Update

We have been busy. With what, you ask? I am not really sure! So, here goes another bullet list update!

• Bella got her ears pierced the day after her birthday.
• She also got her hair cut short about a week later.
• Our home school group started up again.
• I will be teaching an art class in March.
• We went to Chicago to visit my brother and sister-in-law. While there we visited the American Girl store. Quite fun and insane at the same time. We also met up with a dear friend of mine from high school.
• Attended more births. March is going to be a busy month.
• Mr. Biscuit is growing like a weed! He still doesn't say much. The strong, silent type. Actually he talks all the time just not in a language I understand.

All I can think of off the top of my head. Our days have been full with much more than that I just can't remember with what!

Mother Dear

Just thought I would throw this out there. My darling Matilda Monkey has taken to calling me 'mother' most of the time. It is pretty precious. She got to spend the day with my mom yesterday. They colored, had lunch, watched a movie, had a tea party, made cookies. When do I get a day out? Sounds fun. Bella will get her turn hopefully next week.

Have had some more births. Some very lovely ones with great families. Looking forward to some more mid-February. We have mainly been plugging away at school the past month. Nothing much to report. I will try to come up with some terribly clever posts soon!

A Whistling Woman and a Crowing Hen Come to No Good End

Bella has learned to whistle. She has been working on it for some time now. It has finally come together. For the past week or so she whistled almost constantly. She has just started to taper off. Thank heavens! I do love how kids practice their new found skills with such gusto!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Sorry I have been absent from the interwebs for so long. A couple babies were born, Christmas activities, family things and fatigue have kept me off of here. We had a very nice Christmas. We spent Christmas Eve at my parents' house. We had a yummy Mexican dinner and opened gifts. I got a cast iron Dutch oven. It is sooo beautiful. I haven't used it yet. Planning a few dinners in it soon though. The kids had so many nice gifts from everyone. The highlights: an Easy Bake oven, remote controlled car, jewelry kit, books, tool bench, Pairs-in-Pears (really fun). Christmas Day we opened gifts as a family and had a yummy breakfast. My parents and tiny sister came over around lunchtime. We played games, watched Annie and snacked on finger foods all day. Very peaceful and low key! Which speaking of Annie...I never realized how much language is in it and how lewd certain scenes were. I remember watching as an older child (10-12). I don't recall the language bit but do remember Miss Hanigan was quite racy. I thought this was supposed to be a kid's movie! We had borrowed a movie from the library my husband watched as a child and within the first 10 minutes there were several 4 letter words. We had to turn it off. Crazy!
We start school back on Monday. I think we are all looking forward to getting back to a schedule. I have my lesson plans all done and ready to go. We are heading to the library to pick up our supplemental reading so I better get moving! We have friends coming to play in a bit also.

Oh the horror!

I still can't believe I did it. It has probably scarred me for life. I may never recover from the trauma. I....I...served.....a frozen lasagna for dinner last night. It was truly awful. It had no flavor aside from sodium and something that may or may not have resembled tomato sauce. It was truly horrible. Kind of sweet with some kind of chunks of "meat". The noodles were disgustingly thick. Gross about sums it up. I love to cook and never serve these boxed convenience foods. I even make my own mac n cheese. No blue box. No fake cheese sauce. I still don't know what possessed me to serve this monstrosity. Oh wait yes I do. Since I have been attending births on a regular basis Adam convinced me to buy a frozen lasagna to keep in the freezer in case he needed to cook. For whatever reason I agreed. From now on I will keep at least one meal in the freezer that I have made. No more boxed disgustingness! Dear family, I promise to not make you eat it again. I will make a luscious lasagna for you. (I was going to take a picture to commemorate the horribleness of it but couldn't bring myself to do it.)

Julie

No this post isn't really about Julie. I do know a few but it is about something else entirely. Do you ever get stuck on a word? You just keep repeating it over and over. Each time it sounds more strange than the last. That word this week has been Julie. I know some perfectly lovely Julies out there and I do like the name. For some reason it has been stuck in my head though! Thought I would share. Now I am off to bed. Night night.

Are you trying to get yourself killed?

What is it with random people on bicycles? Riding on the wrong side of the road! Bicycles move WITH traffic, folks! NOT against. If you are on a bike you are considered a vehicle. You must obey all posted signs and rules.

The Plague

Ok so it isn't really that bad! We have ALL had a cough and congestion this week. Seriously, all of us at the same time? The happy part is that no one is completely miserable. I am headed to the Dr this afternoon though because I think mine has turned into a sinus infection. We should be back to normal soon. I had a birth yesterday morning. Lovely birth! Congratulations happy family! A few more due later this month. It seems like this next year could be busy. I am really enjoying these births and the privilege of attending them.

It's a cookie turkey

Tiny Sister came over and made oreo turkeys with the girls.
Here is their silly face picture.

The Good Ol' Days

Once upon a time back when I was way younger I shared bunk beds with my middle sister. Middle sister and I only shared them a few years and then middle sister and tiny sister shared them. Now it is time to pass down the tradition. Bella and Monkey are now the proud owners of bunk beds. They have been wanting them for a very long time. I had major hesitations and was able to put this off for about 18 months. My hesitations you ask? Broken arms, stitches, dislocated elbows/shoulders (from one sibling dangling the other off the top bunk). Yes I have issues thanks for asking! Why the change of heart? My dear husband was helping out my dad this past week and somehow the topic came round to bunk beds. Darling husband says, "yeah Mimi won't let the girls have them." My dad, "That's crazy SHE had bunk beds." Umm thanks Dad I will direct the hospital bills to your house. So, we now have bunk beds. Nightly prayers might include pleas for safety. The girls are beside themselves with joy. It has been hard to get them down. They now have some extra floor space so I think I will make them some floor pillows. I have a great Amy Butler design I have been wanting to try out. Here are some pics of their beds.

Happy as clams.
Lots of space for Barbies and dollhouse stuff.

Maybe some padding on the floor would help my nervousness!

Lonely widow

This afternoon my darling husband is driving about an hour away to work out at a gym. He does powerlifting and this is how all the guys at this gym train. He was very excited to go. He will be gone during dinnertime so that leaves us all alone. I don't like eating dinner alone with just the kids. It feels so incomplete. We are those oddballs who have family dinner every night. When someone is missing it is a bit sad. The girls have decided we should have Chinese with chopsticks. I don't think they have really ever had Chinese food before. They are fascinated with chopsticks after watching Kung Fu Panda. There is a neat tutorial on the DVD about chopsticks. Since darling husband doesn't like Chinese food or for that matter any Asian cuisine we are jumping in with both feet. I love both Chinese food and any Asian cuisine for that matter. Sesame chicken here I come. We know a couple who live in China and have commented on how Chinese fast food is nothing like real Chinese cooking. I would love to visit China someday and learn how to cook authentic food. I hear this is quite a process not just toss some things together. It must be cut up a certain way, certain vegetables go with certain meats etc. Now I think I am just rambling so I better get moving.
BTW-I have lots of post ideas and am hoping to get better at this!!

Ta-da!

He ate almost a whole apple!
It was very warm hence the sleeveless shirt.

He sucked all of the icing off first then ate the rest.

One of his favorite new toys.

The family!

LOOOONG break

Ok so I took a really long break. In the time that has elapsed we have been quite busy. As much as I hate to do it I am going to put it into bullet points!

• We started school the first week of September. Everything is settling nicely into a routine. Both girls are enjoying their work. Bella is studying math, history, language arts (do they still call it that?), astronomy and handwriting. Matilda is working on phonics, writing some letters, basic math, coloring and scissor skills.
• We had the in-laws in town the second week of September. They arrived on our 10 yr anniversary. My FIL had his gazillion year high school reunion. Can't remember which year. We had a good time with them. We roasted hot dogs and marshmallows one night. Introduced my MIL to smores. I still can't believe she never had them. Went to the apple orchard. Very nice visit!
• Celebrated Biscuit's first birthday! He had quite a good time with his cake. He had a zucchini cake. He began walking a week or two before his birthday. Now he runs everywhere. The child never stops moving! He eats like a linebacker but has the metabolism of a hummingbird!
• Darling Husband and his dad cut down a tree. Only one more to take down and then we should be satisfied with the tree situation. DH said next time we move we are moving into a neighborhood that doesn't have trees. Have I mentioned it is autumn and we have LOTS of leaves.
• Our homeschool group is going very well. The girls are enjoying the classes and getting to know some other kids. The group has a family that has several horses. Each fall the kids get to go for 3 weeks and ride and learn a little more about horses. The girls were in heaven. I had to pry them away each week. One of the weeks it was drizzling and upper 40's. Would this deter them...NO. I am glad they enjoyed themselves.
• DH was able to go to the Men's retreat this year. He had a good time. Good challenging talks. Exciting to see where God is leading the men of our church. Hopefully, as wives, daughters, sisters, mothers we can encourage the men to lead. I have a feeling this will end up a blog post soon.
• Bella and I are attending BSF this year together. We are studying the book of John. Good study thus far. I love my discussion group and Bella seems to be enjoying her group as well.
• Last weekend the kids and I loaded up to go see my brother and sister-in-law. We had a really great time. I think my SIL might be regretting taking both the girls to the pumpkin patch by herself though. Two pony rides, large pumpkins, the petting zoo, a ride on the ferris wheel. The girls loved it! They love their Auntie and Uncle. Biscuit thought Uncle was the best ever. As soon as my brother arrived home from work the first night Biscuit marched up to him and wanted to be picked up. He sat with Uncle in his big chair most of the weekend.

I think that hits the highlights. I will try to put up some pictures of all this sometime soon.

It's Dinner time

And I have the motivation of a slug to do something about it. After wasting time on FarmTown I decided a little blog update couldn't hurt. Don't even ask about FT. It is all my sister-in-law's fault! And I still have no clue what I am doing! Moving on. This is what my children are doing at the moment.

Angelic child number one is reading (per usual).

(That large blob of fur is our kitty Moses)

This angelic child is sleeping on the floor.
Angelic child three is sleeping and just beginning to wake up. Husband is off looking at tents. I must pretend to be the mother now and get my hiney in gear!

Heylerhe

A shout out to my mother-in-law who is celebrating her birthday today!! Happy Birthday mom C. Hope you had a nice day. Sorry your card is late again this year. I need to implement my sister's magnificent organizational system for birthday cards!

Also, I added a little survey to the left. Leave a comment too, if you like, explaining your answer.

PPS- I wish I would have paid better attention during grammar class. I can't remember where commas go anymore!!! Sorry Mrs. Bleicher I tried to listen but I had you first period and was never really awake.

Surprise

This past weekend was my Dad's surprise 60th birthday party. It ended up being quite successful. Dad was completely surprised. There were a few near misses but in the end we were able to pull it off. I don't have any pictures. I need to get some from my tiny sister and anyone else. Hint hint! Here are some pics of the kids.

Where is the baby?
There you are!

New shoes from Auntie C and Uncle J

The new shoes in all their monster glory!

Mr. Biscuit seems to think shoes are chew toys. He hasn't ever worn shoes before. Socks a few times over the winter when we went out. I have instilled in my children that socks and shoes are only to be worn during the winter months. I am all about bare feet. Flip flops and sandals are great!

The three monkeys. Ignore the ugly wallpaper! It is coming down VERY soon.

Terror in the park

No not a cheesy horror movie that I saw. A real story! Two weeks ago we went picnicking and hiking at a state park with my parents and sister/brother-in-law. The kids played on the playground near the picnic area while we set out food. We ate a delicious lunch of cold fried chicken, potato salad, macaroni salad and fruit. After lunch we decided to go for a hike around one of the lakes. Darling husband carried Biscuit in the backpack carrier, Matilda, Bella, Uncle with niece in other backpack carrier, Poppy and myself set off. We saw so many cool things on our hike. To name a few: mushrooms of every color and size, turtles, fish, remains of beaver gnawings, a snake, wild blackberries. As we were about done with the hike Darling Husband and Matilda were walking in the front about 10 feet ahead of everyone else. From this point on everything happened so quickly I really have no clue what it looked like. Matilda turned around and stepped off the trail. She fell down a steep bank about 7 feet to the lake. I couldn't see how deep the lake was so immediately slid down the bank also. By the grace of God the lake there was very shallow, a few inches of water and muck. She was absolutely terrified. I can still hear her terrified scream. I lifted Matilda up to Poppy. There were no hand holds. I was wondering how I was going to get up. Poppy and Darling Husband were able to pull me up. There were some benches a few feet ahead on the trail. We sat down and hugged Matilda and gave her a little water to sip. We rinsed her arms off a bit and looked her over. She had not a scratch on her. We finished the hike and walked back to the van. We stopped at the campground and they let us use the showers to wash Matilda off. I changed her clothes and wiped myself down. Unfortunately, I had no other clothing! Extremely scary! I am so grateful that God was watching over us and didn't allow something worse to happen. There are plenty of places around the lake that are much deeper. We went back to the picnic area where Nanny and Auntie were. Nanny held Matilda for a bit and gave her something to eat. She went and played on the playground with Bella. They both wanted to play in the little creek by the playground. I took them down so they could dip their feet in. It was very shallow and cool. A nice ending to an exciting day.

The Fever

Last weekend Matilda Monkey had a fever. No other symptoms, just a fever. We missed church. She was fever free late Sunday. We had a pretty uneventful week. I met with a local midwife to talk about labor assisting (doula) and birth assisting. She assigned me to a client who is due the beginning of August. I can't wait to get started. I have met the client already and she seems very nice. Bella had an MRI on Thursday. We should get results today. Saturday we went to the Central Library with my dad. Such fun! The children's section was very nice. So many books. Lots of comfy places to sit and read. Can't wait to go back again. Saturday when Biscuit woke up from his afternoon nap he felt hot. The Fever! We missed church again this week. :( Yesterday Mr. Biscuit had his 9 month check-up. Healthy (minus The Fever) and nice and plump! He is 22 lbs 6 oz and 29.5 inches long. I think he lost a bit of weight since he hasn't been eating well. He is now doing better. However, yesterday after lunch Bella says, "Mom, I think I have a fever." Sure enough she has The Fever. She moped about last night as though she was going to die from The Fever. She is in much better spirits this morning. Partly, because the tooth fairy came last night! She lost her second tooth on Sunday evening. The tooth had been hanging on by a thread for two days. She and daddy were wrestling and he bumped her mouth and out fell the tooth!
Sunday was my 30th birthday. It was very uneventful. Crabby baby, no cake, lots of birthday calls, visit from a friend, ice cream from DQ. I finally got around to making my cake last night with help from Monkey. Darling husband got us pizza from Uno's. YUM!

It has arrived!

My new swimsuit has arrived! And...(drum roll)...it actually looks decent! No, I won't be posting a pic of myself modeling the suit. However, I will put a link to the Land's End website so you can see it on their rather svelte model! Linky-loo I can't wait to go swimming! Now everything that needs covering will be covered! No more maternity suit!

Picking

This morning the girls and I picked beans! Our first round of picking. We got quite a few. We will probably be picking every few days. I told the girls next summer this would be their job. They seem pleased with the prospect at least for now. We also have a few zucchini ready. There will be quite a few more in a few days. The tomatoes are getting there. I can't wait to have fresh tomatoes.

Yesterday, we hung out at home. Matilda Monkey had a fever and wasn't feeling well. Must have been something viral as she is fine now. We are sticking around home today again and tomorrow might head to my parents to swim and have a cookout. We aren't doing fireworks this year. Hopefully, next year though. Mr. Biscuit is just a little too young to stay up so far past his bedtime. Fireworks don't start until 9:47pm! Crazy!