March 2016

Fun Things This Month

• Reading - still bouncing around trying to find a book and keep everyone from reading it if we turn out to like it.  We've read most of A Chocolate Touch, a graphic novel that Seth liked, we tried Mary Poppins, but that was a fail.  We are reading Tuesdays in the Castle, one of the battle of the books for next year.  Seth is unsure and Andrew has read it before, but I think it will be fun.  We are still doing science (weather), history of the world (russians, Kubla & Gengis Khan, Marco Polo), and scriptures (2 Ne.).
• Movies - Zathura (kids thought was scary ... I was filling out census docs for government so I missed most of that one), Tad and the Lost Explorer (I thought it was pretty good, considering it's a kids movie), Ivan the Incredible (which I thought was really quite terrible).  We watched Prince of Egypt again to remember what Passover is all about.  We also got Good Dinosaur from Redbox and watched it with a friend.
• Plays - the kids and I went to see The Giver.  Andrew and I really enjoyed it.  ECU put it on and I thought they did a pretty good job.  Seth enjoyed it, but I think it was sometimes boring and little over his head.  We were going to go to Secret Garden, but the month was too busy so we skipped it.
• Soccer started.  Katsu is coaching both Seth and Logan's team.  He enjoys it but it makes for very busy Saturdays for him.  They are both having a lot of fun.  They have had 2 practices each and a weekend of games so far.  I think they both won.
• Gardening - we put in 3 new smaller raised beds for blueberries plants.  We also mulched in the whole garden area / sandbox area.  Katsu did most of the heavy works, but Andrew, Seth, and Logan all pitched in with shovels for a chunk of the afternoon, too.  Our cabbages and peas are growing like crazy and we harvested and ate our first batch of asparagus which was delicious!  A little scary to harvest for the first time - I don't want to ruin it.  We have a couple delightful weeks with the daffodils in bloom and it looks like both astilbe plants are growing back and all the hydrangea are too.  The lilies are starting to come up as well.  Boys are good helpers in the garden.  Noah mostly likes to dig and dump sand and dirt and mulch everywhere.
• Andrew had IQ testing.  We still don't have results, but I am hoping he is in the gifted program next year.  Pull-out programs have been great for him this year.
• Andrew and Seth both got to compete in the regional math fair at ECU.  We all went early and set up their boards and the littles went to preschool.  I stayed.  Andrew and Seth were in different rooms and we had to wait until the judges came by and they explained their projects.  Andrew got finished around 10, but Seth was the very last person judged!  Seth was nervous, I could tell, but Andrew wasn't really nervous at all and just tried to answer their questions.  We went out for lunch at McDonalds and went to the awards ceremony.  We weren't expecting anything since we didn't make them very visually appealing (and Andrew only worked on it for the night or two before it was due), but Seth got an honorable mention as did our neighbor.  They were both in the K-2 division.  So, Seth gets to go to the state competition in Durham in May.  Way to go Seth.
• Pi day - we made a pumpkin pi that said 3.14 on top of it and the pi symbol.  Delicious!
• Solar system project - we spent several days helping Andrew make his solar system project.  He wanted to do an edible one, so he made a cake with different candies for each of the planets, twizzlers for the orbits, and even included the asteroid belt, the Kuiper belt and some of the moons.  He got a perfect score and invited several friends to come and share it - it was mighty sweet!
• PE day - The school had parents come in and sit in on a PE class with their child.  Noah and I went to Andrew's class in the morning.  We all did the electrical slide and then we did basketball, jump roping, and pacer tests (they were impressed I ran back and forth with Noah in my arms).  It was a work out for sure - much more active and also more learning and fun than I remember from PE.  The little boys went to a friend's house in the afternoon so I went by myself to Seth's PE class.  We did the bunny hop and then we played basketball.  Seth wouldn't pick me for his partner, not surprisingly!  He won the first round of the basketball game, so that was pretty cool.
• Field Trip - Logan had a field trip to Simple Natural Creamery and I came along.  We got to see the cows, go on a tractor tour (Logan was not so impressed with that) and also pet the cows and see where they were milked and try milking a pretend cow.  Then, we watched a film of the milking and ate some ice cream and Logan swang on the swings for a while before we brought a carton of ice cream home for the family.  Fun day.
• St. Patrick's Day - we had corned beef and carrots and some green marbled brownies for dessert.  Katsu had to go out for a work dinner and I wasn't sure if the boys would enjoy corned beef, but they actually did and of course they loved the brownies.  Noah even had a new hand-me-down St. Patrick's day shirt and looked especially cute for the holiday.
• Go Science - we went twice this month.  First, we were there all by ourselves and they did a program on bugs.  The boys even brought home bugs they invented themselves and made out of clay.  This week we went to one on dinosaurs with several other families.  The boys made dinosaur footprints.  They also enjoyed playing with the nano exhibits - especially the nano sand.
• Cub Scouts - Andrew has been busy working on passing off adventures.  He should get at least 4 more belt loops, probably 6 or 7 next month!
• Easter
• Lazarus Saturday - we watched our favorite skit guys and made our own Lazarus bread.  We also dyed easter eggs - first  year doing without buying the little kits!
• Palm Sunday - we made palm branches out of construction paper and acted it out and watched another favorite skit guys.  We made traditional Pax Cakes for breakfast.  
• Logan and I made some oil lamps out of clay which we tried out on Saturday.
• Some days we watched videos, but we didn't really get to everything we wanted this year.
• Wed. - Logan has an easter egg hunt at school.
• Thursday - we did our small version of the Passover after watching Prince of Egypt.  We had boiled eggs, charoset, romaine lettuce (bitter herbs), real lamb stew, grape juice, and flatbread.  The boys really enjoyed it.
• Friday - we made Hot Cross buns in the morning.  Then, we had a symbolic dinner - I combined two teas together and did most of the food and it was too much!!!  The boys loved it and I will bulk out the second tea, and do it for two separate dinners next year.  http://alice.typepad.com/cottage_blessings/2006/03/a_lenten_tea.html and http://alice.typepad.com/cottage_blessings/2006/04/a_second_lenten.html
• Our ward egg hunt was cancelled due to a funeral, so we went to our neighbors' church and loved it!  They had bouncy houses, a full on barbeque lunch (like 2 whole pigs, I think), and then 5000 Easter eggs!  We got there a little before our neighbors and felt a little awkward, but it ended up being super fun, everyone was really friendly, and we know quite a few people at that church after all.  The funny part was Noah - we tried to set him into the field when the 2-5 year old hunt began and he screamed and ran away.  Even when we showed him the eggs had candy inside, he wanted nothing to do with it.  I think he might have been scared of the big Easter bunny character.  He cheered up by our Easter hunt at home.
• After the egg hunt, we went straight to feed the homeless.  We made up mashed potatoes for 50 (that was a first), but people seemed to enjoy them and we had a good crowd.  The news even aired our photos on Sunday.  The boys were really excited about possibly being on the news.
• Saturday night we had a Jersalem dinner - eating food like Jesus would have.  We had chick peas and homemade pitas and dried fruit, nuts, grape juice, yogurt, eggs, olives ... it was pretty yummy and fun.  We used our oil lamps with kersoene.  I made the first wicks too large and the fire was enormous.  They did better with smaller wicks, but we spilled some oil on the outside so the lamps were also burning and there were some holes in the lamps, too.  But with some experience under my belt, I have a better idea what to do next year.
• Sunday, we had eggs hidden throughout the house.  The boys had fun and drama, and gorged themselves on candy for the next couple days.  Noah was more interested by that point.  For dinner, we had a ham (in the crock pot, was surprisingly good), scalloped potatoes, and a massive amount of green bean casserole (we had 2 whole pans full).  It was a really fun Easter.
• The boys had from Good Friday plus all of this week off for Spring Break.  We have mostly been playing it easy.  We had a Go Science program, and we spent a morning in Wilson, but the boys mostly want to stay home.
• Wilson
• a small science center, but the boys like seeing the animatronic dinosaurs (3 of them), looking at fossils, running against various animals and dinosaurs to see if they could win, and seeing some reptiles and snakes and turtles.  The third floor was history - the boys were not interested but we go to touch cotton seeds, cotton boll (?), and finished cloth.
• Whirligigs.  We passed by the workshop were they were restoring them (these huge whimsical sculptures that turn in the wind all by one artist) and they gave us an improptu tour of the restoration studio and all the works they are working on restoring.  Interesting, though they boys got bored at the end.  Then, we walked the block to the park where they are installing them and watched.
• We went to a roundhouse museum.  The man gave us a spiel, but I am still not quite sure what was important about the building.  He was a stonemason and I think he made a lot of buildings in the town, including this round one for GI's.  Maybe ...
• We stopped at the botanical gardens for the county at their extension office.  Small, but really well done with water features.  Boys loved it.

Andrew -  is always super busy at school with all his special things.  He goes in early still each morning for Leadership.  When I went to PE day, the PE teachers told me about what a big help he is to them.  He works hard when he feels like it studying for his Math Masters and is excited to go to the competition in April.  He is going to do Battle of the Books, hopefully, for next year and we just got the book list and most of the books.  He had already read one of the books and read another.  Only 16 more to go!  After preparing all year for the competition, they go and compete against other elementary school over their knowledge of the books.  Since he already met his AM & AR goals for the month, he has been doing a lot of additional STEM projects during class.  They made bridges and catapults and other fun things.  The class got in trouble one day for shooting a laser at another teacher's classroom while doing lasers and mirrors, but thankfully, they still got to do STEM projects.  They have been doing programming in their reading pull-out group, I think.  Otherwise, he loves to do the Memrise app as well, though hates to do Japanese.  He worked hard on learning all his state capitals this month and all the Pokemon characters and also some Japanese hiragana.  He is always busy with some large project - a fort or something he built and is definitely the best play-er in the family.  He has enjoyed playing games like Clue and Battleship lately.  He also has been loving Nerf guns and Pokemon cards and reading.

Seth - Seth is super diligent and also super duper whiny.  He probably says "I'm bored" 1000x times a day.  I wish he would learn to enjoy reading more so he wasn't so bored.  As long as he has friends to play with outside or someone to play soccer with or screen time, he is happy, but the rest of the time ... bored bored bored.  He is still obsessed with his Memrise app and has gotten really good at reading Japanese hiragana.  He is starting to sound out his comic books and also some of the children's books we have in Japanese.  Katsu says he can read about grade level right now, though of course, he doesn't actually know what most of the words mean.  He is progressing well in piano, but good luck on giving him any suggestions with his pieces.  He doesn't love it, but he does it.  He does like to read - more picture books and manga than anything else.  He is doing very well at school.  He was very happy about placing in the math fair but didn't make too big a deal of it because he didn't want to hurt Andrew's feelings.  He also loves playing board games.  I think his vision isn't too good, so we are taking him to the eye doctor tomorrow.  We will see how that goes.

Logan - he is just growing up and not a little boy anymore.  He talks very well and will tell you all kinds of interesting things if you sit and listen to him.  He still loves to sit in my lap and cuddle and play with my hair.  He likes to hide, himself and also things.  He likes to cut and color and play play dough in short time periods.  He loves to be read to for hours and hours.  He likes to watch TV.  He LOVES to eat.  If he could eat, read, and watch TV all day, he would be the happiest boy.  He loves to be swung on the swing.  He like splaying soccer and playing with our neighbor and being outside.  He enjoys preschool and had a lot of fun for Easter.  He is usually pretty mellow and game for whatever you want, though does have a fair amount of 4-year-old-fits when he doesn't get his way.  He will sometimes go to his room and climb in bed and cry when he doesn't get his way, but usually calms down quickly.  He had little naughty streaks some times and is often a little too aggressive (I don't think he always realizes how big he is or how rough he can be).  He also enjoys teasing Noah.  But he and Noah also play together a lot and have a lot of fun.  After a lot of asking, I finally took off his training wheels - I think it is harder than he expected it to be, but he is trying each day and I think he'll get the hang of it.

Noah - It is always easiest to think about new things for Noah.  He just keeps growing older.  His incisors are almost all through and the last week he has been sleeping better, only waking up once at night.  His naps have gone done to more like 1.5 hours.  He often takes a long time to fall asleep at night but usually goes down for naps pretty easily.  He loves to run and play whatever his brothers' are.  He loves to play with cars, balls, and trains.  We could spend hours making train tracks and driving trains on them.  Although he often spends a lot of time just being a sidekick for his brothers.  He loves to play outside, with bubbles, dumping sand anywhere but in the sandbox, playing in water, throwing balls into the street, and riding in his Cozy Coupe.  He likes to climb on the playground but tires quickly of the swing.  He isn't as interested in walks anymore.  He likes to try out scooters, roller skates, etc.  He LOVES to read and can read for a long long time.  He likes books about Thomas or Spiderman.  He got a Daniel Tiger book from the library and wants to hear it like 10 times a day.  He loves any character, but especially Thomas, Elmo, and Spiderman and prefers to only wear clothes with characters on it.  He is pretty picky about everything and wants to pick everything out - for himself and other people.  He is pretty pick about what I wear even!  He is talking a lot more and has all kinds of cute new words.  He will say Spiderman, kind of all fast and jumbled together and it is SO cute.  He also will repeat words that you tell him.  He throws fits when he wakes up and is pretty grumpy after waking up and then in the afternoon after his nap for an hour or two.  He throws huge fits when he doesn't get what he wants, but the rest of the time is pretty pleasant.  He loves to draw, is always trying to get his hands on scissors and really wants to figure out how to make those work.  He loves tools.  He throws a huge fit when we leave, especially me, but calms down quickly.  He even went to nursery all on his own this week - I think he thought I was coming in with him, but I just let go of his hand and he was good.  He knows it is his class now where he is supposed to go.  He fell and hit his ear really hard and got a bad bruise at the beginning of the month.  I took him into the doctor to make sure the cartilage wasn't damaged, but thankfully it healed nicely and quicker than I expected.  He is a smart and fun little boy.

February with the boys ...

Let's start with Noah ...

Noah  - he is a handful!  He has started to run pretty well.  It's so cute, he always pumps his left hand while we runs.  He is just into everything and on everything.  His new thing this weekend is hiding in the closets.  It thought the other boys were shutting him in, but no he goes in closets and shuts himself in.  I am not sure what he is doing in the closets.  I think he just likes to hide.  He used to hide in the cupboards all the time, but not it is the closets.  He likes to put his blanket over his head and run around say "OOOOhhhh" and pretending to be a ghost.

No incisors for this boy yet.  They must be the slowest moving teeth ever.  One has broken through the skin, but I don't think the others have yet.  He still won't sleep.  He goes down for naps and nighttime fine (for awhile, we had to take him in the stroller for naps, but now he wants nothing to do with the stroller).  And he takes nice long naps at least some of the time - he has been asleep for almost 3 hours now!.  But at nighttime, he starts waking up starting around 11 and wants to nurse all night long.  Sometimes Katsu will attend to him and he'll be okay for like one wakening and then he only wants me.  He scratches and pulls hair and screams and it's all quite a lot to deal with in the middle of the night.  I can't wait to sleep again!

Overall, Noah just throws the worst fits of all the boys.  And he hurts people, too.  Scratching, biting, pinching, pulling hair.  He knows how to do it all.  It is such a handful.  He will stop if you say so (unless he's in the midst of the worst fit) and if you talk to him about it, he will get upset and cry and be sorry.  But goodness, child.

Noah is talking a lot more.  He says countless words and seems to get new ones every day.  He is just starting to put a couple words together (hi daddy, want more, etc.) but usually its single words.  His favorite word - more.  He wants more of everything.  He also tries to repeat the words we say sometimes which is cute.  He was learning the word berry today.

Noah loves to play.  He can entertain himself pretty well, though he'll make it very clear if he wants you do something.  He loves to get into things, look at books, color (always finding marker and crayons and trying to color with them - pretty good at finding some sort of paper thankfully).  He loves to play with cars and race them or to play with trains and help us build train tracks.  He likes the marble run, too.  He will build with blocks and tries with Legos.  He likes stories.  He likes to watch cooking, but mostly so he can steal dough.  He is obsessed with dough.  You'll look over and he has pushed a stool over (or a makeshift stool), removed the plastic wrap, and eating dough.  I have to hide it so it can rise.  He loves to help use kitchen appliances.  He LOVES push toys.  And pushing everything around.  He pushes the laundry baskets around the whole house.  He'll collect his treasures inside and then flip it on its side to use as a stool.  And then there is laundry every where.  At church, he loves to push the chairs around.  He loves loves loves to push.

He had his well check.  It went ... fine.  He refused to be weighed.  Finally, we weighed us together and then I put him down to weigh me and he ran as fast as he could out of there with only a diaper on with the nurse running after him.  Then, they put us in a room and said they were "locking" us in so he couldn't escape.  He screamed for like another 10 minutes he was so upset.  But otherwise, it went fine.  He is growing - hard to say how much because it wasn't very accurate.  50 - 75 percentile probably.  I am getting tired of his NP, though, so I might switch it up for next time.

He is just like that all the time.  He throws massive fits at the grocery store.  Today wasn't too bad until we got to the checkout because he ate almost a whole carton of strawberries on the trip.  But then the people behind us were buying grapes and he flipped out.  But that was a huge improvement, so hopefully I won't have to switch to buying food on Saturdays.

Logan - Logan has been finally enjoying preschool.  I wouldn't say he looks forward to it, but he enjoys it.  He enjoys playing with his friends and learning new things.  They got ready for Valentine's Day this month and have also been working on writing their name.  They have been tracing pages of it and Logan has been doing really well.  I am pretty proud of him.  They also look like they are starting to learn their letters - at least A and B.  Logan can use all the reinforcement he can get.  He used to always fall asleep or at least be pretty quiet on the way home from preschool in the carpool.  The mom who drives him home gave him candy the other day and apparently that did the trick.  He talked her ear off!  She gave him candy again so she must enjoy listening to him opine.

Logan has been really emotional lately.  He breaks into tears at the slightest provocation.  I think this is hard age for him.  Hard to figure out what is the right amount of rough play, the right amount of interacting with others, and figuring out what is going on with his life.

Logan really enjoys the time we have together when Noah is napping.  He loves to sit on my lap and read stories.  He loves to play with play doh lately.  He loves to do workbooks and practice tracing or mazes.  We started working on some letters and I can see some improvement.  He has learned 'X', 'O', 'V', 'F', and maybe a few more.  He has to think sometimes - he will recognize the letter F and know that we learned about fire trucks with it and then he can figure out it makes a "f" sound.  He is really great with his numbers and can recognize his numerals better than his letters.

Logan loves to run around outside and play with his brothers.  He is excited for soccer to start since Katsu is coaching.  He has been asking to start learning to play the piano.  He has been loving Llama llama books, Curious george books, I Stink books, and a whole slew of others.

Seth - Seth got sick at school today and came home early.  After a couple of hours of TV, he seemed pretty revived though.  Hopefully, it doesn't get any worse.  It is always so hard to tell with him.  He freaks out if he sees blood, but otherwise, he is pretty stoic and takes everything in stride in terms of illness.  He fell this weekend pretty bad (Andrew said he just tripped over his own feet) and with all the screaming it was hard to tell what had happened, but just some good scrapes on his arms and knees.  He is very particular about the bandaids and very concerned about them.

Seth did his math fair project about how far away people's grandparents live - in the neighborhood, at school, and at church.  He did a good job and even calculated all the average distances himself.  His poster placed and is going on to the regional competition at ECU.  He was so funny -whenever we would get another result, he would have to look to see if we were still winning.  He was happy that his grandparents lived on average the furthest away of anyone.

Seth is always so diligent at sitting down and doing all his homework and piano as soon as he gets home from school or even in the morning before school if he can fit it in.  He whines and complains about anything hard, but once he gets it (which he always does quickly), he always talks about how easy it was and how of course he could do it.  Mondays are always tough because there is always weeping and gnashing of teeth related to new piano songs.  He is in the second level and doing well, though you'd never know of it from the way he talks.  He also is obsessed with Memrise and learning languages.  He has been working hard on Japanese (because we told him he had to) and has learned most of his hirigana.  Now, he is trying out multiplication facts and various other things.  He would be happy if he could live in front of a screen.  He plans his whole life around getting his chores done so he can convince us to play video games or computer.  And if he thinks he was supposed to get screen time and doesn't, oh the fits and the agonies.  He can scream and wail like a banshee.

I met with Seth's teacher this month and talked about how we can continue to grow him.  She is doing some 2nd grade assessment on him to see where he is and has been letting him do multiplication and other worksheets.  I think she is doing great and am just nervous about how it is going to be next year in 2nd grade.

Tennis is done and I think we are all glad.  It seemed long, but Seth enjoyed it.  He is so ready to start soccer.  He is excited to help me plant the garden - he whined and whined, but he did a whole bunch of weeding along with Andrew on Saturday and it was super helpful.

Seth is a sweetheart.

Andrew - surprisingly, I got Andrew to do a math fair project.  I think he was a little jealous that Seth did the science fair.  I really didn't think it was going to happen, because he never would sit down and work on it, even on the day before it was due.  He decided to look at the relationship between the number of pages in a book, its weight and its volume.  I went to work and they had a babysitter and when I came home he finally finished all his data collection.  And then, I had book club and he had finished the rest of his powerpoint to print out for the board (I did the first half with him).  He placed, too, and will also be going to the regional fair.  He got a medal which he was excited about, until I told Katsu about before he got home, and then Andrew sobbed in his room for 20 minutes because he had been planning for a really long time to tell Dad in some particular way.  Typical Andrew fashion.

Andrew has been learning about space at school and has to make a 3D representation of the solar system.  They have been learning some geography as well.  Otherwise, just the same old reading and math.  They are having gifted testing this month so hopefully he does well on that.  He finished his pull-out program on machines and things and has started a new one that is coding.  He seems to like it.  He also spends a lot of time getting ready for Math masters and is learning lots of stuff there.  He probably should study more, but Andrew isn't super diligent about that.  He prefers to come home and play - which is fine by me - and then he usually does homework and piano from 5-6 while I get dinner ready.

Andrew has been a master fort maker lately.  They are always everywhere.  He made a zip-line down the staircase for his army men.  Andrew really is the best of all the kids at playing and using his imagination.  He can always find something to do - usually some grand plan and some grand mess.

He had his pinewood derby for Cub Scouts.  His car didn't win a single heat which I think was pretty disappointing for him.  But he stayed till the end, got his little certificate for participating and I think it was a good lesson that he won't always be the best at everything - especially if he doesn't putt a ton of effort in and other kids do.

Otherwise, same old.  He is getting into Memrise, too, though wants to do everything but Japanese (of course).  He learned his Greek alphabet, knows some of his Japanese hiragana, and will do random German or Italian or English (!) courses for a few minutes till he gets bored.  Most recently, he is learning all the state capitals.

Still busy on the Warrior Cat books.  Read some other random books, too.

FUN THINGS THIS MONTH

• Reading - bouncing around in books this month - Serafina and the Black Cloak, Secret Garden, Giver, Childcraft stores - we've been busy and we just can't get into anything.  We also have been learning science (rocks), history of the world (vikings, castles, samurai, crusades), and scriptures (1 Ne.).  
• Movies - we saw Inside Out at the ward movie night.  We started the next season of Amazing Race - Seth and Andrew love it with a passion.  Seth wants to race it with me when he is older and wants to get a FitBit just like they had last season.  Katsu and I have been watching Downton Abbey.  Kids still love to pick the super annoying "Buddy" movies for movie night.  We watched Arthur and the Invisibles, which was okay.  
• Monday after the super bowl, the kids had a late start because of ice, I think.  Logan just ended up staying home which he thought was thrilling.
• Fat Tuesday - we had Jambalaya which was delicious, except I accidentally doubled the spice so it was a *little* spicy.  The kids ate some still, which surprised me.
• Thursday babysitting - we had been trying a new sitter, but it just hadn't been working well.  For whatever reason, the kids didn't like her and Seth really had trouble the last time, so got our old one to come back and it has been much better.  She gets them to do homework and piano and cleans and they play outside with friends and inside and she reads them stories.  And it's only for 2 hours - I don't know how she does it all.  She even fed them dinner last time!
• School was cancelled on the day of valentine's day parties.  I still had to work though as ECU was not cancelled - at least not in the morning.  School shouldn't have been cancelled that early either as the snow didn't start until later.  Katsu watched the kids in the morning.  It did make valentines parties not so exciting.  They didn't really have parties in the elementary school - just took 10 minutes the next week to exchange valentines.  Logan still had a party and had fun.  He passed out cute valentines with little jumping frogs on them.  On the other hand, the kids got valentine's day stuff for a whole week practically, so it really extended the holiday.
• Heart shaped pizzas.
• Katsu and I went on a date to a BBQ restaurant on Feb. 13.  My visiting teacher wanted to babysit, which was nice.  Then, we all went and saw the ECU women's basketball game.  Logan was scared of heights and didn't like being up high (we really weren't that high) and Noah was super bored and wanted to run around the whole stadium.  Seth and Andrew really loved it though.  We had to leave when it went into overtime to get some dinner for the boys and because Noah was going crazy.  We'll have to do it again.
• Valentine's Day - we cut our sandwiches into hearts for lunch and had cheese fondue for dinner which all the kids LOVED.  We will definitely have to do that again.  
• We tried some new recipes this month - Loaded baked potato soup, waldorf salad, ceasar salad (homemade dressing with anchovies(!) and homemade croutons).  
• President's Day - we celebrated early by making cute washington and lincoln using vanilla wafers, chocolate bars, chocolate chips and marshmallows.  We'll have to do it every year.  Logan had the day off but the boys had it as a makeup day from the snow days before.
• I went and helped deliver treats to all the teachers at school.  Logan liked to help, especially when he got a cookie at the end.
• Katsu, Andrew, and Seth went and saw a "science" show as part of the Family Fare series.  Katsu wasn't super impressed with the science nature of the show (he didn't learn anything apparently), but it sounds like it was fun.  And the boys brought home ice cream.  They were whining because they didn't want to watch Amazing Race, but in the end, they had fun.
• We went to Durham.  We went to the Museum of Life and Science which was just amazing.  The kids spent most of the time outside, and most of that time running around the new exhibit - in the tree houses, in the stream - and seeing the animals and sailing boats around the pond and playing in the mist.  They enjoyed the more science museum and children museum type exhibits inside.  We were there for like 6 hours.  We ate a quick lunch before we went in and then spent a long time inside.  Then, we drove to Bull City Burgers and had some super delicious burgers.  It was a little crazy - Andrew was pouting because he didn't want a kid burger and needed like 20 burgers to fill him up.  But he survived.  Then, we stopped at Trader Joes on the way home because we miss it.
• We finally got to play our new game Forbidden Island.  It was fun.  We really need to figure out how to consistently have game night.
• Katsu taught in the evenings a couple times, so we had some evenings without him.
• Book club at our house - All the Light You Cannot See.  Not a lot of people, but a great discussion and I ended up really enjoying the book once I got into it.
• Math Fair.
• Jump Rope for Heart.
• Logan went and helped clean the church with Katsu.  They cleaned all the door handles together and then had donuts.  Logan had a great time.
• Building cars together at Lowes - Andrew, Seth, and Logan.  Lots of hammering.
• Weeding and prepping garden for the spring.
• Pinewood Derby.
• Katsu and I went to watch the musical "The Assassins".  Lots of swearing, but otherwise, I really enjoyed it.  Good music and we are also so close to the action, it is pretty fun.
• Lent - we have been, when I remember, lighting candles and reading through a book with 40 days of readings about Names of Christ.  I really like it.

Kids in January ... and first week of February 2016

Family  - We have been reading Secret Garden ... which none of us like that much except maybe Logan ... but we are going to see the play so we read it intermittently.  We read some of the Giver, which Andrew liked somewhat.  Once it got good, he finished the rest on his own and Seth didn't seem to like it all, so ... again, another one we are going for a play.  I think it is a little over Seth's head.  We have switched bedtime so Katsu puts Noah to bed and I read to the rest of the boys most nights.  We do scriptures, history (reading about the Vikings right now), science (reading about earth science), fairy tales, and a chapter book.  Maybe it's too much, but it's my favorite time of the day ... at least when the boys are quiet and listening.

We went on a day trip yesterday to Rocky Mount - about an hour away.  They had a science / children's museum that was free on our pass.  Small, but they had a brand new exhibit on the first floor which was really nice and the museum was empty.  Like maybe 5 other kids there at a time.  The kids enjoyed the new exhibit - it was using math to do things like video games, making laser patterns, racing balls down a track, roller coasters, drum patterns, etc.  They also had a planetarium.  We were the only person at our show - it was about telescopes.  The dome wasn't huge, but not bad, and the show seemed good.  Noah only lasted about 5 minutes and then we went and looked at the animal exhibits together - some stuffed plus some live water animals, an alligator, and a huge python.  Noah was kind of scared of some of the animals - the stuffed cougar was pretty menacing looking.  The kids did a science demonstration (milk, soap, food coloring) that Andrew and Seth enjoyed and all the boys liked the children's play area.  The boys built a huge Lego fort.  Afterwards, we went on a short walk in the park by the Tar River and saw a little waterfall (though the water was very turbulent because we have had a lot of rain and the river is flooding right now (in Greenville, anyways).  We couldn't walk to the overlook because they were doing a frisbee golf tournament and said they would hit us.  We had some hot dogs and drove home.  Katsu ended up having a horrible migraine, so I finished driving.  It was pretty unfortunate since we had a lab party that evening scheduled and Katsu was supposed to cook Japanese food.  Instead, I hosted on my own and made some pretty good mabo dofu on my own looking up a recipe online with only about a half hour before the party.

Andrew - he is still doing well in school, though he is starting to not get perfect scores on his reading.  I am with him - I always hated reading passages and having to select the right multiple choice answer.  He did well on his reading assessments - he is around a 5th grade reading level, but all the books he is reading now is on a 6th grade level.  Andrew is very stubborn and does things his own way, even a bit at school.  They are supposed to check out two books from the library - one fiction and non-fiction.  Then, they take an AR (Advanced reading) test on both and then they can check out new ones.  Well, he prefers to take tests on his own books - especially ones that are long and give lots of points.  So, he refuses to take his books back to the library since he doesn't want to take tests on them.  He has had the same two books out since September!  Andrew has been working hard doing computer games to practice for Math Masters - looks a little too fun to me, but I guess it's good.  He was on the Honor Roll again and all his grades for the 2nd nine weeks were 97-100.  So, he is doing well.

Andrew still reads all the time.  He read a few Artemis Fowl books and also a few other random books.  But his new favorite book series is the Warrior Cat series which he is reading compulsively now.  Its a long series, plus there are a lot with other animals as well, so it should keep him busy for awhile.

Andrew is pretty creative, but it drives me crazy most of the time.  He is always making up games for them to play and is making big elaborate forts and setups.  He is also not very flexible - if people don't do things exactly his way or if he can't get the fort to work exactly so, he gets very upset.  He also tends to get violent and throw huge fits, though that is gradually getting better as he gets older.  But Andrew also tries really hard to be good.  He will cry and tell me how much he tries to be a good kid and worries that he isn't.  Underneath the craziness, he has a soft soul.

Andrew is still plodding along in piano and tennis.  He doesn't love tennis, but he goes and seems to do fine.  Piano - he loves to memorize songs, especially ones he really likes.  He loved learning a Star Wars song this month.  He will practice, but trying to get him to do it on your schedule is an impossible battle.  He prefers playing first - Trio, forts, with friends, reading ... and then trying to cram in homework and piano before dinner so he can eat.

The biggest talk at school is the school dance.  I think Andrew has decided not to go.  I can't believe that everyone is asking girls!!!  I told him that was forbidden until he was 16.  Why I should have to bring this up at 8 ... He is not interested in girls yet anyways, so fine by me.

Andrew has been working on his pine wood derby car with Katsu and it will be later this month.  He seems to like Cub Scouts.  He has done everything he needs to do for his Wolf badge, but there are a few things that the den needs to do.  They are kind of disorganized, so we'll have to see if they get it done.

Seth - Seth did his science project this month on crystals - how fast salt, sugar, and Borax crystals grow.  He ended up putting together a very nice board.  It didn't place, but I think it is because it looked too nice.  I was kind of shocked about how basic the projects are compared to projects in other areas I have seen (i.e., how big of a bubble can I blow with the gum or whether Lightning McQueen is faster than my other race cars).  It was really anticlimatic at school - they brought them in at 8:30 to cafeteria.  They were judged.  Parents saw them from 9:30-10 and then the kids took them home.  That was it.  They announced the winners on the announcements and the kids will all get a certificate, but that is it.  None of the other kids even saw them!  No wonder science isn't big here!

Seth has been busy doing multiplication and division when his teacher can fit it in.  She sent him home his own harder homework last week which is great!  He did well - all S's and is reading on a level J, but still needs to work on his handwriting (surprise, surprise).  He reads well and will read, but it not as much a book worm or series devourer as Andrew.  He really enjoyed reading Jedi Academy series (3 books), Stink books (he didn't love them as I got him more of them), and some Magic Tree House books.  He loves anything that is kind of comic book, kind of regular book.

Seth has added learning Japanese to his chores and is always begging to have Memrise time on the computer - the app he is using to learn his letters.  He tends to rush and prefers to check out his score and how it compares to the rest of the world, but hopefully he is learning some Japanese too.

I went one day to eat lunch with Andrew and Seth.  Seth had lunch first and I sat with him for a few minutes until they said we had to go to another table because there wasn't enough room for me.  But Seth wouldn't come with me!  Even when I brought Chick-fil-A.  Silly boy.

Seth enjoys tennis, but is eagerly waiting for soccer season to start.  He LOVES soccer and still talks and things about it all the time.  If Andrew can get him to play something engaging or there are neighbors to play outside with, ,Seth is happy, but otherwise he is bored bored bored.  He loves to play games, but playing games is difficult all the time - especially when he loves long long games.  And all the games he loves are long, I feel.  He has started to play scrabble with Katsu.  We really need to figure out how to get game night to work.

Seth also likes to draw and write little messages.  He made a lot of snowflakes this month, but if you look closely, you can see he wrote how bored he is all over them.  Most of the notes are messages to us about how we need to do certain things or else or they are stories.  I loved his perfect day story.  He talked about school going well, getting home and doing his homework right away and then he got to play Plants Versus Zombies (he gets 15 minutes a day after piano, Japanese, homework, and chores) and how Andrew was mean to him and then how we got to read stories together at night and it ended well so it was a perfect day.  Or something like that.

Logan - Logan has been slowly growing up.  He really likes to be taken care of.  But we are trying to work on doing things on his own.  After being potty trained for a year, I am sometimes trying to make him wipe himself.  Because he will really just sit on the potty and wait forever.  Like 20 minutes if I don't realize that he is calling for me!  He is pretty good about getting mostly dressed if I press him and he can put on socks and shoes most of the time and will buckle sometimes.  We are working on all of these.

He also is finally starting to play by himself or with Noah for stretches of time.  He prefers to just hang out with me on my lap.  Like, we spend most days with him and Noah fighting over my lap.  So this is big news!  He still likes my lap and story time and me entertaining him, but I can see a light at the end of the tunnel.  Logan likes to play with cars or his pirate toys.  He loves to play in the bath.  He likes to race cars.

Logan does whatever he can to avoid doing chores or things I ask him.  He also in that awful four stage with the big fits sometimes over random things.  He is the most mellow of the four, though, so they aren't too bad.  But seriously, we have one of those stick things to clean out the dryer coils and he and Noah were fighting over it - all out screaming kicking fit.  He also has started to get a lot more rough.  He is on top of the other boys all the time rough housing and sometimes I will look over and he has just slapped the other kid for apparently no reason.  Usually its just roughhousing and not violence, though.

Logan went to the dermatologist this month - it was crazy because I had all four boys in a huge waiting room where you could hear a pin drop for an hour.  For a one minute meeting with the Dr. - its just a growth, rare in children, very unlikely to be cancer which is extremely rare, he is too little to sit still cutting it off, but if we want to when he is older that is fine.  Done.  Take a picture.  Which is exactly what I expected and told Logan to expect.  Logan had been kind of scared, so he was glad when it was just like what I said.

Logan always tells me that he doesn't like preschool that much, but when I probe that's not quite true.  He told me he really likes singing time with Ms. Brenda, he likes playing inside, he likes playing outside, he likes reading books - he just doesn't like morning meeting.  And in fact, they sing at morning meeting and sometimes he likes that.  And he likes show-and-tell (so far he has brought in his camera, an Octonauts toy, and a triangle).  So, pretty much he likes preschool except the learning part and maybe the craft.  I'll take it.  He is making friends and talks about them some (yay!).  He also is telling me about what he learns.  Last month, they spent a lot of time on shapes and then had a shape party where everyone brought a snack that was a shape.  He loved that because he loves to eat!

He has struggled to retain knowledge of any letter.  So, we are working on them at home (they don't learn them at preschool yet).  He knows S,X,O and sometimes L. We spent a couple weeks working on F.  He can recognize it but has a hard time remembering the name unless he remembers the words we learned (fish, fire engine) and then he can remember the f sound and then he can remember the word "F".  On the other hand, he knows all his numbers and can count well and recognizes numerals and shapes.  On the other hand, he recognizes colors but can never remember the label for each color.  So interesting ...

Logan always surprises me with what he remembers.  I told him when they went to the dentist at the beginning of the month that his balloon was filled with helium and because it is lighter than air, it floats.  Then, two weeks later, talking to Seth - he says "The balloon is not filled with air - it's filled with helium which is lighter than air and that is why it floats".  Crazy memory.  He remembered the word helium!

Logan is always my sweetheart and tells me he loves me and wants to marry me.

Noah - Noah, noah, noah ... this kid needs to learn to sleep again!  Between illnesses and teething, it feels like he has been waking up all the time at night for 6 months!!!  He is getting his incisors in right now so I am hopefully that once all 4 are in, we will be sleeping again.  He slept somewhat better last night, so there is hope.  Katsu has started putting him to sleep so he is less reliant on nursing, but he still demands it at night when his teeth hurts and he will scratch, pull hair, etc.  I watched a documentary on monkeys and the baby monkey was throwing a similar fit when his mother tried to wean him, so I guess it's not just humans that struggle with this.

Noah got a cold again and was sounding really wheezy and Katsu was out of town, so I took him to the doctor.  Thankfully, it was just upper respiratory though.  So, I am hopeful that he won't be like Andrew where every single thing goes straight to asthma - maybe just sometimes.  Maybe it will be a two-time thing.  He has an appt this month so we will see how it goes.

Noah started nursery.  The first couple weeks Katsu stayed with him.  Katsu only stayed 5 minutes last time and he did fine.  He looked sad when Katsu left, but seemed to be happy enough.  He even colors (he likes to color more than any of the other kids and is always trying to color on whatever paper he can find at home).  So, yay!  It is very similar to the Mom's Day Out he goes to, so I expected that he would be fine.  He is not always super happy about going to that either, but he usually does fine.  He is the most flexible in terms of accepting babysitters which is nice.  This month has been rough because we had two new babysitters (we get one for 2 hours on Thursday afternoon while I have office hours).  I don't know if he loves the newest one, but hopefully they will be used to each other, anyways.  The boys say he doesn't cry while I'm good, so I guess it's going okay.

Noah really is pretty independent.  He likes to hang out with me, especially if I've been gone for any reason recently, but he will also go and play or watch TV with his brothers.  He really likes TV apparently, which I am not a huge fan of, but oh, well.  He will play independently, too.  He likes to drive his cars and make cute sounds or race them.

Noah is starting to talk more.  He says more words and I can sense that more are coming.  Sometimes it feels like he is making 2 word phrases, but hard to say.  He can say "No", "Yes", "Mom", "Dad", "up", "blow" (like bubbles), "more", "hi", "bye", maybe milk, "uh oh", maybe Andrew, "Moo" (like a cow), "boo" (like a ghost), "ruff" for a dog ... that's all I can think of now.  It has sounded like he said "love you" before, but that's hard to say.

Noah has a new cheesy grin.  He also likes to perform.  He tasted some lemon juice and made a face today at dinner.  We all laughed, so he did it three more times with his cheesy grin in the middle.

Noah is all over the place and into everything.  He loves to push things around - laundry baskets, step stools, anything large that moves.  He moves the stool around the room by the couch and then flies over the top of the couch.  He will climb onto counters and try to get himself water or wash his own hands.  He loves to get in the fridge and pantry and pick out what he wants to eat (cuties, cheese sticks, fruit, other random stuff).  He especially loves to be outside.  He likes to help cook, but likes to spill things everywhere.  He loves to work things with buttons - the food processor, the dishwasher.  He is obsessed with dough and will pick off pieces when you aren't watching.  I have to hide dough while it rises so it isn't all eaten.

He has become an expert hider.  His beloved blanket, of all things, he hid in the house in the middle of a stack of futons.  It took us days to find!  When we finally found it, he hid it two more places that day - between my footboard and mattress and in a food storage box between the cans.  He likes to hid himself, too.

He mostly just loves to laugh, play, and spend time with his brothers.

FUN THINGS THIS MONTH:
- Tennis
- Birthday party at a bouncy house
- lunch with the kids at school
- Dentist appts - no cavities
- 1 day off of school for ice - Katsu was out of town, so they went over to a friend's house all morning while I worked.
- I had a book club at our house while Katsu was gone and Noah wouldn't go to sleep, so he enjoyed the whole thing with me.  At one point he broke a glass and was just so shocked that he stood there with a huge 'o' face on.
- Lots of nice days and lots of cold days.  One or the other.  A dusting of snow - enough to make our snowball cookies the first week back to school.  Lots of rain.  Lots of hot days - our daffodils are already coming out and lots of playing outside.
- Volunteering with the homeless and then a party for the volunteers at our house.
- Andrew party at Laser Dome
- Groundhog day - we made some fancy cookies.
- Setsubun - we threw jelly beans.  Noah was crying and terrified at the beginning, but by the end, he was excited to try and throw the jelly beans, too.
- Science fair.
- Awards day at school - to the school for Andrew and honor roll and then back to the school for Seth and his all S's and then back to school to pick up the boys in the pouring rain.
- the infamous lab party at our house that Katsu slept through
- Super Bowl.  The boys fell asleep (well, Andrew is still going strong), but they all cheered on the Panthers.



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Funai Family Nov/Dec

My new goal is to update this every month with just a big family post.  We'll see if I can get that to work.  Here is the rest of 2015.

Andrew - school is going well.  Andrew always hits his AR (reading goal) in the first week of the month and then stops testing on the books he is reading.  Then, he spends a lot of time working on AM (his math goal).  He takes a lot of tests on those and they have added higher grade level material to what he is working on.  He took some sort of math test with his class and scored one of the highest 3 or 5 kids in the grade, so he is on the Math Master team.  They will compete in April at a contest at ECU.  They gave us a whole bunch of material for him to learn, so we are learning a bit each day off of Khan Academy.  I have started teaching him about decimals and will try to get into multi digit multiplication and divison as well and then some more into fractions and decimals.  Probably the rest of elementary math.  He seems excited about it, but then he is always telling me he has so much going on at school (Leadership, Math masters, his two pull-out things, etc.).  I think it is good for him to push him a little bit.  He got all A's and won some awards at the last awards ceremony - for achieving his goals and then the Character kid from his class.

Andrew finished his play.  He really liked the putting on makeup.  We didn't get him flowers the first night and he was upset, but then I brought roses the second night and he was very happy and I was the best mom ever.  He is always hot or cold, that is for sure.  He did a great job and we had the side benefit of him learning lots of Christmas carols which was fun at Christmas time.  I think he might do it again but probably not for the next play.  Of course, if his friend auditions, maybe he will, too.

Andrew has been playing tennis - we signed both him and Seth up and they play Mon and Wed. though it seems it has been cancelled for rain or holidays about half the time.  He doesn't love it, but is learning to play.  He would probably rather be reading, but on the other hand, he does like to play it around the house.

Andrew finished up most of the 39 clues and has been devouring the books he got for Christmas.  We need to get him into a new series pronto ... With all the holidays and travel, he hasn't had as much to read lately.  We read "The Best Christmas Pagenat Ever" and "On Christmas Eve" for our read alouds.  We read part of "The Hoboken Chicken Emergency", but Seth didn't like it much, as well.  We also listened to "When Santa Fell to Earth" and have listened to some of "Land of Stories" in the car.

Andrew got a Nerf gun for Christmas which he is in love with.  He goes around shooting everyone.  He also got tons of books and other small presents (an air hockey game, etc.) and a new Lego video game for him and Seth because we were tired of watching the Star Wars video games.  He still loves to create huge Trio creations, which break almost instantly, and then he growl at everyone for hours as he tries to fix it and moans about how it will take hours and then he never plays with it (which if you comment on, he will say it is because we always break it).  He also loves to play outside with the neighbors.

He learned a lot of Christmas songs for piano the last couple months and plays Jingle Bells from heart all the time.  He enjoyed singing carols for our Sunday advent celebrations after lighting the candles.

Seth

Seth still does well in school and still is bored with it.  Though it sounds like his teacher is trying to push him.  They should do level testing again this month and I am curious to see if Seth's level went up or not.  He tends to rush and not answer the questions super well, but I think he is improving on that.  I have tried to supervise his homework more, but it's tough because he just rushes and does it all on his own.  He still is teaching himself lots of multiplication and division and loves to talk about it to everyone he meets.  He and Katsu are supposed to be working on a science project together, but we'll see how that works out.

Seth is doing well in piano, but he really loves tennis.  He practices outside, bouncing the ball off the house all the time.  He does pretty well during tennis lessons and it is always a tragedy when they are cancelled for whatever reason.

Seth got a remote control helicopter, a little Nerf gun, some soccer clips, a soccer game, and some of his favorite books for Christmas.  He really lucked out because we got some favorite games from our cousins for Christmas - Ticket to Ride Europe and Forbidden Desert.  We have played Ticket to Ride Europe and Seth is a little miffed because it is different than the original, but I think he will like it eventually.  It's been nice to play lots of games with him over the break.  Poor Seth - when we were opening presents, we thought we were done and Seth was disappointed because he thought he didn't get as many as the other boys.  Turns out - he was right - there were more presents for him and we had forgotten to bring them out - a set of baseball bases, some more books, and the games.

We have started tracking chores with Chore Monster app, and Seth is still always working hard to do his chores.  He has been saving them up for laser tag maybe or going to the Chinese buffet with mom.  He has also been super polite lately and is always such a peace keeper in our home.

Seth has been enjoying the new boy in his class/ward and they got together for a wild play date.  He spends a lot of time playing with the neighbor and playing outside and is always trying to convince me he needs computer time and video game time, though we try to keep it to weekends.  He loves everything with a screen, but when that is limited (which is most of the time), he keeps his head in books.

Logan

Logan had his 4 year old well check and got all his shots.  He is doing well, though we are going to see a pediatric dermetologist next month about a growth on his leg.  He is pretty big for his age, but I think it was like 75% - I don't really remember.

Logan had his first performance at school for Christmas.  He was dressed nicely and in the back row and sang all the songs.  He knew all the words and they sang like 5 songs.  All the boys have really started to learn and sing lots of Christmas songs this year, which is a lot of fun.  Logan is really starting to enjoy preschool.  He has several friends that he likes to play with and went to a lot of birthday parties lately.  We have been pretty lax about making playdates for him (bascially none), so it's fun to see him playing with other kids.

We have started Teach your Child to Read in 100 lessons and have been taking it really slowly.  I am not sure how fast he will progress because he has been really slow on learning his letters.  He has been learning them on starfall, though, which I hope is helping.  I really want to double down and do some more workbooks or coloring to work on his fine motor skills.  He has gotten excellent at counting and can count to 30 and beyond with some help.  He also has an exceptionally good memory and has memorized countless books.

Logan is always smiling, loves to sit on lap and is a pretty peaceful low key kid.  Definitely my most mellow kid.  That said, he has started throwing a lot of fits lately.  He will get really upset and have a meltdown at least once or twice a day.  But I am sure it is just a stage that won't last too long.

Logan got some fun Jake and the Neverland pirate toys for Christmas (and also pilfered some from the toys donated for the homeless that there was way too many of).  He also has really enjoyed playing with cars, Trio, race track,  and helping me build a big Lego dinosaur that we got to test this month.

We waited to put the Christmas presents under the tree until the week of Christmas because we were worried that Noah would get into them.  Well, I guess they were just too much for Logan to resist.  One day, he opened one of his presents when I was putting Noah down for a nap.  When he realized it was his present, he was so embarrased, he ran and and threw the present and the wrapping paper into the recycle bin.  And then he couldn't get it out.  He was so worried he wouldn't get the present and it was the one he had been asking for every day - a Cubby and Izzy and Jake the pirate figurine.  He did get the present, though we almost forgot about it until later in the day because we never did get to rewrap it.

Noah

Noah has had a tough month or so.  He got sick in November around Thanksgiving and then he got sick on Christmas Eve again.  On Christmas Eve he was running a 104 degree fever.  But, it broke, and he seemed all better - no other symptoms, so we went on our trip to Washington DC.  Then, once we got there, he started having breathing problems (he was also wheezing over Thanksgiving - only when doctor's offices are closed, of course!).  We ended up taking him to urgent care, staying for several hours and just barely getting him breathing well enough to go home instead of to the ER.  He is just now feeling all better and the light in his eyes is finally coming back.  He also had a double ear infection, so he must have just felt awful, poor thing.  We have had to have him on a nebulizer every 4 hours all week as well as on oral steroids and an antibiotic.  What a week!  I think he also had the stomach flu or a few colds in the last couple months too.

He also has started to throw lots and lots of fits.  Way more than any of the other boys.  He gets frustrated when we don't understand what he wants (or when he can't have what he wants) and just throws fits all the time.  Otherwise, he really is delightful.  He is really quite stubborn and reminds us a lot of Andrew.

He is not talking much, but he can say some words.  He says:  yeah, me, Mom, Dad, maybe some of the boys names, various animal sounds (Moo, roar, ruff, etc.), ball, hot,  ... maybe more.  He understands everything we say and is pretty good at following directions.  He likes to clean things up and especially likes to throw things away.

He still gets into and onto everything, but it seems to be getting a little better.

He had his 18 month checkup.  He weighs 26 lbs and is about average height, though I am not convinced it was measured correctly.  He hates getting weighed and cries more about that than getting shots.

He has started to like to watch TV.  He really likes this annoying music program that we show him when he gets really upset or more recently when he gets breathing treatments.  He loves all the songs and loves to dance to them.  He likes music generally.

He really enjoys to be read to and we spend lots of time reading every day.  He also really likes car and race tracks.  He loves racing cars.  He likes to play with trains and try to play with train tracks (or take them apart).

He takes great naps, though lately has been more difficult to put to sleep.  Especially with his illness, he wants to nurse to sleep all the time and just nurse and nurse all night long.  It is driving me crazy.  I hope he gets over it soon.

He did really well in his Mother's Day Out and even made some cute crafts.  They say he is great in there.  He does good with babysitters, too, though he is not generally very happy when we leave.  Mostly, he really loves Mom and then Dad and then his brothers.

Noah loved the lights and decorations for Christmas.

We love our sweet Noah!

Fun Things in Nov / Dec

- Performances at Barnes and Noble.  Seth was one night and Andrew was another.  It was crazy crowded and I couldn't even really see Seth when he did his performance.  I think they recited a poem.  Andrew did a rap about multiplication, I think.  Not my favorite night of the year, but you can't miss it.  Seth had some artwork about the author's books.
- Logan saw a Gingerbread Man play at preschool.
- We went hiking at Goose Creek State Park for Andrew's Cub Scout adventure.  He was very serious about reading us everything from the book, using a compass, the buddy system, etc.  It was fun, though we didn't think about bug spray (it was November!) and we all got lots of mosquito bites.
- Seth got his soccer award and went out for ice cream that day as well with his soccer team.
- Seth, Logan, and I went to go see Frosty the musical.  We had a really great time.  The musical was pretty interesting and actually very funny in parts.  The man who acted Frosty did a really great job.  Afterwards, we went to Krispy Kreme and got doughnuts.  It was packed, but the boys loved it.
- My parents came in for the week of Thanksgiving.  One night, we went to go see the musical Rent and they babysat the boys.  Another evening, we went to Pie night at our friend's house.  We made an apple pie and I was really excited.  On the way there, I was commenting to Katsu how it was unusual that Logan had seem so tired and not eating well and I hoped he wasn't sick.  As soon as we sat down to eat pie (we were the first people there), Logan threw up all over me and him and floor.  Sigh.  We went home early, but everyone else stayed.  What a way to start Thanksgiving.  Thankfully, no one else seemed to catch it and there wasn't anymore throwing up.
- Thanksgiving was fun.  We tried reading some of our book leading up to it, but never got through the whole Thanksgiving story.  We ate dinner together (Noah was pretty fussy because he wasn't feeling well, so I put him down for a nap and by the time I came down, everyone was done).  The highlights were macaroni and cheese (our first time trying that and the boys liked it) and ginger and pear cranberry sauce (so good!).  We watched the Macy's Day parade and some movies.  We also went down to Kinston one day and saw the Science center and Planetarium and played on the playground.  It was cute and small, but the boys enjoyed it and there were a few animals to see as well.  On Friday, we put up all the Christmas decorations in less than an hour.  Pretty impressive.
- Katsu and the boys (minus Noah) went to the ECU football game.  (I stayed home and graded).  ECU lost by a field goal in the last second, so it was quite a game.  It was really hot (we have had crazy hot weather).
- We started up a game night with buffet or finger food and the boys really loved it.  It was fun.
- Lots of tennis practices.
- For Christmas Advent, each Sunday, we lit a candle, did readings and had a special snack.  We loved pannetonne (that is definitely a keeper) and marzipan was pretty yummy, too.  We always love my handmade stollen.  We did not like the peanut brittle much.  The boys love to light the candles.  We also started singing Christmas carols, each picking one and then singing until we get bored.  We all really loved it.  It helps get us in the mood, which was tricky this year since it has been so warm.
- Ward Christmas party.  Noah and Seth sat with Santa, but the other boys refused.  All 3 boys have been anti-Santa this year (though Logan isn't so sure) and no matter how much I tell him, Seth keeps telling everyone that we are Santa.  He was trying to use Calvin and Hobbes to prove it to me.
- lots of birthday parties and baptisms.
- We went to the Christmas parade and Flotilla in New Bern.  The boys enjoyed the parade, though Andrew was having a super bad attitude (but that's pretty typical).  There were some performances, some candy, and some floats.  Then, we walked over to the park and saw lots of bears on the way and had a picnic while we waited for it to get dark.  We listened to the Navy Band play and then we saw the boats come out all lighted up.  It was pretty cool - but there weren't as many boats as I expected - just 20.  On the way home, we hit a deer carcass which had just been hit.  Gave our car a big jolt and the smell.  A piece got dislodged from the car, but Katsu pushed it back.  After a good car washing, a check at the mechanic (Everything a-ok), and exterior detailing, we survived that one.
- Andrew marched in the Winterville Christmas parade with the cub scouts.  We went and finally got him all his gear - we didn't have time to sew all the patches on so some were just pinned.  Of course, Andrew lost his handkerchief almost instantly, but we found it at the end of the parade.  He was upset about it.  Katsu and the boys sat at the front of the parade and brought home loads of candy.
- Two work Christmas parties and a wedding reception, all back to back.  After those 3 days, I was so excited to eat at home and not worry about the boys every move.
- Logan's Christmas program at school.  I ended my final a little early to make sure I could get there on time.  So cute.
- Christmas party and PJ party for Logan at school.  I came, but was the only parent, so I probably won't do that again.  They had snacks and brought home hats and goody bags.  Logan had fun and was happy to see me.
- We went to see the Live Nativity at Chick-Fil-A.  Noah was terrified of the animals and was crying hysterically, so we couldn't stay long.  It was nice, though, and will probably become a tradition.
- We fed the homeless together as a family.  It was nice since we haven't done it all together in a while since it is usually nap time.  Andrew wasn't feeling very well so he stayed in the car most of the time.  We made homemade stuffing (the good stuff with bacon and everything) and it was awesome.  They collected a lot of toys to give out and had lots left over.  We offered to bring it home until someone could pick it up.  The boys pilfered a lot of the toys and I didn't have a chance to put it back before they came and picked up the toys, though I did add a whole bunch of books that we duplicates of, so I guess it worked out.
- Andrew and Seth had pretty low-key Christmas celebrations.  We sent in cookies for Andrew and they had lots of treats and also made a gingerbread house.  I am not sure what Seth did.
- The first Monday of Christmas break, we went to a science program at the new science museum (they don't have exhibits, just programming).  The boys didn't want to go, but they ended up really enjoying it.  They talked about whale blubber, how whales eat fish, different kind of whales, cells, and made a model of the cell using a cookie at the end.  I think they did a couple of other things as well.
- We also made lots of cookies and bread over Christmas break - gingerbread cookies, candy cane cookies, sugar cookies, and stollen.  We also decorated little gingerbread houses outside one day.  Lots of fun.  Noah ate all his candy, so his was plain.
- Christmas caroling party at our friends.  We brought lots of cookies and then split into groups and went caroling and then came to their home and had treats.  We really loved it.
- Movie night at the church - watched Mickey's Christmas carol and other Disney Christmas cartoons with treats and said goodbye to a friend from Church.
- Christmas Eve - we made ham, green bean casserole, and scalloped potatoes.  We did some advent candles and singing, we opened up presents (books from Mom and from Meghan/Michael/Finlay) and ate chocolate and went to bed.  Noah was running his fever so we couldn't get him to bed, so he watched while we filled the stockings and then we all finally got to sleep.
- Christmas morning we opened presents, add monkey bread and chocolate, were lazy and played and got ready for our trip.  We had ice cream sundaes that night.
- Trip to DC
 -- Saturday we drove to DC.  It took quite a while because of the traffic.  We were staying with our friends, the Clarks.  We ate dinner with them and then talked and went to bed.
 -- Sunday, we had some yummy breakfast made by Spencer and then we drove to the Mall.  We saw ALL the monuments and finally collapsed with a bit of lunch at the Jefferson National Monument and flagged down a ranger so Andrew could get his Junior Ranger badge.  It was A LOT of walking.  We made a quick stop in the bathroom and then got more food from the car before walking our weary feet over to see the White House and the National Christmas tree.  Logan slept in the stroller about half the afternoon, but the rest of the time, he was excited to take pictures of the monuments.  Andrew wanted to fill everything in about the Junior Ranger, and Seth is just not the best traveler and Noah was kind of sick and fussy.  Then, we drove home and had a nice dinner with our friends.  Seth went out with them caroling and when they got back, we took Noah to urgent car and spent the rest of the evening there.
-- Monday, Katsu and the boys plus the Clark boy went to Smithsonian.  Noah and Mom stayed home so he could get all his medicine.  The boys spent a lot of time bickering, but they seemed to have some fun.  They went to Natural History museum - they really liked the gems and the skulls the best - there were videos of archaeologists and each would give separate clues about what they discovered.  Then, they had some lunch at the Air and Space Museum and saw that one, joined us with Spencer and his daughter.  Noah and I took a long walk around the neighborhood and finally took a nap - hard to get when he is on the steroids.  We all got pupusas from an  El Salvador restaurant.  They were really good and enjoyed it.
-- Tuesday, we had a lovely breakfast (Spencer made a monkey bread cake for Katsu's birthdy and we all sang for him) and then drove to Arlington cemetery.  We saw JFK's gravestone and eternal flame and saw the Changing of the Guard at the Unnamed Soldier's grave.  We then went to the Arlington House where Robert E. Lee and his wife lived and Andrew got a Junior Ranger badge.  Then, we drove to the zoo and met up with our friends and they brought Taco Bell.  We saw some of the animals - the lions and sea lions were really making a racket, and then a lot fo the animals exhibits closed, but the lights came on and we got to see lots of pretty lights and also some model trains and the gingerbread contest.  We also saw a little laser light show that the boys enjoyed.  We were pretty tired though (Noah screamed half the night on Monday), so we went home and ALL fell asleep before 9.
-- Wednesday, we started to drive home.  There was tons of traffic and then tons and tons of rain.  By the time we had several bathroom breaks and lunch break, we didn't get to our friends the Cooks home in Chesapeake until 4.  So, when they offered to let us stay the night, we did.  The boys got along pretty well with the Cook kids (good because Andrew and one of the Clark kids fought constantly, though we still had a lovely time with them) and had lots of fun playing.  We had a great pizza dinner and had fun catching up.  We all got a pretty good nights sleep and were ready to drive the last 2 hours home on Thursday.
- New Years' Eve - we unpacked, grocery shopped, and Katsu made some delicious soba noodles.  We had bags to open up for each hour from 6-12.  We decorated our tree (took off the Christmas decorations except the balls and added streamers), played Just Dance, played games, made new years resolutions, had ice cream sundaes, and watched some Clone Wars (boys choice) and count down to New Years.  We all dropped off between 10 and 12 except Katsu.  Noah woke up right before New Years, so I did too.  What a year!