•  Are figuring out how to write words on your own. I got the sweetest picture from you a few weeks ago upon which you had written “I love Mama.” The letters weren’t in the correct order, but you got most of them on there, and it was adorable.
• Seem to be slowing down (maybe?) in your growth. You’re still fitting into size 5 pants, though I’m very thankful for adjustable waist since you need it cinched.
• (that said) Are a very good eater. I don’t know any other kids your age who would down a salad as a meal without a bunch of whining (though we occasionally get that, too). I’m proud that you understand how to make healthy choices and aren’t afraid to turn down sugar for some veggies.
• Often get the comment that you “are old for your age.” I am not totally sure what that means other than perhaps you have a big vocabulary/imagination, but you can go ahead and stay little for awhile longer.
• Are such a girl! No day is complete without some dress-up, some mothering of your babies, and something princess-related. It’s hard for me to remember myself at your age, but I’m pretty sure I did all those things, too (though princesses weren’t quite as heavily marketed back then).
• Are becoming very good at sharing with your little brother. Daddy took you both to Target the other night, and you asked for a sticker. The cashier only had one left, and when you saw Markus ask for one you gave him yours. That made me so proud to hear! We’ve been learning about “the first shall be last, the last shall be first” principle in the Bible together, and I love seeing you take scripture to heart! Best. thing. ever.
• Are still learning appropriate reactions to things. We have a little chart in the pantry to help you gauge whether a tantrum or a scream was the right reaction (which is almost never), and we have talks on a regular basis about how to have self-control in this area. Keep working on it, Sweetie!
• Can share the gospel. We aren’t yet sure if you’re a believer yourself, but you can outline why Jesus came to earth, how he died, and why he died with clarity. We keep praying for the Holy Spirit to bring that truth to your heart! One encouragement to us is that the Bible is your favorite book to read. God’s Word does not return void!
• Really enjoy getting dirty. We can’t be near grass or dirt without you getting stained knees, face or clothes. Good thing I don’t mind a little scrubbing…
• Have fierce attachment to your “guys.” So much so that if you are asked to nap without them you put up an hour-long tantrum fight. Yikes. Mama has found much help in the book The Strong-Willed Child by Dr. Dobson.
• Have asked to have each of your former preschool classmates over for a playdate, one at a time. While I don’t know if that will happen, we are glad to see you developing socially and caring so much about your friends.
• Love to give gifts. You will often wrap up a toy, a drawing, or something more odd in a napkin, hide it somewhere, and then, at what you consider the opportune time, present it to them. It’s endearing.
• Are so excited about Kindergarten! While we haven’t yet made a decision on where you will end up, we know that God has it all planned. I’ve enjoyed our first week of trial homeschool–it is so fun to see your little sponge-brain working!

We love you, Hon! And here are a few pictures from early spring (Easter egg hunt lunch), since I don’t have any more recent ones edited yet.

And Easter Sunday.

Since this photo was taken those patched portions have been re-painted, and I have some more things to hang, too.

Have you ever done a gallery wall? Or seen some ones online that you like?

Before:

After:

The List:

• Took down ugly curtain thingy and patched the holes
• Painted ceiling
• Painted walls
• Painted and installed new wainscoting (ended up having to have that professionally sprayed…long story!), baseboards and trim
• Painted the top of the ledge around the room
• Installed new vent covers
• Installed new outlets, outlet covers and switch-plate covers, as well as door knobs
• Painted (professionally) and installed new doors
• Had some strong friends help us move the piano from our old place to here (thanks, Strong Friends!)

We didn’t really get to finish this room until after we had moved in because we used it as a main place to paint the trim we used in the rest of the house. It is SO nice to have a family room space to keep the TV (it used to be in a 3rd bedroom/office where only 2 or 3 people could watch at once). Having the couch in the middle of the room also creates a nice little “track” for the kids to run around during the long winter months. Gotta burn off all that energy somehow, right?

I still haven’t figured out what I’m putting on the mantel or some of the other walls, but it’s a work in progress.

Before:

After:

The List:

• Took out light fixtures and re-wired (It was a MESS in there! So thankful for my father-in-law’s skills. He was surprised the house was still standing with how fried the wires were.)
• Mudded walls that were not smooth
• Tore out linoleum and installed engineered hardwood floors
• Painted the walls
• Painted the ceilings
• Purchased and installed new light fixtures
• Bought a new fridge (thanks, Mom! The old one was a side-by-side, and when you opened the freezer door you could barely get anything in or out of it.)
• Painted and installed new baseboards and trim
• Took down the old curtains and installed new rods and curtains
• Installed new outlets, outlet covers and switch-plate covers
• Thrifted some letters for the “Rejoice” sign…I hope to hang some mis-matched plates and/or platters around it once I find enough to make it worthwhile

Before:

After:

Just for reference here are two posts about the projects we did in the 6 months leading up to our move. It was a lot of work (thanks mostly to Husband and my father-in-law!), and there’s much left to do, but what I’m learning with home ownership is that there is always something to do. A list of what we did in the living room:

• Tore out trim and found mold
• Chunked out the wall and the floor and replaced dry wall and floor, then mudded and re-laid the carpet (thanks, Dustin!)
• Mudded more of the walls that were not smooth
• Painted the walls
• Built up a portion of the window sill where it didn’t match up with new trim and stained it
• Re-built the railings on the balustrade and installed a new handrail, stripped and stained the newel post (the old railings were so far apart the kids could get their bodies through them–NOT SAFE!)
• Painted the ceilings
• Painted and installed new baseboards and trim
• Bought a new couch
• Took down the old curtains and installed new rods and sewed together some IKEA curtains
• Cut old vent covers to fit
• Installed new outlets, outlet covers and switch-plate covers

There might be more I can’t remember…

• Can deliver a pretty solid joke. You make us laugh so much!
• Have been potty trained for 2 weeks. We took a 3-day boot camp approach, and you did SO WELL! We are very proud of you. You transitioned from the potty chair to the big potty yesterday without so much as skipping a beat. I love that you are so game for trying new things (at least, when they aren’t food…).
• Like to yell. You and Anja sometimes have screaming matches, most commonly in the car. Mom turns the music up loud.
• Have memorized several Bible verses. It is so precious to hear the Word of God coming out of your mouth (hopefully as it is being written on your heart).
• Call yourself a “Big Daddy” all the time. You used to argue with us calling you anything but a boy (“No! Markus is a BOY!”), but it has changed to “No, Markus is a Big Daddy!” Eeeek.
• Can climb like nobody’s business. Even though you aren’t that up-to-speed with most gross motor activity, you use your noggin as a climbing counterweight excellently.
• Have started eating more green things. We have a secret: ketchup. It makes salad disappear. Sad, but true! Though you did eat some of my homemade dressing the other day and declared it yummy.
• Are starting to engage in creative story-telling with your toys. Your cars and trucks become “friends” and have little conversations. I doubt you’ll be telling elaborate tales like Anja anytime soon, but even your short story lines are fascinating to me.
• Are thus far not athletically inclined. You can’t catch worth a hoot no matter how many times we play, but I’m not giving up!
• Gave up your pacifiers shortly after turning two. We put them in a baggy and gave them to the clerk at Target to “buy” your new stuffed elephant, which you quickly dubbed “Warthog.” Warthog the elephant, it’s true.
• Are taking shorter naps in the afternoon due to getting rid of the pacifier, but you still sleep a good 2 to 3 hours each day. Can’t complain!
• Love it when your sister includes you in her play, but you definitely aren’t one to be a doormat if you don’t like what she asks you to do. Since you’re so tiny, I’m glad you’re learning to stand up for yourself a bit.
• Need a lot of attention. We think your love language may one day be quality time. Two commonly used phrases, “LISTEN to me, Mama” and “LOOK at me, Daddy”!
• Transitioned to a toddler bed since you were climbing out of your crib an average of 12 times a day/night anyway. It’s been pretty good, though sometimes you and Sissy get into trouble together since you still share a room.
• Love being outside! You don’t care what the thermometer says; you simply want to get out. the. door. as fast as possible.
• Think you’re a super hero. Even though you have no idea who Batman or Spiderman are, you go zooming around the house in your blue cape, dubbing yourself “Super-Boy” or “Super-Markus.” You can rescue me any day.
• Picked up the very polite phrase “May I” from somewhere. Daddy and I don’t use it very often (shame on us!), but we think it’s adorable that you do. Keep it up.
• Are tiny. Not uber-tiny, but quite short and round. You are still wearing mostly 18-month pants, though you’re finally growing too tall for some of them. Hooray! But your chunky thighs are still fair game for squeezing, thank goodness.
• Are quite attached to your hammer and saw. You’ve actually been brought to tears a couple of times when you couldn’t actually help with one of Daddy’s projects. We ask you to “fix” things all the time just so you can pound and saw and feel useful. Again, adorable.
• Have begun copying your sister’s sassy phrases. We don’t like them any better coming out of your mouth.
• Continue to be quite verbal. And you still mostly talk in the 3rd person. Love it. Here’s a conversation we had at snack the other day…
  You: “When Markus is big, he will have a wallet and put it in his pocket and drive a truck all the way to Grandma Pam’s house and go to Culver’s?”
  Me: “All by yourself?”
  You: “Yes, without Mommy and Anja.”

We love you, our funny, precocious, big-noggined boy!

I cut a bunch of 1″ strips of paper and glued a “rainbow” of them onto 3 white pieces of paper, labeling the colors because I want Anja to start identifying written words with everything.

I grabbed the nearest receptacle, which happened to be a paper bag, and tossed the rest of the scraps in. We took turns drawing paper strips out until someone covered all their colors and completed their rainbow. Anja got frustrated that a couple of her colors had a stack of strips five high and she wasn’t drawing the color she wanted, but it’s a lesson learned in patience, right? Both kids loved it, and it was a nice little departure from our usual Candyland-Go Fish-Memory-Hi Ho Cherrio routine.

I was surprised how well Markus did with this, neatly stacking his colored pieces on top of the correct color. He knows all his colors and has for some time, but the fact that he was able to get them pretty much lined up made me very happy for him.

Anja, at four and a half, you:

• Like to draw. We’re fairly certain you skipped many developmental stages, going from scribbles-only to drawing people and animals with all their parts. Sherman “drew” me the doggie on a napkin below along with his name and you delivered it. As far as I can tell it has six legs. So sweet.
• Like taking care of your babies. Sherman has slipped to #2 in the ranks behind your soft baby doll Malia. She goes everywhere with you and doesn’t miss a thing.
• Enjoy dressing up, especially in princess dresses.
• Still get out of bed 4,967 times each night before falling asleep. Discipline matters very little to you when it comes to bedtime.
• Are starting to allow your brother to play with you. As long as you get to lead in the type of activities you do, you’re okay with him tagging along (usually). We’ll see how long this lasts. I’m pretty sure with my little brother it lasted a couple years, but your little brother is more strong-willed than mine was.
• Are becoming more responsible, willing to do your chores when asked and helping direct your brother when needed. Sometimes you take this role a bit too seriously and his actual parents need to step in, but we appreciate the help on occasion.
• Are becoming more responsive to correction. We don’t have to discipline quite as often as we used to. I don’t miss it one bit!
• Are exhibiting compassion on different levels. I love to see you emotionally develop, learning to put others first and understand their feelings. It’s the sweetest thing when you give Markus turns before yourself just because you know it is the kind thing to do.
• Are concerned (deeply!) about who you will marry and if you will marry. We have a conversation probably at least monthly, if not more often, about how you have MANY YEARS before this needs to be addressed, but you often have tears over it.
• Love to be outside. Whenever we have fresh snow you ask to go stomp, play and roll in it. Lucky for you your mama likes to play in it, too!
• Continue to have boundless energy. Just when I think you’re winding down for the night you ask to have a dance party or do gymnastics or climb tall things. When did I get so old?
• Are learning to write most of your letters. You figured out a lot of them on your own (so cute!), but you’ve also started doing printing worksheets at preschool.
• Told me that you want to be a singer anda ballerina when you grow up. You’ve wanted to be a ballerina since you were two, but the singer thing is new. And it is to be on a stage, you specified. We don’t even watch American Idol, so I’m not sure where you got this idea, but dreams are okay. We encourage dreaming here.
• Are growing right before my eyes! I want you to grow, of course, but it is hard to see it happen so fast.

Love you so much, my precious girl!