A few things we've been up to...

Get ready, folks - this is a long one.

I got the idea for this post the other night when a friend came over to give me a cooking lesson. We chatted as she cooked and she asked me what I've been up to. While I was trying to figure out what to say, I realized that all the things that came to mind were actually things my kids were doing. I didn't share any of these with my friend, but it got me thinking I should share them here.


PARKER

Parker has been out of school for one week now. He played the narrator in the end-of-the-year first grade play (which meant he did like 95% of the speaking). He wasn't nervous at all when he was delivering his lines. In fact, he said the only time he felt any stage fright was at the end when he had to do a very short dance part with a dozen other kids.

He continues to practice piano every day and lately has been 'composing' his own songs.

He loves to swim:




and build with his Legos:




But most of all, he is a BIG HELP with his little sister. I don't know what I would do without him.




LINCOLN

One of the main things that shapes Lincoln's world right now is his desire to do EVERYTHING that Parker does. Which is great in some ways, but can be frustrating for him in other ways (like every morning when Parker left for school and we had to explain to him AGAIN that he couldn't go with him). So we found that doing little things - like packing a lunch for Lincoln when we pack Parker's - helped him feel like a big boy even though he can't go to school yet.




Speaking of being-just-like-Parker, I thought we should be fair (remember Parker's date?) and post a picture of Lincoln's 'girlfriend' - she's visiting relatives in Utah right now and he MISSES her! In the picture below he is sharing with her one of his other big passions: Play-dough (he can name all the colors and he likes to mix small bits of them to create new colors).




Lately Lincoln has been in a sorting-and-organizing phase. He does this with all kinds of things - blocks, marbles, crayons, food, toy cars, etc. - but these are the only pictures I have:






Lincoln likes to do everything TOGETHER. He won't put his shoes on unless everyone else does too... won't eat his food unless the whole family is eating with him... insists on playing in the sink while I do the dishes... you get the idea. So, of course, on Todd's birthday, it was no surprise who just HAD to be his candle-blowing-helper:




Another example of this - if Mommy's taking pictures, Lincoln has to take pictures, too! He's actually learned how to turn the camera on, point it in the right direction, and push the button. Sometimes the results aren't that bad... here's one he took of his baby sister without ANY help:




He also wants everyone to get haircuts together. If I'm cutting Todd's hair, he'll want me to cut his hair and Parker's hair too. Because of this, his hair just keeps getting shorter and shorter! Here's the latest look (along with crumbs from the cookie we gave him to reward his good behavior - sitting still during the cut):



Lincoln has been learning some tough lessons - like why we don't grab the cookie tray with our bare hand right after it comes out of the oven. (Don't worry, the burn was pretty small - we just made the bandage big so that he wouldn't be able to pull it off).



The tie in this burn picture reminds me of another recent quirk. Lincoln has become really, really particular about what he wears each day. Last week I made the mistake of putting a shirt on him that he hadn't picked out. He kept saying, "NO, Mommy, NO... like it BAD!" - which is his way of saying he doesn't like it.


Here's one of Lincoln's newest tricks:




He gets super excited about going to a pool or a park. I have to be careful not to tell him about it too early because he will constantly ask for it until we leave: "Swim?" or "Park?" every few seconds until we're walking out the door.




ANNDRA

Big brother's not the only one who loves the park:




A lot of Anndra's current activities are not that different from what she's been doing for months now, such as...

drooling:



blowing spit bubbles:



and looking cute:




But she also loves...

being Mommy's little buddy:



getting new dresses from Grandma Debbie:



and looking DYNAMITE in her adorable swim-suit:



What a babe!


SIBLINGS

The one activity (other than swimming) that my kids really have in common is reading. They all LOVE it. Parker is reading The Chronicles of Narnia (no picture, sorry).

I'm constantly having to tell Lincoln, "No more books" or "This is the LAST story" because once we start he never wants to stop. When I'm not reading to him, he pretends to read Parker's books:



Anndra likes to point to small things in her books... or chew them. But, like her brothers, she really enjoys it when I read to her. She flaps her arms and kicks her legs like crazy when I start to pull out a book from her shelf.




Now that Anndra is getting old enough to sit up and interact more with Lincoln, he sees her as more of an equal and they are starting to have a lot of fun together:








To finish, one more cute swimming suit picture - just because:



And so our summer begins...