haven't had many opportunities to swim in the sunshine.  Fortunately, we had a couple of nice hours today and made it home before the rain started.

I guess the upside to the weather is that we've saved money on sunscreen...

Micah's first "selfie"

Chowing on some peanut butter sandwiches with Sydney and Kayla

Colton saying "cheese" with a mouthful of sandwich  :)

Here it is: photographic proof that we have fun together.  :)

Butterfly Garden

Today we went to the Amazing Garden Plant Exploratorium with the Oysters.  We had been there once before, two years ago.  There are various exhibits to explore, but the two highlights for us were the butterfly house and a play area made of logs and stumps.

the kids used a q-tip with sugar water on it to "catch" butterflies

This guy spent most of the morning in the Bjorn carrier.  

 And now for a little randomness:

A generous friend gave Hannah a hand-me-down American Girl Doll.  Hannah couldn't care less that her hair is tangled, but I decided to try to comb it out.  Here she is half-done, because I love a good "before-and-after" picture.

And finally, here's a little clip of what I found when I went to get Hannah up from rest time today.