April is a great month. Each time it rolls around I start to feel much
happier that the weather begins to warm and gardening begins, that church walls seems to swell as we pile in to celebrate our
Risen Lord, that I can load the girls, without bribery, into the bike trailer, that PICNIC Day brings friends to town from far and wide, that weather permits our doors to stand wide open all day long, and that some of our favorite people have birthdays. This year, April is equally wonderful, but we've added a new element: I am now officially a
Soccer Mom . That's right. For better or worse, we've signed our oldest up for 3 and 4 year-old girls' soccer through the Woodland YMCA. And it's hilarious.
Helper in Grandpa's workshop
New toys for Grandpa
Sawdust purgatory
I
love to garden. When the girls are awake they
help me plant seeds, water, or play nicely together. When they are asleep, I can get the
real work done. Currently I am having an epic battle with snails. I loathe snails. They have eaten well over $20 of my garden even though I have tried everything short of stalking them all and smashing them. I even went outside with a flashlight one night to hand pick and launch those creepers from off my baby butternut squash! As it hasn't gotten hot as quickly as last year, my plants are not BOOMing yet, but we have harvested strawberries, potatoes, mint, grapefruit and navel oranges galore.
Easter was grand, this year. Nothing beats being able to teach your kids about the Savior who sacrificed all for them, dying on a cross, and rising from the grave VICTORIOUSLY. My girls heard
Matt Maher's "Christ is Risen" many
many times, and I was happy when Jesse chose that for one of the Easter morning songs and Siena said, "Mom, that's the song you played on the computer!" I am equally excited to see the work God will do in their little hearts as they grow, and have recently epiphanied (word?) that trying to make their lives a game of bumper bowling is not going to help them grow and mature in Christ... so that's a scary, but strangely comforting change to my parenting-perspective this month.
Little helper blowing eggs for our holiday wreath...
Dying eggs is not what Easter is "all about," but it can be pretty fun! We were also celebrating Katie's birthday! (April 6)
The dresses.
The spread.
The hiding.
The anticipation.
The hunt.
The loot.
The good, clean fun!
Our goal going into this season was to develop an affinity for organized sports in Siena's little brain. Practices have been a blast. Siena runs around with her friends Ellie Sumner and Elena Ganyo, often holding hands or hugging, giggling, tumbling, sometimes kicking, and rarely listening to Coach Jeremiah. They love it. I read a preseason article explaining how the competitive steal-the-ball-and-run-away technique is not something that has fully developed in this aged child because their brains don't compartmentalize very well to distinguish when it is okay to steal and when it is necessary to
share, so at our first game I fully understood why they YMCA has us sign an agreement that we "will not pressure our girls to score" and we "will first and foremost be encouraging
fun on the field." Siena did not like stealing. She did not like running with the mob if she didn't have the ball. She didn't like having to be
on the field when her cousins were spectators on the sidelines. With threats of withholding post-game snacks, we managed to keep her on the field for at least 1/3 of the game, but despite my efforts, she tells people she had a great time!
Elena, Siena and Ellie
Coach Jeremiah giving some last-minute strategies...
Stretching is important.
Field position: totally irrelevant
Fans!
Emma Jarvis turned 3 on tax day and we jetted out to Folsom for her party after the soccer game. Jen is fantastically creative and the house was transformed into a woodland grove with little critters everywhere!
Shiloh had his "last hurrah" on the IM field Sunday night. He pitched a close, but victorious game, and woke up early Monday morning to face the knife. (Or knife, drill, and screwdriver as the case may be.) I dropped him off at the Ambulatory Surgery building in Sacramento at 6:40, enjoyed Starbucks with the Hollemans, then received a call just before 10 saying there was "a guy here you might know." Back I went to retrieve my now-gimpy-but-fully-connected hubs. He was groggy and nauseated, but we got him home without a hitch. Now he spends his days chillin' on the couch with his babes, watching movies (free Netflix for a month) and surfing the web to his heart's content. I consequently have a litte more and a little less work than usual. I have a third body to be the hands and feet for, but since the girls are swarming him at every possible moment, I often sneak away to do fun things like blog posts!
10 minutes late: "Where are you?"
Failed attempt to keep the Sofinator away
Or the Sienabug
Rehab
Backwards tricycle gang
trickcycle
Having cousins live at the end of the street has some serious perks... like early morning trike races! (Notice MJ in the front, anyone?)
Madame Blueberry
See them flocking? Thus ends the picture portion of the blog...
For my own record keeping, I want to note a few things about Siena and Sofia that my picture-induced memory will not conjure.
Siena: Avid reader - she CAN not get enough of someone reading to her. While she still only entertains "learning" to read for a few minutes at a time, she will sit in your lap and listen to you read for HOURS. Be forewarned. :) Increasingly active - she was a dream baby (barely even crawled) but we are happy to see her energy level spiking as she loves to jump around on her bed (or from coffee table to couch), play soccer, ride her skuut or freecycle-tricycle, play tag, climb play structures, etc. Socialite and story teller - while
sometimes she is shy, most often she will approach a neighbor or friend with troves of information to share.
Sofia: Feisty and unpredictable - Siena went through this same phase, so I think that means it has and end. One minute Sofia will be delicately patting a baby's head, but the next she is scratching its eyes out or pinching its face. Patient laborer - she will sit and work at a bike helmet clasp for 10+ minutes until she figures it out. Nursery-hater - While there is a decent-sized group of people that Sofia adores, she does not do very well (read screaming, crying, blotchy face, sweating tantrum) if those people are not around.
