Nicholas' PowerPoint: Matthew Henson

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Oldest and wisest...

Basketball!  New Rec Specs

Happy 8th Birthday!

Posing

Pirate Boys

Ah, Nicholas.  8 years old but wishes he was 18!  The sweet child longs for independence, away from the harsh rule of his parents.  Sigh.  Most days, he is a charming, funny boy.  Those are the best times.  He has an amazing sense of humor and ridiculous memory for facts no one ever needs to remember (sound like someone else?  his father, for example?  they can't remember which drawer their socks go in, but Mark Grace's batting average in 1996? Got it.).
He LOVES making PowerPoint presentations, and recently made one about the life of Matthew Henson.  He entered it in a competition and is hoping for a prize.
Nicholas still spends lots of time each day reading.  He would rather do that than nearly any other activity.  He is currently extremely over-scheduled with Basketball, Baseball, and Karate happening at the same time.  Karate ends in two weeks, basketball in early March.  He loves baseball the most and dreams of playing short stop in the major leagues.

Katie - not the Supergirl she thinks she is!

What, me?  Yes, I have hair in my eyes, what about it?

ARGGGGH!

Yeah, I play so rough I BREAK things!

So Miss Katie... the sweet, precious third child with TWO rough & tumble older brothers.  Yet SHE is the one who knocked out a tooth and (possibly) broke her leg.  She is a fearless little sweetie!  She is nearly 20 months old and is incredibly talkative.  Today, she got her cast removed.  The entire time she was crying, saying, "Bye boot".  And after?  She kept asking, "Where boot go?"  Poor thing.  Hopefully this will all be a distant memory.  She is a very flexible child, nap and eating times can be rearranged as needed without too much complaining.  She LOVES string cheese, but any other food is hit & miss.  One day she loves something, the next day she won't touch it.  Toddlers.  Nicholas is her "favorite" brother, but that's mostly because he isn't competition for her - he never tries to steal her toys or books!  In protest, she only says, "Nick" and has absolutely no word for Matthew.  Ha!

Matthew, the love bug.

Trying to smile

Real smile, but squinty eyes

Classic Math.  What?!

LOVE this!  It "looks" like he's strangling her, but he's really tickling her!  She loves it.

Dancin' machine!

Loves to show muscles...

Of all the kids, Math is by FAR the most hug-y.  I made that word up.  He is constantly asking each of us "how we feel" and "how we're doing".  He loves to cuddle, give hugs, and just be loved on.  He is incredibly sweet, hilariously funny, and freakin' adorable.  We love him, and so does everyone he meets.  People just swoon over your sweet manners (yes, ma'am) and door holding behaviors.  Math is a pretty quiet, even-keeled kid.  Being hungry or tired or pushed into something he doesn't want to do can make him pretty upset, but those moments are few and far between.  He has started naturally becoming interested in letters, sounds, and words and can read simple books very well.  He loves doing his "workbook" and looks up to his brother immensely.  Just this week, he started t-ball practice.  This has been a LONG time coming and he is thrilled to be "just like Nick".  According to dad, he throws like a rocket!  Math is finishing up Pre-K, and looking forward to KINDERGARTEN next year.  I am secretly thrilled for him, but know I will miss him terribly when the time comes.  His future teacher is one lucky person!

So long...

Rather than feel incredibly guilty about not posting in a REALLY LONG time, I am just going to jump back into it.  Here's the deal.  And this picture above is the closest thing I can get to all 3 kids smiling at once.  So there.  This is a start!

ONE YEAR OLD!

I won't wear bows.  Or shoes.

I love my Mama.  She's the greatest!

I almost always wake up happy!

This cupcake was super yummy!

Smiling for a picture

Fish gills?  No, peek-a-boo, Katie-style

Mom & Dad + K

Loved my hat

Brothers love me.

Math is 4!

Party time! 

SWING!

Hard to believe, but our little dude turned 4!  He was so excited to have his very first birthday party (if you don't count his mini-gathering last year).  We rented a bounce house, ordered pizza, and had yummy sports cupcakes.  He's big now.  He LOVES music & can listen for hours in his room.  Music is clearly how he learns - he memorizes the lyrics to every song.  Seriously.  You should hear him sing Jump or Bennie and the Jets.  Amusing.  He is stubborn & opinionated.  Loving & polite.  He is spunky and adorable.  All at the same time.  Love you, Math.

Second Grade

First day of Kindergarten, 2010

First day of First Grade, 2011

First day of Second Grade, 2012

Wow.  He's just getting so big.  Second Grade.  Everyone who knows me well realizes what an emotional person I can be.  For example, I was watching the bad 2000s movie, First Daughter, starring Katie Holmes and found myself crying bucketfuls of tears when the President sent his only child off to college.  Sigh.  And I know at LEAST two people who did just that this school year and took it much better than I did watching the movie.  What do I know.  Maybe by then I'll be "ready".  Here's what I know: I was emotional yesterday.  Something about my big kid being so confident, ready to just conquer 2nd grade.  He wanted us to walk him to his classroom (THANK GOODNESS!), but didn't need us for anything other than that.  A quick goodbye and we were off.  Mom in tears.  I am proud of him, excited for him, and can't wait to see all the things he'll accomplish this year.  This is right.  It is best for him.  Yet, a small part of me wants to hold him tight and lock him away from the big, bad world.  My tears quickly ended.  My day was busy with other children.  I was so glad when he came home.  Glad to see him and hear about his fantastic day (but not his BEST first day of school, as he took quite a spill at recess.  The head now has some injuries).  Day two?  No tears from mom, no reluctant child, just a normal walk to school.  I was even required to leave him "before the crosswalk".  Funny thing is, after school he told me he "looked back" to see if I was watching him go.  I wasn't.  I let him go.

Historical Figure

Any guesses on who this is? Nicholas had to research a Historical Figure last month... and this is the bust of his famous person.

Mama

Two weeks ago, we were sitting in the "sick kid" area of the Dr. office, waiting for Matthew's appointment. With all 3 kids and it being the sick area, I decided to just leave Katie in the baby carrier (this ended up being her very last time in this car seat... sadness). She didn't really mind, at first, but eventually became frustrated with her surroundings. She looked at me, pleadingly, and said "Mama, Mama, Mama". I jokingly asked the boys if they heard it - her very first word! MAMA! **Side note: this is a HUGE deal. My boys were very late in saying Mama. I think Matthew had a vocabulary of 10+ words before uttering the most beautiful sound in the world** The boys essentially ignored me. Crazy mom - thinking a SEVEN month old is capable of that. Later at home... I ran out with N to get dinner for the family (Math's sickness was wearing me down!). We were nearly home when I get a FRANTIC call from Jason. "GET HOME NOW" I panicked. After he reassured me that no one required immediate medical attention, and the news was GOOD, I raced home to see what was happening. According to Jason, Katie spent the majority of the time while I was gone looking at our big family pic above the fireplace and saying, "Mama, Mama". AND (here's the kicker), I didn't even tell him about the Dr. office earlier that day!! It's official! I'm writing it down in her book! (if I remember, that is). Honestly, she may not really be saying "Mama", but it sure sounds like it. She says a host of other sounds (I'll probably leave some out) including: Dada, , Duh-uh, Uh-Buh, Buh-buh, Mmmmm, something that sounds suspiciously like "I did it", Hi (but not really "Hi"), and others... Other Katie updates... she has been sitting up, unassisted since a week or two before Christmas (so right at 6 months old). She has yet to roll over, tummy to back, or back to tummy. Honestly her doctor wonders if she will at this point. She will most likely crawl first. She loves standing, and is fairly successful standing and holding on to something. When sitting up, she reaches for toys to the point where she crawls onto her tummy. She also scoots her bottom around to reach toys. Little girl is super content, crying only when hungry, tired, or poopy. She comes with me to music class twice a week and sits wonderfully, watching all the big kids singing songs. She still sleeps 12+ hours at night, waking up happy and content around 8am each day.