Spring Break

We took our spring break from school last week. It was so nice to just relax, do some spring cleaning, and enjoy being outside.

Here are some photos. The first are of Rachel in some new girly pajamas that my aunt sent to her. She loves them!

“Move, Didi(little brother)! This is my photo shoot!”

Being silly!

Rachel LOVES to help me in the kitchen. Here she is kneading some bread.

One of the biggest changes in our household since the addition of Rachel has been the amount of arguing. I guess I just took for granted how well the boys all got along. They would play for hours together without a single argument. Of course, they do argue from time to time like all siblings do. Now I feel like I’m running interference much of the day. It became most clear last week when we were not having school.

Here is a rare moment when all four are playing together WITHOUT ARGUING.

I love this photo of Titus!

Rachel getting good and dirty!

Caleb in the sand

Eli’s dirty hands

Another realization that has taken a while to come is that Rachel cannot handle everything that Titus can. I try so hard to treat them the same since they are so close in age. But emotionally Rachel is much younger, so she is not able to handle everything that Titus can. For example, Titus can walk beside me in the store without grabbing things, crying for things, and running away. But Rachel cannot do that yet, so I put her in the buggy like I did with the boys when they were younger. It’s rather confusing since she is older (by one month). But it has been nice realizing that it’s okay to set different boundaries for them since they are such different ages emotionally.

Two funny stories I meant to write last week but was without internet.

A few weeks ago on a warm afternoon Caleb and Titus wanted to have a water balloon/water gun fight. They put on swimsuits, and, of course, Rachel wanted to join them. So I put on her swimsuit also. They played awhile and had lots of fun. Then the boys decided to change into dry clothes. Well, I guess Rachel was tired of her wet suit also. But instead of going inside to change into dry clothes, she just took her swimsuit off and continued playing outside until Caleb came and told me.

Then last week Titus and Rachel t00k a bubble bath in our whirlpool tub. At the end of the bath they were still covered with bubbles after draining the water out, so Tommy put them in the shower to rinse them off. This was Rachel’s first time in our shower. She immediately pointed to the drain, said, “Potty!” and squatted while Tommy is yelling, “NO! NO! NO!” I guess it reminded her of a Chinese squatty potty. 🙂

Bubble bath photos