Do you ever observe your kid doing something or saying something that makes you just want to freeze time so you can soak in the joy? This happened to me this morning as I witnessed Peter counseling Jeremy after a hard loss at Candyland.

It was Jeremy vs. me. From the beginning, the game seemed to go in my favor. First I drew Princess Lolly, then I kept picking up doubles–double purple, double yellow… The final straw for Jeremy was when I drew Queen Frostine and jumped toward the end of the game board. All throughout, Jeremy carried on about how he is terrible at this game, he never wins this game, etc. etc.

When I drew the purple that won me the game, Jeremy, in despair and with a major frown on his face, declared how bad he was at the game. Peter, listening intently, came alongside him and started speaking gently to him. This is what I heard, verbatim:

“Jeremy, what does it say in the Bible? Why did God create you? To do nothing? To say you can’t do anything? No, Jeremy. He created you to do good things and to praise Him.”

I caught a glimpse of my little guy as a man shepherding others and pointing them to the truth of God’s word. Parenting does not get any better than that.

I wonder if he’ll be called Bubbie in 80 years?

Silly boy.

And here’s Abe Lincoln as a six year-old.

eating bananas.

along comes a brother.

good morning.

The boys have been playing the game Civilization on the computer.

Not content to stay in the virtual world, they have taken to acting out the different civilizations represented in the game. Jeremy is the Aztecs.

The Romans (a.k.a. Peter) declare war on the Aztecs and attempt to take over their land.

The Aztecs defend courageously.

Judging by the smiles on their faces, they’re having way too much fun.

Meanwhile, Ruthie asks please, please may I play too?

The boys give her a hoe and appoint her to be the Indian farmer who walks through the battlefield, tilling the land.

The poor Aztecs are invaded again, this time by the Germans.

It starts looking bad for the Aztecs, but a sudden turn of events causes the Germans to be defeated.

Who needs television when Jim and I can just sit on the couch and be amused by live entertainment?

Jim here with a rare entry. It’s feast or famine on this blog – either updates are pouring out or we go over a week in wait.  In Heidi’s defense,  Ruth has been smarting with a nasty chest cold/fever which makes being a mom a full time job with long overtime hours. So, someone has to update this thing.

We spent the weekend largely indoors due to poor health and the rainy weather.  This was doubly difficult for Peter and Jeremy, who after playing hockey on the Playstation Saturday night were awarded real life penalties.

You see, Jeremy and I beat Peter and Derek in a close overtime victory, which prompted Jeremy to begin taunting Peter and Derek.  In reality, Jeremy didn’t have much to do with the victory, as he doesn’t really know how to play the game, but this didn’t stop him from sticking his tongue out and egging on his two older brothers.  Peter, not one to take flak well from his 4-year old brother, returned the taunt with greater volume and emphasis.  Jeremy, without hesitation, gave Peter a strong right hook followed up with left jab.  The ref (me) immediately intervened and awarded the infraction – Peter: one day of no electronics for unsportsmanlike conduct, and Jeremy: one day of no electronics for slashing.  Shock ensued, followed with tears for what seemed as if life imprisonment was just awarded.

So the next day we had to get creative with our analog day. What better way to spend a day inside than to erect a six person tent in your family room?

Notice the smiles? (and least from 3 out of 4, Ruthie’s still recovering).  They played everything from camping (Molly was the grizzly bear) to holding class in a three-room schoolhouse, equipped with a Principal’s office (Jake’s office, of course). Somehow, to their amazement, Peter and Jeremy made it through the day without electronics.

On March 19th, we experienced a “Super Moon”, at least that’s what NASA called it.

The last full Moon prior to this last one so big and close to Earth occurred in March of 1993.  Given that we live in a part of the country that’s almost continually covered with clouds, we missed it.  I was, however, able to stick a point-and-shoot camera into a telescope and take the following picture the day before, on March 18th:

Beautiful.

Ruthie enjoys being my little apprentice in the kitchen.

Here she is stirring flour and water.

So fun!

We celebrated with birthday pancakes this morning!

Special day for a special kid.

What do you think of when you see that the temperature outside is 50 degrees? Depending on your current climate, it could either signal the need for coat, hat, gloves and scarf; or it could lead you to consider whether you should wear shorts today.

After a cold, snowy winter, those isolated 50 degree days are so precious. A down payment for spring.

I firmly believe that when you experience extreme winter conditions, you can’t help but appreciate springlike weather all the more…when it does finally come.

12 year-old brother on one side, 10 year-old brother on the other–following her every move.

Well adjusted? I think yes.

I remember reading in James Dobson’s book Bringing Up Boys many years ago that one significant difference between boys’ behavior and girls’ behavior is this: boys will climb a piece of furniture, fall off, injure themselves, and climb right back onto the furniture, repeating the cycle until they conquer it (or find something else to occupy their time and energy). Girls on the other hand will climb once, fall once, and learn from their injury not to climb up again.

It hit me this morning that my daughter has not yet displayed this typical girl behavior, when I observed her climb the school chair, tumble to the floor, cry, and immediately turn toward the chair to climb up again. Before that, she was found climbing/falling off/climbing/falling off the boys’ bunk bed ladder. During our recess outside today, she showed the same resolve as she attempted to conquer the front porch step. Here is a brief chronicle of it all.