Twin painting!

When painting the sidewalk becomes painting your twin! ... These two and their antics!  

Catch up!

I mean to post pictures and memories so that I will remember little details of these sweet days when the kids are older ... I really do mean to!  But when one of your children is up at 6am every day and the other stays up until 9 every evening ... and they don't nap anymore ... the time that I'm alone is very very small which means that certain things just don't happen very often anymore!  Blogging being one of them!  And that's okay.  It's so hard to live presently and undistracted and I don't always (or often really) do it very well.
We have had a really sweet summer.  Although Luke crawled in bed with me this morning and said, "Mom, is today a school day?"  Me: "No sweetie, it's still summer."  Luke: "But MOM, I've been waiting FOREVER for school to be here again!"  Ha!  I guess the kid likes preschool :)  We do miss the rhythm and routine and community that preschool provides but it's been fun to have some freedom to do other activities and to have some good and needed downtime.  They need it as kids and we need it as parents.  I love waking up to days with no plans and getting to decide together what we will do with the day.  Those days don't happen often enough, but when they do, I feel so much freedom!  So I've been working hard to create space in our lives.  To live with margins.  To not be overbooked as a family.  To not get lost in our activities and to-do lists.   To live more fully present. ... Here is the catch up of our photos!

Last day of preschool!

Oh yeah!

"Our family" by Amelia

Elk lake!

Lake day!

Happy birthday to Papa!

Girls weekend with Gretch and Michelle :)

Cousins!

Happy Father's Day to Scott!

Happy Father's Day to Papa!

Play date with Eden!

We love Kylee!

My handsome boys at the beach :)

Love making memories with the Milne family!

In her element!

Oaks Park!

Fun for the teenager and the preschooler -- win win!

Not sure if the mamas or the kids had more fun!

Strong women!

"Strong women:  May we know them.  May we raise them.  May be be them."

These are the days ...

Don't get me wrong, there are always challenging parts of parenting ... but really, these.are.the.days.  Love how much life and joy these two bring to our lives.  We are grateful!

Happy Mother's Day!  What a gift to be called "mama" by these two.

Preschool buddies.  So blessed by this group of kids and families.

Hiking season has begun!

Cutest photo bomber ever :)

Superman and his friends!

These two.

Parade watching with Martha!

Two posts in one day?!

Yep, that's right, I'm on a roll here :)  Or I just have some extra energy tonight!  Wanted to get up some pictures of some of our recent adventures ...

Our new favorite spot on the Oregon coast: Oceanside.  Stunning.

We left the husbands in charge to go for a quick walk :)

Take down.

In her happy place.

Me and my girl.

Books forever and ever ....

Grammy and Gramps sent skates!  A huge hit!

Singing happy birthday to her daddy :)

Auntie snuggles are the best!

Cousins = JOY!

Luke at age four ...

Luke at four is delightful and curious and emotionally driven and hilarious.  He has always been my child that loves to be close -- his favorite thing to do is still to snuggle and read book after book after book.  He is amazingly inquisitive.  He is also my up-with-the-sun (dang) kid.  So interactions at 6am look something like this: "Mom, did dinosaurs go pee?  Mom, are your teeth stronger than my teeth since you're older?  Mom, where were me and sissy before we were in your tummy?  Mom, are Spiderman and Batman are friends?" And I'm thinking, "Ummm, can I just have my tea first and then we can talk about all of these things and more?"  Scott and I often laugh at the randomness and the depth of his questions.  He understands the world through story and through words.  His memory is incredible -- he often brings up tiny details of stories or events that happened months or even over a year ago.

Luke is such a loving and thoughtful little person.  In the van the other day I was telling the kids I was getting ready to sign them up for another little dance class at the community center.  Last time Luke was very vocal about the fact that he did NOT want to do dance class.  I try to let them make their own choices when they can, so he would either sit with me and watch Amelia's class or play with Henri at the park during class (Henri's sister Aven did the class with Amelia). So this time I asked him, "Luke, Aven and Amelia are going to do another dance class, would you like to join them this time?"  And Luke's response was, "Well, Mom, I do want to do dance class this time but I don't want Henri to be sad if I'm not playing at the park with him and he is all alone."  That comment was just so Luke.  Always thinking of how things impact others.  (Both Henri and Luke are now enrolled in the class too!)

Luke loves to swim.  He prefers it to almost any other activities and often asks, "Is it Wednesday yet?  Is it swimming day?"  He is not very interested in arts and crafts -- while Amelia will sit and do art for a solid hour, Luke is usually wrapping up his project in 5 minutes flat.  He much prefers imaginative play, being outside or reading books.  It is just a joy to get to be his mama!  What a sweet sweet age this is.

Always up for snuggle time.

Curious.  Always curious.

Happy spring!

First of many fishing trips to come this year :)

Amelia at four ...

I keep meaning to write a post about each of my kids at four years old -- what they like, what they get excited about, what makes them who they are ... I'm a few months behind but that is how we roll around here these days!

Amelia is a beautifully dynamic girl.  A friend used the word "tenacious" to describe her recently and I had never thought to use that word but it fits well.  I looked it up on Webster:  "strong or firm; determined."  That is my Amelia Jane.  When she has her mind set on a project she.will.get.it.done.  I love that about her -- that focus and drive will serve her well.  I've realized in the last four years how much I need to be a student of my particular children.  How my role is to help them channel their gifts, not to decide what they are, but to recognize them and help facilitate their development.  So I've prayed for eyes and a heart to SEE them -- really see them for who they were made to be ... for wisdom to know when to step in to help guide them and when to just let them be.  For ways to connect with them in the ways that they will understand love best.
 
Amelia loves to move.  That girl is always on the go.  She is fast and she is strong and she is coordinated.  Her first question on the way to school is always, "Is it gym day today?" because she knows that Wednesdays their preschool gets to use the church gym.  We went for a family hike last weekend and brought the ergo just in case but Amelia hiked over 3 miles!  We started the kids in swim lessons when they turned four and they really love it.  They often ask, "Is it Monday yet?"  Amelia has become very interested in time and routines.  She likes for me to talk through the days of the week with her ... "Monday is a school day, Tuesday is the day mommy works, Wednesday is a school day ..." etc.  She likes patterns and routines and knowing what is coming.  She is a kid who does well with having a heads up about what will be happening during the day so she can be prepared.
She loves music -- often requesting that songs be turned on for "dance parties."  Dress-up is a very favorite activity at this phase so she often comes out of her room after quiet time dressed in every single item (or so it seems at least) from her dress-up bin.  Amelia loves art -- she loves to paint, draw, decorate anything and everything with stickers.  Her favorite color is pink.  She loves anything sweet.  Anything.  She really is a great eater though -- the only thing I've come across that she won't touch is brussel sprouts.  Fair enough.  She is a big four year old!  I lost the paper from her well child check that had her height and weight on it (because things literally vanish around here with two "helpers") but her percentiles for both were 95-99%.

For the last six months or so Amelia has been in a mama phase.  As babies Luke was the one who was more attached to me so this has been a very special time for me to bond with Amelia.  It almost hurts my heart sometimes just how much she wants to be with me.  Because I know it won't always be the case and I'm trying to soak it up.  When the twins were babies it was very important to me that bedtime was quick and efficient.  It had to be because one of us was often alone during bedtime and when you're outnumbered you don't have long drawn out routines.  You do what works.  But now I treasure bedtime.  We all have family snuggle/book time on the couch and then Scott tucks Luke in and I tuck Amelia in.  We sing our same six songs and have a back rub and then she always asks the same question:  "Mama, will you stay for much longer?"  And as often as humanly possible my answer is, "Yes, baby, yes, I'll stay for much longer."

Dress-up with Caroline!

Sleeping on mama after her four year vaccines

Always her best self when she is outside and playing hard!