April What We Do

Oliver had his legos in time out for a little while, so he rediscovered some old toys – like this fun cap gun he got for this birthday. Here he is posing for me, goober!

Elora has been learning about rocks in school, so we got out her rock finding kit she got for her birthday. She got to chip away at this sandstone block and find the gemstones that were hidden in it. It took her a few days, and I could tell she was getting impatient, but it was so exciting every time she found a new stone!

Oliver came down one morning, found a worksheet he really wanted to do and began his schoolwork without me even asking him. He proudly showed off his work when I came in the room.

Oliver lost his first tooth! He had been wiggling it for a week or so when I finally realized it was really loose. He has seen how Elora screams when she gets her teeth pulled so he didn’t want me to touch it. I finally convinced him to just let me try it, and it came right out. He was very excited and even more excited that it didn’t even hurt. The next morning we had this conversation:

Me: Did the tooth fairy come?

Oliver: The tooth fairy is a girl. Girls can’t come to boys. It must have been the tooth troll.

In Girl Scouts, the girls decided they wanted to learn how to make blankets and then take them to some of the women in our town. They had a great time learning to tie square knots so they could make blankets.

Here are Sarah, Elora, Naomi, Madi O., Kaylee, and Madi M. all finishing the last blanket together.

Oliver played tee ball this year, and he REALLY loves it. He is so excited every time he gets to play. The day it snowed one of his games was canceled and he still asked me all day long, “Do I get to play tee ball now? There is no more snow! The sun is coming out. Can I go play now?”

Oliver has started letting Marion borrow his hat sometimes, and she was really excited about it. They have been playing together a lot lately and it is so fun to see her tagging along after him, sometimes wearing his hat, sometimes with a sheath or a belt like Oliver usually wears, sometimes with one of his swords. 

We walked to the post office one day when Elora saw something suddenly move in the road. It turned out to be the biggest horny toad I have ever seen, which Elora promptly caught.

The kids were all excited about Elora’s new friend. She carried him with us for a little while. This little girl loves reptiles. Or really all animals.

Here she is showing him off excitedly. She decided to let him go instead of carrying him all the home. She came back to look for him later because she wanted to show him the Chris, but we couldn’t find him again. Elora said she was really glad we had at least gotten a picture of him.

After Elora let her horny toad go, I looked back and saw this sweet sight – big brother Oliver holding hands with the little ones. Such a sweet boy, he has been really taking good care of his little siblings lately.

Elora got to go to a Daddy-Daughter pine wood derby. Chris was going to be out of town, but he wanted to help her make really special cars to take to the race.

Can you tell what they will be? Minions! Elora loves Despicable Me.

I wanted to find someone who could take Elora to the derby, and luckily Wyatt, a teenager in our town, came to the rescue. He came and picked Elora up and took her to the derby where she had a great time, and her car won the derby! She came home all smiles, where Wyatt appropriately bragged about how fast Elora’s car was and gave me some play by plays so I could hear all about the race. Elora was so happy for days. Thanks Chris for helping her build her great cars, and thanks Wyatt for helping her have a great time at the race!

James has taken to getting books off the shelves and actually looking at them instead of just throwing them on the ground. Here he is very excited to look at a book about ducks I got at the library.

Elora finished her rock dig and spent time identifying the gemstones she found. She has been really excited about the rocks. She is starting her own collection.

Marion was excited to get a turn wearing the goggles and playing with the little hammer. She hammered some of the little scraps of sandstone that were left in the box. What a cutie!