This is Me Following Through

With PICTURES :)
So many pics, so little time.  These are the more recent ones, not the earlier ones I haven't sorted through.  Some days I'm glad Shawn likes to take pictures!

Okay, so he doesn't look too happy, but I'm happy to have him!

 One month old!

 Up close he looks like a doll-- well to me anyway.

 Demetri found a way to get out of chores AND use all of my dish soap!

He made the "bubble blower" out of yarn and straws :)

 This guy is resourceful.

 I love it when he smiles!!!

 The boys at the park.  I think each of these shows the character of each kid pretty well.  Maybe not Olie, though that cheesy smile of his is very common.  He was just happy to get up on the monkey bars like his brother.

Trying New Things

The entire goal for the day (aside from making bread, grocery shopping, and gymnastics) is to post pictures.  And the trick is, if I say that's what I'm doing to enough people it puts pressure on me to actually get it done right?  Well anyway, Shawn is coming home sick from work today and I think I can catch him while he's trapped on the couch trying to sleep and make him help me with pictures.  Ha!  (I really need to learn to do this all by myself.)

We've been sick all week.  By "we" I mean everyone, one at a time.  Some of us twice.  Lots of fun.  To my credit, I think I only put sick kids in front of the t.v. all day (in order to preserve my sanity) once. 

I've made three decisions which are seriously affecting my life right now: getting rid of my phone (which is affecting me in a good way), and putting all of our savings toward paying off debt--which means no new car, no bunk beds, etc. (which I'm sure will affect my life in a good way ultimately, but at the moment it's kind of hard).  I've also given up chocolate.  It makes me feel lousy, and gives my babies colic.  It also gives me the worst menstrual cramps ever (!) and aggravates RLS when I'm pregnant.  I have officially switched over to carob.  Oh, and eating a mostly veganish diet...for the sake of my husband, who appears to be allergic to food.  All food.  Well, only sometimes.  But dairy definitely doesn't help.

So life is definitely different right now, and I'm trying to adjust to the changes.  And now that I've escaped the clutches of my smartphone, I'm in the middle of some serious goal setting.  I'll let you know how it turns out :).

A Word About Comments and Pics

Comments- I like them, I read them, I try to reply.  But my account is screwy, and not only am I not able to reply to comments on my blog, I'm not able to make comments on other blogs.  This happens randomly as far as I can tell, for random amounts of time, and I'm sorry, and greatly annoyed by the whole thing.  Seriously considering defecting to some other type of blog when I have the time to look at them all.

Pictures- I have not forgotten.  I just don't know where the sd card is.  I have some somewhere.  A couple are even cute.  I'm still trying to capture one of Lorenzo's adorable smiles.  And I will post some here, sometime, soon.

A Long Day With Some Cute Kids

     Today was long.  I was prepared to just muddle through a miserable day.  I was supposed to sub in the nursery (which I love but it sure keeps me busy), had a meeting after church, and then Shawn had to go to work.  My house is a terrible mess, and I was worried about the potluck Shawn had at work and whether my crockpot chicken was going to work out.  But there were a few moments that were just beautiful, hilarious, or ironic, that refined my sense of humor and helped me keep things in perspective.

Things that keep you smiling (even if it's a smile of resignation accompanied by a face palm):

When your 5 year old comes and gives you a kiss (getting mashed potato all over your cheek) and says thank for making dinner-- after he’d been whining about not wanting to eat it for the last hour. 

When you don’t get to hear the last half of the story the speaker was telling in sacrament meeting because your preschooler has found the closing song in the hymnbook and is trying to sound the words out but needs your help and keeps asking you what a word is.

When the 1 yr. old wants to hug another small child and accidentally knocks her down and falls on top of her, in sacrament meeting, where the wails will be the most effectively heard.  And then he’s sad because he just wanted to hug her, so you help him go give her a hug better.

When you’re 20 minutes late to sacrament meeting (after not making it to sacrament meeting at ALL in many weeks) when you were going to be on time for once, because the kids were so busy “buying” cans (50 cents apiece) out of the pantry from you for the food drive box in the Primary room, and figuring out their tithing.  (At least we’re trying?)

       Shawn still had to go to work, and it’s still been kind of a long afternoon/evening, and the children are nowhere near ready for bed though it’s bedtime in 10 minutes—and yes, I’m writing- because I needed a break…but I figure it will all turn out okay in the end.  Tomorrow is another day, and it will be good as long as I can keep seeing the fun in it all.

What We Do

For school.  

 This is just to record a few of the resources we like, and some of our favorite books.

Last year, Demetri listened to about ½ of the Tarzan series.  I only got bits and pieces, so I’m still not sure if I like it.  We’re considering Sherlock Holmes.

He read Swiss Family Robinson, Treasure Island, Island of the Blue Dolphins, Hatchet, Number the Stars, The Little Prince, Zia, A Door in the Wall, The Whipping Boys, Little House on the Prairie, The Giver, The Wright Brothers, The Sign of the Beaver, Sounder, Where the Red Fern Grows, Julie of the Wolves, North by Night, Little Women, Just So Stories, The Jungle Book, Kim, and many more that I can’t remember right now.  I wish I’d kept better track:(.  Shawn decided partway through the Wrinkle in Time series that he didn’t like it.  They are halfway through the Scarlett Pimpernel, and A Little Princess (which is being read to the little boys too).  Last year Shawn read Journey to the Center of the Earth with Demetri.  Demetri is reading Pippi Longstocking to the little boys.

The younger boys get lots of Dr. Suess, and picture books.  But what I really like to read to them is Betsy-Tacy.  We stopped after I had the baby, so now I have to get back into it again.

We like to get audio books from libravox.com.  Demetri had an mp3 player (before it went through the washing machine) that he would download books to and then listen while he did chores in the morning.  It might have made him a little slower, but I didn’t really mind.  He also took his audio books to the playground!  I think I’m going to have to get him another mp3 player for his birthday.

We’ve been liking books by Steve Sheinkin for history.  We use Discover the Scriptures for gospel study.  We like the Beethoven’s Wig cd’s for music.  

For “preschool” I usually just buy a workbook they can do at the same time the others are doing school, and we play a few phonics card games here and there.  We use Janeen Brady’s Standin’ Tall Series, and Safety Kids.  

Everyone does math on the computer (even preschoolers).  We use the Linux math game—free, but it’s a whole operating system.  It’s the best math game I’ve seen so far for drilling.  We have a math board game we pull out sometimes, with 3 different math games in it.  They like the dino math one.

Writing consists of writing letters to friends and family, though Demetri has tried a blog and writing a book.  Letters are the most consistent.  I’m working on a short fantasy story that has the kids in it to try to inspire them to write more.  

We use pop-up Chinese, and Growing Up With Chinese, for, you guessed it, Chinese study.  But we haven’t done very well at that one yet.  I’m working on it.  And Shawn thinks the best resources are little kid’s books in Chinese.  I have yet to get through one, even with his help.

We have sports down!  This year I want to focus a little more on drama and piano (the only instrument I can teach them).  We do sporadic art lessons—Olie’s favorite, and last year I conducted a “community” (neighbor kids) cooking class and art over the summer.  Shawn also did Science Saturdays with whatever kids wanted to, usually an experiment, possibly with a short lesson. 

I’ll have to keep writing down my favorite resources as I find or remember them, so that by the end I can remember all the things we liked.

This year we plan on reading Anne of Green Gables—because I’m the mom and it’s one of my favorites, Around the World In 80 Days (Shawn and Demetri), the rest of the Betsy-Tacy books, Little Men, Sheinkin’s Bomb (along with a WWII documentary we have), 5 Little Peppers and How They Grew,  The Second Jungle Book,  The Prince and the Pauper, we might do some more Thornton Burgess this year.  I’m thinking of Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!  and other books by Mo Willems. 

I also like suggestions and favorites!

A Summary

On Monday I was sick, and worried I’d end up in the hospital.  I did tons of herbal stuff to prevent it.  In the end, I had a blessing that helped immensely.  Tuesday morning our car was stolen.  They happened to have my keys (left in the mailbox by a child) so we are very grateful it was the car and not the van.  Going down to one car is a pain.  I’ll have to get up at 4:30 a.m. with all the kids to drop Shawn off at work a couple of days a week when I have to have a vehicle.  At least both cars aren’t gone!

Wednesday was rough.  I felt like I didn’t get anything done.  I decided to write down everything I’d done.  It amounted to 10 11 diapers changed—but who’s counting, 8 feedings—which came to 4 hours out of the day, 4 loads of laundry done, 3 meals made, and 2 ½ haircuts—Shawn helped with the rest.  I changed my mind.  I got something done.  Now I’m going to go buy myself some cheesecake.

Thursday and Friday went by too quickly.  I ran errands on Friday and spent too much time at every stop, probably because I was relishing being alone for a while.  It still went 5 times faster than if I’d had the kids with me!  I still didn’t get everything done I needed to.

Today is cold and rainy.  The kids did a good job getting their chores done, so my house isn’t too messy, and I’m thinking popcorn and a movie would make the evening fun and easy.  Of course, it will be a very old black and white movie.  I want the boys to develop good taste! :)