A Little of This and That

Do you see the Kindle on Sam's lap?  The Kindle is magic.  Sam can be tired, in a bad mood, feeling especially destructive or "loving" to Lydia (which really means he is very eager to help her move quickly around the house...scary!), or just need a break and the Kindle comes out and he's suddenly feeling happy, excited, and ready to play.  We've had to find a delicate balance so he has a chance to play for a little while each day and only for short snatches of time or else we all regret that it was even purchased in the first place.    He's really impressed me with his willingness to listen when I tell him it's time to turn it off.  Very rarely do we have a fight about it...following through with taking it away for the rest of the day when he hasn't been so compliant has definitely worked in my favor.  All three kids love the Kindle.  Every once in a while I find them all squished in the tiniest spaces, all leaning over the screen.  I'm so grateful we have kids who are such good friends!

Roy has traveled quite a bit recently and, in an attempt to be a cool mom who also needs to have exciting days, I planned a few fun outings.  Here are the kids at their favorite park, which has a path around a little lake.  We love walking around and trying to spot the animals in the water.

I missed putting this in Sam's birthday post.  He wanted brownies to celebrate and couldn't wait to help me stir them up.  I don't know if he was more excited about the mixing process or the obligatory spoon-licking after we were done. :)

Way back in February, I took the kids to a production of Rodger's and Hammerstein's "Cinderella" at one of the high schools.  It was phenomenal!  We still sing the songs pretty much every day.  All three kids loved it for different reasons.  I think it was especially inspiring to Abby.  She has been a lot more creative in retelling stories, combining stories, and coming up with ideas about new elements to the story.  I love that this musical opened her eyes to the fact that there's not just one way to tell a story.  She's such a singer anyway and has sung more since we saw "Cinderella".  Seeing "Cinderella" was one of those unexpected favorite moments of our winter.