Grunenfelder Family Jugglers

Tonight Isaiah decided he wanted to learn how to juggle.  Maybe he needed an outlet after two weeks spent  in an abnormal amount of resting.  Maybe he saw a couple bean bags and the thought just came to him.  Whatever it was he was determined to figure out juggling and the whole family joined in.  We got out the scarves we just happen to have in the garage and memories of elementary P.E. came drifting back as we started throwing scarves in the air.

working his skills

the wind makes things a little trickier

I'm pretty sure they get their grace from me...

I am by no means an expert in the art of juggling.  Scarves are about all I can handle.  Thankfully Kyle quickly reverted back to his days as an elementary P.E. teacher and took charge of the instruction.

my husband never ceases to amaze me

Juggling soon turned into other games... scarves and bean bags hold so many wonderful possibilities.

fancy moves

laughs and dimples

Lukey- need I say more?

a couple lovely ladies

Isaiah took this shot for us, it only took a couple tries :)

It's moments like these where we look at each other and say, "we have a pretty nice backyard."  In reality it's nothing special; pretty small, mostly a big patch of grass.  The paint on the back of the house is peeling, and there's chalk drawings all over the garage.  But on a peaceful evening, with the last rays of sunlight falling on our playful, happy, joy-filled kids, it's the best place on earth.

Mandatory Rest Break

After a busy end to the school year, field trips, assemblies, company, extra kids in our house, and five birthday parties, we are being forced to slow things down.... slow things W A Y down.  This week we found out Isaiah has mono, with a little strep throat on the side.  He's been a sick little buddy.  At first I thought he was just tired out from all the activity, or maybe his allergies were dragging him down.  But when his little lymph nodes starting protruding out of his neck and he stopped wanting to eat I knew something was amiss.  So we have been taking it easy.  I have to say it has been nice to not have to be anywhere and not have to herd kids into the car multiple times a day. Except for our trip to the doctor and a quick meal drop off to my friend, I haven't driven anywhere.  Simplicity can be so nice.

So far it hasn't been too hard to keep Isaiah in rest mode since he hasn't felt like doing much else.  We've napped, watched a "few" movies, made a good start on the library summer reading program, read Mr. Popper's Penguins cuddled up on the couch, and made some play dough for the younger two.  We'll see how things go as he starts to feel better and starts missing his friends and wants to romp around.  It is a good reminder for me to make sure our summer really is about rest.  We can have fun and enjoy the fruits of summer without go, go going all the time.  Here's to a stress-free, low-key summer!  Get better soon Isaiah!

Isaiah modeling his "neck bumps"

New play dough!

Have a wonderful, relaxing summer everyone!

Two...

My baby is two now.  Two seems like such a turning point to me.  No longer can I pretend that she is a baby, no longer can she get into movies free or onto airplanes without a ticket.  Lizzy is officially a toddler who reminds me of all she can do by herself every day.  "I do dat!"  It's a little sad to move past the baby stage but oh so fun to watch her embark on the journey of toddlerhood.

All smiles- it's party time!

We went with a cowgirl theme since Lizzy is a little pink clad cowgirl at heart.  I made a horse cake and pink boot and hat cookies.  Isaiah had his doubts about the cake but admitted in the end that it really did look like a horse.

Birthday treats

Modeling her new rain boots.... and pony ride for cousin Isabelle

she's got this birthday candle thing figured out

cute cousins- the ritual photo on the couch

Lizzy has recently discovered princesses.  Ever since Kyle told her the girl in Tangled was a princess she  has been eager to point out a princess or request a princess movie- (something we don't have a lot of). Here she is in her new princess headband.

Yay!  I'm two! and I have chocolate cake! and I'm a princess!!!

Lizzy shares a birthday with my mom, which is really fun.  Two special gals born on the same day.  I really liked these pictures despite the mysterious yellow spot on Lizzy.  I tried to photoshop it out but no luck.  Oh well.

Me and the birthday girls

We took a walk later in the day and Lizzy insisted on wearing her baby doll in a front carrier like Auntie Meg.  She LOVES her babies.  She got a couple new babies for her birthday, plus a carrier bed and a fun little diaper bag.  It has a cute little box of wipes that she is very good at wiping her babies buns' with.  Stay tuned- I think we may be potty training soon.  If she can take care of her babies bathroom needs I'm betting she could take care of her own.  But then that would definitely confirm that she really isn't a baby anymore... hmmmm... maybe we'll wait another couple weeks.

Busy little momma

Well, this momma is definitely pretty head-over-heels for her sweet little two year old.  I know you can't stay little forever Liz-boo but don't grow up too fast, ok.  Happy Birthday princess!  We love you!

Elizabeth Joy

A Major accomplishment

A major accomplishment could mean different things to different people.  Something that seems like a huge accomplishment to one person might seem trivial to another.  Yet, when someone does something that they didn't think they could do it's pretty safe to say that we would all classify that as something to be proud of.  My sweet 7 year old is pretty proud of this:

This is Boba Fett's lego ship.  Now Isaiah has a lot of legos, and he has built quite a few things all on his own.  But this set that he got for his birthday from grammy bee and grampa is the biggest set he has ever had.  It has 569 pieces and two instruction manuals so he was pretty sure that he was not going to be able to finish it on his own.  It's for ages 9-14 after all!

But the Sunday before last when Isaiah woke up to rain and wanted to break out his new legos, Kyle set him up at the dining room table and told him, "If you have a question you can ask me but I think you can do it.  Just take it one step at a time."  Ah, the life lessons you can learn from legos.  I'm serious.  It can be intimidating to look at that huge pile of pieces- but if you do one step at a time pretty soon it all starts to come together.  When life gets busy and crazy and complicated and we don't understand how we'll get to the end result we just have to pretend we're building a huge lego creation and ask God to show us one step at a time.  Who knew legos could be so deep?

Isaiah and his assistant- the beginning stages

Luke began the day as Isaiah's assistant, handing him pieces like he was assisting with surgery.  He may have been more of a hindrance than a help at times as he periodically carried off pieces but he adores his brother and just wants to be near him. (physically touching if at all possible)

Kyle observing the progress.... it's getting bigger!

Things are taking shape!

Isaiah worked hard on Sunday until it was time for church.  He added a couple pieces on Monday after school, and finished up his ship on Tuesday morning.  We told him he had to wait until 6:30 am before he could get up.  He was downstairs at 6:30 on the dot.  I have never seen him work so hard and long on something before.  

A very proud boy and his finished product

He did it!  Isaiah kept saying, "I can't believe I built this without any help.  Can you believe it?"  I can believe it- you are growing up and becoming more and more capable every day Isaiah.  It looks like Kyle and I's lego building days are over.  This guy has got it down!

Boys will be boys

What a week!  It seems like May is getting busier by the minute.  I'm already looking forward to the slow and easy pace of summer break!  Isaiah had his spring concert at school on Friday (see video clip at bottom of post) and I thought I'd share a couple pictures.  Here's some of the boys from his class right before their performance.

Notice how Isaiah is the shortest one.  He is growing I promise.  I'm wagering that by high school he'll be one of the tallest in his class.  Also notice how everyone looks pretty good except for one silly face...

Isaiah, Isaac, Steiner, Caleb, Conner

Now my offspring is the one making faces...

This one's pretty good of everyone...

And back to silly again...

Isaiah's teacher, Mrs. Trochim was watching this picture taking session unfold.  Bless her heart she tried to get them to stop with the silliness.  Afterwards she said, "I guess you are a mom of boys, you're probably used to not getting a straight face.  How true, how true.  Especially lately it seems, if both boys are in the picture it is pretty much guarenteed to not be serious.  Case in point, I took some pictures of them when we were camping last weekend at Hood Canal.  Here's what I got...

But lets face it... I love the silly, crazy, loud- ness of boys! (almost all the time)  I especially love it when they are tromping around outside in the great outdoors (and not my living room), getting dirty, climbing rocks, finding bugs and doing what boys do best.

Here's a video clip of Isaiah's concert for all you family out there.  

Birthday Extravaganza-part 2: Lego Mania

After much deliberation on how to properly celebrate Isaiah's birthday party we finally decided on a smaller sleepover with his closest buddies.  The theme was Lego Ninja.  Here's a few notes from the night:

*  There's nothing like old friends! - The friendships Isaiah has with his best buddies really is special.  They've been friends since they were born and have many memories over the years- and they're only 7!  I hope they can continue their friendships and make memories for a lifetime.

Top: Nathan, Isaiah, Caleb, Sam- bottom: Jakey and Lukey

Here they all are as babies, just a couple months old.  Although still a special friend, Jubilee opted out of the crazy ninja boy sleepover and her brother Jakey got to take her place as Luke's sidekick.

Isaiah, Nathan, Caleb, Jubilee, Sam

*  Little boys love to quote movies in the loudest voice possible.  They think that every line they can remember is hilariously funny.

*  Transporting legos with chopsticks takes lots of concentration

*  While my boys have a hard time staying in their seats for 15 minutes during dinner they can sit and concentrate on building legos for hours at a time.  This phenomenon still baffles me.

Lego building time!

*  Girls can be ninjas too- even if they still drink from a sippy cup

*  Oh Lukey! moment-  Kyle was sleeping in the basement with the boys and woke up to a tinkling sound.  He looked up to see Lukey standing on his pillow, peeing on the floor. Hmmm... I'm just glad he didn't pee on any of the guests.

Another great birthday, another fun filled sleep-over.  The boys played hard until late and woke up early to play.  Thanks to the buddies for making Isaiah's 7th birthday a celebration to remember!!!  Now on to the next birthday in our house, something tells me Lizzy's birthday is going to be different...