First Haircut

Claire-E got her first hair cut just in time for Easter. Mommy is now quite experienced with cutting little boy's hair, but is learning on the job with little girl hair!

These are the before photos:

And here she is with her new "do":

What we've been up to...

On April 2 I ran in the Monument Avenue 10k with my sister, Susannah, and two of her friends from college. It was my third 10k and my first time getting to run in a race with my sister. I am proud to say that this mama of five kept up with the college girls!

Almost to the finish line!

Vianne, Laura, Susannah and Gretchen

Some of Bryce's artwork was selected for display at the Chesterfield County Schools Art Fair. We are so proud our our kindergarten artist!

Claire is cuter than ever in her spring wardrobe and mommy is having so much fun with the sandals and sundresses.

Over spring break Grant was able to participate in golf camp. He thoroughly enjoyed it.

Of course there was dying of eggs in preparation for Easter...

Now that spring is officially here we are spending every available moment outside. We love the beautiful spring weather! In addition to hanging out in our backyard, we've been able to visit several local parks recently.

"Twins"

Grant completely got Davis dressed for bed one night after bath time, even fixing Davis' hair in the style he has been sporting lately. Little Davis looks a lot like his biggest brother. Two sweet boys!

*Notice the rug burn on Grant's nose. Grant did a very good impression of an inchworm for us at home, which unfortunately resulted in a rug burn on his nose. The next day after he got home from school I asked him if anyone asked about his rug burn. "Everyone!" he said to me with a grin. "I want to have rug burn every day!"

Creative creatures

At the breakfast table this morning the boys and I read our little devotional together which talked about the gift of creativity God has given each one of us, ways that we can use the gift of creativity, and how God is creative. A quick look at nature speaks to His creativity and amazing detail in design.

We transitioned to a discussion on animals and which ones were the most creative.

The rainbow spider was mentioned (this is a very interesting spider), also the octopus because of it's ability to camouflage and ink, then the chameleon and how it changes color. After a hearty debate, the boys agreed on one animal which displayed the most creativity in design: the skunk.

There are so many wonderful options to consider: the delicate butterfly, the beautiful peacock, the fierce lion, even the magnificent size of the whale or the agility of leopard. But no, the skunk won this morning.

That's boys for you. And, now that I think about it, what a creatively designed creature it is!

Nerf gun wars

As I've mentioned before, we have quite an abundance of Nerf gun wars at our house. Part of the fun of having four boys, I suppose.

The other day I had to settle a dispute between two battling brothers.

One boy, almost in tears, was losing and was quite upset at the advantage his adversary had gained over him. "It's not fair!" he complained, "Carter is on his team and I can't hide anywhere because he'll sniff and find me!"

You see, Carter pretending to be a dog, had joined forces with the other brother and was "sniffing for the enemy." Nose in the carpet, he did a pretty good imitation of a following a scent.

"It's not fair!"

I then tried to explain, " Carter can't really follow your scent like a real dog. He's just pretending. Perhaps you need to find a better hiding spot."

In the end, the distressed boy lost the war that day and I'm not sure I was successful at convincing him that his brother doesn't have an especially acute sense of smell.

Wacky Wednesday

I'm not exactly sure how it happened, but this middle of the week day has come to be known as Wacky Wednesday at our house. Several months ago we began to brainstorm on silly things we could do to make this day of the week extra fun and funny. The favorite of the boys by far has been food coloring in their breakfast food. So, we have green oatmeal and blue milk or orange cereal and green milk or any combination of colors the boys can create. It's quite the colorful morning here on Wednesdays!

*the* conversation

This afternoon I had to have *the* conversation with my eight year old son.

I cautiously and tenderly broached the subject.

"Grant," I said in a kind but concerned voice, "you know that Star Wars is not real, right?"

I think he is still processing. This evening I have heard several statements on just how old Yoda lived to be.

Oh, the thrills of boyhood...