Family Friday

Ok...I think I will go person by person.  Kind of like that obnoxious Christmas letter you get, but early instead of late and I'll throw some random pictures of the kids throughout.

Aaron- Still the history department at Craftsbury Academy, a master freemason, a candidate for justice of the peace, elder's quorum teacher at church, craftsman extraordinaire, converting all his lesson plans to powerpoints, stay at home dad two nights a week so I can go to class, considering becoming the treasurer of the historical society, at a standstill with his masters degree (not enough time!) Handsome, smart, great eyes, hard worker...man I am one lucky girl.

Three boys, a hose and a sandbox...

Lauren- Fall semester is proving to be MUCH more doable and that feels pretty good.  You hear about  me all the time so I will skip on.

Sophie- Please don't kill me daughter for sharing personal information. I share it only in context of me as a mother.  I have one word...HORMONES!  They are going to kill me.  For example, the 15 minute argument through tears about why you should be allowed to do your homework in a place you aren't usually allowed to, in the dark because it isn't fair that everyone should have fun in a power outage except you.  I mean how do I even process that? (fyi, I don't care where she does homework as long as she does it) Other wise playing soccer, doing dance, got her oboe and is a natural, smart, so beautiful it scares me and altogether amazing.

Ben- Oh Ben...another conundrum for me.  So sweet and sensitive and struggling to understand how friends work.  What is a good friend?  When you have someone you think is a good friend but they don't want to play with you 24/7 does that mean they don't like you?  Ben is going through a needy phase.  His time at home is spent playing then begging for a snuggle.  Bed time involves at least an hour of quiet then "Mommy!  I want you!" over and over again.  When I snuggle or go to him he clings to me and kisses me and begs me not to go.  I feel like such a callous person when I have to peel myself away.  Ben confounded his teacher, Aaron and I when despite rolling on the floor, hanging off the chair and taking frequent breaks to "stretch" by doing pull ups under his chair, Ben received the highest grade on the beginning of the year assessment.  Attending taekwondo twice a week and loving it.

Jacob- ABSOLUTELY loving school.  He struggled with the early wake up for awhile, seeing as he used to get up between 8:30 and 10:00.  He is also doing taekwondo twice a week and has loved it from the start. (Ben took some convincing.)  Jacob loves being outdoors and frequently plays outside even when there is a t.v. show on. Jacob and Ben are fighting a lot less often since school and taekwondo started (with the exception of the aforementioned parenting blunder.)

Noah- Sweeter than all get out. Extremely adorable.  Very verbal.  Musically talented.  He might be a genius or prodigy or something.  And if you think this is just a mother gushing...ask anyone who has ever seen him, stranger or not.  There is just something extremely compelling about Noah.  Potty training off and on.  Napping off and on.  Still has a weird belly that I am trying to figure out.

 

This is from our annual apple picking trip where I like to get family photos, but this time we arrived as a MAJOR storm was blowing in.  We madly picked apples as the wind blew and we heard thunder.  We had just paid and pulled away from the apple stand when the wind and the rain combined.  We literally drove into a white wall of slashing wind and rain.  If we had delayed anywhere for a moment longer it would have been a very uncomfortable ride home.

This was on a family trip to Smuggler's Notch.  We told Noah we would be climbing big rocks.    He got out of the car  got on top of this rock and said, "whoa!  Climbing big rock!

It took awhile before he accepted that these were the rocks we were climbing

Aaron took the older kids and I climbed with Noah so that we wouldn't slow them down.  I think Aaron thought we would stick to the paths down by the parking area but Noah turned out to be a pretty amazing climber!  Because we were split up I don't have pictures of the rest of us.

I guess we are a little Ben heavy.  Sophie has become too elusive and self conscious and Jacob...I have no logical explanation why I don't have any more pictures of him.  I'll work on it.

Ben was being a wildlife explorer

Loki and Diogi-  We thought we were going to have to get rid of Loki after a vicious dog fight between the two of them.  However with a different routine and careful work we decided he was not a lost cause.  Training goals...jumping.  They jump on   people, they jump over tall fences, their nails are painful and they freak people out daily.

And that is the news from Craftsbury Cottage!