Coloring Easter Eggs

It was not stressful this year. We did our egg-dyeing on a washable surface and decided before we began that our children were, in fact, washable too. They had a marvelous time.

I am not really sure why we dye eggs; we have hands.

(p.s. This was a HUGE accomplisment for our Joseph! We were so proud of him for allowing himself to get "dirty" and put up with the stain on his hands for the next day or two!)

Nathan would have been allowed to color the eggs had he shown us that he was responsible enough. ;) Better luck next year, Nate!

I should have just purchased them farm-fresh from the store... ours all ended up brown anyway.

Sleepy Time

Grandad has a knack for calming babies down and putting them to sleep for the night. So...when he and Nonna called last evening and asked if they could pop on over for a quick visit at bedtime, we were totally open.

Laying the children down for the night is normally a HUGE ordeal. When we were slightly newer at the parenting game, we would schedule in at least an hour to tuck the kids in at night...reading them stories, brushing teeth, bath time, prayers, talking about the universe, planning the next 647 days, deciding what they are going to wear the 3rd Tuesday of their junior year at highschool. We caught on quickly (not really) that Sarah learned how to manipulate the system. Matt is a bit of an apologist, so when Sarah started in with the theologic questions at 9p, he was happy to oblige. "Dad, what color is my guardian angel? Can I name it? Does she get thirsty? Where is Heaven?" Up until a couple months ago, this is what would happen each and every night. By the time all the children were finally asleep, we would walk down the stairs to have some adult time and turn right back around to go to bed ourselves...we were EXHAUSTED!

I remember a time back when Matt and I had first started dating. I was clearing the table at the Pernot's house and was trying to put a bottle of dressing in the fridge. There was no room, and I turned to Mrs. Pernot for a solution. She told me to jam it in and slam the door as quickly as possible. I believe that this particular method has become our most recent routine for putting the children to bed. The children rub their eyes, we toss them in their pjs and into bed, put up the gate and RUN!

Soaking It In

I hope I always remember these mornings. Sarah is so sweet and sugary before dawn. I struggle to appreciate it all before my first cup of coffee, but Matt is constantly and gently reminding me to love on the princess. She wakes up singing. She tells us how much she missed us through the night. She wants to be present when Matt heads off to work for the day. She counts down the days in the rest of the week, planning our weekends in advance. So organized. So efficient. So lovely.

Scuba Steve

Stephen has been such a huge help this spring with all of our projects around the house. He never tires of tearing things apart. When Matt makes the phone call to beg for help, Steve's immediate response is:"YES! That sounds AMAZING!"

Thank you, Steve, for helping with everything! Thanks to you, I have:

- A new hardwood floor in the living room~ because you tore up the carpet.

- Two new couches~ because you used a sledge hammer on my old one.

- A beautiful, open back yard~ because you ripped up my patio AND deck.

- A happy husband~ because you make Matt laugh and help him make a safe and comfortable home for all of us!

A huge shout-out to Emily. I don't know if all of the boys' antics would be as funny without watching you roll your eyes and try to calm this guy down!

And, now that it is boating season, I am looking forward to some things being put back in their places. Here we are practicing for the summer. I wish I had Emily's face in this picture of Steve trying to figure out the blow horn. It was priceless.

Emily and Sarah...fishing for something.

Joseph, feeling way too eager about driving the boat.


WELCOME SPRING!!!

Rice Krispie Treats

We didn't have a recipe, just a box of Rice Krispies and a bag of stale marshmallows. I couldn't have been happier. Watching them work together and delighting in their concoction was priceless.

I think Thomas was a little disappointed with the taste before the marshmallows were mixed in.

Thomas finally getting to take a bite of the finished product.

Nathan deciding that his days of baby food are over (before they even started!)

Joseph's Valet Service

Yesterday was 65 degrees here in Roch-cha-cha! Hurrah for not needing to bundle everyone up to take them outside!

We went outside to play before the rain began yesterday. Nate and I were soaking in some serious Vitamin D and making sure Joseph and Tom stayed in our yard, but I wasn't really paying attention to what they were playing.

Lately, the most frequently asked question at our home has been: "What are Joseph's greatest strengths?" Our answers always have something to do with his sensitivity and meticulous scheduling abilities, but nothing compares to Joseph's organizational skills. EVERYTHING has to be in order. Always.

Here is Joseph, taking every single toy I brought outside and driving it into a lane.

All Tommy wanted to do was ride the tractor. Joseph told him that all vehicles must remain in the parking lot.

Poor Tom...When I heard him crying, I didn't rush to his aid... I took a picture.

I believe Tom's exact words were: "May I please sit in a parked car?!"

Joseph even parked Matt's wheelbarrow. Strong little dude. I held on tight to Nathan in his stroller after that...I know how easy it is to get swept up in the flow of traffic. And I didn't want to have to pay Joseph to get my seven-month-old out of the parking garage.

Three happy boys. God is Good.

Waiting for Dad

The children get really impatient when they feel that Matt has been at work for long enough. Normally around 4 pm, they begin to get antsy. Recently this period of unrest has been starting earlier and earlier. Yesterday it began at 6:30am...and lasted until Matt walked in the door at 5pm. I feel like most of my days are spent just distracting them from the fact that Daddy isn't home. Enter: Anne, the coordinator that you are so lucky you didn't have work your wedding or birthday party.

The table is littered with time-consuming activities. The only issue is that "time-consuming", for a 3-year-old (average age of our children), is about 43 seconds.

Some really "good" ideas I had:

-Drawing a bulls-eye on the sliding glass door with a dry-erase marker so that they could do target practice with their suction cup darts and nerf guns.

- Giving each of the kids a duster and telling them that the one who got rid of the most dust would get a conversation heart.

- Putting a cold bowl of water next to their warm bath so they could play color-changing cars while they bathed.

- Folding socks as a family. We all know how this turned out before.

- Memorizing the alphabet in Spanish...this one was a little tricky because Tommy is still struggling with the English alphabet. :)

- Making a competition out of who could make Nathan laugh the most. This was, by far, the worst of my ideas. Not only do they come from a long line of insane Schwalms who can turn a handshake into a competition, but look at Nate's face...

He's saying: "REALLY, MOM?!?! REALLY?"