Just a Bunch of Characters

The Whole Truth: Who Raises the Kids?

2012-01-30T21:32:00.003-05:00

Caroline asked: Do you make your older daughters help raise the younger children and thus rob them of their childhood?

Good questions Caroline! I'm sorry it's taken like six months to get back on this band! I can't believe more of my peeps haven't asked...I so would...even anonymously!

Let's start with the first one. Well, I only have one older daughter and the younger is two so she wouldn't qualify in the "raising the younger children" scheme. Raising our children in the fear of the Lord is our (Mark and I) job as parents. We do give our other children responsiblities to make the house run smooth but that doesn't mean they constantly on younger sibling watch, etc. They run, laugh, play, and wrestle with their friends (yep, they have friends out side of our family...but that's a secret).

When our children turn seven, and there's a baby, then they will get the baby as a "buddy" when that baby no longer needs me to do a lot of their things. These responsibilities include buckling them up, unbuckling them, helping them get dressed, help them put away clothes...and eventually, helping them learn their chores (i.e. picking up, unloading dishwasher, putting things away...that's around 18 months or so). When their buddy is walking very independently, they are required to hold their hand in the parking lot and making sure they don't take off without the rest of us. Now, since my children's ages are 9, 7, 6, 4, 2, and 1 that means there are only two who are old enough to be "big buddies." And the seven year old is still slowly getting those responsiblities since he is a he and his buddy is only 18 months old. We are currently teaching them that if their buddy doesn't obey then to come to us and we'll take care of the situation. It is not and never will be their place to discipline their siblings.

Again, it's not all work and I believe the older ones get more privileges than the younger ones. For instance, Zoe and I occasionally go out for a meal and for a time to reconnect, get away and enjoy some yummy food (we both love the same kinds of meals she's more adventurous in her orders than requesting McDonald's). She also gets to stay up later than her siblings and watch movies on occasion. Ace gets his special time out with dad and is slowly getting to stay up later.

I guess, in summary, we are not in the parent camp that believes children should just be kids and not learn to work and contribute to the home. We expect all our children from the time they can toddle to be willing and joyful helpers about the house doing age appropriate chores and activities. We have no qualms in requiring our older children to help look out for their siblings as we have no problem looking out for all of them. This is teaching them to be loving, gentle and helps them think of the needs of others before themselves (a Biblical model that we are striving for...JOY...Jesus, Others, You). It's our prayer that in teaching them these Christian character qualities that they will grow up willingly and lovingly and sacrificially sharing Christ with others.

This is quite long, so I'll leave it at that. The short answer is "no, we don't have our olders raise our youngers." The long answer is above!

Leave a comment on this post or here if you have a question you'd like for us to answer about our bunch.

Never Boring

2012-01-25T22:21:00.002-05:00

I know I haven't posted much but trust me, it's not because we're sitting around staring at each other. It's been rather busy here. We're preparing for a baby for goodness sake.

So, for example, this weekend, we traveled a couple of hours away (in cold rain) to some friends' child's birthday party. Not just some friends. These are friends from back in Mark's college days (and mine too, although I didn't go to the same college). It was wonderful to see them all and how much their kids are growing and I'm sure you'd like to see pictures. But I didn't take nary a one. Yeah, we were good like that. I blame it on the rain, cold, and trying to doctor up bruises and bumps from playing in the most awesome indoor three story play place ever.

Sunday, in between meals and church, I worked on some sewing. My discomfort level is growing a tad so my sewing time is getting very limited. I did get a cover done from this tutorial I pinned on pinterest (tell me you're shocked!).

Source: diymaternity.com via Abbie on Pinterest

'Cept I didn't add the ruffle. Didn't really see the purpose in it. But the pocket. I'm in love with! I can't wait to use it. And yes it's big so that means hopefully enough coverage of the baby belly while nursing! I'll show off my version (with all the other fun stuff) when it gets closer to baby time.

I also made a super comfy maxi skirt to be worn post baby (okay, and pre too). And I found the tutorial for it on...just guess...

Source: elleapparel.blogspot.com via Abbie on Pinterest

Just pretend that's me. Tall, blonde, thin and barely a bump to speak of! I made this skirt for my Christmas outfit (go to our actual blog to see). The first time I made it, the waistband was a bit too small and uncomfortable for the bump. This time, too big. So, I'm making readjustments again and hope to have it on and comfy by the end of this weekend. One day I'll figure out how to measure my waist.

I'm also busy reading Large Family Logistics and totally getting overwhelmed in spots. I had to take a week off for my brain to process and see how her suggestions would fit into our world. My impulse...to jump in and do everything but I know that I would go insane with that and getting ready for a baby. So, I'm trying to apply some things that I know will work a little at a time. "Rome wasn't built in a day" as they say. For now, I'll say that this book is a must read for any mom...not just those with a bunch of kids. I know I'm not going to finish it all this month but it will be complete by year's end. And, look on here for tidbits that I've gained and will be applying.

Oh, we've also got house projects too...like Igor and a bike shed and deck decorating and the like...and field trips and school and freezer cooking and the like. And watch out. Mark is getting me a smartphone. Don't ask me what kind. I'm still not 100% sure. But it should make labor day quite interesting as we duel blog :)

Yes, life here is never boring!

Meet Igor #1

2012-01-19T16:24:00.000-05:00

Okay, so it's not really Igor, it's actually this:

Source: amazon.com via Abbie on Pinterest

It's a kids' hammock/swing called Ekorre from Ikea that we were crazy enough to ask for for Christmas from my parents! And they were crazy enough to get it for us! Not just one, but two! No joke.Mark had to put up reinforcers in the ceiling to make it hang safely but he got them up and now we will introduce you to what we lovingly refer to as Igor.

Bryant wasn't too thrilled with it...hence no picture of him. Mark just go the second one up and we now are awaiting the shrills from the kids of "Wow! Mom and Dad a swing in our living room! You guys are the coolest."

Still waiting...

Pinterest Attacks...Again

2012-01-17T10:00:00.001-05:00

It started with this inspiration from Pinterest.

Source: sugardoodle.net via Abbie on Pinterest

Which turned into this:

Since we create three menus each year and rotate them throughout the year each month (one for January, one for February, one for March), I knew I could make this menu board work for us. I worked on it the last week in December and was able to finish it in a couple of days (that's with many interruptions, etc). FYI, the only place that had this kind of calendar with bulletin board on bottom was Target...don't check Wal-Mart or OfficeMax!

The blog I found this on has a great tutorial with step by step pictures. She even posted some of her recipes. Here's how I adjusted it.

I kept the order of different colors for different types of dishes. Right now, I only have my dinner dishes for the year listed with hopes of putting up our favorite breakfast dishes, desserts, and appetizers (since we have mucho get togethers at church...we need lots of those...not that I'm complaining. Food is yummy). I also made a set of cards with the menus for each rotating month listed. I also laminated the recipe cards and recipe names...we all know I'm not the neatest of cooks and need these suckers to last. I put magnets on the back of each of the recipe names instead of just using magnets to hold the cards up. Kids, me, and lots of activity means they wouldn't stay in place and recipe names would have gotten lost.

This has worked out great, as we had a freezer cooking day the first of the month and I just pulled out the recipe names and listed them on the side along with writing in the meals already in the freezer. When March comes, I'll move them over to the appropriate place and pull things out of the freezer as needed!

Happy Birthday Liam!

2012-01-17T10:00:00.000-05:00

Liam turned six right before 2012! It was a fun day and his request this year was to go to Chuck E. Cheese. Not that we have anything against Chuck E. Cheese but going on a winter night to celebrate a birthday...not something we plan to do again. But, he had fun nonetheless (except when we lost him and when I found him I let it be known not to run off from us again...yeah, that wasn't so fun).

After his Chuck E. Cheese trip we came home, ate ice cream cake (and for some reason didn't get a picture) and opened gifts. I think he had a fun full day!

We got him a bigger bike. Without training wheels. His reaction, unfortunately, was not as excited as we thought it would be. His main problem, he can't ride it alone yet. After we explained that daddy would help, he cheered up and was super excited!

I can't believe six years ago I held a tiny baby (okay, tiny for me...7 lbs 4 oz after having one over 8 1/2 lbs is tiny). Now he's getting to be so grown up!

More Christmas...

2012-01-11T21:42:00.002-05:00

Mark's parents traveled up the week after Christmas to help with yet another project, celebrate Liam's birthday, and celebrate Christmas with us. It was a busy but fun few days to say the least.

Papa's always got room for one more in his lap!

Patiently waiting to open the gift!

Gift time!

And this book catches us up on our Trusty series! Josiah was really excited despite the expression.

Papa and Grandmere gave Ceili Rain a book where they are reading prayers and scripture to her. It's awesome to have but a little eerie when I walk down the hall and hear their voices coming from her room. She definitely treasures this book though.

If you don't have a smencil you must not a be a kid! All the boys enjoyed this special treat! They are basically pencils that smell...and they are nice smells too!

Bryant likes to ham it up for the camera.

Christmas with a Bunch of Characters

2012-01-05T18:30:00.000-05:00

Christmas day, we got up late, as usual, ate breakfast, and then had time to open stockings before church. And might I say, we all enjoyed attending church on Christmas day...what a way to celebrate Christ's birthday!

Our tradition is candy and dvds or books for stockings. Mark gets peanut M&Ms and I get the chocolate turtles. Everyone was super excited about their videos this year.

After our church worship, we snacked like crazy at church and then headed home. Since we were full on sweets we waited to each lunch and some opted to change back into pjs and we opened gifts.

It's a bunch of Characters train!

Yay! They let me tear paper! And then he'd say, "Tash? Tash?"

The kids do a sibling shop every Christmas. I purchase items at ~~cheap~~ discount prices and then we set them up in our bedroom. They draw names and can come in and select toys for who's name they've drawn. When they get older we'll let them actually go to a store to buy them but for now, this works. A couple of years ago, we made a trip to the big box store the week following Halloween and I found costumes for $1.50 and less! So, I snagged the good ones that weren't demonic and this year they were the hit! Ninja and viking costumes were what was bought!

The boys got small gifts since they got a brand new room. They were thrilled none the less.

Pilgrim's progress, we start 'em early.

Believe it or not, these were the first set of wooden ABC blocks we've ever gotten. My kids are so deprived. Ginger (the dog) has even left her mark on a few.

If I had moved it a little to the right, this would have been a really funny picture!

Mark was faking the surprise. I have no idea what I bought him but he had told me he wanted it and since he had gotten his gift at the end of October, I felt bad that he didn't have anything to open, so I got it for him. But, being that we share email addresses, he knew what I had gotten. I got him though. I knew what I had gotten too, so there.

How to Fit Five Boys in One Room

2012-01-03T17:23:00.000-05:00

Welll, this was an issue we started discussing as soon as we found out Seven was really Malachi. So, I went to trusty Pinterest to gather my thoughts all in one place. We started with these ideas:

Source: fabric.com via Abbie on Pinterest

Fabric sample

Source: fabric.com via Abbie on Pinterest

Another fabric sample.

And an idea for beds to include this:

Source: theinspiredroom.net via Abbie on Pinterest

And this:

Source: remodelista.com via Abbie on Pinterest

Our decorating and color ideas came from this bedding that we already had:

Source: target.com via Abbie on Pinterest

But before any of that could work in a room with five boys, we had to paint...and before we totally took the room apart, we remember pictures!

Sorry about the spots, not sure what was up with the camera.

Totally ignore that disheveled looking closet, the curtains for it will be coming later. Ugh, I cringe when I look at that. It does look much better now but still not fun to see every time you come in a room.

Before all the painting started, Mark and Granddaddy put their heads together to come up with bunk bed plans. Granddaddy got the wood and cut it and even pre-drilled the frame and delivered it on Piano Recital day (cause he rocks).

I'm tempted to stop here and make ya'll all wait until tomorrow to see what took place but then I think someone would come up with the cyber version of rotten tomatoes to throw at me so I won't!

And this started...

Mark and I realized about an hour into bunk bed building night that two people, one of whom was in her third trimester were not really adequate enough to hold up these sturdy pieces of wood to build two levels. So, reinforcements were called in by way of a neighbor down the street (he always comes to help...we really are wondering why he hasn't ran away far far from here now). So, thanks, S for helping with the project!

Not going to show the finished project yet...I had some art up my sleeve to do as well as a bit of refinishing. And while I worked on canvasses, three very sad looking male faces appeared and requested ever so sweetly to paint one. I couldn't resist those big blue and brown eyes so an afternoon of painting commenced on their very own canvasses.

Not sure how we didn't get a picture of Josiah in action, but he was there painting his square too.

And, when we visited Granddaddy Thanksgiving weekend, he showed us a chest of drawers he had picked up for $35! No kidding. Solid wood. Just needed to be painted. For those that don't know, my parents are pickers on the side. They have a booth at an antique mall where they sale their finds. But this, this I was not going to let get away and gladly accepted it!

It had those missing drawers, I just had already taken them off to get the hardware off so Mark could sand it.

So ya'll want to see the finished product huh???

As you enter you can see that beat up dresser all done. Mark did add the knob to the door. We kept the solid wood sturdy big dresser we already had and got rid of (well, it's sitting in the schoolroom right now) the beat up smaller dresser. We took the knobs off of that dresser and put them on here. I already had the fabric for the boys' beds and we had plenty of paint leftover from painting the previous dressers. So, total cost was $35 for the dresser! That's my spaceship canvas that I freehand drew from looking at the pattern on the boys' crib.

Bryant helped with the photo tour and please ignore any toys, this was prior to clean up time. This is Josiah and Liam's bunks.

And this is Bryant's and Ace's. See the sweet little head peeking out. Bryant got his mattress this past weekend and has transitioned pretty well to his big boy bed. (This is the part where I don't admit that we tried to give up paci but Mark nor I could stand the screaming so he still has that and it's probably a big part of the transitioning well. Yeah, it's going bye bye before Malachi is born though.)

We put gutter bookshelves on the footboard of each bed and a push light (which is battery operated and they have to buy the batteries...some of them are already in need). At the headboard we put their name canvasses that I did with their life verses on them. Have I shown those yet?

My other canvas that I made...freehand...yay me.

This was the boys' artwork. I thought it turned out really well. In an effort to control the art, I did sketch off the ship they wanted and outlined it and they did the rest. I resisted any desire to control how they did it but I did limit their color choices to what we were using in the room. Really, I did! The end of the legs of Liam's ship is fire coming out. And my control of Bry's hand was mainly to keep the paint on the canvas not on the house or me.

Verdict:

I was kind of bummed that we didn't get to do the beds L-shaped. When we put them in the L-shape, there was no room to put two dressers and a crib so we had to think and rethink. My dad and Mark wanted to make sure they were sturdy enough for, well, boys. And that meant using a bit bulkier wood. But ya'll, these things will last for a long time! We also had to factor in that the beds were tall enough to hit the fan. Mark willingly volunteered to chop off a bit to make it work but we came up with this configuration and it worked. I'm really happy with how it all turned out and the curtains on the beds are a super hit! This room was a month long project and every time the boys woke up it was kind of like Christmas. They spent four days sleeping in the living room (on the sleeper sofa) and so they were truly surprised each time they awoke to find their room a little different. It was a great treat for them and I'm so excited that they love it.

Now, I realize this is a long post, so next time we do a big project, should I just post as we go or wait until it's done? I love waiting so everyone could definitely see the finishing touches. Sometimes I forget to post the finished product when I post as we go.

Our Attempt at Cool Pics

2011-12-31T19:17:00.001-05:00

Tracy Carr (aka Aunt Tracy) met up with us in between our stops across the Southeast and did pictures for us for Christmas cards. She also got some maternity pics and a few great candid shots. I was so excited about these pictures! She gets more and more better with each time. We giver her lots of practice too!

Merry Christmas from a Bunch of Characters!

Yep, this is our family...everybody running everywhere!

A great looking bunch of siblings if I do say so myself!

Note the tongue action on Ace!

Never one to miss out on a swinging good time. One of the reasons Mark needs to win "Daddy of the Year!"

Check it out...Ceili Rain and Bryant know where their bellies are! Except Ceili Rain thinks there is a baby in hers.

She's growing up too fast!

Probably one of my most favorite pictures of Ace. He's getting to be a young man. Sniff, sniff.

Spanish moss and a toddler...what could be better.

These are my most favorite maternity pics.

And this is us making fun of all those "professional" maternity pictures where the mom to be looks like she hates the idea of a baby much less being a mom...seriously...it's pretty awesome..smile moms!

Dramatic, no?

Christmas Celebration Part 1

2011-12-31T11:46:00.001-05:00

After the American Girl blast, we enjoyed a fun Christmas time with Abbie's family.

Ace taught Bryant how to smile for the camera.

Bryant just loved the "horsies."

Granddaddy's lap was always full of children.

And then gift time came!

There is a Ceili Rain in there somewhere.

Hands down she was the cutest. We started a new tradition last year where the kids all open one gift at a time. That way, they can all see what each other got and get properly excited about it. Ceili Rain would open a gift and ohh and ahh and then ask to see each of the other kids gifts and then exclaim, "Oh my goodness!"

Bryant enjoyed his toys but playing with Ceili Rain's bracelets was also a plus.

Little ballerina princess. She loved her tutu and tiara.

Uncle J is serious about some present opening!


Sorry, Yaya but it looked like you were super serious about something!

Zhu zhu pets all around. Each of the kids got one and battle armor to go with it. These are fun little rat/hamsters! No, really, they are!

Birthday Celebration, American Girl Style

2011-12-30T22:00:00.001-05:00

I'll say, at least, this one of the most memorable birthdays for Zoe. Back in August, we talked about going to the American Girl store for her birthday. She loved the idea and quickly agreed to save up her money to help in purchasing a doll. She worked hard too. She watched every penny she spent and made sure she had enough to help with the doll purchase. So, December was the month. Ge, Grandmere, Aunt Yaya and cousin J all traveled from the ends of the earth (okay, from a few hours away), to converge on The American Girl Store and eat brunch at the Bistro. Let me just say, that this place is every little girl's (and big girl's) dream! We were all in doll heaven and couldn't get over looking at all the sweet things. Ceili Rain's eyes were as big as saucers when we walked in. Aunt Yaya asked her if she wanted to look at something and she slowly shook her head yes. When she asked her what she just shrugged her shoulders...there was so much to see.

Cinnamon mini muffins...yummy. Ceili Rain enjoyed eating the butter too.

Cousin J and Zoe modeling their "hats!"

Zoe with Marie-Grace her new doll.

Marie-Grace with her best friend Cecile on display. I loved Cecile's curly hair and her beautiful dresses!

They shrunk!

The mall also had a carasoul which was spotted pretty quickly from the parking lot.

Of course, the girls had to ride.

Aren't these the prettiest girls!

After a trip to the American Girl store we celebrated with the boys with cake at Ge's house. Zoe also had a fun filled day on her actual birthday too!

Her request for cake this year was a chocolate-vanilla swirl cheesecake. I also made chocolate whipped topping for it too! It was super yummy which is why I didn't take a picture of it.

Let's Try this Again

2011-12-30T10:03:00.002-05:00

My book list for 2011 was a great idea, but I admit that I got side tracked and did not read hardly anything on it. I did read but not that much from my list. 2012 should prove a good year for reading as I will be nursing a wee one and I prefer to do that sitting down and to keep from going to sleep, I usually read.

So, here goes...I present my reading list for 2012.

January: Large Family Logistics by Kim Brenneman. I've been oogling over this book since it came out this year and my dear sweet husband purchased it for me for Christmas! Isn't he amazing!
February: Deeper Waters by Robert Whitlow. Mark's mom introduced me to this writer and I downloaded the sample for his book and loved it. It's suspense, mystery and set in the south, Can a book get any better than that?
March: Love Your Husband, Love Yourself by Jennifer Flanders. My sister-in-law got this for me and I've read tidbits but nausea and pregnancy have kept me put off from actually digging in to it. I can't wait to get started though. It does prove to be some good insightful reading.
April: Though Waters Roar by Lynn Austin. I saw this book in a Christian book circular and thought it looked interesting. With an author who has a last name Austin, it's got to be good. Okay, so it's spelled different than Jane Austen but it's still pronounced the same.
May: The Gentle Ways of the Beautiful Woman by Anne Ortlund. This is a three in one volume so I will probably just read one book. It's an oldie, but supposed to be a goodie. Oh, and I got it used for pennies. Actually paid more for the shipping than the book.
June: Ten P's in a Pod by Arnold Pent III. I do believe this has been on my list to read. I think it will be a fun easy read.
July: Homeschooling with a Meek and Quiet Spirit by Teri Maxwell. Okay, I'll admit, I may need to read this every month.
August: Duncan's War by Douglas Bond. A good fiction book to get back into the swing of things with school. I'm reading it to see if it's appropriate for the kids to read. No, really, I am. Okay, it's set in Scotland. I couldn't resist.
September: The Resolution for Women by Priscilla Shirer. My sister got this book for me for Christmas.
October: No Longer a Slumdog by K.P. Yohannan. I'm scared to read this book. I know it will break my heart and turn it even more towards caring for children but I must read it.
November: Well, that leads me to a book that I purchased that I can't remember the name of nor can I remember where I put it. Really. No wait, I found out the name. It's 1000 Gifts by Ann Voskamp. I'll be grateful when I can find it again. Let me know if you see it. Well, I've got eleven months to locate it. Updated to say that I found it. I mentioned to Mark that I had lost it and he produced it, announced he had read two pages and it was too depressing and had put it down. Yay for me to read.
December: Given that I didn't do so well getting through my list last year, I might just leave this month open to catch up.

I will say I had one small accomplishment, I read through the Bible this year. Chronologically. Which is pretty interesting. I didn't read it alone. Zoe and Mark read through too. My eight year old daughter read through the Bible in one year ya'll! That'll keep ya accountable if nothing else will! And honestly, I think just reading the Bible is the more important that all these other books I have listed. Well, Large Family Logistics runs a close second though.

Energy Burner

2011-12-29T22:00:00.000-05:00

A sure fire way to get my kids to burn off excess energy is to go to gymnastics. There is a local gym that offers homeschool classes twice a month. The kids love it and usually rush to finish school on gymnastics days. This month, they had a "Snowflake Show-off" which meant we got to sit down front and center and watch the kids do their thing!

Ceili Rain, Bryant, and Josiah enjoyed the show. Josiah's old enough to participate but gymnastics is not his thing.

They all received medals at the end.

Okay, so the Olympics is not in our future, but it sure is fun for them and they definitely sleep well after gymnastics.

Piano Man...and Woman

2011-12-29T11:11:00.000-05:00

In between travels, Zoe and Ace had their first official piano recital with their teacher Mrs. T. They've been taking for the past two years and have done really well. We just recently figured out that Ace can play a bit by ear. Zoe was teaching herself "The First Noel" and Ace heard her playing it and picked up on several different measures too. That thrills this non-musically talented mama to no end. This coming year we'll add Liam to the lessons and Mark will start teaching Ace percussion as well. He's wanted to learn to play drums for quite some time and we have a live-in instructor so my house will be full of endless musical noise!

Excuse the spots. I have no idea what was on our new camera lens.

Ge & Granddaddy made the trek up to hear them play (and deliver the wood for the boys' beds...don't worry, I'm getting there).

On to December

2011-12-28T21:09:00.000-05:00

The first part of December we were able to gather at Grandmere and Papa's house with Mark's brother and his family. That's right, six adults (two of whom were pregnant), and thirteen children together again. Thanks to a lot of organizing on Grandmere's part, the chaos was kept to a minimum. It was a great, if not short, visit too! We celebrated Grandmere's birthday and had a piano recital all packed into three days.

The zipline was a big hit.

Zoe and Cousin O enjoyed decorating Grandmere's cake. Liam requested that we put butterflies on it.

Bryant loved hugging on Cousin K's neck.

Ceili Rain and Cousin TJ were best buds most of the weekend. They shared a common interest in the baby doll!

We ventured out to eat after our piano recital. The buffet was a hit. But the dessert bar, well, the kids loved it!

Ice cream with all the fixings...yep, that's good.

Awaiting her marshmallow because we always roast marshmallows at Papa's house!

Yes! Marshmallows!

Again with the cousin lovin' for Ceili Rain. This time it's Cousin G.

Everyone enjoyed our visit from Uncle D, Grandmere's brother.

Thanksgiving

2011-12-28T11:02:00.000-05:00

Thanksgiving weekend, we traveled to Granddaddy and Ge's house. Along with staying out all night with Ge and Aunt Yaya, we stuffed my face silly, laughed at the kids having a blast and celebrated Christmas with my aunt and my cousins and their children. We had a wonderful, relaxing trip! Let the eye candy begin! My kids are too adorable not to post a ton of pictures from this trip.

The cafe was a success...I believe this was turkey made by my lovely niece and Zoe. At one point, they had to fire Liam.

Aunt Yaya got in prime tickling time with all the kids.

It's safe to say that Ceili Rain was snuggled and loved by everyone including her big cousin!

Definitely enjoyed being a princess.

Toenails and fingernails were primed and painted. I love seeing my children and their cousins having such a good time!

Bryant enjoyed all the dogs including the ones that were not real.

Granddaddy got a big box that quickly turned into a hiding place, a house, and other things.

How many cousins can fit into a box?

Present time. Always a treat!

One of my cousin's kids. He's just like his dad!

Did I mention the Aisans?

2011-12-26T15:48:00.000-05:00

Nothing truly exciting happened in D.C. Well, that isn't totally true. If I had charged, I could have made a little extra money for snapshots of my kids. On our first day in DC, I decided to make everyone wear the same colored shirt so I could spot us all easily if we had to spread out on the metro and as we got on and off, etc. We went to the Postal Museum first (which is a very good hands on museum even if the security guard did follow us everywhere). After lunch, we had just enough time to hop on the metro, go to the Air & Space Museum and then hop back on the metro before rush hour.

When we walked into the Air & Space Museum there were a bunch of foreign tourists. This I know by the fact that they did not speak English and each one of them had a camera. They saw all my children and quickly motioned for us all to get together so they could ~~exploit~~ take a picture of us. The dear child that stayed with us while her daddy was in training during the day was thoroughly confused but happily obliged. Then, I explained to her that there are not a lot of large families in Aisan countries (nor ours for that matter) and seeing a bunch of little children all dressed alike was pretty exciting for them.

The next day, we headed back to the Air & Space Museum in an attempt to see all we had not seen in the 30 minutes we were there the day before. And, as we were taking a potty break, the same thing happened again. Except this time, each of the tourists wanted to get their picture made with our group. One at a time. As you can imagine, my children were quite tired of it by the time they let us go and they made sure to voice their opinions. They recovered quickly though and we made it through the whole museum without another invasion of picture taking. Mark told me I should charge should it happen again!

Birthday Celebrations

2011-12-22T21:37:00.000-05:00

Busy, busy! But, here we are. To my birthday. For our celebration, I decided to go to the Yankee Candle Company Flagship Store in Williamsburg. We were were on our way to Alexandria, VA so it seemed like the best stop. And it was!

This is an awesome store. Animatronic "show," indoor "snow" and all the candles that Yankee Candle Company has ever made.

They also have a place where kids (for a price) can make their own candles and such. Which we did. Which was probably after we left our camera sitting out in the atrium. Which is where it stayed until I realized it the next day and called and Yankee Candle graciously shipped the camera back to our house. Which is why there will be no pictures from our trip to Alexandria, Washington D.C. and the like. At least not now. There are a few on my camera and could possibly be a few on a camera that I bought for too cheap but I haven't gotten to those yet.

Watching it snow indoors!

Another customer came by when we were walking around and told me all about the snow and how adorable our children were and that she had asked an employee to make it snow again so the kids could see it again before we moved to another area of the store. And they did! What an amazing store!

They were in awe of the talking mice in the clock.

After the store visit, we headed out to eat and found a great restaurant where I had the best barbecue of my life! No joke. It's Pierce's BBQ and if you ever go to Williamsburg you have to eat there! It's a-maz-ing! Of course, no pictures because my camera was sitting lonely at the Yankee Candle store.

Let the travels begin

2011-12-12T21:25:00.000-05:00

As stated previously, we went to Williamsburg in November. This was my first trip (and the kids too) and we were all so excited. We spent two days there and walked and walked and saw just about everything. It definitely was a good trip for us and a great learning experience for the kids. They only wore their costumes the first day. Which was good because the second day it was cloudy and rather cool.

The princess in her chariot.

To the stocks with ye!

Sad lot!

Might I say, we went at a great time and were able to see some beautiful fall trees! Bryant loved the leaves.

Lunch anyone! This was the only way I could get him to allow me to take his picture.

The hits for the girls: The Millinery and the Weaver. The boys: the Gunsmith and the Battery.

We didn't stay in Colonial Williamsburg but opted for a very affordable resort, The Historic Powhatan (not paid to say that...we paid them) about ten minutes away (and a beautiful drive too). I would recommend searching the travel discount sites for reservations here. We got a great deal on a two bedroom, two bath condo. It was a wonderful resort recommended by a friend. They had an indoor pool and the rooms had a ton of space which was awesome for our size crew. The first morning we were there, we drove out and saw the swan above just a swimming in the pond. And then the geese. Oh my, they took their sweet time crossing the road but it was so neat to be close to such lovely birds!

The Whole Truth: What's a Large Family?

2011-12-08T14:33:00.001-05:00

"Uncle" Scott asked:
Ok, I'm game.
"...nor do I feel we have a large family. But, apparently, by today's standards we do."
In your opinion what is a "large" family? Do you hope to eventually have one?

I'm starting with an easy one! First questions first...I have no clue what a large family is! If I stop and look at us or any family with more than two or three children, I guess, I'd have to consider them a large family. I don't consider us to have a large family because we know people who have more than us (and probably always will).

If you talk to any family with more than two or three children they'll tell you the same thing, I don't see numbers, I see Zoe, Ace, Liam, Josiah, Ceili Rain and Bryant. While that's a mouth full, I just see individuals. They are all so different and unique.

I honestly look at pictures like this:

and think, hmm, is that all we have. It just doesn't seem like a lot of kids. Maybe we're used to it, maybe we're a tad bit crazy or maybe, just maybe we love each of them as little individuals and not as a massive group of six children.

My sister-in-law (pregnant with #8) is the same way. This past weekend, we had pictures with Grandmere and Papa. After arranging all thirteen kids with the grandparents, we all looked and said, "Is that all? Seems like we're missing someone."

As far as hoping to attain to a number. Well, we tried that. We thought we wanted four children and to adopt maybe two (giving us six). God closed the door on adoption for now and neither Mark nor I had a peace about getting him "fixed (although nothing is broken...obviously)." I've said a few times that ten is a nice round even number but we're not fixed on it or any other number. We don't have a goal we're trying to reach nor are we trying to "beat" some other large family...and please don't compare us to the Duggars. That just drives us crazy! We're happy with the seven we have but if God chooses for us to have more we say "Woohoo!" and "Thank You, Lord!" If he chooses for us to just have our little brood of seven, then we'll be happy with that (but we still feel called to adopt...just waiting for Him to open that door again).

I can see where that is hard for people to understand in today's society. We're (meaning American society) used to getting fast and firm answers. We want to know numbers. We (me included) can have our days planned out to the millisecond. So, saying that our bunch is leaving our actual family size up to God is a bit wacko sounding. But, it's what we feel called to do. We don't walk according to our will but to Him who is in us. We want to live our lives to honor and please God and this is where we feel He has called our family to surrender obedience to Him. I'm not saying He won't tell us to stop at some point, but for now, we feel His hand on our family size leading and guiding.

For now, we'll keep counting and recounting the kids in our pictures to make sure we have them all!

Got any more questions for our Bunch? We'd love to answer them! Ask away!

*The two lovely pictures in this post were from Tracy Carr! Isn't she awesome. I'm waiting on the others (including some maternity ones) before I post them all! Hint! Hint!

We Are Here!

2011-12-05T20:51:00.000-05:00

Just an update that in the past three weeks we have traveled over 2,000 miles and 36 hours. That doesn't count the time that we spent in the various places we traveled to.

Here's a quick recap and pictures will come later...not sure how long because I'm trying to decorate for Christmas, re-do the boys' room, finish up Christmas presents, school, oh yeah, and feed the masses.

So, November 11th we set out early and headed to Williamsburg, VA. This trip was a jumping off point because Mark had training in Alexandria, VA the next week. We "piggy backed" on the trip and made a pit stop in Williamsburg for a mini-vacation. We loved it too! Leaving Williamsburg on my birthday, the 14th, we headed to the Yankee Candle Flagship Store which is a must in my opinion if you are ever near Williamsburg. It was there that I left my camera and had to take pictures with my phone and the $10 camera that I purchased at Wal-Mart and is the very definition of cheap...

So we pulled into Alexandria on the 14th and spent that week up until November 18th there. We took in the sights of D.C.. And since I'm not quite sure how the camera thing will pan out here's what we did.

Oh, did I mention I had an extra child? Mark's co-worker came along and his daughter tagged along with us while the dads were at training. She learned a lot about being in a big family. That's all I'll say about that.

November 15th: Metro ride, US Postal Museum, Metro Ride, Air & Space Museum Metro Ride...Hotel...ahhh.
November 16th: Air & Space Museum (of course on the metro but the 15th was our first day and we have to commemorate that I did not lose or gain any children during the getting on or off the metro.)
November 17th: Mount Vernon and it was cold ya'll. Very cold. And wet. But we made it through.
November 18th: The Lyceum in Alexandria which is the history museum of the city. Nice but after seeing museums all week the little ones were done.

On November 18th, we left Alexandria and drove halfway home to Raleigh, NC. Where they were gearing up for the Clemson, UNC game. Lots of people at the hotel sportin' their team colors.

On November 19th, we got home, unloaded for three hours and then Zoe and I headed out for the Jamie Grace/TobyMac concert. My birthday present. And we had a blast.

Recovered for three days then headed out on November 23rd to do Thanksgiving with my folks, Ge and Granddaddy, my sister and her family. That. was. a. blast. Especially when my mom, my sister, and my self headed out on Thanksgiving night at 10 o'clock to do the Black Friday thing and we didn't get back until 7:30 or 8 the next morning. It really was fun! My mom and sister are a hoot and a half!

Got home on Sunday, the 27th and headed out to do pictures with Tracy! Can not wait to show those ya'll.

Recovered a few more days and then headed out to another family visit in Alabama. on December 1st This time Mark's folks, Papa & Grandmere, his brother and their cousins (the ones with all those kids). We rushed home yesterday to try and beat daylight to make it to the Christmas tree farm to pick out our tree. We succeeded and picked out our tree in record time (like 15 minutes or something). And it's beautiful!

When we got home yesterday the questions started as to how many more days before we traveled again.

Believe it or not but we'll be home this weekend and we couldn't be happier! But that doesn't mean we won't be busy. We'll be clearing out and moving out the boys so we can paint their room and start the big room make over. They are excited. I'm tired just thinking about it! But, I'm anxious to get it done because like it or not, there's another boy that needs to share that room (well, his clothes do for awhile) in just a few short months.

The Three C's of Black Friday

2011-11-25T01:00:00.000-05:00

Happy Black Friday Ya'll! I know I didn't post a great Thanksgiving post but to admit to it...well we're traveling a lot this month! So ya'll have to settle for a previous post where I present the three C's of Black Friday. I wrote this in December of 2009 and I think it still applies to today. This Black Friday is the first in a long time that I've actually been able to go Black Friday shopping with other women. Namely my sister and mom who are Black Friday Experts. I'm looking forward to the visiting and the shopping!

While visiting family, I convinced my in-laws and Mark that it would be a great idea if they watched our kids while Mark and I got up early and went shopping. By early, I mean 4:00 a.m. However, Ceili Rain thought it would be fun to get us up at 2:30. Now, in our time where we actually live it was more like 3:30 so we gained an hour, right? Whatever, it was early and cold and Mark and I didn't have coats...but we trudged out anyway (in borrowed coats). We hit McDonald's then to Sears and then to KMart. We sat in the K-Mart parking lot for about 30 minutes waiting on the store to open and watching the people in line freeze. Then we watched them walk in and got in the line when it started moving. We're lazy like that. Because we waited I couldn't get one of the things on my list but that's not a big deal.

While we were waiting we developed the Three C's of Black Friday.

1. Comraderie: This is where you meet new people (usually in the checkout line or trying to find a product marked on the advertisement). You smile and are warm and friendly to people you probably never would have talked to on any other given day. In Mark's case it's where he got "the nod" from several other husbands who had been woken up too early and did not have enough coffee (and I think Mark believes there is no such thing for that early in the morning) to get them fully enthralled with the Black Friday event. This is also where one person admires another person's Christmas sweater and discusses the fine art of Santa placement to jingle bells(that may run into the last C). Or, since it was Alabama vs. Auburn day, where you say, "Roll Tide" to every Bama fan that passes.
2. Competition: You're at the end of the bicycle aisle and there's only one $10 bike left. You look at it and then straight ahead and see another customer eyeing the same bike. And this is where the competition begins. There are no rules in the Competition part of Black Friday. No blood, no foul or if you can get out of there before store security finds you. To get what you want you can bump carts, push, shove, scream, punch, or fake an illness to distract so your partner can grab. All bets are off if you have to enter this "C" of Black Friday.
3. Crazy: Now seriously, you knew this was coming. One day out of the whole years where you get up (or just don't go to sleep) to get the "absolute best deals of the season." People have to be a little crazy to do this. You've got your "elf" crazy people who are dressed in red and green from head (including the elf hat or reindeer antlers and flashing nose) to toe (elf shoes). Then there are those who, like we heard about on the radio, just didn't go to sleep Thanksgiving night and went to a late movie and then out shopping. It can also include my "crazy" cousins who had Taco Bell and pizza for breakfast (because that was what was open in the food court...sorry for using you guys but it works for this category). Or you can be as crazy as us, who, since our child wouldn't sleep, woke up the in-laws to take care of them while we rushed out into the bitter cold to buy a drill and a couple of presents (and seriously, I got some tennis shoes and some shirts but we really only bought a couple of presents). And the lines to check out...insanely crazy.

I know this post is two weeks past Black Friday but, if you remember, how'd you make out? We did get some good deals on a few gifts and some things I needed (maternity shirts half off...Alabama shirts that are now starting to be too small for me but I'm determined to wear one in January...oh yeah). Mark also told me we could have added more C's and other letters but I kept it short and simple. Don't want to bore you or anything.

Vision Forum Giveaway!

2011-11-21T08:06:00.000-05:00

Quite honestly, we all get excited when we get a Vision Forum catalog every year. Not only is it full of great Christian books, but also tons of fun toys, games, and DVDs. I have acquired quite a wish list from them and now I have a shot of winning a gift card from them to help me get some of my wish list done! The Modest Mom in partnership with Vision Forum is giving away a $300, $200, and $100 gift card to Vision Forum. That would just be so cool to win!

All I Want for Christmas...

2011-11-18T21:38:00.000-05:00

Is at least one front tooth...it'll be two in a few weeks or so though!

Liam joined the tooth loss club on November 5th. Lots of screaming before hand but it was all pride after that. He's still running around holding his lip down and showing his gums.

Dance Time

2011-11-17T21:38:00.000-05:00

As I said in an earlier post, Zoe is taking ballet now. They gave us a short presentation of a dance based on Esther's life a week ago.

Zoe just lights up when she is on stage. She's very comfortable performing and it shows in her face.

And for one little sister, this was like watching a real live princess dance. She was in awe. Zoe said that when they got home Ceili Rain made her dance with her.

Our two little princesses.

Retreating...

2011-11-16T21:09:00.000-05:00

Still in October (well, okay, we were almost out) the ladies at our church held a retreat at a beach nearby. It was so nice to get away and visit and relax and grow closer to these amazing women and, more importantly, to God! The theme was on organizing and time management. I learned a lot and got my focus back on what was most important.

I also got some beautiful pictures!

Sunrise our last day!

The wind was blowing the top part of the sand along. It looked like we were walking in a mist. Only it stung a little.

These two silly ladies were a part of our group and just had to get in the water. They said it was warm. Until they got out.

We found a ton of shells. Here is a little shell graveyard and I found the perfect spiral shell. I picked it up to take with us. We walked two steps. M. said, "Ew, that stinks!" I smelled it and she was right. I tried to wash it out but it was no use. The shell, along with whatever had crawled up inside and died, stayed on the beach.

I think these birds were begging for something to eat. They let me get really close before they walked away. I should have brought some bread and I could have had them eating out of my hands!

Now, here's the coolest part.

We were in the migrating path of some Monarch butterflies!

They were all over this walkway as we made our way to the beach. And, they were all over the beach too! It was an amazing sight to see so many butterflies.

Just a handful of them as we came on to the beach. There were so many that we all just kept snapping pictures hoping to get the best shot. I got a few that I thought turned out well.

That was one that landed on a sand dune as we were walking on the beach.

My favorite picture by far!

I don't think this was a butterfly. I believe it was a moth. Either way, he was right in the middle of the butterflies and I thought he was quite interesting.

Unfortunately, I totally forgot to take pictures of the house, the wonderful women present, or all the amazing food we ate! But it was all there and it was a blast! Mark was Super Dad while I was gone no doubt!

Simply Beautiful

2011-11-15T21:04:00.000-05:00

Zoe's taking ballet again this year. And when I mentioned it to Grandmere and that Zoe might would like a bun cover for her hair. I found a pattern. And Grandmere worked her magic!

It's absolutely beautiful! Grandmere sure does know her stuff!

Future Song Leader

2011-11-14T21:00:00.000-05:00

Ceili Rain is either singing around the house or talking. All. day. long. And her singing and talking has rubbed off on Bryant.

That's a Bible he's got there. And, at first, we thought he was preaching. But then, we quickly realized he's singing. We use hymnals in our church. So, he likes to grab a Bible and walk around singing too. And when we look at him, he'll look up, put one finger to his mouth and say, "shh" Hmm, wonder where he hears that.

Anyway, it's quite adorable.

See for yourself.
<iframe src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/31707363?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0" width="400" height="300" frameborder="0" webkitAllowFullScreen allowFullScreen></iframe>

Phew! Done. Now What?

2011-11-11T20:51:00.002-05:00

I successfully have posted every day this week. That hasn't happened in a long time! But wait, there's more.

However, I had an idea. I thought it would be fun to dispel, or bring to light some of the myths that come along with having a large family and homeschooling. Now, keep in mind, I don't consider myself an expert nor do I feel we have a large family. But, apparently, by today's standards we do. And along with a "not your average size family" comes a lot of comments that make me think people have some crazy ideas about what it means to be a mom of a large family.

So, fire away. What do you want to know? What do you think or what have you heard about what it's like to be in a large family?

If you don't ask, I'm going to come up with my own ideas! Like:

It takes a special kind of patience to be a mom to many kids.
You are a saint!
You must be really organized.
What about socialization in homeschooling?
Don't you know what causes that?
How can you afford all those kids?
You must have a big house. (And when I say I don't) Well, how do you fit all those kids in there.

Really now. Let's get to the nitty gritty. Don't hold back, I want to know what you want to know about our family life. If you're afraid I'll get angry, you can add a comment anonymously. If it does make me angry then I don't have to post your comment...or maybe I need to figure out why I'm angry in the first place and why I'm being so selfish!

And we'll call this new series: The Bunch Myths-Busted.

Oh, I can't wait to see what you have in store for me (or else I'll bore you with my own commentary).

Up, up and away

2011-11-10T20:51:00.000-05:00

Ever since I've known Mark (which would be high school), he's had a love of planes. I don't know how he does it, but he can spot a plane way up in the sky and tell you what kind it is and more. He loves them! He's always had a dream to get his pilot's license and while, right now it's a bit out of our price range, God did allow him to take an introductory lesson.

Our local newspaper ran a deal with an aviation company that offered introductory lesson/flights for a good price. A really good price. I didn't even ask Mark. I just bought it for him for Christmas. We had to tell him early though because the coupon expired November 1st. He was excited none the less and really enjoyed his flight.

It was a small airport so the pilot allowed us (meaning the kids and me) to hang out right outside the airport. They taxied out in front of us and landed in front of us. And in between those two times, the kids found things to occupy their time.

Like climbing on columns.

Rocking in chairs.

And hamming it up for the camera.

The airport was hosting a drag racing competition that weekend (which we would have loved to go to had our weekend not been completely full already). So, the guys in the background were setting up for it. That provided a lot of the entertainment.

Mark said it was a lot of fun! If you know Mark he doesn't get super excited. But this. Well, he got as excited as he usually does!

Mark's Christmas Flight 01 from justabunchofcharacters on Vimeo.

Taking off!

And landing!

Introducing...

2011-11-09T21:38:00.000-05:00

A new business venture with a friend! Several months ago, a friend approached me about starting a card business through Zazzle. I was so excited to be able to do it. We set a launch date for October but she's so smart, she got it up and going before then. However, my brain is still a few months behind and I have not gotten it up on here until now. There is a special link to my Character Creation designs but don't just stop looking there. Make sure you check out all her cool designs too! I feel honored that such a talented graphic designer asked little ol' me to enter into this adventure with her.

If you need Christmas cards, we got those as well. Just a few designs are up right now so get to clicking and designing.

Without further adieu, I give you:

And, we have a contest to celebrate our launch! Go to our Facebook page and like us. When we get 100 likes, we'll have a drawing for a $25 gift certificate to be used in our store. Like away and then tell your friends to like us too!

Dairy Farmin'

2011-11-08T21:05:00.000-05:00

Another day in October found us at a dairy farm. A local farm (meaning about 20 minutes away...that's the closest dairy farm too), has started an agritourism business both to promote their farm but also so that they can eventually purchase a creamery and sell their own milk. This is the second year for their Corn "Maize" and it was just as much fun as last year! The kids had a blast as always. This was a field trip day and the only set back was that they had the maze marked off so that it was just a simple walk through instead of an actual maze. That was a bummer. Other than that, we learned a lot more about dairy farming that I ever knew. For instance, cows are milked just like we pump milk off our selves. Except the machine is a bit more high powered! I know everyone wanted to know that.

Here's some more pictures before I embarrass myself any further.

Twas a bit nippy and I forgot to bring Bryant a coat. So, we found one of Zoe's jackets in the van and wrapped him up. He was snug as a bug but very tired on the hayride.

Petting zoos are awesome. Bryant called everything a "goggy" (doggy) but he loved watching the animals!

They had a wonderful play area that included a huge slide, a bunch of wooden structures (like a ship, castle, and the like), and a jumping pillow. Five kids pretty much dispersed across the whole play area so it was hard for us to get pictures of everyone.

Aha! Two in one frame! We did it!

The corn pits. Like sand pits but instead of trying to get small grains of sand out of a diaper, the big pieces of corn fall out...and they also fall out of clothes. For weeks.

By far, our family favorite is the duck race area. There are four troughs and water pumps at each one. You can race to see who gets their duck to the other side first. But, Josiah. He's all focus when it comes to that water pump.

I have no idea what it is. But the kids like it.

Jumping...

off...

the...

haystacks.

Always fun.

My goodness, she's growing up too, too fast! Please stop her!

So is this little tyke. But she's still got a loooong way to go!

At the Station

2011-11-07T18:50:00.000-05:00

My goal, for the blog at least, is to post once every day this week (during the week). Wish me luck!

The kids took a field trip to the fire station. As always, it's a blast to go to our fire station. The firemen are always good with the kids and very excited to educate them!

It's been awhile since we have been. So, for this trip, I gave Ace the camera. Here's the field trip proof straight from Ace's eye!

That's just a tidbit of what Ace caught. I thought that might be all you could handle in one post. He has a great eye for details! For the record, Josiah was there. He just opted out of the photo opportunity (which was done by Mark...obviously since Ace was in the picture).

Stepping Back in Time

2011-11-01T21:44:00.000-04:00

September and some of October was spent frantically trying to get costumes made for five anxious children. It wasn't for Halloween, though. Last year, we had attended a local living history park event called Colonial Times. We left with a very anxious older daughter asking sweetly if she could have a colonial dress to wear next year. And of course, if one wants one, they all do.

And I was happy to provide. Although Mark and I were a little tired as we sewed (yes, we, Mark finally revealed his secret talent of sewing) buttons on to vests at 11:30 at night.

But the results and the smiles were so worth it!

Aren't they adorable??? Ceili Rain put her dress on and said, "I a princess." She saw Zoe in her dress and made the same declaration. Guess what? They don't make boys' colonial costume patterns unless you want them to look like a mini version of an adult George Washington. Which I didn't! So, I had to get creative. The knickers are pants bought at Goodwill. I cut them off and put elastic in the bottom to make them poof and look like short pants. The shirts are Goodwill too. I cut the folded over collar off and serged it. The vests were a lucky find of a pattern of multiple vests. I had some old looking buttons that we sewed on (Did I mention we did that at 11:30 at night?).

The rat catcher. He was trying to recruit new workers for himself. The sweet little boy in the yellow shirt took him seriously. He turned around, looked straight at me and in all seriousness announced, "I'm going to go look for rats." And took off while his mom was talking. We quickly got her attention and she called him back and had to break his heart. So sad.

M. LeFarceur de Villeverte, And if you can translate his name, you'll get a good giggle. This guy has actually won awards for his lace making. But he's not a lacemaker. He's a lace merchant! Lacemakers are all the poor people...like us. He was quite the entertainment and after Ceili Rain stopped freaking out over his make up, she enjoyed him too.

There's a group in our area that does English Martial Arts. That includes fencing and other things. They were there and this year, they let the kids hold their swords. Can you see the look of utter excitement spread across Liam's face? Ceili Rain thought it was cool, although she couldn't hold it up by herself!

Benjamin Franklin and his wife. We caught them at tea time!

There were sheep and goats and turkeys and chickens to pet. And the animals were all more than willing to let us get all around them!

Mark and the kids really enjoyed the blacksmith this year. They stayed there while Bryant and I got a bit of drink. They saw him make a nail. That's all I know about that.

The toymaker is always a blast! Except when you're trying to dodge toys!

Liam enjoyed playing the dulcimer. He's got a lot to learn if he's going to actually play it though!

God's Protection

2011-10-28T20:19:00.000-04:00

This blog is not just a place for others to see what's going on but for me to write things so I don't forget.

So, here's what went down this week (besides our normal business that seemed amped up on steroids).

Monday was a very cold morning. I'm not sure what the outside temp was, but it was nice and chilly. I delayed getting up waiting on the heat to kick in. When it didn't, I finally resigned to actually having to get up and get a shower.

It still wasn't warming up when I got out of the shower. Right before breakfast, I checked the temp and realized it was set at 71 but was reading 69. Hmmm...not good.

A call in to Mark and by late morning my hero had arranged for a heating/cooling repair company to come out. They reset the thingamajig but also warned Mark that when that starts to happen that the machine is just buying time before it bites the dust. He also showed Mark where there was a lot of rust on the inside. Our unit was 14 years old and we knew that it's time with us was nearing an end.

And so it ended. After calling and checking and comparing quotes, we got a new system put in on Thursday. Oh, it shut off again on Tuesday.

While shelling out that much money is not ideal in any case, we saw God's hand and protection all over us in numerous ways:

1. It wasn't cold. After Monday, even the temps this past week were very comfortable. We kept the windows open in the afternoon to cool the house off.
2. Since it's between seasons, we were able to have someone come out immediately. If we were in winter mode, we would have to wait for a week or so. And the company that did it was awesome! We were really grateful for their attention to detail, speediness, and general personalities.
3. We knew that parts of the unit were rusty. We knew it was old. But what we didn't know until they took it out was that the thingamijigs that transport heat, etc (read: carbon monoxide) had holes in them. Which means, we had carbon monoxide seeping in to our home every time the heat ran. We have a carbon monoxide tester in our home (and I recommend that anyone who has a gas heating system does...it's really a good safety measure), but it never went off except when it needed it's batteries changed. The heating/cooling guys surmised that because our house is "old" that it's not as tightly secure as newer homes and was letting out just enough carbon monoxide to keep the alarm from going off and us from getting deathly ill.
4. So, even though carbon monoxide was coming into the home, because we haven't been running it often, we never noticed. If it had been cooler weather, there could have been a potential for lots of health issues all around.

We are very grateful for our new unit and more than that, that God protected and provided when we needed it (even when we didn't know we needed it).

Pictures to smile at

2011-10-27T20:18:00.000-04:00

I didn't realize how long it's been since I posted pictures. So here's enough to make your eyeballs bleed. These are from the first of the month after the kids spent a week with Papa & Grandmere and had a blast!

The zip line is a big treat at their house!

Close to Home

2011-10-24T20:57:00.000-04:00

I was a little absent from blogging last week. I guess that was obvious. We're fine here. Malachi is growing and moving and grooving and having himself a little party in my tummy and I love it! The kids are all, for the most part, well (the sniffly noses that come with fall weather excluded).

It's just that our family has friends that were hit with some hard news to swallow. The "C" word. Cancer. Breast cancer to be exact.

I told another friend today that I never thought we'd be the pink ribbon kind of people but things look different when you really know someone who's been diagnosed with it. And now we have.

It's a reality check. We're young (okay, relatively). We have children. But we're not immortal. There's still sin and disease and death and all these yucky things we have to deal with are a part of it. I know this. None of us are immune. I know this too.

But it's hard. When you know you have a friend who is several hours away facing such hard decisions for herself and her family. She has a two year old. And a one month old. I pray for strength for her and her husband every day. And for their two precious children.

And if you think she fits the risk factors she doesn't. Barely 30. Breast feeding mama. She even eats tons better than I do. Grows her veggies and all. But there it is. That "C" word doesn't care about risk factors or any other numbers science puts out.

While this diagnosis hangs over them. Here I sit grumbling and complaining because my back hurts or a kid is whiny or I have to go to the bathroom for the tenth time in ten minutes (the joys of carrying low...at least I can breathe). My complaints seem so miniscule and remind me once again to lift them up in prayer.

So, if you see the Crimson Cruiser sporting a "Save the Tatas" sticker (like Mark would ever let me do that), you'll know what's up. I know we're not the only ones who have loved ones dealing with diseases but this is the closest it's hit for us. And, hopefully, if you're reading this, you're lifting up this family or others you know up to God. He alone is Jehovah Jireh, the Provider, the Healer, the Sustainer.

And as I type, all I can think of is 2 Corinthians 12:9, But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

Paul suffered so greatly for Christ but even in the darkest points, he knew Christ would sustain him and lift him up for His glory alone.

REVIEW: Super Star Speech

2011-10-18T21:20:00.000-04:00

This review is way past due. It started with me somehow missing the product over email (it wound up in cyberspace) and then proceeded with me dealing with the adventures of first trimester hyped up with progesterone.

But now, I'm ready!

Super Star Speech is a new at home speech program. Josiah's adorable and he's four and he hasn't quite gotten his "l" and "r" sounds. Super Star Speech has a book to help address that issue.

Zoe was three when someone recommended I have her tested for speech. She had just a few sounds, like Josiah, that weren't quite there. She was tested and qualified and we went through a year of speech therapy. And it really helped.

With that bit of speech background, I knew that Josiah was a little behind but not that bad. We can, for the most part understand him. When I received the book, everything in it was a lot like what I was told Zoe had been doing in her speech sessions. I was really impressed with the professionalism yet ease of guiding a parent in to helping children learn and speak certain sounds.

I received the Superstar R&L because I knew that was where Josiah's weakest points are. When I read the introduction, I realized that those two sounds are really attained until about six or seven years of age. Josiah's four, but I knew, that a bit of gentle coaching would help him attain those sounds he's missing. Plus, to teach him properly to read, it really does help if he can form all his consonant sounds orally. Our school schedule has changed just enough that I'm able to work in the Superstar here and there throughout our weeks. As the year, progresses, I fully anticipate seeing his speech improving!

I really wish that I had this program when Zoe was younger. I searched everywhere for an at-home program but had no luck! I'm so glad this resource is now available!

The book lays out just how to teach certain sounds. It provides games, a list of words that both start with the sounds and have them in the middle. There are also lesson plan sheets. So, you can cater each lesson to the need of the child. The books are available in spiral bound for $18.95 or you can get the e-book version for 30% less at Currclick.

You can also go "like" Super Star Speech on Facebook as well!

Disclaimer: This is a MamaBuzz Media review. The product was provided by: Super Star Speech for this review.

Seven is a...

2011-10-12T21:25:00.001-04:00

I won't beat around the bush so here it is!

In March, we will meet our newest little

boy!

Isn't he adorable?

Our newest one to the bunch will be named:

Malachi Ian to be exact. Yep, we finally worked Ian into a name! Malachi has been one of Mark's favorite names for awhile now. We had started out with another name but when I mentioned Malachi Ian, Mark was all for it.

Malachi means "messenger of God" and Ian means "God is gracious." We truly feel blessed to have little Malachi growing strong and healthy. God has graciously blessed us with this little one (and all of our little ones) and we are reminded of that more each day.

The five oldest went with us to the ultrasound and they were all excited! Ceili Rain wasn't sure what to think and now she wants to see the baby all the time. She is still insisting that he is a princess but she's slowly realizing that we are talking about something totally different and is working around to calling him Malachi.

*And big thanks to Tracy for taking this quick shot with my rinky dink camera (and not her way super cool slr) so I could put it up on the blog tonight! We'll do it right when family pictures roll around!

Princess Dresses and the Lion

2011-10-11T23:01:00.000-04:00

This afternoon, I told Ceili Rain I wanted a hug and kiss and asked her where they went.

"I don't know! Maybe the lion ate them."

So, I told her she better find that lion because I wanted a hug and kiss and a chase began only to be ended quickly because we realized daddy was home and a daddy trumps lion chasing any day.

And since daddy was home, she had to follow him in to our closet where she spotted my dresses.

She came out with one hand on her hip and the other over her mouth grinning.

"I saw your princess dresses, Mommy!"

Mark said she spotted my dresses hanging up and asked in wide eyed wonder, "Are those Mommy's princess dresses?"

I have proof she's silly and fun and just adorable.

I've still got the clothes boxes down from the Great Seasonal Swap Out. She found a pair of one of the boy's swimshorts and decided she need to pretend to go swimming.

Here's the result:

Someone please tell me how to get blogger to realize I've saved and uploaded my pictures the right way!

Pay no attention to the overturned shopping cart, toys, puzzles and other various things scattered all over my floor. This is real life people! I will clean up if you come over though. Well, most of the time. For now, let's just focus on the most adorable 2 year old around.

The Dress

2011-10-10T22:30:00.000-04:00

A quiet night at home one night led to me playing on pinterest and finding a tutorial for a maternity dress out of a t-shirt.

I was so excited because for about fix or six months I've been holding on a t-shirt that I love but couldn't wear anymore. Not because I was pregnant. My belt (that I wore before I was pregnant) tore several holes in the shirt. They were big enough and so many in number that I couldn't really fix them by sewing them. But, I held on to the shirt because I loved the cut and style...and I got it for like $2 at Target. Here's what it looks like now:

So, I spent more than intended by purchasing the linen. And I didn't realize until I put it together that the linen is heavy on a lightweight shirt.

But, I loved the result! And I love the dress! It is very comfortable and it was very easy to make. If I hadn't messed up on it and had to pull out some very stubborn stitches it would have taken an hour.

I'll make another one, if I have time, the right fabric, and the right t-shirt (which I'm searching through my closet for right now).

My latest sewing endeavors this week include making vests for three boys and turning black Goodwill pants into knickers. We have a colonial days festival coming up and I have five very eager children who want to dress up for it. The girls are pretty much ready (except for their drapes which should take about two minutes to do). The boys...well, I haven't even got the pattern cut out for the vests yet. Help!

But, here's one more look at the dress and includes a good shot of my 19 week baby belly!

Don't forget to get your vote on as to whether Seven is a boy or girl! Go to my main page and see the poll on the top left. We are praying we'll find out this week!

Ceili Rain and Bryant Random Sayings and Such

2011-10-05T21:52:00.001-04:00

A sweet mom brought pudding for the Cubbies to snack on at church. Ceili Rain is half a cubbie so she gets to go in and do all they do only she doesn't get a vest or patches. Anyway, I asked her if she had thanked the mom and she said she hadn't so she went to do it. And she did, and the mom was talking to someone else and they were trying to make sure they got her name right. The mom asked her, "Ceili Rain, is that your name?" Ceili Rain shook her head yes and then slowly shook it no. The mom asked, "Well, what's your name?" "I a princess," is how she responded.

****

Ceili Rain got up one morning this week and said, "Where's my baby? Oh dere it is." And pointed to my belly. I asked her if the baby was a girl or boy. "A girl. No, no, no. I jus' kiddin'. Da baby is goin' to be a pwincess!" I just pray she'll be okay if the baby turns out to be a prince.

****
If we (she) lose something of Ceili Rain's and you ask her where it is. She'll say, "I don't know. Maybe the lion ate it." We're not sure where the lion is hiding but we've never met him. He does, however, release them eventually because we typically find them.

****

If she feels like something is itchy like a nose or a fly, then a ladybug is to blame. For instance, she got something in her eye and was scratching it and she said, "Mommy, a ladybug is in my eye."

****

Everything belongs to Ceili Rain...my baby, my Bryant, my daddy, my mommy, etc. She's happy to share us but we're all hers. And I'm okay with that!

****

We've heard that last week while Mom and Dad were away that Ceili Rain was either talking or singing which is typical here too. She loves to sing "Hold my heart...mama...dada" and is learning "Jesus loves me" The "Hold my heart" is probably because we all enjoy listening to Jamie Grace. When we hear her song on the radio, she'll yell out, "Jamie Grace! Mama! Jamie Grace!" She's going to be super bummed that we can't take her with Zoe and I to their concert.

We'll just turn up this video really loud and pretend we're at a concert.

****

I want to remember some of Bryant's words at 14 months so I'm writing them down here. Ignore my mommy brain trying to dump.

-Roll Tide: "oooo tide."
-Amen: he thinks that's how we should begin and end prayers and he'll even fold his hands!
-Mama and Daddy and he knows it now!
-ball: one of his favorite words
-go: when racing down the hall
-ready, set, go which comes out "uh, uh, goooo!" when he really wants to race or he's throwing the ball down the hall
-Ace: and if Ace slips out to take the trash Bryant will stand at the door and call him. Word has it he called for Ace a lot last week while mommy and daddy were away.
-Zoe: o-e
-Josiah: Diah
-Ceili Rain: a-a (Cei Rai)
-Raffe: ra-e (Ceili Rain's giraffe
-Paci: Papi
-Papa: for Papa
-Grandmere:mandmere
-hi
-bye
-uh oh
-more: mo
-doggy: goggy

And a few more I can't remember right now.

Home

2011-10-04T10:00:00.000-04:00

We are home. We are whole and we are slowly getting back in to the routine of things. It's both nice and sad that all the kids survived without us for a whole week. I missed them so much and got the largest hug from Ceili Rain when we returned. As soon as we know more about what is going on, I can share...sorry to be so vague. I will share as soon as we can.

More later but now on to schoolwork again!

Prayers Appreciated

2011-09-25T21:47:00.000-04:00

I hate when people do this on their blog but sometimes it's just required! There are possibly some big changes coming for the bunch (besides the birth of a baby). This week will be a big determining factor so prayers for wisdom and safety for all are much appreciated. I'll write more when we know more but suffice it to say that it's big things from a big God for our crew and we'll have to leave it at that right now.

Beautiful

2011-09-24T00:05:00.000-04:00

At our church, if the father of the house is a Christian, he is encouraged to be the one to baptize his children and those under his house. The premise being that the husband should be the head of the home especially in spiritual matters. Mark and I had never really thought much about him baptizing our children until we started attending this church. After looking through the Bible, we realized that God's word does not say, "Thou shalt be ordained within the ministry of the church to baptize others." And realized what a blessing this would be to us and to our children if he baptized them.

So, Ace was the first one to be baptized by his father. And it all happened last Sunday. And, believe it or not, I did not cry buckets of tears. Mainly, I was too worried that my camera would die before I could get pictures and video.

But it didn't! And I did get pictures and video!

And I'm so thrilled (are you tired of seeing And's at the beginning of my sentences?)!

We had a lot of firsts that day...church at the lake under a pavilion in the semi cool weather. Ace getting baptized. Our kids and us having a wonderful time of fellowship and amazing food afterwards (no joke...at the end of this pregnancy they're going to have to roll me around if our church keeps fixing amazing food).

This would be a wonderful picture if blogger would cooperate and put my pictures up as they were saved!

Pastor B went discussed the reason he wanted to be baptized before Mark prayed over him and immersed him.

All total, there were eight baptisms. It was such a blessing to see the professions of faith and acts of obedience carried by fathers!

And the reason this post is so utterly lacking in wonderful pictures of our day at the lake is because the battery was threatening mutiny on the camera. Needless to say there was a lot of play in the sand and the water (despite the cool weather and my threat that they would have to ride home in undies if they got wet...and they did) and boat rides.

But, before the camera died I got this:

I love it! Totally not told to do so but Josiah helped his sister down to the beach area through the wooded area. I was so proud of his gentlemanly ways!

At the Drive-In

2011-09-22T14:19:00.001-04:00

Labor Day weekend our local (okay, it's only local because it's the closest one and it's about 45 minutes away), drive-in shows a ton of movies. Last year, we were able to see two kids movies for very cheap. This year, they only played one. And I tried to express my dislike in that. However, we were able to get home before midnight so it worked out good! We surprised them with the trip and they were all thrilled.

I, however, was less than thrilled as they played on the playground and I got attacked by fire ants. That was none too fun.

Anyway, they all enjoyed the pre-show playground and the during show snacks. And then we high tailed it out of there before the other movies started.

This was Bryant's second drive in movie. The first he was but a mere babe and totally didn't care one way or the other as long as he got fed and relaxed.

We were blessed with decent weather too! It was a slight bit warm before the sun went down but cooled off considerably afterwards. Even though it's a drive-in, it was still too warm to sit in cars so the chairs and blankets came out!

This is some intense stuff people!

Pillow Diving...again

2011-09-21T11:39:00.000-04:00

It's been awhile since I posted a pillow diving photo time, so we're all due. Aren't you all excited? Mark, of course, is responsible for these awesome action shots!

That'd be Zoe...flipping out.

I totally flipped this correctly but Firefox and Blogger do not like to work together.

Ginger almost got in on it. This was where Bryant learned "Let's go." But it comes out "et go!"

Lovely Day

2011-09-19T22:49:00.000-04:00

We took advantage of the change to not so humid weather and went bike riding in the not too far distant past.

He totally doesn't need training wheels and asked for a bike without them for Christmas...to which we replied we could give him one right away. He got a bit nervous about that but I think he'll do fine.

Miss Independent!

Don't worry, all were safe! Daddy never let go and, for the most part, neither did the babies.

Lining up for a race and Bryant decided to race on foot!

Giveaway: Marie Madeline skirt or $50 gift certificate

2011-09-16T09:13:00.000-04:00

Giveaway: Marie Madeline skirt or $50 gift certificate
If you have not seen Marie Madeline's skirts, fabric, and patterns, you are totally missing out! I've oogled and ahhhed over their skirts for quite some time. And right now, a lot of their patterns are 50% off. I personally, love the Street Fair skirts. Totally adorable. Anyway, go check them out and check out Life in Shoe who is giving away a skirt or a $50 gift certificate!

A Good Day...

2011-09-14T23:11:00.000-04:00

I've not kept it a secret that Liam is a challenging kid to work with. He's set in his ways and knows what he wants to do. And he gets very upset when what he wants to do doesn't comply with what I want to do. I say he's passionate...about everything. And, well, it's hard most days. We work really hard at focusing our heads and hearts on God. Sometimes we work overtime with Liam. He's an amazing kid and is going to do some amazing things.

But, it happened today. It all started with Liam waking up, getting dressed, grabbing his clean clothes and putting them up. It continued with Liam starting school with a joyful heart and only needing a few reminders throughout the day to have a joyful heart. It was so odd that I called Mark at work to see if something happened last night while I was out to have him change his attitude. He said nothing.

And he's not sick! Woohoo!

And I praised...and praised...and praised. We talked a lot about how his attitude was effecting everyone else today. We talked about how we please God and others with joyful hearts, etc. So, as we were talking, I asked him if we could keep this Liam.

He replied, "You have to!"

And I wouldn't have it any other way.

I continued to talk to him and then he just popped up, "I love you mama!"

And that's more than my hormonal heart can handle and I just cried.

I love this little boy dearly and I'm fully aware that tomorrow we may wake up and have to work harder than ever to keep joyful hearts and practice immediate obedience. But today, today I saw that God is working in his (and my) heart. We both are seeking Him and wanting to please Him. Today, God showed me that He is here and that He is in control. I'd love to take credit for his good day. But I can't. Only through God's love did we have a day like today!

Now on to rest for whatever challenges await us tomorrow!

Randomness and a New Poll

2011-09-13T16:55:00.000-04:00

It's now a month until we have the ultrasound, so we want to know what you think...will Seven be a boy or girl? Here's some clues that may or may not help:

I'm carrying low (keep in mind that I carried low for the last two pregnancies as well and one was a boy and one a girl).
I'm not really craving much but veggies.
I still love chocolate but have food aversions like nobody's business and those include: salad (I can eat lettuce with tacos etc but not as a salad), peaches (yeah, during season too), fresh whole wheat bread (that was true for the last two pregnancies as well), grass fed beef (same for the last two as well).

***
We decided to go to Ikea on the way home from visiting my parents. We went with the kids. For the first time. I was a bit nervous and it was packed. And, we had some digestive issues with one child which resulted in me running through most of the store holding that child's hand searching for the bathroom. That wasn't fun. Besides that, the kids thought it was really really cool and they get big props from me for being totally family friendly even down to the parking!

***
While in Ikea I told Mark that I had seriously been considering moving the school room into the living room and moving the living room to our bonus room. For once, he didn't make a shock and awe face and agreed that it just might work.

Now, we are trying to figure out how to do it. It's going to be a challenge but if we can get it to work and make it look nice (our living room is the room you see when you walk into our house), then it'll work.

Either way, we're committed to it because we moved our giant sleeper sofa down to the playroom and there's no way my pregnant self is going to try and lug that thing back up the two steps!

***
I'm anticipating a wonderful night out with other moms from our homeschool care group. So excited to get some mom time to visit with these amazing ladies!

***
If I'm going to leave this house sans kids, I had better get supper done asap.

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Before I go, make sure you go to my actual blog and leave your opinion about what our baby is!

We grow babies not flowers

2011-09-07T22:24:00.000-04:00

I have two flowerpots that I keep in the kitchen to make dirt cake (oh yes...and it's good too). Bryant has found that these plastic flowerpots have another great use.

Bryant's Hat Part 1 from justabunchofcharacters on Vimeo.

But wait, there's more:

Bryant Hat pt 2 from justabunchofcharacters on Vimeo.

He not only likes to put it on his head so he can't see. But, he also likes to run around the house, with it on his head (so he can't see), making noises. At least we know when he's coming and to steer him clear of any danger.

But he's totally adorable when he does it!

(Pictures courtesy of Zoe).

First Haircut

2011-09-06T20:34:00.002-04:00

Yes, I've already posted about Bryant's first cut. But Ceili Rain, in her two years of life, has not had a haircut. It was growing really slowly. I finally realized last month that it was getting scraggily and very uneven. So, when the boys had their haircut, we went to town on hers as well.

It's fun cutting a little girl's who was too excited to sit still. Not really...but it was interesting. I think she was more excited about wearing the cape and getting to sit on the big stool. She really wanted me to use the clippers but I draw the line on those with my sweet girls hair.

So, basically, all I did was even it up in the back. She had long hair from birth and then another layer of new hair.

Almost done!

Ta da! It ain't exactly professional, but it's done!

Ta Da!

2011-09-05T21:13:00.001-04:00

A couple of weeks a go I warned everyone that I was going to be refurbishing my china cabinet. The fabric was ordered and we were just waiting for an opportunity where I could work some magic on that baby.

Labor Day weekend seemed the best time to do it (considering we have something planned for almost every other weekend). We headed out Saturday, got the paint and scored some knobs for 99 cents each. They weren't the vintage glass knobs I was hoping for but they were 99 cents. And that is cheap!

Oh, oh, and I also got a palm sander for my very own! I'm so excited! My next big projects are going to include sanding down the spots on the kitchen table and chairs that is peeling AND sanding the front door and repainting it. The bumpy front door is the result of Mark and I realizing that we can not successfully strip paint. We have neither the patience or the skillz and we totally could not stand the chemical smells.

Anyway, here's the project. I didn't do a step by step but would it help if I said I thought about it several times throughout working on it?

This is what it looked like before.

A big brown beast looming on the wall by our kitchen table.

Here's the after-minus the drawers and stuff.

It's no secret that our home is not formal in any way shape or form. So, painting it white really toned down the formal of having a china cabinet. Well, it's not really white, it's winter's mood. And it's my favorite white look alike. I knew I didn't need nor want a bright white so I actually had the paint guys mix up paint that was, well, okay let's face it, it's white.

We tried out the new Olympic One from Lowe's (and I paid for it...wish they would have given it to me to review...but they didn't...that's my disclaimer). It's supposed to have primer and paint in one. Of course trying it out on a china cabinet covered in veneer that was mostly sanded off probably wasn't the best way to test it. It took three coats plus some touch up. There was still some peeling on places I couldn't quite get the sander. We've used Olympic paint on pretty much every wall of our house because it's cheap and for the price it fairs pretty well against our crew. I'd like to see the Olympic One match whits with one of our colorful walls. But, that's for another time.

I basically sanded down every inch I could of the cabinet. That means that veneer dust was all over the house. I've made a mental note to purchase a mask to do the door. The most challenging part was trying to paint the shelves which, for a veneer covered cabinet built in the 1950s was solidly stuck in there. I didn't want to mess with the integrity by trying to pull them out. These shelves are holding some precious stuff.

Anyway, the backing is the fabric I purchased online. The pattern is a little bigger than I originally thought, but I think it worked well. To get it in, I purchased the heavy duty adhesive spray from JoAnns. My super duper engineering husband got the exact measurements of what I would need for the back and cut it out of some trifold board that had seen better days. Originally, I was just going to put the fabric directly on the back. But, the more I thought about it, I realized that it could get messy, smelly, and look a bit ragged. The trifold board was perfect because it folded making it easy to pop in. I did the spray adhesive thing (outside) and wrapped the edges around the board. I also sprayed the back of the board before bringing it in and wedging it in place. If it decides to start falling (not sure how it can with the tight fit I had on it), we'll just put in a couple of nail brads in the corners and it should hold.

And, here's what it looks like with all our stuff in it:

Pretend that the knob on the drawer is painted. I had to run out and get another one and hadn't gotten it painted yet. It's on the list to do tonight.

That china is over 40 years old. It was my mom's wedding china. When Mark and I were engaged, mom had mentioned that I would get their wedding china. So, I never bothered to register. Of course, we lived in a tiny one bedroom apartment on a social worker's income when we first got married so china was the farthest thing from my mind when we registered for wedding gifts. But, it still felt good knowing that one day I would have this beautiful china.

Mom surprised me a year after my wedding. They were moving and she was trying to scale down so she sent her china....now my china home with me. The design is beautiful and so different than other wedding china out there (meaning it's totally me). It's got a silver rim and the black edging has roses etched in to it. I think it's gorgeous and the fact that it belonged to my parents who are still married makes it even more gorgeous.

And now, I think this new(ly re-done) china cabinet just helps to accent the beauty of it!

Seven Update

2011-08-31T21:15:00.000-04:00

A friend said we should name the baby Seven in honor of a Seinfeld episode where George decides that his first child will be named Seven. Go youtube it. It's totally there.

So, #7 will be nicknamed Seven until he/she gets a name which will hopefully be in about six weeks. It works for a boy or a girl, see???

I had a checkup today and had to go it alone because a plague was attacking the kids and we didn't want to share it with anyone until we felt we might be in the clear.

I'm just going to confess. A dear friend let us borrow her doppler to listen to the baby's heartbeat. We tried it at 12 weeks and again on Monday night (at 13 weeks). We both felt dumb as dirt because we were both certain the baby was still in there but we couldn't find him/her. We really weren't too worried that something was wrong because, well, because I'm 13 weeks and still having a bit of nausea. And it's not fun.

I just knew that Dr. J's nurse or Dr. J himself would be able to find the heartbeat and I was already to focus on the location so I could do the same at home and let the kids listen at their leisure.

Dr. J's nurse tried and tried but just couldn't find it. She thought she heard it a couple of times, but then couldn't get a good reading. So, since it was late in the afternoon, she checked to make sure the tech was in (because if she hadn't been, I totally was going to demand that someone else do it and do it quickly). She was. And, because Seven was acting up, I totally got a sweet ultrasound, which I secretly wanted anyways. Who doesn't love seeing their baby on screen? Especially since the last picture I had was a kidney bean with legs.

Baby was there, moving, wiggling, kicking his/her legs. And the heart was just a going at 164 beats per minute. And that is, I do believe, the highest little heartbeat we've seen in any of our kids (and I had not had any caffiene before I got there). But, as the ultrasound tech put it, it was perfect.

It was a quick ultrasound but right as she was finishing up, she snapped a picture of this:

That would be that the baby just decided to take a rest and plopped himself/herself right down to get all cozy and snug. Mark said it looks like the Dreamworks fishing kid at the intro of all their things (it's on youtube as well). Either way, I just think it's adorable and we are all getting so excited that our baby looks like an actual baby.

And, if you're wondering, the hematoma is still there but very, very small. I know where it is, but it is hard to see if you don't know what you are looking for.

We rejoice that God's blessed us and are looking forward to a fun second trimester!

A Day in the Life, Homeschooling 2011-2012

2011-08-30T22:00:00.000-04:00

It seems that every minute of every day we are reworking our schedule but the big overhaul comes when we start our new curriculum. So, here's how I homeschool all of this bunch AND maintain a resemblence of sanity.

Breakfast time: Before I got pregnant my goal was to have breakfast on the table at 7:30. Now, we're blessed if it gets there by 8. And no one is complaining. The first rule of the day is GET DRESSED. That was taking up the biggest chunk of our morning. Getting dressed after breakfast would consist of me telling, disciplining, telling, discipling, yelling, and finally they would be ready for the day. Now, every one is dressed and ready to go when we sit down at the table. Which turns out to be a good thing because at breakfast is when we start school. After I finish eating we crack open the books and they are free to continue eating or to sit still in their seats and listen and comment when necessary.

At breakfast we do Bible, journaling (we have one family journal and everyone contributes what goes in), History, Science, calendar, and poetry (for Liam but everyone listens).

After breakfast we do quick chores including brushing teeth, putting away laundry, emptying the dishwasher, sweeping and mopping, dressing toddlers and brushing their teeth (those are my chores).

Morning time: Zoe and Ace work on their schoolwork. They each have a checklist that they run through each day and then we go over their work as needed. I work with Josiah, Ceili Rain, and Liam through their school work.

Lunch: After I finish eating lunch we read, I select one fiction book and one non-fiction book. Right now we are enjoying The White Knights by W.E. Cule and The Adventure of Missionary Heroism by John C. Lambert.

Afternoons are reserved for playtime outside, rest time, and finishing up any work that had not been completed in the morning. As the months go on, I'm hoping to work with Zoe on teaching her how to sew and learning stitchery (her choice, not mine). The boys listen to our daily Bible reading in the afternoons and Zoe will read her Bible first thing in the afternoon.

And that's how we do it. It sounds simple when I type it out but if you were to come to my house you may find a two year old looking for someone to play with, a five year old who is hanging upside down reading, a seven year old who is looking for an excuse to stop working, an eight year old who is tolerating the distractions and doing her best to finish her work, and a four year old who is playing with trains. Oh, the one year old is still taking naps in the morning and when he's not doing that he's usually running around the house with a ball. Trust me, there is order even if my house doesn't look like it. I think.

This is How We Do It...Homeschool 2011-2012

2011-08-29T22:00:00.000-04:00

Yep, another year is upon us. Actually, it's already started. To keep sanity and limbs from being lost, we continued on with school in June and July. Now, lest you think I'm a homeschool nazi, we did not do that much school. If you'll remember June was the month of strep which carried over into July and crossed over into pregnancy blahs and friends visiting. So, all total, we may have had school for possibly twenty days total. So, don't judge people. It was for my own sanity's sake.

Anyway here's what we're up to this year:

Bible
All Ages: After reading A Love that Multiplies by Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar, and listening to my children yell and scream at each other, I decided that memorizing Matthew 18 would be a great place to start our Bible time. We are through to verse 23. As we memorize, we are also discussing what it means.

After we finish Matthew 18 we'll start into a more structured Bible time from Lamp & Quill. I'm looking forward to this curriculum as it is written for all ages from Bryant all the way through to me. We should gain a lot out of it. Of course, this does not and will not replace our family worship time during the evenings. This is a little extra that we'll be doing along with that and our daily Bible reading (we're reading/listening through the Bible chronologically)

Language Arts
Pre-K/K: I rebelled this year. We've stepped back from Abeka and are now trying Institute for Excellence in Writing's Primary Arts of Language (PAL). Can I just say I love it?! We started this month and the first month is very teacher intensive. Knowing this, I was glad we waited until the others were set on their routines. We're almost through with the most teacher intensive part and we should be heading towards more learning independence. Liam is the primary student for this with Josiah and Ceili Rain playing the games and listening in at times. This is right up Liam's learning alley because it moves quickly from one activity to another. So, it holds his attention and he's starting to read at a slow pace. This PAL program includes both reading and writing and will include spelling later in the year.

2nd Grade: Primary Language Lessons by Emma Serle-I used this last year and enjoyed the easy pace of it for Zoe. So, it's nice and easy going for Ace who doesn't seem to want to go too fast.

3rd Grade: Easy Grammar: Grade 3-Zoe seems to be picking up on this and she's getting her daily dose of grammar without her head exploding diagramming sentences.

2nd & 3rd Grade (Writing): Institute for Excellence (IEW) in Student Writing Intensive Level A (SWI). Last year we used Writing Strands and having never taught writing, well, it didn't go so well. Zoe and I survived, barely. We got the Teaching Writing Structure and Style (TWSS) and the SWI. The TWSS really is a teacher prep course and I have to say, I am prepared! We've been doing this through the summer and it is going so much better! Zoe is getting it and so is Ace. Ace will go through the first two units while Zoe will complete the whole level (this was per the conversation I had with the IEW people at the convention). I can see her brain starting to work and realize that she can enjoy writing! One of the best things about IEW is that if you purchase your material from them and are not fully satisfied at any time you can return it! They also have a great yahoo group which offers super support. And, if you're not sure where to start your child, request a catalog and there is a grade graph showing where to start what and when.

2nd & 3rd Grade Spelling: Spelling Power-We used this last year and given Zoe's test results last year, we'll continue with it. It's simple and takes about five minutes a day and includes everything I need from grades 2 through 12th grade.

Math
PreK: Saxon Math K-Josiah will start this. We are waiting to start until we get a good routine going for our PAL program. Once that is set, I'll start it. I'm in no rush although Josiah's doing a great job with his critical thinking skills.

K: Saxon Math 1-Liam started some of this during the summer but when we started up PAL, I decided to put it on hold until it gets more student independent. At five, Liam can't really take a full day of mommy's attention focused completely on him. I can totally understand.

2nd & 3rd Grade: Teaching Textbooks 3-This came after a bit of a struggle last year. Zoe was ready to move a faster pace than Ace. Ace needed more reinforcement of some concepts but could move on, although more slowly than Zoe, onto others. They had started out on the same math because I learned a year too late that Saxon Math is usually set at a grade below what it's actually teaching. So, much research was involved and we felt that Teaching Textbooks would be the way to go. It gives Zoe that independent and quick learning that she needs and allows Ace to practice and re-practice, if necessary, concepts he can't quite get. It also gives me a break from having to instruct daily math (at which I'm not very good at) lessons for older kids. All the lessons are included on the software. They get about 30 minutes a day on math and at the end of the day, I review how they did. If they didn't do too well, I can erase the lesson record and they are required to do it again. There have been zero tears of the math lessons although the fact reviews have brought a bit of tears. With this being our third month, Zoe is on her third of four Cds, which means she is more than halfway through with the lessons. When she finishes, she'll start in the Life of Fred series. She's super excited about this as we've already done quite a bit of research on it! She'll pick back up with Teaching Textbooks when we start the next school year (can't have her get too ahead of her peers now can we???)

History
All grades: Mystery of History Volume II-I've scaled down my expectation on history and we are still loving this curriculum. Zoe and Ace are continuing to work on Memory Cards with it and we are including a geography lesson (that is included in the back of each week's lessons) with it. It's awesome and we're now studying my favorite part of history...the Middle Ages.

Science
All grades: Apologia Science, Zoology 1, Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day-This has been a great text so far. Included with several of the Apologia Science books are journals. We are using the journals this year and it's been great to have everything we need right there. Incidentally, if you are using Apologia Science the best place to get lab kits (with all the stuff you'd spent a week collecting at various stores) is Homeschool Science Tools. It's also the cheapest.

Other stuff
Zoe is taking dance. Ace is doing something else, but we're not sure what. They are all doing gymnastics (it's a homeschool gymnastics that meets twice a month). Zoe and Ace are both still doing piano although Ace's may change after this winter. We've got handbells and art and other fun things to do in case they finish the above and are board. We also are planning on expanding our missions work around our area. The older kids are getting older and we're all learning that we need to show Christ's love to those around us. I'm looking forward to opportunities to do that!

I will also say that almost everything we are purchasing now or have purchased in the past is non-consummable, or is in ebook form so we have the rights to print off as much as we need for the time we use it. A lot of what we purchased this year was a bit expensive but taking into account we'll not need to purchase as the next child goes through it, well, it gets cheaper as we go (and the more kids we have). And that's one of our minor goals!

So, stay tuned for tomorrow, when I'll let you know how we do all this during a day. Well, at least how we're supposed to do all this in a day.

Finger Painting

2011-08-24T05:42:00.000-04:00

It's 5:30 am on Wednesday. Yeah, I've been up since 3:30 due to being hot, bathroom run, itching (more on that later), and sinus infection. I have to be up up by 6:15 and ready to get kids up because for some reason I scheduled their dentist appointments for 7:45 in the morning. My brain is totally fried.

So, I thought I'd post, seeing as how I missed yesterday, have read all my facebook statuses, and am now up to date with blogs I don't follow. Priorities you know.

Liam and Josiah are using a new phonics curriculum. I'll post more about our homeschool stuff later but I wanted to share this first. The curriculum suggests using different tactile things to encourage writing letters, etc. One of the suggestions was finger paint.

So, I grabbed a box of pudding, mixed it up and sent the kids outside with it, plates, and swimsuits on. They enjoyed it for about ten minutes and then wanted to play in the sprinklers! They barely even ate the pudding (more for me...yippee!). As you can see, Liam got a lot out of the tactile letter writing and made a guy. With a sword.

Josiah made a river and mountains.

I think we'll just stick with the whiteboard and paper from here on out.

Ceili Rain thought it'd be fun to just smash her hand in it. And lick. I wholeheartedly agreed with her.

And Bryant, well, he still prefers a morning power nap and was down for the count when all the mess occurred.

Now that that is done. Let's see if I can catch a thirty minute snooze before time to get up and go.

We Like to Rock!

2011-08-22T21:59:00.001-04:00

Occasionally, we'll turn on some good Christian praise music and have at it. And this is what the kids do:

He's four ya'll. I'm no guitar expert but at four, I didn't know how to hold a guitar...and he even plays chords on it and strums up and down. Do they make guitars small enough for a four year old?

Ceili Rain getting down!

And Bryant just thinks we all flipped our lid.

This rockin' out session was provided by NeedtoBreathe who's music we've been enjoying on their website (and they didn't pay me to say that and I have no idea why NeedtoBreathe is all one word but it is. I'm goingtostartrightinglikethat Okayit'slate.). I will also say that our favorite songs are "Slumber" and "The Outsiders."

Speaking of Rockin' Out. Mark caught Josiah on tape doing Just Dance Kids! Let's just say it's fun-ny!

Presenting Ceili Rain...

2011-08-17T11:45:00.000-04:00

She had to give a performance a few weeks ago. I thought it turned out great. Even with the giggling!

She's such a silly fun little girl and she makes me smile a lot.

This video is kind of long but it's really fun. At least for this mama.

Presenting Ceili Rain... from justabunchofcharacters on Vimeo.

In Sight

2011-08-15T21:54:00.000-04:00

I can tell the first trimester blahs are getting close to being over. I'm starting to brainstorm creative ideas.

And today, for the first time in over six weeks, I actually got to my sewing machine and started creating. Of course, I had to have an afternoon nap first and then clear out the mass of stuff that had accumulated on and around my craft area the past six weeks. But, I got there and got in some quality time with my machines. It does a heart good.

During my brainstorming and nausea and "restricted activity" and Zoe's bought with a virus (thankfully, not strep but two more times and those tonsils are gone!), I also watched HGTV Design Star. That just made me crave a big project (well, that and pregnancy always seems to bring a big project).

So, my next big project is going to be our china cabinet.

Mark and I found it about two to three years ago at a used furniture store. I love it. But, it's stained. And nothing is stained in my kitchen. Well, the floors are but that doesn't count. So, it kind of just sticks out like a big brown box on my wall near the dining room table.

So, thanks to Pinterest, I've put together what I'm going to do to overhaul the china cabinet.

First, paint. My dad is going to flip but it's paint or nothing...and here's what it will look like:

Source: restoringtheroost.blogspot.com via Abbie on Pinterest

My cabinet is missing one of the handles on the drawers so those are going to be replaced with pulls that hopefully look vintage like these (but I'm going to go cheap):

Source: houseofantiquehardware.com via Abbie on Pinterest

I'll probably paint the smaller knobs on the cabinet doors and the glass door white or red or green...hmmm.

Then, to go totally bold, I'm going to add fabric to the back board of the cabinet. I think this is really going to make my black and white china stand out, as well as my Christmas china. It's bit strong, and totally matches all the fun colors in the kitchen:

Source: fabric.com via Abbie on Pinterest

Blame it all on HGTV if it doesn't turn out totally great. Zoe saw the fabric and just flipped. But then, she's my kid! I just ordered the fabric this week so it's going to be awhile (meaning we have to have a free weekend...oh, maybe Labor Day...yeah, that'll work.) before we get started on it.

So, what do you think? Has this pregnancy finally brought me over the edge?

I'll try and remember to post before and after pictures!

Happy Birthday Ace!

2011-08-11T22:30:00.000-04:00

Ace got to celebrate his birthday a week early when his cousins came to visit with Ge and Granddaddy. Granddaddy and Ge totally knocked the birthday gift out of the park. They got Ace a pair of real walkie talkies. They were in heaven for over a week.

Now, Ace's birthday party was the same day as Bryant's birthday. That may seem cruel but Bryant didn't seem to mind (or even realize). Ace's birthday is three days after Bryant's thus the thought to double up for a little while. I was not pregnant when we planned his party but it just so happened that I was. Several months before his birthday, our local daily deal site ran a deal with Putt-Putt. It was much like Liam's bowling party in that it included stuff for up to six people. So, we grabbed two of them. For as long as they could stand it Ace, his siblings, his daddy, and his friends had a blast in the game area (20 tokens for each kid), putt putt (in 100+ degree weather), bumper boats, and laser tag. It was awesome! And cheap! I was happy about the cheap part. Basically, we spent about an 1/8th of the cost of actually renting a party room and doing it through Putt-Putt. I know that is cheap but it so worked! After not finding some friends for an hour, everyone gathered together and had a good time. They even outlasted the parents and we ran the Crimson Caravan Commuter after the kids were all pooped out.

Ace requested a carrot cake. I found these cute laser tag printouts for cheap on etsy. Yeah, I could have made them, but the baby in my growing belly said to just buy them. So I did. And luckily for us, none of the kids liked the "spicy" birthday cake...so it was all ours...and yummy!

The laser tag teams. Papa's team lost but all the kids could talk about for a long time was Papa playing laser tag with them. They thought that was pretty awesome!

He had such a good time! And that was our goal.

I have no idea what it was but it was worth catching flies over!

Thanks Papa and Grandmere! Our new car trip family favorite (and rest time too)...Jonathan Park! We love it!

Mark's Buddy! Just ignore the food in Mark's mouth. He was chowing down.

Bumper Boats! They shot water which was perfect for finishing up Extreme Heat Putt Putt.

Bryant got to watch from the sidelines. Upside down. (Not really...sorry about that).

Any guesses how old Ace is now?

On Ace's actual birthday, he got to skip school, open gifts from family, have pj day, and watch a movie. I didn't get a picture of what we actually gave him but I will at some point.

Happy Birthday my sweet Ace-Man. Our gift from God!

Happy Birthday Bryant!

2011-08-09T21:50:00.002-04:00

So, Bryant turned one last month and we celebrated! First the prep:

We went simple...chocolate cake with chocolate icing. And chocolate cupcakes for the guests!

We got this adorable fondant topper from KidsCakes on Etsy. I got Ceili Rain's and Josiah's cake decorations from the same place! I loved it! And it was so worth it.

Now to the Birthday boy's main attraction:

"May I have the cake please?"

Now, he actually went face first into it, so we cut off a piece and he was very happy.

"Can you believe they're letting me eat the whole cake?!"

Sugar. High.

Pause for a bit of liquid refreshment

And then he couldn't resist the fondant.

Needless to say, he loved it! He didn't eat and grab the whole cake and only ate a couple of bites, but he enjoyed every bit of it.

Ceili Rain enjoyed the cupcakes.

And then it was bathtime.

Please don't think we're cruel. He had fun shortly after this was taken. It does hold a bit of a "what in the world are they doing to me" caption though.

Ceili Rain enjoyed making baby Maggie cry and then laugh.

Present time. This boy loves balls. About as much as big brother Josiah! He also can throw them. Hard and far!

Happy birthday to our sweet baby boy Bryant!

He's been so much fun this first year of his life. From teeth at two months to crawling at five months to walking at eleven months (forgot to post on that...sorry). He's a trip all the way around. He loves his brothers and sisters, getting into everything and climbing all over everyone. His brothers and sisters are equally enthralled with him. They love to carry him everywhere, "wrestle" with him, and have him chase them around. He can laugh in a quick minute and usually when he knows he's doing something he shouldn't. He says several words including, "uh oh," "ba" for ball, "dada," "hi," "bye bye," "mama" when prompted, "Papa" when prompted, and he tries to make some different distinct sounds for each of his brothers and sisters when we say their names. Regardless, he's constantly making noise whether it's babbling (loudly) or banging a toy on furniture. We never lose track of him for long! He is a light and joy and we praise God for each day we are given with him.

Here are his stats at one year:

20 lbs. 20% (at least he's twenty pounds...the boy eats ya'll...and he was getting mama's milk from the freezer two to three times a day for about a month)

30 1/2 inches tall 75%

19 inches head 95%

And now you know the "after" of a one year old's haircut.

How to Cut a One Year Old's Hair

2011-08-08T23:06:00.002-04:00

Tools:
Three adults, well, four if you count the one wielding the camera
Squirt bottle so little hairs don't fly into baby's face (and for the "fun factor")
Scissors for two adults
Patience
Lots of Patience

Directions:
First, in the throes of morning sickness, forget to take before pictures until after you've sprayed the water and the one year old's hair looks all scraggely.

"Oh yeah, this is gonna be fun!"

Next, position an adult over the baby, one adult on one side and one on the other. Adult over baby holds head down.

*Lastly, have a free for all and try to get hair as even as possible! It's basically a cut-let go and relax-cut again cycle.

For the record, Bryant desperately needed a haircut and on the eve of his first birthday Grandmere and Papa were visiting so having a skilled adult with this still unskilled mama was a bonus...plus we had two extra adults for pictures and head control. Bryant's the first of the bunch that does not have a cowlick in front. That means he has to have a bowl cut, no-doubt-about-it. And he looks adorable! Even if I cut around his ears too short...I always do that. I'm just starting him off with it early!

Check back tomorrow for the results of the cut and a celebration of all things Bryant as he turns one!
*No babies were harmed in this process. Not even on accident!

Baby Update

2011-08-03T22:02:00.002-04:00

We had a second doctor's appointment today. And since this is the chronicles of our life, I'll put what all is going on (and mainly to help me remember in years down the road). My first appointment was at 6 weeks. And this is what the baby looked like:

That arrow was pointing the baby. Now look to the left of the baby. See that dark squash looking thing? It actually went up and over the baby. Pretty much surrounding the sac. That's called "fluid." It's called fluid because, well, we're not sure what kind of fluid it is. The main thought is that it's a clot like last time. So, with that and a progesterone level, we were sent home for three weeks of "restricted activity." This time I was a bit more prepared. Especially when I saw her doing the ultrasound and the big blob beside the baby. I knew it shouldn't be there. Dr. J. even showed me how it went all the way around the sac.

My progesterone levels were taken that day too. And they came back at 6.8. That's low folks. That's really low. So, on progesterone supplements I go. We've been this route before.

Fast forward to yesterday, and my now nine week appointment. We praise God for seeing this:

Although it looks like a kidney bean with skinny legs, it's a baby. We also saw the baby kick his/her legs and when she went to him, and then back to him, he was in a different position so he/she is floating around nicely in there.

The fluid/clot...well, it's still there too. But a ton smaller. Even the tech commented on how small it was. I think she was a bit overjoyed to see that I was not having any problems either. And I haven't had a single problem...unless you count extreme hunger, extreme nasuea, and extreme exhaustion.

So, we were ready for questions for Dr. J when we sat down with him. Why is this happening again? Why the low progesterone? Is there anything we can do about it? What's causing it? Etc. He was very good and patient answering the questions. Here's the answers:

Turns out it's kind of just hit and miss about this happening. It's not because I've had a bunch of babies in a short amount of time or because I'm not eating right or any of that. Mainly it boils down to two things...the blood vessels in that area are pretty sensitive and if there was a bit of trauma to the area (a strain or something) then they could burst and cause a clot. Also, it could be a clotting disorder...nothing serious...just something that could cause these hematomas. Now, we could go through testing and pay a bunch of money to see if it's the clotting disorder, but it still wouldn't change the outcome. It'd still be there and we'd still have to watch for a clot and if it was there then we'd still have to treat it the way we were, etc. Mark and I agreed that testing just wasn't really necessary.

The progesterone, turns out, can be low for two reasons. The obvious one: the baby is not healthy and will die in utero causing a miscarriage. The placenta doesn't kick in etc In that instance, you could pump as much progesterone as you would like into someone and they would still not have a "successful" pregnancy. We were in that boat with our second pregnancy and understand that plain as day. Or two: the clot can interfere with the levels causing the placenta and such to not be able to put out the progesterone needed for my body. In which case, if you give progesterone supplements, it helps stabilize the pregnancy and keeps the clot from messing with the baby!

The second one, of course, makes the most sense since we've seen a healthy, right-on-schedule baby, and there was a big clot in the first ultrasound and a smaller one in the second and I've had zero problems.

It was nice to have those questions answered and to understand that there is nothing I could have or can really do to change what we have to do for this first trimester.

Dr. J is fully confident (and given my history, we are too) that after the first trimester, everything will stabilize and I'm back on track for a fun, healthy pregnancy...because having a baby in the spring is awesome! Feeling good through holidays and not being hot and big! I love it!

So, two more weeks of progesterone. Three more weeks of "restricted activity" and we're set! I pray!

We've been blessed by people in our church and dear friends who have been providing meals, child watching services, and compaionship during these weeks. It has been really nice to have some loads taken off of us.

Kids Say...

2011-07-29T22:00:00.000-04:00

Well, you know the old addage.. And my kids are no exception!

Ceili Rain
An early morning conversation with the 2 year old princess began like this:

CR: Where's daddy?
Me: Where do you think daddy is?
CR: At work.
Me: That's right. We'll see him after he gets off work after rest time.
CR: Daddy home all day.
Me: Not today.
CR: Daddy has heart.
Me: Does daddy have your heart?
CR: Yes (and yes ma'am with correction).

Ceili Rain is enjoying playing a "see ya later game." She grabs a bag, purse, or any other girly looking baggage and puts on shoes and announces: "Bye bye. I be back in a wittle bit."

"Okay," I say. "Where are you going?"

And this time she answered, "To chuch (church)."

I tell her alright, I'll miss her and then we blow kisses. Two seconds later she walks back in.

"I back."

"Oh, you are? How did church go?"

"Good."

"Did Pastor B. preach?"

"Yes ma'am."

"What did he preach about?" I ask.

"God."

She's also developed quite a fondness for our pastor and has to give him a hug before Sunday school, after Sunday school, and after worship and pretty much whenever she feels like it. He'll walk around with her for awhile and then she's happy and content and goes on her way. We tell him that it's his grandfatherly appearance (he's not a grandfather yet and even has a four year old daughter...he doesn't like that statement too much).

Josiah

Josiah announces to me (with a very mischievous grin): Mama, you're belly's getting bigger!

Me: I know. Do you think it's because I have a baby in my belly?

Josiah: No ma'am. It's because you ate a Christmas tree.

And he goes off giggling. Today he told Mark that it was because I ate a house.

And with my appetite, I think I might be able to eat a house or a Christmas tree!

The Rest of July

2011-07-28T22:00:00.000-04:00

We preformed plays in the hallway...

Decorated Josiah's trains.

Had a brief visit with cousins.

Isn't my niece is just beautiful!? She bribed her cousin with cookies and it worked.

Celebrated Daddy's birthday (that's 32...three candles, two in the next row). And it's peach cobbler.

And Josiah enjoyed riding his birthday gift. A bike.

Free Food!

2011-07-27T22:00:00.000-04:00

Of course we didn't pass up the free food from Chick-fil-a this year! No way would we do that. I've just been delayed in getting this up.

Our Carr Friends did it right this year with reuseable shirts! We're so doing that next year. Our spots wouldn't stay on this year and our ears were a bit floppy...see???

But we still had some cute cows this year.

The Invasion

2011-07-26T22:00:00.000-04:00

The Transue Summer Invasion happened at the beginning of July. They got here in time for a quick cook out and rainy fireworks on the 4th and then the week was full of lots of fun activities...

like blueberry picking!

Isn't he the cutest three year old?!

We also enjoyed a get together with "friends of the Transues." The girls helped get ready by decorating two flag cakes. They were super yummy too!

Shortly after this picture Miss Maggie left Mr. John a present. It was not pretty.

We kept the kids so busy they just couldn't stay awake to finish supper.

Where We've Been

2011-07-25T22:14:00.000-04:00

So yeah, I obviously didn't get zoo pictures up. We realized late last Monday night that we had forgotten our camera for the zoo trip so all the pictures were taken with Mark's phone. Which means now they are on Google + and I have no clue how to get them over here. That's a job for Mark.

But here's a few reasons we've been sporadic...
1. Pregnancy...first trimester is always a good excuse not to update the blog. Especially with the exhaustion and the nausea and the eating...I'm eating a lot this time...weird.
2. Strep: We started with strep in June and then it continued through July starting back up with Liam and scarlet fever (that we found at the zoo). Ace got it on July 3 for his second round. And then Ceili Rain and Bryant got it a week later. At the point our pediatrician had had it and did cultures on all of us, including me...yeah, that culture thing isn't so much fun. At that point, Zoe and Josiah came back positive (meaning they had it but had not started with symptoms yet). Ace had just finished his meds so he and Liam tested negative. That brought our strep med count up to four. Mark got swabbed the next day and came back negative. Four days after all that, Ace started running a low grade fever and I looked at his throat and immediately called the doctor. My pediatrician wasn't so thrilled to see us again that week, and I think was a bit doubtful about it being strep. Until she saw his throat. And his culture came back positive after 2 1/2 minutes. I know my strep thankyouverymuch. So, my normal antibiotic avoidant doctor prescribed antibiotics for Ace and as a precaution to Liam. That's right. We've had six children on antibiotics. They are all finished up and all finished up today so we'll see if we kicked the strep habit for good. If not, one or two more times and Ace is going to be removed of those pesky tonsils.
3. Some other changes that I can't mention on here until I talk to family and we actually know more. So, suffice to say it's big. And exciting. And terrifying all at once. And it's totally a God thing! Prayers are supre appreciated and as soon as we know more and have told all, we will share even more here (and I can't wait)!

And so, stay tuned this week for more of what we've done in July.

Josiah's Birthday!

2011-07-19T22:00:00.000-04:00

'Round here we end June (and start July) with a bang. This year was no exception! Josiah celebrated his birthday at the end of the month and I think he had a wonderful time. He requested some months ago to have a trip to the zoo with the penguins. Those were his specific instructions. We couldn't go on his actual birthday but we did go the week of his birthday so it counted as a birthday trip!

Here's what went down on the actual day of the birthday.

Thanks Papa and Grandmere...daddy was only passed out for a short amount of time!

A friend gave us these neat train candle holders some time ago. We kept them for Josiah's birthday and every now and then we had to take them out and look at them. Josiah requested a strawberry cake with chocolate icing. It actually tasted quite good. Anything tastes good with chocolate (even if you're in your first trimester).

So, we couldn't get the icing to work to spell "Happy Birthday Josiah" on the cake. We wrote it on the table instead. Improvisation...a mommy's best friend.

Even Bryant got into the party spirit!

Alright. Well, since I can't seem to find my zoo pictures, those will have to wait until tomorrow...stay tuned!

Reunited...

2011-07-15T22:00:00.000-04:00

This year we were able to make it to the first of family reunions. We're hoping to attend at least one more, possibly two if my side does it again. This is a great opportunity for me to meet relatives and hear stories about "the good ole days," which I love!

So, here's a photo dump of our day at a reunion we attended in June.

Before the reunion, we were reunited with the oldest two as Grandparent Camp came to an end. I was so excited to have my oldest two "babies" back. They celebrated by calling us Grandmere and Papa the whole weekend...and we still took them back home with us.

The younger kids enjoyed picking veggies from Papa's garden.

And these next series of pictures I just have to comment on. They are too funny not to!

Bryant: Hey Papa, what's so surprising???

Bryant: Oh, I see the bright light...that's just mom, she does that all the time. What's up mom?!

Bryant: Okay, mom, we're done posing you can stop...any. time. now.

Bryant: Alright...just one more!

Sweet cuddle love ! (Note: This was the weekend before we found out #7 was on the way. This was also the weekend, I had massive heartburn that woke me up and had me up for a little while. And, I kept trying to figure out, this same weekend, why I just felt a little blah...the answer came the following Monday! You'd think I would know the symptoms by now...it was the heartburn that threw me for a loop)

Sweet Sibling Love! (aka Partners in Crime)

Bryant was very interested in another little girl there. She's a cousin.

Ceili Rain thought she was adorable too.

Dirt. A girl's best friend. Okay, a girl with three older brothers.

Swings can be pretend fliers

Sticks are pretty cool too.

This is his model stance.

And his sweet smile, Model pose.

Bryant standing. By himself. Pay no attention to his beautiful black eye. It's healed nicely and he now knows how to climb down the two steps in our home.

First Annual Grandparent Camp

2011-07-14T22:37:00.000-04:00

On Father's Day weekend, we packed up the two oldest (aka the Helpers) and sent them off with Papa and Grandmere for the first ever Grandparent Camp. They were super excited and Grandmere and Papa made the week extra special. Meanwhile, back at our camp there was a countdown to when we could get the siblings back. They were missed by their brothers, sister, and the parental figures as well.

They got very cold in a cold creek.

Visited a falls...

Rode a train.

Visited cousins (which I think was the highlight of the trip).

Cousin J showed Zoe the ropes of the farm...

And his garden.

And vineyard (muscadines, I've been told).

And pretended to ride some kind of large construction vehicle.

And Ace swung on a tire swing (a big highlight).

They also helped Papa in the garden and enjoyed the fruit (or rather veggies) of their labors.

A big thanks to Papa for taking all these fine pictures with his phone and emailing them to us throughout the week!

Father's Day Weekend

2011-07-13T22:32:00.000-04:00

So, Father's Day weekend we had planned for Mark's parents to come up so that Papa could help finish up the deck. That was the plan.

That's not what happened. Mark, who was not on call. Got a call from work (which never happens) and had to go to work on Saturday. I was committed to volunteer at a home school used book sale so that left his parents to watch the kids.

Fortunately, Mark only had to work in the morning and was able to get home and get to the wood store and back home to get up some railing before it started pouring rain!

Before the rain, the men were checking the radar on their "smart" phones.

And Sunday dawned beautiful and bright (and hot) and everyone actually looked at the camera for pictures!

And Ceili Rain posed with Papa.

Help!

2011-07-12T22:26:00.000-04:00

in June....

We had lots of visitors in June and the first of July (that's how we like it around here). And lots of visitors means lots to clean before and after. Here are two of my helpers in training (no, I did not make them clean the cabinets but they both wanted to and I let them do it...who's going to refuse help?).

Yep, he's the kid behind the clothe in the first picture. He really wanted a rag so I gave him, sprayed water on the cabinet and he went to town and was every bit as serious as could be.

Josiah enjoyed helping with making laundry soap. He's becoming quite the chef and every time I step in the kitchen he is right there asking to help!

Ceili Rain learned to ask for help in putting on her underwear. She also learned it doesn't go over your head. Oh, and she learned that toothpaste doesn't go in your hair either. She did a lot of learning in June.

If Six is a Bunch of Characters...

2011-07-11T21:28:00.001-04:00

what will seven be?

And thus, explains my absence the past several days! We are so excited about this new little blessing being knit together! The kids are beyond thrilled and Ace told us, when we told them about the baby, that he had prayed the night before that God would give us another baby.

I've got to do a major photo dump but sleep and nausea are my friends for awhile.

But, pictures they are a comin'!

Stay tuned.

Blueberries...yummy!

2011-07-05T22:00:00.000-04:00

Bryant likes blueberry coffee cake. See???

We're here but blogging will be sporadic this week as we are enjoying some time with our dear friends from another state! Ten kids 8 and under all in one house! We are having a blast.

For now, enjoy Bryant's sweet blueberry face. Yeah, we know we should have used a bib!

Happy Independence Day!

2011-07-02T13:47:00.000-04:00

Yes, I know I'm two days early but I didn't want to forget as we have friends who will be here all week! And I'm one happy camper.

So, for the 4th we will be joyfully busy.

And my daughters will be decked out in the most adorable outfits. At least I think they are:

Yeah, it's still keeping the pictures turned. I'll show how I made this skirt in a sec...but first, the youngest from the Bunch...

This was my second attempt at a pillowcase dress and, I must say, it succeeded!

So, here's how I made Zoe's skirt. After making the pillowcase dress, I didn't have enough material to make a twirl skirt for Zoe. So, I brainstormed. And remembered that I was holding on to two blue jean legs that I had cut off last year to make shorts for Zoe. I knew they would make a cute skirt but wasn't sure how to use them. And then this project came up:

I cut the legs apart and then folded them in half.

I placed the denim on the fabric on the fold and cut out two more panels to match the pants panels. I also made sure they had a bit of a triangle shape to add to some twirl (which is a requirement from Zoe).

Then I just sewed (actually serged...woohoo...I have a serger now) the panels together, made casing for elastic and then sewed the ribbon on the bottom. Tada!

And my wonderful "critic" and "advisor" loved it!

My Black Eyed Peas

2011-06-30T22:06:00.000-04:00

The week of Josiah's Big Cut did not end with just a mere scratch but with two...yes, two, black eyes! At least they were on different people. The Thursday after the cut incident, I was dropping Zoe off at Dance Camp and had left the other kids in the Crimson Cruiser while I ran in to see if there were any last minute instructions. I was gone, possibly, five minutes at the most and every single child in the van was strapped in and the a/c was running. When I got back to the car, Liam was screaming and holding his eye. In between sobs and as I raced to get gas for our mammoth vehicle (the light came on as we pulled out of our driveway and stayed on...it was very low). I got the story:

Ceili Rain wanted one of Bryant's hard plastic toys (it looks like a remote control). Ace was in the front middle seat with Bryant and thought he'd toss the toy back to Ceili Rain. Apparently, Ace isn't very good at throwing behind himself and the toy landed directly behind him. It just so happens that Liam occupies the seat directly behind Ace and it just so happens that Liam took a direct hit, in the eye, from the projectile.

When we stopped for gas, I got Liam out of his seat, cleaned the blood and then tried to get witch hazel on it (to help keep it from bruising). It was quite beyond witch hazel help though and he still got a black eye.


Wear that shiner with pride my son!

That very same afternoon. I'm not kidding it was that afternoon! The kids were all playing in the boys' room while I got supper ready. Ceili Rain decided she wanted something down from the very top of the boys' dresser and pulled and pulled. And she continued to pull until she pulled a ceramic piggy bank down. The best we can figure is that Zoe broke the banks fall causing it to smash into pieces and one of the pieces cut and hit Ceili Rain. On the eye. The opposite eye of Liam. I was praising God that she didn't get a piece in her eye.

And Josiah, well, his finger is healing wonderfully! He lost some of his fingernail but not much. The day of the black eyes, I decided to give the kids a bath and to keep Josiah from getting it wet, we did this:

He wanted to take a picture to show Daddy. Daddy was so proud.

Now, I didn't get a picture of our last black eye, but will tell that Bryant has had his first black eye recently. Last week, he was in the living room and I was listening out for him while working on the computer. I apparently wasn't fast enough because when I heard him at the steps, then he was on the floor of the bonus room. This is why I'm very grateful we live in a ranch house with two steps down into the bonus room. Somehow he hit his eye and got a nice shiner on the way down. Needless to say, we are all much more cautious about the steps with Mr. Bry. As we should be...that kid can climb up on toilets, stepstools, and whatever else he finds. The trouble is he can't get down.

We're all praying for an accident free July!

Pickin...

2011-06-29T21:56:00.001-04:00

Our pastor's wife planned a trip to a local blueberry patch and when the owners said the more kids the merrier, we signed up! Some of the local u-pick places do not like having children running through their land (understandably). But these people didn't mind. And they didn't seem to mind after we finished picking and eating blueberries and making multiple trips to their toilet and drinking up all their water.

I apologize, in advance for all these sideways photos. I'm not sure what is up with blogger. I have checked, and double checked, and I have rotated the pictures and saved them but some how they flip when I upload them. So, just turn your head.

A beautiful pond, and because they have 16 grandchildren, there is a nice big fence all the way around the pond! Woohoo for grandparents!

She actually did pick more than that...but she was amazed at how well she did at the start!

Yes, I made them wear the yellow shirts...even though our group was the only ones there. I never had trouble spotting them.

All their hard work earned great rewards though. We got one large bucket of blueberries and about half a bucket of blackberries. And they were all yummy too! And still are. I froze most of the blueberries and we take out as needed!