And It's April (an update)

Elijah being adorable and spastic at the same time.

Springtime Musings

I've been wondering why Spring didn't HIT ME this year like it did last year. Last year I was writing odes to springtime in my head, and this year Spring is just nice, like normal. I finally figured it out by observing the magnolias.

This year the magnolias are gorgeous, and this week, they're the Spring flower to see. (I figured out through this that there's another kind of magnolia called a star magnolia with gorgeous star-like pure white flowers. SO beautiful. Makes the crab apple trees look dirty off-white by comparison.) A lot of the flowering trees that I anticipate every year haven't bloomed yet: weeping cherries, red buds, dogwoods. Some of them have bloomed, here and there across town, but most of them are waiting for the magnolias to be done hogging Spring's center stage.

Now, last year. Let's review, briefly, through pictures, what Spring was like last year.
This one is dated March 3, 2008:
And this one is March 10, 2008:Spring was starting, early March. The kids were eating lunch out on the back porch. And then, mid-March was a very unseasonal cold snap. Dumped a foot of snow. And Spring was screwed up. A lot of Spring flowers didn't get their moment to shine. Or, rather, when they got their moment to shine, so did every OTHER Spring flower. The early Spring flowers got shafted (sorry, daffodils and tulips), but everything else bloomed all at once. There was the cold snap and then BAM! it was Spring! Every time I'd drive around town, I was in awe at the explosion of Spring all around me. It was beautiful.

So this year, as I waited for Spring, I was expecting the same fireworks display of flowers. It was not to be, though. Not like last year. This year we get to drag Spring out over many weeks. So, I still am reacting the same way. Just piece by piece. As Spring normally comes.

Elijah

Elijah is now 5 years old! Hurray for him! We had a low-key birthday party (it's the only kind of party I know how to throw) for him. We invited 5 families and all the kids ran around like wild children and it was lovely.

Elijah licking the icing off a candle.

Elijah chose his cake and ice cream: dark chocolate cake with dark chocolate icing and Superman ice cream. What a brilliant combination!

Kid chaos during the party (and this isn't even all the kids that were there):
Elijah is a gem of a kid. The day before his birthday Rob was conducting at church and told a bunch of Elijah stories that I haven't posted on here yet, cause I'm a slacker. So here's a series of Elijah stories.

Up in the Attic

The day that Rob and his dad took out our wall, Rob had to go up in the attic for several hours. During that time Teancom asked me where Daddy was. I pointed towards the ceiling and said, "Up there." Teancom said, "He's in the sky?!" Elijah perked right up and said, "He's in the sky? He's up with Jesus!" I explained that Rob was not really up in the sky, he was in the attic. Shortly after that the kids heard Rob's voice but couldn't see him. I saw Elijah's eyes get really big and you could see all over his face that it was as if Rob's voice was coming down to us from heaven. I told Rob to stick his hand down through the gap in the ceiling, so the kids could see where he was. Rob waved to them and Elijah ran up and said, "It's okay, Dad! I know you're up with Jesus!"

Later Elijah wanted to know why it was taking Daddy so long. He said, "Why is Daddy still with Jesus?". I said, "I don't know. Maybe they had a lot to talk about." ... Afterwards I told Rob that next time he visits Jesus, he ought to invite me to come, too.

Walking on Water

I know I've said this before, but I am continually impressed with Elijah's faith. Here is another example:

We were reading a kids' version of some of the New Testament stories. We got to the page about Jesus walking on water and Elijah was very interested. We had talked about miracles a few days before and told the kids that miracles can happen where there is faith. So after I finished reading what the book said about Jesus walking on water, Elijah said, "Jesus could walk on water because he had enough hope, right?" "Yeah," I said. "Hope and faith." He thought for a minute and then said, "So, if I have enough hope and faith, I can walk on water?" ... I am not sure what the appropriate response to a question like that is. I hugged him tight. I'm not sure what I said. I wouldn't have told him no, so I probably told him yes. Because he CAN walk on water with enough faith. Only, there has to be something about the will of God in there and usually there's an element of need... But it's humbling, to me, that Elijah wants SO MUCH to be good so that our Heavenly Father can bless him.

Watching the Weather

The other day Elijah decided that he needed to check the weather to find out what he should wear. He turned on the TV by himself, changed it to the right channel, and then watched the weather for a good 15 minutes. The weather channel he picked is on a 2-minute repeat, so there was nothing new to learn after the first 2 minutes. ... I just thought it was hilarious and had to take a picture of it:
How cute is that?

We are grateful that Elijah is in our home. He is a sweet boy.

Teancom

At church the other day he said, "I have super powers! I kill these people!"

Teancom is all about super powers lately. For the last 3 weeks or so, he has been alternately the Red Transformer or the Red Power Ranger. He'll furrow his brow, get into his fighting stance and weave from side to side, like he's ready for an attack. It's hilarious.

I had to take this picture of Teancom.
The brown mark across his forehead is from the top of a mug filled with hot chocolate. He was mad at me while I was taking these pictures, but I got him to smile enough to get this shot (he was trying to make a face at me).

Teancom has continued his weird-names-for-toy-dogs tradition by naming his other favorite toy dog Tofa. Like sofa, but with a T. Yeah, I dunno, either. So his 2 dogs are named Twit and Tofa. ... I like to joke with him and call his dog Tofu instead. He doesn't think this is very funny.

Miciah

Miciah made this for Rob:
It's hard to tell the shape, but it's shaped like a head, and you can see the face. She made it last night instead of going to bed on time. Before she made Rob's, she made one for me that said she loved me and on the back it said, "A long friendship." Miciah makes wonderful things and it warms our hearts. She can be very thoughtful.

(Speaking of that, if Justin and/or Katie are reading this, Miciah made you a card last week and I haven't mailed it yet. So, sorry about that. I'll remember to mail it soon.)

Soccer for Ciah

Well, indoor soccer is over for Miciah. She played in 2 sessions and the amount of improvement from the very beginning to the very end, ... INCREDIBLE. She learned to be more aggressive and go to the ball. She stopped whimpering about being tired and/or getting hurt by other players (as in: "She kicked the ball and it hit my leg"). All the players improved a ton by the end, and it makes me wonder if this age isn't just an age where there's a huge jump in physical skills. ... Miciah's team tied for 1st. They got 1st for their first session as well. The coach was really nice and gentle with the girls, and we told him that if he's going to be coaching again next year to give us a call. We can definitely sign up for that again.

Moving Blues

One of the biggest pieces of news for our family, but particularly for Miciah, is that our neighbors moved. They have 4 kids, lived across the backyard, and the kids were over like 12 hours a day. Miciah's "best friend" was one of them: Kaitlyn, who is in kindergarten. ... They weren't sure the house they were buying would close, so they didn't tell us they were moving until they were gone, pretty much. Miciah found out on Saturday that they were moving on Saturday. Kinda rough. Plus, it was Elijah's birthday party, so we didn't have time to help them move OR mourn with Miciah over the whole thing.

They moved to Indiana and they have 7 acres of land and horses and stuff. Very cool for them. Just a bummer for Miciah and the boys. Miciah has a good friend that she sits with on the bus, though. Her name is Olivia, and we had her over last night. She is delightful. Very easy-going and friendly and nice and happy. Miciah and Olivia play brilliantly together. So hopefully the playdate helped to transition Miciah from constant playmates to only her brothers and arranged intermittent playdates. And hopefully Olivia can come play lots. Cause we like Olivia!

Life in General

And that's life. We are making progress on the kitchen, but not enough to warrant another picture. We are currently taking down the wall paper and as soon as possible we will be mudding and then painting. We have picked out the flooring. It's a light tile with a blue accent in the middle, and the blue will match the blue we'll put on the walls. I think it'll look nice when it's done. We're still unsure of how the cabinets are going to go, but whatever. Who needs cabinets?