Cello Practice!

I was getting ready to take the boys to the library today when I heard them conspiring to put on a concert on April 14.  The date isn't significant, but we have been talking about how to read calendars and the days of the week/months of the year.  So I guess it's good that they know April 14 is soon!  This was their spontaneous and unsupervised practice.  I tried to get it on video without their knowing, but they caught me, so they were aware that I was recording here.

The words to the song they're singing are  "Ants, Ants, Ants.  Digging in the dirt, dirt, dirt.  Going in the ground, ground, ground.  All the way to China, China, China."  The song is intended to teach the names of the open strings (A, D, G, C), but since they aren't readers, they don't quite get it.

Spring!

It's spring! I was antsy for new pictures. So, we threw on our Easter outfits and headed for the photographer. How cute are these boys?

Arrrrrrr

My poor little pirate. Ei woke up this morning clutching his eye and screaming that it hurt. I thought something was in it, so I took him in the bathroom and tried to rinse it out. He was crying pretty hard, so I assumed that his tears would wash it out. He stopped crying, so I put it behind me. About 20 minutes later he started again. I figured that he was just trying to get attention, so I hugged him, gave him a cold washcloth to hold over his eye, and sent him on his way. When he started crying again about 20 minutes later, I got worried. So, I packed up all our things (we were in Chattanooga) and decided to head for home. We got as far as Athens when I exited and decided to look for a CVS clinic or something because he was still screaming about every 15 or 20 minutes. I didn't find one, so we got back on the road and hurried to the CVS Minute Clinic in Knoxville. I assumed he had pink eye because his little eye was so read and swollen. The nurse practitioner there looked at his eye and said that there was no infection (thus, not pink eye) and that the color and swelling was due to his rubbing at it all day. He told me to take him to the pediatrician today. He didn't even charge me. I got really worried. Unexplained shooting pains in his eye? The nurse who didn't charge for his services but insisted we see a doctor today? All I could think was that it was a brain tumor. I got him in with our pediatrician right away. They dyed his eye green and then turned on a black light which showed a rather nasty scratch on his cornea. They washed out the green and put in some drops to numb it a bit and prevent infection, then they patched his eye and said to leave it that way until tomorrow. Then I have to bring him back for another check because the doc was concerned about the severity of the scratch. My poor boy. He told me tonight that he's scared because his eye might not ever heal up. Oh, how I wanted to rock him all night and assure him that everything will be okay.

Pay no attention to the hand prints all over the wall behind him. It's an illusion created by trick photography.

Fantastic Fridays

I'll write more about this in my blog soon, but just to catch you up, the boys have been attending a home school co-op called Fantastic Fridays. Yesterday Ms. Kathleen, our family's very sweet and very talented cello teacher, joined our music class for a cello demonstration.

the class, singing a warm-up song

The children were very engaged in the lesson.

She's amazing with kids.

tuning Jackson's tiny cello

Jackson, nervously waiting for his introduction

Jackson and Ms. Kathleen, playing Twinkle, Twinkle together

She was absolutely amazing. One little boy, who is known to be a little talkative and rowdy, shouted out that he wanted a cello too and that he was sad because he didn't have one. Awesome, huh? My sweet Jackson was very shy while she was there (he's actually coming out of his shell quite a bit in this class because he has a couple of friends he enjoys playing with), but he played like a champ. Afterwards he told me it was hard to play for his friends. I can relate. But he did it, and that makes him a hero, I think.

When we got home, I took a few more shots because it was Aaron's birthday. Don't I have the sweetest boys in the world?

Happy Birthday, Dear Aaron!

Today was my baby Aaron's first birthday party. We celebrated with a Very Hungry Caterpillar party.

The balloon was his favorite present.






"On Wednesday, he ate through 3 plums. But he was still hungry."





"On Saturday he ate through one piece of chocolate cake..."



"That night he had a stomachache." Yes, he's totally out in this picture. Birthdays are hard.



Happy birthday, precious Aaron.

Now, THAT'S a Snowman

It snowed again today--a lot. It was a complete surprise too. We were at church having playgroup when the skies just opened up and dumped about 2 inches of snow on our world. It was slow-going getting home, but once we were here the boys were SO excited. We had to run out and make a snowman. Here he is:

Much better than our 2-foot-tall snowman from 2 weeks ago, no? It's been a really long time since I've made a real snowman. Those snowballs are HEAVY. We're inside now and warming our toes and praying for lots more snow tonight. It's so pretty and fun to get snowed in.

The New Year

We made a trip to Atlanta last weekend. We visited the aquarium, swam in the (indoor) pool, and slept in a hotel (which was what excited the kids the most). It was a great trip, with the exception of the baby getting sick and being pretty fussy. When we got home I took him to the doctor who told me he has a double ear infection and Adenovirus. So, considering all that, I guess he was actually pretty good!

I love this picture because you can see Aaron screaming. He loved the hotel pool, but he was NOT happy at the aquarium. Poor little guy.

They were watching the whale shark above their heads.

This is the aquarium mascot. Ei wouldn't go near him.

They were exhausted after a long day. They crashed.

And today, IT FINALLY SNOWED! Daddy was out of town, so he missed it! Shucks.

Jackson made a snow angel (kind of). Ei said it was too cold to lay on the ground. Smart kid.

We built a tiny snowman. He has Mr. Potato Head features. They were very proud of him.

It's never too cold to swing!

It was pretty cold outside. They are resting on the sofa with their feet on a hot rice sock.