Kid updates- February 2014

Alex is 4.5 and is so curious about everything!  He loves to build with blocks and I frequently find crosses, rockets, churches and houses everywhere. I even found a compass made out of blocks once :)  Every day, he and Mary color pictures, and they always include hearts, houses, people (sometimes with belly buttons, lol) and trees.  The other day he drew me a picture and and when I asked him to tell me about it he said, "It's mommy kissing Alex and hearts come out."  :)  He loves to be near me (especially in the evenings when the other two have gone to bed) and sometimes crawls in my lap and says, "I want to be close to your heart."  He is so sweet, and both him and Mary love making presents (toys wrapped up in blankets) for Alex and I.  School is going well, although it is hard to keep him focused.  He can write most letters, can read simple words, and we are working on simple addition/subtraction.  The memory work is fun, and I think memorization is fairly easy for him.  This semester he is doing music, and I am excited to sit in on a class soon and see what he is learning!  

Space is still a big thing, and he got an awesome set for Christmas that included this Mars rover.  I am considering having him talk about it for his next presentation at co-op.

Some artwork from the last few months...

My sweet Mary will be 3 in two days!  She loves her baby sister and is (usually) so sweet and gentle with her. Alex is still her favorite playmate though, and is lost without him when he is not around.  She loves "noodies" (spaghetti or mac and cheese) and is still a good eater.  Her eczema symptoms are really mild  right now. I'm not sure if it because it's winter, but I am hoping that it is due to a new cream I got that has calendula in it.  The true test will be this summer, when it seems to flare up bad.  Hoping the calendula is the miracle treatment we have been searching for!  She is good at keeping herself busy while I work with Alex, and loves to do "busy bags".

Lucy is now 14 months and is reaching some fun milestones.  She JUST started taking a few steps the first few days of February and is my latest walker (Alex was 12.5 months and Mary was 13 months).  Even now, she only take 6-7 steps at a time and then prefers to crawl the rest of the way.  Her first word was "nana" (banana) and she also says "dada" intentionally, and "poop" (lol!).  She still nurses a lot, and I have to be careful when I sit down on the floor near her because she will crawl over and try and pull down my shirt!  Part of me wants to continue for as long as she needs, but I am also getting baby fever, and will need her to go longer stretches without nursing if I ever want to get pregnant again!  Her new favorite thing to do is climb on Mary's toddler bed and bounce around on her knees.  And she is such a daddy's girl, and gets so excited when Alex gets home :)

Rub a dub dub, three kids in a tub

Christmas 2013

Alex and Mary were SO into Christmas this year.  I few days before, they made a manger in their room for baby Jesus.

Complete with a star on top :)

They have also spent part of almost every day wrapping "gifts" for Alex and I, and each other.  They take small toys, wrap them in blankets, and put them under the tree.  They also enjoy drawing pictures and writing notes to daddy.  Alex's favorite things to draw right now are houses and angels.

Whenever this crazy boy gets excited about something, he prefaces his statement with, "I didn't know..."  So with all the excitement of Christmas, we heard it more than usual:

"I didn't know we have a snowflake plate!"

"I didn't know I got a new watch!"

"I didn't know Grammy gave us snowman activity books!"

So funny :)

On Christmas Eve we went to Mass at my parent's church, and came back to their house for a spaghetti dinner.  

Christmas morning pictures:

Yes, that is Halloween candy that I saved.  Won't be able to be sneaky like that in a few years!

I love this picture of Alex showing off all his favorite new things (a 49er's hat, a watch (he loves to tell time), and a lunchbox for school)

After naps, we headed back to my parents house for a scrumptious prime rib dinner.  The kids couldn't wait for dinner to be over so they could tear into the massive mountain of presents under the tree.  Here they are waiting patiently for us to give them the ok to start :)

We had a wonderful day, and a great Christmas season as well.  Wishing you the best in 2014!

Advent 2013

I figured I should get some Advent pictures posted since Christmas Eve is tomorrow!  Here are some highlights:

Dec. 6th- St. Nicholas Day.  Gold coins in the shoes and a new book for each kid.

Close up of the coins w/ St. Nicholas pictures from Shower of Roses.

I bought these cute little Playmobil figures at the last minute when the Catholic Child website had a free shipping day.  They arrived just in time!

They go great with the Playmobil Nativity set I bought on eBay.  This set is retired, and I was excited to find one at a good price that included all the pieces.  I had been searching for a good play set for a few years, and I like this one because the figures move and have lots of little accessories.

There was finally enough snow a few weeks ago for the kids to go out and play.  I put on the snow pants I got for them and they played out there for a few hours!

Lucy watched them play and wished she could join them.  Soon, baby girl.  You gotta start walking first!



She was sick with an ear infection the first part of December.  Neither Alex or Mary have ever had an ear infection, so I wasn't suspecting that when I brought her into urgent care with a 103.5 fever.  The amoxicilin gave her really bad diarrhea, so I tried to make sure she got lots of fluids while she was recovering.

Alex and Mary are glad their baby sister is feeling better.  They have these funny nicknames for her, and lately have been calling her growly or sniffy.  Not sure where they came up with those names, but it is hilarious.  

Dec. 13th- St. Lucy's feast day. We had a traditional braided bread....aka Pilsbury cinnamon rolls :)

 

We decided to focus more on Advent purples and pinks this year with our decorations, and tomorrow we will put lights on the tree and replace the Advent colors with bright Christmas colors and decorations. We will then leave them up through either the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord or the Presentation of the Lord on Feb. 2nd.  I don't know if I can wait until February though, especially with a little one who has already pulled the tree down on top of herself!

Our Jesse tree....this year I laminated the ornaments, so hopefully they will last awhile!

We started a new tradition this year of reading a story together every night after we do the Jesse tree.  I have heard of some families that wrap the books, so the kids can open one each night, but I wasn't that motivated.  I put the following books on hold at the library (if we didn't own them already), and am posting the list here so I can use it next year.  I had planned to do one each night of Advent, but the library canceled some of my holds, and some nights we just did not get to it, so here are the books we actually read:

1. Mortimer's Christmas Manger
2. Legend of the Poinsettia
3. Hans Brinker
4. The Christmas Candle
5. Strega Nona's Gift
6. A crippled lamb
7. Room for a Little One
8. The Friendly Beasts
9. Cobweb Christmas
10. The Christmas Miracle of Joanthan Toomey
11. Great Joy
12. The Legend of St. Nicholas
13. A Donkey's Dream
14. An Orange for Frankie
15. The Last Straw
16. Bright Christmas, An Angel Remembers
17. The Legend of the Candy Cane
18. The Three Gifts of Christmas

I didn't do Christmas cards this year, but here is the pic we would have used :)  Merry Christmas from the Lynch family!  May the birth of our Lord bring joy and peace to your heart.