Happy Easter!

We are still honing some Easter traditions, we have been doing daily lessons leading up to Easter for about three weeks now. We haven't started Easter baskets or egg hunting for Easter day, not to say we won't in the future, but we did surprise them with fun lollipops and new clothes, they were completely surprised. Behold HE makes all things NEW. 

 

We had a joyous Easter with friends coming over, taking the Lord's supper, singing songs, and celebrating our Risen Lord.

 

She slept through the service but was the center of attention once she awoke.

 Attempts at family photos....

 These kiddos, I tell ya....blessings.

We all went swimming after naps. This was Gabrielle's first time and the first time that we all have gone together since before she was born! 

Thankful for Jesus, and the HOPE and PEACE His Risen life gives to our life.

Gator Tobin and a Good Day

This is actually not a 'Gator' outfit, it just happens to be orange and blue. Tobin discovered it the other day and has not wanted to take it off. I told David, 'it is his new-found love' Tobin heard me say this and then turned around and said: 'daddy it is my new-found love'!

 Look tough Tobin!

The back has a basketball on it and he really wanted me to get a picture of it!

He is such a little man these days! He has been doing a lot better at obeying and controlling his actions when his temper flares (though not his tongue so much, we are still working on that). 

I am going to document this particular day because he was SO cute and SO sweet all day, and received almost zero discipline. And just a reminder, this is an anomaly, but we hope we are moving it to more 'normal'.

He played really well by himself in the morning coming in and out of our home-school time. Sophia was at our school table doing math, Bella and I were on the floor playing a math game and Tobin was pushing the laundry basket around (this is his 'motorcycle') and for the next fifteen minutes he would 'drive' back to the girls room saying he was going to play tennis. When he returned he said, 'Hey guys, how are you doing, are you doing good?' 'Give me a kiss' and he would come and get a kiss from each of us and then leave again (acting like a good daddy, like his daddy). He did this about 4x! Later, when I went to pick up the girls from school as I was going out the door, he said: 'bye mommy, I love you!'

Super sweetness.

Water Splashing 2014

Water Splashing is a little hard to explain to get the full affect (much like Chinese New Year). Yes, it is  a huge water fight, a crazy water fight. A town full of people, in cars, in trucks with buckets and buckets, water guns, and the most painful--water balloons. With our back yard inside our neighborhood I can enjoy from afar. The kids, however, want to get in the mix. It can get dangerous out on the streets, though. Imagine driving a motorcycle (with no helmet) and having pounds of water thrown at you, I would certainly crash if it were me.

On Friday I took the afternoon with the kids and we splashed and played in our yard. The next day the girls had ballet and then in the afternoon David took Sophia and Bella out to the streets to splash and they had a blast. Bella was so brave going out in the craziness.

When Tobin got up from his nap, he and I would play in the yard and have our own water fight. I made a gazillion balloons and he broke them. 'I make, you brake' was my mantra. And then the tradition, come inside, dry off, and drink hot chocolate!! Three days in a row of hot chocolate. They always come in freezing so this is perfect.

These people came and knocked down a wall/fence that was going to extend our back yard. There is some real back yard drama going on in our neighborhood, that is for another post!

When Baby G got up from her nap she would sit in her baby seat and watch from the back door. She was very good!

The little baby pool helped us have fun as well.

On day three, this truck came through to 'steal' water from the house behind us (it is being worked on now). they filled up their huge barrel, and got in water fights with each other, and of course squirted at us as well. Tobin thought he could hit them with his gun...it was kinda cute.

When the girls came back, Tobin actually went back out with Sophia and daddy all the way to the street. Brave Boy, seriously!!!

These pics below were from day 4. There really is no day four here (in Thailand maybe). But all the kids had off from school and our friend YY was back from her trip (they went north where there is no 'water-splashing', good for them!)

Still a splashing good time!

They got cold and hugged and said 'mommy look! Take a picture'

I did not get one picture of David, and he is the true hero of water-splashing going out in the madness so I can stay in!

Tobin's Birthday Part 2

 We did gifts throughout the day, saving one for when our friends would come over. 

Sophia and Bella chose this cement truck and I helped them choose a toy motorcycle. We see cement trucks all the time and he loves to point them out.

Baby G up from her nap...did you party without me?

you scrub this black paper with a toothpick to get the color, the girls helped me with this.

We invited the JJACK family over they live a few buildings down and have kids our kids ages, it was fun...Tobin does not like fire (yet), so he did not love the candles but pulled through and helped blow them out.

Judah and Bella work on the aircraft carrier.

 A camping gear set, all plastic, of course. A little cook stove, and camping knife. LOVES it.

He also received some Hot wheels cars and a little motorcycle that he loves. 

Here is his piece of cake, it went untouched. He was too excited! It did get eaten, don't worry. This was the first time that I froze a cake, right out of the oven , no cooling. It worked fabulous and was delicious, not to mention easy to work with as it thawed. I am just plain no good at shaping and icing cakes, but I have lots of fun trying, the kids and I giggle all the way through as we lick our fingers. I have fun seeing the fabulous cakes on line, but most of those folks make a living at it. This is strictly for the kiddos, they have no idea I am not good at it, so don't tell them. 

Annabelle and Judah dig in. 

Love this little man!

Love both these men, so handsome, my boys:

(this could be my fave pic of the year so far)

now kiss silly daddy on the cheek!

Tobin's Birthday Part 1

Tobin started off saying he wanted a 'fighter jet' cake. The girls started asking about a month before the day...what kind of cake do you want? Do you want a helicopter landing on a building? He stuck with fighter jet, though one time he did say a 'harrier jet'. David again said: how about something a little more complicated, you might as well ask for a 'hubble telescope' cake. But I had ideas for the fighter jet theme, so we went with that...

Because Tobin is so funny these days we have done some interviews, but I still can't post video yet...

When he stumbled out of his room, fighter jets were in formation on the table, and a stealth bomber:

 He played with these, the go really fast on the floor and make great noises. I think he would have been satisfied with these four jets all day...

Birthday Breakfast...

 I had made the pancakes the night before because our mornings are usually a bit crazy still nursing Gabrielle and feeding her solids, etc.

The three-year-old!

 When can I eat all this yummy stuff?

These little jets would be the party favors (though we only invited one family for dinner and cake)

Tobin opened this new toolbox gift from Poppy and CC, he loves it too and has played with it a lot.

I decided to do an 'aircraft carrier' cake which was in a shape I could work with. I found this 3D puzzle which David put together the night before. I worked with it.

My original idea for the 'tower' was wafer crackers but I put an extended popsicle stick through an upright piece of cake that I had cut off and it worked. Though it did lean for awhile and as the day went on it actually fell over I fixed it and it was okay.

 This little plane was the only one I could find to fit the cake. I am quite certain it is a WWII German plane, not the side we were on but hey...I only went to 8 toy stores.

 I also made blue jello to put around the cake as if it were going through water. This would have been SO cool, except I opted out because it had the potential to mess up the flavor of the cake, make it soggy or whatever. I had ideas to fix that problem, but in the end just decided not to add it.

The icing is grayish and was not as dark as I would have liked, so I had to used dark icing for the lines, which should have been white.  Stay tuned for more of the fun.

 

Tobin at Three!

This pic epitomizes Tobin. Shirt off ('like daddy sometimes'), dirty nose, dirty mouth, tussled hair, charming blue eyes. He is sweetness. He is vying for independence (still). He has to be reminded (daily) that he is supposed to be a protector of his sisters and not hurt them. Though he can be sweet and tender and loves being sweet to Gabrielle. He has been talking crazy clear for so long  and is amazing us with his memorization, purely from listening to us with the girls.

 Show us those muscles Tobin!

Anecdotes for fun...

• I said: 'oh my Tobin, look at your eye!' (it was scratched), he though for a moment and said: "mama, I can't look at my eye!" I then said: 'you are right, you can't you would have to take your eyeball out and turn it around, you can't do that' (and I pretended that I was, then he tried it too)
• He often says 'when I am older I will' or 'when I am three I will....' here are some things he has said: drive a car, wipe my own bottom, do kettlebells, smoke. Yes, smoke. He has pretended to smoke before with a lollipop stick or something. We have told him how unwise it is to smoke, but when 99.9% of the men he sees smoke, it is hard to battle the impression.
• He is really into fighter jets. He called them 'fire jets' until we corrected him enough times, and told him why they were called 'fighter' jets.
• he likes doing CC review with us and has certain songs he loves. He can tell you the states of matter or Northern European countries if you asked him
• when he started repeating really long verses that the girls were memorizing, David decided to get him his own list of verses going. The other day while pretending to ride a motorcycle he said, mama; "romans 12:10 Be deboted to on anober in love, honor one anober above yourself!" and he has longer ones in his belt. Osmosis friends!
• he said: 'I can't wait to get my cousins'. (he is partially quoting Sophia) 'Who are your cousins, Tobin?' He smiled and said: 'I don't know' He doesn't know what the word 'cousins' means, I listed all eight of them out for him. 
• he loves for us to read to him and can look at books by himself for a long time too, especially if they are filled with airplanes.

Within Five Minutes

Bella used the Bjorn to hold her baby...

 Sophia got Gabrielle to laugh while looking at her American girl doll.

Tobin showed his muscles

And Sophia had a turn with the Bjorn carrier

I have not been keeping up with blogging so much. I finally grabbed the camera one day and snapped these shots because everyone was into something. Life is keeping up with me and it is fun, though still filled with sleepless nights. Gabrielle has our cold finally and TWO teeth coming in!

Tobin just had his third birthday (coming up) and Water Splashing Festival is upon us!