Kendan is 8 Weeks Old!

My sweet little baby is no longer a newborn, but a cuddly bundle who can coo, smile, and reach for his toys. He's still not very good at eye hand coordination, but he usually succeeds in getting a hold of whatever it is he is grabbing at. He loves his big brothers, and they are both able to bring a gummy grin to his face by babbling silly baby talk at him. Of course, it melts our hearts to see him give one of what we call his "whole body smiles". He lights up- his mouth opens wide in a grin, his eyes crinkle up (alot like Ken's!), he waves his little fists furiously and his legs get going like a little windmill . I had forgotten some of these little milestones in a tiny baby's development, and it's amazing all over again. We can't help but wonder who he will be as he continues to grow and change. I'm just beginning to see his little personality emerge. As distinctly different as his two older brothers are, I know he will be an individual as well. Anyways, I am enjoying the "ride".

Mantequilla

We have been doing a unit study on Thanksgiving. So, we spent a couple of days learning about the customs of the early american settlers vs. our modern day conveniences. To illustrate the difference, our little "pilgrim" boy got to make butter in jar.

First you pour the cream in a jar, screw the lid on and start shaking...this is kinda' fun, right?

Then you KEEP shaking...and shaking...and shaking...til you almost fall over. :-)

You shake for a looong time, and you end up with something like this...There's real butter in there!

Drain off the milk, put it on a plate...
...and enjoy your hard work on a slice of homemade bread. All that work for boring ol' butter?? Yup. Aren't you glad yours comes in neatly wrapped quarters from the local supermarket?

Counting Down, Hunter style

When there is something to be counted down, Hunty is more than willing to do it for us. Regardless of if it is the oven timer, the microwave, or time to go somewhere, he loudly chants "10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1....COMMISION!!" I can only assume this is Hunter-speak for "ignition" and that he is "blasting off" in his rocket to some great place in childhood imagination.

A Picture is worth a thousand words...

I am completely outnumbered!! These silly guys sure do keep me busy! The older 2 kiddos are really good with Kendan, and love to help me out if he cries. Bradyn will run and get the binky and Hunter will either try to rock his bouncer or hide and plug his ears. :-)Anyways, just wanted to show you this pic...of our not very calm bedtime routine.

Bradyn's Birthday Party

Our little boy is growing up so quickly. He's not 6 for another couple of weeks, but we had his birthday party this past weekend. Since Bradyn's birthday is the day before Thanksgiving, we didn't think anyone would be around to celebrate on the actual day and so we went ahead and had a little party a bit early. He decided to have a "pirate party" and wanted to hunt for treasure. We did the best we could with limited space due to some pretty chilly weather. It was alot of fun for me, and I think the kids had fun as well. I racked my brain for weeks trying to come up with some pirate-like games, and finally settled on a few. Actually, my favorite idea came from my aunt 2 days before party time. It was refrigerator box "boats" and a cannonball fight. We also did the traditional pin the tail on the donkey type game with a map and treasure chest. That went well until Ken realized they were peeking under the blindfold. :-) The kids dug for plastic jewels in sand, "walked the plank", made a pirate hat and sword, and hit a pinata. It's always amazing to me how so much work boils down to something that is over so quickly. All said and done, it was all worth it when Bradyn said "This is the best party in 5 years, mama!"He had missed out on the whole part experience too often because of Thanksgiving, so I really wanted this to be special for him. Thanks to all of you who helped make his day happen! :-)