Ollie has been learning about plants in {speech}preschool. He proudly informed me that plants need sunshine and rain to grow. Last year, whenever I would ask Ollie what he did in preschool, I was greeted with *********
Silence.
He just did not have the words to tell me what was going on.
At the end of the year he finally said "had fun at school today".
This year has been night and day compared to last year. He talks nonstop and tells me everything he does at school that day, as soon as he bursts through the front door. The other day, he even told me that his teaching was in a training program and and so he had new teachers that day. This is big stuff guys, big stuff.
So pleased with his progress.
Now that Ollie knows about plants, he wanted to water my cactus.
My cacti are still alive. It's a Christmas miracle! Or in this case, an Easter miracle.
It has been over a week since watering them, so I let the boys have at it. Please be brave lil cactus. Don't drown.
Ollie is still carrying around his tiny black kitty, Tux. We lost him today and there were tears for hours.
Finally offered a reward to anyone who could find this little critter--a lollipop.
You better believe those boys starting scouring every nook and cranny.
Calvin found tiny Tux behind the bathroom door. I really thought I had checked there. Really. I mean, I know I did.
Twain just woke up from a nap and has a line on his face to prove it.
Getting bigger, but still my squishy.
He's very clingy post nap. Cries and won't leave my side. Little hand has to touch me or he will burst into tears. 
I will miss that one day. Because he's starting to get a lot more independent. Every day he announces "I'm detting bid now mommy, so I tan play with Talvin's spinner, right?"(translated: "I'm getting big now mommy, so I can play with Calvin's spinner, right?")
We have all been hanging out at home a lot these days. We have rejected organized sports and activities in favor of playing outside all day with the neighbor kids. It's just more fun for everyone. We still go to church and AWANA though.
The latest activity has been tree climbing. John and I walked outside to this sight the other day.
Those black ladder rungs were fashioned by Finn--He made them out of black sprinkler pipes he found laying around and then he nailed them to the tree. He made quite a few of these rungs to help climb up the tree. And that net was brought by neighbor Jordan. He fastened it to our tree. How kind of him, ha.It's ok though...SO much better than what all our kids were doing just a few weeks ago: fashioning weapons from pipes and ropes and chains that they all scavenged from their homes. I mean, I was impressed by their resourcefulness and all.
But we will take tree climbing any day.
Libby is always running around with the neighborhood boy crew. She fits right in and joins in with all the weapon making and climbing. Seriously, she is quite the good sport.
Hi Calvin! This kid has always been and will always be my little sweetheart. 
My look alikes
There are always bikes scattered everywhere on my front porch.
And when it's too hot inside, sometimes the kids sneak inside for a few minutes, til I kick them all back out.
Little buddy Ty. 
Finn was outside picking flowers today, when all of a sudden he was stung by a bee. He came flying inside, with a look of terror on his face. Libby came running in after, very concerned. Finn looked like he was gonna cry, so I sent Libby home so he could save face. But he held it together and never ended up crying...even when I had to dig around his sting with a pin to make sure the stinger was all the way out. It was his first bee sting. He made me this bracelet from the flowers he gathered. I treasure it, knowing all he went through to get these flowers.
In fact, it's one of the loveliest bracelets I've ever seen.
