Lately, Delaney has been doing anything and everything to get to things out of reach.  She moves chairs and stools, pulls out dresser drawers, and even has stacked pillows to get some additional height.  Today, I watched her move her booster seat over to get a better position at the train table.  She’s smart, strong, and determined—definitely a dangerous combination!

This afternoon, Delaney did not hesitate in climbing up on the four-wheeler and going for a ride with Grandpa….and again…and again…and again!  She was definitely very pleased!

We are fortunate to have a long driveway that the kids can ride bikes and scooters and do almost any outdoor activity.  As a result, we spend a lot of time, here.  One of the things I really like about spending time in the front yard is now that the fence is up, it is a large, safe area that they can run around without us having to be right on top of them.  So, leave it to Delaney to pick a favorite spot that pushes that challenges that safety zone.  The last couple of weeks, Delaney has chosen this rock to be her spot.  She just loves to sit here and observe the world.  With a driveway extending 80+ feet, it is a little exasperating that she insists on this rock that sits just inches from the road.  It is not surprising that Delaney chooses the spot that pushes the limits to the very end and forces us to change how we supervise the front yard playtime—in fact, I am suspicious that it is actually intentional.   I think this little girl will be keeping us on our toes for many, many years to come!

This week has been all about Cole and his 4th birthday.  Although he had his birthday party earlier in the week, of course we had to celebrate on his birthday, too!  He had fun from beginning to end, including a special daddy adventure, and visits from Grandma and Grandpa and Auntie Noelle and Uncle Bill.  Since it was his birthday, we put candles on his remaining cake and had him blow them out, again!  For him, the magic was no less than it was the first time.  For myself, however, I think it was even more so.  On the kids’ birthdays I always take time to remember the incredible blessing of their births—such joyous experiences that still leave me in awe of the little lives that now make up our family.  While Cole’s birth was amazing and joyous, the events, and especially the emotions, that quickly followed tend to overshadow that first memory.  To remember that and to see him now—healthy and happy—is overwhelming.  Happy birthday, sweet Cole.  We love you more than you can possibly imagine!

Although Cole would definitely have preferred to have played outside this afternoon, he enjoyed opening up his birthday gifts and playing with them (with a lot of help from Franny).  He really enjoyed assembling and decorating these gliders.  They are designed to be thrown-- fortunately (for me), he has been content to just race around with them in his hands.  And, fortunately (for him), he has no shortage of imagination to make up the most involved airplane games!  I love that about him.

Today, Cole celebrated his birthday with his playgroup friends.  He had a hard time waiting all day for his party, but it was worth the wait.  They watched How To Train Your Dragon and ate popcorn; enjoyed his favorite dinner of pepperoni pizza and lemonade; and celebrated with the usual traditions of gifts and cake, which was decorated with incredible flames by his Auntie Noelle.  It was a simple party, but it was perfect.  Cole had a very special time and enjoyed it from beginning to end.  I love seeing his eyes sparkle and face light up when he has a special day like this.  And, he deserves every moment!

Cole has been waiting for months for his How To Train Your Dragon birthday party.  He’s been waiting so long, I think for awhile he really didn’t think it was going to happen.  But, tomorrow is the day!  After he fell asleep tonight I decorated the downstairs with the six signature dragons I have been working on for over a month.  In the morning, there will be absolutely no way that the first thing he sees is a dragon!  I am very excited to see his reaction.  There was no way for me to make them without his seeing the process—it was too involved and they are also just too big to hide. In the end, however, I think that has added to his anticipation.  I can’t wait to see his face in the morning!

Dreaming of dragons

Toothless will be the first he sees!

Cole is just days away from turning four.  He is getting more excited with each passing day.  He has already received a present and card from his Grandma Lesley, yesterday, Franny and Auntie Noelle made a special and secretive shopping trip, and today, a special package arrived from his California cousins.  It’s a lot of fun to see his anticipation build.  He has had a rough time recovering from his fever bout a few weeks ago, but this week has seen a lot more smiles, as well as the reemergence of his sweet personality.   I think much of that has been due to the excitement surrounding the countdown to his birthday.  We all can’t wait to celebrate his big day.  I just hope it’s as special to him as he is to us—what an incredible little boy he has become!

Tonight was Franny’s school Math Fair.  There were lots of activities and games throughout the gym, library, and cafeteria.  Most of it was well above the kindergarten skill level, but there a few things for her to do.  Her favorite was this estimating game, where you guess the number of items in each jar, compare to the actual count, and find the difference.  Franny has been very excited for the Math Fair—she has asked me every day since last week if we could go!  I love every opportunity where I can see her and what she’s learning in her school environment.  It’s always a lot of fun and she always impresses me!

Franny loves the monkey bars!  If we ask her what she did at recess, her answer almost always includes the bars.  She started the school year slightly frustrated that she wasn’t as good as she wanted to be.  But now, she swings around all the different rings and bars with ease, and even skips one!  She was very proud to show us her skills after the math fair this evening.  I love seeing her so happy and confident—she’s grown up a lot during this kindergarten year!

It was a wonderful park day with our friends.  Hopefully, it is the first of many, many more to come!

Delaney kicking up her heels

Cole taking a break with his friends

For a number of weeks, Franny’s class studied poetry and wrote their own poems.  The poems they wrote were bound into their own poetry folder, and they were able to choose their favorite one to publish in the class poetry book.  Her teacher made a point of telling me that Franny really enjoyed writing poems and that she loved the fact that they could be about anything.  Franny wrote about different months (April and March), colors, rainbows, spring, sunshine, and animals.  Of the 20 poems Franny composed, she chose her poem Penguins for the class book.

She said—most emphatically—that she wanted to peel her own orange.  I didn’t think she could do it, but I let her try, anyway.  And, once again she proved me wrong.  I bet it tasted extra sweet!

While Franny had her Grandpa (and Grandma!) Camp, and Delaney took her afternoon nap, Cole was supposed to have some one-on-one time with his daddy.  But, when Delaney fell asleep in the car early in the day, it was clear she would not be napping.  Cole, however, was very sweet and invited Delaney along on his day.   They explored the Farmers Market and the PSU campus, and had some fun bowling.  Cole enjoyed being the big brother and taking care of Delaney, which he doesn’t always get the opportunity to do when Franny is there.  They all had a really great time together, and it was a very special day for everyone!

Franny has been to countless birthday parties over the past several years, but today was her first pool party.  It was a school friend’s party, held at the SW Community Center pool, which had a big slide, sprayer, and other fun things for kids.  She had a great time swimming with her school friends, and it was a fun change from some of the usual birthday venues.  There is one thing for sure—Franny loves to swim!

After seeing Cole have an incredible time at his Grandpa Camp last week, Franny decided that she wanted to her own camp, as well.  Today was her big day, and she was very excited about it.  She played outside, colored, played with paper dolls, built a bird house, and made something special for Cole and Delaney.  when we met them for dinner she was clearly tired, but had a really wonderful time.  I hope Grandma and Grandpa’s schedules are open, because these two are already talking about their next Grandpa Camp!

We eat a very healthy diet, in our house.  There are always lots of fruit and vegetables to choose from, and they understand the concepts of the different food groups and why we eat all of them.  Not to say they aren’t particular—the only vegetable Cole will eat is asparagus, and he will only eat freeze dried and dried fruit—nothing fresh.  And, it’s not unheard of for there to be ‘tears’ when they are told their snack needs to be a fruit and a protein of their choice and not toast or crackers.  But, I do believe there is a time and a place for treats.  Today, Delaney and I stopped at the coffee shop next to Cole’s school for a snack as we waited for his day to end.  She made a bee-line for those glow in the dark, nasty “cheese” and peanut butter crackers that she is denied every Friday after gymnastics.  Today, much to her delight, I let her have them.  And, I do think it made her day! 

This year, we planned ahead and bought thank you notes so we could write them right away after Franny’s birthday.  But, then we caught up in weeks of bad colds and then recovery, and the thank you notes got put on the backburner.  We had done a couple before Delaney got sick, but she still had a number left to do.  Those we did early, I didn’t expect as much—I had her write thank you and then sign her name, while I filled in the middle.  But, with her new-found confidence in her writing, I thought I would let her sit down and write them out herself.  She did a great job!  Thankfully, her birthday party was just celebrated with her playgroup, so there wasn’t the 20+ notes we’ve written in the past.  Regardless, I was very impressed with her notes and the thoughtfulness she put behind them. 

Today, Rick and Cole put up his birdhouse in the backyard.  Cole is very excited to see if a bird will find his house to be a good home, like Mr. and Mrs. Bird one of his favorite books, The Best Nest.  We’ve had birdhouses before that never attracted any birds, so I hope that Cole’s house will be the one they’ve been waiting for!

This year, it was clearly important to Franny to celebrate Mothers Day.  She had special things she had made at school that she really wanted to give me, which was very sweet.  She has given me little school projects in past years, but it was different for her, this year.  In addition to pictures and her card, she was most excited to give me a lollipop pin that she had made.  I wore it all day, and she was very pleased that I put it on my jacket when I changed my clothes to go out to dinner. 

She also made a Mothers Day book for me titled My Mother.  I found her perspectives very interesting--they were all fill-in the blanks, including pictures she drew for each entry:

My mother likes to…do the laundry.

My mother’s favorite sport is…reading.

My mother’s favorite color is…purple.

My mother is…happy.

My mother is good at…reading and cooking.

My mother and I like to…color.

I love it when my mother…plays with me.

My mother’s name is…Trina.

My mother’s favorite food is…macaroni and cheese.

My mother is…three…years old.

She told me when she gave me the book that she knew I wasn’t three years old, but she did know that it had a three in it.  I thought it was a very sweet book, and my while I certainly do not like to do the laundry, I most definitely am happy.  I have three of the most wonderful and amazing children, and while it is fun to have a day to celebrate motherhood, every day that I get to spend with them is an incredible blessing. 

Today the kids took their first trip to a movie theater to see the 3D version of the movie Rio.  Although they had seen a 3D movie in Disneyland last year, we thought they would have fun with this one.  They were all set with their popcorn and glasses and very excited to see the movie.  I don’t think they realized how big the movie screen was going to be!  And for Cole, what created as much excitement as the movie was the big display for the upcoming Cars 2, as well as it’s movie trailer.  I am sure that will be one we don’t wait to see at home, as it is in 3D, too!  In retrospect, Delaney was probably a little too young for the experience, but she really did fine.  She got a little restless, but didn’t disturb anyone.  Although we won’t be rushing back to the theater anytime soon, it was definitely a fun afternoon excursion. 

In addition to the birthday party the kids went to earlier in the week, this weekend Franny had two more birthday parties with her friends from school.  We thought that this would be the perfect time for Cole to have another “Grandpa Camp”.  He had a great time, but his favorite thing he did was building this birdhouse with Grandpa.  He was extremely proud of it, which definitely came through when he showed it to us.   His eyes were big and sparkling and he had an excited glow about him that was incredible to see.  I love it when he has these special moments that are just about him.  These are not only the times that he will always remember, but also the times where he has the opportunity to define himself, by doing discovering things he likes to do, without any influence from Franny and the rest of us.  It may look like just a bird house, but it is really so much more.

This week, Franny, Cole, and Delaney went to a combined birthday party for two of her playgroup friends. It was fun to go someplace new—John’s Incredible Pizza. It had a lot of cool games for the kids to play, as well as some great rides that Franny loved, which isn't too surprising given her adventurous side. Cole, however, preferred to have his feet on the ground, and gave his ride tickets to Franny. But, he, Franny, and Delaney all had a great time and being able to spend it with special playgroup friends made it for a really nice evening.

Bumper cars from T on Vimeo.

When I volunteered at Franny’s school this week, I read the book The Little Engine That Could to a small group of them.  One of the things we talked about was to think of a time when they needed help and nobody would help them, for whatever reason.  One of the little boys said he felt that way a lot (his emphasis) when he wanted to play with his dad, but his dad just wanted to watch television.  It made me feel bad, but it also made me feel so fortunate that his example is never an issue in our house.  Later the same day, Franny was totally excited that she got another catalog in the mail.  Rick was working from home, and he was able adjust his schedule so he could spend the sunny afternoon with the kids.  He spent a lot of time looking at that catalog with Franny—not just feigning interest, but really listening and interacting with her and sharing her enthusiasm.  It was a special moment, and again I was reminded to how blessed we are that Rick is the kind of dad that always puts the kids first and takes the time to be involved not just in the big stuff, but all the little, everyday stuff that really makes up their life.  I feel very fortunate, indeed. 

These were the pictures that I wanted to post yesterday, taken when Franny first came home from school with Corduroy.  Yesterday, however, my camera was missing.  After an exhaustive search, I thought that it and these pictures were forever gone.  But, today it was found—hanging from the handle bars of Cole’s bicycle.  I can’t be 100% certain it was Cole that put it there, but I did find it amusing and it reminded me of the time a very young Franny put Rick’s cell phone in her fire truck:    ( http://frannyrae.blogspot.com/2006/05/missing-phone.html ).  Now, I am just absolutely thrilled to have the camera found, have these pictures back, and now be able to take more pictures to document the many adventures of the Trio.   

Franny and Corduroy

Corduroy ready for the sun

For the last month, Franny and her classmates have been working a Corduroy project.  Each day, one of the students gets to take a stuffed Corduroy home, as well as his bag of clothes, books, and a journal.  In the journal, each child writes a summary of the time they spent with Corduroy.  Franny has been waiting and waiting for her turn.  When she came home with Corduroy today, the look on her face and the sound of her voice was pure joy.  She changed his clothes and put on his sun hat before taking him outside for the afternoon.  In the evening, she sat down to write her journal entry and had such enthusiasm and confidence in what she was doing—it was so great!  I thought I would have to help her, but she didn’t want—or need—it.  She has come so far with her writing since the beginning of the year!  At bedtime, she changed him into his pajamas and tucked him into bed with her.  She was so happy—I wish I could just bottle up that face, voice, and happiness and hold on to it forever.  There is nothing better.  Absolutely nothing.