Life Lately

We have had a busy January somehow, but the kids and I have still managed to have lots of fun!  Here are a few photos from my phone from the past few weeks.

 the girls taking care of their twin babies. 

 All of us getting ready to go for a chilly walk before bed.  We really enjoy going for a quick walk, and I find that it helps them go to sleep more easily.  It has also been neat to see the progression for each kid through the years.  Enoch now does great on his bike and I can trust him to be far ahead of me because he has pretty good judgment about cars.  Alaythia is very confident on her balance bike now (except for hills), and she loves to show me how fast she can go.  Karis used to complain a lot when I would ask her to walk (as opposed to sitting in the stroller), but now on most walks she is eager to either push Zoe's stroller or to chase after Enoch... and the girl can run!  She likes to say "one, two, go" and then sprint ahead 20 feet before she stops to repeat the 1, 2, go.  :)  Zoe thinks it is all pretty entertaining, and she typically enjoys going too!

Enoch sewed this fish all by himself (I just cut out the fabric and pinned it together for him.).  We attached a metal washer to it so that it works with his magnetic fishing pole, and he's really enjoyed playing with it.  (More about his sewing soon!)

 Playing in Zoe's room (they made a little tent under the curtains).

On a different night walk, we borrowed a neighbor's hill and looked at the stars.  We ended up being able to find Orion's belt, which was super exciting for Enoch.  He is really interested in planets and space right now, so hopefully we can continue learning more!

Reading has been going really well lately!  Enoch has been able to read quite a number of beginner books aloud to me, and he really enjoys that feeling of accomplishment! 

And lastly here's a video of Zoe crawling.  She thinks Enoch's excavator is really fun because it makes loud noises and even plays music!  

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Snow in the South

All morning long the sky was white with falling snow.  Although we got less than 1 inch, it was still so much fun for the kids!  Sometimes when the wind would blow the snow, Enoch would say, "Mom, maybe we're going to have a blizzard!"  (We just finished up the Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder, and they had a LOT of blizzards!)  To make the day even more special, we had snowman pancakes for breakfast and hot chocolate to warm up after our time outside.  Here are some pictures of our time outside:

 Alaythia mopped the street (to keep the snow off, of course)

 Karis shoveled the snow for a few minutes.

 And Enoch swept the snow.  

He also managed to escape outside pant-less earlier this morning, and he swept all of the snow off of our picnic table so that he could bring it in and show the girls.  I have no idea how he didn't freeze, but his enthusiasm was certainly not dampened by the cold!

My three big kids posed for a picture right before Karis demanded to go inside because she was cold.  :)

 And little Zoe made it outside after her nap.  She thought the snow was fun to hit!

Isn't she a cute little baby bear?  I just love sweet little babies in snow suits!

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Getting Outside in the Cold

It has been rather cold this week down South (I know, I know, it is January, so it is supposed to be cold... but still!), so the kids and I have stayed inside almost everyday except our errand/therapy day.  We've had a lot of fun doing school work together in the mornings, and we've managed to keep the house tidy, but we were all a little stir-crazy, so this morning we went out and played.  After putting Zoe down for a nap, the big kids and I went out to rake and bag leaves, and it was SO good to get outside!  The sunshine was bright and cheery, the wind was busy somewhere else, and it felt great to break a sweat from raking!!  Here are some fun pictures of the kids playing in the leaves:

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Fall 2017

Here is a little bit of what we've been up to this Fall.  It has been a full and busy season including a few bouts of sickness and quite a few batches of cookies.  

 Enoch has been loosing his teeth, left and right.  He now has 4 gaps.  :)

Karis has been overseeing the kitchen work.  She loves to help stir, throw away the trash, and watch the food rise in the oven.  

 We are still potty training... Obviously my girls have learned the importance of the potty, since they added one to baby Jesus' nativity scene.

 We've gone on a few walks.  Now that the days are shorter, we do most of our walking around lunchtime, and I miss our evening walks!

 Alaythia has begun doing a little "school" alongside Enoch now sometimes, and she really enjoys it!  

 We've tried pig-tails (Alaythia much prefers for her hair to hang down in her face though.  haha)

 Zoe has done a few braids now that her hair is getting longer.  

 Enoch has begun learning how to sew (this is his sewing kit that Granny sent him).  I'll post more pictures soon, but he is doing a great job both hand sewing and machine sewing simple things.

 We put up our nativity calendar and began reading the story of Jesus' birth.

We took quite a few library trips too.  Enoch has his own library card now that he's 6, so we can check out double the books!

 We've had a few fires in the ole fire pit while Hugh grills.

 Zoe has learned how to pick up her food with her fingers and eat independently.

 We've done some park playing on sunny days. 

 And some dirt box digging.  In this one, Enoch dug a hole, filled it with water, and built a bridge.  The girls got thoroughly messy in the process, but it was fun.  

Just about the time it turned cool in MS, we took a week-long trip to Houston, TX.  The kids and I enjoyed the big city life and the beach at Galveston while Hugh went to work meetings.  It was a fun trip, and our kids are always asking to go back!  (They must have forgotten how long the drive was!)

 Enoch, Karis, Alaythia, me, and Zoe in the carrier (that's her head peeking over my shoulder)

Lastly, we did the pumpkin patch (two times).  We love going out to and enjoying a fun morning there, and this year we took 2 sets of grandparents there and bought a handful of pumpkins (one of which made a delicious pie).  

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Karis Grace at 4 years old

Well, somehow Karis managed to sneak in another birthday this year, and she is now four years old!  Time sure does fly when you're having fun... and especially when your fun involves chasing two active little girls around!  Here is my run-down of everything Karis at this stage in her life...  

First of all, to go along with this introductory picture, Karis still loves to eat!  She enjoys fruits, most veggies (not a huge fan of broccoli or cauliflower), most meats (not a fan of roasts), and all desserts.  Karis is a fast eater, and she usually asks for more after she cleans her plate.  Because she eats fast, we also have to pay pretty close attention to her while she eats because over-stuffing is an issue that can lead to choking.  

 Karis typically eats all of her meat first (she had grilled chicken on her plate at the beginning of lunch) and then takes a little break before plunging into everything else (cucumber strips & cherry tomatoes made up the other half of this particular lunch).  Karis' basic meal schedule still includes two snacks (mid-morning and post-nap) as well as 2-3 cups of milk per day (with her meals) and some water with snacks. 

She can also independently feed herself most things with either a spoon or fork.  Sometimes if the food is difficult to spear with a fork, she will scoop with her fork, so there is still some room to improve, but it's been fun to watch her fine-tune these skills... and there certainly is incentive when you have a shake from Sonic!

 Potty training is still moving forward for both girls.  After Zoe joined our family, they both reverted for a few months and wouldn't do anything on the potty, but we've officially been diaper-less since July 21st (except at night and using cloth pull-ups for naps and at therapy).  This was a huge step for me (one that I'd been putting off), and I think I'd say it's going well overall.  We have little portable potty seats that we tote all over the house (and we even bring them in the van), and on a normal day we only have 4-6 accidents total.  Also, Karis has taken the plunge into both peeing and pooping on the potty, which is such a monumental step... Now we're just working on saying "I need to go to the potty!" when it's time.  I'll have to do a separate potty training post sometime, but suffice it to say that I do a lot of laundry these days, and we spend a lot of our time sitting on the potty.  :)  

Big girl underwear

 

Singing "Twinkle, twinkle little star" while on the potty

When it comes to playing and interacting with other kids, Karis generally loves to be included in the mix.  She enjoys playing with her siblings (though there are still some squabbles), and they get along best when they're doing something together like throwing balls, playing dress up, or even cleaning up a room.  Speaking of cleaning, Karis is quite the little helper with dusting, laundry, and carrying her dishes from the table. She is also pretty good at listening to instructions, but sometimes the stubborn toddler streak gets the best of her.  Karis' strongest love language at this point seems to be physical touch.  She enjoys giving kisses and hugs to everyone, and she's always willing to say "bye" and blow kisses, even to random people (unlike my other shy children).   

 reading at the table

 pretending to be a monkey while getting dressed (a random game we play)

 dressing up with Enoch

cooking lunch

checking on Zoe during a walk

 

playing "night, night" with Enoch

 telling me about something on our walk

Developmentally, Karis has grown a lot this past year.  She's so so close to running, doing better with stepping up and down, learning to watch for obstacles in her path (like water hoses), and falling much less often.  Karis has also come a long way with playing intentionally: she loves playing with her baby dolls, "cooking" in her kitchen, reading to her animals, and working puzzles.  Shes's still not crazy about coloring, but she is doing a better job holding crayons and making her vertical lines.  :)  Over the past few months Karis has added on quite a few new sounds, but my absolute favorite one is "mmm" because now she can say "mama" and she can make the "mmm" sound when she gives kisses.  She continues to use some sign language along with her words (all done, wait, stop), and she can say each of her siblings names well enough for them to understand ("Ena" is Enoch, "Dayda" is Alaythia, and ).  Additionally, I feel like when she is speaking in context, she's pretty understandable overall.  What I mean by this is that if she is talking to me about something we are doing (eating, reading, pottying, etc.) I can generally guess what she is asking for or telling me about.  But if she comes up to me out of the blue and wants to tell me about how her therapy went (or something else out of context), I have a hard time understanding her.  Speaking of therapy, Karis is still doing OT, PT, and ST (two sessions of ST per week).  Her therapists are all great about teaching me what they are doing with her and sending me home with ideas of how to continue working on her goals.

One of our neighbors helped me by sewing this onesie for Karis  because she no longer fits into most typical onesies (2T is the biggest you can usually find in the stores).  The reason we need onesies for Karis is that if she dirties her diaper/pull up during nap, she likes to play in it as soon as she wakes up... which gets pretty gross real quick!  So we always put her to bed in a onesie with some bermuda shorts.  :)

 Karis is also still in AFO braces.  I had a hard time finding shoes this time to work with them because they really need to tie (otherwise she just slips them off any chance she gets).  Thankfully, I found some at WalMart that I made a few changes to, and they've been working well.

Daddy gave Karis some pig tails a few months ago, and I thought they were too cute!  I usually just put her hair in a regular ponytail because Karis really dislikes having her hair brushed and fixed, but every once in awhile we fix it, and then (after she endures it) she likes to get up and spin and show everyone how pretty it is.  

And to end, here are a few birthday smiles.  We sure do love our Sweet Karis!!

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