Two.

Dear Jubilee Rose,

You turn two tomorrow! What a wild and wonderful age two is, and you are already very much both of those things. 

A few things I want to remember about you at this stage: 

You love baby dolls. I mean love. You are the cutest little mama I have ever seen. You bounce your babies, pat their little backs, nurse them, make sure they can see during stories, push them in a little stroller, wear them in slings. Oh man. It's awesome. You copy everything I do with Ollie, which has shown me just how observant you are!

Speaking of Ollie, you love him too! So much! I'm so glad:) Hearing you say his name is one of my favorite things. Need to upload a video of it soon. 

You can do incredible things! Ride a plasma car like nobody's business, climb up those horrible arched, metal structures at playgrounds, turn around and climb down backwards, climb up tall, tall slides and slide back down, walk and walk on hikes...things that you seem entirely too little to do, but you watch brother and sister and just go for it! AHHH! 

You still aren't talking much at all, and boy, we are ready! I'll just leave it at that, this is your birthday letter after all. Hehe

You prefer not to stay with anyone for very long that isn't in your family. No childcare situations like the nursery at church at.all. You will stay with Emily and Stephanie (my two closest friends here) and they have children that love on you and will include you in play, so that helps:) 

You are not big on sharing with friends your age, or with your siblings,  but you are learning and the great thing about being child #3 is that mama and daddy know that with lots of patience and guidance, this too shall pass. :)

You love to play in the sink while I work in the kitchen, enjoy play doh and stickers and blocks and, of course, babies. You love to GO,GO,GO and are always up for an adventure like grocery shopping with daddy. Oh, and speaking of your daddy, you adore him. 

Oh Jubilee, our little firecracker, you bring so much joy into our lives. I can't tell you how many times a day your adorableness just overwhelms me:) What a privilege it is to spend my days with you and watch as you learn about this world, about love and family and friendships. How I hope you feel our love, baby girl, as we navigate this next year of your life together. I am thankful for each and every day we have with you, tired as we may be at the end of them. :) With all the love in my heart, Mama

P.S. On a superficial note, your hair grew so much this year!! Actually, just since Ollie was born 4 months ago it has gotten SO much longer:) You usually insist on it being up when you see me doing Amelia's, which is great! You also love pulling on your own pants, putting on socks, etc. You are very much Miss independent in many ways. So different from the twins. But then, you are very much your own little person, that's for sure! Ok, really, that's all. 

Her happy art.

Amelia just churns these out all day long. They are so reflective of her cheery disposition- I just love it:)

All for now, Jen

Bittersweet milestone...

Moments after her daddy pulled that tooth right out:) 

Enjoying a celebratory cupcake. 

Seems like just yesterday that Amelia was wearing this dress! 

Amelia lost her first tooth on Friday evening! It had been wiggly for a few weeks and was just hanging on by a thread, so she let Joel use a pair of pliers and pull it, brave girl. She was SO excited. Joel and Sam played tooth fairy (I fell asleep before she did) and put one dollar and a ticket Sam made for her to visit the Sweet Tooth Fairy Bake shop the next day. Oh goodness, these little ones are just getting big so quickly. A first tooth lost...it is a big deal for her and a big deal for her mama and daddy too. We celebrate it and we mourn it a bit as well, seeing a piece of childhood seem to slip away with that tooth, sniff, sniff. Cherish the moments. 

All for now, friends! Jen

What mama learned at forest school...

So, every two weeks we are joining with some other outdoor loving homeschool families in the forest of Big Cottonwood Canyon to have forest school ! What is "forest school", you ask? Well, in this case it is a group of families coming together to provide outdoor education, and primarily, to let our children explore the outdoors. The organizer of our group lives in the canyon and chose a wonderful, open meadow type area with a creak nearby and surrounded by forest. Beautiful. 

Today was the second meeting, and our first experience. 

*It was raining and chilly. I couldn't get the Chariot stroller with a rain cover to collapse to fit in the back of the van. 

*Jubilee doesn't have rain clothes, but thankfully some hand me downs from friends to Ollie contained some Patagonia wear that fit her (crazy Patagonia, size 3-6 months!). 

*Ollie. What to do with Ollie? I grabbed an outdoor blanket that I bought off Babysteals a long time ago that was supposed to be water proof and tie over your baby carrier. "We'll find out!" I thought. 

We drove up the canyon and the rain really started in. We parked and geared up. I nursed Ollie, my friend Steph helped me get him in the carrier (Beco) with the blanket tied on and finally we were set to walk down. Steph carried Jubilee as it is a pretty long walk and the big kids were ready to get there to the covering of the trees. Travis, the organizer, had found a great, dry spot under trees for us to gather. Unfortunately, it was as we reached this spot that I realized I had forgotten Ollie's binkie in the car. Oh man. He was ready to sleep and needed his binkie! I tried letting him suck on my finger, etc. but he was not a happy camper. Meanwhile, Jubilee decided she no longer wanted to have on her too big rain boots and was  fussing and taking them off. Thankfully, I had her Keens in a bag and put them on her as everyone tried to have introductions and a discussion about weather, respecting wilderness, etc. above our fussy crew's noise. Sorry guys! Oh, Sam also had a shoe meltdown in there as well. Eventually, all settled down and we went to explore the creek area, which was so very beautiful. The kids explored and I walked with the littles (Ollie was asleep by this point) and tried to keep a very sleepy Jubilee from melting down. We sat down and had a snack a bit later, the kids explored some more and then we started back up to the van. All in all I think we were there about 2 hours. On the way back up Jubilee had reached her breaking point. She was crying, "Niggggh, nigggght". 

I must interject here that I guard nap times pretty fiercely, but as this is our only commitment during nap time and it's only once every two weeks, I deemed it ok. Wowsers, it was tough. 

We got to the car with my arms literally shaking from trying to carry both babes, got everyone in their seats, and Sam sighed and said, " I really love forest school!" I inwardly smiled/grimaced at how clueless kids are at how much it takes a lot of times to provide these opportunities for them. And yet, how wonderful that he loved it. That they love to be in nature!! 

I have dreamed of doing some sort of outdoor school with the kids since they were babes. Dreamed of it! And here we are! Today was a reminder that good things, things we dream of, are still grounded in reality and reality is often tricky. Full of logistics. Hard work to get to the magical. Still, it is something so important to me, so central to what we want for our children, for them to explore and learn in the wild, beautiful outdoors, that I will figure out how to do it better. I will learn from our experiences, laugh at our misadventures, and try again the next time. Tonight I will go to bed with weary arms and a happy heart. We did it, kids. And we'll do it again. 

What I learned:

1. The ROSK blanket over my Beco carrier works GREAT! Oliver stayed dry and warm, thank goodness! Also, the Tuffo picnic blanket with waterproof bottom worked great on the wet ground. Both blankets purchased off of Babysteals.com (just FYI:). 

2. Patagonia gear, though ridiculously expensive, also worked GREAT on Jubilee. She was toasty warm and dry when we got back to the car. Thanks Amanda for the great hand me downs! 

3. Don't forget the binkie in the car!

4. Figure out how to more easily get Chariot loaded in car and bring it. Period. This will help with walk to and from the meadow and also may provide a place for Jubilee to nap. 

5. Bring even more food. 

6. Get Sam a bigger size in Bogs. Bogs boots work great for rain and snow. We love them. Jubilee has a pair on the way!

7. It is worth it for us. All the crazy misadventures (yesterday I *sort of* accidently pushed Sam off a log while trying to reach a bottle of sunscreen Amelia had dropped out of her back pack into a pond. Sadly, I did not reach the bottle and Sam was very muddy and sad. We got through it.). We learn from them. They are just part of having adventures, right? 

8. Being outdoors with children energizes me. It really, really does. LIke, from the inside out, you know? Thankful for that. 

Here are some pictures from the forest and from the Ogden Nature Center the day before (such a fabulous place! We will definitely visit again soon, and not push Sam into the mud:). 

Ogden Nature Center...

 Postscript: Turns out Jubilee had a tummy bug and didn't feel good at all on Saturday. This makes Friday make a lot more sense re: how fussy she was! Poor babe. 

"The fairytales from Amelia Hunt"

*Told in rapid succession with barely a pause in between, other than to say, "next story!" :) 

"There once lived a happy fairy and she knew a little girl and the girl was not happy because she did NOT get teached how to be nice and the fairy helped her how to learn to be nice. The little girl loved how she helped her and then she helped the fairy when she was in needs. Now she just helped everybody in needs. Other fairies and little boys and girls who needed help. 

Next story. 

There was a little boy. He was really kind and there once lived an old witch. Now this witch did not like the little boy but the little boy even helped ones who didn't like him. There was one thing about this witch. She is trying to cast a spell on him but the little boy already knows that. 

Next story.

There once lived an old little bird and there was a fairy on her back! The fairy loved watching little boys and girls. One little girl knew that the fairy was watching her and she really liked it because she believed in fairies. She loved that she had a little friend fairy who talked to her every night and every morning. The fairy had golden clothes that shimmered in the morning light. The little girl was wearing a pink dress with flower designs on it and a straw hat. She was a really generous one and gave away all of her toys and the fairy knew she was the right one to make a friend with and they lived happily ever after! 

Next story.

There once lived a little teeny weeny bug. He loved fairies and he likes to talk to them and give them rides. Now, he said to one of his fairy friends, " Don't you want to fly and feel the wind and see how many birds are in the air?" So the fairy flew and he loved it and then he became a bird fairy because he loved the blue jays and all of the birds!

Now for a song...."

"Believe me, you will find more lessons in the woods than in books. Trees and stones will teach you what you cannot learn from the masters."        – St. Bernard St. Clairvaux

Joel took the kids camping last night...beautiful mountains! Ollie and I had a lovely time enjoying the peace and quiet of a home all to ourselves, but I can't wait to hear of their adventures and kiss their dirty faces. What a treasure to have a daddy that loves to take them to the outdoor goodness, where they indeed learn things that textbooks never could teach. Hope you enjoyed your weekend! 

Jen

Wheeler Farm Camp. (Narrated) By: Sam Hunt

Here are some things we did today at Wheeler Farm. I had fun. We got to make butter and play soccer and got to let one of the goats out of its cage. We stuck our shoes in the pig pen and the pig shoved it with his snout!

We had a tour of an old farm house. The people who lived there was called the Wheelers, and they wanted the farm to keep going well, and it did! That's why it's called the name Wheeler Farm. 

We played a game with jacks and a bouncy ball. The game goed like this. So, we have to bounce the ball, pick up jacks and catch the ball before it landed. Sadly, I didn't get any jacks. 

After that game I told you about we started to leave Wheeler Farm. I had a great time there! 

The End

P.S. He wants you to know he got the idea of how to draw a barn from seeing a picture of one his friend Aviana drew. :)

Wild.

I just finished reading, " Wild: From lost to found on the Pacific Crest trail", a book about a young woman dealing with the grief of losing her mom and her months hiking the PCT. It was horribly sad. I cried my eyes out several times over the course of the three or so days it took me to read it. The loss of a mom is just tragic, and her mom had loved the author and her siblings with all that was in her, which reminded me of my mom, and thus the crying continued. Anyway, besides causing me to cry uncontrollably, the book also made me want to get back out on a trail. Especially living here, where trails and natural goodness abounds! So, yesterday evening we went for a short hike close to the house. A few things I loved:

* Seeing Jubilee hike. Um, she's amazing! I would look at her as we were going uphill and say to myself, " Now Jenny, if your 22 month old can do this, you can too!" 

* Coming upon a large flock of magpies and hearing Amelia gasp at the sight. She loves birds because, well, she wants to be one! " I just wish I was a Magpie so I could have wings and fly like that. So I could lay eggs and build a nest. Mom, I really do wish I were a bird. I want to live in trees. But mostly I want wings. I really hope in heaven that I have wings. I'd either like to be a unicorn or a bird." 

* To see Sam in his element. He is a child connected to the earth and its creatures and always has been.

* To see Joel in his element. Sometimes I forget what an outdoorsman he is, but boy is he. 

* To remember the freedom of being out on a trail in the fresh air. Love it. 

All for now, 

Jen

                  Oliver says, " co- sleeping is the best!" :)

 

                Sister wholeheartedly agrees. Oh the sweetness. 

Ordinary moments.

I was sitting on the front porch steps tonight, holding Oliver in my lap and watching Jubilee walking around in a little blue sundress that was Amelia's. Amelia was zooming around on her bike, cheering Sam along as Joel worked with him on riding his bike with no training wheels. " Soon you'll be just like me Sam! You'll probably be faster than me actually! If you just keep practicing, you'll get it!"

It's moments like these when I look around and expect some natural disaster to come sweep the whole family away or something- because how good is my life, really? And not that I don't believe God wants goodness for us, but I know that there is lots of goodness and loveliness in this world and there is also a whole lot of pain. So, I look at those sweet faces and at Joel as he runs along behind Sam and I think, " Savor it Jenny, just savor it." 

A friend the other day was talking about how her life looks pretty different than what she imagined it would look like and it got me thinking what I thought mine would. I think I thought I'd have about 12 children, some adopted, some not. Maybe living in Africa. In a hut. Some superstar Christian mama or teacher who grew a huge garden and tended to it while wearing a child on her back. Who taught English and helped birth babies. 

 So, I guess that's pretty different than sitting on the front porch of a nice house in a nice, clean city with four healthy, happy children and a super handsome husband. Sometimes it's hard for me to reconcile that, you know? And maybe someday we will live in a hut in Africa- maybe when it's less about my pride and being a superstar anything! Maybe when I've learned that no matter where we are, it is only by His grace and strength that we can love those around us well. 

Oh, this family of mine. How I hope to love them well. Out of abundance from Him, not out of what I can scrape up on my own. They are precious, each one, and I want to value these moments I have with them. Truly value them, like I was valued as a child and like I saw my mom value my dad. 

All these things swirled around in my mind as I sat on our front porch watching these ordinary moments go by, thinking how quickly things can change through time or circumstance and wishing I could stop it, just for this moment.

That's all for now friends, Jen

Still, there is almost nothing I love more than seeing/ hearing them deep in play. I hear little snippets like,

A:" when we run down the hill the other dragons will mock us." 

S: " what does mock mean?"

A: " I don't know, but it's not good. Just keep running." 

Hehe...They retreated to the basement to escape from " the monstrous Jubilee" after she had finished her breakfast. Amelia said, " Don't worry mom. We'll let her play with us soon.Like on a special occasion."

Okay, Amelia, that's just great.;) The other day she was holding Oliver and said," If I didn't have Sam as a playmate, I'd be horrified about having all these baby brothers and sisters around, but since I do have Sam I love them SO much and just can't stop kissing Oliver!" 

Pretty dramatic, but also probably pretty true! 

Better run, the " monstrous Jubilee" needs a playmate, and that would be me! Jen 

Elephant and Bird, by Amelia

Because I don't have a good filing system for our favorite drawings of theirs, I better start posting them here for memories sake. This is one Amelia drew for Sam tonight. Love it.

He doesn't lack for attention, this one.

Happy 4th to you! We've had a productive "home day" with a few fun Independence Day things thrown in there, like a red, white and blue yogurt parfait snack. Sometimes Pinterest ideas really do come to visit real life:) 

We read about the holiday this week, and Amelia named this masterpiece " The Declaration of Independence" ! Those are two independent girls, that's for sure!

And sweet, studious Sam- loving to work on his new calendar ( we are starting Sonlight Core A, for those Sonlighters out there:).

So, that's it for now. The two babes are asleep, so Joel and the big kids are gearing up to do some fireworks! Hope you had a great one, Jen

Faithful Chariot...

I can't even tell you how worth it investing in this stroller/bike trailer has been! When the twins were babies it was worth it's weight in gold to be able to take them for long walks, even if the sidewalks were packed with snow. Joel has pulled the kids around this city on his bike countless times ( ok, not countless, but you know...a ton!)We were both so sad to realize that they were too big to cram in there anymore for him to pull around. 

However, last night we took our inaugural walk with the new generation of chariot-ers!I saw on Craigslist that someone was selling a Chariot infant sling- I didn't even know there was such a thing! So we grabbed it, and ta-da a double stroller that would work for Oliver! The timing was perfect as this is really the first week I've felt like taking a long walk since he was born. So, off we went to a nearby school with playgrounds, etc. and had a great time in the shade of the evening. 

Little chubby ones! Anyway, thankful for our faithful Chariot, and for the many, many more adventures it will help us have with the " babies" of the family along for the ride. 

Jen

Summer style!

Now that ballet is over for the summer and we don't have to worry about buns, etc.,  I thought it would a great time for a shorter cut for Amelia! So, we went over to Aveda (love) and she got a cute bob. She was so funny- embarrassed and happy and unable to stop making faces in the mirror:)

 Oh Amelia, you are just beautiful and growing up so, so fast!! I'm so thankful, even though there is a bit more talk of " being skinny" (what?!) and " trying to impress the older girls", mostly you are still just our fun loving, people loving, bug loving, Jesus loving, tree climbing, bike riding, sweet toothed, affectionate, expressive, hysterical girl. We love you to pieces, Mama

Backyard play.

I'm a big fan of back yards and I'm so thankful that if we can't live way out in the country, at least we have a yard to have natural play spaces for the littles right here at home. When we moved into this house there was literally one bush in the back yard and the kids would sit around it looking for bugs and playing animals, etc. Kids are so good at making due! 

Joel and his dad have done such a great job at helping the yard flourish in the past 3 years.

The sandbox Jim built under the deck has had SO many hours and hours of play in it. It's one of my most recommended play things ever! Get some big Tonka trucks from yard sales, some shovels, little animals, muffin tins, a water hose nearby...endless hours of fun. Jubilee (21 months) is loving it this summer!

 Joel and Jim built the kids a playhouse! It's awesome...and huge! I can't wait to see all the play that goes on In it. I have lots of pictures of that, so I'll do a post on it soon. 

The most played in area right now I think is the chicken coop!! We moved it and Jim built a run so that they aren't so free ranging (pooping) everywhere, all the time. Amelia still loves holding them, Sam loves digging up bugs and worms and feeding them to them, and jubilee loves going in and out and in and out of their coop.

 The raspberry and blackberry vines are also very popular hang out spot these days. They are doing great! Go Joel! This series of pictures makes me laugh out loud. Sam and his peace sign holding the chicken...oh my. Then he was pretending Jubilee was a chicken and he was feeding her raspberries so " she would survive". 

And Oliver,well, he is following suit and loves to be outdoors like his siblings. So calming for his fussy times. And mine.

I guess that's all. I'm just sitting out here under the deck watching Jubilee play, holding a sleeping baby, the grape vines Joel planted green and shady beside me, and thought I'd record here how thankful I am with a thriving yard around me and for the hardworking guys that made it so! Jen

In case you need a smile today...

That's all.:) Jen

Oliver finds his hand...

I love it when they do this...staring so intently at their little fists!

1 month old and growing so quickly!! He's staying awake a bit longer at a time and looking around (sometimes content not being held even!:). He, like each of our others, loves to stare at the black, iron spirals of our bed and at the plantation blinds, and our faces of course. He sleeps right next to me, grunts during the night when he wants to nurse and then usually falls right back to sleep (unless he needs to poop or burp and can't settle down, then he grunts and grunts and we don't sleep much). Loves to swing on the porch swing, loves to be in the sling. Does not enjoy being put down unless he is in a deep sleep in the evening hours. 

He's a darling boy basically, that we know for sure.:) Jen