End of the Year Update

It's hard to believe that we have 5 days left in the year... how is that time goes by so quickly, when sometimes  days can go by so slowly... especially certain hours in those days, like the hour right before supper.  There is something about the 4:00 pm to 5:00 pm hour that makes it last forever.
We are enjoying the start of the holidays so far, with Mike and Peter having a break from school and spending some time with family.  It will be a less busy holiday season than usual, with Mike's parents and some siblings enjoying some time in Florida.  We hope to get lots of work done in our basement over the next little while, and we are appreciating generous offers of help from family to help us out with some of the labor.  Mike has been able to borrow some tools which will make the work a lot easier, faster, and enjoyable.
I realize now that it has been quite a while since I've done a real update on the kids.  A post here and there about the antics that they have been up to, but not a "probably boring to you but important in a journaling-kind-of-way to me" post.  So, scroll on to the pictures if you wish, but here's a status update on the kids.
Let's start with the littlest one.  He's 15 months now, and catching up with his brothers every day.  He loves to be right in with them and participate in whatever they are doing.  I'll often find him happily sitting on the couch paging through a book (if he's not happily standing on the couch and jumping around...), or in his other favourite spot, flopping around on Aaron's bed.  He likes to bring us books and sit with us to read them, but he's not as good at pointing out things in the books yet like the older boys were at his age.  He's also not talking yet - other than the occasional time when we wonder - did he just say "hi"?  did he say "daddy"?  But these times are few and far between, and not repeated, so I wouldn't say he's really got any words down pat yet.  It will come!  For now, he communicates quite effectively with screeches, babbles, laughing, and whining.  He's a pretty good eater, as long as he likes it, and he's drinking a little better now as well.  Not that I keep really good track of how much he drinks, but he doesn't get annoyed anymore when I offer him milk and I'm regularly buying more whole milk for him, so he must be drinking something, ha ha.  We've been back and forth to the pediatrician with him for the last few months, trying to figure out this perpetual cough that he has.  It's not particularly bad, and it's not even always a cough, but his chest seems to be rattly most of the time.  We've tried a bunch of different things including a test for CF (negative, very thankfully!!), a variety of dosages on a puffer and now benadryl, but nothing seems to really kick it.  It was much worse in the summer with the heat and humidity, and at the end of August we installed central air in the hopes that he would improve.  Of course, the heat and humidity went away so he got a bit better, but it seems strange that he is never rattle free. It's an ongoing mystery, anyways.  In the meantime, I continue to take him on periodic trips to the pediatrician, whose parking lot fees are slowly sucking away the contents of my wallet.  Aside from the cough, he's doing very well.  For his first year of life, he was an amazingly cheerful child, and I have to say that in the last few months that unceasing cheer has deteriorated somewhat, but he is still quite agreeable, and he has a heart-melting smile.  I often get good hugs and cuddles from him, and every once in a while he will give me kisses, although he prefers avoiding those with a mischievous grin.  He is certainly a full-fledged toddler now, and it is a busy job keeping up with him and the older two.
Aaron is 2 years and 8 months, although I often surprise myself when I remember that he is only two.  He seems older than that for some reason - he definitely likes to be called a "big boy" and his communication and personality seem to me to be ahead of course.  That's probably just the proud mama in me :)  There's just something about his sense of humour and the way he can communicate with his eyes that has us constantly laughing.  After a few tries at toilet training (I think we tried for a few weeks starting in March, again in September, and then again at the end of October), he is now done with diapers!  Hurray!!He's had a few random accidents overnight, but if we're diligent at taking him to the bathroom when we go to bed, he's pretty good at waking up and asking for help if he needs it.  I certainly do not mind having only one in diapers!  The other night he had to pee at 2:30 am.  While sitting there, we had quite the interesting and heart-warming conversation:
Aaron:  "God is good, eh?"
Mom:  "Yes, He is very good, Aaron."
Aaron:  "Jesus is God, eh?"
Mom:  "You're right, Aaron, Jesus is God"
Aaron:  "Jesus died on cross to pay for our sins.  He rose again, give us eternal life, eh?"
Mom:  "Yes, Aaron, you're absolutely right"
I certainly don't mind being up with him in the middle of the night when he gives such a sweet confession of faith as that.  It was a pretty amazing moment. 
He can be very sweet, but he also has a knack for being quite pesty to his brothers, especially to Nate, when I am not in the room.  I have caught him on numerous occasions giving Nate a soother so that he can steal his toys without making him cry.  If I hear Nate start to cry and go to see what's going on, Aaron can often be found high-tailing it out of the room, standing somewhere in the room with his hands over his eyes, or running to get Nate a soother to cover up the problem.  The other day we were at Mom and Dads, and Mom peeked into the room when Nate started wailing, only to see Aaron trying to cover up his mouth, likely thinking "shhhhh!  I'm going to get in trouble!!".  What a pest!  And half the time I don't even know what he's doing since he makes sure I'm out of the room.  He can be a bit mean in his pestiness, and I am trying to teach him to be a bit more kind to others around him.  However, it is much more fun to roll over and squish your little brother than it is to be kind.  Nate still loves to play with him, though, and I am sure he is figuring out how to defend himself and participate actively in this rough "play".  Growing up in a family of all girls means that I am not accustomed to the ways that boys play, and I have to tell myself often that boys do need a little more rough-ness than girls.  But it's hard to know where to draw the line.  Anyways.  What else is going on with Aaron... he's pretty good at counting, and he knows a few letters of the alphabet.  I don't work very hard with him on these things, but he's picking it up from our daily conversations and from Peter.  He loves to sing, he loves books, and he really enjoys playing with play-do.  He's starting to draw some recognizable people-shapes, which is fun - the other day he drew our whole family and I was impressed with how we all had heads, arms, legs, hands and feet.  Pretty good for a 2.5 year old I think!  He is still napping in the afternoons at the same time as Nate, which I really enjoy.  Peter is at school in the afternoons, which means I get a bit of quiet time most school days when the two little guys are asleep.  This is VERY appreciated!
And on to Peter - his birthday was in November, so he is 4, and quite proud of it.  As I have said before, the first month and half or so of school was a bit rough for him, and it took a while for him to settle in.  He seems to be enjoying it now that he's into the routine, and he is learning SO much.  It's fun to hear and help him sound out words and try to figure out how to spell them.  However, he seems to be thrown off pretty easily when anything is out of routine.  His class was practicing for weeks for a Christmas program during the last week of school, but when it came time for the program he became very upset, ended up seeing me in the audience before he walked onto the stage, made a bee-line for me and absolutely refused to participate.  It didn't really surprise us but it was a little disappointing, especially since he had been quite excited about the whole thing beforehand.  He has been a bit of a challenge the last little while, as he has been increasingly defiant toward us and he seems angry a lot of the time.  There is a lot of fighting between him and Aaron, and he reacts by hitting, name-calling, or loud screaming.  We are struggling with trying to figure out how to deal with this, and how to teach him how to manage his anger in an acceptable way.  I surely hope this is just a stage, as some days I just don't know how I should deal with him.  Sometimes it seems like parenting is just a big experiment, and we hope the kids turn out in the end, but I am so very far from being an expert.  How is it, anyways, that people are allowed to have kids without having a license?  This job is harder than you think, and we've only experienced the first four years so far.  Just wait till they're teenagers.... Well, I'm sure every age has it's particular struggles, but it is a comfort to know that we can bring all these things to the Lord in prayer.  It is He who has entrusted these children to us, and though we do our best to raise them up to be godly young men, it is a comfort to know that He is ultimately in control of all things, and we rest in the promises that He has given to our boys at their baptisms.

And now we come to the end of another year... 2011.  A year in which we've settled into our new home, sent our oldest off to school, done some work to our home, learned a lot, loved a lot, cried a little, laughed a lot, grown.  We're excited to see what 2012 has to bring to our doorstep!  Happy New Years everyone!

Nate at 15 months:  25 lbs 4 oz, 33.75" tall

Peter at 15 months: 27 lbs 2 oz, 32.75" tall

Aaron at 15 months:  30 lbs, 33" tall

Peter now: 42 lbs, 41.5" tall

Aaron now: 39 lbs, 38" tall

We took the kids to see Sinterklaas at the Dutch store at the beginning of December.  Peter was surprisingly agreeable about the whole thing, and Aaron was a little nervous... no smiles, but he did agree to sit on Sinterklaas' lap

Nate was not so impressed.  He spent a few moments checking out the scary dude with the big white beard, and proceeded to burst into heart-wrenching sobs

Once home, our middle child delighted in the treats

Peter was equally pleased by his treats.  They both expressed much love for Sinterklaas.

Preparing their shoes by the door for Sinterklaas and his horse

Shoes all lined up at bedtime with carrots for the horse

Amazing!  Sinterklaas must have visited during the night! 

Nate enjoying an early morning present

Aaron opening his present from Sinterklaas, sunrise in the background

Peter figuring out his new play-dough toys

Maybe Sinterklaas isn't such a bad fellow after all? 

Some basement pictures... here, the subfloor is being put in place.  First a layer of delta wrap on the floor, then tongue-and-groove plywood laid over top. 

Finishing up the last bit

Working on the rough-in for the bathroom plumbing

Mike got to rent this sweet tool to drill out a hole in the foundation for a dryer vent.  It was HUGE!  He was pretty excited about it!

Hard at work

Dad M was here for the day and he got a turn too

Some walls are up, and things are progressing nicely!

Laundry area on the right, then the bathroom, and the workshop in the corner

That's it for basement pictures.  On to the random pictures on the camera from the last little while.  Here we are decorating the Christmas tree at the beginning of December.  The boys really enjoyed this!

Hanging an "ordamen"

Helping me do some baking one morning.  The unfortunate thing about them "helping" me in the kitchen is that when they are helping, there is no longer any room at all for me to work.  We have a one-person kitchen, and having two chairs and two boys in there with me is an exercise in patience. 

Mixing the dough

Rolling out the sugar cookies.  These cookies are for kid-consumption only - don't worry, I will not serve you cookies prepared in such a manner.  Note Aaron stuffing his face with dough. 

Nate eagerly watching the cookies baking

Cooling on the counter, waiting to be decorated.

I decorated a bunch while Peter was at school and the other two were napping.  Melted snowman cookies!  They were fun to make, and the kids enjoyed them, but they were very very sweet

  Decorating cookies - note how Nate is happily eating the lid of the container

Caught in the act!  Seriously, this kid loves to eat.  He was too busy eating cookies or toppings to get much decorating done.  Needless to say, he didn't want a lot for lunch that day

Proud of his man-cookie!

A few of the finished cookies. Happily, this cookie adventure worked out much better than the last time we tried it.... Amazing and Unsuccessful Sugar Cookies of February 2011

  Opening a few early-morning presents from under the Christmas tree

Going over the stories from the Jesse Tree.  I've never done anything like this before, but it was fun to do with the kids.  It is kind of like an advent calendar, starting with creation and working its way through the Old Testament towards Jesus' birth, showing how everything points toward his coming.  I'll have to change a few things when we do it again next year, but I liked the idea of it. 

An armful of blessings getting a bedtime story

 Nate in one of his favourite places, Aaron's bed

I couldn't find Nate this afternoon until I looked in Peter and Aaron's closet and found him hiding in their laundry basket, playing with a tape measure with the door almost closed.  Funny kid!