Last week, we officially found out the gender of baby number four: girl! We are excited to welcome another baby into the family. Madie has been pulling for a sister all along, until she found out that Finn would likely have his own room since he is the only boy. Madie quickly changed her vote because "...I don't want Finn to have his own room." Finn was pulling for a brother, of course. We had a few good boy names picked out that we were fond of, but now we know we need to redirect our attention to girl names. We are eagerly anticipating the due date in August.
What's that you say? It's 95 degrees in Arizona? The spring run-off has already begun in the mountains out west? Yeah, well I have news for you. It's still winter in Maine! Although winter starts a bit later out here than it does out west, it also drags out a bit longer. I typically compare my Maine winter experience with Rexburg, because that's probably the most extreme place I've lived that I can compare it to. Rexburg is getting spring showers, 55-60 degrees right now. Meanwhile, this just happened a few days ago. Still thawing out. It's been a pretty mild winter, overall.
Mallory has volunteered to be the cookie mom for Madie's Girl Scout troop. Yada yada yada, we have consumed at least eight boxes of girl scout cookies in a little over a week. It's extremely hard to exercise self control when you know you could just shove $4 into a manila envelope and get it over with. I feel mostly bad because I (Mike typing) have probably accounted for 60% of the cookie consumption. We will crack open some thin mints after dinner and the kids will ask about them the next day. Let me just say, the look on Madie's face is the look of a serial killer. "Dad, you ate all the cookies?!" Those are some of the hardest conversations to have with my kids. How am I going to keep this up when the kids don't go to bed at 7:30 anymore? Beats me. I'm going to keep on eating.
I'm so glad that our elementary school puts on a science fair every year for the lower grade kids. We were one of the few volcanos this year (there had to be at least five other volcano-based projects at the fair). Nothing like a quick vinegar and baking soda experiment! Madie elected to create sugar crystals, which generated quite a bit of interest. So much that she was featured in her school's newsletter in two difference photos. She was the only one that made sugar crystals. Madie did a great job and stuck around her project to explain it to those that were curious. This girl loves science and learning. I recently brought home a microscope from work and set up a 'lab' in our basement for the kids to play around in. Unfortunately, they don't like to go down there alone. That's when Elvis gets dragged into the picture. Poor old boy gets dragged everywhere the kids are afraid to enter. Just that act alone earns his keep in our home. He gets me out of a lot of frequent requests to walk to the back room to retrieve something.
Wednesdays are probably one of our busiest days at home. I usually stay home a bit later to have breakfast with the family because that's the only quality time we have together. While I'm at work, Mal is running around to teach piano in Ellsworth, run errands, etc. When I return home in the evening, it usually consists of sitting at the table for ten minutes to eat, then running out the door to head to scouts. This last Wednesday, I got home a little earlier, which made it a bit more relaxed. Madie and Finn were downstairs watching a movie, and didn't want to come to scouts with me. So, I took just Petya with me. Anytime one of us begins to put on our shoes to go somewhere, she always asks that person, "Can I go?" Sweet girl wants to go with any of us, wherever we are going. She will ask it literally every time. We are all getting ready for church, and she will ask. We are all getting ready to go play outside, and she will ask. I don't know if it stems from a fear of abandonment or what. But I was able to just take her this evening. I got done a little early, so I ran over to LL Bean before they close for some quality Dad and Petya time. They usually have a few kids bikes laying around that she likes to ride in the store, so it would be a huge win for her. We entered, and sure enough, there was a perfectly sized, pink balance bike. She ran over to it and got right to work. She followed me around as I checked a few sales they had going on. Then we headed on home. Looking back to when Madie or Finn were Petya's age, I did a lot with them individually. It's harder to do the same with Petya because I keep taking the older two to do more challenging things that would be a bit more difficult for Petya, such as rock climbing. I'm glad we could do something together.
Yesterday I was making bundt pan rolls, and I turned around. This is the sight that I saw. Petya, sitting in the stool, cross-legged, and taking down some serious notes on her writing pad. She means business, folks. She loves to help in the kitchen. She is almost becomes a bully in the way she hogs the su chef responsibility, nagging and physically attacking any potential challengers. She always wants to help.
This guy makes me laugh. He is turning out to be quite a clown. The other day we received a package from Amazon, which usually consists of a small item in an overly sized box. I left the box out because it usually means a few hours of entertainment for the kids. Petya jumped in with her dolly to pretend that it was a car. Without missing a beat, Finn jumped right in and sat in front of Petya as if Petya had been expecting him. Finn was obviously the driver, while Petya sat behind him and placed her little hands onto his shoulders. Finn made some car noises and was obviously driving somewhere. Once they arrived to their destination, he hopped out and turned to Petya and said "We are here, c'mon babe." We just signed him up to start school in fall. He will be starting with a slough of his friends, which will make the transition a lot more enjoyable.
