Spring has Sprung

What a great day we had out in the sunshine today. I dug up about a hundred dandelions and four dead shrubs while the boys entertained themselves with a whole list of activities:
- they hauled cut branches to the curb for me
- they picked worms out of the dirt clods I was digging up
- they named said worms, made homes for them in plastic containers and took them for rides in the wagon
- they gave each other rides in the wagon, all around the court, laughing hysterically and taking turns pushing, running beside and riding in the wagon
- they rode bikes, but Micah got mad and went inside for a bit because he couldn't win. To appease his perceived inadequacy, he tried to taunt Isaiah saying, "You're slower than I am" to which Isaiah responded, "That's OK, I'll grow" which infuriated Micah all the more. It made me smile.
- the poor worms suffered through another episode of "house" before I finally convinced them to let the worms go. "House" involved one worm 'having a baby' which actually means having a tiny bottom section ripped off so that there was a large worm and a tiny wriggling bit of a worm. This prompted a save-the-worm intervention from mom.

Yup, we had a great afternoon. There's almost nothing I'd rather do on a sunny warm Sunday than enjoy life, order and beauty in little patches of Creation- working to the tune of brotherly boyishness in the background.

Chores

We decided recently to give the boys ownership over their laundry- great gift huh. So, we put their own laundry basket in their room, and they get the privilege of deciding if their clothes are clean or dirty every day. Then, on Saturdays they'll wash their own basket of clothes. This past Saturday was training day. Micah got the job of official sorter. He is an expert at determining what should be with the whites and what is dark. Elijah pulls wet clothes out of the washer as well as running the buttons on the washer since he is a button expert and also has the longest arms. Isaiah loads into the drier with Micah's help, Micah sets the drier timer and Isaiah pushes the drier "on" button to make it run. They were surprisingly excited about this new responsibility. We'll see how long it lasts. Ahhh now if they could only fold. They have started putting lots of their own clothes away already.

Phoebe is here

Here she is! Sweet little girl of the Fuersts has arrived. Her birthday is officially March 17th and she seems like a very content little girl so far. Cassie is doing well too. Everyone is home and we're looking forward to getting to know this new little one.

Such a wonder to me. There could not be 3 more individually unique little men in my life. Each one requires such different approaches sometimes that I feel like I have multiple personalities. I can't imagine my life without them. We read the story of Gideon at breakfast this morning. When I finished reading the story Elijah said, "Mommy, I wish I had known that story last night. I was lying in bed being afraid of ___(I can't remember at the moment but it was something random)___ and if I had known this story I would have known that God would help me fight my fear." Imagine if we all knew the Story like we should.