The Boy that has Captured our Hearts

There is something about the fourth child.   The fourth child is sweet; Maybe you finally realize how fast childhood goes and you learn to savor it.  Maybe its seeing how the other kids delight in the baby that makes it so sentamental. You are creating a community outside of you that comes from you and your husband's love. But its independent from you and will continue to grow more and more independent of you every day.  Sometimes I just hold John and try to drink it all in.  His head on my shoulder, relaxed and sleeping in my arms. I don't want to forget this!  I just stare at that cute little body, that sweet little soul, and just want to squeeze him and pinch his little thighs.

I pray all my children know how beloved they are.  What a delight they are.  What little blessings!  Everyone says that these are the best days of your life, and we agree.  We pray that we are given the grace to SEE our children and to SEE the goodness in a life filled with littles when it is easy to get bogged down in the daily grind.  With a face like this, it is easy to be reminded....

Baby John is officially a big baby.  He crawls, babbles, pulls up on things, pulls everything down within his reach, messes up his sibling's games, pushes furniture and toys all over the room...When did it happen?  It never ceases to amaze me; 9 months in the womb goes soooo slow but the first 9 months of their life goes so fast!

Johnny loves to laugh and has a sweet snort that sneaks out when he's really happy.  He laughs at his siblings and reaches out to hug them when they wake up in the morning.  He DOESNT laugh when he's teething- but lets not talk about that. 

We adore his hair right now. These pics show his hair after a day full of play, but most of the time he has sweet little curls all over the back of his head and around his ears.  See those two teeth in the bottom pic?  He has four up top.

I love love this face he makes. Such a sweet content smile.

Boys and their toys

Peter and John are quite a pair right now.  Peter is trapped in the middle of being big and little.  He loves playing with the big kids but gets  very frustrated when they don't do as he wants or he doesn't understand the game.  So John has been for him a sweet refuge.  John ADORES Peter and thinks everything he does is amazing and funny.  They crawl around on the floor together, laughing and pushing trucks. 

And somehow, John knows how to sword fight already?  It is hilarious to see him waving his sword around!

Jason had a migraine the other day and so we put on the old Disney version or Robin Hood to keep the kids quiet.  The boys were quite taken with the movie!  Bows and arrows have replaced ropes and cowboy stuff and Peter and Henry have gotten quite dangerous with their homemade bows and arrow sticks.  Jason is getting quite good and bow and arrow repair as well! Henry cracks us up with his bow as he is very theatrical. 'Watch this!" he cries out, strikes a dramatic pose and then shoots his arrow. 

Henry and John fighting while Peter fixes his bow.

So proud that he can play like the big boys!

"Watch this guys!"

I hope you can see the effort here!  Can you see the bow quivering? 

When it Snowed....

Check out Peter's form- He was the first one to figure it out.  he held this pose the whole way down!

Papa's turn!

Snow won't stop Henry from helping Papa with the morning chores.  He even has his own milking bucket!

My favorite pics of Christmas 2014

Blogger is giving me a really hard time uploading pics....so this is it for now. I will try to fix it...

Catching up so I can finally get to that Christmas post...

LIfe According to Mary

Wanted to record a few things before we forget.

We have been talking to the kids about not overwhelming our guests with shouts of "LOOK AT WHAT I CAN DO" and "WATCH THIS!"  We had a guest over last night and I reminded the kids to ask the guests questions about themselves and to make our guest feel at home. Margaret Mary greeted our guest at his car and then RAN to me beaming.  "Mom!, This man is so kind. Before I could ask him a question about him, he started asking me questions about ME!"

And an observation, "Mom, when you leave out cold things, they get warm, and when you leave out warm or hot things, they get cold.  It's like they go the opposite."

Bubba Love

When Henry was born, Margaret Mary was amazing with him.  She was gentle, she sang to him, laid down beside him and made him smile.  I expected the same thing of Henry was baby Peter was born.  Ha!  He LOVED baby Peter and wanted to be beside him all the time, but he didn't want to smile and coo at the baby, he wanted to press his head into his side and snuggle with him roughly.  I guess the saying "Girls bond by talking and boys bond by doing things together" is true.  So here is how Peter loves on baby John; by giving mama grey hair!  It makes me so nervous, but John loves it and laughs and smiles and only eggs his big brother on!  I guess it is preparing him for the wrestling that will be expected of him as he gets older.

Can't you just hear me?  "Peter! Don't do that beside the baby!"  :) 

Peter:  See Mom! He likes it!

Lets see how hard I can press my head into his head without knocking him over....

"Giddy up John, Giddy up!"   Lots of cowboy play around here.

I hope I always remember John and his side lying pose-

"Just da boys!"  Lots of craziness around here.  Many times I have to take a deep breath and say "Katie,  this is normal, YOU are the one who needs to chill out."

Always a happy camper.