Spring Chickens

 It's kind of become a tradition for me to take the kids to Maymont park every Spring and take some pictures of them. It's always an adventure, for sure. There are multiple fountains to fall in, bees to run from, flowers to pick that you aren't supposed to pick, etc.

 This was Fancy Pants's first year at the park. Last year she was still in the belly, and much easier to control. She decided after a few pics that she didn't like the tulips very much, so the pictures of her were fewer than I had envisioned.

 Jericho is THE child that gives me grief while taking pictures. He typically won't smile, or just likes to irritate the other subjects in the picture. Here you can see he's attempting to irritate Amaryllis, who thankfully isn't paying any attention to him.

 Probably because she was eyeballing those tulips and was afraid I was going to put her in them again.

 What was I saying about Jericho? That's how his face looks about 75% of the day. He was literally born making that face. I have pictures.

Despite his best efforts, I did get some of him smiling with the help of my sister and brother in law, who were doing who knows what to get his attention behind me. (Usually that's Billy's job, he's pretty good about making a fool of himself for the sake of the shot. I'm eternally grateful.) It's bittersweet to look at these shots, and be forced to acknowledge just how much they've grown this last year. But they are pretty cute, so I can't really look away.

"I Only Believe in Science"

*My fellow Nacho Libre fans will remember that quote. We sometimes have entire conversations in Nacho Libre.*

Last week we were gifted passes to the Science Museum. This was a hooligan first. I think every new experience with the 4 of them I go in to it wondering if I'm going to regret the decision to take them all out in public by myself. (Sometimes, I very much DO.) This was not one of those times. They had SO much fun. (And I'm realizing that ya know, it's ok if my kids act a little crazy in public and stress me out. They are kids...and that's what they do. I'll miss their misbehaving one day I'm sure.)

I have probably been to the Science Museum myself in the past, but don't remember going. So I was trying to be all "homeschool mom" discussing the different displays and relating them to things we are learning. Negative on that. As soon as I'd start talking I could tell the kids were all: "Don't make this about school mom. We got things to do." They did humor me a little...but for the most part I just let them learn by playing and waited for them to ask me questions as they had them.

They loved all the exhibits, but especially loved the bugs (of course!) and the snakes, and the section where you learn all about the human body. I mean, what kid doesn't want to learn about the digestive system? Poop is Jericho's favorite word. They were a little weirded out by the skeleton, until I informed them it wasn't real. Then they spent 5 minutes trying to stick their fingers into the space in the glass case so they could touch the "bones". Maybe I should have told them it was real?

Amaryllis was a saint, as usual. She sat in the stroller and didn't make a peep, and then fell asleep. She's so awesome about sleeping wherever/whenever that someone ought to put her in a museum. The Fancy Pants exhibit. I'm continuing to lug that infant carrier around simply because she is so good about taking naps in it. She napped right through the visit to the Boost section of the museum (a hands on area where you learn about health/fitness/nutrition) where the hooligans were playing drums (extremely loudly and off beat) and using exercise bikes while yelling about who was going to beat who. There was also a tight rope involved...but there was more pushing each other off the rope than actual walking on it.

I had to practically drag them out of the museum because it was closing. (Thankfully I could use that as an excuse for us leaving, and I didn't have to be the bad mommy.) But promised them we would be back. They have their eye on going to one of the IMAX movies they do at the museum next time. I wonder if Fancy Pants would sleep through one of those? Guess there's only one way to find out.

Art Critics

The other day we went on a field trip to the Virginia Museum of fine arts with our awesome homeschool group. It was the first time I had taken the hooligans to any type of museum, much less a museum where there are people who can be considered "critics". I was a little afraid of how it was going to go when we got there. It has been a crazy morning, it was raining, I was stressed out, I have four kids, they climb on furniture...not the type of people you want to take to the museum. Typically.

I was blown away by how well things went, however. Especially Jericho, who walked around the museum with his little notebook not making any noise or breaking anything or falling down any stairs or irritating any siblings or even talking about poop. Talking about poop is his favorite hobby...Not exactly art critic material.

I decided to overlook the fact that he laid on the floor in front of every piece of art that we were studying. Sometimes you just gotta silence your inner germaphobe long enough to keep the peace. And I really wasn't wanting to mess with a good thing. He even drew little pictures in his notebook. It was pretty cute. I can't imagine the things he would get away with if he was that well behaved all the time.

There were a few instances of hooligans not appreciating the art. There was one piece that was made out of old car parts, and Merrick was sure to point out that it was a piece of junk. Although thankfully it wasn't very loudly. There was one #tearsofshae incident where she wanted to write all the Japanese characters on a particular painting. I'm sorry I haven't taught you Japanese yet, dear. I'm obviously a homeschooling failure. ;)

It really was a fun trip, though, and I LOVE how they enjoy the weekly art study we do. This was an awesome way for them to experience art first hand, and I was thrilled they enjoyed it. We will definitely make a point to go back. (But maybe not before I've taught Tirzah Japanese. Tears of Shae are no joke.) As hard as homeschooling is, it's equally as rewarding to see them loving to learn and getting to be a part of it.

Losing My Religion

Typically the hooligans all get new outfits on Easter. I feel kind of cliche doing that, but hey, they love it. And they always looks so darn cute it's hard to resist. We usually line them up on the way to church, trying to take pictures even though we are already late. Everyone freaking out and not looking at the camera and me being afraid someone is going to fall into the dirt or something. It's a very religious experience. ;)

I decided, since it's Fancy Pants's first Easter, and since there are ironically not nearly as many pictures of her as some of the earlier born hooligans, that she was going to have her own little photo shoot in her Easter dress. (This also saves me time, and the risk of losing my religion on Easter morning when I'm trying to take pictures of an uncooperative baby.) I've also decided I'm going to get all the hooligans dressed up for a trial run so that we avoid that whole shenanigans completely, but that's another day.

Once I started taking pictures, I realized that she's pretty much the cutest thing I've ever seen. I was aware she was pretty stinking cute...but good grief. As Billy likes to say, "kill me dead". I'm afraid she will probably use this to her advantage once she realizes it. So don't tell her I said anything. (Kind of like her brother Jericho before her. I've thought all my babies were adorable, duh, but his big brown eyes just won me over...and he bats them at me frequently and gets away with way more than he should.)

Its fun, as she nears her 9 month birthday, to see her personality starting to show. She is amazingly happy, and entertains herself most of the time. But there is some sass in there...we all know she's fancy. She makes faces at her siblings, she will yell at them if they bother her, she's been known to yank Tirzah by the hair if she wont get out of her face, etc. I try not to laugh, cuz they usually have it coming. (She was making faces at Tirzah in the picture below.)

When you're the baby in a family like this, you do what you gotta do. And I'm gonna do my best to not let her get away with too much trouble making. But YOU try to say no to this face:

Just a trim?

We are always getting Jericho and Merrick haircuts. Their hair grows super fast and is really thick. Jericho is like a sheepdog, and his hair grows straight down into his eyeballs...so he gets haircuts even more frequently than Merrick, whose hair miraculously stays out of his eyes.

Tirzah is often asking to get a haircut, just because it must be fun if her brothers are doing it. The thing is, her hair is not like her brothers' hair. It grows incredibly slow and is really thin. It's about 593 different lengths. I've done all kinds of things to encourage it to grow. We trimmed it all up, gave her vitamins, stopped putting it up in hair ties so that it wouldn't break off easily. Still...it just didnt seem to grow very fast. (If anyone has any thoughts on this feel free to chime in. Her doctor doesnt seem worried, but sometimes I just wonder if I'm missing something?)

It's recently grown/thickened up a teeny bit. When we were having Jericho's hair cut one of the stylists suggested we try trimming it all up again to make sure the ends were healthy and giving it a chance to grow. I didn't want to cut it...it's taken SO long to get any length to it at all. BUT I want to be sure we are doing what we can to help it grow. I took her in to have it trimmed, and we ended up deciding to just trim the whole thing so it was finally the same length. (I don't think this has ever happened in the history of Tirzah Shae.)

At first I was thinking this is not a good idea. But it turned out so adorable on her. She loves it, and I made sure to ask her what she wanted before we cut it. She looks way more grown up, and I do think it helps it look a bit thicker and fuller. (She also was blessed with some cuh-razy cowlicks in the front AND the back, and her hair wants to part on both sides of her head. As you can see...Tirzah's hair is also a drama queen. Bless her heart dealing with that head of hair and its schizophrenia as a teenage girl. I'm sure there will be tears of Shae.) Here's to hoping this helps it grow...but I'm definitely ok with her not growing quite so fast.