Back to School

Last September was hard. Really hard. Josh had his cleft palate surgery on the same day that the twins started soccer practice, and then Seth and Sam started Classical Conversations a week later. I was dealing with Josh healing from mouth surgery and trying to figure out first year homeschooling all at the same time. Let's just say, this year has been much, much easier! 

We started our second year of Classical Conversations about three weeks ago and I'm tutoring the boys' class this year. Instead of chasing around Josh all morning, trying to keep him out of trouble and quiet, my next door neighbor is watching him. It's been wonderful! I'm really enjoying teaching the boys and having a break from toddler-hood. 

It's amazing to see how far Seth and Sam have matured in a year. Instead of being quiet and reserved going back to school, Sammy even volunteered to hold the flag on opening morning. Instead of being tentative on the first day of soccer practice, they ran out to the field and started confidently kicking the ball around. 

Getting back into the groove of homeschooling and a (very loose) routine hasn't been seamless. It's busy (hence no blogs...in fact very few pictures taken!). A lot of days I wonder how I'm going to have the time to teach the boys, take of care of Josh, keep a decent house, make meals, do yard work, etc. I often wonder if we're doing the right thing by homeschooling. Then I see the boys excelling in their school work, having wonderful free time at home, being creative and imaginative, reading like crazy and I remember that it's going to be okay. One year at a time. This year homeschooling is right for them. It's not a forever choice.  Some days we do quite a bit of school; some days we do barely any. Some days they complain about taking a break from their imaginary "Hanger and George" world to do school work, and some days their half and hour of reading time turns into an hour because they are so engrossed in what they are learning. Homeschooling is something I never expected to do, but the more we do it, the more I love it. And so for this year, we're embracing it and all the freedom it affords us and the family time it gives us.

First day of school pictures:

 Reading with Joshy in the morning before they leave

                                         Seth                                                              Seth, Sam

                  Sammy holding the flag                                               Nice pose Sam

Summer Fun List: Part 2

As Summer comes to a close we are scrambling to finish our family fun list. In fact, there are several things we aren't going to complete, but we've already composed our "Fall Fun List." 

Watching a movie outside was a big hit. Ben and I even laid outside and watched a second movie under the stars after the boys went to bed. It was really fun.

 GF/DF homemade chocolate chip cookies for the win

 This wasn't on our fun list, but we had no way of anticipating it: we watched the airplane make this smiley face in the sky. It was so fun! 

 Just this last week we finally checked off "Go to the Wilsonville Slash Park with Plato's". Katie and I met there for a picnic lunch and fun in the water. The kids had so much fun! (Notice the boys' haircuts in these pictures.) 

 Josh looks like such a big boy with his hair cut! He also looks more like the twins did at this age.

 I think it's so cute how Edmund and Josh are looking at each other in this picture.

 This last picture cracks me up. The big kids found out if they all laid blocking the river that they could form a dam. It ended up being a big hit with a bunch of other kids who swam and played in the "reservoir" created. I was proud of their innovation.

We've also checked off: hike the Crown Zellerbach trail, fair and pick peaches. We haven't quite decided when to transition to our Fall list, but we've sure enjoyed having special things to do as a family that we've thought out and written down. I'd definitely recommend "fun lists."

Joshua: 2 Years Old

Josh came into this world on his own terms. We had a scheduled c-section for 9 in the morning--he came naturally at 6:42. He didn't cry when he came out. I think that his delivery has been indicative of his life. He likes to do things his own way and in his own time.

He smiled early and often. Ben and I watched some videos of his first year of life and the theme of them all was that he was such a happy baby. He continues to be a delight to everyone around him. Although he has a very strong personality and can make us crazy with his willfulness, when I think of his role in our family I think of laughter and joy. He is such a perfect completer to our twins' more calm and steady personalities. He is a rascal and very up and down emotionally. He's intense and passionate. He's persistent. He loves to laugh. He's charming.

Above all interests: Josh loves to drive. He loves all vehicles, but especially tractors and 4-wheelers. He asks all day to ride the 4-wheeler. He loves to look at any books about vehicles. He loves to sit in the front seat of our cars and pretend to drive (and press the buttons and start our windshield wipers and blinkers and sample gum in the console.)

Josh is also interested in doing anything that the big boys are doing. He follows them around all day trying to be just like them. He loves to ride his balance bike very fast. He loves to go on walks. He terrorizes our dog daily as she is the only thing he can boss around. He likes to color and build blocks. He loves being outside. He can dribble a soccer ball pretty well. He loves brushing his teeth.

His language skills continue to amaze me. He talks all the time and I can understand probably 80% of it. He's starting to talk in full sentences like, "I ride in the car," or "Yes, I did." He made me burst out in laughter the other morning when Seth woke up and came out to the living room and Josh said, "Morning, Monk," just like I would. He asked the big boys to stop talking in the car yesterday. He can sing "Twinkle, Twinkle," "Itsy, bitsy spider," and "Oodiloly," (from Robin Hood). He loves to answer, "No!" to any and everything. He is constantly asking me, "What's dat for?" or "What's dis, Mama?" I hear "Wook at me," and "Come 'ere," multiple times a day. 

Josh loves, loves, loves his daddy and asks every day where he is. If Ben is home, Josh is at his heels. However, he does want to know where I am at all times. He still refuses to be left at the nursery, but thankfully will go over to the neighbors and will be babysat by Olivia or Abby. He's been struggling to fall asleep at night, crying and asking, "Where's Daddy?" (Perhaps fall out from being gone to Hawaii?) 

Having a toddler gluten and dairy free isn't very easy. He has a pretty limited diet. He eats two sausage patties every morning for breakfast (because him actually liking scrambled eggs would be way too easy for me). He likes tostadoes or humus and crackers for lunch. About the only vegetable I can get him to eat is broccoli. He eats fruit pretty good. He loves chips, pepperoni, and chocolate chips. And how could I forget? If he's ever crying, just offer him fruit snacks...he eats about three packs a day. 

 The kid knows how to get dirty!

 Josh wants to be just like his big brothers. They are so sweet with him...even when he's quite the pest

 We celebrated Josh's birthday with the Plato family. He got a tractor from Papa and Titi, which makes sounds and is a big hit. He loves it.

 The Plato family got Joshy his own electric toothbrush. He LOVES it because brushing his teeth is one of his favorite things to do. And the picture on the right is him opening a very cool screw/tool set from Uncle Tom and Aunt Julie. They are always so thoughtful in sending the kids gifts!

 The tool set:

 We bought Josh a cozy coupe car for his birthday present. He loves driving, and now perhaps will drive his own car instead of always wanting to sit in ours and "drive."

On Josh's actual birthday, we followed our tradition of getting him a balloon at the Dollar Tree. Seth and Sam each purchased him a gift from money that they earned doing chores. That evening we had him open his gifts of books from Ben and I (another tradition of ours), then the presents from the boys, and then had apple crisp for dessert. It was a sweet night with just us five.

 This boy loves his daddy. Look at the adoration in his eyes...

 Opening his gift of a calculator from Sam (he always wants to play with the big boys', so it was a very thoughtful gift)

 Hugs with Sammy

 Hugs with Seth. Seth gave him a new coloring book.

 My own calculator!

 He was a little shy when we all sang him happy birthday. 

 He was also unsure of the candles on the crisp and couldn't figure out how to blow them out.

 So the twins helped him.

Big Island Anniversary Trip: Part 2

Well, I'm no longer guiltlessly blogging while listening to the lapping of waves. We're back home and while it's been a bit of an adjustment back to the realities of non-vacation life, we were so happy to be with the boys again!

I don't have as many pictures from the second half of our trip; we forgot the big camera one of the days, and in general did less "exciting" adventures in the final days. We packed all the adventures into the first few days because there was a hurricane in the Pacific Ocean close to Hawaii that was possibly going to hit the island at the end of the week. Not wanting to miss out on star gazing and helicopter rides due to high winds and torrential downpours, we did A LOT the first days (which amounted to a lot of driving!). Hurricane Hilda never did come in force. The only effects we saw of her was a couple hours of heavy rain on our final night on the island. Daily watching the weather forecast because of the storm was a fun memory of the trip (especially because it didn't ruin vacation!)

The last days we did lots of beaches and snorkeling! The beach below was one of my favorites, called Waialea Beach. It was where I conquered my fear of snorkeling--well, actually where we discovered that I could handle snorkeling as long as I just used the goggles and not the breathing tube. Because being out in the ocean is already stressful for me, I need lots of air, and was hyperventilating with the breathing tube. However, with a boogie board at my side, and just goggles, I was able to snorkel with my more adventurous husband, which was wonderful. I was also able to return home and tell my six year olds that I put into practice one of Ben's favorite parenting lines, "Don't let fear rob you of a good experience."

That evening we ate dinner at Lava Lava Beach Club, and got the BEST seat of the night. We ate dinner with our feet in the sand while watching a beautiful sunset.

We knew it was the best spot on the beach because it ended up being the place that EVERYONE took their family pictures in front of. We laughed lots as we got asked to take pictures often. 

But in return, we got someone to take ours!

It ended up being the best sunset of the trip. It went from this (which was pretty spectacular) 

And finished as this. God is such an artist.

The next day was the day we forgot our camera; so we have very few pictures, but great memories that I better report before forgetting! We headed out in the morning to visit Kona. We had fun shopping for souvenirs (we had to buy Ben a new outfit because he hadn't packed enough clothes!) and we also stopped by the open air market to get a sampling of Hawaiian fruit. These things definitely don't grow in the Pacific Northwest!

Next we went to a place called "Two Step" because you step down two lava rocks and are in the ocean for some amazing snorkeling. Luckily as we were preparing to get in the water, I overheard someone talking about seeing dolphins and pointing. So Ben and I took our boogie board and swam out way further than I ever would have been comfortable--if there wasn't a possibility of seeing dolphins! Sure enough, we actually heard the dolphins first. Ben and I's heads both popped out of the water and we looked at each other wondering if those clicking noises were them. Then we saw them! For the next half an hour or so, we saw many different groups of spinner dolphins all around us in the bay. We would see the tops of them, we saw them swimming far below us, and we saw them jump out of the water and spin! We were even blessed to see a mama with her baby swimming right underneath us and then surface. It was one of the most amazing experiences of our lives. The picture below is of Two Step Beach. Unfortunately, it does not have any dolphins in it :) 

The other beach we visited to snorkel ended up being a bit of a bust (and how could you compare to seeing dolphins anyways), so we went to a third beach and spent the afternoon watching people body board on a beach with decent waves. It was very fun and relaxing. Then we ate dinner looking out over a bay and were blessed with another amazing sunset.  (Ben was all about the tikki torches in the picture...very artistic, my love)

Friday was our final full day on the island. We had another slow morning at the hotel. The entire vacation, we stayed close to our pacific time zone schedule, so even if I slept in until 8:30 or so, that was 5:30 am Hawaiian time. We took advantage of this and would one of the first people on the beach each morning. It was amazing. 

Watching the sunrise on Hapuna Beach...Ben's are the only footprints in a half mile long beach

I would do my devotionals in a lobby so I could drink my coffee and have free internet. Here's my view: 

We didn't want to do a ton of driving that day (since we would be traveling the whole next day), so we skipped the waterfalls (next time!). We did, however, drive to a cattle community called Waimea and then on to see an amazing valley called Waipi'o. Someday, we hope to return and hike to the bottom of the valley and see those waterfalls we missed! 

That afternoon we hung out at our hotel's beach, which was definitely our favorite beach of the trip. Ben did some more body surfing:

Then, we got our first experience of Hawaiian rain. It was so funny to have warm rain. We stayed on the beach for awhile (we were already wet anyways!), until we heard thunder, and then headed to our room to play scrabble. It ended up raining the whole evening, so we didn't get a sunset. 

Here's our final picture of Hapuna Beach from the morning we left. It was such an amazing beach! Good-bye Big Island. We loved you and hope to return soon...maybe even with our kiddos this time!