Holiday Wind Down and "Sweet Spots"

I tried to post an update on Christmas a couple of days ago but I had to stop and never got back around to it. We had a good time, amidst vomiting from the kids and emotional issues from a family member. Such is the holidays it seems. It would be nice just to have a peaceful, God-glorifying Christmas without all the drama though. I thought we had gotten rid of the icks after the last episode with Summer(on the drive home-yuk!) but it seems Alex has it now. He was up all night last night vomiting. He seems better today so I am hoping we will sleep good tonight. Andrew slept great! I guess he was letting Alex have a turn with us in the middle of the night.Andrew has been really fussy lately though. I think he got spoiled after having been held by his Daddy for several days. I am doing ok, I have my good days and bad. I am hopeful for the victories that the new year will bring but scared of the challenges. I struggle immensely with learning to handle the stress that 6 kids and an ed can bring. God has used his word a lot in my life lately. I am grateful. It's amazing what comfort his love, presence, and promises can bring. Sometimes I just want a big hug from him though, you know? Do you ever just want to be held? I get held a lot by Jason but I would love to be squeezed by my heavenly Father! I just recently finished a Beth Moore study called Breaking Free. It was awesome! I highly recommend it. I would LOVE to head up a study like that in Church. Maybe one day when I get old enough..:) I am now reading "The Cure for the Common Life". It's really good. It talks about finding your "Sweet Spot". I have heard this phrase before. I was singing in the praise team at Springwell when our director talked about this. I was up there, praising God soon after and felt that at that moment, it was my sweet spot. That was what I was supposed to do. I don't necessarily think that singing on the praise team or wherever is what I am "supposed" to do as much as at that moment, that was it. I think God gives us "Sweet Spots" all throughout our life and they may differ depending on the season. Right now, it seems God has put me here to raise these littles. I know that I can do more than that but I have not been given the opportunity as of yet, and may not ever again. But, I am preparing for the day, whether it be praising in the pew next Sunday or singing on the praise team in three years for God to use me for his glory. What do you do to prepare to be used?

A few cute pics

This is Summer recently. Too cute!



This is Charlotte cuddling Andrew. She loves him so much.

The Stink bomb

This is Jason trying to get through wiping Toby without gagging. We hadn't had beans in a while and you could tell his little system wasn't use to it!

Calming the Storm

I was reading today about when Jesus calms the storm. We are all familiar with the story but for some reason I was able to see it in a different light. I used to think of this passage as Jesus being able to calm us in the midst of the storm, and this is true. However, he first told the waves to be still and then the storm died down. How many times in the Bible do we hear "Be still" to us? We so often want to "do" something about the storm. Make it STOP!!! Take action. I think God is trying to tell us to be still, know that he is in control, and listen. How many times have you just quieted your mind and sat down. I know for me, not very often. My mind is racing while I do dishes, give kids a bath, and so many other things. I usually do not just "Be still". I know, this is so hard to do with a lot of kids. I think it is worth it though. I am going to work on being still before God. I am sure that's probably what would happen if I met him face to face- I would bow down and not be able to move! :)

Andrew update

Andrew had his well visit today. He looks great! He is above 95% percentile in height and weight and he is 70% percentile for his head. He is really getting big! He was only in the 50% percentile just a month and a half ago. Wow! He is doing better regarding his fussiness. I don't know what was wrong with him. He has been waking up about one time a night, which is great! The kids love to make him smile. I can't wait till he gets a little older and starts laughing. That should be interesting. He is getting a bouncy seat for Christmas and I think he will really like it. I hope so anyway. It will give him a better view of everything. I am looking forward to this weekend! I wish we had a big enough van to go together to places but I am grateful for the one we have and for my Mil who is going to help us get from place to place. This should be a great weekend though. We are celebrating the girl's birthday together on Sunday. I'm not sure where yet. Probably a pizza place. If it's nice outside we will have it at a park. It's times like these that I really would like to live closer to family. Not my will but thy will....

Training Your Child the Spartan Way

I know you must be thinking I’m crazy to train my child like the hard non-emotional Spartan mothers did back in Ancient Greece. Hear me out. I know most of you remember reading in school about the strict training that the Spartan boys received and how “horrible” it must have been to live back then. They were trained and prepared from infancy to fight. They were not swaddled so that their limbs could grow nice and strong. Not only were they trained physically. Mentally they were trained to believe they were indestructible and that their sole purpose in life was to fight for Sparta. The daughters were also trained but in a different way. They were trained physically to be strong so that they would birth strong sons. The Spartans were so strong and fierce that other city-states were too scared to attack even though the army was around 8000 men. They protected their beliefs by simply banning all foreign trade and travel. They were completely self sufficient. Now fast forward to today. Think about what we can learn from them. Instead of training our children to fight other people, why not train them to fight for truth. “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” Ephesians 6:12

Do you see where I am getting at? Do you train from infancy? I believe that if we trained our children to fight for truth with the same passion of the Spartans, we would raise up an army for Christ that would knock the socks off of the enemy! So let’s do a rundown of what we can learn from them.

-Train from infancy

-Mentally instill that we are put on this earth to glorify God and edify the body of Christ. We are but his servants and should be prepared to fight against the powers if darkness.

-Protect our beliefs by guarding who we or your children hang out with.

-Rely on God for he will supply all our needs. Teach your children that they don’t “need” the luxuries of this world (best clothes, entertainment 24/7, etc…) *I am not suggesting that you shouldn’t have luxuries, only stating that you don’t NEEED them. When you do get them, recognize that it is by God’s grace that he has given us what we have.

I know that for me, I need training myself! How many of us really fight against the rulers of the darkness of this world? Do you fight or do you just “surrender” because it seems like his army is too big. If God is with us, who can be against us? He CANNOT defeat God! Isn’t that an awesome thing to realize? You can’t lose if you’re on his side. Let’s train our children to stick to God’s army so that they will always triumph through him who strengthens!

Rest

Today has been nice. Church was great as usual and we even got to eat at the visitors luncheon. Things were hectic of course with all the kids but we had a good time. I am really feeling that we need to train the kids better when it comes to meals. They are really good but I have allowed them to get up when they are done and ask for seconds before everyone else is done. This is fine at the house but when we are somewhere else, it causes problems. Therefore, I think I am going to have to train them in this area. We just finished up parenting class at church and it was really good! One of the books was Don't make me count to three. It has been helpful. I recommend it strongly! We are trying to get the kids used to "delayed obedience is disobedience" but it's hard! We need to remind ourselves that delayed punishment is disobedience as well! It's hard to drop what we're doing and deal with a child that is being disobedient. I received a lot of great advice from this class that I will blog about in the coming week.

***Stay tuned tomorrow for a great way to win a free book from Vision Forum!

Fussy Baby

Well, Andrew has been REALLY tuff the last 2 days. He is constantly crying. I am supposed to go to quilting day at a friends but I really don't want to go if he is going to be like this. I don't think they would appreciate it either-him crying constantly. I'm not sure why he's doing this because I don't think he is sick. I would say he was spoiled but he still cries even if I pick him up. What to do??

Enable me

God, today is a "normal" day. Nothing exciting or special to remember it by. The same things are happening today as they always have. I woke up, tried to prepare myself by getting encouragement from you. I cried out "Enable me, dear God" to "Wake my family up with a smile and hug". Later on as I was preparing breakfast amidst the whirlwind of needs I cried out "Enable me, most holy and merciful God, to give you this anxiety." Through school today, lunch, and quiet time I pleaded to you "Enable me, show me what I need to die to. Show me what I need to give to you. Show me how I should praise you. Teach me what to put off and what to put on."
Isaiah 43:2
When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.

Schooling update

I forgot to mention that I got a Moms devotional Bible from my Mil for my birthday(15th). She also gave me a 30 gift cert. to Belk. I am going to wait until after Christmas to use it.

I wanted to update what we are currently using in our home school.
-Keys for kids-for devotions
-Story of the World
-First Language Lessons
-Animal Kingdom
-Handwriting without Tears(cursive)
- Kingfisher History Encyclopedia
-A read aloud(right now it is Heidi)
-Art lessons-"Feed My Sheep"
-Each has to read a book for silent reading
-Horizon Math
-100 easy lessons for Toby
-Sewing and piano
-Listen to story books on tape

I think that's it for formal stuff.

Yesterday was nice. My Mil came down and watched the kids for Jason and I. We got some time to talk and go over everything that has happened this year. It's been a busy one! We are praying that this coming year will be a little more relaxed but it seems that whenever we think things are going to calm down, they just get crazier! We do know however that this will be a seed planting year. Yes, that means work. Sacrifice. Long suffering. All those words that you find yourself praying for strength for in the middle of "bad" days. It's not so bad though when you kind of expect not to see the fruit of your hands until a year later. Maybe God will bless and we will reap the harvest early but I am not getting my hopes up. Some would tell me to pray "big" prayers. Some would say that my faith is small. Some would say that I am planning too much. I simply know that God doesn't often throw the harvest into your lap. Most often it takes work. This doesn't mean I think he is a small God, by no means. I just think and hope that he wants to continually grow me. Growth takes time and sacrifice. Growth takes place in the seed planting year. When everything is ready, than and only then do we reap the rewards. I guess sometimes we do grow during other times, I am not denying that. But, you get my point.

The Island of Misfits

Do you ever feel like you are on the island of misfit toys? I do! I thought we had found a church that we "fit" into because I was under the impression that there were alot of large families. I found out that I was wrong. There are not alot of large families and it feels like we are an inconvenience. Don't get me wrong, these people have really tried hard to accommodate for our family and they have shown us love like no other church family has. I just feel so sad that we are the only ones with this many kids and therefore special circumstances must be arranged. Do they mind? I feel that most of them do not. I have seen however a few of them seem like they resent it. Am I mad at them? NO WAY! I might feel the same way. It's hard dealing with so many little ones when you're not use to it. It's hard keeping them quiet when all of the other parent's of mostly older kids want to talk. I feel sad that we don't have like minded people encouraging us with having so many littles. It makes me resent the fact that I DO have little ones. It makes me long for the day when they get older. Is this wrong? I don't know. But it does make me feel that way. Does this change my belief that God sees them as blessings and not an inconvenience? Of course not. But it doesn't stop me from feeling that way some times. I want to apologize to all those people who try to help us but what would I be apologizing for? For being given the opportunity to be a vessel in which to bring a life into this world? For contributing to the body of believers for Christ? Is this my only reason, to populate the earth with Godly men and women(if they grow up to actually be a godly man or woman)? No, I do it because I believe in the sovereignty of God. I believe that he creates and destroys life. I believe in the all knowing, all powerful God of the universe that chooses whether or not to breathe life into an embryo. Yes, this is why. Does my faith waver? Of course it does! During the morning when I have 2 that need diaper changes and 2 that need to potty-all at the same time, I question my maker. When I am cooking dinner and have to stop to help someone and I end up burning everything, I question his sovereignty. When after I give everybody their burnt dinner and hear endless yuks, I question the freedom of choice. However, when I see all of them playing together and laughing, I say thank you for blessing me. When I see one kissing the baby, I praise Him for his sovereignty. When I hear "Don't worry Mom, I will eat the burnt one. Waffles are good either way.", I realize my stupidity. So what does being "normal" really mean? It's the feeling one gets when you can associate with others because of what you believe. Do I want to be normal then? YES! But I want to associate with God, what does he believe? He believes that children are a blessing. Therefore, I may be an outcast to this world but it doesn't matter. This is not my home. I can't wait to "fit in" in heaven!

Forgot to mention..

We are sick! Yes, sick just like last year except it came a week later this time and we were able to have Thanksgiving with family. I am greatful for that! I just hope things clear up soon. Andrew has an ear infection and Alex has a rash that is supposedly contagious but noone else has gotten it..yet.

Tree Decorating Time

Well, it's that time again. Time to put up and decorate Charlie, our christmas tree. We refuse to buy another one to replace him-too many memories. My only regret is that Alex was asleep and we didn't get any pics of Andrew because he was asleep. Oh well. So here's a few.

We uploaded a video to youtube!!

How neat is that? Go to our website at www.captivatedminds.com and go to the videos section. You can watch it there without having to see anything else from youtube. We had so much fun doing this!

I have a new nephew!

My nephew was born on Nov. 28 at 1 a.m. in the morning. His name is Simon Gabriel. He is adorable and looks so much like his older brother. My sister did wonderful through the labor. She pushed him out in one contraction! Go Brina!!! i will post some pics as soon as I get them. I forgot my camera so I have to wait for my Mom's pics. This weekend will be a laid back one because we all have colds and can't go to church. Alex also has a weird rash that the doc says is contagious but not anything major to worry about. I really hated missing church this Sunday because we didn't get to go last Sunday. Bummer. My associate pastor let me borrow some cd's and books that are on anxiety and worry. They were really good! Have you ever wondered HOW to cast your anxiety on Him? Well, this has been a question that I have had for many years. One of the books said that YOU can't do it! You have to ask him to enable you to do it. So, that's what I am struggling/working with right now. When I came back from seeing my sister give birth(I was gone for 2 days) it was REALLY hard to function. Within 2 hours of being back, my chest started tightening and I had a panic attack. I was amazed at how obvious this stress became. I am trying to be more aware of the buildup of stress so that I can fight it off or "cast" it off before it gets too bad. I am so thankful for the weekend! Weekends are so rejuvenating. Thank you God!

Very busy couple of months!

I will gradually update within the next week on many things but the big thing is that Andrew was born! Here is a pic

I have had a terrible time with postpartum stuff so that is why I have been absent. We are all doing really well right now. Today I am going to see my nephew being born. I am so excited! Oh, I almost forgot that we found a great church! We are really envolved and I love it. I am so thankful. I can see God working in our family and it is very comforting. My associate pastor loaned me a couple of cd's and books to look at. I will let you know what I think. They are on anxiety/worry. Thats all I can manage with one hand right now. Here are some more pics.

Getting Closer

As we get closer to the birth of Andrew, things are kind of crazy. We are wrapping up dealing with our other house, in the middle of painting the living room, and dealing with car trouble. We did get the car fixed(God-willing) and we have made a lot of progress on the living room. We have only 2 weeks left with the other house before we can say BYE BYE!! So, I guess we are making progress but it just seems so slow. I am anxious for Andrew but nervous as well. I know he will fit in just fine but I just don't want to deal with the stress of another newborn/adjusting etc.. I will though, and I am sure that God will give me what I need to handle what he gives. I am happy that he will be born near the holidays. I love the holidays so that will give me an extra boost to get through those tough months of infancy. Tomorrow the kids are supposed to go with Emily to Nathans b-day party. She is taking ALL of them. I am a bit nervous for her but I think she will be fine. I just hope the kids are good! LOL

Prayer request and updates

Lot's of things have happened since I last updated and unfortunately, I don't have time to get into all of them. Quick prayer request for my Daddy who is recovering from knee surgery and near death complications. Pray for me as well as this sickness has sent the kids and I over the edge. I am finding it harder to get motivated to go out-which I know I need!! I am still coughing and Alex is still sick as well. We miss family and friends! Thanks

Sickness won't go away!

I thought everyone would be well by now but now I am coughing and my throat hurts. Kaitlyn and Alex are the only ones left of the kids who still have a cough so that is good. I really wanted to get out yesterday and see my friends at park day but I didn't want to get them sick. This week has been pretty busy, maybe I wore my immune system out! LOL I have been going through alot of the stuff in the garage and taking it upstairs to the attic. Boy what a job!! It's hard when you have a belly getting in the way!! Speaking of bellies, I am 28 weeks so I entered into my third trimester this past week. That is exciting. Jason and I both are looking forward to bringing Andrew into the family. The kids can't wait! I have had to stop eating just raw foods because I couldn't gain weight-crazy huh? I am enjoying what I AM eating though-hehehe. It's mostly vegetarian with a piece of steak thrown in for iron. My Dad had his knee surgery this past week and I am waiting to hear an update on him. Last I heard he was recovering well. I am so glad that he finally got it. He has been in pain for a long time. He has a job that is very demanding on the knees so it's important to his livelihood. I will update soon as I hear. This weekend we are planning on taking it easy. We will see. We always end up doing more than we should have and wearing ourselves out!

Rearranging

Yesterday was dedicated to changing the house around. I put Alex in the bedroom with Summer and Toby now! He didn't sleep well last night but I think he will get use to it. I also changed the living room and fireplace room around. We put the couches in the fireplace room and everything else in the living and dining room. What I mean by everything else is the computers, pianos, sewing machine, and the kids toys. In other words-all the toys. LOL I am hoping this will solve our problem of having toys scattered everywhere. Jason really wanted at least one room to be clutter free. I am REALLY trying to make this happen but it is hard! I am putting the school stuff upstairs in Alex's room. Andrew will sleep with us in our room when he gets here.
My plants are growing well! i am going to pick a tomato today. I grew cherry tomatoes and there is about 7-8 of them right now. I am also growing several herbs. My favorite plant right now is the Thai Basil. It is beautiful! I will get a picture today.

Patience

I teach patience to my children but I don't think I have learned the full meaning of the word. I was thinking/praying today about what God wanted me to do with my life BESIDES raise my children and be a good wife. I haven't received an answer back and I think it's because this IS what he wants me to do right now. Not sure yet but I think that he will present the next thing to me in the right timing. So, what's my job right now? I guess it's to prepare and be ready for whenever he calls me to something different, without neglecting my purpose for right now. Is this hard? YES! The reason it's hard for me is because I desire to do more, to open myself up, let my creative juices flow, and feel that surety that says "this is my sweet spot". I feel an emptiness, anxiousness, and stirring within me. Does this mean that God will show me soon what he wants me to do? NO! I have felt this way my whole life. There have only been a couple of times when that hunger inside has been quenched-dare I say from what? Not here, for fear that I am wrong. FEAR- the f word that destroys the most passionate of people. I think it should be labeled a curse word!LOL

Ok, enough soul searching! Jason stayed home again yesterday in the hopes that he will get better. I am tired as well. This has been a couple of hard weeks for me. I am praying that God will lift me up like he has done so many times before. He is faithful. The baby is growing big! He is about 2 lbs now and is really kicking alot. The kids already know him by Andrew so that will be his name. Summer even comes over to me and rubs my belly and gives it a kiss and says "Hey Andrew, Love you". How adorable!! I am going to get them out of the house today because they have been staying in since being sick. Everyone is getting cranky!

New projects

When my Mom came down the other day she gave me a dress that she had bought that doesn't fit anymore. It is really cute. In fact, I think I am going to try and make a template out of it and make some more that might expand with my growing belly. Also, I got alot of plants this weekend and I can't wait to see if they flourish or die miserably. I don't have a very good track record with plants so we will see. They are sooo pretty right in front of the dining room window! I love to open the blinds and see all the green!

Still Sick

Everyone is still sick except for me. I have all sorts of energy from eating raw and nobody to enjoy it with. :( I am going to take the kids out later today to get Jason some more medicine and maybe he will take my advice this time and rest! He keeps staying up so late that his body is not recovering. Today I re-potted some plants and we got to see a praying mantice. It was pretty funny because he kept licking the OFF! I hope it doesn't hurt him. I got a couple of pics before we took him off.

Sickness

Unfortunately we are all sick today. Everyone except me has a terrible cough. I have a mild headache and foggy feeling. I hope I don't come down with the full blown cold. We did do school today but took yesterday off. Jason stayed home so that was great. I think he is going to take tomorrow off as well because he is really not feeling well. I am sooo glad. I picked up a free kitchen for the kids today so they have been enjoying that for a while. I have been encouraged by several family members concerning my Mom and it has helped but I am still dragging myself out of her sinking sand. I am hoping that everyone will be well by Sunday so that we can go to church. I think that will help. Thanks to all my wonderful family who have encouraged me!!

Sarah Ban Breathnach's Mrs. Sharp's Traditions

This was not a book that I would read through completely. It has some great suggestions for establishing traditions. I agree with the aurthor about the importance of traditions and bringing back the roles of women(taking care of the house, making it homey, etc..) and I liked that she had suggestions for things for each month of the year. I don't think I like the fact that these types of books teach the importance of comfort food and memories of that food. Not that this book says that food is the only good memories we should instill in our family but in general, these types of books tend to lean that way. I think that there should be comforting memories that are NOT surrounded by food. We could establish a time for reading, music, playing games, etc... Ok, gotta go get the kids up. Maybe I will write more about this later!

Bringing June to a close

Well, its hard to believe that July is here! June went by so fast. Here are some pics of us bringing it to a close.

Here's Jason and Charlotte pushing the littles



Me and Alex chillin in the sand



Summer looking beautiful as always



Toby stopping for a pose for Daddy.



Kaitlyn having fun and posing at the same time!



Charlotte taking cues from Daddy to get a good shot! Success!



We had a great time this weekend but most everyone, except me, is sick. I hated that! I had so much energy and really want to do more in the yard. We did get a little bit done but not enough! These green smoothies I have been drinking are awesome!! My big sister has started drinking them as well and she seems to have a lot of energy too! I hope that they do her well. She is a single mom and needs all the energy she can get!! Here's to a great start for the week and July!!

Million Dollar Smile

Here is Summer's million dollar smile.



Here was my lunch. I wasn't too hungry because I had eaten a handful of nuts and 1/3 of my daily shake. This was cucumber-advocado soup.



This was Spelt bread that I made today-from scratch! I ground my own spelt, how cool is that!! It turned out really yummy. I would have gotten the whole loaf but the kids woudn't wait! LOL

Library Fun

The kids had fun taking a pic with a group of school kids who wanted to take a pic of them for a school project they were doing.

The Call

For those who like writers like C.S. Lewis and Paul(out of the Bible), you will love this book. It really is awesome. I must confess that I didn't read a couple of chapters but I did "skim" them. I am thinking about checking the book out again just to finish what I didn't really get into. This book is not one that you can read while tired! I really enjoyed it though. The concepts in this book are deep and might just make you think twice about the way you live. If you struggle to know what your "calling" from God is(apart from being called into his family), then you really should read this book! I am currently reading Romans as well and I must say that my belief in predestination/selection has grown stronger! It is a sad but humbling belief. Also, in the last chapters of Romans, Paul talks about the Israelites and Gentiles. In a nut shell, the salvation came to the gentiles to make the Israelites jealous. I have so much respect for them now! We were grafted into this family, unlike the Israelites. Humbling thoughts....

Refrigerator Repair to Repair the Repair....

Well, we have the Frig man coming out again today. He is supposed to replace a pan under our frig. Waiting patiently....

Simple and Delicious

It was awesome..simple but soo good!



I also made some whole wheat bread for the kids. They enjoyed that.

Beautiful Love Song

I thought this was a beautiful song! You don't find them like this anymore...

First attempt at a green shake

Well, this was my first attempt at making a green shake and it was REALLY good! It is 2 collard leaves, 1 banana, 1 pear, about a cup of young coconut water, 1 tsp pulp from young coconut(I think I could have left the coconut out completely), and a serving of raw hemp protein powder. I made this in the hopes that I can replace my Odwalla shake. They are pretty expensive.


Next we have lunch. This is the tortillas I was talking about. It has "sour cream" made out of sunflower seeds as well as some veggies. I have "chips" too.

What's "cooking"

I thought I would upload some pics on what I've recently "cooked". I am going 80-90% raw foods and so I have had to be creative! The first pic is of our beef jerky we made in the dehydrator.



Then we have "sour cream" made from sunflower seeds, lemon, salt, water.


Then I have a collard wrap(all raw) with some Bragg's marinated zuchini and onions.


Next is the wheat grass I am growing.Notice the dew on top of the leaf? Isn't that beautiful!


along with Amaranth.

Today I am having flax crackers as well as flax and avocado tortillas. I will get some pics up of those as well.

Falling Trees

Today we are supposed to have 5 trees taken down! I am not looking forward to hearing that scary crunch sound as they fall. Last week our neighbors had 15 pine trees taken down and one of them fell in our yard. It scared me to death! We are supposed to have the refrigerator man come by AGAIN for our leaking frig. It's not that bad but it could ruin the floor eventually. My sister came for Alex's b-day this weekend and it was so nice to see her. She seems like she is in a much better mood/spirit. I know that she is facing hard times right now but I honestly believe that God has a reason for it all. I love her dearly and wish I knew what to say to her sometimes. When I talk to people who are in rough spots sometimes I think I sound like this nieve and inexperienced fool! But I just want to share my heart and encourage. Maybe I will get better at that as I get older! LOL

On the positive side, I think we have found us a church! It's http://www.3rbc.com/. I really liked the sermon that he preached yesterday! If you want to read it, it should come up under the sermons link. They also had a visitors luncheon yesterday that was great! Toby and Summer stayed in the nursery, which was a big shocker. I think they really enjoyed it. I am taking the kids this Wed to see how they do. This week should be fairly busy but I am hoping to get more in the grove of schooling. Last week we did school but I had to leave out a couple of things because I didn't have the scanner.

Alex is One!!

Saturday was Alex's birthday. Here are the photos from that day...

Doctors appt

Here is a pic of the kids peaking out of their new play thingy. Well, today I had my first appt with a new doctor close by. He was VERY thorough to say the least! He suggested several things that I will not take(one of them being progesterone shots for preterm births) I figured my last birth lasted a while so hopefully this one will be even better! I really like him though. Today was a day of preparing for the weekend because we have Alex's b-day but I feel like I didn't get anything done! I hate those days where you run 90 miles an hour and look back and go, I didn't get anywhere, I can still see where I departed from. Oh well.

We had a blast last night while Daddy finished up washing the walls(after stripping off the wallpaper). Here are some photos I took of the kids dancing. Excuse all the toys. We had to put them in the this room while we finished up the other one.

Lovely flowers

Here is a pic of the first blooms of the kids easter flowers that Grammy gave them. We have more blooming right now.

Hair and Vacuuming

Here's a pic of the girls playing hairstylist. Summer decided to do her own instead of Kaitlyn's.

For some reason my little's LOVE the vacuum. It is a family affair. They play chase the vacuum, Mom plays dodge the little children.

Father's day!!

Happy Father's day to all the wonderful men in my life! To my dearest husband, the most influencial and compassionate man I have ever met, I give you my love and devotion forever!! Thank you so much for your preserverence and love for our children. Thank you for leading our family and showing us our heavenly father every day by the way you treat us and love us. We cherish you!!

Today is the day!

Well, we are likely closing on the house today! We are waiting to hear about the water heater. We think the pilot light may be off so we couldn't get any hot water. We are supposed to close at 3 today and I am so excited! I have been sewing alot to try to keep my brain from obsessing too much with the house. I have really enjoyed it! I will upload some pics later. This weekend was alot of fun! We did our usual weekend routine but everyone was in better spirits because of the house. Alex started walking as well! He is our earliest walker so far. He took 2 steps and then realized what he had done. Now, he is taking 8-10!! That quick, I can't believe it. I have to say-YAY!!!! I know that he is growing up fast but in a way, I want him to. I love it when they are at this age but I really long to see who they "are". The time when their personality starts to really shine is so neat. Summer has taken a LOT longer than I would have liked, but, they are all different. She is a young 2. I don't even know if she will be potty trained in the near future. She really lets her emotions rule over everything-which is typical at this age. It's just that she is much more emotional than her siblings were at this stage. At this point, I am letting her be who she is. Sure, we are training her to learn to control herself but I am much more relaxed with her than I used to be. I guess it's because I have accepted that yes, I am going to hear her cry MANY times throughout the day so I am not supprised when it happens! Here's to the chaos of having many children!

There may be a delay in the getting the house

We found out yesterday that the plumbing is a bigger issue than first thought. Evidently the leak that we saw goes deeper than anyone expected. So, they will likely have to tear down the wall in order to get to behind the bathroom without going through the tile. I think I would rather them go through the tile-that way they have to replace it! LOL I am disappointed that things are going so slowly considering we were supposed to close on the 4th BUT I am soo glad that we are seeing these things now and not after closing! They say that we still could close on time but I am highly doubtful. I guess we will know something sometime this weekend. It is really frustrating. On the positive side, I was able to go through the house yesterday and look around to see what I might want to do with it. The new house is different than this one in that there are less rooms but the rooms are bigger. I think I am going to like having bigger rooms! I am excited in the fact that I get to keep my sewing supplies downstairs-yay! That way, when my insane body gets up at 4, I will have something productive to do. We were taking this week off from school but I am seriously considering starting back today just because I don't know what to do about the house. I really don't want to take unnecessary time off. I am thinking about it. I am so glad today is Thursday!

Yesterday was great! Jason didn't have to work so we just realaxed and had a good time. We went to look at refrigerators and decided to get a freezerless refrigerator and a seperate freezer. We are packed out right now in our current frig and it's 25 cubic ft! I hope this is a wise decision. I guess we will know in time. I am ready to start this week. We are not schooling this week because we need to continue to pack but I can't help wondering if thats not a good idea. The kids do so much better when we make time for that. Maybe I will do more crafty things with them this week. Yesterday I made something that was delicious! I took some wheat berries(dried) and put them in the crock pot for about 6 hours. I used it to feed the kids snack, desert, and we also used it in our dinner. We still have some left over that I am going to experiment with it today. Maybe I should get Kaitlyn to take some pics! That might doom me to failure though.LOL Here's to a beautiful Tuesday!

I don't have a name for this entry simply because I don't want to name it "update". how many times have I read that on a blog? Anyway, I have a couple of things to say to catch up on the last month. We will be closing on a new house on June 4th! I am extremely excited about this move! This best thing about moving to this new house is that we will be alot closer to Jason's work and family. I have given the piano a rest for the time. I have tried, fruitlessly, to practice but I can't seem to concentrate in the midst of having all the littles. So, for a season, I will put it down. Da Vinci even said that "We should not desire the impossible". I don't know why I can do all that I do but piano is not one of them! I think it's because I can't just put it down and come back real quick. It takes longer periods of time to get anywhere. I have been sewing more lately even! I made Kaitlyn, Me, and Summer and skirt. I am going to work on Charlotte's after the move. I also made them and Toby an apron, which was alot of fun! Yesterday I made homemade cheese! It was more like a ricotta cheese because I didn't use cheesecloth. It was sooo good. Then we used the whey(from the curds and whey) to make a protein shake-yummy and healthy! I really enjoy baking and cooking new things-especially if it saves money. I made some wheat bread the other day that we put the homemade cheese on. We topped it with tomatoes and onions. It was really good. The only thing I would like to change is to have homegrown tomatoes and onions! Maybe one day. I have been reading some excellent books lately. I am reading one right now called "Well rounded : eight simple steps for changing your life, not your size". It's written by a plus size model. I would recommend it to all women who struggle with ANY type of bad feelings toward their body-which is MOST women! I am also reading "The Call", by Os Guinness. It seems to be good so far. I need to get a side bar on my blog with a reading list. I have seen alot of people doing this and I love to see what they are reading-thank heavens for the library!

Beginning to add some info to the website.

Well after talking with Dh, I have decided to add some stuff to the blog. I will begin adding some recipes that I use often and I will hopefully be able to update often on the kids diet. It will take me a while but hopefully progress will be made! Ok, as for pianomagic, it is coming along slowly. My biggest problem is that I don't know enough simple songs to get up a list before I move on to the next lessons. At least I have a year! :) Today is Easter and I surely hope it isn't going to be stressful. All Jason's immediate family are coming over and I am hoping that things go well and the kids are good. I am staying home with Alex while everyone else goes to church. The kids will all have to stay in the sanctuary with the Adults so I am wondering how the relatives will react. I don't know if they realize that they will not be able to "enjoy" the Easter sermon like they usually do. We will see. Jason is so excited about today but I am a little sad. I love his family but we hardly ever spend any holiday with my family. I miss them. I don't miss the drama that goes with it but I do love every one of them with an unconditional, deep love. I wish we were closer so that it wasn't "asking to much" to come and visit. This is the downside to having a large family- noone realizes how difficult it is to drive in the car for 2-3 hours with little ones. They think the only reason I don't come up there is because it will "ruin" my schedule! How I wish they would come down and visit and "ruin" my schedule! Anyway, I found a great blog that illustrates how to make a wrap skirt! I am so excited! I can't wait to try it. Unfortunately, I don't have enough fabric right now. Oh well. Maybe I should practice on some old sheets. We take this week off from school so maybe I will have some time. I want to make Kaitlyn a skirt as well. Charlotte keeps asking me to teach her piano. I am so reluctant. Kaitlyn has basically tought herself through some piano books how to play some songs(very easy ones). Charlotte is not like Kaitlyn. She needs guidance. I just don't know if she can handle the frustration. I don't want to put a bad taste in her mouth for piano. Plus, I hate the way we traditionaly learn how to play. It gives us the premisconception that this is the ONLY way to play. I wish I could instill confidence in their ability to hear and pick out a tune. I wish someone had done that with me. You know, tought me how to play by ear and to trust myself. I have the pianos downstairs now and it has been great. I play alot more and Kaitlyn loves to play as well. Update on their reading: Kaitlyn is devouring books! She reads about a book a day. These are 80-100 pages each ranging from 2nd to 6th grade levels depending on the book. She can recall all details as well. Amazes me!!! Where did this child come from? She is technically only in the 2nd grade. We went to the library the other day and I told the librarian that I was looking for books for Charlotte. She is in the "middle" right now, meaning some books are too easy, some are too hard, but none seem to fit. She is in Kindergarten. The lady took me over to the Dr Suess books!!!! I just laughed and said, oh no, those are way too easy! She looked at me, astounded, and said, "Oh wow, that's great!" So she gave me some harder books(we had to go over to the OTHER side of the kids section!). Can you believe that?? My kindergartener suprised the librarian with how well she reads. I am so proud of them. They don't realize how smart they are though. They don't have the chance to compare themselves with others(which I am glad of) so they just expect more out of themselves. It is so neat to see them growing into these intelligent little girls. I do fear however, that they will surpass me early on. Especially Kaitlyn, because she is ALWAYS learning something. She has Jason in her. She doesn't need very much guidance, she can read and learn how to knit or crochet by herself! How to play the piano, etc.. She has an understanding of God that I don't see in most kids either. Charlotte is my imaginative one. If she can ever get enough discipline, she will go far. She is like me though, she has to have a motivation for it, and a reward! LOL If the goal is not met within a short timeframe, I will drop it. So will she. Ok, that's enough for now.

Piano Magic

Well, I will not update because it just takes to long;) If people want updates-email me. I want to start talking about my experience as I go through a new course. It's called Piano Magic by Michael Anderson. It's a course that teaches you how to play by ear. I have had over 10 years of lessons in formal piano and I am just NOT happy!! I have always wanted to play beautiful like my step Mom. It comes naturally to her-NOT to me. I started a couple of days ago. Now, let me just say that I have NEVER picked out a song on the piano and played it with 2 hands. I have never even picked out a song in it's entirety with one hand so this is a major thing for me to try to undertake. Well, yesterday I started picking out some songs and guess what-I played with both hands!! The songs weren't hard-in the key of c. I messed up many times trying to find the notes but I was so happy. I have played some really difficult songs in the past and I was more proud yesterday than I have ever been! The left hand only plays the three major chords from c and you are only supposed to pick out the melody at this point so the sound was very amateur but I was so happy! I am excited about what else I am going to learn. Right now I have to continue practicing the songs I have before I move on but it is more than I have ever done so I am proud!