at 3:00 in the morning

This. This just happened at 3:04 a.m., and all I could do was laugh.

Not a normal response, mind you. However, approximately 30 minutes ago, this 32+ week pregnant mama was awoken by my oldest daughter saying that the youngest daughter was in complete hysterics. Said hysterical child would NOT state the problem nor be comforted by anyone other than said pregnant mama. Three annoyed and grumpy older sisters were all awake and had endured enough tears from the youngest sister.

This comes on the heels of a fun (yet exhausting) weekend away where no one (especially the pregnant mama) got enough sleep. Though completely justified, I thought it might be weird to cart in the five pillows that I sleep with nightly just to survive two nights in a hotel. I may reconsider in the future if necessary.

Anyway, so upon arrival in the girls' room, I know right away what has happened. Olivia has wet the bed, and she is as worked up as an old wet hen. She cannot stop crying to save her life, and despite the moaning and groaning from the two oldest sisters and multiple offers to "help" from child number three, I am doing my best to calm down Olivia.

Did I mention that Josh has the nerve to still be out of town for the next 17 hours? Back to the story.

Olivia starts spouting off demands between sobs of discomfort: I need new jammies...and I only want soft, fuzzy ones...and I need Vaseline for my bottom because it itches...and I'm cold and wet...and...and...and...

And since it's 2:45 a.m., it is absolutely reverse hostage negotiation time. I will do just about anything at this point to calm down this raging storm of a five year old. Because let's be honest... discipline at this late (or maybe early?) hour is not going to get us anywhere.  Put out that fire and get all of those kiddos back to sleep!

The initial round of pajama options that I presented were denied on account of not being comfy enough. The fuzzy blue penguin pajama pants were then demanded, but they were nowhere to be found. These negotiations were not going well.

So my pregnant body starts frantically digging through laundry hampers and finds the requested item after approximately two minutes and seven seconds. Not bad on the whole. The remaining negotiations went quickly enough to satisfy all involved.

I get Liv cleaned up and transferred to a different sleeping location, clean up her bedding and bed, and make it to my own bedroom of refuge.  And then the spider...thinking he was all up in my face and trying to get a reaction out of me while sitting so nicely on my comforter.

My message to the spider: Ha. Ha. Ha. You don't scare me. I just dealt with a crazed, dazed, and unreasonable five year old for the last 20 minutes.  I laugh in your general direction!!!

Okay...time to sleep.

Thanksgiving, Christmas, House and More

We had an absolutely lovely Thanksgiving with our families despite me being sick with a horrid cold all week.  My mom had a great idea this year, and brought gingerbread houses for each of the girls to decorate as our post-Thanksgiving dinner activity.  The girls loved decorating while Dads and Grandpa slept and watched football.

We usually decorate gingerbread houses at some point during the Christmas season, but this worked out perfectly.  I have a feeling that this will become a new tradition!

Our Christmas season has been fairly low-key.  My mom took all of the grandgirls to see Mary Poppins on stage.  It was a fun day for sure!  Claire and Meredith have been running all of the Advent activities in our house this year.  It's been a nice break for me, and they have been enjoying being in charge.  They are getting so competent in so many ways.  I just love it!

This week has brought on a bought of sickness from a couple of kiddos in our house, but what's new?  This is the week each and every year that someone tosses their cookies in my house.  We always host a large Christmas party for our friends on the Friday before Christmas, and each year someone is puking.  I fear those germs every year, but our friends continue to come back!  They must not be getting too sick from being here. :)

In other exciting news, my new refrigerator arrived yesterday!  Our old one has not been able to hold an appropriate temperature in the freezer or refrigerator for months (consistently 5-10 degrees warmer than it should be).  It has an unacceptable amount of moisture in it always, and despite cleaning it over and over again, I can't get the mold to stay away.  It truly disgusts me beyond what you can imagine.  The old one is a side by side and barely has room to put anything like a cookie sheet or a casserole dish.  I have hated it for years and have often wished that I could have back my old refrigerator from our other house that we purchased at a garage sale for $35.  It was old and ugly, but it worked beautifully.

I wanted to hug the delivery guys yesterday morning when they arrived.  I loaded it with our food and am amazed at the additional amount of space that I have a available.  Our new fridge has the french style doors at the top with the freezer at the bottom.  I have an entire shelf in the middle that has nothing on it!!  The usable space is lovely.  Feeling so blessed today as I get ready to eat my cereal with COLD milk. :)

In house news, the drywallers are finishing up this week in our addition!  So excited about that.  Josh is taking the week off between Christmas and the New Year to work on getting some things completed.  Our new driveway is completely done, and things are definitely moving in the right direction.  We are getting so close to parking in the garage!!  I am giddy.

I'm sure there is more, but that's all I've got for now.  I hope all of you are having a nice Christmas season! Hugs to everyone!

lego mania

I am not exaggerating when I say that the girls spent the entire weekend playing with legos.  They built, sorted, and made an entire little village on the one side of our playroom.

Two funny/scary things came out of this.

First of all, Olivia obviously walked through one area of the village and wasn't quite as careful as she should have been.  Amelia commented, "I think a tornado came through here!"  Meredith responded, "I think it was a Livi tornado."

Second story:
Did you know that you can download lego plans from their website?  People are pretty rough on their instruction guides around here.  So, when the girls were putting together some of their older sets this weekend, they had the computer sitting down low on a kitchen chair so that they could see the plans from the computer.

Our laptop typically sits on the counter right next to where they have been working this weekend.  At one point this morning, I heard Olivia say to one of her sisters, "I held the computer, and I didn't even drop it."

Cue pride from the child.  Cue panic from the mother.

We then had a very serious discussion about how "you may NOT move Mommy's computer! You may ask Mommy to move it for you, but you may not move it yourself!"  ...followed by prayers of thanksgiving that she didn't drop it. :)  Whew!!

halloween 2014

I'm a week late here, but I feel like I rarely take photos of my girls in their Halloween garb despite their continued cuteness.  This year, I vowed to document it.  I even made Olivia dress up in her costume JUST to take her picture...the other girls were already dressing up for another party.  

Claire and Meredith decided that they wanted to have a theme this year.  Meredith chose to be a detective (Nancy Drew), so Claire went with a robber.  

Claire put together her own costume this year.  She already had the pants, sweater (that used to be mine...gasp!!), and hat.  She made her mask out of felt and duct tape, and she made her money bag from a cheap reusable shopping bag.  So easy.  Loved that she did it herself.  

I wish Meredith could have sewed hers herself. :)  I made her detective cape from a Martha Stewart tutorial.  I've never made anything with the bias tape on the edge.  It was pretty easy to use, and I thought the edging really dressed it up.  She didn't want a hat (which probably saved me a ton of time), so I made her a quick headband to match.  She had a little magnifying glass earlier that week, but it broke, so she had to stick with just her notebook which had a photo of the robber inside. :)  

My little minion. :)  She won the creative costume award at one of our parties.  Yellow shirt and suspenders ordered from Amazon.  We took a sock hat and covered it in yellow duct tape.  With the help of Pinterest (of course!), I added goggles (Ball jar rings), pipe cleaner hair, and printed eyeballs and laminated Gru emblem.  It really was a fun little costume. :)

And my cute little chicken.  Awww.  This one probably came from a resale for less than $5. :)  I love that I can put her in anything and she's happy!  Makes things easy.  The best part of these kinds of costumes is how WARM they are!  I can't appreciate it enough for a little 3 year old on a cold Halloween night.  

oh those pirates!

Amelia is currently sitting at the counter drawing out of a How to Draw People book.

She's drawing a pirate.

A: I don't know...I guess I'll use this one for the skin color.

Me: Yeah, it's hard to choose a skin color since everyone has different colored skin.

A: Yeah, I know...especially pirates.

b.i.f. thirty

Amelia is getting her hair cut in a week.  Here was our conversation about it:

Me: How do you want your hair cut?

A: I don't know!

Me: Do you want it just trimmed a little or do you want it cut shorter like mine?

A: I want it cut short like yours!!!

(pauses for a second)

A:  Well, no...I don't think anyone would recognize me.  I better not.

our homeschool curriculum 2014-2015

School starts on Monday, and I'm finally looking forward to it!  I don't know why I was dreading planning so much this year.  Thankfully, once I was elbow deep into planning, I started to get excited.  Then, I was trying to decide why we waited until next week to start! :)

Amelia couldn't be more excited to start.  She was super disappointed a couple of weeks ago when I told her that we still had two weeks.  Meredith is supposedly "dreading" it, but I know she'll do great once we begin.  Claire is pretty excited as well even though she keeps telling me, "At the end of last year, I told myself that I was NOT going to be excited about the beginning of the year, but I am!"  Love it.

Amelia (1st grade)

Sonlight Readers 1 and 2
She started Readers 1 last year.  She has a few to complete, and she'll move on to level 2.

Handwriting Without Tears, My Printing Book

Explode the Code 1 and 2

Saxon Math 1

Spelling You See, level B

Harcourt Language Arts 1 workbook
We haven't done this book before.  It is a pretty simple little book, but I think she'll enjoy it.  I don't start them on their language arts curriculum until 2nd grade, but this will give her something to do and work on some skills.

Artistic Pursuits K-3, book 1

Co-op: performance, anatomy, and math/reading games

Amelia will be doing read alouds, history, and (some) science with the older girls.  She'll also be in gym class once a week, and we hope to find a swim lesson option in the spring.

Meredith (4th grade)

Saxon Math 5/4

Harcourt Language Arts 4 and Workbook

Spelling You See, level D

Explode the Code 5

Handwriting Without Tears, Cursive Success

Sonlight Core E: History, Readers, Read Alouds (American History, Year 2)

Sonlight Core E: Science (Electricity, Magnetism, and Astronomy)

Artistic Pursuits Grade 4-6, book 1

Daily Geography, grade 4

Writing, IEW's All Things Fun & Fascinating

Westminster Catechism for Kids

Co-op: performance, teamwork, and science 

Gym

Volleyball, fall season


Claire (6th grade)

Saxon Math 7/6

Winston Grammar

Spelling You See, level D

Explode the Code 8

Handwriting Without Tears, Cursive Success

Sonlight Core E: History, Readers, Read Alouds (American History, Year 2)

Sonlight Core E: Science (Electricity, Magnetism, and Astronomy)

Artistic Pursuits Grade 4-6, book 1

Daily Geography, grade 4

Writing, IEW's All Things Fun & Fascinating 

Westminster Catechism for Kids

Co-op: performance, teamwork, and science 

Gym

Volleyball, fall season

We are keeping a lot of things the same for the coming year, but we're also doing a lot of new things.  It's a good year for transition since we don't have any kinders this year.

Art, geography, spelling, and Claire's grammar program are all new to us this year.  Josh took the girls golfing each week all summer, and they both wanted to do volleyball this fall.  I loved that they both wanted to do those activities...make them much more easy to justify the travel aspect.  They are basically just participating in the practices once a week.  Claire was old enough to try out for the team, but she didn't feel like she had enough volleyball skills.  She wants to work on them this year and try out next year.  Meredith will have to wait patiently for her turn. :)

I'm looking forward to this year since I don't have to teach anyone to read!  And I love that Olivia is getting older and will sit and play/color/entertain herself.  She is so good at playing alongside her sisters.  She just loves being near them and watching them...monkey see, monkey do.

sisterly love

Oh, how fascinating it is to watch big sisters and little sisters.  I kid you not, the pictures below were taken approximately 30 seconds apart.

Can you tell who wanted the first turn?  

lake pics

We spent a week at the lake a couple of weeks ago.  We had absolutely gorgeous weather and made lots of memories.   

Monday was spent painting fingernails with the new nail art kit that Grandma had bought with Amelia on the way up to the lake the day before.  Now, let me tell you that I'm not a fan of little girls painting their own nails.  I completely understand that they need to practice to improve, but it makes this Mama a bit crazy to have them all wanting to do it all at the same time...at your parents' lake cottage.  

This may have caused me a bit of stress.  I told Josh that I was not having fun on this particular morning, and (after everyone's nails had sufficiently dried) he ordered everyone to put on swimsuits and jump in the lake.  This improved my sanity greatly.  And on a side note, I'm going to beg my mom to go with the hula-hoops next time. :)

We ended the day with ice cream from the local ice cream shop and a pontoon ride (or "contoon" as Olivia calls it...she also calls her swimsuit her swimsoup...and popsicles hotsicles)  

Tuesday was another swim day along with an all-family wave runner ride.  Claire, Josh, and Amelia ended up in the water at one point.  After Amelia finished crying, she thought she might want to fall in again.  The girls and Josh also went tubing.  

Grandma and Grandpa came back on Wednesday, but we were gone most of the day enjoying some time with friends.  

Thursday was spent playing and preparing for more friends and family.  Josh's parents came for a visit and a pontoon ride on Thursday.  

Amelia and Eden can finally sit next to each other without fighting at mealtime. :)  Eden is currently OBSESSED with Meredith.  Anytime Jill asks Eden what she would like to eat, drink, do, etc., she responds, "Well, what is Meredith having/doing/etc.?"  Every. single. time.

The breakfast crew...where are Grandpa's smiles?!

 Amelia caught a nice catfish:

Claire hooked a soft-shell turtle:

Meredith and Carter are inseparable when they're together:

This Meredith/Carter relationship amazes me each and every time we're together.  Our families get together 2-3 times per year, and they play together (almost non-stop) for several hours straight.  I have a picture of them together from 2009 (when they were 4), and I distinctly remember them not leaving each other's side that day either.  They eat together, swim together, play together, talk to each other, and wait to do anything while the other one is in the bathroom.  It's awfully sweet.

Lake days have always been some of my favorite days and continue to be.  Looking forward to spending more time up there before school starts.    

school year in review

The end of April and the month of May are always crazy busy in this house.  This year was no different, and actually I think it was busier than usual.  We threw in a homeschool convention, an out of town trip, and a half marathon along with the usual set-in-stone events.

I'm always a bad May blogger, but I see that I threw April under the bus this year as well.  Easter in late April didn't help. :)  I'm typically not a great summer blogger, but I'm hoping to change my reputation at least for this summer.

We had our last day of school last Thursday, and I've been thinking about our school year a lot.  Last year, I ordered all of our curriculum as soon as school was completed, and it was nice to not have to think about it all summer.  I'm definitely doing that again while things are still fresh in my mind.

Overall, this was our best year yet in spite of parenting a tween and a toddler at the same time.  The unexplored territory of the tween years baffles me at times, but we're going to survive (sometimes just one hour at a time, though).  This toddler thing...I totally thought I had it down...and then potty training reminded me that I, indeed, know slim to none.

Claire
Claire was an excellent student this year other than a slight hiccup in December.  She took complete charge of her math and her language arts programs and did an outstanding job.

For some reason, she was struggling to complete her reading assignments on time during the month of December.  She assured us that she would catch up over Christmas break, but we all know how difficult it is to catch up when people are building snowmen, decorating for Christmas, and drinking hot cocoa.

We put her on a strict school/chore/free time (or lack thereof) schedule through the month of January, and that seemed to do the trick.  She had no other problems through the remainder of the year.

I'm continually impressed at Claire's self discipline.  She often wakes up long before everyone else so that she can get to work on her math assignments while it's still quiet in the house.  I know that her motivation is that she doesn't want to "miss out" on free time when everyone else has completed their work, but I would have struggled to discipline myself at that age.

What is most shocking is that we now have a 6th grader.  When did that happen?!  We're looking forward to the next stage of the journey. :)

Meredith
Meredith was also a great student this year.  She continues to excel at reading and can often be found lying on her bed with her nose in a book.  I think it calms her.

Math is a frustrating subject for her, but she did extremely well this year while learning all of her multiplication facts.  Certain facts were continually giving her fits, and we did our best to work through those.

I'm praying that her attitude will be a positive one for the upcoming school year as she will be transitioning from me teaching her math lessons on a daily basis to her using Dr. Shoreman's DVD for her daily instruction.  Sometimes she has a difficult time with change, and I think she's feeling some anxiety regarding this.  I know she'll do just fine once she gets a few weeks into the program.

Meredith is a very willing student and typically gets right to work without much prodding.  She works right through her subjects and doesn't get distracted easily.  This is a blessing, for sure!

Amelia
I wasn't quite sure what to expect from Amelia this year.  She is so easily distracted and by far the wiggliest child in our home.  Despite my fears, she was a joy to teach.  Distracted?  Yes...but also easy to put back on task.  Wiggly.  Ummm...for sure.  But, thankfully, kindergarten doesn't require that you sit and listen for hours upon hours each day.

She was the easiest child, thus far, to teach how to read.  Claire was the most challenging, then Meredith, then Amelia.  I'm not sure if their personalities/learning abilities are playing into this, or if I'm just getting better at teaching it each year.  I'm sure the latter is true!  If Olivia is the easiest, we'll know it's my experience playing a huge part.  My patience was certainly better the 3rd time around.

Amelia loved math this year, and often requested that we do it first.  Her Explode the Code book was also enjoyable for her.

Olivia
Olivia did great this year as far as finding things to do to keep her busy.  I often gave her little activities to complete this year, but mostly she was just happy to sit next to someone and play legos, look at books, or color.  She has learned her colors, shapes, and numbers.  We've done nothing formal, so I can't take any credit for her knowledge.  I am continually impressed at how much kids learn just by watching and listening.

Last year at this time, she was very interested in potty training.  I thought it was great timing with summer break upon us, but she only wanted to potty in the toilet...no pooping.  This was not what I had envisioned when I began the potty training journey.  Have I mentioned that potty training is my least favorite part of parenting?  Because it is.

I cleaned disgusting messes all summer, and I gave it a rest in the fall thinking that she would come around.  We tried to start again a few different times.  No go.  Mess after mess after mess.  Seriously, a few weeks ago, Claire took her into the bathroom and told her that she couldn't get up until she pooped on the toilet.  She sat there for about 5 minutes and then pooped.  We all celebrated! :)

Of course, she's had an accident here or there, but she's been really successful during the last few weeks!  This is such a relief.  Everyone has been super encouraging to me, and you'll find me often saying things like, "She'll figure it out by the time she starts kindergarten."  But honestly, I was kind of doubting it on this one!  Thankfully, I think we've made it through the hard part.  And if for some reason we happen to have a surprise 5th baby...I'm turning potty training over to Claire. :)

Overall, it's been a truly enjoyable year to teach the girls.  They are such a blessing to our family and to others.  Even though they have their sisterly squabbles, I'm continually impressed at the way they love each other and truly enjoy being together.

Selfishly, I must admit that I'm looking forward to the next two years of having the same number of students to teach.  Middle school seems like a daunting task when I think about it too much, but we're just going to keep doing what we're doing and making changes where we see fit.  It seems to be working, thus far, so we're sticking to it.

I can't tell you how much I love summer break!  We're looking forward to park days, lake days, zoo days, and lazy days.  Hope all of you have a great summer as well!

amelia turns six

Guess who turned 6 last week?!!  She spent the day with Grandma doing some birthday shopping, and they also went to see Mr. Peabody and Sherman which they both enjoyed.  (On a side note, when Josh came home from work, Amelia excitedly announced that she and Grandma had watched Mr. Peabottoms!!  So funny.)

Her grandmas and grandpas gave her a book light, a tea set, sandals, a swimsuit, a watch, and nail polish. :)

Claire and Meredith gave her some play jewelry and playdoh.  

We gave her the new Tinkerbell movie (The Pirate Fairy) and a bicycle bell.  

Her 21-year-old friend, Nina, came over and watched The Pirate Fairy.  (Have I mentioned that Amelia has best friends of all ages?!  She makes friends more easily than anyone I've ever met!)

For her birthday dinner, she wanted pancakes, blueberries, smoked sausage, Hershey kisses, and punch.  

She asked for an island cake with dolphins, and her friends James, Lauren, Landry, Colson, and 9-day-old Noah enjoyed cake and ice cream with our family.  

Thankfully, we had everything for the cake already in the toy bins...loved that we had mini-birthday hats for the octopi. :)

Amelia Kate,
You are energetic, non-stop, and a complete chatterbox.  You are not a smidgen short of being one-of-a-kind.  The dramatic fashion in which you handle disappointment could use a bit of work, but you love people, offer forgiveness, and enjoy life more than the vast majority of the population.  Child, you set a beautiful example without even being aware of it.  What a blessing you are!  Hope you had a wonderful 6th birthday!!

olivia turns three

Let's all take a moment to appreciate the fact that all mothers drop the ball from time to time.  Friday, it was my turn.  I uploaded some pictures to my computer, and I obviously didn't include them all in the upload.  It makes me very sad because the ones that didn't make it included little stinker pot's third birthday cupcakes.  

IF I had made them perfectly and taken perfect pictures, they would have looked like these:

Image: Erica's Sweet Tooth

Olivia's were similar...not as rounded on the top...no white mickey buttons...lighting not as great for the picture.  I'd say maybe it was better this way because the ones in the picture above are just so darned perfect, but then we miss Olivia's sweet little smile for her birthday cupcakes.  And you miss how three of them were lined up in front of her with a candle in each.  And you miss how she had to blow at them about 10 times to get them out because she was blowing up rather than out.  It was so cute, and I'm a bit teary-eyed just thinking about how I don't have it captured in a photo. :(  I'm sentimental like that.  

I'm sorry, Olivia.

And now I'm moving on because there is absolutely NOTHING I can do to bring back those pictures, so I'll happily show the pictures that did make the cut.  

The girls talked Olivia into a Mickey Mouse theme for her birthday party because they insisted that they do a Disney Day for Olivia since she didn't get to enjoy Disney with us in September.  They have been planning this for at least a couple of months.  They are so, so sweet to her, and they just couldn't love her more than they do.  

All three girls stayed up late on a Friday night to decorate and woke up at 6:00 a.m. the following morning to make cinnamon rolls, Mickey Mouse pancakes, and the works for breakfast.  Here's sneak peek at Disney Day:

Breakfast goodies: handwritten menus, Mickey stickers, autograph book for the day

fruit tray while we're waiting for our pancakes and cinnamon rolls

Loving the day already...and who wouldn't love Mickey Mouse chocolate chip pancakes?

Disney employees hand these stickers out everywhere.  The girls saved them for Olivia and used them in lots of places.  Love their creativity!!

Bippity-Bobbity-Boutique right in our own home!!  Complete with glitter hairspray, a tutu, fairy wings, and a sash.

1st Visit :)

She met Minnie Mouse...

...and Princess Anna...

and Queen Elsa.

The whole group together. :)

She rode Toy Story Mania.

This is a bulls-eye from TSM.  

They had her throw little sponges at the bulls-eyes that were all over the hallway.

They had the Mad Tea Party in the kitchen and used the roller coaster scene from Despicable Me as another roller coaster ride.  They put a kitchen chair in front of the t.v. and would lean the chair all around depending on which direction the roller coaster appeared to be heading. 

Is that so sweet or what?!  

At three years old, Olivia loves...

-reading books

-playing Legos

-taking baths

-playing outside

-being with her sisters

-eating snacks

-giving hugs

-being a helper

-playing with dolls

-talking

She's not so much into...

-sitting still

-trying new foods (although once she does, she often likes them)

-having her hair brushed

-being fully potty trained

-telling Daddy goodnight (not sure why?!)

Olivia,

We love you more than words can say.  You make us laugh every single day, and we can't wait to watch you grow this year.  What a joy and a blessing you are to our family!

too much information

Most kiddos really don't have a filter when it comes to appropriate topics at the dinner table, and my amazing six year old definitely falls into that category.

We went out to dinner tonight at a local restaurant with my dad.  And one of the owners (who my dad and I both know) came over to chat with our family.  

As she was chatting with Olivia, Amelia piped into the conversation: "Yeah, she's not feeling too well.  She had diarrhea earlier."

Of course, we all laughed, and I was thinking that we might need to discuss appropriate topics for dinner conversation sometime in the near future.

The following portion of the story is waaaay too much information, but it's just too amusing not to document for the history books.

  

Shortly thereafter, I took Olivia and Amelia into the bathroom.  As Olivia was sitting on the toilet, Amelia noticed a little bit of poop still on Olivia's backside that I had obviously missed when cleaning her up after her nap. 

A: Mom, she still has a little poop on her bottom.

Me: I see that...sometimes that happens...(and recalling our earlier conversation at the table)...you don't need to mention this to anyone once we go back out to the table.  

A: (slightly shocked) Oh, I wouldn't do that, Mom!  You don't have to tell me that.

Me: Well, you already made the announcement that she had diarrhea, so I thought I should mention it. :)

Love the way she makes me laugh.

age three

I decided to do a little comparison tonight of my girls at age three.  I didn't dig too hard for pictures, but these are the ones that I compiled.

I was shocked to look through the pictures of Meredith and see how much Olivia resembles her.  I don't think you can really tell it in these two pictures of Meredith and Olivia (because Olivia gives her cheesy photo face).

Love these girls!

Christmas cookies

Lots of little hands made Christmas cookies this year.  My mom came over, and we spent an entire day making hundreds of cookies to donate to a local charity fundraiser.  We kept a few for ourselves and may have eaten one or two or twenty-six that day.  

b.i.f. twenty-seven

How can you not love a Christmas celebration that includes the leg lamp from A Christmas Story?

Meredith and Eden

Meredith LOVED her password journal

Olivia refused to let me take a picture of her and her doll...I snuck one from behind.

cousins!!

b.i.f. twenty-four

We loved visiting with our former neighbor, Kay, before she went to Florida for the winter. She's such a sweet lady and always brings goodies and craft supplies for the girls.

lego mania

There are a few children in this house that absolutely love Legos.  This is Amelia before Christmas.  I think we tripled our Lego collection during the Christmas holiday.  As we were picking them up the other day, I was making a prediction that I'll still be finding itty-bitty Lego pieces when Olivia is in college.

a new year

We're a full twenty-two days into 2014...over an entire month since I was here last.  As I was looking through my photos to see what I could post, I realized that I haven't even touched my camera since 2013.  I put my camera on the kitchen counter, and I'm vowing to take some pictures of life tomorrow!  Until I get those loaded and blogged, I'm going to post some pictures of our Christmas happenings as well as some randomness.

As I've said before, I have a love/hate relationship with my computer.  It is obviously as practical as things come these days, and I use it daily...sometimes hourly.  But there are times that I just want to shut it off and play games with my kiddos...all day.

This is actually what I did over Christmas break.  The girls and I played games, games, and more games!  It was the Christmas of games (Ticket to Ride, Catan Junior, Sequence, Busytown, The Sneaky Snacky Squirrel Game).  It makes me almost giddy to finally play full-fledged thinking games with the girls.  I've logged many looong hours playing Candyland, Go Fish, Old Maid, and Chutes & Ladders to get to this point. Well worth the wait, but I never want to play Candyland again.  Actually, I never want to play Chutes & Ladders again...that's the one that I really don't like. So, do yourself a favor, parents, and request the Sneaky Snacky Squirrel Game in place of Candyland and/or Chutes & Ladders. You can thank me later.

After Christmas break, I stocked the shelves with groceries, and we hunkered down for the big snow storm. The girls and I didn't leave the house for 9 days straight.  I probably haven't been in one location for 9 days straight since I was in the womb. Seriously, I never even stayed home that long after having a baby! Typically, I get cabin fever after a few days, but I didn't. I actually loved it. I mean I really, really loved it. I said to Josh, "I think I've just been converted into a homebody." The house was clean (very clean), dinner was on time, and Josh and I enjoyed our annual viewing of the Borne movies. I could get used to it...well, at least until spring.

Merry Christmas 2013

As with every year, blogging and December don't mix well.  We had a great Thanksgiving, and we're looking forward to all of our Christmas happenings over the next week (and even into January).  Our Christmas letters finally went out a day or two ago.  I ran out of envelopes, stamps, and decorative paper all at different times.  I finally got everything in order and sent them!  So, Merry Christmas to all of my readers and creepers in blog land!  Hope you get to celebrate with your families and make wonderful memories...  

Merry Christmas!  First of all, I need to confess that I’m struggling with the first paragraph of this Christmas letter.  Other than the “Merry Christmas!” at the beginning, I’m at a loss for words to introduce our happenings from the year.  When we were having babies every other year, it was easy.  But now everyone is just getting older and taller, and “Merry Christmas!  Everyone is getting older and taller!” just doesn’t hold the same excitement as previous years’ introductions.  At least I have a year to think of something interesting for 2014.

Josh started the year in his workshop building a set of doll-sized bunk beds for Meredith’s birthday as well as a picture frame for a print that will eventually hang on the wall of our kitchen.  In the spring, he and our neighbor-friend pooled their money and purchased a zero-turn mower to share between our properties.  All summer, it was like racing time trials trying to see who could beat their record time from the previous week.  The end of summer brought some vigorous physical labor when the roof needed replaced.  It was torn off and prepped with the generous help of family, friends, and neighbors (thank you again!).  A professional crew then swarmed the house and replaced the roof in 6 hours flat.  It was impressive to say the least.  The plans for the house addition are nearing completion, and we should be breaking ground in the next month or two. 

While all mothers appear to be in constant preparation and planning mode, this year seemed as if it required some extra helpings of each on our home front.  Parenting both a ten year old and a two year old at the same time is currently offering a variety of challenges.  Individually, these two have a unique way of testing my patience and humbling any amount of pride I might have previously held in my parenting abilities.  My desire for sanity and good health continue, so I registered for a mini-marathon that takes place in the spring; running a few times a week this winter and spring should surely kill two birds with one stone.  I’m looking forward to the training, the challenge, and of course, the finish line.  Prayers for both my mini-marathon and my parenting-marathon would be greatly appreciated. :)

Claire (10, 5^th grade) is extremely independent and is usually up for a new challenge to conquer.   Age 10 has proven to be a character building age for all of us.  She still needs plenty of guidance, support, correction, and reassurance, yet I’m confident she could keep our household afloat for a week if necessary.  Recently, she surprised our family and our neighbor-friends (10 people total) with an entire restaurant-style dinner including hand-written menus, homemade pizza, optional sides, and desserts.  She is a problem solver, creative, and driven.  Claire would like you to know that she loves to bake, loves the outdoors, and enjoyed hunting this year.

Meredith (8, 3^rd grade) loves to draw, write, and hold babies.  After having an aversion to socks for several years, she has finally come to appreciate their role in society.  I think her love of running has helped the process.  She is a hard worker and a good friend.  Her imagination is absolutely lovely, and it is truly a joy to watch her play in her imaginary worlds.  Our trip to Disney World in the fall taught us that Meredith does not like the dark, anything unexpected, or anything adventurous.  Thankfully the traumatic memories have turned into good-natured banter, and her fond memories unquestionably outweigh the terrifying ones.  Meredith would like you to know that she loves gymnastics, Jase is her favorite Duck Dynasty character, and she enjoys reading interesting books. 

Amelia (5, kindergarten) started school this year and is learning how to read.  She is a great student and enthusiastically does her schoolwork every morning.  Her confidence and know-it-all attitude get her into trouble on occasion, but her one-liners are some of the funniest we’ve heard.  It would be a true adventure to spend a day inside her animated little mind.  She is a great helper and jumps at the opportunity to serve others.  Amelia would like you to know that she hopes no one gets hurt this year (she often prays for everyone’s safety), she’s looking forward to snowy days, and she loves drinking hot chocolate. 

Olivia (age 2) continues to be a bundle of fun and a bundle of work.  Legos, changing clothes, and reading books are some of her favorite activities.  She typically entertains herself extremely well, and only occasionally is it with toothpaste or toilet water.  We continue to enjoy her sweet disposition, although recently she has begun to campaign for her own way when it comes to clothing…especially pajamas.  Olivia would like you to know that she loves giving hugs and eating cookies. 

As with most years, our daily activities kept us continually hopping, but September proved to be our busiest month of the year.  We celebrated my parents’ 40^th anniversary, went on vacation with Josh's entire family, and took the girls (minus Olivia) to Disney World and the ocean.  Don’t pity Olivia too much, though.  She spent one-on-one time with both sets of grandparents and was sentenced to “Grandma Detox” upon our return.  We made memories that will last a lifetime; however, we were completely exhausted by the end of the month!  The girls were outstanding travelers, and we’re looking forward to a trip to the New England states sometime in the next year or two which will nicely accompany our current U.S. History studies. 

We continue to feel unworthy of our many blessings and truly say prayers of thanksgiving for all of our family and friends.  We pray that you will join us in celebrating the true meaning of Christmas, God in flesh.  Merry Christmas to each of you, and we wish you countless blessings in the coming year. 

Much love,

Josh, Jackie, Claire, Meredith, Amelia, and Olivia

Christmas 2013

Christ, by highest Heav’n adored; Christ the everlasting Lord;
Late in time behold Him come; offspring of the Virgin’s womb.
Veiled in flesh the Godhead see; hail th’incarnate Deity, Pleased as Man with men to dwell, Jesus, our Emmanuel.
Hark! The Herald angels sing, “Glory to the newborn King!”