Starting Early!

We now have desks for each of the kids.  Well, we have one for each of the four kids who can climb in a chair.  Ceili Rain, lately, has been confiscating crayons and attempting to “write” on everything.  She found a pencil this week and I finally let her have it and set her in the chair to “write” on paper instead of the carpet.  She sat there for at least 30 minutes drawing and then playing with her toddler crayons (they’re bulky and supposed to be easy to grip).  My mom informed me that she shouldn’t be sitting still staying involved in an activity that long.  Not because it’s bad for her but because developmentally she shouldn’t be able to.  I know this…but I also know she’s a weird kid.  Like her sister and brothers.

And just for all of you freaking out that I am one of “those” parents who start teaching them complex math problems as soon as their out of the womb…don’t freak.  We watch our kids for preschool readiness skills and start them off when they’re ready (like Liam now knows most of his letters and is fast approaching real phonics time…but I’m waiting until August so that he can really know all of his letters).  I don’t believe in pushing them at such young ages but if they show signs of readiness, we jump in and work with them (at their level).  For now, it’s fun watching Ceili Rain focus on what she’s working on.  Last night, she wanted to draw so I sat her down to do it.  Mark was home and I asked her if she wanted to show daddy.  A few minutes later he came down the steps and she held her paper out to show him.   She had the biggest grin on her face!

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And a trip to Ge & Granddaddy’s…

We planned and attended a trip at the end of May to Ge & Granddaddy’s house.  This was supposed to be out last big trip out of town…but Ge had other plans for a visit.  During our visit we went to a craft show where Granddaddy sells pens that he makes using a lathe (I call it a ladle because it drives him insane when I do that).

Zoe helped…
Ceili Rain showed off her walking skills.
It was a nice open area so the kids were able to run (and sit) freely with out us worrying if they were in someone’s way or about to be run over by a car.
We also celebrated Granddaddy and Aunt D’s (his sister) retirement.  
Liam enjoyed the cakes…I made it using cake mix because my “from scratch” batch fell to pieces (which I’ve promptly salvaged and shaped into a dinosaur for Ace’s birthday…first time ever making a 3D cake).
He also rocked out with the shades.
Zoe and cousin J made a sheet of paper and walked around having everyone sign it.  It was really sweet.  Zoe took the time to present it to him.  I was excited to see her walking up to complete strangers and asking them to sign it.  She’ll do anything for her grands!
I was excited that we were able to finally give him this book.  It’s full of letters from various football players, coaches, and friends.  We started working on this about three years ago when he announced he was retiring.  And then didn’t.  It’s been an on again off again project…but now it’s done.
These are two coaches dad has coached with the longest.  They aren’t just coaches, they’re very good friends and have been through a lot together.
And they all love to talk…especially Coach H!
Laughing is always necessary!!!
I’ve grown up with these men and women around me and I love seeing their smiling faces.
We also attended another craft show (on Memorial day)…
They had a kids’ area and tow of the kids chose to ride ponies…Josiah…and
Liam.
Ceili Rain chose to watch.
Zoe and Ace chose to do this wheel thingy where they were strapped in facing each other and the lady spun them around (she could have spun them 360 degrees…but they freaked out).  I wish I could have gotten pictures of their faces…it was hilarious…but our battery died.
And there, soon after, was the Great Van Incident (click here and here if you missed out on that little gem)….nothing like almost losing a wheel to end a fun filled adventurous weekend.
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Roasting…

Actually, right now, it does feel quite like we’re roasting as we are hitting a scorching heat wave…and I’m pregnant.  Suddenly, having this baby the sooner the better sounds nice (really and truly though I’m content to wait it out…I’ll sweat off whatever weight I gain I guess!).

However, back in May we did some real roasting.  Whenever we gather at Papa’s house it’s become a tradition to set up a fire and roast marshmallows…no matter how hot or how cold it is outside.  Our trip up in May was no exception.  And here’s our proof that it was enjoyed by all.

Papa whittling sticks to use to roast.
Liam was ready (so sorry but all of these side shots are not swapped around.  You know the drill).
Doing the deed…now, to me a proper roasted marshmallow means it’s on fire when you pull it out and 3/4 of the way burned…however, Papa has a technique that he’s passing down to his grands…and it requires patience and time and you get a perfectly roasted marshmallow.  I still prefer a little charcoal on mine though.
Finger lickin’ good.  Note the train in hand…always gotta have your train.
Observing the festivities.
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And we’re back…(34 week update included)

This has been one crazy week.

Let’s start with getting a call late Monday night from my sister.  My parents were leaving the driving range and my mom fell in the parking lot and broke her left leg just below the knee cap.  Not only did she break it, but she broke both the bones.  I was told she would have a CAT scan the following morning to see if she would need surgery.  The doctor and dad (who has coached for 40 years and seen his share of broken bones) didn’t feel that it was bad enough to need surgery.

On Tuesday morning though, they found, via the scan, that she did indeed need surgery.  She had chipped off a piece of the bone.  But, they had to wait until the swelling went down.

Now, we live almost three hours away but through coordination with my sister, came up with a plan for me to travel on the weekend and she would go up for the surgery (Mark’s schedule and the kids’ schedules kept me from going up for the surgery).  Surgery was slated for Thursday, if the swelling went down.

Wednesday, I got up to do my normal routine, and then realized that it wasn’t going to be normal.  I could barely move and felt just plain awful.  Got breakfast made and commanded the children to eat while I laid down on the couch.  I believe I must have had a touch of a stomach bug because after much sleep and a few trips to the bathroom (sorry for all that information…but it just adds to the story), I felt better…at least enough to converse with Mark.

By Wednesday, also, they had finally figured out the right dosage to give my mom so her pain was manageable and she was finally able to sleep a little on Tuesday night and Wednesday.

Now yesterday, Thursday, rolls around with a little bit of queasiness and weakness…but I was able to sit up, through school, and take the kids to piano lessons.

I laid down with Josiah during naptime and right before my doctor’s appointment (regular 34 week check up) and notice that there’s a reflection outside the window, which opens to the back of the yard.  And the reflection keeps moving.  I thought that was quite odd but didn’t think much of it (probably the swing moving by the breeze or something).  I also noticed that our A/C wasn’t running.  Hmmm…that’s really odd considering it’s 95 degrees outside and our designated 75 degree temp is not staying 75 degrees.

So, after Josiah’s asleep, I got my 5 minute nap and I get up to go the bathroom and hear water running.  How odd, sense everyone is inside and no one was near running water.  I peeked out my bedroom window and see an a/c man around our unit.  I stepped out the door, tried to get his attention but he didn’t hear me.

Then I thought, well, maybe Mark called them (although we’d never used them before) and asked them to come and just forgot to tell me (as crazy of a week as it’s been).  Stepped back in, called Mark and confirmed that I wasn’t insane, and that he had not called them.

I stepped back outside (with large dog in tow) and finally got the gentleman’s attention and asked him what he was doing.  He told me the address he was supposed to be at and I confirmed that was our address but that we had not asked them to come out.

“Yea,” he said, “I thought it was kind of strange I didn’t see any of our stickers on there.  But they told me this address and that there was a dog but it would be put up and that no one would be home.”

He then called the office and confirmed it was a different house number, but same street.  Hilarious!  And, he was pretty much finished with the cleaning when I “caught” him.  I tried to pay him for his work but he told me not to worry about it.  I felt so bad that he was working in that heat and then had to go and really work.  Not sure what all he did but it looks great and he said it needed it.

And then, as he was leaving, Sunny barked.

All that to bring us to my 34 week check up.  Everything looked great!  Considering that I felt horrible the day before, this was good news.  I think I may have gained one pound in six weeks.  Not bad, I say.  Not only that but I measured two weeks smaller which means I’m not “packing it on” like everyone thinks.  He felt that because of my height (although I also thinking having five babies helps) I’m more stretched out.  Baby is healthy and happy and that end that’s sticking out making me look half pregnant is his rear as we had thought.  Because I have a well worn uterus, there is still a possibility of a flip…but we’ll deal with that if the time comes.  We discussed that I wanted to do an epidural  free delivery and he was god with that.  Then I brought up the “i” word.  And, of course, he was really generous and we all agreed if there was no medical problems then waiting until I was close to 41 weeks would be fine before scheduling the induction.  He also said he would “help me along” when it got closer and I’m all for that!  I would schedule it for right at 41 weeks but he’s scheduled to leave for Alaska that Thursday and we’ve scheduled Ace’s birthday party for that Saturday so it would be best to do it that Monday or Tuesday if I don’t go into labor on my own.  So pray that I do!!!  But not before we get Super Grandmere up here to help!

And then, when we got home, the not so great news was that my meal I had prepped and cooked (so I thought) in the morning was not indeed cooked.  The chicken was raw.  And it was pushing 6 o’clock.  Off we went to Great Wraps, where kids eat free with every adult meal purchased.  We begged and pleaded coerced our friends Tracy and Kevin to come with us so we could get all our kids meals free (it’s great when their little one isn’t old enough to get a meal).  And the nice guy working there (who remembered we had come in another time…that was like two months ago), gave us free fries for the kids.

I’m getting so much free stuff, the lottery almost (and I do mean almost…but definitely not) is sounding good!

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Meet the Newest of the Bunch…

Please do not despair…we did not go and have Bryant and leave everybody in the dark!  No, no, no…this whole journey started about a month ago when our last cat passed away.

Mark and I were both pretty sad.  He had been with us since before we were married.  He was a good cuddle cat and we’re still not used to not having a cat in the house.

However, I’ve been asking Mark about getting another dog.  Our sweet Sunny girl is fast approaching 9 years old.  She’s not a puppy anymore and she won’t be here forever…so, introducing a new puppy would be nice to give Sunny a companion and also teach her how to be a good family dog for our family.

We had a bunch of travels this past month (pictures to come), so Mark asked me to wait until we got back from our trips before we started looking for a puppy.

I waited, passed up a cutie of a puppy and then waited some more.  Every once in a while, I would surf PetFinder and narrow down what I thought could be a potential add on to our bunch.  This one little puppy and two of her siblings kept showing up.  I just knew someone would want to adopt her or them.  They were fluffy and puppy cute and adorable.  But, I waited.

This past week was designated as “the week” to look for a puppy.  Our plan was to go to a local pet store where they hold adoptions for a local pet rescue foundation on Saturday.  We didn’t make it.

Petfinder got the best of me, and we contacted an agency that had the fluffy adorable puppies I had seen.  They were an hour away but we checked to see if they might be able to meet us halfway to look at the puppies.  I completed an adoption form and then was contacted by the foster mom.  She wanted to come by with the puppy we had our eye on and her siblings for us to choose from.  We set up a meeting for Thursday afternoon.  I could kick myself for not getting pictures of those puppies…but I didn’t.  I thought there were only three of them.  There were six.  How do you choose a puppy for your family out of six???

She brought them out one by one and put them in a portable fence and we were able to play with and look at each.  The last one she brought out was the one I had seen online.  Fluffy, adorable, and when she handed her to me, she stayed put.  Content to sit in my lap.  Mark and Ace found another puppy they just loved.  Mark tried to pick him up and hold him but he just wouldn’t stay still.  Quite energetic.  I picked up one of the others and let the Calm One in with her siblings.  She just sat down and rested.  I also noticed she was the smallest of them all. 

The foster mom shared that the puppies were found on the side of the road with their mom and a litter of pit bull puppies.  The mom was almost dead and was trying to nurse both litters.  The puppies didn’t look too hot either.  It’s nice to see that they are all growing and thriving now.  The foster mom also told us that the Calm One was the most gentle and laid back of the bunch.  She sounded like our match.

But there was more test…how would Sunny respond to a new puppy.  We went inside with the Calm One and let Sunny in from the back yard.  She went up, sniffed, and walked away to get petted.  We put the Calm One down, and Sunny again sniffed, wagged her tail, and then walked away.

This was our dog!

So, without further ado…meet Ginger!

Yes, she’s tiny.  She’s part cattle dog and part…hmmm???  She is pretty gentle but playful too. She loves to trip us up when we walk and nip at our heels (a puppy trait that is being dealt with).

She also loves to chase and play with the kids.  The first day we had her, she wouldn’t go to sleep until we were all in bed…she slept all night.  She was sooo tired from playing with and listening to the kids.

And my belly is a good puppy prop to escape kids!  

Ceili Rain is our most timid child and we were slightly worried about her reaction.  She was a little shy but eventually started petting Ginger.  Now, she’ll follow her around and pet her and say, “Puppy!”  They do adore each other!

The rescue agency we went with was Old Fella Burke County Animal Rescue.  And they were wonderful!  I really appreciated the kindness and speed at which we were able to get through this adoption (all the speed caught Mark off guard a little!)!  So if you live near me and are looking for a puppy/dog or other pet, check out their website.

But seriously, our next addition will be Bryant!  So, stay tuned in a few weeks to see our newest human addition.

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The Not So Good News

I did fail the one hour glucose test.  So a few weeks ago, I started checking my sugar levels twice a day.  Today, I got to go see Dr. J and go over my numbers.  I thought they looked great…especially my after meal numbers.  The problem was with the numbers after fasting all night.  Those were borderline high.  Because of that, and because my diet really is pretty good (minus the icees), Dr. J opted to put me on a medicine at night.  Here’s the mystery to me though.  A couple of nights ago, I had ice cream and red velvet cake (not a slap of healthy in sight) and my numbers in the morning were the lowest they’ve been.  I’ve noticed that when I eat ice cream at night my numbers tend to be lower…am I on to something here that could be beneficial for pregnant ladies everywhere???  I think doctors should order a study to see if ice cream at night helps lower blood sugar in the morning…I’ll be the first to volunteer.

And now some lighter news…
Mark met me at the doctor’s office to entertain the kids while I was waiting on and seeing Dr. J.  There’s a great little playground between the office and hospital so they were thrilled to be there.  Aside from Ace suffering a traumatic fall which seemed to only hurt when he spied what he thought might be blood on his arm…it was a good time.  Mark relayed the following story to me…

Liam was hanging on a piece of equipment and two moms had come in with their kids.  Mark eavesdropped on their conversation with Liam.

Mom:  Are you a monkey?

Liam:  Yes ma’am.  My mommy says I am.  She tells me “Monkey, monkey!  Who’s my monkey?”

I need to be really careful what I teach them!  But that is our special song and it’s fun to share it with him…usually he’s swinging (I mean swinging) from my arm when we sing it.

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Singing and Playing In the Rain…

Spring and summertime around here means some rain and mostly thundershowers.  So it’s few and far between that we have a warm rain where the kids can go out and play…and having been an avid rain-player as a kid, I throw encourage them to get out and enjoy the fun wetness that God provides (since it’s free and all).  Ceili Rain really got into it this time.  She seemed oblivious to the rain splashing on her face and thoroughly enjoyed riding her “horsey” in the downpour.

Mud.  That seems to be Josiah’s most favorite thing these days.  Piling mud up in buckets and dumping it out.  Yep…that’s fun for a boy.

Ace enjoyed gathering in the mud too.  Liam and Zoe played but didn’t have as much fun as these three seemed to be having.

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Aceisms

I usually put a lot about what’s up with Liam…but this here’s for Ace.

After Mark introduced the kids to Family Mint.  They calculated how much they had in their “account” and decided to go get groceries with me.  We spent about 30 minutes in the toy department (and about 5 in the actual grocery department) as they looked through/picked out/redecided on what they wanted.  Ace settled on a nice set of action figures that were very reasonably priced.  They were military style which was pretty neat and had a lot of gadgets with them.  Varying ones with different activities to do and such…so he picked a set of just two figures and then a special figure that did something neat.  This was despite his ability to purchase sets that included more stuff and other fun things.  I couldn’t figure out why he got the two action figure set until we were checking out.  He looked at me and said, “Mommma, I got these two for my brothers.”  And he did.  It touched my heart to see him share his money with his brothers.  They were thrilled to say the least.

***
During family worship at home on Sunday night, Ace was reading the verses Mark had given him and he continued reading past his designated stopping point.  We politely pointed it out and he said, “I like reading.  Especially the Bible.”  (Can you see how big my heart is swelling up???)

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How Does Your Garden Grow…

Like we don’t have enough to do…I finally decided this year was the year we would start learning to garden.  However, we decided not to go it alone.  While Mark and I ventured out on our Babymoon, we enlisted the help of a very generous Papa. 

But, before we left, there was some hard labor to do…

and Mark was recruited for the job.  Now, our goal was not to create this elaborate garden.  Just a small garden that we can “cut our teeth on.” 

Ace was a big help and enjoyed working with Papa and Daddy.

Actually, all the kids got in to it.  Here they are digging into an impromptu compost pile and getting some good soil!

Papa not only showed them how to get the garden started but also taught them about life using object lessons from the garden.

This is built outside of our very small back yard, so we wanted a fence around it to keep neighbor cats and critters out of.

The kids have been very diligent in their watch care over the garden.  When weeds just started peeping out, I was ordered told that we needed to weed.  Out we went, and Zoe and Ace went to work.  No bending from me was needed.

And their hard work is paying off.  This isn’t a recent picture of the garden but one from two to three weeks ago.  As of now, we have about 20 squash buds and two to three already forming squash.  The tomato plants (we have about three) are yielding about 10 little green tomatoes.  The kids are super excited to see the plants grow each day we go out to water.  This has been a great starter.  I’ve still got to run to the hardware store and pick up a few herb plants to add to it.   Stay tuned to see how our garden grows!

By the way, if you know anything about me, you know that I am not a gardener!  This is a big accomplishment for me and I’m hoping to continue on in our efforts.

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