valentine party recap

I think the party turned out to be great fun for everyone, though around noon that day I was doubting my sanity at having about 14 children (plus adults) in the house but I'm so glad we did this. I didn't take as many pictures as I wanted to since it was a mad dash at the end to complete all the party preparations, but here's the overview.


Menu:

• Pizza
• Veggies and homemade dip (Reese peeled the carrots)
• Strawberry & banana fruit kabobs
• M&M cookies (I used a standard chocolate chip recipe but substituted the red, pink and white M&M's for chocolate chips, the boys helped with these)
• heart-shaped crisped rice treats (this so easy to do that I'll probably try this again. Also, I discovered brown rice cereal as a healthier option to the usual kind you see as it has no high fructose corn syrup or other sketch ingredients - just in case you want to boost the "nutrition" of these snacks ;) )
• heart press cookies made by Dave's mom

Gift bags:
I had some small white paper treat bags I had purchased a while ago so I had the kids color pictures on them and then fill them with a couple Dove heart chocolates, a stick of cinnamon gum and a little thank you message with scripture. I love finding simple projects the kids are able to help with, especially since this was meant to be their party.


Photo props:
I saw this cute idea on the Mac's blog and wanted to try it out. I ended up making them by downloading photos from Microsoft Clip Gallery (MCG) and after a little editing, they were ready to print, cut and put together. The only photo that wasn't from MCG was the bigger mustache which I got through Google images.
I printed them on white card stock and used wood glue to attach the popsicle sticks and bamboo skewers to the prop.

beautiful

beautiful sight:

(melted snow running down the gutters)

beautiful sound: trickling water seeping into the ground signaling a most-likely-temporary reprieve from the snow

beautiful thought: cabin fever days are coming to a close as we get more days like these outside


beautiful play:
















(jackets discarded, faces to the sun, first swing of the new year)

(Ben practicing his snow shoveling techniques - practice while you can, Ben!)


Beautiful day.

5: breakfast in bed (almost)

(Note: this is my first experiment with writing posts either in five or fifteen minutes. I'm thinking this will either be a really fun or really frustrating exercise!)

Today the kids surprised me with breakfast. Complete at my spot at the table was the rocking chair, two huge pieces of pumpkin raisin bread, half and english muffin with some honey and water in a "2010" champagne glass all lovingly arranged on a cloth napkin and with three very excited, joyful faces anxious to know if this was a good breakfast. It was. Ben would have been excited if he understood the whole plan.

you've got mail(boxes)

Today I had the kids make some mailboxes as part of schooling. This is partly in anticipation of Valentine's Day and partly as a ruse to encourage Brie and Reese to develop their writing and reading skills. My thought is to write notes to the kids and put them in their mail box and have them write back. I saw an idea like this in Family Fun magazine (GREAT magazine with a ton of ideas) and am finally ready to try it out.

Here's how we made the "boxes":


Started with a large oatmeal container

Got rid of the shiny paper. Provided crafters with assortment of multi-media art supplies and...

...voila!















Didn't Ben do an amazing job with his? The boy's got talent ;)

Now, the only question is where to put them (am hoping I can nail them to the wall, but not sure if Dave will go for it :) )

a message for daddy

(if you receive the blog updates via email, you'll need to go to the blog to watch it)

The (Almost) Lost Year and Other Random Thoughts

I discovered that somehow we managed to not capture our lives on film between Reese's birthday and late October in 2007. How did that happen? No idea. Though maybe it was the three kids three and under that did it. So if anyone has any electronic pics they can send us for those "lost" months, please, please send them our way...

...Dave decided to get Danny Boys pizza tonight BEFORE he read my post about having this 7 years ago tonight. God is speaking  :)...

...I'm waiting for the cake I baked for Brie to come out of the oven - smells good, looks good, hope it tastes good...

...I confirmed (despite my wildest hopes and prayers for the opposite) that I am definitely, extremely lactose intolerant. My body is still trying to recover from the inadvertant onslaught of ice cream without lactaid pill. Ugh...

...we are still running the renovate-your-rentals marathon. I'm sure Dave has logged more than 26.1 miles with the roller brush...

...Reese is eager to try sounding out words, spelling out words and brushing up on his phone skills by calling the numbers he knows. Repeatedly. He called Dave about 8 times in one day when Dave was in Boston a few weeks ago...

...Luke and Reese are ensconced in an ongoing game of superheros. Today Reese was Batman and Luke was Robin. They also favor Spiderman, Ironman and Flash. They are convinced Dave is "Hot Boy." We have no idea who "Hot Boy" is, although if there was a superhero by that name, Dave would definitely fit the profile. They've taken to playing this game in the garage and were delighted to find a box of blank mailing labels that quickly became transformed into shakles for being in prison and they also possess superhero powers. Apparantly...

...Brie has become a busy bee in helping around the house. I instituted a chore chart complete with the "wages" they can earn for each job and she's already earned $11 since we started this a couple of weeks ago. Today, she also had the sweet idea of picking the beans from our garden, shelling them and then wants to plant them and give them to the poor...

...Ben continues to be his "look like Luke, act like Reese" self. He enjoys getting a laugh out of us at his antics, climbing the stairs, mimicing the sounds the kids (and especially Reese) make. I can't remember the last time he crawled since discovering the joy of walking on two feet...

...I wish we had read "Bringing Up Boys" by James Dobson before we had them.

cut your hair and paste it to your back?

...or maybe to Ben's head?

This is what Dave used to say to Brie as a joke. Last night we finally did cut her hair. But we thought maybe pasting it to her back would be kinda weird. And blond doesn't seem to be Ben's color. So, instead, we thought maybe the Locks of Love charity could use it.

Here are a couple before and after pics of Brie. She didn't want her pic taken last night for some reason, hence the turning away view. Was an emotional experience for her to see herself with short hair all of a sudden. I totally get that, but was surprised that even as early as 6-going-on-7, that it is a hard thing.

In other news...
We're still "this close" to getting two of the three floors done on the new house. We see the light at the end of the tunnel. Dave says he's not sure if it's really because we're at the end of the tunnel or if it's the light from an oncoming train. Praying it's the real LIGHT at the end of this tunnel.

Allie kindly pointed out, I don't write much about Dave in the posts...must change that. So, here's a bit of an update...he just came back from a trip to Chicago for work which was a good break for him from THE HOUSE. Really THE HOUSE has become a second job, not to mention the stuff at home he helps with. He got me outside last night to toss around the baseball which was a welcome diversion. How hard it is to go from work to play mode! The kids cheered us on and awarded us points in flower petals.

The kids had another photo shoot today, since the camera was left out. Here are the fruits of their efforts:

April Fool's Recap

Here's a video of Brie experiencing the April Fool's joke (I did it today since she had a sleepover on Wednesday night). It's really dark since I perpetually forget that the camera need extra lighting but I think you can get the idea.

I played the joke yesterday on the boys and Reese figured it out in 2 seconds.

Brianna is growing up...

She fixed breakfast for the boys one day last week. Here's the piece of bread she cut for Reese:


She fixed Luke and herself some cereal...which you can see they are enjoying immensely by the food particles in their mouths. (Not that this is all related, but look at the van covered with snow in the background. Nothing special, just thought I'd point it out.)

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday

"I love when you read to me Brianna."

A Merry Christmas Message

Botanical Gardens

Today I took the kids to the Gardens to see their annual gingerbread house display and soak in the tropical microclimates. Here are some pics...

My favorite house - the gingerbread birdhouse



amaryllis


flowers in tree (that's the technical, scientific name ;)


catching some drops from the waterfall


Brie trying her hand at bird/butterfly spotting using a telescope


the boys climbing the exhibits (I'm pretty sure they weren't supposed to do this, but I didn't see any signs saying not to!)




What I was not able to capture on camera was the pit stop in the coat room as we were leaving The coat room has one of those rotating coat racks (which at first I failed to notice when we hung our coats there in the first place). At first, I was a little stumped when I didn't see our coats hanging in the spot where we left them. Then I noticed the numbers above the hangers were different. Putting two and two together, I began to search around for the button that would turn the rack. I found it, turned it, and bingo! here came our jackets. However, I didn't realize that eagle-eyes Reesie was apparantly watching me. So, waiting as he does, for the perfect time when I am distracted, this time by disengaging two jackets from one hanger, he thought it would be fun to give the coats another go round. Just as I'm about to shut the thing down again, I notice from the corner of my eye that somehow (?!!!) a jacket has hooked itself on the stroller and is now pulling/tipping the stroller along as the rack continues on it's merry way. Fortunately, God purposed to have a kind gentlemen grab the stroller just before it tipped over in a pile of jackets - did I mention that Ben was in the stroller the whole time! By this time, I had somewhat regained my compure and pulled the stroller clear. Fortunately, Ben was not disturbed by being pulled into a forest of coats - all that playing peekaboo with a blanket is paying off. Somehow, we managed to NOT get banned from the Botanical Gardens for playing with the coat rack.

First Snow

The kids were excited to see some snow on the ground yesterday. Here are some pictures of them enjoying their first "taste" of winter (they were pretending it was vanilla ice cream!)

Picture Update

On a hike

Learning about foxes at the Nature Center

Sister/brother love - we were picnicking with Mom and a deer decided to take a lunch break in the field right by us!

Joely!

"Hey, Isaac, I think this rake is kinda big. Are you sure you want to rake some leave right now?"

The gang at the Nature Center - it's seriously hard to get 5 young kids all looking at the camera! How do those photographers do it?

A little drool is so cool.

What's missing from this picture? Could it be hair?! Thought I'd put this picture in as a reminder that I should never go near the boys hair again with scissors! We had to go this short with the clippers just to get everything looking even. In honor of Uncle Tim's short do, I've decided to call this style the "TimBit" (Note: Ben was already that bald)

Is there anything left to say, but "Awwwww?"

"Feeding the Poor"

This is the new "game" B, R, and L have thought up. Here's how to play...
Find as many toy animals as you can scrounge up - stuffed, plastic, but preferably, not ceramic. Make sure you have your sword on hand so the animals can't get away. Oh, and don't forget your fishing pole. Then find some dishes to place them in. Plastic buckets, shoeboxes, baskets or anything that looks remotely like a pot or plate will do. Throw in the animals. Then pretend to cook them over a fire (big empahisis on "pretend"). All the better if you have a fireplace that never gets used.

Next, set up a market where the poor can come to get their food. (I did point out that they might want to just give the food away since it might be hard for the poor people to buy the food from the market).

Ups and Downs

Ups...

• Achievement of the day: Picking 19lbs (!) of blueberries at our favorite organic blueberry farm. Brie and Reese helped out and Luke helped himself to many berries. Ben dressed like a blueberry. Bring on the blueberry pancakes. For the record, last year, we picked about 13 lbs of berries and ran out a few months ago. We'll see how long this batch lasts us!
• Dave came home from Boston last night and had the day off today (hence the berry picking excursion)
• It was a beautiful sunshiny day which always gladdens the heart
• I went for a bike ride for the first time in almost a year on the weekend. Whew - were those muscles out of shape! Nonetheless, it felt great to get some exercise that didn't involve chasing a very fast child across a room/down a hallway/down some stairs.
• So far, Ben has started skipping a feeding.
• I have been crowned "wonder woman" by the kids. This after a conversation discussing that Brianna is "Jasmine," Reese is "Aladdin," and Luke has settled on "Charlie." (I don't believe Luke chose this alias after Charlie Brown. I think it's because that was the boy name mom chose as her guess before Ben was known as "Ben")
• The kids and I got some vacation time :) at Dad & Mom's while Dave was in Boston. Who would have thought that when I first inhabited the green room as a teen, that someday I'd be sharing it with my baby son?! On second thought, God forsaw that moment.

Downs...

• Getting impatient/angry/frustrated with the kids. Though I know in a worldly sense this is understandable, it still bothers me that I can have such a short fuse and be on such short supply. Nothing says "super mom" (or wonder woman?) quite like yelling and pointing at your child to go to their room or pulling/dragging one son by the arm from behind a chair because he was picking on his younger brother. In these sin-riddled moments, I have to remind myself that God knew what He was doing when He entrusted these treasures to me, because I definitely don't feel like I'm doing such a great job.
• Still challenged with the breastfeeding. I think it may be getting a little better since Ben doesn't seem to be quite as aggitated when feeding, but it still doesn't feel quite right.
• Having no idea how I'm going to do homeschooling. I still feel called to do it and look forward to it. But it's the whole fitting it into the day that seems unweildly. Totally trusting God to have this worked out too!
• Sleep deprivation that gives me little energy to run and play with the kids. That and knowing I have meals to get ready, laundry to do and a baby to feed. It's not that I mind the work, it's that I have no idea how to let those things go, because if I don't get them done, how will they get done?

So that I'm not ending on a totally depressing note...

Things I'm thanking God for tonight...

• Time together as a family today picking berries, stopping at fruit stands, eating frozen custard
• Dave getting home safe
• Having the windows open after a few days of humidity
• A daughter who's almost 6
• Parents I get to live close to
• A mother-in-law who gets more time with the kids since retiring
• Swim lessons at the Y and watching Brie and Reese enjoy jumping in the pool
• Boys who have jam sessions together
• A baby who's really starting to smile and coo
• That He lets me experience these frustrations and failures because He desires to mold me like Himself. I am being refined by fire!

Really Creative Title

Busy, busy today...we made a triple batch of zucchini bread, did the laundry, decorated some crowns (in keeping with our Middle Ages unit), ate and ate some more, read, napped and jumped in the "lake" created by the abundance of rain we had last night. We have yet to make it to Marc's the mainstay of our grocery shopping. C'est la vie!

Tonight I'm thanking God for:

• boys who don't hesistate to jump full body into muddied water and get covered in grass and pieces of mulch
• girls who prefer to only get their feet wet and scream at the thought of getting all dirty
• kids who enjoy cleaning the kitchen with wet rags including the windows and fridge
• the ability to read
• sunshine after the rain
• glitter and beads to make crowns
• that we get lasting crowns when we believe in Jesus as our Savior

On a Roll (so far)

Another quick update, because I'm again a few minutes away from bathtime. :)

Breastfeeding has been quite a challenge and I'm praying for perseverance in this. I thought feeding Luke was tough, but Ben has upped the ante! Will see a lactation doctor on Friday to see if she can offer some help. While going to bottles isn't exactly the end of the world, I'm not ready to give up yet.

I've been working with Brie on getting her to ride a two-wheeler. It's fun to see how each day she gets a little better with her balance. Reese wanted to give it a shot, too, but wasn't sure about it once he realized it wasn't so easy. Probably for the best anyway since his bike is still on the bigger side.

Potty training for Luke is going well. Though I've lost count of how many pairs of undies he wets. Better than diapers though.

We're continuing our reading of the Middle Ages - started on a book of castles today. I wish we were in England and could take them to the castles we saw when we were there. I know they'd all have fun exploring the ruins and going up the narrow staircases. We're hoping to get to a local Medieval Faire this weekend or the next if the weather holds out.

Things I'm thanking God for tonight:

• Baby smiles and bouncy seats
• Brooms that double as guitars (a Lukie invention)
• Swim classes at the Y - Brie and Reese graduated to "advance eel"
• Rain that adds romance to the night
• the Internet which helps keep us connected
• Guacamole - I made some for the first time today
• reading books from the series' "The Pony Crazed Princess" and "The Unicorn's Secret" to Brianna
• A husband who gives me time to think and write while he tucks the kids into bed
• Discovering God through His Word and the words of others

Random Stuff

Since it's been a few days, here are some here-and-there thoughts:

• The bathroom is finally working!!! I moved all my stuff in last night, though it kind of felt weird to be using it again. The one plus of the other bathroom is that when I'm getting ready in the mornings, I can keep an eye on the boys and make sure they aren't escaping downstairs without me. But...nothing beats a bathroom attached to your own bedroom. It also made me think how excited the family in the Dominican Republic will be once their new home is completed in just over a week.
• On one of the blogs I read, a mom shared that she brings in snow from the outside and lets her kids play with it in the kitchen sink which occupies them for quite some time. With the abundance of snow and low energy on my part, this seems like a great idea.
• Brie started her music/singing class this week. Will look forward to May when we can see what she's been learning.
• Luke is starting to make himself understood much more...it's great being able to understand exactly what he wants, to hear him "singing" the lyrics to his favorite songs (the "yellow" Veggie Tales CD is his current favorite) and reading Brown Bear, Brown Bear
• Dave now has an office with a window and heat
• Reese has been in mischief mode lately - probably too much time in the house, so I'm praying he'll be able to be at school two days a week for the next several weeks (the past few weeks he missed a day for various reasons)
• We've been watching video footage of the kids on our video camera - all three are getting a kick out of seeing themselves as wee wee ones. We realize Luke has so gotten gipped out of the camera spotlight, but then, when you have three, Dave and Irealized, it's really hard to train the camera on one child for more than 30 seconds at a time.
• We can't wait to see everyone at the wedding - praying God is getting all the snow out of the way before the big week.
  

Listening to Brie and Reese...and #4

I took numbers one and two out for a special treat last night (it was supposed to be a girl's night out, but Brie lovingly thought of including Reese). Here's a conversation they had on the drive to The Melting Pot (a yummy fondue restaurant):

Reese: So after we have our special treat, we going to Grandpa and Nan's house but if they're sick then we'll have to come home. (Repeats this sentiment a few times)

Brianna: Yeah, like if they're throwing up and stuff.

Reese: Yeah, but then we'll have to leave.

Brianna: Reesie, no, if they're sick and throwing up, we'll have to take care of them. We'll have to get them a bucket and towel and make them some toast. Yeah.

Reese: Yeah


This is as close to verbatim as I can remember. I don't know what made Reese throw in the "sick" part as "Nan & Grandpa" have not been sick in a while. Though it warms the heart to know what they need to do when anyone does get sick!


_______

We had our 19 week ultrasound yesterday and the doctor says everything looks good, praise God. Even the neck measurement, which was shown outside the normal range was within normal yesterday. Thank you, Jesus! We got some great pictures and Dave had a peak at the sex. His challenge is keeping it from me for the next 20 weeks. I have my suspicions as to what God has blessed us with, but will refrain from sharing. So praying things continue to go well for the latter half of the pregnancy and we remain trusting in God's sovereignty through it all.