Thursday, February 14, 2013

Nicholas' PowerPoint: Matthew Henson

Click here to view the PowerPoint

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!

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

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!