Weekend Randoms

We had one last big snowstorm in March this year.  And it was a doozy.  But that didn't deter Jack, who would live outside on a permanent basis if I would let him.  He is certainly his happiest in the outdoors.

 

 

And what else does he love?  His balance bike that he received almost one year ago, on his 2nd birthday.  That boy can sure ride it well.  In fact, we will likely skip training wheels entirely with him when we upgrade Jack to a bigger bike.

 

Yes, he even rides it in the snow.  In the snow ...

 

 

James bundled up for the occasion and came outside to join us.

The biggest sister and the biggest brother in our family:

This little girl is so photogenic.  All I have to say is "smile" and she automatically takes a great picture.

The girls and Ainsley, our next door neighbor.  She moved in at the end of summer last year and the girls have been inseparable ever since.

 

 

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Case in point.  Ainsley probably spends more time at our house than she does at her own house.

 



 

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Sophia received the game, Life Jr., for her birthday so Steve played with them one night.  Sophia was rather serious about her moves each time.

 

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Our little man:



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Sophia is not allowed to pick James up by herself, so she spends quite a bit of time just laying with him.

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Sophia, posing at her Easter party at school.  The bags that they made for the Easter egg hunt turned out so cute!

 

 

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Jack loves (with every beat of his heart) chainsaws and cutting wood/trees ... so much so that he will be having a "lumberjack" themed birthday party next month.

 

Here he is with his daddy's chain saw.  Don't worry -- the chain had been removed.

 



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Samantha started a bean plant from seed in school.  Once the four seeds sprouted in a bag with a wet paper towel, the kids planted them in a small cup and watched them grow.  When they were about four inches tall, they were allowed to bring them home.  We continued to let it grow in the cup for about a week and then, while some of her classmates never really did anything with their plants at home, Samantha transplanted hers and we have watched it grow into a huge plant in my kitchen window.

The transplant:

One of the many beans on the plant:

And what did she do with the first bean that she harvested?  Well, she took it into class for Show and Tell one week!  Needless to say, her teacher and fellow classmates were pretty impressed.

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I love how closely the girls work together.  Here Samantha is helping Sophia get started without training wheels.  It didn't take long before Sophia mastered it by herself though.

 

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As a fun activity one day, I set Jack up with a cookie sheet and a bunch of skittles.  Then, I had him work to separate all of the colors into piles.  Jack knows all of his colors by name now, but this was good practice for him to learn all about sorting.

And, in true 'Jack fashion,' he had to sample a few!

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