The Big One

It's no secret that Peter loves to fish.  His Pops does, too, so I think he comes by it honestly!  He tries to fish in my parents' pond every time we are there.  Well, this particular morning, he was all alone, and we hear him yelling at Elley for help!  She came running thinking there had been an accident, only to find him with his Mickey Mouse fishing pole bent, pulling the wire with his hands, and yelling for her to grab the net.  Then we saw this...

Who knew there we even any catfish in there!  Usually they catch about a five-inch perch.  Kolbe was IMPressed.

I wish now that we would have weighed it.  Next time!  Man, though, someone once said, "that boy was correctly named!"  After Saint Peter (the fisherman!).  My prayer is he is as faithful as well.

Sweet Peter.

Early Mornings

If I don't set an alarm in the mornings, two of my kiddos are usually up before me.  The first is John Paul, and well, I know when he wakes up.  He's usually right by the side of my bed, making the slightest noise and peering into my closed eyes so when I open them it scares me to death.  

The other is Peter...and I usually find him like this.  

He's always creating.  He loves to be in the school room at this specific seat.

He may draw.  He may copy the titles of books.  He may cute and paste.  But he always puts his name on it.

He is the only one I see doing this for extended periods of time, and I just love watching him doing something he loves.

Maybe he will be an artist.  Maybe not.  For now, it's simply one of his favorite pastimes.

Little Fish...Maybe Soon

Right after Carter's birthday, we had swim lessons.  Just the three boys!  I feel like I need.them.to.swim.now!  I don't think it's for any reason other than I'm so afraid of them having an accident.  Truly, it's one of my greatest fears.  

And, we're still not there.  Honestly, we don't really have the place to practice much.  BUT!  They'll get there eventually, and maybe my mind will stop worrying. 

Most everything went well.  We were with the best teacher in the world.  A few setbacks happened, and this momma bear maybe came out a bit too strong, but, all-in-all, I'm so glad we did it.  And, I think the boys are, too.

I only got photos of Peter, as JP needed me, and Carter was sick the first few days.  But, it's kind of special to have photos of him and the teacher who taught me, too!  

The Builders: A Gift Idea for Boys

For Peter's birthday, he received this neat little Build-it-Yourself Kit.  I thought it might be a fun idea to pass along for those looking for Christmas gifts for little boys.  

It comes with nails, glue, a hammer (everything you need).  And, I think you can make five or so little projects.

Now, Peter (being five) isn't quite ready to do it all alone, but it's wonderful to do alongside a parent.

And, Peter is one who looooves to build, draw, create, etc.

He also always has a little helper.

Happy building!

Peter - The New Five-Year-Old

A few weeks ago, when I asked Peter what he wanted for his birthday dinner, he quickly replied, "A Thanksgiving feast!"  Just to make sure I was understanding him (and kind of hoping I wasn't), I asked exactly what that meant.  "Well, you have beautiful plates, and candles, and then turkey, and ham, and 'smashed potatoes' and...oh, a blue cake."  He knew exactly what it meant and exactly what he wanted.  The blue cake was an addition.

So, luckily my mother-in-law was getting rid of her grandmother's china.  And, Mom let me have some of her grandmother's.  Done.

I thought this would be a fun blue cake...

And, we couldn't find a turkey, but Mom made a chicken, and we also had ham, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans, a relish plate, and croissants.

Did I mention pickles?

Peter was SO excited about his "beautiful meal."

Come to find out, what he really wanted to do was eat a turkey (in this case chicken) leg.  I think it was the entire reason he asked for a Thanksgiving feast.

Then we quickly had cake and moved on to better things...

 CANDY!

It was the sweetest thing this year...he just kept repeating, "Thank you to everyone for my beautiful birthday!!"

And, this little guy never even asked for his own present (which is a far cry from his reaction to Carter's birthday this summer, ha)!

He went to bed last night saying he couldn't wait to have a Thanksgiving birthday next year, and every year after that!  

We saved one last present for his actual birthday this morning - a retractable fishing pole and tackle box!

Fishermen are tough.

And, we went to Gracie's for a smoothie and breakfast!  

Who knows what the rest of the day holds...most of the kiddos have colds.  But, we're so thankful for this little 5-year-old.  

Peter...

loves to fish, 

prefers to wear only polo shirts and jeans, 

is so very kind (even though he does his fair share of teasing and fighting, he always is willing to give in, even letting his brothers open his birthday presents), 

loves to be outside, 

enjoys riding his horse,

is a huge fan of Allsups' burritos (me too), 

wants to do everything on his own (including no help when hurting), 

prefers not to be cuddled much, 

loves to draw and write, 

is a bit quieter than the rest,

and is one tough little guy.

We are so very blessed to have had another wonderful year with our sweet Peter!

Bread in a Bag

Last Thursday, my boys wanted to make some bread for Elley - we're over there some Fridays, and they see her eating bread (she fasts on Fridays), so they think she loves it and asked if they could make her some.  Well, it was very convenient that just an hour earlier I was scrolling through my Facebook feed and found this.  I was so excited!  I thought, "This is easy enough!"  Ummm.

So, while Jeremy had Sophie and John Paul feeding the animals, Carter and Peter began!

It was really pretty easy and a lot of fun for the boys!  However, silly me started the bread-baking project about 10 minutes before dinner, and it got a bit messy.  And, then it wasn't working exactly as I thought it should.  And, then Genevieve got upset that she wasn't eating, blah blah blah.  Do you guys get more stressed the louder your house becomes?  I do.

Then, Jeremy walked in as I was getting the dough out of the bag to put into the pan, and with raised brows said, "New recipe?"

 That might have made me a bit more frustrated/tense than I already was.
 Patience/ease is not my strong suit.

 But!  The boys had so much fun!  And, really, it was pretty easy.

Basically we kept adding flour, squishing the dough and then letting it sit.

I will say the last cup of flour was very hard to get mixed in.

Which you can see here...and this is where I tell you I threw my hands up and thought, who cares if this actually works.

This is how it looked...not like it was supposed to.  I know...beautiful!

Though, in all honesty, I really liked the taste of it.  We all did...especially Elley!