Are Colds Really Still a Thing?

Not much of an exciting week around here.  Christian, Peter, and I have been sick.  Christian had to miss his soccer game yesterday which really bummed him out and we stayed home from church too.  Thank goodness for zoom or we would have missed seeing Benjamin's talk.  He did a great job on speaking about following the prophet.  Bella taught her Young Women's class too.  She said it went well but it was hard to get participation because everyone was playing around on their phones instead of paying attention.  Augh!! I hate those stupid phones.

In any case, we're all on the mend.  It's actually kind of weird to be sick since, thanks to the isolation of Covid, none of us has been sick in a long, long time.  Having a cold now feels quite novel.  Not fun, though.

Anyway, so we didn't do much outside of the usual things.  Peter got to ride the pony at the grocery store for the first time.  It had been taken out because of Covid, but now it's back.  Yay!  He had a great time and insisted on riding it more than once.

His "I do it!" attitude is really exerting itself in every aspect of life right now.  No help from anyone, just independence, regardless of difficulty.  Tonight he wouldn't let anyone help him with the gravy.  He grabbed the gravy boat and wouldn't let go and we worried he'd pour it all over the place if we fought him on it, so we agreed to let him pour it himself.  Sploosh, the entire supply of gravy over his entire plate.  Cracked me up when he still tried to choke down a few gravy-sodden pieces of toast.  He's also decided that sippy cups are for babies and only wants to drink out of cups like ours.  So that's what he gets.  Many times the front of his shirt gets more than his stomach, but he's doing better all the time.

A member of the marching band quit, leaving a spot open for a new bass drummer.  Benjamin auditioned and got it.  It was an away game on Friday and so he had to bring the drum home afterwards.  We all got a kick out of carrying it around and drumming on it.  Peter thought it sounded pretty fun too.  I love how between me and all the kids, Peter gets exposed to piano, saxophone, ukulele, guitar, recorder, and percussion.  We're all rooting for him to become a cello player, though, because it would round out our piano pieces so well. :)

Today since we were home and everyone else was at church, Christian and I were enjoying the sunshine outside.  I cannot remember how it came up, but somehow I discovered that he had no idea how to play hopscotch and had never played.  WHAT??  What is wrong with this generation?  So I drew up a hopscotch game and we played.  Not easy with both of us blowing our noses half the time, but it was a lot of fun.  Christian ended up winning one of the games and I won the other.

 

Our Little Animal Friend

I took Peter to the zoo on Monday and it was the perfect day for the zoo.  Overcast and not too hot.  It felt great to us, but more importantly, it felt great to the animals. The Detroit zoo is wonderful for animals because nearly all the enclosures are gigantic.  However, this means that there are have been many times when I've gone to the zoo and come home having seen almost no animals because they were all in some secluded, shady nook napping.  I'd gone at least 10 times before I'd ever spotted the gorillas, for example.  However, on this cool, overcast day, all the animals felt comfortable roaming and we saw animals we'd never seen before.  In addition to seeing the tiger awake for the first time, the red panda for the first time, the entire chimp family for the first time, etc.  The lemurs were especially curious too.  Well, at least one was.   This little cutie stood by the glass and intently studied each child that came by.  He was undeterred by little ones who banged on the glass or a crazy couple of older ladies who screeched and took selfies and went bizerk over how cute he was.  When the coast was clear, Peter dared to venture over to the cute little lemur and share a moment with him too.  It was adorable the way they just looked at each other, each calmly studying the other.  Soul-mates for sure.

Despite the unusually active animals, however, it really seemed that Peter, as most toddlers, preferred the animals he could climb on.  What would a zoo be without a dozen, scorching hot, bronze animal statues, worn shiny by thousands of little people climbing all over them?   Luckily with the overcast skies, they weren't hot this day and Peter made the most of it.  The elephant was his favorite.  He kept talking to it and encouraging it to get up and play with him.

Just a couple other random photos - at church waiting for mommy to finally finish talking to people and at art class - he was supposed to paint, but washing out the brushes was far more interesting, so he spent most of his time doing that.  I was fine with that.  I enjoy the time we spend in class doing art, whatever form that may take.

Fun with Peter

 As the older ones are in school all day now, Peter and I have been living it up.  I signed him up for library story time and a toddler art class.  Besides that, we've been enjoying Greenfield Village and local farms.  On the agenda for next week is the pool and the zoo.

My favorite farm in the area is Three Cedars Farm.  The last time I took Peter, he was barely walking and it was so fun to see the difference now.  We stayed for hours and he was so happy.  Our first stop was the hay ride.  It was still early morning, mid-week, so we had the ride to ourselves. 

When it finished, the driver offered to let Peter sit on the tractor.  He hadn't turned it off yet, though and Peter is very afraid of loud engine noises.  He freaks out if Kelly ever tries to put him on a motorcycle while it's running.  So, when the driver did that, Peter was about to lose it.  He managed to keep from crying but I could tell he was close, so I asked the driver to turn off the engine.  

Peter calmed right down and gave me his "cheese" smile.

After that we went to see the animals and then it was over to the corn box and the mini tractors.  I wanted to take him to see these because I have pictures of all my boys at this spot around the same age and it's fun to compare.  I tried to get action shots on the tractor-trikes, but every time he noticed the camera, he swung his legs over like he was posing.  So funny.

Here are the pictures of Benjamin and Christian at the same age:

My favorite picture of this place is from when Christian was one.  Peter couldn't ride them at one because of covid, but this is cutie Christian:

A telling indication of what Bella's life was like as a small child - there's no picture of her on the tractors at two. I had 2 month old Christian and crazy 4 year old Benjamin and so this was the only picture I got of the farm when she was two:

He nailed that jump, by the way.  He always did.  It was always his favorite activity at the farm and I remember people always stopping to watch him fly from one to the other asking, "doesn't it scare you that he'll fall?"   I just always answered, "he never does."  We had to take "flying" pictures every time we went.

Peter on the same hay bales.  He had no intention of even attempting to jump, but I lifted him and flew him from one to the other and he loved that.

                                        

Peter's favorite activity at the farm was the corn box.  He was in pure heaven.  "This is the best thing I've ever seen!!" he seemed to be saying the whole time.

He rolled in it, poured it over his head, buried his feet, poked his head into it like an ostrich, jumped into it, ran it through his fingers, and stuffed it in his pockets.  He was having a religious experience in the corn.  For an HOUR I sat there with him while he played in the corn.  Kids came and went, and we stayed.  Each time I asked if he wanted to move on, he emphatically responded, "More corn!"  

Finally only the train could pull him away.  We rode the ridiculously adorable little train around the farm to his great delight.  It goes through mini tunnels, makes real train sounds and each kid gets their own car in their color of choice.  It's a two year old's dream. 

On the way out we had to stop at the cow bench - the infamous cow bench.  The downside to the farm is the wasps.  They are everywhere due to the cider and donuts that the farm sells.  The cow bench is the location of Bella's first wasp sting (she was 3) and she has never, ever forgotten that day. 

She still hates the cow bench, but I love to use it for picture comparisons and, this is funny, but that is the only picture I have of Bella at the farm - the moment the wasp stung her.  I had no idea why she jumped up and was crying when I took the picture. You can tell Benjamin was confused too. Her hand later swelled up fiercely and we hurried home.

Lastly Peter found the fake cow that squirts water from its udders. He thought that was amazing.  He was going to milk that cow dry.  I can't wait to take him to the farm where they'll let the kids milk a real cow.  All my other kids loved that. 

Peter's vocabulary is exploding and it's amazing how we can talk to each other all day long now.  He still speaks almost exclusively in nouns, but if you're with him all day long and know the context of what he's saying, it's very clear.  He's also started singing more and making up his own songs.  As we drove home from the farm that day, the magic of the train struck him and he made up a song about it.  I listened to him sing it for multiple minutes and the two of us sang it together too.  He would sing and then ask me to sing and I'd improvise around his melody as he'd sing his part.  It was a lot of fun.  Finally I thought to make a video.  Of course, by this time he'd almost worn out of doing it and I didn't want to let him know I was filming or he would have stopped, so I held the phone down and away (thus the image of my passenger seat, rather than Peter).  However, just as I started the video, he changed the song.  He kept the tune, but I guess the car ride had gotten too long for him, and it became the "go home" song.  So, the video starts with the "go home" song, but I manage to get him to sing the train song again by the end of the video. It's no musical masterpiece, but I love his little voice and I think it's so fun that he's doing little things like this now.

Back To School!

 School started today and everyone had good things to say about the day, so I call it a success.  On Sunday we had our traditional back to school dinner.  Each year we have a special dinner and I introduce the theme for the year which I have prayerfully chosen.  This year it's "Your strength is in me" - the words of God to Edward Partridge when he was called to be a bishop.  I wanted to help the kids see that school presents challenges and opportunities of all kinds and that they should embrace them with the Lord's help.  He will make things possible for them and he will help them throughout it if they rely on him and let him prevail in their lives.  We had a really good discussion about this and the kids stayed at the table longer than any dinner in a year. 

 Bella made brownies for dessert but forgot to add eggs, so they turned into bubbly toffee that became more of science experiment than dessert, but luckily the mistake made for even more time spent around the table.  Then we got on the topic of physical strength and strength training and an arm-wrestle competition broke out.  The award for overall strength went to Kelly as he was undefeated.  The winner of "cutest battle" went to the wrestle between Christian and Peter.  

Monday night Kelly gave all the kids a father's blessing and today they started school.  Benjamin had to be there for marching band at 7am.  They were supposed to play as a welcome to everyone.  So, he had to go before it was even light out and our traditional backyard school pic became simply an indoor one. 

When the other two were dressed, I got them to pose for a picture.  It's amazing how much they change in a year.

I will miss having them home.  I really enjoy having them all close during the summer.  However, two things make me happy that school is starting again - 1. less screen time for the kids and 2. time alone with Peter.  He gets short-changed a lot as the 4th kid and it'll be nice to have a chance to focus on him without constant interruption.

I'm also really excited for them to be back in person.  I pray they have great opportunities with other kids and positive adult role models.  May covid stay at bay so they don't have to shut down again.

Fife Lake - Last Vacation of the Summer

 To finish off our summer vacation, we decided to head back to our favorite vacation spot - Fife Lake.  I can't count the number of times we've been there now.  Dave and Colleen's place is a gem and they are so nice to keep letting us use it.  Every time I come there I feel like I'm coming home - it has the same peaceful, familiar feel and I love every inch of that little town, its lake, its people, and its forests and trails.  It's a place I'm always sad to leave.  We spent every morning (by we, I mean Kelly, Bella, and Christian) motorcycling and every afternoon swimming.  Benjamin didn't want to go (teenage boy drama) and protested the fact that we made him come anyway by never leaving the house.  He rode only two short trips and swam only once in the 6 days we were there.  The rest of the time he sat at the house and refused to get off the electronic devices.  Unfortunately because we weren't at our house, we didn't have any parental controls set up on anything, so we could remove our own devices, but the house still had tv that connected to the internet.  Unless we wanted to sit around the house all day too and monitor him, he did what he wanted most of the time.  Alas, the rest of us had a great outdoors vacation without him.

When the others were out motorcycling, I stayed with Peter and we played on the lake, played with toys, went to the library, went grocery shopping, went to the playground, or just walked around.

I got on the motorcycle once after Christian begged me.  I rode to the end of the trail by our house with him and realized I had no idea how to stop, turn around, or restart the bike if it died.  I managed to get the bike turned around and make it back home, but I was done.  Christian was grateful for my effort and the sweetie told me it was fun to ride with me.  Thanks kid.  Let's stick to kayaks.  

Bella and Christian liked swimming or kayaking on the lakes the best, so that's what we did most of the time.  There is an ice cream shop across from Fife Lake and I told the kids, "We're not going to eat here every day."  Total lie.  I couldn't say no.  They ate there every day, often right before dinner.  Oh well, a last hooray of summer.

Christian kept forgetting his sunglasses and so about half my pictures of him are with his eyes closed.

We also went to the Sleeping Bear dunes while we were there.  Peter LOVES to play in sand.  He was sooo sad when we left.  He could have played around in those dunes all day long.  He slid and rolled and dug without a care in the world.  So fun to see him so happy.  Let's not talk about what his diaper looked like at the end of the day!  I think we took half of the dune home with us.

On the way home, we stopped at Grand Traverse Bay.  It was too cold to swim for everyone but Christian.  He's a polar bear.  The rest of us just enjoyed the playground and sand.

When we weren't swimming or motorcycling, we relaxed around at home, rode bikes around town, played card games, or went to the library.  The library there is first rate and the kids (not Benjamin) love hanging out there.  When we were at home, the best thing was grilling hot dogs and roasting marshmallows over the fire.

Kelly strung up his hammock and that was a fun spot to relax and to take naps.

One day I gave Bella my phone so there'd be some proof I was on vacation too.  It's fun to see her pictures.  She's not a shabby photographer.  Funny how even if she's the photographer, she's in most of them.  Guess that's the selfie generation.  (There are FAR more pictures, but these are my favorites)

Peter loves to pretend to be his brothers.  Here he is imitating Christian (black hat and rubik's cube)

Here he is imitating Benjamin (camo hat and chilling in his pjs) :)

Last cute picture (taken by Bella).  This is Peter eating his favorite food - cream of wheat.  Every day he wakes up and says, "Milk!" I give him a cup of milk and then he says, "Wheat!"  He will plead for "wheat" until it comes.  And then again every time he gets hungry.  He likes it with mashed bananas, raisins and a little extra cream.    I made sure to bring lots of it to the cabin.  He's adorable and INCREDIBLY messy.