Desperate message

You know it's been a bad day when you have to send a desperate e-mail to your husband like the following. This was from Tuesday:

I think I have a fever.
Ds#3 burned his arm trying to get brownies out of the oven, please bring home more aloe vera.
Ds#4 says he's too sick to go to CCD tonight, but I caught him kicking a ball around.
Dd#2 set a plastic disposable cup on fire in the microwave trying to melt chocolate. She didn't have permission to be cooking. It's all black inside and she's scrubbing.
Meanwhile...(The two year old) locked himself in the bathroom and by the time I got him out, he was running the water in the sink full blast over the DVD remote.

Please don't work late.

When boy cousins come to stay

When boy cousins come to stay
even just for the night,
They all get each other really rowdy


When boy cousins come
they like to play baseball


There's lots of hitting and throwing
and catching and missing


They think it's hilarious to get up
at 4:30 in the morning
and sneak around with flashlights

They hang out in trees

and climb too high

and get grounded from trees for the rest of the summer

They all want to play computer games

even the boys who are grounded from

the last time someone came to visit

When boy cousins come to stay
even just for the night,

Mama doesn't get much rest,

but, boy does everyone have a good time!

Swing set and tree fort hideaway - at least for a day

The kids and have been candidating for a tree house. Dave has considered it and decided we won't be able to. Our tree won't support it, it's a lot of work for him, it would be expensive, he'd have to make it safe and is concerned about that...etc.

Since we can't have a tree house, when Dave trimmed the tree this spring (there was some pretty substantial damage from the icestorm last winter) the kids dragged the biggest limbs and made a tree fort out of their swingset.
Here's a picture of Ds#4 in his tree fort...or a swing fort...or a tree swing...or something like that.

If you can't climb up to a tree house, you can bring the tree to you.

Tie Dye - and messy projects

Messy projects are best done with friends. Then when the kids get filthy, you can comfort yourself that 10 other kids look just as bad as your kids. You can also justify when your porch, yard, etc. gets trashed. It hasn't just been for your measly 3 or 4 kids, but 10 other kids got enjoyment, experience or educatation and that mess is really not that bad when you spread the blame out over 13 kids.

My WONDERFUL friend offered to trash her porch for my kids to make tie dye. She provided all the materials and cleaned everything up. She was even fun and gracious while we were trashing and using her stuff. I LOVE homeschool friends like that!!

Summer fun - finally!

We have one week to pack all our summer fun into. We did school about half-time this summer. I usually like to start school around August 1st. The library is painted (my one project that needed done this summer) -- my husband is WONDERFUL! And we're done with Wildcats. So, we're taking the week off of serious cleaning (just keeping up on normal chores) and that's it. The rest is for whatever we'd like to do. Sunday we had fun with friends in their backyard (kickball that day). Monday we went our cousins' house and it was one of the first swim times all summer. The kids had an absolute BLAST! Unfortunately, I let them get burned to a crisp -- spray sunscreen doesn't seem to work for us. I sprayed the baby twice and thought the kids would be fine -- afterall, they've baked in the sun on the ball field all summer...but I neglected to recognize that they had their shirts on, then. Let alone the water intesifying the sun. I sprayed them once they looked a little red -- too late. They came home like lobsters. Crying kids at night and clothes changing times...poor children. God should have given them a more responsible mom.

Real Life

This was one of the best blog posts I've read! It's got a Christmas theme, but it is applicable anytime - REAL LIFE

Assumption

We had a beautiful Feast of the Assumption. I had a light day of school, a heavy day of cleaning and a few Mary crafts planned for the day.

Dave went to 8:15 Mass with us in the morning and we did some fun history. At noon our plans went out the window when my sister suprised us by knocking on our door. My sisters are like movie stars at our house where the kids all scream and come running from whatever part of the house to get a piece of their aunt. My sisters know this and always call first to see if it's a good time. This sister (one of 2) lives in Indy, so we don't get to see her much.

I almost didn't answer the door because Ds#4 had been knocking on the front door and hiding all morning watching and laughing when I opened the door. I try and be good natured about these things but he was about to get a spanking for it and when I heard the knock, I wasn't about to fall for it again. Then I realized it was someone knocking on the outside storm door.

We almost tackled her outside with hugs. She stayed for about 3 hours and our day was mostly shot.

We're moving furniture Saturday so we HAD to get some cleaning done. The kids were so excited with their finds under the couch. I kept hearing things like "...so THAT'S where that was!"

News Anchors

The kids were trying to keep busy for a few hours while I worked on the computer, but they were given strict instructions NOT to mess up the house! They held up their end of the bargain, so I promised to put them on my blog. They wanted to be News Anchors.

This was the gift we gave our Moms this weekend - a picture of our children!

When I look at the incredible blessings God has given the song from Cinderella comes to mind :

So this is love, mmm
So this is love
So this is what makes life divine
I'm all aglow, mmm
And now I know (and now I know)
The key to all heaven is mine
My heart has wings, mmm
And I can fly
I'll touch every star in the sky
So this is the miracle
That I've been dreaming of
Mmm, mmm So this is love

Sand EVERYWHERE!

We're so excited about a trip to the lake in August we've already started dreaming about it.

I'm not so excited about trying to keep the kids and an infant clean! Heather had a grat TIP!

On The Mend

This has been an exhausting, concerning and expensive illness these last few weeks. We had Influenza A and a few kids had Strep Throat along with it. Dave and I being so sick and having all 5 kids down at the same time -- whew! Now that everyone is better I feel like I just ran a marathon -- exhausted but exhilerated that we're through the worst of this! I hear this has quite a long recovery, so we'll be easing into regular life.

How can I keep from singing?

Reflection:

Along with slowing me down to point that I'm not moving...this baby has brought song back to my heart.

For the last 2 years or so I couldn't figure out why my kids walk around the house making constant noise. It took me several months of being annoyed to recognize that they're always singing. I knew some moms would find that a validating sign that life in our home is a happy one. It just really annoyed me that there's almost never any quiet. Even when I'm standing over them with a whip to make sure we're schooling in silence (writing project or something), they're tapping their pencils or break out in a whistle or some other noise. I wanted to squash the noise and make it all stop.

I realized today that I've been singing little songs to the baby constantly throughout the day. Is that why my kids walk around singing all the time? Did I sing to them as infants? I must have, because it seems the most natural thing to sing rather talk to this baby.

It does make me happier, to sing my frustration at the red-faced screaming child. It must be some form of grace that I'm not mentally aware of. The kids' noise still bothers me (plus I'm constantly yelling in a whisper "SHHHHH!!!! The BABY'S ASLEEP!!!"), but I understand how their hearts well up and overflow as music escapes from their mouths.

Baby Bath

After all the information about yeast, one of the suggestions was a daily baking soda bath for the baby's bottom. So the kids and I gave Ds#5 a bath together.

Ds#3 gathered supplies while Dd#2 was our photographer.
Dd#1 and I did most of the getting him clean parts. Ds#4 just asked tons of questions.

It must've been a soothing experience for baby, because he went right to sleep.

The Blessing of Animals

I tried to talk Dave out of it. I tried to talk the kids out of it. I thought he was crazy. I knew I'd never do anything so insane (mostly). At church for the Feast of St. Francis, they had the Blessing of Animals. It sounds sweet doesn't it? Kids bringing their puppies to get a blessing.

Unless you have multiple children (which he does) and are planning on taking a dog that's afraid (therefore freaks out) with other animals - especially dogs. This is not some tiny lap dog. Maggie growls & goes crazy at the sight of other dogs 30 feet away through a pane of glass (which she broke last year trying to go through the window to get to the dog 30 feet away). This is a full-grown black lab who is incredibly strong and can take any of the kids and I on a ride if she decides to run and we hold onto her leash. This dog can't be walked because she won't mind (she doesn't heel, or stay...) She's super sweet in the house and adores all humans -- just not other dogs.

So, he took all 4 kids. A dog who will be 2 feet from other dogs. And a blind hamster to get blessed. I'm totally thinking it isn't worth it and stayed home in my recliner and sent Dd#2 with the digital camera. This is a picture of DS#3 with the blind hamster, Eaty, in a rubbermaid container after it's been sprinkled with holy water. Dave said he had a hard time keeping DS#3 from jumping off the half wall while he held the hamster container -- he knew that our son would hit the ground with the poor hamster still in mid-air in it's container. Eaty appears to have survived the ordeal.

I guess Dave had a hard time restraining Maggie and said it's nothing I should try. The kids told me that everytime a dog barked or howled, Maggie joined in. It was incredibly sweet of him to try. He said Ds#3 appreciated it the most, since Eaty is his miracle pet.

I love a parade

Really, I'm not all that crazy about parades, but it's a good song. Dave and the kids marched in a parade this weekend in support of Matt Kelty. Dave's been working on an e-mail newsletter to send to people who are interested in finding more about Matt's campaign (click on the "Newsletter" on the left-side bar). The YouTube videos are pretty cool, too. I'm always thrilled when other people are as impressed with my husband as I am! (and I just sit on the side watching & waving and trying to get my camera to work so I can blog about it).

Immunizations

Last week I took the kids to SuperShot. I was behind on the boys' immunization schedule due to a dilemma. A few years ago, I found out that some of the immunizations came from aborted fetal cells. They grew the viruses in aborted fetal cell tissue. The idea of injecting that into my living children's bloodstream sickened me. They didn't have to use aborted bodies. Many immunizations are grown in chicken or something like that. There are variations throughout the world that have the same immunizations but were grown in something less controversial. Maybe they wanted to push the envelope of science. Maybe they wanted to validate a reason for abortions. You can read the story here (I liked the "Prove It" article on the left sidebar) and on that same website is a link of immunizations that are ethical and those that aren't. I printed off the table of ethical vaccines and made the trip to the local clinic.

The 2 nurses at the desk said that "No" the immunizations weren't derived from aborted fetus. I hurt standing there (I'm a little -er lot pregnant) and I didn't want to argue. This was specifically why I was behind in the boys' immunizations - the idea of arguing with someone I respected who was there to help the community makes my stomach turn. So we disagreed politely a few times back and forth and I kindly, but firmly insisted that I didn't want the immunizations listed on my sheet that were considered unethical. She said she'd contact the head nurse who could explain it to me better (because obviously, I was wrong and wasn't understanding her -it couldn't be that I understood perfectly and disagreed with her). She contritely came back saying I was right and I just needed to sign the form saying I was refusing those particular shots.

The next day I called the pediatrician. The ethical version of most of those vaccines are the ones that are separate, not combination vaccines in the same shot. The pediatrician had them on hand (or I would have had to contact and order them from http://www.cogforlife.org/ and have them shipped to my doctor). Apparently, I'm not the only parent in town with this dilemma. So, 2 days after the first set of shots, and a painful 250 dollars later, the boys were finished up with all the shots I would allow them to have.

It was an emotional hassle dealing with people who think I'm crazy to have this as a priority in my life. It was a physical hassle taking the kids 2 different places to get shots and calling the pediatrician. It was physically painful (for both the boys and myself) to get this done. It was a financial strain to spend that money on shots we could have gotten for free if I would have just lowered my standards.

I'm so glad it's done and that I went through all the hassle I did. Two nurses are more informed than they had been. My doctor has a continued reason to stock the ethical version of the vaccines. (I don't really see a positive side to the $250...) My children are immunized to the best of my ability and I'm secure in the knowledge that I'm protecting them while not participating in any way, shape, or form in the culture of death.

Complain, complain 2

Lack of mobility during pregnancy - continued...

Earlier in August, I was really trying to take the kids to Mass once or twice a week before school (we started August 1st -- not knowing what would happen with the new baby, I wanted to make sure to get a jump start on school)...I guess daily Mass has to go -- along with a ton of other things I usually do. (Friends have been making lots of offers and I've taken a few people up, but I feel like mostly this is something we need to get through as a family ... I'm just not so good at getting through it silently.)

I can get the clothes washed & dried, but not sorted & folded. DD1 is in charge of dishes this year, which is a HUGE job, but I usually help her with keeping the counters cleared & cleaned plus the microwave & the stove. Ds4 sweeps the floor daily and DD2 mops once a week, but I usually sweep/vacuum the floor before she washes as Ds4 isn't all that great of a sweeper. Dd2's job is the 3 bathrooms this year, but I usually do the downstairs bath once or twice again, during the week. DS3 empties the dishwasher (sometimes multiple times per day) and is awesome at quickly doing anything I ask of him (the same can not be said of Ds4.) The kids do all the picking up and vacuuming of the house several times per week, but they're not as good as DD1 and I at getting all along the edges and not sucking up marbles & legos. Other than the dishes, keeping her room clean, babysitting and helping each day pick up our mess from school, I don't feel like I can ask much more of DD1. She's a daydreamer (like her Mama was) and just can't seem to get all her school done under 6-8 hours (we only do school 4 days/week). Honestly, though, just sitting or laying down or anything is really uncomfortable until it becomes painful. So, even teaching school from my recliner with each kid coming to me and being surrounded by their planners and them fetching & returning each of my teacher books throughout the day is exhausting. I'm not sure if it's the pregnancy or the pain that makes me so tired, but I'm up to 2 naps a day some days.

The kids make their own (and my) breakfast & lunch. I've been choosing one of the 3 older (7-11 year old kids) to talk them through making dinner each night. It's REALLY frustrating sitting at the table while I watch them muddle through stirring something up as they get it all over the counter or make silly mistakes like dumping a bunch of pepper in a casserole & ruining it, or thinking they know how to follow directions on a box and using olive oil in a baked good or mistaking the phrase "confectioners sugar" for a brand-name of granulated sugar. As I'm writing this, I realize that I yelled at the kids for each of those mistakes when they're completely reasonable mistakes for a kid to make. I'm frustrated with the situation and frustrated with myself. I'M THE MOM! They still need a mom, but I can't stand-up to do much of that. I haven't quite figured out how to get the shopping done. I usually go once a month for 3-4 hours and get it all over with. I tried to run to the corner store for 3 items last week, was gone for 20 minutes and could hardly pull the car in the driveway, I was so nauseous & in pain. (Dave asked me if I'd allowed DD1 to pull the car in the driveway.) I've had offers of dinner...but I'm not confined to bed and I'd feel like I couldn't EVER go out and do something I want (like an MNO book club) if families were sacrificing their time/money/effort to make things easy on me.

Dave's been working almost another full-time job helping out with Matt Kelty's campaign. He volunteers to do the website, plus he helps out in several other areas. Although it's volunteer work, it's taking alot of his time/attention/energy. It's something we both strongly believe in and feel is worthwhile, but he already feels so maxed-out that although he understands that I need to rest here at home, there's still conflict about how much of my slack he feels he should have to take up. Apparently, when I'm so tired I'm nauseous & sweating or in pain, I don't present things to him in a conflict-free way. Now that we're at our 5th pregnancy together things have been better than any other pregnancy, but definitely not free of marital bumps.

There's been TONS of grace in all this. Many of my friends have been calling me daily, some taking the kids, offering to help. Dave and I are still actually speaking to each other through a pregnancy. Nothing was wrong Thursday, but it helped Dave really see that I'm not being lazy (he'd NEVER actually say the word) and that he needs to cut me more slack than seems reasonable to either one of us. Intellectually, I can see the kids becoming more self-sufficient (even if I feel REALLY guilty about that).

Usually, when things get really hard, I can't ever pray. I trust God is there and I yell at Him, sometimes, but I have such a hard time being present in the moment enough to pray. The grace is that I'm not there, yet. I'm approaching it, but I'm not there. I don't have a toddler I'm chasing (which makes pregnancy exponentially more difficult in my opinion.) I have a secure home, a loving marriage, the opportunity to school my kids as I see best, my kids aren't in the hospital, I don't have a chronic condition... Intellectually I know that 'this, too, shall pass', it's just really hard to keep that in mind as I painfully re-adjust postions moment to moment.

Night-time ritual

Our night-time ritual only indirectly involves the kids. When I'm ready for bed, after all the kiddos have been in bed for a while, Maggie, our black lab, and I go room to room to check on all the kids before I head off to bed. If I take too long in the bathroom, she'll only wait so long for me and then, she'll check on everyone herself. If a kid ends up asleep in front of their door, she'll lay down in the hall waiting for me to get the door open for her to check.

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That boy is definately cuter awake. Once he's alseep, he's also impossible to wake up. I'm sure it's his sound-sleep that makes his night-time diaper neccessary at 5.

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I never know where I'll find Dd2. She has a hard time "turning off" her mind and if she stays up just a little too long, she gets overly tired and can't get to sleep. My room is one of her favorite places, but by the time I waddle up to bed, the last thing I want to do is wake up a very sound sleeper and escort her to her room (I'm always afraid she'll fall down the stairs in her stupor). This night, I found her on her sister's floor. Sometimes I'll find her with pillow and blanket at the top of the steps -- that's pretty scary. She even paid her own allowance to decorate her room in lavendar! I think a big part of it is that she doesn't like to sleep alone, but the sister she used to share a room with DOES! She insists she doesn't want to sleep with her brothers -- but if I had a nickle for all the times I've found her in her alseep with her brother or on their floor...

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I had to climb up into the top bunk to get this picture -- quite a picture in itself! He's EASY! We say, "goodnight!" and within a very short time period, this boy is alseep. When Maggie & I check on the kids, I usually just make sure I see his foot sticking out of the rungs of his bunk to make sure he's in bed. I can't tell you how many times I'll find a kid alseep in a closet, under a desk, or some obscure place when I can't find them in their bed at night.

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Even at 11, she still can be such a little girl...sooooo sweet!! It just warms the cockles of my heart! About half the time I find her still reading at 11pm. I get really angry about that because she's hard to get up in the morning. I've told her that if she'd take responsibilty to get herself up at 7am with the rest of the kids, I probably wouldn't care how long she read. I also get frustrated having to traverse the mess (or sister) on Dd1's floor to turn off her light if she's fallen alseep reading. Dave's never said anything, but I have the same habit. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

4th of July in pictures

Here's a kewl link for patriots - http://sagebrushpatriot.com/america.htm