Pioneer Day

 The Kendallville Branch Primary had a fun Pioneer Day activity that the boys were invited to since Grandma Routsong is the new Primary President in that branch.  It was a super fun activity!  The kids got to learn all about the pioneers and some of the things they did.  They were all given a bandana to tie around their neck like a boy pioneer or around their hair like girl pioneers.  They watched a short movie of the Indiana region doing the Trek with the Youth to visualize how it really was pulling handcarts.  Then they went on their own little “trek” through the church building “Singing as they walked and walked and walked.”   The kids then played some of the games that pioneer children played, including the “stick” game.  My boys remembered this game from the “Work and the Glory” movie when Joseph and Joshua competed with the stick.  They were excited to try it!  It was fun!  Later that week I heard them screaming upstairs and went to find out what was going on, and they were using a broom they found and using all their strength and might to compete against each other.  They were screams of delight!  What fun!

 The kids also got to make their own butter like pioneers.  They put heavy cream in baby food jars and shook them with all their might for 10 minutes or so until that cream bunched up into a solid mass of butter.  How amazing!  I never knew how easy it was to make butter!  Then they put it on biscuits just like the pioneers had done.  What a fun, informative, and unique activity for them!  Definitely one to remember!

Kaylee: 18 Months

Kaylee is 18 months old!!  Here are a few fun highlights about Kaylee at 18 months:

1. She started Nursery…and she loves it!!  Hurray!  She goes on in to her “class” without a worry or a cry.  When I peek through the windows on her, she is just her usual self, often climbing up to stand on the little chairs, or giggling or coloring.  She loves snack time of course.  When I come to pick her up, she squeals with delight most of the time, happy to see me.  Jaxton actually enjoys “picking her up from nursery” too.  He will go in there and she will squeal in delight to see him.  Then he usually just sticks around and plays until I come get them both.  It’s sweet to see him want to take care of her.  So, nursery for this little gal has been a success!!

2. Kaylee loves her brothers to pieces.  She always wants to know where they are.  When she wakes up, she asks me, “Daton? Poopa?” and I’ll let her know whether they are still asleep or downstairs or what not.  When we take Jaxton to school, she always asks again, “Daton?”  When I tell her he’s at school, she shakes her head yes and says, “Oh yeah yeah yeah.”  It’s pretty cute. 

3. Jaxton is super good with Kaylee, takes her hand and leads her somewhere and she willingly goes with him.  He helps her wash her hands, loves to build towers of blocks with her that she can topple over after 30 seconds and do all over again.  He can speak her language and understand anything she is trying to tell us.  Cooper also is great with her.  Especially when Jaxton is gone at school, Cooper turns into her little playmate and the two of them and I have a lot of fun together.  She loves to play the piano with Cooper, who is thrilled when she wants his attention!

4. Kayee’s favorite food is by far cottage cheese.  Now where in the genes might that have come from?  Of course, Daddy.  If she could, she would eat cottage cheese for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  We often have to hide the cottage cheese if its on the table for a meal so she can’t see it because once she sees it, she won’t eat anything else and simply demands her cottage cheese.  

5. I don’t know what it is about hot milk, but all my kids have liked hot milk as toddlers.  Kaylee won’t drink cold milk very often (though she is getting better as I have tried to not cater to her warmed up milk desires).  She likes it warmed up in the microwave for 50 seconds.  That 50 seconds is a long time to wait for a tiny little girl, so to eliminate the whining, we started a game.  As the timer goes down towards zero, we will say “Ready…………Set………..” and when its done we say “Go!”  So now, she asks for her “malk…ov’r there….hot….weddy, set, do!”  (Milk…over there…hot…ready set go!).  Such a cute personality!

6. Because of the new baby, we decided to try transferring her into a toddler bed.  We painted our toddler bed to match all the other furniture and set it in her room next to the crib.  She liked the freedom and I can usually hear her playing with her toys and pushing buttons over the monitor, but when it gets silent she usually has climbed up into bed and went to sleep on her pillow!  So the transition has gone well! 

7. Kaylee loves storytime at the library.  It’s her own little time and all summer the boys were great sports at going with us and joining the baby storytime.  Her favorite songs there are “Two Little Red Birds” where she bounces her thumbs and tries to whistle.  She also knows “Wheels on the Bus” and “If You’re Happy and You know it” from storytime.  Often they hand out shakers or bubbles to play with to music and of course she loves that.  Once in a while they have a parachute too.  It’s a fun half hour just for her!

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8. Kaylee has sort of figured out what friends are.  There are a few little ones at church that are her age and when we’ve spent time together with them, she has called them “fend” (friend).  I even caught her sharing a toy with one of them once.  What a sweetheart! 

Well, there are some fun highlights of our little year-and-a-half-old angel.  Her blue eyes and blond hair are to die for and we just love her so much!!

Summer Gatherings

 It is so wonderful to have our backyard landscaping underway.  For the past couple years we have worked on the flowerbeds and the grass and sod and the playground mulch.  This spring we planted flowers and shrubs in the flowerbeds and kept the sod grass green and thick with sprinklers throughout the scorching drought.  Now we were able to enjoy our hard work with a big fun gathering in our backyard.  We invited several families over for goodies, and an outdoor movie!!  Nate and his movie obsession gave him the idea to have an outdoor movie night in our backyard.  He set up a large movie screen and projector.  Everyone brought their own camping chairs and a snack to share.  The kids ran around and played all evening until it started to get dark out when we all settled down to watch CARS #1.  My boys had scratched this movie up from watching it soo much two years ago, that we haven't seen it for a long time.  So that's what was chosen!  It was pretty fun, and the kids had lots of fun memories.  Towards the end of the movie the kids couldn't sit any longer but ran around in the dark playing with flashlights and lanterns and trying to catch lightening bugs.  It was a great evening to remember!!

A New Baby on the Way

Yes, it is true, we are expecting baby # 4!  It will be a little boy and he is due on September 15th!  We always wanted to have "sets" of kids that are close in age so they could grow up together and have a sibling "buddy."  This has worked out so far and Jaxton & Cooper have truly become best buds.  Kaylee and the new baby boy will be about 20 months apart or so and I hope that they can be just as good buddies as their older brothers have become.  Here are some ultrasound pictures of our little guy, who is healthy and growing!  His profile, a front shot of his little face, and the proof that there is a little something in between his legs: A boy!  

This little guy doesn't have a name yet, but I'm sure it will come to us.  We plan to have him naturally, with no medications or interventions if necessary.  My Midwife, Stephanie, is absolutely wonderful.  I have never met a healthcare professional more personable and kind before.  For the second time now, we will be able to "barter" a security alarm system for prenatal care and delivery.  Her office recently built a birthing center called Auburn Birthing Center which is a small 3 bedroom little home complete with a kitchen, living room, and backyard.  This is where we plan to welcome our little guy into the world, in a peaceful environment without the stress and business of a hospital setting.  Our thoughts toward natural birth have evolved over the last several months, that giving birth is a natural thing that all female bodies are built to do.  The hospitals have turned labor and delivery into an "illness" where the "patients" must stay in bed, be given high amounts of anesthesia, and use expensive tools and medical equipment to get the baby out.  Though I am very grateful for modern day medical technology in saving many mothers and babies lives, for a non risk, normal birth, I greatly look forward to an opportunity to naturally allow my baby to enter this world without drugs or interventions.  I say that now, and I hope that everything goes smoothly.  More than anything, I want this new baby to have something special for him and me to remember about his birth, that was different than the other three.  It will be an exciting and unique experience!

More Fun in the Sun

 We always enjoy going to the YMCA splash pad during the summer.  It’s a place where I don’t have to worry about kids drowning, and yet they have so much fun!  We go with friends often, but it is also so nice sometimes to just go with our own family.  It brings the kids together.  They help Kaylee and run around with her letting her explore all the water spraying in different ways.  The boys run around together getting dumped on by the big buckets up high and spraying one another with the giant water guns.  I love to see my kids happy and playing together.  It makes everything worth it to see your own kids love one another and enjoy each other.  Kaylee loved to fill up paper cups with water and dump them on her belly.  And the boys enjoyed "laying out" on the lounge chairs to warm up after a while.  Fun summer times!!