Ages and Stages

This is, without a doubt, the most fun stage with the kids thus far. 

This is, without a doubt, the most exhausting stage with the kids thus far. 

God bless child photographers.  They must be alcoholics.  I am a pro at getting one kid to smile, one kid to grimace and one to find a rock.  Every time.  

Kenyon is five with the soul of a 65 year old man.  When you talk to him he'll normally ask, "So, what've you been up to this morning?".  He likes a lot of cattle, a little bit of farming, a little bit of mechanicing and a little bit of woodworking.  He also enjoys playing, as most five year old boys are wont to do, but playtime usually consists of gathering and processing play calves with his brother.  He asks 100 questions an hour easily.  If you've ever met him you know that this is in no way an exaggeration.  He's starting to recognize and grasp some bigger concepts about life and so there are some deep conversations as we drive down the road and he stares out into the pastures. 

John is now three and is blossoming nicely.  He has some quiet, sneaky, middle-child tendencies.  For example, we caught him sitting at the supper table one evening trying to stuff little bites of steak into his arm cast so he could have them for a snack later when he went to bed.  

He is much like his older brother and loves the outdoors, animals, pretending to spit chew.... you know... man stuff.  Along those lines, he is also fearless with a poor grasp on the inner workings of gravity and thus he is also our injury prone kiddo.  He got an arm cast off last week and is doing marvelously now. 

Sweet Kathryn is one.  Although she looks like a girl, please don't be fooled.  She is a little boy and does absolutely everything that her older brothers do.  One of her favorite things to do currently is stand in front of a toilet, tree or tire, lift her shirt up and thrust out her pelvis.  When she is done pretending to potty she lets out a satisfied 'ahhhhhhh', lowers her shirt and walks away.  It's slightly disturbing, but really adorable at the same time.  She is starting to talk and I need to record it.  Her voice is light and airy and a little slice of heaven.  At night she tells her brothers "night, night.  Love oooh" and it melts my heart.  I will never tire of hearing that.  

Like all siblings, there is a fair amount of fighting.  For instance, we see here the classic "MOM WHY IS HE STANDING SO CLOSE TO ME?" face.

Which 87 % of the time is followed by the classic 'I'm gonna hit you with my face in retaliation' move.  That'll teach him, kiddo.  Good move. 

This picture perfectly sums up how most of my days go.  One child needed help buttoning his jeans after relieving himself so I turned my back for one moment to assist him.  I then heard a shriek from Kathryn who had managed to get herself stuck in the middle of the only mud puddle in a 40 acre trap.  

Here we see Kathryn mimicking her mother's classic WHAT IS WRONG WITH ALL YOU KIDDOS? face.  She's seen it once or twice, tops.  (Insert hearty laugh here.) 

These days a blur, but I'm sure one day I'll look back at these pictures and smile.