Party Tricks

It's hard to watch your youngest baby grow up. But at the same time it's so much fun to watch her reach new milestones. It's also fun to watch the entertainment her siblings get out of her new tricks. They celebrate every time like she's won the olympics. Amaryllis is pulling up now, and every time they find her standing it's like a little party.

I do love watching her stand on those chubby little legs. I cannot wait until she is walking. Yeah, that makes me a crazy person...but you guys have NO idea how determined this kid is to be moving around on her own. And lets face it, you can't let a baby crawl in a lot of places. (And she is crawling now as opposed to the sniper crawl she was doing.) She is stubborn and determined to get where she's going...so holding her is like a full body workout combined with wrestling a bear cub. This lady needs to be free. Although I realize that will mean I don't get to sit down ever again.

Another new trick she loves is to stand up during nap time. I'm sure most parents can relate to this phase. You put the baby down for a nap. The baby is standing up and not sleeping. You lay the baby back down and leave. The baby is standing back up 15 seconds after you shut the door. Lay the baby back down. Baby is standing up before you leave the room this time. You try laying the baby down and convincing her of how sleepy she is. Baby tries to stand up before you even turn around. Just give up and let her eventually fall asleep standing up. It's a fun game. It at least helps me hit my FitBit goals anyway with all that walking back and forth to lay the baby back down.

On top of all this standing and cruising and crawling...she is finally working on her top three teeth. I say three because she already has one of her top teeth, just not one of the middle two. One of the ones to the side. What a goofball. She definitely likes to do things her own way, from standing up before she officially crawls to her own unique order of teething. We don't call her fancy pants for nothing.

4 Hooligans and a 3 Day Weekend

This past three day weekend was pretty awesome. I'm not used to three day weekends, because Billy has always had a job that didn't really allow for it. Three day weekends are great...we've been missing out all this time! ;) We made sure to fill it up with fun with the hooligans though.

Saturday we took them up to Luray Caverns. I haven't been since I was a kid, so I was excited to take them. They were mostly excited because they were sure it was where the Goonies were from. (And that they might see a few bears. I told them there were no bears, but Mom never knows what she's talking about of course.)

They seemed to have a good time. They did the typical "we have a cramp cuz we've been walking forever" routine, but we do that all day every day so it was to be expected. No bears were sighted, but Jericho made sure to warn the masses that he was sure "layuh a bayuh in layuh". (Translation: there a bear in there)

We also went to a new sprayground/playground combo near our house. Some of the hooligans are big fans of the water, as you can tell. Some of them are big fans of throwing water on ME. Jericho, of course, is the latter. We only had one slip/wipe-out. Probably because surely the "no running" sign doesn't apply to Merrick Wilder.

We spent Memorial Day out at my moms, with the hooligans playing in the kiddie pool and ingesting copious amounts of soda and Doritos. Their version of Heaven, for sure. I don't even want to know how many sodas they drank...I just stopped counting and looking in general and hoped for the best. I can't say it had any effect on them, though. Since they passed out as soon as we left and slept like rocks. I think I'll take all the three day weekends I can get.

The Theater

The hooligans LOVE a good movie night. Literally, they don't care what we watch if we can turn the lights down, eat popcorn, and watch a movie as a "family night". They think family night IS watching a movie. So I upped the ante a little the other night when Billy was working late *I say that a lot...but well, he works late a lot, so maybe I'll just stop saying it and you can assume that Billy is working late. ;)* and made a blanket fort theater to watch their movie in. They literally about lost their minds. I LOVE that it doesn't take much to make these guys happy. Merrick frequently tells me "this is the best day of my life", and it can be over something simple as a playground visit. I love their zest for life.

As you can see, the fort wasn't the fanciest. But it did the trick. We also have one baby who made sure to tear it down every few minutes because she wants to stand up SO bad. At least it kept them all entertained at the same time, right? Trying to keep her from eating the popcorn the older three were spilling was also sufficient to keep ME entertained. If I have to spend long evenings at home alone now and then, at least I get to do it with these awesome people.

Surprise Supper

Recently, our two oldest hooligans made a very personal decision to become Christ-followers. It was the biggest decision they've ever made, or will make, and one that I was thrilled to see happen. Billy and I have spent the last 7 and 5 years talking and sharing with them about what we believe and Who we believe in, but have both made a point to allow the decision to be theirs alone. I wanted it to be something they took ownership of, and am so thankful that they chose to follow Christ for themselves.

On that note, occasionally Merrick will go into "big class", as he calls it, with us at church instead of his class. *Tirzah likes to be more involved and loves crafts and papers, so she always opts to learn in her own class. ;)* This past Sunday we happened to be taking communion. It was a happy coincidence that he was able to take participate in his first Lord's Supper with us, and we were able to teach him even more about God's love for him through this symbolic tradition.

Merrick has such a sweet heart, and I love the times he's in church with me. While some of the time he's playing games on my phone, other times I see him listening, and singing. He stands beside me on his chair and pats me on the back, asks me his little boy questions, and grows up as I sit here and watch. I am thankful that he's made the most meaningful decision he can make in this growing up business, and that I was able to be a small part of it. 

"Brinklers"

Spring has really started warming up (as in, it went from chilly to 80 degrees overnight) and it's been great for getting outside with the hooligans. We spent probably 10 hours at the playground last week, and went again earlier this week, and then spent some time at the fountains at one of the local malls. This place is SO much fun. It's almost better than the pool. (There is a bench for me to sit on in the shade...if I happen to get a chance to "sit", no one can fall in, and there is no adult swim. Perfect!)

All of the hooligans were big fans...even Fancy Pants. I don't have a swimsuit for her yet, but I pushed her little stroller right up next to the fountain so she was close enough to put her chubby little fingers in the water. It kept her entertained for the entire time we were there. She didn't even mind the occasional sprinkling from her siblings. (Which was always very much intentional.)

Oh, Jericho...bless his bad behind. He loves to ruin photo ops.  I mean, I guess it depends on what "ruin" is...so I guess I should be glad at least he's in the picture? He definitely makes in known he does not want to be involved in documenting these memories I love so much. (We later tried to get a video of all the hooligans holding hands and running through the fountain...he veered off at the last minute and ran AROUND the fountain. Every time. I finally just decided that's the stuff memories are made of...and comforted myself knowing it will come back to bite him one day when these are a slide show at his wedding. ;) #momwins) He couldn't quite get the word sprinkler right, so he called them the "brinklers".

There's that chubby hand I was talking about...it's just about too much to handle. She was so intent on grabbing that water, and couldn't ever figure out where it was going. It's kind of like a cat chasing a laser pointer. Endless hours of entertainment for me and for her.

And of course, no trip anywhere is complete until someone climbs something that wasn't really meant to be climbed. Another reason this might be better than the pool. No lifeguard whistles. 

They Still Like Me

I was given one of my most favorite things for Mother's Day: New running shoes. (I mean, there is nothing like that new shoe smell. It's right up there with new baby smell.) I also got chocolate and roses from the hooligans. They told Billy specifically what they wanted him to go get for me, which I thought was pretty adorable. He told them it wasn't Valentine's Day, but I think it's pretty darn cute that they knew specifically what they wanted to get me. And that they know me well enough to know chocolates are always ok.

I was able to run two days this weekend, which is a rare occurrence these days. (I work out at home most days now, because I loathe dragging all 4 to the gym, and with Billy's schedule I don't get much chance to run, so workout videos are the new normal for me. Good thing Max:30/21 Day Fix Extreme does the job. But I've SOOO missed running recently.)

I love coming home from a run to see these faces. They hear me on the front porch (I usually stretch or just kind of cool down out there) and they come running to open the door and harass me until I come in the house. They like to inform me I'm sweaty, or smelly, or that I wasn't gone very long, or that I was gone too long, etc. I just think it's awesome that they love me so much that coming back from a run is like coming back from vacation...they act like they haven't seen me in weeks. I know there will be days in our future where they will probably want to get away from their "not cool" mom. But I'm enjoying this phase of life where they still kind of like me. ;)

Indecisive

Jericho has typically been accused of being a mama's boy. For the longest time he would even say things like "me love mommy", if asked if he loved daddy. He is still somewhat of a mama's boy (which is fine with me) but he's finally decided he is ok with daddy, and even likes him. (If you remember the zoo incident...he will even cry that he missed daddy.)

The other day, when he had to be asked multiple times to clean his room, he decided that he missed daddy more than ever. He went to his room to clean, but he didnt go quietly. He spent about 20 minutes crying "I want daddy". Ironically...daddy is meaner than mommy. So sometimes I want to give him to daddy and let him see what he's missing out on. ;)

I will now let you experience just a little tidbit of the "I want daddy" saga:

Zoo Take Two

I remember about this time last year I took all the kids to the zoo. (At the time, it was just 3, and I was pregnant with Amaryllis.) I had potty trained Jericho earlier that week, was hugely pregnant, and alone at a zoo. I still can't figure out what I was thinking, but this trip was much easier! ;) (It's amazing how much not being pregnant makes things easier in the physical activity department.) My sisters and my mom went this time too, and the hooligans loved having their "cuzzies" with us.

This zoo isn't the biggest or the fanciest, but the kids don't really know the difference. It has lions and tigers and giraffes and penguins and lemurs. So basically, the whole cast of Madagascar except for Gloria. It'll do. Feeding "Melman" (a giraffe for all of you who don't have children who have made you watch Madagascar 438 times) was definitely a highlight. In a "ew gross he licked me that's so cool" kind of way. Giraffe drool is just as bad as kid drool if you ask me. The hooligans were definitely shocked that someone drooled on them. Can you imagine? I never get drooled on.

They were of course "tired" of walking in about 5 minutes, but not too tired for the playground that's somewhere in the middle of the zoo. (Funny how that works, right? My 7 year old legs cannot move another step please push me in the stroller and let the baby walk but I am suddenly full of energy to climb and run and jump when someone says "playground".) They rallied after we had a break and some ice cream, and were able to make it through the rest of the zoo with only minimal "I'm tireds".

We did have a small meltdown at the sky safari ride. It had nothing to do with the ride (which takes you over all the animals) and more to do with someone missing daddy. He got really quiet after Billy sent us a picture of him making a sad face that he couldnt be with us, and then once we got off the ride started bawling. He cried for a few minutes but then drowned his sorrows in an ice cream cone as big as his head (if you know Jericho, you know that was a big ice cream cone) and then moved on to scare the birds in the aviary.

All joking aside, I had so much fun with the kids. I love being able to go and do things with them like this. (I mean, what's the point of homeschooling if you can't go and do stuff when you could be in school, right?) I love the hands on learning, and the time spent outside together. As funny (and occasionally disastrous) as outings with 4 children are, I hope that these will be some of the memories that stand out as they grow up. Although hopefully Judah, my niece, won't remember how horrified she was when a bird landed on her head. Although there's no way we will forget it for a long time, since we are still laughing about it 3 days later.