Nolan

Noey is 15 months!  He makes us laugh every day, what with his vigorous vacuuming and what not.  One of my favorite things that he currently does is when he comes over for a kiss.  I'll be sitting on the living room floor and he will suddenly drop what he's doing and run at me with a fish face.  Then he bows his head down and I kiss him on the forehead. 

I also catch him practicing his fake crying face in my bathroom mirror, so there is that too.  Ug. 



 

 

One of his favorite words right now is "chay" (cheese), which he says whenever he sees Jon or I pull out our phones.  He is following in Ollie's footsteps, with the love of selfies. 

 

Sidenote:  I really don't think we even say cheese that much!  I find his behavior to show me otherwise though.  Why else would he have learned it so readily?

 

Here's some of our best selfies from the last few days:

 

 

 

This is a good one, because I'm pretty sure he is still saying, "Chay!"

 

Speaking of getting out our phones, I gave a extremely grumpy Nolan (teething! Ug!) my old phone to hold on to a few days ago and it turned him into an extremely happy Nolan. 

 

I haven't repeated the act though, for fear of creating a monster.

 

 

Other new words include, "ba" (ball), not to be confused with the "ba" he says when we get to the sheep page in the peek-a-boo animal book. 

 

"Ma" is also a pretty universal word, used for milk, up, and moo on the cow page.  "Gengoo" is thank you and "oh oh oh" is row, row, row and lets you know it's time to sing and play.  He puts his fingers together and sticks his elbows in the air when he wants to sing Itsy Bitsy Spider.  "Diddy" started out as puppy, the stuffed animal he sleeps with, but now diddy can be used for any stuffed animal, or just an excited exclamation.  He says "mama" and "dada" and is starting to say something for Sethie and Ollie, but it's not really consistent yet.  Needless to say, we find it all very enchanting. 

 

But he also drives me crazy with his desire for independence. 

 And wanting to feed himself with a spoon. 

 

In true Motsinger kid form, he also loves something one day and hates it the next. 

Loved blueberries one day and everyday I've tried since, he just throws them all on the floor or smashes them with his pointer finger.  Then throws them. 

 

He still gets himself in some tight spots. 

(Sorry, not sorry for this one Noey.  I just can't look at it without laughing.)

 

He still mostly sleeps bottoms up with his Diddy.

 

And one last picture from a friend's house.  Even with his eyes closed he's the cutest. 

 

And that's our sugarbear!  15 months and born to roam!  It's true that babies don't keep, so we are just trying to hold on tight to the days here and now.

Ollie

Ollie's last day of kinder!

 

His teacher gave one award to each student and Ollie's was Bodacious Behavior.   

 

Bahama Bucks party for the end of the year. 

 

Followed by a water gun fight! 

 

Ollie is reading!  Oh my inner teacher just loooves it!  He is right on track for the end of kinder and is reading at a level D. 

 

Noey is a fan, too!

 

His writing skills and phonetic knowledge are also so kid classic great.  I should post some of his stories from writers' workshop.  So fun to read! 

 

Ollie is a pretty easy kid to please.  Here are some of the things he holds very dear to his heart (as I see them):

• friends/family/people!  Ollie is such an extravert.  The more time playing with friends, or around family, the better. 
• adventures/forts/planning and talking about breaks from the routine.  This also includes begging to pack for trips that are still weeks/months away.  He also loves anything he perceives as relaxing.  He just told us last week "I want a fishing pole for my birthday and a hammock for Christmas."
• soda!
• reading!  Not only is he reading, he begs Jon or I to read him a chapter book pretty much every day.  We are currently on #40 of the magic tree house series.  I really enjoy the time reading with him, too. 
• swinging! He loves to swing for hours and hours.  He really wants someone out there with him, but will also swing by himself for a good long time.  He often gives himself blisters or callouses on his hands from holding on to the swing forever.
• music! Ollie loves listening to music so much!  He constantly wants to listen to his favorite Pandora station.  He also has some pretty cool dance moves and likes to dance, but he already gets easily embarrassed if I ask him to dance for someone outside the immediate family.
• all bodily humor/fart jokes/tickling/picking on Jon.  He cannot (CANNOT) read the word "but" from his sight word list without dying, no matter how many times you explain the difference in but and butt.  He really can crack us up, he is such a ham and was just born understanding comedic timing and the value of a good laugh.  Just yesterday he was using air quotes (which for the record, I have never seen him use before) and was saying all these words that just had Jon and I in stiches. 

Ollie's basement fort.  He has spent a few nights even sleeping down there.  

 

Nothing much better than swinging, unless that's swinging with your bros. 

 

And there you have it!  A snapshot of Ollie at the end of his kinder year.  Kind, fun, empathetic, and hilarious.  Let that never change!

Seth

 Last day of second grade! 

 

We are forever thankful to Mrs. Cole, a wonderfully empathetic and caring teacher.  She loved Seth on his grumpy days....

 

and his happy ones!

 

Here he is getting his awards, which included, year-long A/B honor roll, excellence in math, and a PE award for athletics and citizenship from Coach Serna.  Seth really admires Coach Serna, so this one was pretty special.   

 

 

Seth continues to love all things inventive and imaginitive.  His current favorite way to spend time is a running monologue of all the things he is going to invent and do.  This includes (but is not limited to!) his underground bat cave that he is currently constructing (there's a 2 ft by 2 ft by 2 ft hole in the alley that he has dug that will be the entrance), a potion that he will concoct that will turn him into a wizard which will give him the ability to turn into anything ( "I can be a clock!  Or a lemur!"), or making a Wild Kratt Tortuga headquarters, in which our family will live.  Conversations frequently start like this:  "Hey Mom, can we talk?" "Sure, Seth."  "I wanna talk about my Tortuga I'm going to make.  Tell me.... lets see... yeah, tell me 30, no 50... yeah 50.  Tell me 50 things you want in your bedroom."   

 

I try to oblige.  To say it's an exercise in patience for me would be an understatement. 

 

He had some money saved up and I have been giving him a few gentle nudges to buy a ripstick.  I'm hoping this will be something he doesn't conquer in 30 minutes and will keep him slightly busy for a couple hours with no broken bones to show for his success. 

 

But that's our Sethie boy!  His brain is whirling at a hundred miles an hour, with his body just slightly behind at 85 miles an hour.  (Ha... today when he was in the middle of his wizard monologue, he told me that he would be able to turn into a tornado.  Oh yes, it made me chuckle.  I told him I had indeed already seen him as a tornado, I do believe that magic is quite possible.)  

Mama's Weekend Get Away

Man, oh man!  Remember that May when I all but forgot to blog? It's not for lack of fodder, just time I suppose! 

 

I had a super fun weekend recently and got to take a trip solo to visit my Aunt Joyce and Uncle Steve in Virginia.  Truly, their address and phone number are the only ones I have had memorized for my entire life, so there definitely is an element of nostalgia pulling up to Willowbrook Road and being back in that neighborhood.  And I didn't visit in the summer!  So I didn't die in the heat and humidity! 

 

We had fun sitting around, chatting and catching up, and making sure we had ice cream at least once a day.  Sethre's on vacation; what can I say?  Joyce took me to her church, and I got to meet some of her friends and community.  It was really nice!  We also ate at some really delicious restaurants and went to some crafty and touristy stores in Occoquan, VA. 

 

Villagio in Clifton.  So yummy! 

 

An excellent Ethiopian meal!

 

Before Joyce took me to the airport on the last day, we had an ice cream buffet. 

 

About to head off!  The time went too quick!

 

 

I'm sure you already know this, but Jon is such a peach.  Not only did he encourage me to take a solo trip to see Joyce and Steve, he did such an excellent job of taking care of the boys and manning the fort.  I came home to flowers and welcome home cards from the boys.  

 

Here is Nolan working on his.  (With a little taste testing of the crayons.)

 

Kids were even bathed!

(Nolan is now 15 months and I think this is the second time Jon has ever given him a bath.  Ha!)

 

Annnnd Nolan and Jon even cleaned the floors.  Yep.  You heard that correctly. 

 

A great weekend, all around!  Thanks for having me Joyce and Steve!  Now that we've seen how Jon and the boys thrive without me, I'll have to come more often!  :)

Abilene State Park

A Noey Sundae

Field Trip!

  It's May, people! Hard to believe.  Time for some field trips and end of year fun!

 

Castaneda's kinder cuties!

Cameron, Ollie, Jonathan, Cole, and Zach

 

Watching the big reals of film at the Omni theatre at the Science Spectrum. 

 

Almost show time! 

 

Nolan sat on my lap for a whole 30 minutes.  I was impressed!  (And dizzy.)  Then we headed to the top of the theatre to walk around in the stroller for the last 30 minutes.  Turns out sitting at the top you don't get quite so dizzy.   

 

Jonathan, Ollie, Caden, and Harper waiting for the bus to take them to the park. 

 

Ollie has had the best kinder experience with such an awesome teacher and fun group of kiddos.  Bittersweet to see it wrap up!