Our girls at the ACRL Banquet For Life

'Ya don't see us gussey'ed up like this very often...

Prettiest Sight

Dd#2 saw the most beautiful thing and wanted to share it, so she took a picture of it.

It was her own back yard in the wee hours of the morning.
I love that what thrills her is her own back yard and the day that God gave her.

Quote of the Day

Nancy blogged about dirt reminding me of our new rocks.

Dave got a delivery of pea gravel on Friday and moved 4 1/2 yards of it to the back yard on Saturday (and complained of pain on Sunday). The kids are in love and I have some girls who just keep laying in it, boys who keep sitting in it, and a baby who keeps running it through his fingers. When expressing how tired I was tonight, Dd#2 told me,

"Just go out and rub your bare feet in the new stones, you'll feel so much better!"

A "just because" present

My dear friend *Patrice* bought me a present. A just-because-I-love-you and I-knew-you'd-like-this present. A book. I book I already own. Normally, I wouldn't be so excited about getting a book I already own. She went to the Cinci Homeschool Conference and brought me a signed copy of Susan Wise Bauer's The Well Trained Mind 3rd Edition. It's not even available on Amazon, yet!

I would NEVER swing the bucks for a book I already own, but I'm SOOOO EXCITED to get the updated version!!

I was so excited that I kept walking around the house cleaning so I can get my work done and hurry up and read it.

I was so excited I kept telling each of my children, "I'm soooo excited!!" Dears that they are, Dd#2 got tired of hearing about my excitement and suggested I just blog about it and get the out the excitement out that was bubbling over. GREAT IDEA!!

I'm soo excited. Do you think the girls at book club will feel unloved if I stay home to read a non-book club book?

Happy Birthday, Dd#2!

She had a friend spend the night and we went to Chinese. They made up a pretty plate of fruit with a candle in the orange and the waitresses sang to her. Then we printed off a Chuck E. Cheese coupon and Dave mercifully spent 1 1/2 hours with 5 kids going through 100 tokens while I sat home with the baby. *Thank you, Dave!*

She baked the cake herself...sang to herself...

and then relit and we sang again, at least 3 more times -- the baby was enthralled!

Quote of the Day

Mama to Dd#1

...so a cult is a psudo-religion where people follow the rules of the cult like a religion, but it's based on complete lies. A cult and a religion are very different, for example...

Dd#2 over hearing us

WOW!! They must LOVE football!

Mama

What??Why??

Dd#2

To name their religion after a football team.

Mama

Not C-O-L-T! It's c-u-l-t. They
don't have anything to do with the Colts.

Dd#2 (wisely)

OHhhhhhhh!

Poor Payton Manning...didn't know what he was joining...

Decorate your desk...or...Over the river and through the woods

The craft for today involved one bunch of $1 flowers from Dollar General and empty sour cream containers (we needed containers with plastic lids that we could cut slits in). The general idea is here and here. While Ds#4 got paint all over the kitchen floor and I nursed the baby [and accidentally myself] to sleep, Dd#2, as usual, went a little overboard with the creativity. She can never just follow a recipe or particularly any directions. There's occasions where that's not so good (like the refried bean quesadilla she insisted on making for lunch today with swiss cheese which I advised her against). There's other times when it's absolutely darling!

There's an apple tree with apples on the ground, a stone path through an arbor and a stream for her garden.

Baby Milestones

The baby got his first 2 bottom teeth at 6mo (he started teething at 2mo.) and his top teeth are just popping through, now. We just recognized them. We had some biting issues with nursing last week, but we're doing better, now.
The baby started crawling FORWARD this weekend. He's still not great at it, but unfortunately he'll get better FAST. My other kids didn't start crawling until 10 months (Ds#5 is 7mo.)

Dd#2 was about to crawl at 8mo, but I fell down the steps while I carried her and broke her ankle, so she crawled at 10 mo, too. Here she is at 9mo. in her cast -- one of the sweetest, saddest most precious pictures of my heart.

Piggy Games

US Flash Cards

Well, we've been using these for about a month, now and they're working GREAT! I first told you about this terrific free resource here. Dd#2 is doing so well, that she's moving down the list on the back of the cards to memorize new information about each state. It's been an easy thing for her to add to her school and I just test her at the end of each week with the cards to see what she's learned from them! I'm soo pleased with them and they're holding up great pasting them front and back to a larger piece of cardstock and laminating them. The kid that designed these did a fantastic job!!

Seeds & Fertilizer

I took Dd#2 to get her hair cut this morning while I got mine cut. We stopped and got a hot chocolate, coffee, and split a sweet roll. I thought this would be a lovely mother-daughter time for us. Dd#2 didn't like the hair cut she got and had to clean her room when we got home (which happens every Saturday) and she threw a royal temper tantrum. She was screaming about how mad she was at me : mad that I let her get her hair cut, mad that she hadn't gotten to see her neighbor friend for the 2 weeks she's been sick, mad that her room was so messy. I laughed at her because I didn't think any of that was really my fault and I thought she was being silly to cry and scream about any one of those silly things. Then she was really mad at me for laughing.

Later, as I was talking to my good friend, Julie, and telling her how much I'd wanted to have a sweet morning with my sweet (or not so sweet at the moment) little girl, she told me that the memories I want to give Dd#2 really are planting seeds of sweet memories. Someday, she'll cherish these moments and feel loved. The rest of her behavior is just fertilizer for the seeds. I sure hope so -- it smelled like fertilizer to the sweet morning I had planned.

Quote of the Day

The kids have been on Martial Law for 2 weeks, now. Dd#2 is still under almost all restrictions for wasting time and not getting her school work done. As of today, she's been working hard, so we showed mercy and reset the clock -- she's no longer behind on her work. This is what she's learned :

The past really affects the present. And the present affects the future. And if you try and try and try you can dig yourself out if you keep trying. And it's not worth it to get behind on your work. But if you try and try and try you end up here - done with our work and a fresh new day!

Christmas parties in red and green

Christmas pants - I think everything for the kids (socks, toothpaste, razors, pencils) bought in the month of December should be wrapped and put under the tree. Dave thinks otherwise and the day before Christmas bought the boys red and green sleeper pants. They were so excited! Oh, well, they'll look cute opening their gifts...

Ever since Dd#2 got a digital camera/camcorder for her birthday last month, she's an expert on digital cameras. Here she is trying to show her great aunt how to use one. Our aunt really did need the help. She said she "hated to have a 10 year old have to teach ME how to delete pictures off my camera." Dd#2 was pretty proud of herself.

New baby and Santa hat Grandpa -- just too cute not to put here...

Fussy boy

Is he spoiled ALREADY? I just didn't see how he could be. For the previous 4 days he fussed and was so unhappy unless he was nursing or being held. He wouldn't even sleep well without being held.

Then the night before last I noticed that he was gagging quite a bit -- I see, he caught his sister's cold. So, I'm hoping it's just a little cold that's making him fussy. Last night he slept well, so hopefully he's feeling better (it's a cliche, but 'it's so hard to tell with babies' how they feel or what's wrong).

He's been breaking out. Dd#2 is tracking what I eat to see if it's something in his system that I'm doing. Dd#1, as an infant, would break out when I drank Orange Juice. Everyone says it's 'baby acne'. He's not as cute this week as he was last week -- but he's cute, anyhow!

Quote of the Day

Dd#2 running up and down the stairs immediately after Ds#5's birth, not being able to contain herself in wanting to express to someone her heart bursting with love...

He's so SWEET! He's so WONDERFUL! He's so BEAUTIFUL!

Dd#1, less than impressed...

He's so BLUE!!

Kids "Helping" Accident #548 & 549

Dd#2 (did you suspect someone else?) asked if she could bake a cake. She's done this many times on her own...so, OK. I stayed in my recliner in the other room. Dd#1 came in to tattle that her sister was making a layer cake. Even though I discourage the kids from making 2-layer cakes (more dishes, more mess, etc.), she's done that before...and the directions are on the box...and she can read...so, OK.

I came into the kitchen an hour or so later. A cake blob greeted me in the oven, along with every baking utensil & ingredient known to man (many that were not required in the baking of a boxed cake) was on the counter and the table. First I had the girls start to clean up their mess. Then, I turned my attention to the cake. It turns out she'd used a 5" round, an 8" round and an 8" square to make her layer cake. There wasn't enough batter, so she'd mixed up 2 cake mixes. Since there weren't directions for the "layer cake" she'd conceived of, she'd thought she'd wing it. "Yes, I know how to make a cake like this." I walked away in disgust, turning my attention to the mess in the kitchen, and let her continue to poke the cakes at 4 minute intervals waiting for them to get done. Low & behold, it was time for the kids to leave for Religious Education classes and the cakes still weren't done. After she was in the car, I realized that she'd turned the oven off after the first stabbing (to detect for doneness) and had only been setting the timer over and over, without the oven being on.

An hour after she left (it really was Divine Mercy that she had to leave) I had the cakes baked. They did turn out.

Oh...#549 - As I was cleaning up her cake mess and opened the fridge... the blender base (that I'd asked her to wipe down and put away 3 days in a row) fell on my head.

P.S. The blender does not belong ontop of the fridge, but under the cabinet.

Baby Story 1997

Early in spring 1997, we finally decided to get a puppy. (Well, I decided and pressured Dave until he gave in). He always said we’d have a dog and I firmly disagreed. Then I saw a puppy in a pet store and started doing research on breeds assuring Dave it was just an academic interest - we weren’t getting a dog. I fell deeply in love with Golden Retrievers - Dave’s dream dog. I overcame all Dave’s rational objections (not enough space, tremendous training time, Dd#1 being only 1 yr old...) not with reason but with pouty faces.

We started an intensive search for the perfect puppy and were about 2 weeks from making a final decision when we found out we were pregnant. We thought we were about 3 weeks along, but were really almost 2 months pregnant (all that puppy talk distracted us from charting NFP). Dave swore the puppy thing is my maternal instict kicking in and next time, he'll get me that puppy BEFORE I get pregnant (hindsight hint - it didn't happen).
The pregnancy (other than being miserable because that’s the nature of my pregnancies) was uneventful, healthy, and happily much easier than with Dd#1. In the first 2 trimesters I was frustratingly exhausted and threw up most of the time, but as with Dd#1, the more time went on the better I felt so that by the due date I felt just like every other pregnant woman.

Throughout the pregnancy we were expecting a boy. The ultrasound was pretty conclusive and that baby was kicking the ....out of me. At a stress test 4 days before I got induced, we found out she was a girl. We were stunned and went to the hospital without a name chosen. Dave was holding me to my promise to have a Jessica after we compromised on Dd#1's name. I still didn't like the name and couldn't reconcile calling her a name I didn't like.

Dd#2 was born in late November and weighed 8 pounds 1 ounce and was 21 inches long. We went to the hospital for induction at 11am and they broke my water at 2pm to get things moving (my contractions just petered off). After 2 pushes she was ours at 4:09 in the afternoon.
My big fear during pregnancy was Dd#1's adjustment to the new baby. She was incredible! She was more in love with her new sister than we were (if that's possible). She wanted to hold and touch and be near Baby all the time. They were both such a joy and a blessing. (They don't always feel that way about each other, now.)

It amazed us how hard it is to get work done on the house with children around and yet how motivating that same factor can be. The big project of that year didn’t start until 6-8 weeks before my due date. Dave completely gutted and renovated our upstairs bathroom. What a messy, difficult job at an already stressful time. Dave said that 3 out of the 4 holiday seasons we’ve been together we introduced extra stress : 1994 we bought a house and moved, 1995 we had a baby, and 1997 we had a baby and redid the bathroom - you’d think we’d learn timing. He ripped off the walls and ceiling down to the wood & lathe and put up new drywall, redid the electrical and most of the plumbing. He left the old-fashioned tub, but built walls and tiled them to create a tub/shower with new fixtures and lighting. He ripped out the sink and installed a vanity, medicine chest and lighting. He ripped out the recessed toilet (who recesses a toilet into the wall?) and reinstalled it fixing all the walls. He ripped up the flooring and had carpet laid. It was definitely stressful not having much use of our main bathroom while I was 9 months pregnant, but when it was done a year later, it looked and felt wonderful.


My new baby had a broken collar bone we didn’t know about until she was 2 1/2 weeks old. The pediatrician said I'd broken it pushing her out. That was the last baby I allowed to be induced, those labors are more difficult and I didn't want to chance doing that to my baby again. That year was a rough Christmas. We had our new baby with a broken collar bone, it took 3 1/2 weeks - almost Christmas, until she stopped crying with the pain and could finally start sleeping. We all caught some wicked cold and had to miss some of our families’ Christmas celebrations. I had to go to bed for a few days when I had problems healing from having the baby. My mom helped out a ton that December. I’d been exhausted, discouraged, drained, and frustrated. David was exhausted, stressed, and frustrated. It seemed like a miserable Christmas. As I looked back on it, it was a most beautiful Christmas. Dd#1 must’ve watched "The Little Drummer Boy" over 100 times that month, while cuddling with the baby and me as I nursed by the Christmas tree lights. Friends and family showered us with what we needed to get through. Isn’t it funny how time can do that to a memory? The distance of time blurs our memory, or does it bring life into sharper focus so we can see what was really going on?


As winter turned to spring I had a very difficult time adjusting to 2 children. I had a hard time bonding with the baby since I didn’t get much one-on-one time with her. She was a lovely baby with a fabulous disposition and so easy I questioned the pediatrician that something must be wrong with her. Dd#1 had slept through the night at 6weeks, but at 1 1/2yrs, Dd#2 still woke up several times in the night. As Dd#2 turned 6months old, I started sleeping a little more and though the girls had opposite nap schedules, I realized I had my coveted alone-time with Dd#2. As my brain began to clear when she was around 9 months old, I realized I'd had post partum depression. It didn't feel like depression, but it was classic symptoms.

The baby was incredibly physically strong (which was one reason I was sure we were having a boy) and was about to crawl at 8 months...until I fell down the steps carrying her. My feet went out from under me and I fell half way down the steps landing on her leg, but her head cracked hard twice on the edge of the steps. After 10minutes of uncontrollable crying she started falling asleep. Dave rushed home and we took her to the emergency room. They checked her out (while she screamed the whole time) and said she was probably OK and sent her home. All weekend she cried on & off and favored that leg. By Monday she was still very uncomfortable (she was a very stoic baby and it can be hard to tell the difference between a surprised cry and just fussing), so I took her to her doctor. During the x-ray when they had to twist her ankle and hold it while I held her thrashing screaming body still to take the picture. After that painful x-ray, we found a broken ankle. A broken ankle doesn’t sound bad, but that was my 8month old baby I had hurt and had to hold down while they hurt her again. I barely remained standing and can hardly breath every time I think of that afternoon. They put a cast on her leg and she immediately felt better and didn’t need much Tylenol after the cast. She looked so adorable and pitiful.















The cast was on for 2 weeks and during that time I took both girls (yes, in her cast) to a friend’s parents’ home in Tennessee for 5 days without Dave. My kids were as good as could be, but pretty unhappy. Dd#1 desperately missed her daddy and both girls missed home and their normal schedule. I was never so happy to get home!! I won’t leave the state without Dave again. What was I thinking? There’s no lasting effects, but Dd#2 had been just ready to crawl when we fell, and I think that it delayed her development for at least a year. But boy could she move fast!


Dd#2 subsequently had a very high tolerance for pain and almost never cried as a baby (unless she was hungry). She was quiet and content to stare at everyone's face -- such a happy baby. She didn't sleep much and caught every cold that winter. Dd#2 was such a sweet baby. Her eyes would become brown and her brown hair had a blonde spot (all her hair eventually turned blonde and her blonde spot turned white). She wanted to be held all the time and ate past the point of being full. Daddy was so much better at burping than Mama (but I had nursing down pat.) She started her "terrible two's" at 13 months and they didn't start to ease up until she was 4 years old. We came to find out that was just her personality (and an additional reason for homeschooling). I pulled out the "boy" blanket I crocheted for our new baby and it was so soft and comfey -- but I couldn't put those boy colors on my new baby girl, so she rarely used it.

Now, Dd#2 is the most excited in the house about our upcomming new baby!!

Quote of the Day

Dd#2 to both her brothers who were making mindless, annoying noises with their tongues :

You're so immature.

She TAUGHT them how to make those noises and at any second might join in with them...

Reconstructing Rome

The kids decided to make an aquaduct for themselves.

Kids "Helping" Accident #547

DD#2 bleached out the recycle bin, put the lid on and said she put the bleach away. 6 hours later I tried to pull a towel out from its spot under the bathroom sink. It was just the outline of a towel with a huge hole in the center. After crouching under the sink, I found she'd put the bleach under there, instead of away in the cabinet above the dryer and laid the bleach on its side. I leaked through a stack of towels that she had to sort through and toss. Then she had to wash out the cabinet to make sure there wasn't bleach soaking into the wood. She was AMAZED that when I had said "be careful with the bleach and PUT IT AWAY" that just putting it in the wrong place and laying it on its side would wreak such destruction....