Another Late Post

So 8 days ago my blog turned 1 year old! The time really went very quickly and I don’t feel I have much to show for it. I really wish I had more written but with the big girls doing school year round, Funny Bones moving from toddler to preschooler, and The Boy moving from baby to toddler, life has been just a TAD bit busy.

Just a tad.

Hopefully the next year will see more thoughts magically transferred from my brain to my computer. I may need to give my telepathy a good pep talk!

Man, how cool would that be?!?! All my thoughts just written out for me! Well, maybe not ALL of them!

It just so happens to be our busiest time of year right now. We’ve got a mini vacay in a few weeks, FB 3^rd b-day (sob), Zoo Boo, the Texas Renaissance Festival, and of course all the Holidays! We’ve also gotten back in the swing of activities with our home school group. So, if I plan effectively I can get in some good writing time and get posts up throughout!

Thanks for hanging here with me and all my craziness!

Gargantuan Boy

Happy 1^st Birthday (plus 2.5 weeks) to the first man child in our family! Each of the villains reminds me of God’s awesomeness in their own way, and The Boy being the 4^th child is just another example of how God has perfect timing! The Boy has BY FAR been the crankiest and least content baby… period. I tried finding excuses for it, “When his reflux gets better he’ll be happier because he’ll be more comfortable” “When he can roll over he’ll be happier because he can lay however he wants to” “When he can crawl he’ll be happier because he can play and get around” “When he can walk he’ll be happier because he can play and get around better” but I’m lying to myself, really. He’s getting more independent and more easily distracted, but overall, still cranky. He’s just a needy kinda guy, and that’s ok because I can handle it WAY better now than I would’ve if he had been the 1^st, 2^nd, or even 3^rd kid. I would not have been ready for him before now. God knows what He’s doing people.

At birth The Boy was absolutely gargantuan (hence the title Gargantuan Boy), weighing in at 10lbs 8oz. He kept his gargantuan physique right up until he started walking. Now he’s lost a lot of baby fat and is looking more and more like a boy instead of a baby. He is still keeping his gargantuan height though and was a little over the 98^th percentile at his 1 year well-visit. He comes up to FB shoulder already and she’s even our tallest girl so far! It won’t be long before he’s looking me straight in the eyes, and shortly after I’ll be looking UP to see his face! But if I think about that too much I’ll cry, so moving on.

Mr. and I can already see, even now, how inquisitive he is about the workings of things. He likes putting things in (of everything) and taking things out (of everything), he likes opening and closing, he pokes and prods and points as his little brain figures it out. There is no trashcan lid that can keep him out, nor baby gate that can keep him from turning off his sisters’ movies. He’s a thinker and a doer, and just like the girls, he surprises me every day with his intelligence. Oh, maybe that’s it, maybe his intelligence so surpasses his physical abilities that he’s just frustrated by his limitations! Yep, that must be why he’s always cranky. ;-)

I hope he stays inquisitive and intellectually curious. I’m looking forward to what this new personality brings to our family!

My boy’s first year went by faster than any of the girls ever did. I even tried extra hard to enjoy each and every little moment with him as a newborn knowing it would end too quickly. I tried not to rush through the things that seemed like chores, like diaper changes and baths. I stared at him while he nursed and didn’t mind so much when he preferred to sleep in my arms at night instead of in his crib only two and a half feet away. When he was cranky and uncomfortable from his reflux, I enjoyed him. When he was cranky and uncomfortable from who-knows-what, I enjoyed him (mostly, hehe). Yet no matter how much I tried to hang on to his “babyness”, it still slipped through my fingers.

I guess there’s only one thing left to do… get another one! Ha!


(Mr. Intelligent Man just choked on his coffee)

Catching Up

Our computer (a.k.a my right arm) was dead for about a month. It was awful at first but after I got used to it I actually got some much needed things done around here! I got a few more things sewn, cleaned out some closets, and found more reasons to get out of the house! Blessing in disguise, indeed!

However, there were also some down sides to it. Instead of creating an adorable monster themed 1^st b-day party for Gargantuan Boy, I had to settle for a completely unoriginal, store bought, football themed party (that’s ok, the cuteness will be redeemed next year).  We will also be starting school 3 weeks after I had originally planned. Which stinks but also not awful, I mean, after all, I am the teacher of my own school! Ha!

So this week I have spent oodles of time in front of the computer but for good reason. I am soooo close to being completely ready for school to start on Monday I can taste it! I will be able to finish today for sure! And that feels good! PP will be a 2^nd grader (and has literally been counting down the days until we start again for the past few weeks), Z Girl will finish the Kindergarten she started last year and perhaps start 1^st in January. FB will be doing Pre K when she’s interested, and The Boy will be undoing and ripping up everything we create. We are all very excited!

So now I’m going to (2.5 weeks late) get to writing The Boy’s b-day blog and then laminate some school stuff. My laminating machine is my best friend.

I. LOVE. Laminating.

Here's my pile for today (and I've already done quite a bit before this)!

It feels good to be catching up and hopefully I’ll be able to blog more frequently!

Mr. Intelligent Dad

Happy Father's Day Mr. Intelligent Dad! It's a privilege to have a dad (and husband) who is committed to his family in every way! Our well-being is always your priority and we are blessed to call you ours!
HUGS and KISSES

Here are a few of our daddy/baby memories...

Mr. Dad kissing Prissy Pants. She was about 2 months old here, and yes, that's her real hair!

 Mr. Dad and me checking out our brand new Z Girl. Our first taste of her "I'll do it when I'm ready" personality was the torturously long 2nd stage of labor (hence the slightly comatose mom)!



Mr. Dad teaching Funny Bones to walk, which we would later wish hadn't happened for a few more months! 



Mr. Dad constructing, Gargantuan Boy destroying (and tasting).



Here are a few desktop backgrounds I made for Mr. Dad for Father's Day!



SHMILY!

The Invisible Z Girl

Today my Z turns 5, it's very bewildering to me.

How did we get from here...

to here, so quickly?

This girl is so much like her mom it's unreal! The ONLY difference between Z and myself as a kid is the eye color. Not kidding. She's a carbon copy in appearance AND personality. I love having a kid that's unmistakably mine!

It's really hard to explain her personality to people who don't know her well. She can be as brave as a lion one minute and as fragile as a butterfly the next. She's either on or off. She's always at one end of the spectrum or the other, there is no in between with Z. At home she's chatty, silly, and makes her opinions known! Out of the house she's all but invisible, most people will only hear a simple yes or no from her in response to a question!

Z came at such a special time for us. We endured two miscarriages in the months before our baby Z "stuck" in there. Which is why naming her came so easy, her name means 'life'. God chose to give her life here with us after giving the other babies life with Him. Other hardships had fallen on Intelligent Man and me at that time as well, and her little life gave us something to smile about again! And she was one smiling baby! She's always been so cuddly. Even to this day she'll curl up in your lap and dish out some hugs and kisses that only she can.


She's been doing "school" since she was 1 year old. As soon as I started Pre-K with PP, Z was determined to be involved and has enjoyed every minute of it! I'll never forget when she turned 2 and I was preparing to teach her colors and shapes. I printed them out and hung them up, she immediately walked over and named each and every color and shape I hung. I was speechless! Again the next year when I hung an alphabet poster for her she came right over and named each letter AND the sound it makes. I did it again this year. I was hesitant to start her in Kindergarten, I didn't want to push her too much (and had just given birth and didn't want to push myself). After a few months of being completely bored and doing 6 pages a day (that was all her) in her Big Book of Kindergarten, I finally decided to officially start K with her at 4 1/2 years old. And man oh man, she's blown me away again, though I don't know why I'm surprised. She took to math and reading like it was second nature! She's also been writing for a good year now too. So glad my little villains are taking after Mr. Intelligent Man!


For some reason Z's birthdays have always been the hardest for me. PP is so mature it's easy to see her physically catching up to her mentality, but when Z reaches whatever age PP left not long ago, it's like a dagger to the heart! Now that she's 5 she's lost all her baby fat, those chubby jowls of hers are gone and she's all skin and bones. She can now wear clothes from the "big girl section" too. *sigh* I'm so looking forward to seeing her grow and watching to see if she stays in such a likeness to me or if she takes off in another direction. Either will be fun to experience. Thank you Lord for my Invisible and Incredible Z Girl!

Dreamy B&W

It's been a while since I've linked up to the L.E.N.S. photo challenge, so here goes. The challenge is Dreamy Black and White. I have gazillions of photos in b&w, it's my favorite look, which is why I wanted to jump back in to the challenge, but I honestly didn't have any certain picture in mind. I browsed my albums and decided to reminisce on The Boy. He just turned 10 months a few days ago and the time has absolutely flown! It'll be his first b-day before I know it! AHH! So here a few of my favorites from his very first photo shoot at home. He was 8 days old.

I'm a Lazy Bum!

You see this adorable, Minnie Mouse themed, Happy Birthday banner? I made that! Yup, complete with Disney font and Minnie Mouse heads. Isn't it cute? I thought so, too... for a while. Funny Bones' 2nd birthday was back in November, 6 1/2 months ago, and I took this banner down from our kitchen wall yesterday. YESTERDAY! After a while I just didn't notice it anymore. I seriously didn't notice it, it just became one with the wall. In the last 6 1/2 months the thought of taking it down crossed my mind maybe 4 times.

I'm a lazy bum.

But it's finally down!

And has been replaced with this one I made for the big girls slumber party tomorrow!

If it weren't for the Boy's 1st b-day coming up in August, this banner would probably last just as long as the other one. But soon it will have to make way for a more macho banner (I'm really looking forward to giving the boy thing a try, it'll be a first for me)!

I do so solemnly swear to try harder at getting these things down in a timely manner and to not be a lazy bum.



Madame Prissy Pants

Two days ago my oldest child turned 7 years old. SEVEN! I've been a mom for 7 years! It just seems impossible to me that we've come this far. If I'm this blown away about 7 years, I can't imagine how I'll feel when we hit double digits! The years that have gone are what stun me, the actual age doesn't, if that makes any sense. From the moment she was born she has been beyond her years (or, er, moments). As a baby she always seemed like an old soul. Content, quiet, observing the world without much expression at all. She was, well, bored. At least when we watched her watch us, she seemed bored. Our futile attempts at making her smile and laugh were met with an "are you serious?" look from our small baby girl. It wasn't that she was an unhappy baby, she rarely fussed at all, she was just serious... or mature as we liked to say.
Today she is a fun-loving girl, passionate and COMpassionate. Still, she has hung on tight to that old soul over the years. She's always had a deeper understanding and awareness of situations and surroundings than what her age would normally produce. She wants to know and learn things that sometimes I'm not sure I'm ready for her to know! I let God guide me in what I explain to her and what I tell her is for talking about in the future. If we discuss the topic further, whether it be about God, an event in the Bible, death, or girl/boy matters, she listens intently (you can really see those gears turning up there) and once I've explained everything I can (or am willing to) she's happy and ready to move on to the next subject. If I tell her the topic is something we need to save for when she's older, she's always said "OK" and moved on without any complaints. She's always been so easy to converse with, and I hope it stays that way!
She is an incredible big sister. She's always so willing to help and often "helps" without my permission! She will make one terrific mommy some day! I am honestly a better mommy to the 3 younger ones having PP here with me. She's taught me so much about being a mom. What is important and what isn't. I just wish she didn't have to be the "guinea pig" for us at each new stage. But God has made her a strong and loving girl, and she is quick to forgive us when we've messed up. She's a babysitter and an entertainer when I need her to be. She's a maid, a paperweight, a closet rod, a fetcher of items, a cook, a teacher, and many other things when I need her help, and she's always so happy to help out. Unless it's a chore of course!
I've found in the last few months she's getting to the age we can really connect on a new level. We can share interests (she wants a sewing machine!) and find things in common. I never thought I'd say this, but I'm looking forward to her getting older! I'm looking forward to this new phase in her life!
Thank you Lord for my amazing oldest daughter! He knew exactly what He was doing when He put us together!

Green Day

So it's been ages since my last post, our whole family was struck with some sort of sickness for about 6 weeks, one right after another, strange coughs, the flu, allergic reactions to who knows what, then the boy decided to do a number on my tata's, I won't go into detail but recovery is slow and painful! Ugh! There are times where holistic, all natural ways of healing are best (which is how we handled our colds and flu's) and then there are times where nature can just move over and make way for the drugs! Thank God for great Dr.'s and Pediatricians! Needless to say, the past few months have been solely about day to day survival. No fun.
I decided to make St. Patrick's Day our motivation for returning to the land of the living. I planned some fun themed things to do throughout the day (broken up by a trip to the Dr) and the day ended well and everyone was even willing to do chores this morning! What a reward for me!

We started the day by having Green Monster smoothies for breakfast, I found the recipe here. Z and FB love all smoothies, PP won't drink them so I just put a drop of food coloring in her milk to make it green and she was just as happy.

Then we all got dressed in something green, obviously. How beautiful are these guys?!?! And you know I can't post just one!

Next we all got comfortable in front of the computer and watched the Veggie Tales short story about St. Patrick. We actually own the episode that's on VHS but have no working VCR's. Go figure. This is where we watched the story, you can also find it on YouTube here. I'm pretty sure by the time the day was over it had been watched a good 8 times.


After that we had a rainbow scavenger hunt. I let the girls use the little point and shoot digital camera and find something of that color in the house to take a picture of. They took turns finding and photographing the items nicely! Until I left the room. We actually skipped indigo, it was tricky, we just stuck to the easier colors. Here's what they found.


Little Red Riding Hood cape

Orange (extremely loved) fairy wings

Yellow clock

Green pieces to the stacking toy



Blue tissue box



Purple crayon bucket

  

 At the end we took a picture of our bowling pins that make a perfect rainbow!

Lunch Time! We ate spinach quesadillas and guacamole. You can't be a part of this family and not love guacamole. It really deserves to be its own food group! One of the best parts is the baby being able to eat it with us!

This is where our day was interrupted by a trip to mommy's Dr. At least the girls were able to go enjoy the park with their Grammy until I was done. We stopped at the store on the way home for some yummy stuff to make the greatest. cookies. ever! Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies! If you know me at all you know that I'm a sucker for mint. Thin Mints, Mint Choc Chip Ice Cream, Mint Oreos, York Peppermint Patty's, Blue Bell even makes mint choc chip ice cream, covered in chocolate, on a stick now! THIS is the way to my heart! So back to the cookies, YUM! They will now forever be in our rotation of goodies! This was the part of the day I looked forward to most! I found the recipe here.

We wrapped up the day with a green bubble bath. This is the part of the day the girls looked forward to most! I was a little worried about Z's hair turning green if, scratch that... WHEN she got it wet, but all is well, it's still blonde! They splashed around and squealed until the water got cold, then we bathed in clear water, got PJ's on, prayed, did our girl devotional, and everyone fell asleep pretty quickly! Nothing like putting your kids to bed happy!

I hope your green day was a great one!



LENS Photo Challenge - RED

The LENS photo challenge this time is RED. This picture came to mind pretty quickly. It was taken a few years ago by one of my girls. The Man and I got new phones and gave our old ones to the girls to play with, they immediately went to work taking pictures of everything around them. I LOVED seeing the world through their eyes, and seeing what things they considered important enough to photograph. The pictures ranged anywhere from self portraits, to My Little Pony toys, to items at the store they wanted to buy! This particular picture was taken during a trip to Target, from inside the basket.

Here are a few more of my favorite pictures taken by the girls...





L.E.N.S. Photo Challenge- Physical Education

This post is for a Photo Challenge, but it's also a great topic for homeschooling families. Making sure the kids stay moving is important! We have our share of running around the house, and our share of backyard fun, and if the girls aren't dancing from room to room then something is terribly wrong. But in addition to our at home "P.E.", we also like to put the kids in different sports. Our goal is to help them find the one they like best (if any) and stick with it! They did gymnastics last spring, T-ball in the fall, and will do soccer this spring. Out of all the great shots of them participating, I still think my favorite is of PP not participating in T-ball. In her defense, it can get pretty boring in outfield, especially in T-ball! This pose she has here screams "Prissy Pants", and she doesn't think the title fits her!

Here are some other T-ball pics. Their absolute favorite was hitting the ball and running. Z would be happy running all day. That's why I think they'll enjoy soccer! I'm so excited to start next month!







It was impossible to get good pictures of the girls in gymnastics because of the gym lighting, I tried and tried for weeks, and since parents had to stay in the bleachers I just couldn't get any good shots. Sadness. Here are the girls getting their medals at the end of the semester!

I can't wait until FB is old enough to join in, she hates having to sit on the side with me and watch the big girls have all the fun!

So what do you homeschoolers do for "P.E."? Head over to Home is Where You Start From and see what others are doing!