The Boy Has Skills

Adam impresses me with this skills.

 

Gardening skills. Nail pounding skills. Bug hunting skills.

 

And lately, artistic skills.

 

Wherever we go he seems to have a sketchbook and marker in hand. I love to look through his sketchbook at the end of the day to see what caught his eye and how it was captured by his hand.

 

 

 

I really do think that he's pretty talented for a 4 year old.

 

He draws inspiration from the world around him.

 

Like when he draws a picture of his sister ...

 

 

Or pictures of animals he sees in books ...

 

 

 

Or animals he sees around the neighborhood ...

 

 

He draws inspiration from architecture ...

 

 

And recently I discovered he finds inspiration from tender moments within the walls of our home.

 

Like when his mother is nursing his baby sister ...

 

 

 

 

There's a Scout in the House

 

 

A few weeks ago when I picked Henry up after school he came running out of the classroom waving a piece of paper. Before I could ask him about it he shouted, "I want to do this! I want to do this!" and shoved the paper into my hand.

 

It was a flier for Boy Scouts.

 

Now, we've been pretty selective with the activities we sign up for in our home. Mostly because too much busyness takes away from family time and causes unnecessary stress. And because we love family time and do NOT love stress, we often choose to forgo extracurricular activities. But when those big brown eyes looked up at me with genuine excitement about something my heart told me it was time.

 

Matt agreed.

 

 And the rest is history.

 

So without further ado ...

 

 Introducing our Tiger Cub, Henry T. Barron.

 

 

And also his Tiger Cub Den Leader, Matt (aka - Daddy).

 



 

 A picture really does says a thousand words.

 

Henry loves that his Daddy is his leader. 

Brothers

 

 

Lately I've been overwhelmed (in a wonderful way) by the friendship by boys share.

 

Like the other day when Henry came running inside ...

 

  Adam, do you want to be on my team?

 

  Sure Henry! What team?

 

  My butterfly care team!

 

 

And last night when they set up a "shadow station" in our family room and made monster shadows on the wall for over an hour.

 

 Or like almost every afternoon when they go in their room together, close the door and listen to audio stories on their boom box.

 

And then this afternoon, when they looked outside and declared it the perfect day for a "snack picnic." So together they packed snacks, gathered a couple books, found a blanket and went outside for a brother's picnic.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I know my cup always runneth over, but in moments like these I am acutely aware of my blessings. So much so that I told Matt just last night,

 

 "Matt, today was one of those days that made me want to have one more baby and start homeschooling." 

 

And to which he replied, "Are you crazy?!"

 

 Yes. I must be.
(I've heard four kids age 6 and under will do that to you)

 

 

Well Hot ...

 

 

Well it looks like preschool is paying off!

 

Adam's written vocabulary is growing by leaps and bounds

 

We couldn't be more proud.

 

 

"Dam ... dam... dam. I can spell dam!"

 

 

 

(FYI - Earlier this afternoon we were watching a documentary on our national parks. A portion of the program focused on environmental efforts in the 1950's preventing dams from being built in a number of the parks. I guess he was paying more attention than we realized)

 

Emily's Nursery Reveal

 

 

 

Emily is finally in her nursery!

 

We thought about going with a "shabby chic" motif for the décor.

 

But then settled on just "shabby".

 

Nothing chic about it.

 

She seems happy with it (as always).

 

 

 

 

 

Another Day in Paradise

 Henry "sewed" Emily a shirt today.

 (It says, "I love you em")

 

 

 

 

Adam had insomnia for 2 hours in the middle of the night last night so he quietly made some art and decorated his bathroom.

(he also made a book about bugs)

 

 

 

 

And Claire is just Claire. I am convinced she's going to be an actress.

 (Or at least the center of attention wherever she goes)

 

 

Camped Out

This weekend we packed it in (a tent trailer) and headed up to Lassen National Park for our annual church camping trip. My how our family has changed since our trip last year! I'm too tired to really do the trip justice in this post. Let's just say we ate, we played, we biked, we fished, we rolled in dirt, we cried, and we did NOT sleep. Add to that we spent time with some of the best people around and our trip is about summed up.

  

I'll let these pictures do the rest of the talking for me.