Drums and Parades

Bella was asked by a friend who plays in a band to be one of the people who walks in front during a parade and carries the banner with their band's name on it.  Bella had no interest in doing that but wanted to be a good friend, so she said yes. I had church commitments, Benjamin was at a scout campout, and Christian had a soccer game all at the same time, so Kelly and Peter accompanied her.  Kelly was not so stellar about pictures so this is all I have of the parade - the before picture at a library while they waited for the parade to start.  Alas, imagine Bella carrying a banner with her friend Charlie (on the left) while her other friend Carolin (in the middle) plays the drums.  

Peter loved it apparently, because after that he wanted to "play drums like Carolin in parade."  He got out the pans and some spoons and rocked out.  It was so cute.

Peter has been all things toddler lately - inquisitive, talkative, moody, opinionated, stubborn, charming, and cuddly.  He's a riot.  We've also started speaking German (have put this off too long already) and I must say, he's got the best pronunciation of any of my kids.  So far he's been very open to learning.  Let's hope that continues.

Some fun pictures from lately:  toy time after story time at the library

Our walks with Coco

Playing on the playground while we wait for Christian to finish soccer practice.  His little chicken "cheep cheep" had to come along.

What happens when Peter finds my phone and hides in the bathroom with it.  No less than 107 photos shot on live mode (so about 13 photos in each clip) that look almost exactly like this one:

How Kelly tells Christian that he's sick and tired of him leaving his toothbrush on the countertop every night:

Super hilarious, but sadly ineffective.  He left it out again the very night this note was received.  There's no point fighting entropy.

A Good Day for a Parade

One of my favorite books to read with Peter this past week has been "Sometimes Cake" by Edwina Wyatt.  In the book, the main character, Audrey, and her friend Lion have a parade.  After reading it, I suggested that Peter and I have a parade too.  We discussed it and decided that a parade should have musical instruments and balloons.  He chose a blue balloon to blow up and decided he'd like to play the recorder in the parade.  I chose the drum (Benjamin's drum pad).  I tied the balloon to him so he'd have his hands free and away we went around the upstairs, tooting and drumming and dragging our balloon.  Then he decided he'd like to be the drummer, but the pad was too heavy to carry while drumming, so we marched in place while he drummed on the chair and I played the recorder.  It was a lot of fun.  It's a darling book and I'm so grateful for the reminder it provided that every day is a good day for a celebration and a parade.

 

I Love Sundays

 Every day of the week, the kids are always on their devices and it's a battle to get them to do anything else.  Sundays Christian and Bella have committed to keep them off and it makes Sundays so much fun.  The kids have creativity and play together and it's like old times. Today Christian decided to make a cup stack.  He and Peter spent the morning before church stacking dozens of cups in a variety of ways.  The best part, of course, was knocking them back down.  Sundays allow us to take walks (and to jump in puddles when asked specifically to walk around them), enjoy board games, and spend time at church together.  It's really a wonderful day.

Last week all three older kids participated in an annual piano competition which they do every year.  It was Benjamin's last year of the competition and he was so happy to be done.  It marks the end of piano lessons for him. He has fought and fought me on taking lessons and has pretty much refused to practice for months now, so we made the agreement that he would prepare of the competition and then he could be done.  I'm super sad about it.  He has so much natural talent and I think he could be really amazing, but $25/lesson so he could refuse to practice all week was getting tiresome.  No matter the consequences I enacted, he was unmoved.  It was time to end the battle.  He gave me one happy smile photo but he really wanted the triumphant victor photo too.  We still haven't gotten the scores back.  Christian was the only one with a flawless performance, but we'll see how the judges felt.  Sadly, parents aren't allowed in the room, so no videos to show.

Just a random picture I found that I thought was funny: this is how Peter joins Christian on the computer - laying on his mouse hand, leaning directly in front of the screen so Christian can't see.  Every time.  

Peter picks up more and more teen slang every day.  Today I was telling him that I would like him to be more careful with my things because sometimes he'll take my things and break them, as he had just then with one of my items.  His response: "Fat L!" and away he went.  Thank you Benjamin for teaching him that little retort.  A few days ago he was trying to tell me something and I couldn't understand and he got frustrated and retorted, "Fine, bye Felicia!"  Thank you Christian for that one.  What I find remarkable is that he doesn't just learn the phrases, but he knows perfectly when and how (with just the right amount of sass) to employ them.  It's both annoying and incredibly impressive.

Blessings of Scouting

 I've always loved scouts and I once again was reminded why this week.  Bella was trying to complete her last requirements for the next rank and this included completing an orienteering course.  We couldn't find one nearby, so I got permission from her scout master to design my own in a nearby park.  One afternoon we packed up and I gave her the map I'd printed and a compass and she had to lead us through the park to the landmarks I'd designated.  Had it not been for this requirement, she never would have ventured out in the freezing cold woods all afternoon and neither would Christian or Peter.  However, she was motivated to get it done and it was a total blast.  We had so much fun that no one wanted to go home.  Christian even said, "I'm so glad I came.  I would have spent the afternoon on my computer, but this was way better."  Yes!! If only they would always remember that.  If only I could have convinced Benjamin to come.  I think he would have had fun too.  The frozen lake was the highlight.  You could walk all the way across it.  They kids had a blast skating in their boots.

This is in the middle of the lake:

Peter's new favorite place to stand.  I have so many pictures of my other three there, that it was fun to see him finally find his way to this spot as well.  He's growing up.  We attended a preschool open house tonight for him!  What!?!?  Where has the time gone? 

Peter's favorite phrase currently: "Do you have pickles on your feet?"  I have no idea where this came from but he'll frequently call from another room, "Mommy!"  "Yes?"  "Do you have pickles on your feet?"  Yesterday Bella's friend Carolin was over.  He asked her, "Do you have pickles on your feet?"  Cute girl that she is, she said, "Why yes I do have pickles on my feet!  Thank you for noticing!"  He thought that was hilarious.  Funny kid.