He blazes the trail in his own unique way. Being the first carries much responsibility, such as teaching younger siblings how to extinguish candle flames with your fingers. First lick,

then pinch.

He chose the more conventional method Saturday night when we celebrated his birthday and Jim’s 40th with our family.

When asked a while back what he wanted for his thirteenth birthday, all Jake requested was a telescope. And thanks to all-family-hands-on-deck, a telescope is what he received.

He used the clear sky observatory website to learn that the forecast called for a break in the clouds for a couple hours at around 3:30 Sunday morning, so he asked Jim to please wake him up at 5:00. Jim happily obliged by setting the alarm. As he headed downstairs to make some coffee prior to waking Jake up, he found that Jake had already been up and outside observing the stars. In fact, Jake had awakened at 3:45am, threw on shoes and a coat, and trucked the telescope outside all on his own.

His determination paid off, as he was able to locate a few stars within the short clear sky window.

**this picture was taken at 6:00am as Jake was packing up the telescope to bring it in. The photographer was blissfully unaware of the middle-of-the-night stargazing activities.

LORD, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory in the heavens. Through the praise of children and infants you have established a stronghold against your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger. When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them? (Psalm 8)

He determines the number of the stars
and calls them each by name. (Psalm 147)

Even the dog knows that afternoons are for resting.

Get a book (or in Jeremy’s case, a car), grab a blanket, and find a place to lay down and be quiet for a few moments.

On this particular day, Jeremy was conked out until his sister came to wake him up.

Yep, I love afternoons.

They’re going bug-eyed on me lately. Must be spring fever.

When you’re a girl living in a house with four brothers, a good girlfriend is essential. Up until now, as Jake reminded me, Ruthie’s BFF has been her reflection in the mirror.

But now Ruthie has Bethie. Every time they meet, they hug. I love it!

They share a need to always have their hair in clips…

…as well as a love for silly hats.

I look forward to watching them grow up together – thank You, God for good friends.

“A friend loves at all times.”

After kissing Ruth’s forehead, Jeremy told her, “You have a one-head and I have a four-head.” Then he turned to me and said, “And you have a….thirty-eight-head”

Derek corrected him by saying, “Jeremy, you have a forehead, I have a forehead, and Mom and Ruthie have foreheads.”

Jeremy, laughing, replied, “Aw, come on, you mean we all have four-heads?  No way.”

**update**

As Peter and I were going through his schoolwork in the basement, Derek came running down laughing at some pictures he took. Apparently, he upgraded the hat:

****

Sometimes I wonder if antics like this are done just for the sole purpose of delaying the start of school. When I walk into the room and see this, what else can I do but grab the camera in a fit of giggles and take pictures?

I think Molly has been observing the kids taking turns wearing the spaceman-egghead hat because she was surprisingly not bothered in the least to have it strapped on her head.

As I was clicking away, Ruthie walked into the room.

She had a waffle in her hand.

And in the blink of an eye (or the click of a camera), it was gone.

Teaches me a lesson:  When Mom is distracted, 1. toddlers get down from their chairs and walk around the house with food in their hands, and 2. dogs with silly hats eat any and all people food within reach.

Time to put the camera away and start school now.

You’ve heard of road bikes, mountain bikes, and cross bikes. Well, according to Jeremy there is another type of bike: the sidewalk bike. This season is the first time he is regularly riding his bike with training wheels. He cautiously rides up and down the sidewalk in front of our house, while his brothers zip around him.

Yesterday afternoon we took Molly for a walk, and I suggested to Jeremy that he could ride his bike, knowing this would be the farthest he’s ever gone. He did marvelously, until we came to the end of the sidewalk before crossing the street. I proceeded to walk across, but Jeremy came to a screeching halt. I urged him on, but he replied, “I can’t go further Mom. I don’t have a road bike!”

After much coaxing, he finally pedaled into the street and excitedly stated that his bike is now a road bike. After reaching the sidewalk on the other side of the road, he declared over and over how much fun it was to ride on the road; could he please ride on the road again; he can’t wait to ride on the road…

…was the question the mother asked her children one Saturday morning. The prompt answer was, “Go to the arboretum!”

So to the arboretum they went. While the oldest child was off learning about black holes and dark matter at Fermilab, the rest of us spent the morning enjoying the outdoors.

Without being asked, Derek assumed to role of Ruthie’s caretaker. This freed me up to take lots of pictures :)

He took her down the slide more times than I can count.

Meanwhile, Peter and Jeremy worked off breakfast by climbing and running.

It is quite interesting to watch Ruthie’s personality blossom in these toddler months–she is an independent one, not easily swayed or deterred.

Jump for joy that spring is here!

The hat that has passed down from Derek to Peter to Jeremy, has now made its way down to Ruthie. The little girl was workin it the other day.

If you’re happy and you know it,

clap your hands.

If you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands.

If you’re happy and you know it,

then your face

will surely

show it.

If you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands!

How’s this for spontaneity: we hopped on a plane

and went to…take a guess…

Oh man, I guess the exhibit behind the seats blows our cover. Despite how it appears, we didn’t fly anywhere. But our destination was much lower stress and lower cost: we visited the Museum of Science and Industry this week.

And because we’re rascally homeschoolers, we received free admission.  Go MSI!

The original plan was for all the kids to go and Jim would meet up with us at lunchtime, but the plan was foiled when Ruthie woke up with a fever. Jim graciously allowed me to go with the boys while he stayed back with her.

We experienced virtual butterflies landing on us:

and tried to catch a few (think it’s hard to catch a real butterfly? Try catching a virtual kind):

We realized just how quickly Jake’s legs are growing. Truly, this is not too far from an accurate representation of his growth (the only part that isn’t accurate is that his pants are as long as his legs).

Then Jeremy did his Charlie Brown impression.

Lots of hands-on, brain-building play time.

We met up with the Vances. When Jeremy saw them from the cable car, he yelled out, “all aboard!”

Good buds, Jake and Sammy. They share a nerdy love of science.

We enjoyed the Science Storms exhibit the most. Here, we learned about the power of water,

tornadoes,

and lightning, among other weather-related phenomena.

Here, Derek ran on a giant sized hamster wheel. He was going so fast, he was just a blur. Perfect activity for this energetic one.

We commented after leaving that we managed to cover just a small fraction of the museum. The exhibits were chock-full of learning and activities–this place is definitely at the top of our faves list!

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.