School Lessons

We learned about Justinian and Theodora during school today. The kids curriculum comes with a lot of fun coloring pages and, for this lesson, Justinian and Theodora paper dolls. After the lesson there was this conversation:

Me: So what do you kids think of Justinian and Theodora?

Maria: I like Justinian because he's handsome. And I like Theodora because she's beautiful.

Hudson: I don't like them because I don't like people that live in Heaven.

Me: You don't like people that live in Heaven? What?

Maria: But Jesus lives in Heaven and He is the best person ever. Don't you like Jesus?

Hudson: But I learned that Jesus lives in outer space.

Maria: We don't know where Heaven is.

I love hearing little conversations like this. I wish I could remember more of them. I wish I could remember more of this one. It went on for a while then Hudson asked: What does Jesus do with people in Heaven?

Then Maria had to ask a serious doctrine question like: Where did Heavenly Father come from?

Ha ha! I love having my kids home all day. I love talking with them about these things. I love hearing them talk to each other about these things.

So, while I am glad Heavenly Father and Jesus made their way into our history lesson today, I do wish Maria remembered more about the Byzantine Empire than Justinian was handsome and Theodora was beautiful. Oh well, I guess in the mind of a 7 year old those are the most important details.

Oh, Libby!

Only one day into Libby's fourth year of life.

I know she was only trying to help.

I told her this morning, "I'll make some lunch and then we can have some of your birthday cake!" I went up stairs for just a couple minutes. Then I heard Libby screaming. She came upstairs with a streak of frosting on her foot. And I knew, just from that, what had happened. I felt bad for her foot, but I was just hoping the cake stand made it through the ordeal (which it did).

When I made it downstairs to survey the damage I realized she'd gotten the ingredients for lunch out of the fridge and put them on the table. I'm guessing she was going to do the same thing with the cake. She got out the step stool, climbed it, and tried to carry the cake down with her - oh, but that glass cake stand is heavy. Poor Libby. And her poor toe. She may lose a toenail.

There's that independent part of her I told you about yesterday. To look on the silver lining: I love her "can do" attitude. That girl thinks she can do anything.

At least we all got a slice of cake last night. Birthday pictures coming soon.

Libby

Libby's birthday is coming up shortly and I've been wanting to write a post all about her. Oh, Libby. Libby, Libby, Libby. Thinking of Libby conjures up so many different emotions. She's darling, hilarious, mischievous, lovely, difficult, curious, and precious all in one tiny, yet very tough, package.

Life is very exciting with Libby around.

She's the one that we constantly worry about wherever we go. She's seemingly fearless. She wants to be independent.

The moments she is still are precious to me, and they are rare. I often take pictures in the quiet moments, like in this moment:
She is so busy, always on the go, often pretending:
And even more often, dancing:

She's our passionate one, with her very frequent ups and downs:

And you never know what she's going to do next.

Dancing again.

Now she's a photographer.

Now she's the queen, complete with bowing subject.

She loves to wear beautiful dresses. They make her feel like a "plincess" (princess).

Libby's the one we have to do everything different with: It's very difficult to get her to clean up her toys. She's always "too tired". So one day we threatened to take her toys away if she wasn't going to take care of them. "I don't like them anyway," she replied.

She's not afraid to do what she has to for attention: a couple weeks ago Ethan and I were watching a movie in our room after we'd put the kids to bed. Libby apparently wanted our attention because she kept yelling for us. Knowing she didn't need anything we ignored her hoping she would go to sleep.

Soon we heard her yell, "Dad, I be bad. You need to spank my bum." Ethan and I just looked at each other and laughed and kept on with our movie. Next we heard, "Dad, Hussie (that's Hudson) be bad. You need to spank his bum." Well, Ethan did check on that and, as expected, Hudson hadn't done anything. We went back to our movie. Soon we heard more yelling, but from Hudson (who shares a room with Libby) this time. "Libby's naked!" Well, we promptly fixed that situation and went back to our movie.

We tried to ignore all other noise from this point on but when I went to check on the sleeping kids after our movie I realized the carpet in Libby and Hudson's room was very wet. Hudson, who is our night owl and still awake, told me it was because Libby was taking sips of water from her sippy cup then spitting it out onto the floor. Side note: we've noticed that watching movies takes way longer when you have small children.

Libby is very friendly and she obviously loves her brothers and sister very much.

She's incredibly honest, even if it means incriminating herself.

Libby's also a sweetheart. Just yesterday she told me, "Mom, I love you. You so plitty (pretty)."

Yes, she's a sweetheart, and she's fun, and incredibly lovable. We definitely love our Libby.

It Makes Me Smile

I'm thinking of making this a Friday tradition, writing the little things that have made me smile throughout the week.

This week these things made me smile:

-Hearing Hudson sing "Rolling In the Deep" in the shower.

-Seeing Maria and Libby laying on the floor in Maria's room, just listening to music.

-Watching the kids play outside in what has been the warmest January we've ever had.

-When Lincoln (fully clothed, with shoes on) climbed into the tub with Libby

-And when Hudson cheerfully changed Lincoln's wet clothes and diaper for dry ones.

-Maria falling asleep with her lamp on and a book in her hands (The Lion, the Witch, and theWardrobe).

-Watching Libby play the "guitar" (broom) and hearing her declare with gusto: "I'm a rock 'n' roll staw (star)!"

-This face:

Oregon III

What? You want more Oregon pictures? Oh, alright. If I must. Just to please you. But this is the last time.

Joseph and Ethan at Oswald West beach.

Me and my little Linkies. It's not the most flattering picture but you don't mind, do you? Better not.

Who can hop across the log the best? Haha - this is sooo Nuttall.

Ethan and his family spent some time making the perfect river crossing.

Well, that's it for Oregon. It had been almost two years since we were there last and it was great to get back. And, as always, it was great to see Ethan's family again. I think it was just what Ethan needed to sustain him through his last semester of school. That's what we're focused on now. Getting done with school and what to do after that. What to do?

Oregon II

And more pictures:

Oregon

We loved it and we miss it. And so we share more pictures: