Simple & Sweet Summer Memories

Charis learned to drive! So strange to see our (then) 14yo daughter in the driver's seat! She started in her Grandma J's Subaru and graduated to our big beast of a van. We figure if she can drive that, she can probably drive anything! We live in a state that allows 14-year-olds to drive, but she can't get her license until she turns 16. Lots more opportunities to practice!

Adding to her skills, Charis received instruction from the Pie Crust Master (aka my mom!) and made us a number of delicious pies. Every now and then she comes to the kitchen and says, "I think I'll make a pie." I LOVE this girl!

My friend Erin and her three daughters came to visit us! We met this family while we were in Ohio. As Erin is originally from Iowa, she asked if she could pop over for a visit when she was out this way visiting family. We were thrilled to get to share lots of time and conversation with her and her girls, who were great friends of Charis. They have all grown up so much!

My  mom's cousin Pat had some health issues and ended up spending some time in a nursing home very close to us even though she lives in a different city. It was fun to walk over and surprise her with flowers and a card for her birthday!

What a joy to live closer to family! All my first cousins on my mom's side live in Omaha, and we've been able to get together a number of times. Ben and Reema's girls, Maelin and Joyella, have come to spend the night with Kenna several times. On one such occasion we taught the girls to make our homemade pizza recipe. They were quick learners and have apparently made it a number of times for their family!

OK, I confess I still have not learned to tell the girls apart...and now that it's been some months since this picture was taken, I can't remember which of the girls told me she just LOVED to chop vegetables, but I do remember telling her that I would hire her!! That would make my job in the kitchen so much easier, lol.

Our church hosted an Amazing Family Race at the local park in August, and event our kids had looked forward to all summer!

There were a variety of stations with different tasks for the teams to perform.

Lo and behold...our clan came in first! Our prize was a Ladder Ball game for the backyard!

Soon after winning the Amazing Family Race, we had a backyard picnic and put our new game to use!

Zaden decided he didn't need naps...

And then there was the time Seanin found baby Rhema's little pink pants and put them on, apparently thinking they'd be perfect shorts for a chunky toddler...

...and then lay down on the floor to cry when I insisted he must take them off!

We received a precious care package...this beautiful bowl from dear friends of ours we met during our time in Napoli. It has a prominent place on our counter and reminds us of the sweet fellowship we experienced during our overseas tour.

Highlights!

I have so much on my mind and in my heart these days!  I've been wanting to journal some spiritual things God has been leading me through over the past 8 months or so.  But I feel the (self-pressured) expectation to keep up-to-date with our family events, so in order to assuage the guilt, here we go...

PREGNANCY
13 weeks along.  Feeling reasonably well, aside from utter dismay at the way my uterus has declared a free-for-all.  I look like I did when I was 6 months pregnant with my first few babies!

ZADEN
Finally walking consistently!  (Although he still does an astonishingly fast sideways crawl up on his knees--hilarious.)  Delighted with life; a joy to all.  Callouses on his thumbs from sucking.  Permanent curls in the hair from twisting while sucking thumb.  A-DOR-able.  Loves tickles and even tries to tickle himself while he gets diaper changes, poking his belly and saying what sounds like "tickle" with giggles.

LUCAN
Still no interest in self-motivated potty usage.  Praying this will change before Baby arrives.  Doof dog has  lost about 90% of his stuffing but is still the preferred sleeping buddy.  Plays with Kenna for hours on end; also builds with various toys by himself for hours on end.  Generally an agreeable, happy boy, though he does exert his will, usually at the most inopportune times (i.e. wailing in his car seat during a lengthy car ride).

KENNA
Waiting on reading lessons paid off!  She is finding much success with Phonics Pathways, reading 3-letter words at this time (C-V-C) and able to write them from dictation exercises.  We both look forward to when she will have the tools to read sentences.  It won't be long now!  Her confidence is growing, and she surprises and delights herself and us by picking out words on signs or "big kid books."  Her dark side has shown itself, as she has proven to be a candy thief and subsequent liar. Prayers for a tender and responsive heart eventually work...the latest progression was as follows:

"Kenna, did you take the candy for my Bible study class?"
1.  Immediate response:  Vigorous denial while rubbing eyes.
2.  Later that day:  Changed the subject.
3.  At night when tucking into bed:  "I'm not ready to tell you yet."
4.  The next day I ask, "Are you ready to confess yet?"  She sweetly replies, "No, not yet."
5.  Finally, days later when she has been grounded from candy, she comes to me and tearfully confesses and asks forgiveness...while informing me that taking away her candy privileges "hurt my feelings and ruined my Valentine's party day."  Giggle!

ARDEN
We had a heart-to-heart talk today when he wrote "I hate school" as part of a LA assignment.  Sigh.  Gentle probing revealed that he doesn't think he's very good at anything.  Praise God for precious moments like this, when He uses me to point out all the ways my tough, tender guy shines.  We pray, hug, and he lets me kiss him on his kissable cheek.  Multiple times.  I don't know how long this permission will last, but I speak words of encouragement and steal hugs and kisses while I can.  The boy is way ahead in math, has made leaps and bounds progress in reading, hunts out books to read on his own that he wouldn't have touched with a 10-foot pole a year ago, and has progressed remarkably noticeably in his piano skills in just 6 weeks of lessons after a 6-month hiatus.  Satan, you may NOT have this young man's heart or mind, and you will NOT speak lies at him!  Father, protect Arden, and remind us as parents to speak truth over him to encourage him in the purpose YOU have for him.

TOBIN
Less enthused about piano than Arden, he still seems to enjoy finishing pieces and looks forward to the spring recital.  His preference is always an activity involving a screen, but Lego building and playtime are still a favorite pastime.  His face is well known at the base library.  I can see a career--or at least a side job--involving performance, as he loves to make up jokes and test them out on us.  He has begun crocheting and inspired Arden to take up the new hobby as well...I now have 3 children lusting after yarn!

CHARIS
Her Bears for Bricks project is drawing to an end as she wraps up the final 7 bears.  I'll have to get an exact count, but I do believe she made (or will have made) well over 40 knitted teddy bears, all with donated time, energy, and supplies!  I hope and pray that those who supported her in the project by requesting one or more bears are able to give generously toward the children's home in Uganda, knowing what a sacrifice this girl has made over the last 4-5 months!  Mostly, we are happy to have had the opportunity to share with others our new connection with Lahash International.  Charis continues to craft and is desperately working to finish a knitted doll with outfits for Kenna's birthday on the 27th and a complete set of 15 crocheted Star Wars figures for Tobin's birthday in April.  (The Star Wars figures may well be making an appearance in a business opportunity for her...but we need to check some things first!)  Charis has also taken up violin and has eagerly added that to her musical repertoire.

TED
Last week Ted changed jobs!  Every few years the NATO nations bid for job positions.  His old job is now filled by a Canadian.  He got moved to a different office and now works for a Turkish colonel, having replaced a Norwegian, with I-can't-remember-what-nationality sergeant working for him.  Somewhere in there is an Italian.  (I can't keep all this straight.)  He may--or may not--attend a training course later in the spring. In the meantime, he's trying his darnedest to figure out what exactly this new job entails, having finally gotten a clue what his old one required!  Additionally, he has been asked to consider taking over as AWANA commander, as the current one is PSCing this summer.  After prayer and discussion, we have decided that this looks to be a role God indeed has in mind for Ted, and he is looking to meet with our chaplain, the current commander, and the youth program leader to plan the next steps.

ME
As for me, the biggest thing going on for me other than usual family/household matters is that I have been privileged to lead one of the Bible study classes for PWOC (Protestant Women of the Chapel) this semester.  It has been so humbling and yet exciting to be part of this!  In fact, this is one of the things I plan to delve more into in subsequent blog posts.  The book we are studying is The Hole in Our Gospel by Richard Stearns, president of World Vision USA.  I read it last summer, and it sparked a huge flame in me that keeps growing!  So, more on that later...

And More Random Thoughts

1.  Beginning to wish I had just paid the $80 for another crib tent for Lucan.  From the thumps I am hearing overhead, apparently he is taking flying leaps off his bed instead of napping.

2.  My parents have been here for a short visit--hooray!  They got to see Charis' play yesterday, despite Mom being sick all Saturday night with a stomach virus--boo.  Praying no one else in the family gets sick, especially since Mom and Dad leave tomorrow for Wisconsin.  Not sure I can handle a stomach virus with 6 kiddos on top of everything else I'm dealing with!

3.  The milk blister/mastitis/etc. saga continues.  Friday I got a dose of Diflucan after it was obvious that my body was dealing with yeast.  The good news is that the lumps in my right breast cleared up.  I am still dealing with the milk blister and reduced milk production on that side, but this morning the skin of the blister itself finally broke apart (no needles! I promise!), and I am hoping that MAYBE, FINALLY, we can see some healing.  I have an appointment with the midwife on base to do more specific assessment on everything that's been going on.  My lactation consultant and I are going to be pretty darn close after all this!!!  She has been wonderful.  I feel like I should be a case study for breastfeeding problems...you name it, I've had it, all in the last 3 1/2 months!!

4.  It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...exploded all over the house.  I've turned the kids loose with the decorations and have decided I will not say a WORD about how things look.  (By nightfall, however, the Thanksgiving decorations WILL be back in the storage closet in the basement if I have to repack everything myself to get them down there.)

5.  The kids decorated the Christmas tree a week ago, so we did have a little bit of Christmas in the house before mid-December.

In Other News

I feel as though all I've done is feed the baby, pump for the baby, wash all the paraphernalia related to feeding the baby, and report on how feeding the baby is going!  So here's a quick rundown of what's happening in other areas of life.

My parents left for Wisconsin on September 12.  Dad had driven here on Saturday, so we only had one full day together because of his work schedule.  We attended church together in the morning, and then we met some friends of ours from Cedarville at Young's for dinner that evening.  Harold and Joanne K hosted my parents each time they drove me to college, and Joanne was my boss when I worked at the college in the admissions office.  They are a dear, sweet couple, and it was so nice to see them.  As a bonus, I also ran into my professor Dr. Ager, with whom I traveled to Hungary twice!  It was so wonderful to catch up with him and his wife, as well as PG's wife--those who are familiar with Cedarville (at least my era) will remember Pastor Green, who passed away this year.

The day after Mom and Dad left, Megan, my college roomie, drove down from Michigan with her daughter Sela to spend the rest of the week with us, helping me with all my feeding-the-baby issues and doing other general helpful things.  It was so wonderful to have her here!  We laughed and giggled like we did in college, and it was a HUGE stress reliever to be able to laugh after such an emotional time with Zaden.  It was also nice to bounce ideas about the whole feeding situation around together.  And of course it was wonderful to be able to take naps and just really focus on Zaden while she and Sela entertained the kids, worked on meals, and did whatever needed to be done.  It was all I could do to not have a meltdown when she left on Friday, LOL!  By God's grace, we've made it through 4 days without live-in help! 

On Sunday I managed to get us all to church in time for the second service.  Unfortunately, during the singing, a volunteer came to tell me that Lucan was crying inconsolably in his classroom.  He has NEVER done this before, but that day he was just beside himself.  I had Zaden in the sling--he was sound asleep--and I'm sure I was quite a sight, with an infant in the sling in front of me and a sobbing Lucan on my left hip.  I sat down with him and held him and rocked him back and forth, but nothing made a difference until I started singing to him softly.  He calmed down and finally started talking about random things with me.  I figured I would take him back to his classroom and stay with him, but as soon as we even walked in that direction, he began screaming again.  So I gave up on that and decided instead to pop into my Sunday school class, where people welcomed us and quickly pulled up a couple of chairs.  Lucan sat quite happily beside me, munching pretzels and backwashing majorly into what had been my water bottle.  As we had just finished reading the book of Job, it was rather appropriate that I attended class after all, LOL!  It was a good discussion, and I'm just glad I was able to leave church feeling as though my soul had been fed after all.

Sunday evening was the annual church picnic.  A couple from my Sunday school class called to see if I was going, then said they would look for me and help out with the kids.  It was so wonderful to have extra hands to help hold plates and so on!  The older kids ran around with friends and played games, and I got to chat with a few people despite all the chaos.  It was nice to be out and about doing something that didn't involve going to the doctor, ha!

I guess those are some of the highlights from the past week or so.  I still kind of feel as though I'm in a fog, and I don't figure I'll emerge from that feeling for quite some time.  Between running low on sleep and trying to keep up with Zaden's feeding schedule, anything good that is accomplished around here is only done by the grace of God.  I struggle with wanting so badly to "really" be homeschooling, to make sure my kids are "keeping up," and wishing I myself could keep up with the ever-growing piles of dirt and clutter.  But I constantly remind myself that I need to focus on what's really important in light of eternity--this year is bringing that to the forefront of my mind more frequently than ever.  It's hard to let go of things, but I need to.  I'll drive myself mad otherwise.  (I often wonder as I walk down that long hallway at the hospital if it's a coincidence that one has to pass the Mental Health clinic before reaching the Pediatric clinic...I confess I've had the thought more than once that I just may have to visit them both one day!)

Aaaaaand it's time to feed Zaden again!

Thirteen on Thursday

In lieu of a lengthy update trying to recall all we've done since I last blogged, we'll do bullets...

1.  Preggo update:  34 weeks and counting.  Total weight gain so far:  23 pounds.  The boy is head down, face up.  Praying he turns before delivery...remembering Lucan's difficult delivery almost makes me want to schedule a C-section!  I do NOT want to go through that again!

2.  Swollen ankles, lots of pokes and jabs, multiple night time trips to the bathroom...yes.  We are ready to have this baby.  I'm praying for an early birth date.

3.  Hot.  Very hot.  And humid.  But I suppose I'm describing a good portion of the country when I say that, not just our little corner of the world.  See last sentence of #2.

4.  Community garage sale this week.  Yes, the hottest week of the summer!  We were "open" for business from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. and made $160.  Not bad, considering we didn't really have much "big" stuff for sale!  I plan to open up tomorrow morning only and close before lunch.  A friend came over with a table and some stuff and her girls, and it was great to have company and help.  The kids sold water bottles and snow cones and made a bit of money that way.  But mostly they stayed in the house keeping cool and watching the little ones!

5.  Got another family (military) pass to the Boonshoft Discovery Museum.  We had one 2009-2010 and let it lapse, but I decided it would be a good option for getting out of the house and doing something educational.  The day we went (a couple of Fridays ago) we took along 3 kids from a family who are friends of ours.  It was cuh-RAZY, with tons of kids in buses showing up the same day!  But on the plus side, we got to watch the launch of the space shuttle Atlantis while seated in the planetarium--very cool!

6.  My good friend Jennifer T, whom I met in Idaho, came to visit for a few days last week.  I loved having a friend come to visit!  The kids loved it, too.  We played lots of games of Bananagrams and set, took the kids to see Kung Fu Panda 2, and Jen and I got to go out for lunch and the Harry Potter movie.  Good times, good conversations and prayers together.

7.  Just finished reading the second book of the Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place series, The Hidden Gallery.  GREAT books!  The kids wanted me to finish tonight, so they got to bed late.  (I wanted to know what would happen, too.  Darn it, though, there will apparently be another book after this.  Guess we'll have to wait a few months.)

8.  After MONTHS of sleeping on the top bunk, with no incidents or issues whatsoever, Kenna rolled out of her bed and landed on the (carpeted) floor at 12:30 a.m. last night.  She cried hard for a few minutes, resisted my efforts to comfort her, climbed back up to her bed, and promptly fell asleep.  She seemed none the worse for the wear today, and when I asked, she said she only had "a little tiny spot about this big" on her back that was hurting.  ???  I guess she's OK???!

9.  Lucan can officially climb in and out of his crib.  One afternoon this week during nap time, we checked on him and discovered he had thrown all of his stuffed animals out to make room for the doll stroller, which was in bed with him.  He was asleep under/beside it.  This evening, he had crawled out of bed and was playing happily when Tobin went to check on him after we heard some thumps.  He let me put him back to bed, but he was still awake when I checked on him at 9:45!  (Still in the crib, though.)  It may be time to make the transition to the big boy bed that is already in his room.  Sigh.  My baby's not a baby anymore!!

10.  Saturday marks 2 months down of our deployment.  This month has absolutely dragged as far as marking deployment time goes.  Our weeks seem to fly by, but it seems we've been close but not quite there (to the 2-month point) for ages now.  Strange, this time warp.

11.  We are finishing week 7 of our Bible Bee studies.  Charis is in week 4 of her memory verses.  I've managed to keep up with the Primary National Track memory work, thanks to my morning walks.  Charis has a lot more verses than I do to learn (500 vs. 250)...I'm praying she doesn't get discouraged.  It's not that she hasn't had time, but she has chosen to spent the majority of her days reading her stacks of library books...

12.  I have not given a single thought to school, although I suppose I should seriously look at the Sonlight catalog and start preparing our order.  Hoping that Baby arrives in mid-August, I'd like us to try to stick with our usual Labor Day start to the new school year.  We'll see if that ends up being a realistic plan or not.

13.  Looking forward to having my parents come soon--still working on the dates, as it depends on my dad's work schedule, but hopefully they'll be out here the first week in August or so.  Then Mom will stay here to help me get through the final days before Baby arrives and help with our transition.  I could cry I'm so happy to have her come!!!  Having Jennifer here for a few days reminded me of how nice it is to have another adult in the house...someone else to talk with and pray with, someone else to help keep kids entertained/occupied, just another responsible grown-up...I guess I hadn't realized really what a burden it can be to be the ONLY one responsible for so many other people.  If it weren't for God's sustaining grace, there is no way I could even face a tomorrow, let alone a whole year's worth of them.

13 on Thursday!

1. Ted returned home Friday evening, having graduated from his deployment training at Ft. Dix, NJ.  He caught an earlier flight, and we were delighted to pick him up in time to enjoy a family dinner at the Cracker Barrel.  (Yes, we did cheat on our diet again!  But not too badly.)
2. Despite my fantasies of hiking and picnicking as a family during Ted's week off, the weather has put a literal damper on any outside activities.  In fact, we had to kick the heat on a couple of nights.  Curse you, La Nina!
3. Various things have been checked off the honey-do list...just a few more to go.  Mark my words, though, the biggest things will happen AFTER he leaves.
4. Lucan has been beside himself to have Daddy home again!  Life has seemed almost "normal" this week.  I'm trying not to think about how confused the poor li'l guy will be next week...
5. I got a nap 3 days in a row!  And I've been sleeping in until 6:30ish!  I'm trying not to think about how poorly I'll sleep next week...
6. The kids were so excited to watch the finale of The Amazing Race (which we DVRed) once Ted got home.  It was a rather disappointing finish for us, as our favorites had dropped out in a line before the final 3 teams.  Ah, well.
7. On the other hand, GO BOSTON ROB!!!  (The kids did NOT watch that finale with us...we're pretty protective with TV time, and Survivor is not on the docket anytime soon.)
8. Owing to the fact that it has been cold and/or rainy most of the week, the boys have been delighted to play Wii with Ted, who has obviously become addicted to the Lego Indiana Jones game the boys bought with their spending money just before his training.
9. Kenna and Lucan have, quite possibly, heard more stories this week than in the previous 2 months combined!  Between Ted and myself having extra time to sit and cuddle, they are loving all the attention.
10. Ted and I got away for a quick date last night.  Eilene offered to let the boys come over to play for an evening, so after dinner was over, Charis got to experience her first official babysitting job!  Armed with our cell numbers and Eilene's home number, plus instructions to help the evening go smoothly, she very capably organized a fun evening for the younger two, successfully put Lucan in bed, oversaw the final chores and clean-up, put Kenna to bed, and was enjoying some reading time when we returned home after seeing Soul Surfer.  The movie was incredible--but coming home to a bubbly, confident Charis and hearing her tell about her evening as Babysitter Extraordinaire was just as wonderful!  I can't believe our baby is so mature and responsible!!  I feel so grateful and blessed!
11. I've been trying to take advantage of our relaxed week to catch up on some scrapping.  I completed our 2008 family album Stampin' Up! style using the My Digital Studio program.  (To see pictures of the pages, go here.)  I've even begun working on our 2009 album!  I have high hopes of finishing it this month as well so that I can get a good discount on the price of printing the books with the special going on this month.  But even if I don't finish that one, I can at least print the 2008 book and know that I'm well on my way!  Digital and DONE means more to me than beautiful, hand-crafted pages that are only designed in my head!  I've had to face reality...and my reality includes 5.5 wonderful children. :-)  So here's hoping that I can set aside more time to capture our memories!
12. Lots of errands this week...got my hair trimmed, eyebrows waxed, one-hour glucose test completed, OB appointment, groceries, blah blah blah.  It's nice to be able to leave the house with OR without kids!
13. While it's not fun thinking about what's just around the bend, I'm so thankful for God's peace and sovereignty.  A recent ladies' Bible study I was involved with delved into the topic of FEAR.  (Appropriate timing, eh?  Amazing how God works like that. ;-)  One of my favorite quotes from one of the ladies was, "Feed faith, starve fear."  I've gotten back into the routine of memorizing and meditating on Scripture, and I fully intend to feed my faith this year and not give fear an opportunity to get its claws around my mind and heart.  Will you pray the same for our whole family?  We would certainly appreciate it.

Two Weeks in a Nutshell

Whew!  I hope Ted's deployment goes as quickly as this year has so far!  Here are some highlights from the last couple of weeks:

• Visitors!  Our Colorado family--Ted's mom Rhonda, his brother Joel and wife Sarah, and their two boys Anders and Cade--came to visit March 26 - 30.  It was a fun-filled whirlwind as we maneuvered everyone to and from church, Young's Dairy, and the Air Force Museum (two separate trips), trying to squeeze in naps and game time along the way.  It was great fun getting to know our nephews and watching our kids interact with them.  Lucan is now very proficient at saying "baby," a very important skill. :-)
• Appointments!  Dentist appointments, orthodontist appointments, well-baby appointments, OB appointments...this will probably just never end, will it?!
• Date night!  A couple from church kindly offered to come watch our kids so Ted and I could escape get some time together.  We were so tired that we ended up home by 9:30!  But we did enjoy dinner at an Indian restaurant (although we were disappointed--it was under new management, so not quite as good as we had experienced before) and browsed a closing Borders store, found some fun deals, and then spent some time in Starbucks reading our new Cul-de-Sac comic book.
• Kids' Street Live!  Now that we're doing this monthly at church, time REALLY seems to fly.  We love our time rehearsing with the team as well as putting things together for "show time."  It's a great way for us to keep up with what our kids are learning in church each month, plus minister as a family.  It was bittersweet, though, as it was Ted's last KSL.
• Tim Hawkins!  We enjoyed his comedic performance with Charis, Tobin, and Arden along with a couple of families from the neighborhood.  Laughed so hard our sides hurt!
• Field Trip!  The kids and I "enjoyed" a trip to KY to visit the aquarium.  We took our friends the C family along for the ride, and it was nice to have Stefanie's company and navigational skills on the drive plus her and her daughter Jessica's watchful eyes on all our kiddos--particularly since it was a gray rainy day and the first day of the area spring break!  CROWDED!  Our homeschool group's class was a lot of fun, but touring the aquarium itself was rather stressful for us adults.  Nevertheless, the kids had a blast and learned a lot.  Meanwhile, Ted was on base passing his physical fitness test--woohoo!
• Lunch date!  I met with a friend and downline member for lunch on April 5, then went shopping for Tobin's upcoming pirate birthday party.  It snowed while I was out, and it just seemed so wrong...I bought flip-flops for the kids from Old Navy!
• Play!  Charis's opening night for Alice's Adventures in Wonderland was last night.  She has had a blast this go-around, and we can hardly wait to see her.  Her schedule has been very crazy, but she has been loving every minute of it.  I'm thankful this time around we were able to get into a good carpool situation with two other girls in our neighborhood (both teens), who are very sweet.
• More visitors!  My parents came into town yesterday for the weekend.  This is quite handy, since they'll get to see Charis's play tomorrow afternoon, as well as...
• Piano recital!  Today was the first piano recital we got to attend as proud parents!  Both Charis AND Tobin performed, along with about 15 other kids.  It was quite short, which was good, since it was smack in the middle of Lucan's nap.
• Pre-deployment fair!  OK, maybe that shouldn't have an exclamation point, but really, it was quite fun!  The base did a tremendous job with this.  Apparently they do it a couple of times a year.  The Build-A-Bear Workshop folks came out with product to donate, so each child got to create his/her very own bear that includes a voice recorder with a special message from Daddy.  What a GREAT idea!  The kids love their new bears, and Lucan probably played his Daddy message about 983 times today.  I'm hoping it lasts until Daddy actually leaves!!  In addition to the bears, there were lots of other freebies and information about resources.  I signed up for a free night at the Dayton Dragons (local baseball) and plan to take the older 3 kiddos and get a sitter for the younger two.  Also got a cute board book to read to the youngers that talks about Daddy being gone but doing the same types of things the kids are doing here (eating lunch, brushing teeth, reading books, etc.).

So...I guess that helps catch me up on here a bit!

Seven on Sunday

1.  Temps are above freezing!  The ice/snow around us is melting, and it's supposed to be in the mid-50s this week.  The sun is shining.  Life is good.  I look forward to leaving our cave this week.

2.  We've been living in a sick house the past week.  Lucan started last Sunday with a fever and only yesterday began acting like his normal self.  Tobin has been miserable the last few days and in fact missed the Avs hockey game with Ted and Arden Friday night, choosing to stay home and go to bed early.  Arden has been hacking the last few days as well.  And since Charis has had a stuffy nose for going on two weeks now, that leaves Kenna, Ted, and me the only unscathed people thus far.  Here's hoping things get better so we can enjoy the good weather...

3.  A paradoxically frustrating and encouraging thing:  the boys are apparently experiencing a "healing crisis."  Both Tobin and Arden have experienced a relapse, which has included a lot of coughing, wheezing, and needing to use their inhalers.  This is normal and to be expected as their bodies have been undergoing detox.  So far my own detox symptoms only seem to involve sneezing!  Odd, but it was mentioned specifically in the document I read, and I can't explain my sneeze attacks any other way!

4.  I'll be 12 weeks along with this pregnancy on Tuesday.  Hard to believe the first trimester is almost over.  I'm trying not to be concerned about the fact that I haven't felt any movement yet.  I know it's fairly early, but I felt the last 3 babies by 11 weeks.  Ted thinks I've just been too busy...I don't know.  I'll feel a lot better after I hear the heartbeat at my next appointment, which is February 22.

5.  Last week I joined a ladies' evening Bible study for a short time.  We are studying Max Lucado's book Fearless.  I saw the announcement in the bulletin and figured it was appropriate, given all that I'm facing this year.  The study just runs 6 weeks.  The group meets on an on-going basis, but I can't really commit to a long-term evening study.  I was blessed by the first meeting I attended last week and look forward to getting to know these ladies better.

6.  Yesterday was the AWANA Bible Quiz Team competition, hosted by our church.  Charis had been on the team last year and worked hard only to have the event canceled by bad weather, and it just couldn't be rescheduled.  So I was glad this year that both she and Tobin were able to participate.  As a whole, our (rather large) team didn't fare so well, but I think it was great that so many kids were involved.  Charis did win a "High Honor" award, and she and her teammate placed 4th for their book division.  Though Tobin was really not feeling well, he did pretty well, and I'm proud of him for participating.  (He was a bit reluctant at first!)  Next up...the AWANA games, and Arden will get to be part of that!

7.  I have a princess "par-tea" to plan.  Our little Kenna turns 4 in just two weeks!  She has requested a princess themed party, so I plan to recycle some of the activities we did for Charis's 5th birthday and make Charis my official Party Helper.  We will send the boys out for some fun and enjoy hosting a few dressed-up little girls for some games and tea time!  It will be fun and challenging to come up with treats that even our guests will enjoy, given our current menu options, but I look forward to baking something fancy and even more to helping Kenna celebrate her special day.  She has been looking forward to it literally for months. :-)

Seven on Saturday

HOW is it possible that it has been 8 days since my last post?! So much blog-worthy material to write about...so little time. Sigh. Time for blurbs.

1. This morning I ran my first 5K, a race to benefit missionaries our church supports. (Check out their web site.) Ted and Scott, one of our neighbors, also ran. It was wonderful weather and a lot of fun. There were about 200 racers altogether. We all finished in less than 30 minutes, so that was fun, and I actually won a door prize packet. I think I have Charis interested in running a 5K with me sometime!

2. Last weekend was Labor Day weekend, right?! (Time flies.) We did lots of fun family activities and managed not to kill one another with all the togetherness. The weekend included a pool party at a neighbor's house, teaching the art of Settlers of Catan to Scott and Eilene, and a hike at the gorge near Cedarville University (my old stomping grounds, as my dad would say).

3. Our first "full" week of school went very well! I should probably make that a separate blog post. One of the reasons it went well, I think, is that I am now beginning my 6th year of homeschooling. This does not mean I'm an expert--just that I no longer feel the need to be SuperHomeSchoolingMom! We are relaxing and enjoying the journey! (Hopefully this approach will last longer than the first week.)

4. AWANA started Wednesday night. I can't believe we have 4 kids in AWANA this year...one adorable Cubbie, one last-year Sparky, and two T&Ters (Truth & Training)!

5. Tomorrow Ted, Arden, Tobin, and 5 friends are going to the Reds game in Cincinnati. Charis and Tobin each got 4 free tickets as part of their Bible Bee award package, and Charis had zero interest in attending a baseball game. I had zero interest in trying to manage two little ones at a baseball game. So we are staying home in the afternoon and will attend the church picnic in the evening, assuming it doesn't get rained out.

6. We found out our request to tour the White House was denied, as they did not have any available spaces during our requested available days. Sigh. Oh, well--there is a lot to do in D.C.!

7. I had a FANTASTIC response to a Stampin' 101 class that I hosted here at home on Sept. 2 and 7. There were 6 people here on the 2nd (2 of whom were downline members!), and 9 people here on the 7th. I had a BLAST! The ladies were so much fun. I gave away two hostess stamp sets and other little gifts, so that everyone who came got a goodie to take home along with their make-and-take project. Best part for me...THREE people booked workshops! That was very encouraging after quite a dry spell for me and my business. I'm praising the Lord and excited to get back into the stampin' routine!

10 on Tuesday

I really need to sit and do some focused blog entries soon, but there are a lot of little things, so here we are again with another 10 on Tuesday...

1. The kids had their eye exams this morning after a year and a half. Charis is now sporting a trial pair of contacts (my baby's growing up!), and Arden has a pair of reading glasses on order. Tobin is getting new frames and lenses that will hopefully hold up. Both he and Charis are supposed to take their glasses/lenses OFF for up-close reading and activities, while Arden is supposed to wear his for the same purpose in order to try to prevent him from needing regular glasses in the near future. Despite desperate pleas otherwise, Kenna is NOT getting glasses. (Nor did she have her eyes examined, I might add!)

2. We've always used whole-wheat pasta for our cooking at home, with the exception of boxed mac-n-cheese for quick lunches now and then. Recently, however, I've become convinced (convicted?) that we need to be more proactive in making sure we are keeping processed foods OUT of our bodies, or at least to an extreme minimum. So, today we had homemade mac-n-cheese, which the kids like just as much if not better. (I ate some myself, and that would NOT have happened if we had made it from a box. Ick.)

3. The problem with #2 is that I have not yet located whole wheat elbow macaroni. I know it's out there--I used to buy it at Walmart in Las Vegas, for cryin' out loud. But the commissary and Walmart here neither one carry it. I'll have to check Kroger's and possibly Trader Joe's, which is quite a haul from our house, but one I will be making regularly in the future.

4. Lucan is now saying...syllables. We're eagerly waiting for him to become more verbal, but so far his word repertoire consists of "Hi!" (with MUCH inflection, as if a grown-up is talking baby talk, which is probably why he says it that way--everyone around him says "Hi-iii" when they see him!), "ya" (yeah), "bubba," "ma," "na/da" or something like that for no. The accompanying shove with his "no" syllable does wonders for interpretation.

5. Ted had an exciting weekend--he attended a Project 86 concert Friday night and took Arden to a Broncos game in Cincinnati Sunday night. Arden was thrilled to go! Tobin was thrilled to stay home and finally watch the first Spiderman movie, LOL. Charis thought the movie was "OK." :-)

6. School is beginning to start up around here. Our city schools start a week from today. Frankly, I'll be glad when everyone else's kids go to school, LOL! Our boys are hardly home these days! But seriously, I can understand why many moms can't WAIT to send their kids to school. Two and a half months without a routine definitely tends to make the kids go crazy. Though I had great intentions for keeping us on a summer-school type of schedule, doing math, Bible bee activities, reading, etc., we've been flying by the seat of our pants the last few weeks, and it's showing!

7. Due to #6, a MOTH schedule is coming soon to a refrigerator near us. (Managers of Their Homes,for the uninitiated.)

8. I can't remember if I already posted this...Ted and I have signed up to run a 5K in September to support some missionaries from our church. My time should be GREAT if, like this morning, I get the urge to use the restroom 1/2 mile into the run.

9. It's less than 2 weeks until the local Bible Bee competition. We're way behind, but we're pressing on.

10. I have a new planner! My brain is happy. :-)

10 on Tuesday

1. Arden probably will have his two front teeth by Christmas, but at the rate he's going, the Tooth Fairy will be too broke to do much more than stuff his stocking!

2. We have a wean-er! Lucan seems to be officially finished nursing. He was my longest nurser, going 16 months (8 months on one side only, though, LOL). The last few times we tried, he either A) covered me back up (!!!hope that lasts past the teen years, ha!!!) or B) pushed me away or C) bit me. So. We're done.

3. We had a tent up in our backyard over the weekend. The weather turned nice for a change--about 20 degrees cooler with far less humidity. Charis and Tobin slept in the tent Friday night. Arden was sick with a fever that day so didn't join them. All went well, and we are looking forward to a "real" camping trip someday!

4. It's raining. Pretty hard. Wonder if it will result in some cooler weather?!

5. Tomorrow the older kids are supposed to go to the water beach park. Wonder if the rain will stop before then?!

6. Today was Room Cleaning Day. For the moment, anyway, all three of the kids' bedrooms are spic-n-span. We even dusted dresser tops that had been covered with stuff for...a very long time.

7. I need a new planner. Mine ends after August. I suppose I need to get to an office store and start browsing...my September calendar is already filling up, and I'm running out of places to make notes about activities.

8. Holy cow. Is it really almost September?!

9. Our Sonlight order is on its way after a bit of a detour. Somehow they sent it to our Ohio street address in Las Vegas. The poor FedEx man was very confused when he called our Ohio phone number to locate an address in Las Vegas that didn't exist. I have no idea how this happened, since I obviously had to verify all the information when I placed the order, plus input billing information! Good thing we weren't planning to start school this week!

10. I made a very yummy side dish a couple of nights ago: Baked Pumpkin. It was like dessert! For my non-Facebook friends, here is the recipe.

1 baked pumpkin (I cut it in half, scoop out the seeds and pulp, and bake at 375 degrees, face down on a cookie sheet. Add some water to the tray and cover the pumpkin with foil. Bake for 1 1/2 hours or so.)
2 eggs
1/2 tsp. ginger
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 cup sugar--in original recipe. I used 1/2 cup of organic sugar and about 1/4 cup of honey.

Mix together and bake in a casserole dish for 45 minutes at 400 degrees.

10 on Tuesday

I know, it's Wednesday, but I forgot to do this yesterday. :-)

1. With much encouragement from Charis, Tobin finally learned to ride his bike last weekend. I think he's wondering why it took him so long to try!

2. We're squishing the last 3 weeks of Sonlight Core 2 curriculum into 2 weeks. Two weeks of 4 days each, I might add. Crazy?! I think we're all ready to be finished, so it's working so far.

3. Woohoo! Four-day weekend to look forward to.

4. I put a big storage container on the deck and filled it with water for Kenna and Lucan to play with/in yesterday. Kenna stripped naked no less than 3 times before we finally located her swimsuit.

5. After dinner last night we went to the BX and purchased a plastic pool, plus super soaker water guns, and a wild-n-wacky-n-wiggly sprinkler. Today was "Water Wednesday," and much fun was had by all. (A good nap was had by Kenna and Lucan, too, after all that fun.)

6. Kenna has been stringing together more complex sentences, with her favorite conjunction currently being "so that." Sometimes this produces quite amusing cause and effect scenarios, such as what she prayed tonight. "Dear God, thank you for my family, so that I can have food."

7. My heart about burst yesterday when, in comparing the books about Marie Curie and a missionary, Arden informed me that he liked Catching Their Talk in a Box better than the current science book because it told about people who needed to hear about Jesus and were able to listen to the gospel message.

8. Sitting on the couch with one's spouse after dinner while watching the children is a GREAT and FREE form of entertainment. Charis, Tobin, and Arden provide an unrivaled show as they "clean up" the dining room and kitchen. And Kenna and Lucan are immensely entertaining, each in their own little world, running around and chattering to themselves. On this particular evening, Kenna was running laps with a hooded towel over her head, yelling, "SUPERMAN!" When we pointed out that she was, indeed, not a man, she didn't miss a beat. "SUPERKENNA!" she yelled, and took off again. Meanwhile, Lucan is toddling around muttering, presumably, about the best way to take over the world after we're all in bed.

9. Summer laundry. Love it.

10. Summer allergies. Hate 'em.

Six on Saturday

1. I've been derailed with my P90X efforts...a stomach bug hit me yesterday, and while my tummy is not so unsettled now, I have a rip-roaring headache and feel pretty weak. Here's hoping Mother's Day brings health!

2. This afternoon I decided I really must teach Kenna to read. Ted had taken the kids to the library while I napped earlier. After they were home, while I was working on a stamping project, I suddenly realized that while everyone else quietly had a nose in a book, Kenna was talking and/or making noises non. stop. all. after. noon. I may not have noticed if I hadn't had the aforementioned headache...

3. The privileges (or dangers) of having older brothers include becoming well-versed in gun noises and uses. Part of Kenna's talking spree this afternoon included random "pshew, pshew" noises, which came with intermittent verses of a song she made up with lyrics that included the line, "Jesus died on the cross for our sins."

4. We're having strange weather here. Anyone else? Tornado watch last night, with plummeting temperatures. Windy and overcast all day. Kind of matches my feelings, I guess! If I have to be sick, might as well have nasty weather!

5. We're reading the biography of Gladys Aylward in school. If you want to be challenged spiritually, check out this amazing lady who influenced so many people in China for Christ after being told she would never be a "good missionary." The kids are loving the adventure as much as I am!

6. It's been awhile since I posted a picture, so here are Kenna and Lucan with some of their favorite toys. The gun actually belongs to Tobin, but Lucan commandeers it as often as he can. He also enjoys walking around with Arden's sword or anything else long and hard and weapon-like.

General Update

I'm sitting outside on a beautiful, sunny day, watching Kenna enjoy the simple pleasures of a bucket full of sidewalk chalk. Charis is in the middle of her piano lesson, the boys are enjoying some rare time on Dad's computer playing a game, and Lucan is amazingly still asleep after 2 1/2 hours. He had a rough evening and night, so I guess I shouldn't be too surprised. All signs point to more teeth...and from past experience, we know this is never an easy time for our little guy.

Perhaps next weekend I'll be able to write up some more notes from our convention sessions, but for now I'll just blather on while inhaling the soft scent of the honeysuckle bush by the driveway. Not so pleasant is the occasional wasp that hovers precariously near my face; I suppose that's the trade-off that comes with spring.

Kenna has abandoned her driveway artwork in favor of a sidewalk stroll. She is holding Charis's purple umbrella to shade herself from the sun. It clashes nicely with her orange shirt and green pants--she needs an "I Dressed Myself" sticker today. Oh, to be three again! Why worry about schedules and what's for dinner when there is a neighborhood to explore?!

This week has been a good one thus far. I was somewhat dreading the necessity of starting up our full school schedule again, but somehow Sonlight must have known that spring is here--our reading assignments have been very light. Of course, the fact that I opted to skip science altogether this week may have something to do with that...hmmm. The kids did some electrical experiments yesterday afternoon with Ted while I was at the dentists getting my teeth cleaned, and Charis and Tobin did an internet search this morning to find out what bag worms are and decide if what was hanging on our bush was a harmful sack of parasites or something friendly. (The jury is still out on that one...they don't LOOK like the pictures online, but our neighbor was quite certain, so out they went, just in case.)

Anyway. So we've done some science, but not the assigned reading. I love being able to choose what learning paths we pursue! The kids have done very well with their independent work, and our read-aloud times have been very satisfying. We just finished A Little Princess yesterday. I LOVE that book! I was glad that Tobin got so into the storyline; he was not at all thrilled about a book with the word "princess" in it at first. Arden was not very excited about the whole thing, but the rest of us enjoyed it. The story went perfectly with our current character quality study, compassion. There were numerous examples of times Sara showed compassion to those around her, even when she was a person who desperately needed compassion herself. Good discussion times!

In other news, I've begun a new exercise program, P90X from Beachbody. While I can't get too enthused about the worldly perspective on health and body image, I have to say I'm enjoying the program thoroughly. (Don't get me wrong--it's nothing terrible, but the instructor is definitely pleased with himself, that's for sure!) I needed something to get me going again. I had fallen into a lull with the other workout DVDs I was borrowing from a friend, and since I haven't purchased running shoes since before Lucan was in utero, running has been out of the question until I can make an appointment with a shoe store and get fitted with some proper foot gear. So when a few acquaintances started talking to me about this program, I did some looking into it and took the plunge with Ted's full support. He has even done 3 of the 6 workouts with me, only neglecting the days when he has his own strenuous workouts on base with the mandatory PT program. His help has helped me so much--there have already been days when I would have rolled over and gone back to sleep instead of getting out of bed at 4:30 a.m., but so far we are 6 for 6 days!! Only 84 more to go, LOL!

We have a busy weekend ahead of us, full of fun church activities. Friday afternoon the kids and I have a field trip to the Sunwatch Indian Village, and then in the evening we host our monthly Family Community gathering. Ted will be doing the kids' devotional time. Saturday from 9 a.m. to noon we'll be at church rehearsing for the Kids Street Live program that will be on Sunday in between the two services. The older kids have birthday parties to attend on Saturday as well, so I'm sure we'll be ready for a day of rest come Sunday afternoon!

Next week will be a bit of a spring break, as if we haven't already had some spring breaks with the grandmas in town and other things going on! But the kids will be joining with the homeschool co-op to take their first ever standardized tests. Testing will happen Tuesday through Thursday mornings, and then Charis has a field trip on Friday that I will blog about later. (Going to school in a one-room schoolhouse in an 1800s school setting!) So there is simply no point to trying to get any schoolwork done next week, in my opinion, LOL.

Well, Lucan is now awake, so it's time for his late lunch and some practice test sheets with the older kids.

Four on Friday

1. No mouse sightings to report--here's hoping the electronic thingies plugged into the wall are working. Either the mice are moving out, or I will. What an annoying buzz. But much better than seeing beady little eyes and a furry body scampering across the bathroom. *shiver*

2. Earlier this week Kenna took advantage of the spring weather to do her business outside. Folks, this is why we do not have a dog! (And yes, it was #2. Thank goodness it rained the latter part of this week.)

3. Charis, Tobin, and Arden had dental exams on Wednesday. The dentist raved about their wonderful behavior and clean teeth. Charis will need braces sometime in the future--no surprise there with such a tiny jaw! But otherwise, all looks good. Kenna and Lucan get their turn in April.

4. Crib Time has been a lifesaver around here. Formerly known as "playpen time," we put Lucan in his crib with various toys and shut the door to let him learn to play on his own. He plays quite happily for up to an hour some days, allowing me to eat breakfast, fix lunch, work on school with the kids, or, on some days, shower. I'm not sure why moving him to the crib for this confined playtime did the trick, but all I know is he HATED playpen time with a passion, and I was beginning to despair of getting anything done during his waking hours, especially since he has mastered the art of going UP the stairs but not DOWN.

Thirteen on Thursday

1. Today began at 3:39 a.m. when I woke up in a coughing fit and couldn't get back to sleep. It's Day 7 of the Sinus Infection, and I have officially given the eviction notice. It is not welcome here.

And speaking of unwelcome items...

2. So I'm in the basement bathroom at 4:30 this morning, um, doing my business, when a little brown mouse (whom I am sure would be very cute in a Disney movie) ran from...somewhere outside the bathroom (either the playroom or office), across the bathroom floor, and into the storage area. Being rather incapacitated at the moment, I did the only reasonable thing to do. My instinctive scream didn't do a thing, however. It's nice to know my Hero is such a sound sleeper.

3. A stop at Lowe's is on the Honey-do list today.

4. We received word that BOTH of our moms will be able to fly to Ohio in April to do Grandma duty while Ted and I escape, er, attend the Cincinnati Homeschool Convention. (Although...I suppose this may be subject to change based on whether or not our moms read #2.)

5. Ted and I are both super excited about our upcoming getaway, not only for time together without the kids, but also since our favorite comedian, Tim Hawkins, is going to perform during the 2 1/2 day event.

6. Also heard from our Vegas friends Blair and Heather that they may be able to attend the Convention with us!! We are ridiculously excited about the possibility of seeing them again and enjoying sweet fellowship. And yes, this is the Blair and Heather of the famous Catan photo, which is certainly worthy of re-posting.

7. One of my hostesses has requested a stamp class event for her moms' group. We are making 3 projects, one of which is this fab frame, which she found at Deals for $3. The Eastern Blooms set really works well here, don't you think? There's space in the bottom corner for a coordinating Decor Element flower to go on the glass...still need to order those.

8. Our sweet Kenna received a birthday package from my friend Debi, who holds a special fondness for our 4th child, having been present at her birth. Isn't this the sweetest dress? And didn't Charis do a good job taking the photo?

9. The sun is shining this morning!!! Oh, Lord, please let it be spring soon!!

10. We checked out Season One of The Muppet Show on DVD from the base library last Friday. Boy, does that bring back childhood memories...

11. Charis is now on a Muppets frenzy, wanting to find every movie ever made with these characters. I think I've created a monster.

12. Thursdays are "Laundry Day" at our house, even though I typically do at least 2 full loads other days of the week. At last count, there were 56 socks on Laundry Day. Eight of those had no mate.

13. Todrick Hall, who wrote the Oz musical Charis performed in last December, is currently in the Top 20 of American Idol. The judges weren't too impressed with him Tuesday night, though, so we'll see how long he lasts. He's a very talented young man and great with kids, though.

Six on Saturday

1. Ted and I got a date night on Thursday! It was the first time we had been out since the Tim Hawkins show on October 3. Yikes! Having a larger family makes it difficult to get away. So when the pastor announced on Sunday that the church was offering free child care on a first-come, first-served basis, Ted and I beat feet to the sign-ups in the back! We enjoyed a nice dinner at an Indian restaurant.

2. On said date night, we left home with a Restaurant.com gift certificate in hand for The Artisan, a Mediterranean restaurant. The apologetic server first told us that management was no longer accepting those certificates. OK...so we decided to order anyway since we were there. Then the server came back and apologized again--they had no lamb kabobs, which is what we both had ordered. What?! He told us the manager would be out shortly to speak to us. Five minutes later we were still sitting there, so we decided to just leave and go next door to the Indian restaurant, where we enjoyed a FABULOUS meal with a much nicer ambiance and wonderful service.

3. It's been a balmy 37 degrees. Slowly the ice chunks are melting off the driveway. Likely it will nearly melt and then we'll get another snowstorm.

4. Ted has been embracing his inner nerd lately as he has had to rebuild his computer after it died last week. He's been on the phone with his brother Joel a lot, since he is fixing it up as a Linux system, and Joel has a lot of experience with this. (Ted was just getting into it with our old computer and was very happy with it.) Presumably his new pet will be ready after a bit more effort, and then all will be well. As for me, I'm just happy that my husband knows what he's doing and actually enjoys it! He set up my laptop last fall, and I am very grateful for his help with tech stuff.

5. Try as I might, I just haven't gotten into the Olympic spirit as much this year. We normally stop life when the Olympics roll around so we can follow the stories, but this year we haven't watched nearly as much. I find it preferable to read the recaps in the next day's paper. I wonder if this is because I'm too tired to stay up and watch the coverage that doesn't begin until 8 pm...

6. Charis is probably on her way home right now from her first ever church camp experience, a weekend retreat for 2nd through 6th grades. My baby is growing up! I can't wait to hear all about her adventures.

Snowy Day Update

Well, since the weather outside is "frightful," and being a couch potato is so delightful, and since I have no place to go...I might as well update our blog!

I've been wanting to do a general homeschool update, but I will do that in a separate post. So...family happenings:

* We've been hosting a once-a-month family community at our home and most recently met on Friday evening. This small group grew out of our Visionary Parenting Class that we attended at church in the fall. As a group, we decided it would be fun to meet together once a month for a potluck dinner and time of fellowship, along with a devotional that includes the children. There are 5 couples plus a single mom and I think about 20 kids all together. The meetings have been enormously popular with both adults and kids! This month we did a baked potato bar, complete with chili and all the toppings. Also once a month the moms meet on our own and the dads meet together as well. We're studying through the book Visionary Parenting, so we read a chapter a month and discuss when we're together without the kids, LOL. It's been a great way to foster good friendships that include accountability and prayer.

* We also enjoy our weekly growth group that meets on Wednesday evenings. This is another opportunity for fellowship and accountability with a completely different group of people! Most of the couples are older than we are, and several are empty-nesters or close to it, so we enjoy the opportunity to glean all we can from their wisdom.

* A new neighbor asked around to see who was interested in a ladies' neighborhood Bible study. Since I had briefly wondered about that possibility last fall, I was definitely interested, but a little cautious--it seems we already have a number of commitments. Right now our group is 4 women, all of us attending different churches, but I already love it. We haven't yet decided what study we'll do long-term. Our first meeting we shared our testimonies and prayed, and last week we discussed Proverbs 31 and Titus 2 and our roles as wives and mothers. Tonight we will discuss prayer and what we want to do as we go forward. The small group allows for maximum flexibility--last week we met on Wednesday night because of all the snow that canceled church activities. I'm enjoying the opportunity to build deeper relationships with other godly women, and we're praying for opportunities to influence our neighborhood for Christ.

* The kids have thoroughly enjoyed the snowy weather we've been having. Our friends in the D.C. area are definitely getting more than we've had, but after living in Las Vegas for 4 years, what we're getting is plenty for me, LOL! We've almost finished a Sam's Club-sized container of hot chocolate mix, and I've learned to deal with tons of snow gear in the laundry room. An upside-down table cloth works wonders for placing just inside the door for kids to get de-snowified. (Thanks, Claire and friend, for the idea!)

* The weather puts us in the mood to watch the Winter Olympics Games! Well, all of us but Tobin, who couldn't care less about any kind of sporting activity. It's definitely more fun to sit on the couch and watch the games than to shovel snow and exert our own bodies, LOL.

Whining on Wednesday

1. The trash pick-up has been happening earlier and earlier. We've taken to setting things out Tuesday night so they would be sure to be picked up. With the big snow yesterday, we didn't set the trashcan and recycling bin out last night, and the truck was pulling out of our neighborhood when Ted went out to shovel at 6:30 a.m. Grrrr.

2. I thought I was on top of things with doing a load of laundry early this morning, but when I went to transfer some clothes to the dryer, I discovered that someone had put a wet pull-up in the washing machine. Dis-GUST-ing. Had to run the load again, and there are still gel thingies clinging to all the clothes. They had BETTER disappear during the drying phase.

3. Lucan had a poop that went up his back when I went to get him out of play time in his crib. Sigh. It's not as easy to clean these poops as it used to be, what with the texture (ew, TMI, I know) and his tendency to flop like a fish.

4. My body hurts from hours of shoveling snow yesterday. I'm thankful Ted had a delayed start for work, which allowed him to shovel before he left. It's snowing gently now, and I'm sure I'll have to get out again and shovel before Ted comes home this evening. I didn't bother to get up and work out this morning, though, so it's all good.

5. The kids and I all started the day grumpy and rude. It's just no fun when siblings are sniping at one another and I feel like a mean mama. But on the plus side, it made us remember how much we need a Savior when we did our Bible reading this morning and reflected on Jesus' death on the cross in the Awesome Book of Bible Facts.

6. Kenna pooped in her underwear. Sigh.

7. It's 12:30 p.m. and I still haven't showered for the day. (Thankfully this doesn't happen frequently anymore...not like the days of having a newborn in the house!)

OK, so in the scheme of things...none of this is earth shattering. We have plenty of food, a warm house, a healthy family, and a host of other blessings. Sometimes it's just the little irritations of life that steal what should be deep, abiding joy. I'm over it now. Bottoms are clean, school is finished, and the older kids are all out playing in the snow. Lucan and I will hang out for awhile together, and then I'll enjoy mopping the kitchen floor (seriously! I love clean floors!) and work on shoveling the driveway for my hubby.

And just maybe I can get a shower during afternoon naps.

7 on Sunday

1. We got lots o' snow over the weekend that resulted in a postponed stamp club meeting and AWANA quiz team. Shovels, snow gear, hot chocolate, and snow forts filled the day for the kids, who helped Ted clear the sidewalks, while I enjoyed a couple of quiet hours in my stamp room.


2. We're in a groove with our Wednesday night growth group. Ted and I take turns dropping off the older kids at AWANA, then going to the B's house for potluck dinner, fellowship, prayer/accountability time, and Bible discussion. Steve and Heather, one of the couples, have a daughter who is a senior who watches Kenna and Lucan as a ministry for us. It's been a huge blessing to be part of a couples' community again, and we've already seen our group grow to over a dozen people.

3. I've been waking early to work out with some borrowed DVDs from my friend and neighbor, Chris. It's been exhilarating to burn calories again! Now, someone needs to tell my waistline that we're not in couch potato mode anymore, because so far it doesn't seem to be getting the memo.

4. Lucan got his first haircut last weekend. He has a very cute, fuzzy, nearly bald head. I saved a lock of hair, and Charis decided she wanted one, too. So of course Kenna went and got a Ziplock bag and put her own lock of Lucan's hair in it. I'm sure Lucan would prefer to forget the whole experience.


5. We are over halfway through Sonlight's Core 2. I'll have to do a more thorough school update in a later post, but for now I'll say we are still enjoying all of the books, and the kids seem to be retaining quite a bit of historical information. We've reached the Renaissance/Reformation era in this second year of World History.

6. I used my bread machine to make pizza crust for the first time on Friday. Special thanks to my friend Erin for the idea and the recipe! It was a nice change to not have to do a double batch of dough by hand.

7. Ted and I rented a movie, the first in a LONG time, Amelia. I was a bit surprised at the PG rating...I don't think it's a movie that would be appropriate for my kids. It's decent, but I agree with the user review found in the link above. It did make me more curious about her life, so Ted and I did a bit more reading online. It's too bad the movie didn't do a better job of giving us a more holistic view of Amelia Earhart as a person.