Time

I don't have time to blog now, and I don't really feel guilty. I began this blog for Ian's family in California and for my family in TN, but Ian's family doesn't read it very often, and we see my family weekly. So it's ok that I don't update for a few months- or a year. I seem to be going from the minute my feet hit the floor in the morning till about 9:00 at night, and then Elizabeth starts fussing. She thinks you have to fuss a good two hours before you can go to bed for the night.
So in case you're wondering what we're doing I'll tell you- on a normal day:
-Elizabeth needs to nurse around 5:00
-every male in the house MUST be up by 6:00 (Only they know why)
-someone wakes Micaela up shortly after and she's a grump
-Ian lets me stay in bed with Elizabeth till 7:30 when he leaves for work
-I put in a load of laundry, eat and make the kids dress and clean their rooms
-the kids play for a while, but by 9:00 Micaela starts school and I sneak a shower!
-hopefully by 11:30 she's done with the dayly stuff
-we eat lunch and then have story (history&Bible&fun) time/nap time/quiet time
-Nathaniel does phonics/primer around 2:00
-The older kids go outside around 3:30 and I start making dinner while Asher cries to go "side door" and Elizabeth makes it as complicated as she can
-Ian comes home around 5:30/6:00 and works outside- because we have a neverending list of garden/yard related chores and I'm tied to the baby monitor
-We eat together and sometimes I clean up right after, other times I'm too exhausted and we sit around playing games with, reading to or ignoring (shameful, but true) the kids
-then it's 'jamma time'- or baths first if they're filthy
-by dark we have worship time. we're pretty much reading straight through a children's bible; although I confess to have skipped the story of Yael and the tent peg and a few other things. We've been in the old testament for a LONG time now, and I think our boys have become a little obsessed with violence. Then we sing. Sometimes they dance. Then we work on our questions (like a catachism).
-then it's bed time for children; although Micaela now wants to stay up to read and you can hear her giggling in her room about stories for an hour or so
-then I do laundry again and again and again and I read and I check email and Ian falls asleep on the couch while Elizabeth cries and nurses and fusses and insists on standing up and does her nightly poopy
-she conks out around 10:30/11:00 to wake up again at five!

Did I mention that I'm reading through the Bible in 90 days? Somewhere in all this I'm reading a lot- I'm in Chronicles. I also take Elizabeth out with me for at least a half hour each day and we've been planting herbs/veggies or pruning shrubs or weeding. I do promise to post a few pictures of Elizabeth growing, of Micaela's ballet, and of Nathaniel and Gabriel driving a back hoe, but I don't know when. I guess I like going back and reading the text as much as seeing the photos, so you'll have to suffer through picless posts!

Goings on...

We're doing well. Elizabeth is really growing and last Friday weighed in a 9lbs 13oz. This Friday I'm sure she's about 10 and 1/2 or so. Asher is longing to do things. He likes to feel like he's accomplished something big. Gabriel is trying hard to be kind, but it doesn't always work out in his favor. Pray for him to learn gentleness! Nathaniel is trying to learn! His number/letter recognition is finally growing, and he loves his new lessons (MUS and the phonics museum). Micaela is trying hard to be a helper for mommy, and mommy is trying to catch up at home and be a good mommy. Daddy's working, gardening, and putting up a fence, so we're all really busy.

Blossoms again...

A wild cherry?
Hostas coming up all around the oak tree (and every where else). I need to divide these too, but don't have a place to put them.

Another plum!
Something coming up everywhere in the flower bed.
I have tulips!
I think this is phlox, but I haven't checked a book yet. It could be my imagination.
One of the redbuds.

Spring is really pretty around the house. I just wish it were a little more organized/neat. I'm going to try to move flowers around the beds and condense everything over the next few years. There's no way I can maintain all this as it is, and I feel so clueless!

Things that make you go... hmmm?

Elizabeth, Micaela and I went to the grocery store on Saturday afternoon. Have you ever wondered what happens at your house when you're gone? I had some buggy wheat from the store and didn't realize it till it was already in the bucket. It was pretty full and heavy, and I have been largely pregnant, so I did not empty it. Ian has been busy. Saturday I asked him to empty it, clean it and put the new grain in while I was at the store. I came home and found this on the camera....

Unfortunately, that was NOT the buggy wheat, and yes, Nathaniel DID clean it up by himself. Why on earth my husband put an open bag of grain on the counter is beyond me!

Excited about the coming year...

I've been on a spring vacation from school- well, really all of us have been on spring vacation :) But now I'm feeling like digging back in. We started Monday with math for Micaela and Preschool ABCs for Nathaniel. I guess I'm just inching back in. I hope tomorrow to include some grammar/memory review with Micaela, and then next Monday start back with spelling, grammar and math daily. I may wait one more week before we pick up history again- or maybe not. Since we've had so much vacation/sickness lately I do not intend to take a summer vacation. We will just school through summer and take off when we like. This really doesn't matter AT ALL since none of my children have hit the compulsary school attendance age.

ANYWAY, the reason I'm excited is that I ordered some supplies for next year. I bought Math U See for Micaela, Nathaniel and Gabriel- that's Primer, Alpha and Beta, the blocks and the box. Micaela will finish her Rod & Staff Math in about two weeks, and I intend to have her do Alpha before Beta since the skills don't exactly overlap, and she can use the review while she learns to use the blocks. I'm debating about whether I should let her move quickly through Alpha or not. Advice? Nathaniel and Gabe will both start at Primer, but I expect Nathaniel to move more quickly than Gabe. I will only start Gabe if he's interested anyway. He may wait till next spring.

I also *Invested* in Veritas Phonics Museum for the boys. I bought the K/1 Combo Kit. OUCH! But I figure if you divide the cost by four it's not that much (about $30 per child, per year), and Ian and I both think that Nathaniel especially will enjoy it. Gabriel enjoys anything so far. Nathaniel is wanting to learn to read, I think, so this is a good time to start with him.

Ian was supposed to have been teaching science this year, but he let it slide. He can't work without some sort of guide. I wrote something out for him, but it was too general. Anyway, I also bought an Apologia science book for him and the kids. We're going to try botany for the spring/summer, since gardening is such a huge priority around here. I hope they like it, and I think that Ian will enjoy being the teacher for a little while each week.

I'm throwing out handwriting for Micaela in favor of copy work. Copy work is already incorporated in her grammar book weekly, and she does it fairly well. I bought a CD that includes copywork from A Child's Garden of Verses on appropriately lined paper with the idea that if she doesn't do it neatly I can print it again and repeat! Now she just slops through handwriting workbooks however she likes, and short of making her erase the entire page (which would leave it looking like swiss cheese), I really don't know what else to do. Assigning another page just gains me more slop. So we'll try this approach for a while and see.

So now if I can just cough up enough money for Tapestry of Grace and a telescope I'll be perfectly happy-hehe. I'm content anyway, I'd just love to use Tapestry of Grace! Ian thinks I should go ahead and buy it, but I just don't think I can spend that much on something really geared for older students. I do want to use it in the future, and it's possible the price will just go up, so maybe Ian's right?? I'm still thinking about it. I'll probably think about it for another year. If any of you use it, tell me what you think. I know De'etta uses it. What do you think? Wait till they're older or invest in it now so that later I can invest in something else- like maybe the library that goes with it or braces or stock in BlueCross BlueShield :)

Crib Comics

My dad bought us a new crib! Ours has been through my four older children (who definately put it through the ringer), and I bought it used, so it's been through at least five if not more. Anyway, the drop side wouldn't stay up if you put pressure on it in just the right spot (Asher was a pro)- and then when it went down, it wouldn't raise up without coaxing (yanking, jerking, and grunting). So... the new crib!

Tonight we put together said crib. It was a group effort. Micaela took apart the nuts and bolts; Nathaniel helped with the alen key; Gabriel placed and misplaced dowels; Asher tried to misplace everything, and Elizabeth screamed because she had gas. I read directions, and Ian tried to follow them. This was NOT a recipe for success. Backup. Let me say at the beginning that Ian thought it would be good to put this crib together in the living room because "it's a lot more narrow than the other one and it will fit through the door." I said, "Ok, but my vote says there's no way it will fit through the door."

Back to putting the crib together. It went together fine, till we realized we screwed the decorative top to the front of the headboard. OOPS! There's no fixing it, and it's our fault, so there's no returning it. We put it all together and debated returning it because the finish on the front of the drop side was damaged from the packing tape- except that we could see that it was really the back and had been labelled wrong. Of course, we didn't mess that part up. We messed up the one labelled correctly. We realize we've been rapidly losing intelligence in the last five years or so.

So it's all put together, and Ian vows he's not taking it apart to return it. I like it- the finish and style match the furniture already in the room, and it feels pretty sturdy. It just has six small screw holes across the top. I decide that I'll cover that piece with girly fabric, and it will be cute as can be. Now it's time to move it to the room.

Ian wheels it (it's on castors) down the hall-did I mention we have a pokey hall?- and managed to get it stuck trying to turn it into the girls' room. He had it wedged in the corner between our door and theirs, and Ian's body was in the boys' door. At this point it's humorous. He concedes defeat. I have to concede that if he could have turned it, it would have wheeled right through the door. He did have to take the crib apart, but now it is safely in the girls' room waiting for a wash, some girly fabric, and sheets. I hope to make matching bedding for the girls sometime this year. I'm not too ambitious, see, and a year gives me plenty of time to try it and plenty of time for you to forget it : )

Tomorrow I'll try to add a picture of my wonderful crib- prefabric. Who knows when I'll get to the store for fabric!

A no photo update...

Little Miss Elizabeth looks like she's already growing and filling out. Her face and head have changed still more since the first couple of days. She is a good eater and an even better sleeper. I have had to wake her up to get her to eat. She eats about twice in the night, and I usually end up getting up to change her diaper/burp her sometime after midnight. She's very content. She's been sleeping with me, and I have to say I love the feeling of having a baby in the crook of my arm during the night. I just hate my husband's flailing elbows :)

The children just love her. They can't wait to hold her and 'pet' her, and Nathaniel says "she's adorable" about 20 times a day.

Yesterday was my first day home alone with everyone and it went great till nap time. Just after 11:00 I laid them all down (we- no they get up early), and they slept till 2:00! Then my Grandma showed up, so I wasn't really alone. She asked if I could use help with the laundry. I gratefully accepted, and she proceeded to wash clothes, floors, toilets, windows, kitchen counters, dishes, tables, vacuum, and organize the kids' rooms. She can clean circles around anyone I know. I'm embarrased and thankful too.

Yesterday was my mom's birthday, and yesterday Vicki had her twins! I'm so excited and can't wait to see pictures and hear how it is to add the fourth and fifth children to your family at the same time!