Proclaiming a fast...

Inspired by the Holy Spirit- and convicted by my friend Suzanne's example ;) I'm holding a two week media fast- I will not be surfing the internet, reading blogs, writing blogs, or even checking email. I will be accessing my online banking, but that's it. I've also decided to limit my phone talking time, my radio time, and make sure my non existant tv time stays non existant. Sooo, I'll be back after two weeks- see you then! We'll see if Ian reads this or notices ;)

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day! These pictures are for Maxine, since she can't be with us today. We love you and wish you could see the kids having all this fun. Elizabeth LOVES the ocean. She started shrieking as soon as she saw it, and she sat in the water and played while the waves crashed around us. She even let go of me and ran in- until the waves pushed her down. Then she decided it was more fun to play in the water next to momma ;)

Micaela and Gabriel took off first thing. They're fearless and wild.

Nathaniel waited to get the rules before he swam. Papa explained the ocean to him, and now he's excited to play and swim and almost as daring as the others!

Asher doesn't care for the water, but he loves the sand. We swam for a long while yesterday, but this morning we've mostly been playing in sand. These are pictures I took from the porch of our rental home early this morning.

Asher is chasing the birds. He is his mother's child ;)

I was nervous that Ian couldn't watch all five, so I brought LouBear back on the porch to play with baby Aidan. Here he is with my sister Leslie and Nana.

I didn't sleep well, and I talked Ian into going on a walk with me in the dark at 5:00 this morning. We found a bunch of shells to show the kids.

So that's it so far- I'll keep you posted-hehe

Getting Ready to Go

Today we're getting ready to leave for vacation. This is the first vacation that we've taken with the kids to go anywhere that doesn't involve visiting family. Not that we don't like visiting family, but we're excited to go somewhere fun for the kids with no agenda at all. We'll be spending the next seven days on the beach at Dauphin Island! Micaela's birthday will be during our trip, so my dad stopped by yesterday to have dinner and give her her gift. She's thrilled, and so is Gabe :)

So that was the big entertainment last night. Today, I've been doing the requisite zillion loads of laundry and dishes, and I'm about to start packing. I'm slightly overwhelmed and I don't want to start. I've worked so hard to clean lately that I'm not looking forward to digging out a mess, but I guess it has to be done :O) Ian has been sick the last few days with what we suspect is either flu or swine flu. He feels better today, but they kicked him out of the office like he was a leper- poor guy he felt rejected, so he had to come home to be pounced on by five children overjoyed to see their daddy home early. He chose to clean the van and change the oil, and he had lots of help!

Road Trips with Children

Ok- I think I have to ask what is a road trip? 4 hours of driving? 10? 36? We've done them all and the length of the driving really dictates my strategy :) My favorite things to do on road trips are sing a million songs, scream to Veggie Rocks (my children think we're so funny when we do this), and fill up the car with gas while Ian leads my children in jumping jacks and such around a filling station. We can get pretty goofy. We also enjoy playing the alphabet game and i spy- well the kids do- Ian and I actually don't care for those games, I suppose we suffer through them. The children also spend a lot of energy mimicking the GPS lady. None of us get car sick, so we all enjoy reading on the road. Anyway, here's the serious stuff we've learned ;) Remember- my oldest is six (indulge me for five more days okay!), so we have a different set!

* If you aren't going to reach your destination on the first night, pack a hotel bag that includes a change for everyone (two for any in diapers), diapers, wipes, and common toiletries. On night two remove your toiletry bag and place in the next hotel bag. In this way, you don't have to unpack your entire vehicle just to find your tooth brush or your 2 year old's socks.

*I hate fast food/junk food. We bring all our food on road trips. I use a large cooler which fits between our front seats and fill it full of fruit, salad, cut veggies, chicken salad, roasted meat, peanut butter, jelly, salsa, guacamole- you get the picture. I also take a laundry basket filled full of bread, crackers, cookies, juice boxes, dried fruits, nuts, and water bottles. And I must have a box of ziploc bags. When my children are starving I fill a ziploc bag with your choice of snack/meal, seal, and throw at the offending whiner :) It releaves tension and and quiets whiners all at once! However, I do admit that it will get your car a little messy- but we have vinyl seats and rubber floor mats :) Or you could stop and picnic along the way. Anyway, you move a lot faster when you eat on the interstate than you do getting off, finding a drive through, ordering...

*Force everyone to potty when you fill up with gas- fill up with gas everytime you stop to potty. Keep a bottle of hand sanitizer inside the door of the car- use it upon entry.

* I like packing in laundry baskets- they nest when I unpack them, are easy to find things in, and do double duty when I need them to.

*My children each have a travel bag that they may fill with goodies to play with in the car or plane. SUPERVISE what they pack ;) Clingon stickers make great play toys for little ones, as do dover little books, a baggy of crayons and pencils, note pads, plastic animals, view finders, aqua doodles, magna doodles, hot wheels, etc... Mine are all small, so it doesn't take much!

*Audio books like Adventures in Odyssey or DVDs for kids certainly help when driving at dusk, dawn (when you want it quiet), and during heavy traffic.


Things that have NOT worked well for me...

*Tote bag style bags that don't close. My children love to dump them out.

*Driving at night- not worth it on long trips.

*Blankets- my kids love to have blankets on a road trip. They cuddle with them and it helps them go to sleep- BUT they get filthy- stepped on, spilled on, possibly wet on, and they're gross by the end of the trip. I want to have my dear Mother in law make me some car blankets- smaller ones, just lap size really that are easier to wash and take care of on the road.

Asher's very verbal

I used to think it was part of every girl's make up to be talkative and to try to manipulate authority from a very young age to get what you wanted. Micaela started to do that around the time Nathaniel was born- 15 months old. Gabriel and Nathaniel confirmed my observations. They don't manipulate- they either fight it with screams and cries or go along quietly and begrudgingly, unless of course they just do it because they like to please you. Asher on the other hand talks. He tries to talk his way into and out of anything. He has a HUGE vocabulary for a two year old. He does NOT know how to be silent. He HAS to have the last word without even knowing why.
Our rule is the kitchen has to be clean before I make breakfast, and the kids' rooms have to be clean before they can eat breakfast. At 8:00 this morning our chores were still being done, and Asher had spent the last hour and a half whining about being hungry. He said everything he could think of about how hungry he was. As Micaela and Nathaniel and I worked in the kitchen and dining area, I gave Elizabeth a banana to keep her busy and quiet. Asher walked in and said in his most pitiful voice: "Mom, God did make us so special, and I want a banana." Hehe, I think that is soooo funny right now, but it doesn't read that funny :)