confidence is key

Julian gave his first talk in primary on Sunday.  He is only 3 and a few months so I was trying to not make it too hard for him or have any expectations.  We wrote a couple of sentences for him to say and then he colored some pictures with Aaron that had to do with the talk so he could hold them up for a visual aid.  We went to the back of the primary room to wait for his turn so I could go up and help him and I didn't know what he would do.  Maybe get nervous and say nothing, which would be totally fine.  Or not want to go at all or whatever, because, ya know, he has zero public speaking experience.  They announced his turn and before he even saw that we were in the room he stood up, went up to the podium by himself, grabbed the mic, pulled it down to his level, put his mouth on it and started talking into it.  It was so funny to see.  So he held up his pictures in turn and said the words that I whispered into his ear.  But he was so close to the mic no one could understand him.  I tried to push the mic away from him after I couldn't pull him away from it and he just followed it around with his mouth.  Oh man, all the kids laughed from beginning to end and I tried my hardest not to and he just continued on trying to say every word into that mic completely undaunted by everything around him.  Then when he finished he put the mic back up were he grabbed it and went and sat down.  I was a little surprised that he loved giving his talk so much.  He did a great job.  I was just surprised by how confident he is, and so proud.  So proud of that take charge, make a way with his will, confident guy;-) Here he is on t-ball day at "sports."

 

Besides that Julian loves to tape all the doors and cupboards shut so that Gretch can't get inside of them.  We have tape hanging all over everything.  Speaking of tape, Julian's favorite book is Wacky Wednesday and he has repeatedly tried to tape his shoe to the wall like in the book but may have given up because apparently it doesn't work.  Julian's talking is progressing too.  On the way to pick up Aaron from work, Julian told me about how he wanted to climb the mountains (just like Superman).  I love it when he says stuff like that:) He is so adventurous!  Last but not least is that Julian's escape artist ways are getting worse.  He has been running away saying "can't catch me" while running two blocks away from our house, while running out of church, while shopping, everywhere... I found the one punishment he cares about.  Fruit snack deprivation.  I hope it will help in the future because I seriously cannot see how I can take him out in public without Aaron's help.  It gives me gray hair just thinking about it because I cannot catch him when I am holding Gretch and I cannot put her down to go run after him (because she does the same thing just not as fast).

  Gretch is super cute and is really good at telling us what she wants and at getting it.  She likes to say apple and momma which is awesome because she basically stopped saying any words once she started walking:( She is teething again and has been pretty sad about it but her and Julian find lots of things to do together each day. She still loves playing with legos and wandering all over the house.  She likes to be where momma is for the most part and plays in the kitchen a lot while I work in there.  She adores her stuffed animals and loves to cuddle them.  Her little ducky is her favorite but frequently disappears into the wash because of all the loving it gets:) Gretch, for a long time now, really likes to feed herself.  She loves to use a fork and a spoon.  Unfortunately she also loves to use her sippys as paint brushes all over the house.  As in she puts them down and gets the water or milk to come out and draws with it and then splashes in it.  She also likes to chew on her apples and then spit out the skins wherever she is and whatever she is doing.  It looks so funny.  She is so fun and loves to be busy like her older brother:-) I think she looks so much like her daddy in the ikea picture.

Aaron and I had a little project and made another ottoman but this time from scratch.  We were pretty excited about how it turned out.  We still have to finish the legs and maybe put buttons on the top. 

And we also finished the bathroom all the way.  Hooray!!

Here is the before:

And the after:

Here is a little bonus pic of Julian modeling the new shirts for pants craze.  I love that he can dress himself but it gets a little crazy... Happy Spring!!!