Goodbye, Sweet Baby James

It will be fun to take a similar picture when James is 8 and Carver is 16.

Carver @ 8

Carver is turning 8 today! I can't believe how it has flown by. We started off the morning with presents after breakfast (because what fun is a birthday if you can't spend the day playing with your stuff??!) He got this cool skateboard-thingy, some water guns, a new sprinkler to run through, an addition to his snap circuits kit, and some books. Sadly, all of the books are taking an extreme backseat to all of the cool, hands-on stuff. He spent about a half-hour playing water guns with his sisters, and the rest of the day he has spent mastering the skateboard. He's already improved much more than I expected--he can make it all the way down to the end of the cul-de-sac without falling off. Very impressive.




We'll finish off the day with spaghetti & meatballs, banana bread, and taking chocolate cake to the church gathering to watch fireworks. Happy birthday, Carver!

Soccer Season

The kids have started soccer for the fall, and this year Ellie was able to sign up as well. She was very excited to be doing it with Carver (even though they're not on the same team), and she is doing very well. Their first game was last Saturday, and they have another tomorrow.

First Day of School!

Hey Mom, it's bright out here!


Waiting for the bus:

Oh wait--the 'bus' is in the garage.

We were very excited to send Carver off to his first day of school today. This year, he is enrolled in a brand new start up school, called Bloomington Christian Schoolhouse (I think--I never actually double-checked the name!). This is a hybrid school model, where Carver is at home with me for the first three days of the week, and then off to school for the last two. The teacher makes up lesson plans that help the parents know how to keep up on the at-home days. The school has been started up by a few of the families in our church, who love the academic rigor and character-building aspects of homeschooling, but dislike the all-consuming nature of it. So this way, the moms can have a couple mornings off a week to minister to the church, or maybe just minister to their younger children (that's me!). For us, it is an ideal set-up. Carver is surrounded by girls at home. At school, he has a few boys right about his age, and he is responsible to a male teacher for his work. The set-up of the school is like a one-room schoolhouse: grades 1-7 are in the same room, doing the same subjects at the same time, but on different levels. So, there's the gist of it! I could go on and on about how much I love the set-up, the curriculum, the teacher, the discpline, every part of it, but I'll quit there.

On a different note, David told me not to cry as I dropped Carver off this morning. That thought had never even entered my mind! Maybe I've just seen for a while now how Carver would benefit being around other boys, maybe it's because I love the idea, or maybe I was just happy to get rid of him :) That's not true at all, but it was nice to have all day with girls, reading books, folding laundry, reading more books, doing math with Ellie...it was just a laid back day, and I think it will help me to sustain the pace of our homeschooling schedule throughout the year to have two days to stop and take a breath.

Carver jumped in the car at 3:30, totally thrilled with school. He said, "Mom, I actually like school!" And he came home singing Latin verbs, so I've got some catching up to do!

Carver turns 7!

I can't believe how the time has flown by. It seems like yesterday we moved to Bloomington and he was a cranky 6-week-old. No more! Every day he gets bigger, and I marvel as I see God working in his life. We are always praying that Carver will grow in wisdom and understanding as he grown in stature.

This year, we decided to have a party for him. We've never done this, and it seemed like it was probably time. So we invited all the boys from his Sunday School class, and while a few couldn't make it, we had a great turn out of 8 boys (and Ellie :). We started off with the slip-n-slide:

Sad Rose only got to watch from the inside:

After a few more water games, we moved to a cup-tower building contest in the shaded garage. Here's Carver with one of his best friends, Samuel:


And Dad and Ellie really knocked out the competition:

After that was cake and presents (sorry--no presents pictures. I had to deal with sick Laura inside and missed that part):



And Spiderman tattoos:

Then, on to racing toy cars down the slip-n-slide:

Ellie had a blast on the slip-n-slide:

To finish the afternoon up, David did a quick devotional with the boys.

The most amazing part? Yesterday was David's birthday! He spent the whole day in preparation for Carver's party, and then running the party almost entirely on his own, since I had Laura sick upstairs. What an amazing dad! David and I had his apple pie celebration after the kids were in bed. I think this every year at this time, but I'm so thankful for my two boys!

Look familiar?

New Bikes!

Carver got his birthday present from us way early this year. He has really outgrown his old bike, and now that the weather is nice, he's been outside every single day. So we decided to go ahead and get him the next size up bike. As a result, Ellie got a "new" bike also. She still needs the training wheels, but otherwise she's doing great. She also got a new helmet, since her head is huge and had outgrown the littler one. Sadly, her little legs are not quite strong enough yet to ride her bike on my 3-mile walk. Since Rose is getting pretty heavy to carry in the backpack, I need Ellie's spot in the double stroller for her. I haven't quite figured out how I'll get my walks in this summer. Hopefully the more Ellie practices, the longer she'll be able to go.

I Don't Think He'll Have to Wait Until Christmas...

The question is--will he have David's straight teeth genes, or my keep-the-orthodontist-in-business genes?

Carver loves poker!

With friends over for dinner the other night, Carver definitely gave us a run for our money as we played poker after the girls were in bed. In the end, he and Dad tied after the rest of us were out. Pretty funny, isn't it?

Awww...

Sometimes, I get these moments as a mom where I realize that God has been faithful, even through my many sins in parenting. I had one of those tonight (actually, it's been an ongoing conversation between me and Carver over the past few days, but I finally put it all together tonight) at dinner. Carver was trying to tell David and me what he wanted to get the girls for Christmas, and we were explaining to him that he shouldn't be trying to have that conversation sitting next to them at the restaurant booth. But then it hit me--he wants to get Christmas gifts for his sisters! How cool is that? So I told him that he and I can go and do it tomorrow when the babysitter comes to play with the girls for an hour.

Here's the great part--guess what he wants to get them? He wants to get them burp cloths for their baby-dolls (we'll be making those of felt so that all he has to do is cut squares--no sewing involved), and he wants to go and get silk flowers to make a bouquet of "fresh" flowers to put on their kitchen! How sweet is that?

First Sleepover

Awww...

Check It Out!!

Birthday Weekend

As some of you know, our 4th of July weekend was also our birthday weekend. Here are the pictures from our celebrations!

This is David's birthday dinner on the 3rd. He chose steak and shrimp, and we had yummy Indiana corn to go with it.



The morning of the 4th, Carver's birthday, started with Corn Pops for breakfast, and then we let Carver open his presents right away, instead of waiting until cake that evening.

We decided that this was the year for allowance, so his first present was 5 $1 bills and 3 jars that he has to put some of it in: savings, college, and church (the college was his idea--we would've only made him do the other two). He has to put $1 in each every week when he gets his allowance, and he's free to spend the other $2 however he likes, providing he shares any candy he buys with the girls (I know, kind of a bummer). To my surprise and delight, both weeks so far he has given more money to church and savings. We went to Target today, and he quickly realized how much he'll have to save for a big toy that he wants (boy, toys are expensive!). He did buy a little matchbox car with one of his dollars, and I think he was very excited to check out and pay for it himself.



Birthday cake at the end of the day:


I'm so thankful for my 2 boys, and it is so fun to celebrate their birthdays together!

Overheard at the Breakfast Table...

"Mom, why don't squirrels wear helmets?"

Future Men

School Choice

Some have asked us what we're going to do for school for Carver. While there are many good options, we have finally decided on this...

"Occifer Philosophy"

Today we got out "Cars and Trucks and Things That Go," which we have not read in a long time. Carver and Ellie loved looking for Goldbug, but Carver especially loved watching out for Dingo Dog. Dingo is a bad driver who is speeding through the pages and knocking over innocent parking meters. Officer Flossy is dutifully following after him (on a bicycle, no less), yelling "Stop!" and trying to write him a speeding ticket. For some reason Carver, who really doesn't have trouble pronouncing words if you say them slowly to him once or twice, was really struggling with Officer Flossy. No matter now many times I repeated it for him, it always came out "Occifer Philosophy." I can't help laughing every time I hear it! Only a philosopher's kid would think "philosophy" an easier word to say than "Flossy!"

Carver's Writing for the Day

Can you decipher it? Hannibal
Murdock
BA
Face (spelled two different ways)

Hey, if the A-Team encourages writing practice, I'm all for that :)

A Sweet E-mail

Check out this e-mail Carver got this morning from his friend, Samuel:

Hi Carver I am happy that you are my best friend. And I don't want too be mean and want too be nice. I am happy that you came to my house.
And I wish that I could come to your house every day.
Love you
Samuel

I was cracking up and going "Oh, how sweet!" all at the same time. Here's Carver response this afternoon:

Hi Samuel, I'll be more nicer to you. I hope I can see you everyday. Thank you for letting me come over for a long time. I would like to play with you everyday. Have fun with Cynthia and Mary Ella. I love you, too. carver

Kids crack me up.

Carver's new room!

Carver has graduated to his own room! All three kids were in one room, but David has now been kicked out of his office, and Carver gets his own space. It's a little sparce at the moment, but more decorating will happen in the future (maybe a long time in the future, at the rate I'm going...). His games and puzzles and books are in there, as well as any toys he doesn't want his younger sisters destroying. He and Ellie were able to go in there today and shut the door to bar Laura's entry. They did puzzles together, without fighting, for an hour and a half! This is an awesome new development for me, and the kids really enjoyed it.




In other news, Laura is 14 months today! It seems like the time is flying by...

Still no words, other than 'mama' and 'dada' and something that resembles 'more please.' But she's walking around a lot, and her newest trick is climbing. I have caught her repeatedly on top of the kitchen table, having climbed out of her high chair and onto the table. She seems to have some appreciation for the height, because she's always smack dab in the middle of the table, crying for me to come get her.