December 4

The kids and I made more ornaments for their little tree this morning, and in the process of searching for materials, I came across a dry-erase marker. This led me to unearth a handwriting dry-erase book my mom got for Caleb, but that he had never used. I handed the boy the book and the marker, and he was in heaven!

Caleb worked diligently for quite a while, and I helped him sound out the words on the pages. He really, really wants to learn to read, so he was excited to be "reading" the words. He was so happy that I suggested we call Grandma to thank her for the book. When she answered her phone, he shouted joyfully, "This book is really helping me to read better!"

Of course, Mom was tickled. When she said she was thinking about a quick visit, we were all pretty excited.

While we waited, Caleb swapped out his dry-erase marker for some dry-erase crayons, and Daisy played with Play-doh. Somehow, the two pastimes merged into this: 

Caleb declared that it was a birthday cake. Though he looks sad in the picture, he was quite proud of his handiwork. He just didn't want his picture taken. 

We compromised with this shot: 

Do you see his smiling eyes peeking out from behind the table?

Then Mom arrived, bearing a piano bench for our piano. It's amazing how many stars aligned in the acquisition of this piano; yet another one is that Mom just happened to have a dark wood (though perhaps walnut, rather than our piano's mahogany) piano bench that belonged to her grandmother. Her bench was missing a piano, and our piano was missing a bench, and now they both have a serendipitous home. 

Of course, Mom had to try out the piano. Though the piano is out of tune and Mom's playing is a bit rusty, she entertained us with quite a few songs. Then she helped me put the kids to bed and left. What a great visit! It must have been painfully obvious to her that I needed help...

Unfortunately, all three children took short naps.

Fortunately, it was lovely out today! Though there is significant snow in the forecast for tomorrow and the day after, today it was sunny and in the upper 60s. When the children decided not to nap, I decided we were all going outside. No one can be grumpy in the sunshine.

We headed to the lake nearby to bask in the late-afternoon sunshine. 

(How sad is it that late-afternoon sunshine comes at 3:30? I hate that part of winter.)

Lily was happy, happy, happy!

I grabbed some buckets for the kids, and Caleb specifically requested that I bring his sun hat and sunglasses.

Gosh, these pictures make my heart happy.

Can you see the joy in Caleb's step? We only had about thirty minutes to spend at the lake, but they were thirty HAPPY minutes!

I even set the camera up on the blanket and snapped this shot. Daisy has the remote - can you see it in her little hand? (Daisy also has a mysterious bruise across her cheek. It may be due to the fact that she has fallen out of her bed three times in the past week. Her bed is less than two feet off the ground, but I suppose that's enough to cause a bruise?)

I love this photo because I think it accurately portrays what life is like for Lily as the youngest child. She's on a blanket, doing her thing, while the big kids play around her. There's always activity going on. Sometimes I feel bad that we can't bend to her routine like we did when Caleb and Daisy were babies. But we can't, and the girl often misses a nap because we have to go somewhere or see someone. When I start to feel bad, though, I remember that this will cause Lily to be flexible, and that she is also surrounded by siblings who love her and would do anything for her. So I suppose it's a trade-off.

But I will never let Lily be in the shadows just because she's my third child. There will be just as many pictures for her as there are for the other two!

Hi, sweet girl! I love you!

All in all, a good afternoon.