Anna's Milk Challenge

This morning Anna had her milk challenge test at Bethesda at 8:00. Anna, Caleb, and I rolled out of here at 6:45 because we weren't sure how traffic would be on the Beltway. There were no accidents, and we made it there at 7:30. Drives like that make me think I should have had Grace at Bethesda--but then I'll hear about some accident tying up the Beltway for hours, and I know I'll again be so glad I didn't bother with it, LOL.

Anna drank her first bit of milk at 8:00, followed by increasingly more milk every 15 minutes until 9:30. I was worried that she wouldn't like the taste of regular milk, since she's never had it, but she did just fine. After her last drink, we still had to wait in the same little room until 10:30, just to make sure she wouldn't have a delayed reaction. Over the course of the morning, we watched 1 1/2 hours of the Wiggles (more than any person should have to watch at one time, LOL!), as well as a half hour of Blue's Clues, and then finally a half hour of blessed quiet where I read them books. Funny how techs never believe that really, it's fine to not have the TV on; we can entertain ourselves! We also had some fruit snacks, graham crackers, and laffy taffy. Pretty special! Nothing every happened to Anna, so at 10:30, we were allowed to walk around the hospital for another hour, just to make SURE sure that she wasn't having a delayed reaction. This was where Caleb came in. (Were you wondering why he was tagging along at such an ungodly hour?!)

When I talked to the allergist at Anna's appointment a few weeks ago, we also talked about Caleb. The allergist looked him up and decided he wanted a few blood tests run on him--blood tests that would have to be done at the lab at Bethesda because he didn't think the lab at the little Fairfax Clinic would be able to do them. I didn't want to drag everyone up there a different time to go to the lab, so I decided Caleb would just come with Anna and me and get it done then. And he could help me entertain Anna!

Caleb was not thrilled with the idea of having his blood srawn, but he was very brave and only cried softly a little bit. Afterward he and Anna both got a lollipop, which made both of them very happy. Aftr waiting just a little bit more, we were cleared to go home a little after 11:30--with only one child with milk allergies. I still can't believe it!

While we were at Bethesda, Bob was holding down the fort back home with everyone else. Nathan and Luke were very motivated to finish their schoolwork in a timely manner, since Bob said they would play Phase 10 after they finished. The best news was that Grace took breast milk in a sippy cup! I was so happy to hear that! Obviously things went just fine without me here at home, and I must be totally honest and say that I enjoyed the break from Gracie, who has just been so needy since she's been sick! And I LOVED having the break from nursing, LOL.

Sleepless in NoVA

Since November I have had a few nights where I have had uninterrupted sleep. I mean, maybe 4 nights total. "How can this be?" you might ask. "But I thought your kids were such good sleepers!" Well, yes, they were, LOL, all of them. Something happened in November, and, well, that was that. We started on a rash of unrelated night-time awakenings for all little people in the family--accidents, poopy diapers, bad dreams, upset tummies, teething, dropped pacifiers . . . the list goes on.

Grce has by far been the worst offender. She got sick with a cold or something after we came back from Ohio after Thanksgiving, and she had a hard time sleeping while being all snuffly. Then she spent the month of December teething (and sleeping restlessly). Finally those teeth broke through right before and after Christmas, and she settled down for a few nights here and there (bad habits die hard and all, LOL). Then she got sick after being in the nursery while I taught at the co-op. After the first week, she got some tummy virus, complete with vomiting. Even after she was better, she still kept on vomiting once a night at some random time for a few more days, neccesitating not just comfort but also sheet changes in the middle of the night! She was better when I taught the second time, but she was obviously still weakened because she picked up what I am sure was roseola. She began running an extremely high fever that I had a hard time getting down for several days. She slept VERY poorly during this time, even during the day. Now she's got the classic trunk rash. She is still waking up a few times during the night.

The other boys have had their issues as well, particularly Jonathan. In December he started a phase where he would wake up in the middle of the night to go potty, but he felt compelled to make us aware of what he was doing. So he would come stand by the bed to tell us he was going potty until he knew we were awake and had heard him. Then he would go (in our bathroom), and he wanted one of us to go back with him and help him pull up the covers. Yeah. We stopped the tucking back in pretty quickly, but it was a harder task to convince him we didn't want to know about his night-time pottying! One night a week ago or so he came into our bathroom (why?!) and I woke up enough to realize he was sort of stumbling around aimlessly in there. I started saying, "Turn on the light! Turn on the light!" because somewhere in the recesses of my sleep-deprived brain, I realized that he must not be able to find the potty. And sure enough, a few minutes later, we heard the unmistakable sound of pee-pee hitting the back of our bathroom door. Argggh!!

At least he is once again waking up to go, however. He has had very few night-time accidents in his life-time, up until December that is. Then both he and Caleb began having accidents (but never both in the same night, LOL). Eventually I put them both back into pull-ups for a week or so because I was so tired of all the sheet-changing and night-time disruptions from them! This past week has been accident-free, however (except for the unfortunate bathroom door incident), so I am hopeful we have turned a corner here.

Add in a few random disturbances from Anna, Nathan, and Luke, and you can see that the end result is not much sleep. I have never had a period of time where there were so many disruptions from so many different people at night! It really has made me get run-down. For November and December, my mouth was just under attack by canker sores. I never had less than one, and I usually had more than one. When one would start to go away, another one would start. It was crazy. We finally had a good week of maybe 3 nights of good sleep after we got back from Bob's family, and that seemed to break the cycle in my mouth. But I know that I am just much more on edge than I normally am, and I think that is a result of not getting enough good sleep.

At our church care group, which meets the third Sunday of each month, we have been studying a small book called, "How Can I Change?" by C. J Mahaney and Robin Boisvert. The theme is sanctification, and how we can "close the gap between who we should be in Christ, and who we are in actual practice". Back in November, we all said an area where we really felt like we weren't living up to God's expectations. My area was how I easily get frustrated with the kids (particularly when we are running late, which is most of the time, LOL) and I know my responses aren't what they should be. So let's recap--I recognize an area of struggle, and immediately everyone stops sleeping, which makes me tired and crabby and more likely to fall into easy habits of cranky, irritable, selfish responses. Hmmm. Obviously the devil is not letting this go without a fight, LOL!

One strategy we discussed on Sunday was attacking sin, particularly "at the moment we become conscious of it existence". I am becoming more aware of my bad attitudes and calling them that, instead of just sort of stewing in them, waiting for them to work themselves out. The chapter also emphasized not just taking off sin, but putting on righteousness in its place. So if I criticize, confess that, and then consciously focus on encouraging and honoring others instead. Here's a quote: "If selfishness is a recurring theme, place yourself in situations where you are required to serve." Well, that's checked off, LOL! Nothing like the home environment to bring out areas of selfishness, as well as give opportunities to serve! So yesterday morning I started out grumbling to Grace, who was up early (on a holiday no less!), after being up several times at night. Obviously that was just selfishness talking, as what I wanted for myself was a good night's sleep. I started thinking about how I was serving Grace her cereal and taking care of her (and I certainly wouldn't change that opportunity!), and my attitude and perspective was changed.

So we'll see how I continue to do with all this, and how many new ways the kids can come up with to interrupt my sleep! The things I took for granted back before I had kids . . . you know, back when I thought I was so patient and even-tempered, LOL.

What American accent do you have? (Best version so far) Neutral You're not Northern, Southern, or Western, you`re just plain -American-. Your national identity is more important than your local identity, because you don`t really have a local identity. You might be from the region in that map, which is defined by this kind of accent, but you could easily not be. Or maybe you just moved around a lot growing up.

Click Here to Take This Quiz Brought to you by YouThink.com quizzes and personality tests.

Beverly had a fun quiz over at her blog today. I've always thought I didn't have much of an accent, so I was eager to take this quiz. And it turns out I was right! I guess this is a result of my military brathood! (Beverly's blog had a cool map image that came with the quiz, but for some reason, that didn't translate on mine, so I have a box with an "x". Oh well!)

The link to my actual results page is here, and there you can see the map where my non-accent may possibly have come from. It's Illinois/Indiana/Ohio, which seems pretty accurate, as I have spent a good deal of time in Ohio! But you will also notice that Western PA is included on that map, and let me tell you, people in Western PA most definitely have accents! Bob is especially good at telling if people are from around Pittsburgh, but even I can usually pick up on it. Most of the members of his family have definite accents as well. Bob has lost his, however (thankfully, LOL).

Little Snow Bear

It snowed today, and surprisingly, it stuck! We actually ended up with several inches, enough for everyone to go out and play in it after lunch. I got Anna all dressed up as well. It was her first time to play out in the snow--usually the boys go out while she's napping. She seemed to have a fairly good time, although she was so roly-poly that it was hard for her to keep her balance sometimes. She looked like a fat little blue marshmallow!

I was so glad that we got our errands out of the way yesterday. We went to Sams, so our fridge and pantry were full! It was a great day to stay home and have Amy's yummy lasagna recipe for dinner. Nathan's basketball practice was cancelled, so we don't have anywhere to go tonight either! Speaking of basketball, I meant to mention in my update last post that Nathan had his first basketball game on Saturday. His team won, but more importantly, Nathan scored a basket! He was pretty happy!

SInce I last posted . . .

Here are new things going on here . . .

. . . the Christmas tree is down! We're mowing right through those goals! Now, 20 pounds off by next weekend! LOL! We took it down Sunday night, mainly because we had our pastor over for dinner last night. Sometimes I think company is my biggest motivator. We have to have people over for me to get anything done.

. . . we have a new treadmill! The tread part of our last one had been slowly starting to fray, and in October it finally tore. That made it easy not to exercise, LOL. We do have a recumbent bike, so I was not without exercise options, but . . . somehow I was a lot less consistent. No more excuses, however--we have the new one all set up, courtesy of Bob! It is funny--it is still near the bottom of the line, but it is so much nicer than our old one! My most favorite feature is the built-in fan. Ahhh. I'm really liking it.

. . . Grace has been sick! I think she actually WAS sick last Wednesday night--she vomited twice and was running a fever. She has taken a long time to really get all the way better, though, and she still keeps throwing up at weird times. She has been throwing up once at night, somewhere between 1:30 and 6:30. There's no rhyme or reason to this, and she's fine the rest of the day, even after I've started her back eating solid food (she wasn't interested at all in it Friday or even much on Saturday). It's a mystery . . .

. . . I'm done teaching reptiles! This week, one of the boys, Eric, brought in his pet corn snake. That was actually really interesting. We all got to touch and hold the snake. "Spot" is about 3 ft. long, and Eric's had him for 3 years. He keeps him in an aquarium and feeds him frozen mice once a week that he heats up in the microwave. Yum! Spot was really kind of cute though, I must say. Then we talked about different tricks various reptiles have for defense and camoflage, and finally we watched a video that pretty much summarized what we've talked about these last 2 weeks. I remember watching videos in class, however, so I made up a sheet of multiple choice questions for them to hear the answers to as they were watching. That helped keep their attention. This week, it was the 4th graders that were more easily distracted, but that was mainly because everyone wanted to share some story of a reptile contact they, or someone close (or even not so close) to them had experienced at some point. I guess everyone has had some memorable reptile experience. I trotted out my old thriller, where my mom threw rocks at a habu (a venomous Asian snake) from our back porch in Okinawa until she had killed it. They were all very impressed.

Well, that's all that's new around here! How about for you?

Goals for the New Year

Now that the business of the holidays is over, I've had some time to think about what I want to focus on this year.

1. Taking down the Christmas tree. Yes, ours is still standing proudly in the corner of the family room. All the ornaments are off, and we never turn the lights on anymore, so it is a bit like a light-sink over there, blocking light from the windows, as well as just being 9 foot dark shadow. I keep thinking we'll take it down during the weekends, but we were gone last weekend, and this weekend there's football . . . maybe in February, LOL. But I thought I'd start off with an easy goal.

2. Losing 20 pounds. This next goal is not quite as easy as taking down the tree, yes? I still have 10 extra pounds from Grace, and they have not budged so far. I also have an extra 10 pounds from after I stopped nursing Jonathan. Evidently my metabolism really slowed while we were in Ohio, but I was pregnant or nursing the entire 3 years and never noticed. When we moved here and I finally stopped nursing Jonathan, I just ate as I always had, and I gained 10 pounds in a few months. I was horrified, of course, so I cut back and never gained any more, but I never lost it either (and then I got pregnant with Anna . . .). Well, this year I have a wonderful motivation--weddings!! Bob's niece is getting married on May 18, and my cousin James is getting married around the 24th of May. I'm still nursing, so I'm sure nothing is going to melt off, but we'll give it the old college try. Really I would be happy with just tightening up a few inches around my waist, so I am once again doing sit-ups and crunches like a mad woman (and if I ever told you that years of doing sit-ups have not gotten rid of the extra post-pregnancy pouch before, please be so kind as to not remind me of that, LOL).

3. Catch up on scrapbooking. I have stayed fairly caught up with my individual albums for the boys (if you don't consider that I haven't started one for either girl, LOL). I need to do Caleb's for last year, but that's all. I have 2 Christmases to do in my Christmas album, and I will pick up the digital pictures from Sams this week for them. That shouldn't be hard to whip out. My regular family album is almost 2 1/2 years behind, and includes the birth of 2 kids, so I am looking at a steeper challenge there, LOL.

4. Use more dried beans. I cook with beans a lot, but I've always tended to use canned beans just because they're so quick and convenient. I can have no idea what is for dinner, and then decide at 4:30 to have one of my many soup recipes that use canned beans, and voila! We're still eating by 5:30 or so. But I need to be more organized, cook a lot of beans at one time, and freeze them, like I do chicken and ground beef.

5. Have the boys do more writing. I've actually already started on this. I just want them to get more comfortable putting thoughts down on paper. Last year I started giving them 4 Latin sentences each morning to translate--2 into English, and 2 into Latin. This year I have added having them write a paragraph on whatever topic I come up with the night before (nothing involving research though--something like "Write about your favorite character in the Redwall series" or "Write about what you learned about reptiles at TnT"). One boy is very loquacious, and writes many more sentences than I ask for. The other boy puts down a bare-bones paragraph. The surprise for me was that it's Luke that writes the long paragraphs. Who knew he had all this bottled up?! LOL! Nathan talks a big paragraph to me, but when it comes to writing it down, he just sort of summarizes everything as briefly as possible. He doesn't like the physical act of writing, but maybe this exercise each morning will help with that.

Well, those are a few goals for this year, some easier than others. I'll keep you updated on our progress!

Reptiles, the First Week

People have been asking how my reptile lesson went, and I am happy to say that it went just fine! I am teaching the 3rd and 4th graders this year, and so I have to teach the same hour and fifteen minute lesson twice, once to each grade. The third graders were first, and some of the boys were pretty distracted, but most people were interested. That is Luke's class, so it's fun to interact with him in there. I was a lot more nervous about the 4th grade class, because of one the boys in there has some definite learning issues and I would say is probably on the Aspergers/autism spectrum. He just is a little . . . off . . . in his dealing with others, and his response to social cues. He also doesn't read or write much, so I wasn't sure how he would do. It turned out that he did just fine. He is quite smart, and I think he picked up everything I wanted him to get, even though he didn't do the worksheets with us.

I started out talking about how we like to have things organized, like grocery stores, our clothes, etc. People wanted to organize animals as well, but it took until the 1600's before someone figured out the best way to organize them, by studying details of their bodies, as opposed to where they live or other ways of dividing them up. I have a poster showing how to classify a polar bear, so we talked through all the levels of classification, as well as how to remember the levels ("King Phillip Came Over For Green Spinach" or whatever sentence you may dredge up from the recesses of your high school biology class memories, LOL).

The we talked about what made an animal a reptile. When I asked what animals were reptiles, most kids said things like frogs as well as snakes and crocodiles, so this led naturally into the differences. For those of you who have not recently boned up on your reptile identifying characteristics, let me just refresh your memory:

1. They are vertebrates
2. Their skin is covered by hard, protective scales
3. They reproduce using eggs
4. They breathe oxygen using lungs
5. They are cold-blooded and cannot regulate their own body temperatures

We looked at each characteristic individually, so I think by the end the kids knew those 5 things pretty well. I did learn some interesting tidbits about reptiles. For example, did you know that nest temperature determines whether a crocodilian or turtle egg will be a male or female? It is not inscribed in their DNA. Interesting! Usually one nest will be only males, or only females. Also, some snakes incubate their eggs inside their bodies, so it looks like they give birth to live young. This is useful if the snake lives in a climate where the temperature might not be as regulated, since a steady temperature is so important. Also, sea turtles and sea snakes can absorb some oxygen through their mouths (turtles) and skin (snakes) so they can stay underwater longer without breathing. Sea snakes can stay underwater up to 8 hours without breathing! Sea snakes are also the most venomous snakes. I would never go swimming in the waters of Indonesia, where the highest percentage of these snakes live! Also, saltwater crocodiles live in those waters, and those things are nasty. Yuck. One last fact--if a snake eats, but it gets too cold, then he can't digest the food, and it will jsut rot inside him and kill him. SO he has to throw it back up before that happens. Gross!

After we talked about those 5 characteristics, we talked about each order of reptiles in a little more details. For example, why are legless lizards not snakes? In fact, lizards and snakes, while having similar body structures, have some differences. Lizards have a distinct neck and tail, they have ear openings behind their eyes (snakes don't have any ears at all--they only sense vibrations), and they have eyes with lids. Snakes' eyes are covered by transparent scales. Now you know.

After we got through all the lizards, snakes, turtles, crocodilians, and tuataras, we did a little worksheet I made up. It had 6 boxes--one for each level of classification, except for the bottom box, which had the genus and species: Alligator mississippiensis (American alligator). So the top box was Kingdom--Animalia. Then in the box I had lots of things, like snake, shark, mushroom, horse, starfish, potato, spider, alligator, etc. They had to cross out what didn't belong in the animal kingdom. The next box was Phylum--Chordata, and there they had to cross out anything that didn't have a backbone, like insects, mollusks, , spiders, etc. The next box was Class--Reptilia, so they had to cross out everything that wasn't a reptile, and then it was Order--Crocodilia. The only things in that order are crocodiles, alligators, caimans (they only live in South America), and gharials (only live in India and Nepal). The second to the last box was Family--Alligatoridae, which has alligators and caimans, and they didn't have to cross anything out there either. The kids got the idea, and could generally figure out what to cross out, although there were some tricky things (coral IS in the animal kingdom). It defintiely reinforced the idea of the levels of classification. If they went away with that, as well as knowing what 5 characteristics reptiles share, then I will be happy.

Next week we will review, talk about a pet snake that one of the 4th graders is bringing in, watch a video that we have, and I think talk about ways reptiles survive (camoflauge, losing their tails, mimicing coloration of more dangerous reptiles, etc.). And then I'll be done! Goodbye reptiles!!

Checking in briefly . . .

We went to Bob's parents' for the weekend, getting back late last night. It was a good visit, as visits out there go. To be completely honest, you can't make up stories like we can tell. It's always interesting.

The trip was much more pleasant this time. We went up for the whole weekend, which we haven't done for a long time. The first night we stayed at our usual Comfort Inn (where Bob was the "guest of the day" and received not only a free bottle of water and package of peanut butter crackers, but also a bear with a t-shirt saying "Someone in New Stanton loves you"). This was fun, as we had time to go swimming Saturday morning, and the night was not as disruptive as it usually is, with all 8 of us in one (big) room.

Saturday night, however, we stayed with friends. Yes, some friends of ours from here in VA, the ones who first told us about our wonderful church, got out of the Air Force and moved to PA, only 30 minutes away from Bob's parents. Wow, talk about your worlds colliding! They live in a beautiful almost new house with lots of space and bathrooms. Their basement is finished, walk-out, and has lots of toys for the kids to play with. It was so, so nice to stay there. We even went to church with them on Sunday. It was so fun to visit with Paul and Lisa and have the kids all play together (they have 4). It really made the weekend nice, and now I am looking forward to March, when we are slated to visit again! Lisa did talk about the culture shock she is experiencing, moving from northern VA to western PA, LOL. It is just so different.

This morning, Anna and I got up early and drove to Bethesda for an allergy appointment. She had such problems with milk even in my breast milk as a baby, and she has had at least 2 reactions of hives after milk and ice cream. With Caleb's history, I was not surprised that she would have food allergies, and when the doctor at her 18 month well-baby appt. said she would give me a referral to the allergist, I jumped at the chance. The allergist did a prick test for milk (only), and I was completely unprepared for what happened--nothing. She did not react to milk! The allergist said that based on what had happened before, she probably outgrew a minor allergy, but it was such a complete shock. So now we have to go back on Jan. 23 at 8:00 for a milk challenge. She will drink a little milk at various intervals, eventually drinking 100 cc over 90 minutes. If she hasn't reacted during the actual test, then we will wait 2 more hours to make sure she doesn't react then. If still no reaction, then she will be free to have dairy stuff. While that would of course be really great, I will be sad for Caleb. He usually has such a great attitude about his allergies and all the stuff he can't have, but he does get sad sometimes. It was nice for him to know that Anna couldn't have stuff either, and he didn't feel so alone. Oh well.

Alright, back to reptiles. Tomorrow is my first big teaching day. I have never felt so uninterested or unprepared for teaching, LOL.

Scenes from New Year's Eve

Here is what our New Year's Eve party looked like as we started the countdown (at 9:15, LOL). All the kids had noisemakers in hand (or mouth, more accurately) and hats on head!

Anna was ready too!

The big moment!

Grace partied hard too, and even picked up some much-needed "hair"! She actually did not really know what to do with all the noise and merriment, so she looked very serious and concerned the whole time. She didn't cry though, and neither did Anna!

Year in Review

I decided to look back at what I thought was important enough to blog about this past year.

I started off in January by blogging about our search for a shiny new trash can. I am happy to report that at Sams on Friday, I found an almost 13 gallon shiny trash can with an attached lid that I think will be too heavy for Grace to push over. It's not as "stylish" as the ones at Bed, Bath, and Beyond, but it's also not $200, and I can use regular trash bags with it. It's been working great!

In February, I was 28 weeks pregnant. We did a ton of traveling, out to Colorado for Nan's funeral, and also to Ohio. I failed my glucose tolerance test, and I was weary of being pregnant. But someone on the WTM board had an inspirational post on being 28 weeks pregnant that got me through the next few months.

March brought evidence that Anna can be a real stinker. This trend has continued as she has grown older.

In April I stressed about my upcoming delivery, so it was good that Caleb distracted me with this custom designed crest.

On May 1, Grace Elizabeth was born. Here is her birth story, in case you happened to miss it the first time around.

June was filled with posts like this one , where I moan about things like mastitis and not getting enough sleep. I'm glad that month is over!

In July, Anna was back to her old tricks, with a black eye and a microwave "incident" . Also, we grew Dan's Chia Shrek, which certainly turned out to be . . . something.

Our beloved Pathfinder bit the dust in August, and I wrote a touching eulogy for it. To be honest though, we haven't really missed it. (Now that I say that, I better prepare for a huge snowstorm, where its 4 wheel drive would have been priceless, LOL.)

A memorable part of September was the stye in my eye. Later I read some posts on the Well Trained Mind board that said breast milk is the best thing to take these painful things away. Hmmm. Well, it was too late for me, but it was so painful I would have definitely tried anything, had I known about this potential remedy. I'll have to leave some milk in my freezer for such a time, LOL.

In October, Nathan had a tick bite under his eye. Thankfully there have been no signs of Lyme's disease, and in fact, I had forgotten all about the incident until I read about it my archives!

I bought new shoes in November, and I am happy to report that I just thinking yesterday how comfortable they are. Yay for taking things back!

Well, that's what struck me as I skimmed back through the year. That is what I like about blogging--I can remember all these little things that seemed so important at the time, but in reality were not too big in the whole scheme of things!

After Christmas

We've had a wonderful week of vacation, with no school at all. The boys have mainly been downstairs, playing with their new Bionicles and Transformers. Anna has been playing daily with an adorable tea set from Aunt Melinda and Uncle Dan. The boys got several new books, including a different Star Wars cookbook ("Darth Malt") and a visual dictionary of all 6 episodes. That last one has been pored over by all the boys at one time or another! A while ago I found a $1.00 Star Wars coloring book at Books-A-million, in their bargain stack, which I gave to Caleb. It's turn came yesterday, although the boys didn't color much in it. Instead, they traced the pictures onto paper, presumably to color those. How thrifty! All I know is that this activity has also kept them all very quiet, LOL.

Nathan starts Upward basketball next Thursday, so I have been making him (and everyone else) go outside and practice basketball, as well as run laps for awhile each afternoon. Conditioning, you know.

We had our house appraised yesterday, and I'm glad that's over! We got it as clean as possible, and the man was supposed to come between 10:30 and 11:00. He finally got here right around 11:00, and I was so worried that I wasn't going to be able to keep the house clean any longer! The boys were watching Jonathan's new Lone Ranger video (from the $1 bins at Target, woohoo!), but I knew that was going to soon be over. And I was sort of following around after Anna, picking up whatever she got out. This appraisal is for us to refinance to a 30 year loan, and we're going to need it, since I don't see how we could ever put the house on the market and try to show it with all these kids, LOL.

Last night we ate dinner at Chick-Fil-A and headed over to Walmart for a few things. While there, Bob spotted at $19 mini-trampoline, so we bought that. I guess it's a late Christmas gift, but we figured they could bounce around in the basement and work off excess energy on rainy days. As a funny aside, my parents have a mini-trampoline as well, and this is how the boys refer to them, as in: "Which Grandma and Grandpa are you talking about?" "The ones with the trampoline in the basement." On some visits, the trampoline isn't even out, so you'd think that wouldn't be the thing they remember most, but who knows how their little minds work. Anyhow, now we have one of our own.

As for me, I am spending my post-Christmas vacation up to my ears in reptiles (well, now that I can let the house go again, LOL). I would just like to say that before I started this research, I thought I didn't care much for reptiles. Now I know that I thoroughly despise them, and that they are totally and completely nasty, with the possible exception of geckoes, which are small and fairly cute, as far as reptiles go (not far, LOL). Yuck. Every single book I got out of the library has tons of pictures of these horrible creatures killing their victims in all sorts of gruesome ways, I guess because the experts tell us that in order to keep kids' attention nowdays, things have to be gross or something. And now I am seeing them when I close my eyes, and dreaming of them at night. Ewwwww! I will be so very glad when my 2 teaching weeks are over!!

Merry Christmas From Our Family to Yours!!!!

We had a beautiful candlelight service last night at church, followed by a night of wrapping presents and frosting our birthday cake for Jesus for Bob and me.

In the morning, we woke up, had breakfast, and then we opened stockings. After a quick nursing break, we opened presents. We all got such wonderful things! We ate our big meal at 1:00, and after another nursing break, we all went on a walk to the playground/football playing field. The weather was beautiful today! When we were in Colorado, we liked to go on Christmas hikes with our neighbors, Bill and Pam. I want to start that tradition up again! The boys are playing happily and quietly downstairs. Bob and Anna are napping. It's so nice and quiet! After we eat leftovers or something, we will have our birthday party for Jesus. After all, his birth is the reason we have anything to celebrate on this day or any day!

Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift! II Cor. 9:15

One last thing--we are also celebrating a new member being added to our family! My cousin James got engaged to Sarah yesterday!! Congratulations! What a wonderful time of year to become engaged, and we are so excited for you!!

Christmas Preparations Wrap-Up

We cut out sugar cookies on Thursday. Nathan made the dough in our big mixer, and it turned out great (and a little puffy because he added a little too much baking powder due to a doubling miscalculation, LOL). We used our regular Christmas cookie cutters, but we also opened a box that I had bought many, many years ago while we were still in Colorado. It was a set of cutters to make a Nativity scene. Those cookies we decided to decorate before baking with an egg glaze that I had read about on The Pioneer Woman Cooks. We painted the glaze on, and it was really easy. Unfortunately, the cookies puffed up a lot, and so you can't really tell what was supposed to be colored on the final product, so it was not a rousing success.

We decorated the other cookies on Friday afternoon with our regular powdered sugar glaze. In the decorating process, you can really tell that all my older kids are boys, not girls. The frosting technique is "pile it on and add tons of every kind of sprinkles"--no detail work, LOL. Finally I finished whatever it was I was doing in the kitchen and decorated a few cookies myself. I did a teddy bear first, and I carefully spread yellow frosting on the head, arms, and legs before putting red frosting on the tummy and adding eyes and a mouth. "Hey! You made Winnie the Pooh!" was the surprised cry of the boys. Using more than one color had not really occured to them. Then Jonathan asked if he could put sprinkles on my cookies. I told him no because I really don't like sprinkles. "WHAT?! You don't like sprinkles?!" Everyone was astounded, LOL. AFter that, the boys were a little more artistic, but when we pick out cookies to eat, I noticed that people like to pick Jonathan's. And why not? Pound for pound, he is the king of putting the most frosting and sprinkles on! Artistry only goes so far, LOL.


Sunday afternoon Bob's sister Ann, her husband Wally, and their daughter Christi came up to visit from Richmond for the night. We had such a fun time with them. Ann and Wally played cards with the older boys, while Christi read lots of books to the little ones. Ann, Christi, and I stayed up too late talking, but it was such a nice break to just sit around and chat. Christi is getting married soon, so she was full of wedding plans to talk about, and I was full of marriage advice, LOL. This morning, Nathan made pancakes for breakfast, and then we sat around and sang boisterous Christmas carols, such as in the picture. We sure were loud! I mean, festive!

Lost Evidences of a Past Me

We've been busy cleaning the past 2 days. Bob's oldest sister Ann and her family are coming Sunday afternoon to spend the night, and then we have an appraiser coming on Thursday because we're refinancing our house. Yesterday we spent a good deal of time on the upstairs, and this morning we worked on the basement.

After we got the main part of the basement done, I went to straighten out what we call the playroom down there--the only unfinished part of the basement, the part where the water heater and furnace are. It's a good size room, though, so we have carpet down in the middle of it, and that's where the boys play Lincoln logs and army men. I rarely make them clean it up, so they love it, LOL. We also use it for storage, and we have boxes along one wall.

After I shuffled around some tubs of clothes, I noticed that some of the boxes on the floor had *gasp* water marks on them. Hmmm, I thought. How odd. These are book boxes-that can't be good. And it wasn't. The box that had the most damage was filled with notebooks sitting upright, so most of them had terrible mold and had to be tossed without a second thought. It was really hard though. There were some old high school yearbooks, and also ones from my international school in Okinawa. There were lots of notebooks from high school and college classes. These may seem like a no-brainer that I should have tossed years ago, but you know, it was always sort of comforting to have those papers downstairs. Like I may not remember how to solve a differential equation now, but look what I used to be able to do! It's like another beautiful language! This was me, before my brain atrophied and wasted away from having all these children! Also, I had a lot of school projects saved, from my state report ("Utah") in 5th grade all the way up to my senior project in college ("Transcriptional Regulation of the Human Apolipoprotein A1 Gene").

Some things weren't so bad off, and I left them out to dry while I think about what to do with them. I suspect that I'll have to throw many of them away too, but I guess I'm just sort of giving myself some time to get used to the idea. And some of the books I really want to salvage, like my vertebrate zoology lab manual, which I am sure will come in handy when the boys need to dissect things, especially if we just order the kits to do ourselves. I had also saved a great deal of stuff from my high school English classes that I was planning on using with the boys. I had a really great teacher most years in high school, and I think my grasp of grammar is pretty good because of him, compared to what I've heard a lot of other people talk about. We also had these killer cummulative vocab tests each week, and I have a lot of the lists, which I was planning on using. I have all that stuff sort of spread out everywhere, so we'll see what happens.

It was so discouraging though. I don't really save that much "stuff"--knick-knacks and things. But books are really important to me, and I felt such a sense of loss as I threw all these notebooks away. It's almost a loss of identity because those things are pretty much all the kids could page through that identified and proved the academic life I had before I had kids.

You may be wondering why I wasn't more concerned about the water and where it came from. The air conditioner empties water by where these boxes are. So I am positive that the boxes got wet back in the summer, which is why the mold in the boxes was so bad now.

School Update

Yesterday, because of Nathan's late night, we took a day off of school and had a game day. We played Rummikub, Clue, Pictionary, and Ginnykub. Luke was not at all sure about Pictionary, because, as he said, "I am not a good drawer". I assured him that you didn't have to be an expert artist--you just had to be able to get the main idea across--so he reluctantly tried it. We all had a great time! Of course, it helped that we didn't play teams. We just rolled the die to make our way around the board, drawing whatever category we landed on. And after awhile we did away with the timer too--no pressure! It was fun to see their thought processes in their drawings. This is a great thing about big families--there are always plenty of people aroudn to paly games!

On a normal December day, however, we are sort of doing "school lite". This means that I get out their Latin sentences to translate, math, and English the night before, and they do those in the morning. Then usually (but not always) we do memory work and Latin later, as well as maybe mental math or math facts review. That's about it for formal school, though, and it allows us to run errands in the mornings if we need to , or spend the whole afternoon baking, or whatever we need to do. And I don't get too worried about seeing their vocab leaking out their ears as I sit and watch them, LOL. We are also reading The Best Christmas Pageant Ever out loud, and since we are studying the Civil War in history, I got out a ton of Civil War books from the library. Sometimes I read them aloud, but often the boys just pick them up on their own and read them. January we'll pick back up with a heavier load. The break is so nice though. Let's not talk about starting back up again, LOL.

The boys had their last day of co-op last Tuesday, and it was the grand finale to a little fine arts unit. They had an art show, with pieces they had worked on the previous 2 weeks matted and displayed for the parents to look at. Also, one of the moms does pottery, so she brought in her wheel and did a demonstration, complete with spiritual application. It was really neat. It is exactly for things like this that I am glad we do this co-op! I am all for the fine arts, but they really are not my forte, or even a high priority just on my own, so it is a good thing the boys can get exposure in another setting, with people who actually have lots of talents in these areas!

When TnT starts back again the second week in January, they will be doing a unit on reptiles. And I am teaching the 3rd and 4th graders. Ack! I guess I'd better get cracking! Amazingly, I keep finding better things to do with my time, other than plan lessons for reptiles. The lady who is teaching the second 2 weeks of the unit is doing dinosaurs, so it is up to me to overview reptiles. I had thought I would actually start with a quick run-down of animal classification as a whole, so the kids can understand why reptiles are reptiles, and how they differ from, say frogs. That won't take up an hour and 15 minutes though, not to mention the second week! Also, one of the boys in the 4th grade class has some learning issues, and he is going to be a real challenge. I need some kinds of hand-on activities, more than just worksheets or listening to me talk, because I know he will not be able to sit still or even be capable of doing much writing. But I'm drawing a blank for activities. Hmmm.

So that's what we're up to school-wise!

Nathan's Amazing Technicolor Christmas Rash

Well, here is what Nathan looked like when he and Bob got back from Bethesda and after his shot of benedryl! There was hardly a spot on his poor body that wasn't raised and red! We were impressed with Nathan's wish to celebrate Christmas so completely by decorating himself in seasonal colors, LOL. Very festive!
He took his first doses of prednisone and liquid benedryl last night too, and when he woke up this morning, the mysterious rash was all gone. But he has to take the prednisone for 4 days. We will certainly keep on top of that, because we do NOT want this crazy thing to come back, like it did yesterday!

Nathan's Mysterious Skin Ailment

**Update below**

After care group was finished last night, Nathan came up and showed me a hive that had mysteriously popped up under his left eye and was really itchy. I immediately gave him a chewable children's benedryl pill (with Caleb's food issues, we have these around all over the place!). Then I asked to look at more of him to see if there were any more hives. Well, there were some on his back as well. When he went upstairs about an hour later to go to bed, I had him take 2 tsp. of Zyrtec, another antihistimine. By the time he was actually in bed, the bumps on his back were smaller, and he said he wasn't itchy anymore, so I assumed the whole thing would pass. We had tried to figure out what could possibly have caused this reaction, but we came up totally blank. He hasn't eaten any new foods, I haven't used any new detergents, etc.

This monring when he woke up, his back looked better, although there were still small bumps on it. He also had some on his legs, but his face looked just fine. I told him to take another dose of Zyrtec, and Nathan promptly got distracted and forgot all about doing that.

At 4:00, his face started to get more and more red. This first picture is from about 5:00. His shoulders were also starting to get worse, as well as his arms, and he had hives/rash on his buttocks too. At 6:00 I told him to take another dose of Zyrtec (and realized that he hadn't taken one this morning). I started making plans to take him in to the doctor tomorrow.



By 7:00, his face was much, much worse, and his arms were like one giant hive all over. He was incredibly itchy and hot all over. We decided Bob would take him to the ER at Bethesda, so they left about 7:15 for that trek. This picture was taken right before they left.


They are almost there now, so we'll see what the doctor says. Hopefully they can give him some sort of steroid or something. Bob did come up with one new thing Nathan had this weekend. Bob was TDY to Texas last week, and he brought home a stalk of sugar cane for the boys. They sell this at Walmart down there! We had read Swiss Family Robinson this past summer, and that was one thing they were always snacking on, so Bob thought we'd give it a go. Luke allowed that he would eat it, but only if he were starving. Nathan thought it was okay and chewed on quite a bit of it. Still though--that was Friday afternoon and Saturday, and the hives didn't start until Sunday night. Weird.

**Update: They left Bethesda about 10:45. The docs gave Nathan a benedryl shot after determining that it was, believe it or not, an allergic reaction. Wow! How enlightening! Unfortunately they had no idea what could have caused it either. They sent him home with benedryl and prednisone to take over the course of the next few days, which will hopefully do the trick. The shot has so far helped Nathan's body not be so "3-D", but Bob said it was still pretty red and bumpy. Poor guy!

Christmas Party Weekend

We had the most social weekend I think we have ever had! It started off Friday night, where we had a Christmas party at Bible study. The kids (there are 15 kids for 4 families) acted out the Christmas story,complete with costumes. A few years ago, for AWANA at Halloween, the kids all had to be Bible characters. So I cut up an ugly brown sheet into tunic things that the kids wear over Dad's t-shirts, along with belts and headscarves (also out of the sheet). Voila! Your generic Bible character costume! These 4 costumes stood us in good stead once again. Nathan was Joseph, Luke was a shepherd and a wise man, and Caleb and JOnathan were shepherds. In a surprise casting move, I was the Angel of the Lord (sans costume, LOL). It was a lot of fun. Then we socialized over snacks for a long time, not leaving until after 10:00.

Saturday we had our first party at 3:00. The German family down the street had a neighborhood German Christmas tea, with all sorts of German foods and drinks. Some of the food I really liked, and some, well, not so much. It was fun though, and I drank 2 cups of tea, as well as a few tiny sips of some sort of mulled wine that is "the smell of Christmas" to Oliver and Ellie. Everyone thought it was really great stuff, but boy, I do not have any sort of taste for wine, because I really didn't like it. I guess that's a good thing, as you're not really supposed to drink while nursing, eh?

I left about 4:30 and rushed home to finish tidying it up. Saturday night my ladies' Bible study was having a Christmas progressive dinner, and the kids were all going to be at our house, eating pizza! They started coming at 6:00, and of course I was nowhere ready for them. I still had to make my spinach strawberry salad, and as we were getting ready to leave, I remembered that I had also said I would take tacquitoes. Whoops! So I took the box of them frozen to heat there. How classy!

We went to Jenny's house for the appetizers/main course, and that was a great time. After we ate, we did the white elephant gift exchange game, where you can take presents away from people. I kept opening the "good" presents, which were promptly stolen, so I ended up opening 3 presents (out of only 12). After the presents, we all came and retrieved our kids before heading to the L's house for dessert. While at the L's house, we played a fun Mad-Libs version of "Twas the Night Before Christmas", and we also sang Christmas carols around the piano. Once again, we didn't leave until after 10:00. Hmmm. I wonder if these late nights might have any impact on children? Oh, I'm sure not, LOL.

Sunday we went to church, and then rushed home to have a quick sandwich and nurse Grace before heading over to another neighbor's house for yet another Christmas party. This neighbor, Doctor Joe, is an older man, and each year he invites all the neighborhood kids to listen to him tell Christmas stories that he has made up. They are nice fairy-tale like stories, each one centered around a Christmas tree of a different color. It's a good time for the kids, and afterwards he and Stella always put on a huge spread of food.

After stuffing ourselves again, we went home and again straightened up because at 6:00 our care group from church was meeting at our house. We only meet every third Sunday, but this was the lucky weekend! So once again I nursed quickly, whipped up a quick pan of gingerbread for dessert, and then welcomed people here. And once again I was nowhere near ready for them when they came! We had a good study, but after everyone left and we got the kids down, I was so very glad to be done with all our socializing. Our calendar for this next week is blessedly completely blank! Ahhhhhhhhhh.

Born Good?

Last night I was getting ready to give Anna and Grace a bath. I told Anna to go upstairs and get ready for her bath. She immediately said, "NO! Uh uh! Why?!" And then she scampered happily up the stairs because she really loves baths, LOL. You can't tell me those words aren't hard-wired as a default response pretty deeply into their little beings! The trick is over-riding the automatic programmed response and replacing it with "Yes, Mommy!". We're still working on that . . .

An Early Christmas Present

This time of year there are always discussions in the paper, on message boards and so on about what kind of gifts women hate to get. The general thought seems to be that women don't like practical gifts; however, this is NOT me. Bring on the practical gifts!!

I have wanted for a long time a collapsible rolling file cart from Office Depot. You may wonder why that particular item has caused such yearning in me. I wanted it for the library. We check out many, many books at a time, and I have always carried them in a big Land's End tote bag. Recently we have also had to branch out into 2 small auxiliary tote bags that the boys carry because we were just plum out of room in the big bag, and my arm was about to fall off from hauling it around. A long time ago I read a thread on the Well Trained Mind board where many people recommended this rolling crate thing, and it sounded like a great idea to me.

So last night Nathan and I prepared to go to the library when he called me out to the garage to "look at something". There, in the front seat and with a red bow on, was this cart! I was so excited! Bob decided he should go ahead and give it to me so that I could actually use it, instead of just waiting for Christmas. It was so nice! I just wheeled my heavy load right in! I know everyone was looking jealously at it--or looking at it anyways, LOL. They were probably thinking, "Why does any lady need to get out so many books?!"

Now we can move on to other parts of Christmas. . .

The chocolates are all done! Yay! Every year I am always a little surprised when I reach the point that I am sick of chocolate, and yet every year, that point is reached, LOL. Last night I made a peppermint bark to use up the rest of the dark chocolate, and I still haven't even tasted it. I am just not interested. Blech.

We bought 10 pounds of milk chocolate, 5 pounds of dark chocolate, and 2 pounds of white chocolate. We used it all except for about 1 pound of the milk chocolate. We'll have to make something yummy with it--in February maybe, LOL.

The biggest difference this year was that Nathan was really my partner, not just my helper. He did some of everything--painting the molds, filling them, rolling out other fillings, etc. It was really fun to work with him, and it was so nice not to have to do it all! I guess this is why people have children! LOL! And of course we had some really great discussions while working about Pearl Harbor, current events, etc.

The thing about not doing it all myself was that I had to let go of some of my anal perfectionism. This was really hard to do. I can still remember the lady at Marway's Cake and Candy Supply Store in Colorado Springs, where I took the candy-making classes, talking about how you want people to realize your gifts were "hand-crafted, not home-made" or something to that effect, because of their great quality. And let's face it--a 10 year old boy who doesn't normally pay tons of attention to detail is going to be sloppier and less careful than someone like, well, me, who always got charater qualities such as "neatness" and "diligence" at award banquets in school. (Yes, I went to a Christian school obviously, LOL). But I managed to let it go fairly gracefully and not rush back to correct everything I thought wasn't quite good enough. So the bottoms of the chocolates aren't quite as smooth as they should be, and sometimes they are a bit swirled because the chocolate started to set before the mat got put in the freezer. They still taste great! And I think things like this will help Nathan pay more attention to details. He did greatly improve over the course of the week.

By the time the boys are all in high school, I'll just sit back and let them make tons of chocolates. Then I'll rake in the money. I knew there was a reason we had so many kids! LOL!

Finally--SNOW!!!

When we woke up yesterday, we were surprised to see snow on the ground! Jonathan has been asking oh, I don't know, probably at least once a day when it was going to snow. I told the boys not to get too excited because I was sure it wouldn't stick around, but it did! We got about 2 inches, enough to make 4 boys very happy!

The boys had a "school date" over at the L's house while Anna and I were at the dentist, and as we were coming home, they were excitedly talking about playing in the snow. Their friends, the 4 McC boys, were coming to our house at 4:00 while their mom had a doctor's appointment, and they really wanted to play outside with the McCs. I sort of stammered around because, I tell you, it is hard enough dealing with 4 boys, snow suits, gloves, boots, hats, etc. I really can't fathom doing it for 8 boys between the ages of 3 and 10! Finally I told them they could play outside after lunch, but that we would probably all stay inside to play at 4:00.

After lunch, Christine called to say that her doctor apointment had been rescheduled. She didn't want to impose, but her husband, Craig was home (he had been going to accompany her to the appointment). Her boys were really looking forward to playing with ours, and would I mind if Craig brought their boys over and took them all sledding or something? Oh my!!!! I was so excited, not to mention my boys!

We began the long process of finding which boots and gloves fit which boy this year and suiting up, and the boys went outside at 2:30. The McCs came about 3:30, after their piano lessons, and they all disappeared to the hill at the end of our cul-de-sac. I kept sticking my head outside every so often to hear squeals of delight emmanating from the bottom of the hill, but I didn't see them again until after 5:00. They were red-cheeked, sopping wet, and cold, but they had a wonderful time! Between both our families, we had 7 sleds. Jonathan and Joel (the 2 youngest) had tried riding down by themselves, but they were a little scared. Then they found our 2-person sled, and they rode down together the rest of the time. The older boys had tales of thrilling rides, near-misses, and spectacular crashes. I was so thankful Craig was there to prevent any fatalities or extreme boyish foolishness!

Meanwhile, I had sat in my warm, quiet kitchen, painting chocolate molds and listening to Christmas carols. We were all happy, LOL.

After dinner, Nathan cleaned up and collapsed on the couch. "I'm not moving from here until bedtime! My legs feel like spaghetti!" Ahhh--nice words for a mom to hear. They all slept like rocks last night!

Anna "Graytooth"

Right before we left for Thanksgiving, I happened to notice that one of Anna's top front teeth was gray. "Hmmmmmm, that's odd," I thought, and then I pretty much forgot all about it since I was busy packing. But while I was relaxing in Ohio, I noticed it again and mentioned it to Mom, jsut to make sure I wasn't imagining things, LOL. She agreed, and I made an appointment with the dentist for yesterday.

In the meantime I did some Googling, and I discovered it was from trauma to the tooth. Well, that's easy--she is always falling. Sometimes it's an accident, and sometimes it's her own fault--espcially when she wails dramatically and collapses in a heap on the floor but tragically misjudges the distance from the coffee table or whatever and bumps her face. Yes, it's a hard life she leads. Anyhow, as far as narrowing down when this particular incident might have occured--well, I had no clue. I can vaguely remember several times over the last few months where we've had to get an ice cube because she fell and her mouth was bleeding. I never noticed anything after the fact, and she certainly has never seemed bothered by anything in her mouth after the blood stops!

So Elizabeth watched the other 5 (huge "thank you"!!) while Anna and I went off to the dentist. She has a cold and didn't sleep well, so she was a real bear when I woke her up. I was worried that she would be totally uncooperative, but thankfully she was fine. She even let them take an x-ray with no hassle! As it turns out, this particular fall, whenever it occured, knocked the tooth backwards, out of alignment. There's no infection in the roots, and since we don't know when it happened, the dentist said it may still heal itself, since baby teeth have immature roots that can heal. We are to go back in a month for her to check on it again.

Anna waited until we got back to the comfortabel environment of the L's house to be grumpy again and throw a tantrum as we were ready to leave, LOL. See, it's not that I am a great parent, it's just that my kids are naturally very wary of strangers, so they keep quiet around them and are generally cooperative, all the while watching suspiciously. Then, when they know there's no threat from strangers, they feel free to act out all the bad behaviors of their sin natures!

Arts and Crafts Weekend

Nathan really enthusiastically jumps into things. Right now it's Christmas. Friday after Anna's well-baby appointment, we stopped by the cake and candy supply shop to get stuff to make chocolates. He was ready as soon as we got home to dig right in and get messy. We got our Christmas tree up Friday night, which meant he started thinking about what presents he could make for everyone in the family. This led his thoughts to the clay that we bought at the teacher supply shop when we were back in Ohio, so he got that out Saturday morning and started "sculpting". And of course, whenever one boy starts something like that, all the other ones join in, so yesterday was "clay day".

Nathan's next thoughts turned to sewing, so Saturday afternoon he asked me to get out the sewing machine and show him how to use it because he wanted to make "something" for me. I was busy dealing with a mountain of laundry, plus clay all over the place, so I really was not in the mood, but eventually he prevailed. He spent a good deal of time practicing sewing straight lines, and then he and Bob went off to Walmart to find some fabric. They came back with a soft and fuzzy red throw--everything else was "not thick enough" for their purposes. Eventually it came to light that Nathan wanted to make Bob and me new Christmas stockings.

This morning we did not got to church because Anna was running a fever (I think from her shots), Grace was really congested and coughing, and I had a sore throat. We decided the better part of valor was staying home and not exposing the church to us! So Nathan and Bob got to work on the stocking project, using an existing stocking as a general pattern. Nathan did all the sewing, and I must say, he turned out a very nice looking stocking! I was most impressed! I'll have to take a picture and post it. The blanket was just the right sort of material needed. Nathan sewed up a second stocking, and then he moved on to painting the clay pieces from yesterday while the other boys took their turns on the sewing machine. Who would have thought such a non-crafty person such as myself would turn out boys interested in sewing?! The other boys also did their painting, although Caleb came back for even more sewing.

Tomorrow we are supposed to start the chocolate making, and I am hoping I feel better for it. It was great having Bob here this weekend to do all this crafty stuff with them. I don't really feel like doing that stuff even when I'm feeling great, LOL. I am such a slacker mom because the mess is so not worth it to me. But obviously it is worth it to the boys, so I'm glad they had fun. I suppose it is wholly appropriate that December be "craft month". Can I get it all out of the way for the whole year in one month?! Just kidding . . . sort of.

Dress Up Night

While we were at Grandma's house, she brought out a box of stuff she had brought back from Aunt Claire's. A big box of things that used to be Nana's--clothes, shoes, hats, purses, and jewelry.

I don't think I need to tell you how much fun the kids had trying these things on!




Nathan commented again on how thrilled he was to have been born a boy, rather than a girl. "High heels hurt! Why would you ever wear these things?!"









Anna of course loved the shoes best of all. In a few years, when Grace, Anna, and their cousin Emily are all at Grandma's, they are going to have such a ball dressing up! The jewelry alone is every girl's dream!

Home Again!

The kids and I made it back safely Wednesday night. We had a bit of excitement in that shortly after we pulled out of Amy's driveway, I noticed a new orange warning light on the dashboard. This did not give me a good feeling. I pulled over and discovered it was the "low tire pressure" warning light. I called Bob, who told me to check all the tire pressures. They were all between 30 and 32 ppi, so Bob told me it was probably just that we needed to put a little more air in the tires, and since the van had been outside in the cold the night before, the tires were a little low. So I drove cautiously on, with an anxious eye on the light. When we reached Columbus, the light did go out, so Bob was right, but it made me nervous!

The girls did better on the return trip, and we were able to finish our book on CD. We got back home at 7:00, where Bob had pizza waiting for us. It was good to be home and sleeping in our own beds again!

Today Anna had her 18 month well-baby appointment. She is 22 pounds, 12 ounces, and 31 1/2 inches long. In case you are interested, that is a fairly average height, but she is between the 10th and 25th percentile in weight. Huh. And she is our chunky one! She got shots today too. For some reason the shot clinic was extremely slow, and we had to wait 45 minutes. This was a bit of a trial. Everyone was pretty well-behaved, but Grace was so ready for a nap, and Caleb and Jonathan were getting antsy by the time we finally were called back. People in the waiting area kept telling me how well-behaved they all were, but I was just waiting for some little thing to set everyone off into big temper tantrums, LOL. Fortunately that never came, whew!

Now we are trying to clean up the main floor so we can start putting Christmas decorations out. Wow--can it really be that time already?! At least I got all the suitcases unpacked yesterday.

Thanksgiving in Ohio

We made it here safely on Monday! Anna had a snack and a nap in the morning, then we stopped for lunch, and she was great. But then we got back in the car again, and well, let's just say she thought we should have been done by then, LOL. She did take another nap, but she was not a great afternoon traveler. The last hour (it took us almost exactly 9 hours) she and Grace tag-teamed crying and wailing. (Caleb: "WHEN will the crying STOP?!") Moving Anna to the very back row was definitely a great move for me, LOL--it's not quite as loud up in the front. We only were able to listen to one CD from our current book on tape, A Wind in the Door, but we did listen to lots of Christmas music. Amazingly, Veggietales Christmas CDs did not soothe the savage beasts, however.

Tuesday Aunt Claire and Uncle Jim arrived here, and we have been having such a wonderful time visiting with them. The boys have enjoyed playing lots of games with them, and also doing Sudoku with Uncle Jim. Anna and Grace have appreciated having extra hands to hold them!

We cooked most of the day Wednesday to prepare for our big feast on Thursday. We had 21 people here, and we had 4 countries represented--USA, Korea, Turkey, and China. This meant we had some delicious international food to go along with the turkey, potaotes, and green beans, etc. It was all yummy, and we have enjoyed eating leftovers and not having to cook again since then!

Aunt Claire and Uncle Jim head back to Utah tomorrow, and we will spend Tuesday with Amy before heading back to Virginia Wednesday. Bob is ready for us to be back, and it will be nice to get back into our regular routine. But this has been a wonderfully relaxing visit with much-loved family!

Happy (Early) Thanksgiving!

We have already started celebrating Thanksgiving here at our house. Since the kids and I are heading to Ohio tomorrow to visit with my parents and my Aunt Claire and Uncle Jim, who are flying in all the way from Utah, we had our big meal together with Bob Friday night. It was good, but the problem with having "Thanksgiving" on a day other than the 4th Thursday of November is that there are other things going on, so you can't just focus on the preparation of food. As a result, I would have to say that it was not by any means my finest work in the kitchen, LOL. I overcooked the sweet potatoes because I turned off the oven and then sort of forgot all about them. They were still good, but the biggest problem I had was the mashed potatoes. I cooked them, drained them, and then set them down on the counter to cool for a minute or 2 before mashing them. Well, an hour or so later I remembered them. Let's just say that I have never really experienced true "gluey" potatoes before Friday, and I will not be forgetting the potatoes again any time soon, LOL. With plenty of gravy they were tolerable, although Luke did not finish his.

One thing we had going on Friday besides cooking was Grace's 6 month well-baby appointment. News flash: She is very light. Yes, she weighs all of 13 pounds, 1 ounce, which the doctor was not very pleased with. It didn't help that I totally forgot about making a 4 month well-baby appointment, so all he could see was that since July, she has only gained 1 pound, LOL. Actually, since in the past month she has gotten 2 teeth and started crawling, I would say she lost a little, but the fact is, she is never going to be big. Luke was also very light. At his 6 month appt. he was 14 pounds, but I started him on solid food at 4 1/2 months because he was not a good nurser, and I thought this would help him gain lots of weight. Well, he is almost 9 years old, he is a good eater, and he weighs 52 pounds, which is still below the 5th percentile in weight! I can definitely see Grace following this track, since she looks so much like him. As you can see by the picture, she obviously looks healthy, and she is very active. Her new thing is pulling herself to standing. I'm not concerned about her, which is the nice thing about having 6 kids, LOL. Actually, all our kids are between the 5th and 10th percentile in weight except Nathan, who has plumped up to near the 50th. So I think we can assume that none of our kids are going to be huge! I do think it is somewhat ironic in this age of childhood obesity that when a family is full of skinny but healthy kids, well, that's suspicious too! I guess I could call them all inside in the afternoons so they can play video games in front of the TV while eating doughnuts and chips . . . except we don't actually have any video games and I never buy doughnuts. Hmmm. I guess they'll just have to stay skinny! In the meantime we're really going to ramp up Grace's solid food--turkey, dressing, and mashed potatoes it is on Thursday, with pumpkin pie for dessert! LOL!

Week in Review

so, what have we been doing this past week? What has been so important that I neglected to post for an entire week? Let's see . . .

Friday: We did some school, but the main part of our day was going to the commissary. When we went the last time, about 6 weeks ago, I realized that they had totally reorganized all the rows. I hate that!! I make up my lists in order to minimize the risks of me forgetting something, and it was of no use! So this time I took my mom's advice and looked up the Ft. Myer commisssary online, where I found a list of the aisle and what is in all of them. This helped me tremendously as I made out my list, and overall it was a good trip. Although it is tiring to bring everyone, it is also very encouraging, as all sorts of people, especially older retirees, love to stop and chat and say nice things about our caravan of 2 carts and a stroller, as well as 4 boys orbiting and me with a front pack.

Saturday: Bob spent the day up on the 40 foot ladder, finishing replaing the rotten trim, as well as cleaning out the gutters. After he was done, we all rushed around to get ready to go to the church where there was going to be a dinner for people who worked in the children's ministry. When we got there, there were only 2 cars in the parking lot, which was a source of some confusion. Inside were the kids of the pastor and one elder, along with a teenager who was babysitting. They were heating up food, which was very confusing for me, as I was sure that this dinner included food for the kids. Then we realized the adults had gone to someone else's house for the dinner . . . I was very agitated, wondering how I could have gotten so many details about this event wrong. I am totally mortified to say that it took me until we got home and I reread an email of church announcements to realize that (duh) we had the wrong date. So! Moving on . . .

Monday: This was Veterans' Day, so we didn't do formal school, since it was a holiday. But it didn't totally seem like a holiday, since Bob spent the day at work doing his assignments for this class he's taking. He says he just doesn't concentrate well at home, if you can imagine, LOL. Nathan spent the morning leading a cooking demonstration class and making ginger snaps with the other boys. Bob's sister Ann had given the boys these really cute aprons in the summer, and they look so cute when they all wear them to cook. I took a picture and meant to post it, but somehow, it just didn't happen. Since it didn't fell like a holiday, after dinner, the boys and I went to the library with our huge pile of over due books (no fines here in Loudoun County, yay!). When we drove up and saw that the place was dark and deserted, we realized that in fact, it WAS a holiday. Oops!

Tuesday: This is our co-op day, and it was the last day of the pioneers unit. The moms brought in a group called Tin Cup Adventures for the day, and the kids had an absolute ball. They watched an introductory video first, and then they got to explore 6 hands-on stations. There was a gold rush station, where they could pan in big tubs for fool's gold. They could visit the "Ma and Pa" station, where they could "shave" using a shaving brush to get the lather on, and a flat thing to scrape it off. They could also send shirts through a wringer to do laundry. There was also a kitchen station, where they ground corn and coffee, pumped water, and kneaded, rolled out, and played around with dough. I was at a clothing station, with samples of pioneer clothes. The kids carded wool at my station, and after we pulled it into a string, I helped them tie it around their wrists for a bracelet. The kids really enjoyed a toy station, with toys like pioneer kids would have played with. I think Caleb spent most of his time at this station! There was also a Native American station, with lots of things to touch and a tee-pee to go inside, and a hand-craft station, where the kids made beaded necklaces. It was really well-done, and it was so much fun. After that was all done, we had a pioneer meal, with dishes like beef stew, beans, applesauce, cornbread, beef jerky, and ginger snaps. Hmmm, which one did we contribute?!

Wednesday: After doing school, we did a bunch of errands. The weather was really warm yesterday, in the mid 60s. Today it is cooler and rainy, so I am so glad we got it all done yesterday! In the evening I was able to go to the monthly homeschool support group meeting. A lady with 10 kids was the speaker, and she was speaking on the topic of basically having siblings get along with each other. She made some really good points, such as emphasize serving together to improve sibling relationships. Then they can develop and use their spiritual gifts, and it gives a place for another sibling to challenge them outside of a conflict at home with each other. Also, she said that a child's spiritual gift can be their greatest weakness as well, if they are not using the gift properly (such as leadership improperly used is arrogance or lording over others). And of course, selfishness is the root of most problems--I don't think that is news to anyone! It was a good, encouraging evening for me.

Today: A completely regular day of school, with no errands or anything! Yay! I am finding that the more kids I have, the more I would just rather stay at home. We have a lot of fun together, and I'd rather not get everyone all packed up, work out the nursing, etc. Tonight Nathan has evaluations for Upwards basketball. He is the only one playing again this year, which is fine with me. Next year he and Luke will be in the same age group, and I think Luke will play then.

Tomorrow: Grace has her 6-month well-baby appointment. I didn't call early enough, so it is more of a "6 1/2 month well-baby appointment" but oh well. She fell down some stairs last Sunday, and so she still has a bump on her head from that. I was hoping it would go away by tomorrow, but it is still there, so we'll see what the doc says about that. Also, she is just very small. I think she is about 13 pounds. My others have all been small (well, Anna was over 15 pounds), but I think they were all at least 14 pounds. She eats well, but I think she has Luke's high metabolism, which is not a bad thing overall. Hopefully the doctor will not say anything negative about that. We'll see. She is obviously active and healthy, and she doesn't even look too skinny--but when you pick her up, she is as light as a feather!

On the horizon, looming ever closer: Sunday our church small group meets over here for our monthly meeting. This means the house, including the basement really needs to be cleaner than it currently is. Monday, the kids and I leave for a week in Ohio. My Aunt Claire and Uncle Jim are coming from Utah for Thanksgiving, and we are so excited to see them!! Bob will stay here and finish up all the homework, papers, etc. from this class. Much of the work is due Dec. 2, which is right around the corner! In the meantime, I am trying to get organized and set things aside (without making the house messy) for packing. So far, I am not being that successful. Mainly I am wandering around, wringing my hands and making lists, LOL.

So there you have it--all the reasons why I haven't been blogging. But maybe I'll be more consistent now. Yesterday afternoon, the boys and I assembled a new desk chair! It is so much nicer than the old (and I mean really old, antique) chair we have used for the past very many years. Its cushions have long been smooshed into nothingness, and it is just plain uncomfortable now. But this new chair is soft and pooshy, and it has wheels and goes up and down! It is so nice to sit in comfort at the computer! I was literally standing or kneeling on my knees at the computer for the past week or so because the old chair has gotten so intolerable.

Off to make dinner!

Virginia is For Girls

It turns out there is something in the water. You know that we never had girls until we moved here, when we had 2 girls in quick succession. Now my friend Johanna has found out that she is expecting her first girl after having 3 boys. She and her family moved up here last summer. Hmmmmm.

With that in mind, I would just like to say that for anyone wishing for a girl (Jenna? Amy?), we are offering a very good deal on our basement "second honeymoon guest suite". We serve lots of water. LOL!!!

Shoe Crime and Punishment

I bought a new pair of shoes last week. While we were at White Sulphur Springs, my faithful pair of New Balance running shoes that I wear all the time (and bought about 3 years ago) sprung a hole in the side. I was a little embarrassed at how ratty that looked, so last Monday I went back to Kohls to find a replacement pair. I went in the evening without kids, but I always feel like I am "on the clock", especially with Grace, so I was in and out of there in a flash. I saw a likely candidate, found it in my size, verified that it did indeed fit and that my feet have not expanded anymore from these last 2 pregnancies, paid, and went home. I thought the shoes felt a little stiff in the store, but to be honest, I didn't pay much attention.

Over the course of the next few days, I discovered that the shoes really were stiff. And uncomfortable. And hard. And I hated putting them on. The difference, which I did note briefly in the store, was that they were cross-trainers, as opposed to running shoes. Who knew cross-trainers were so darn uncomfortable?! I began to dread having to put them. I had conversations with myself about how the next time I bought shoes (in another 2-3 years, presumably), I would be VERY careful in the store. I would learn my lesson, that's for sure. And in the meantime, I would just have to grin and bear it. For just another 2-3 years.

But wait! Finally it dawned on me that we live in AMERICA! Buying the wrong pair of shoes is not a life sentence around here! I looked at the bottom of the shoes, which I had worn around for a week, and praise the Lord, I had avoided all dog poop, gum, etc. I wiped them down with a paper towel (I have potential rejection issues when returning items so I am very careful, LOL), put them back in their box, and took them back to Kohls. The lady was surprised that they were not comfortable. "But I have New Balance shoes as well, and I like them a lot--they are very comfortable!" she said. "Yes, me too. These are not the same. Don't buy cross-trainers!" I answered. And then we all trooped over to the shoes departmen and found a pair of running shoes in my size (and in good old Dayton Christian colors as well, purple and white, LOL). I walked around the department just long enough to make Anna and Grace very crabby, and then we bought them and went home. My feet are happy once again. I'm sure these next 2-3 years will just fly by, now that I am not counting down the days until I can justify buying more comfortable shoes!

Happy Birthday Caleb!!

Today Caleb is 6 years old! We brought a cake to Bible study Friday to celebrate. Although this cake may resemble the lego clone trooper cake I made for Nathan in June, it is actually quite different, for this is a PILOT clone trooper, of course. I'm sure you noted that. Caleb was so funny while I decorated the cake Friday afternoon. He is such a little encourager, and he kept saying, "Thank you for making my cake, Mommy, so that I didn't have to", as if when I am tired of making cakes, the kids are on their own, LOL!

Today is his actual birthday, so he got to pick lunch (hot dogs, corn, baked beans, and pears), as well as dinner. For dinner he chose tuna pockets, pierogies, and a crunchy tossed salad with chow mein noodles. I thought that was kind of a funny meal, since tuna pockets are something I usually make when it's 4:30, I'm tired, and I realize we have to eat in 45 minutes, LOL. Nothing fancy or special there! I must say I was glad he didn't pick an elaborate meal, so I should just count my blessings. Still, I hope he doesn't come home from college wishing for my tuna pockets over all my other meals!

This has been a big year for Caleb. He started riding his bike without training wheels, he became a big brother once again, he learned to read (he's doing really well now, yay!), he lost his first tooth. He's definitely not a little boy anymore! He has really taken an interest in cooking, so Nathan has been giving him "lessons" whenever he makes something. Caleb loves to carry Grace around when she gets fussy, so he is a huge help there. He is also her designated "car steward", and he has responsibility for putting in her pacifier, giving her toys, and otherwise keeping her occupied in the car. He really is doing a great job at this!

When I was expecting Caleb and we went in for the 20 week ultrasound, I was a bit disappointed that it appeared to be another boy. I mean, I already had 2 of them--why did we need another one?! Also, we knew several families with 2 boys and then 2 girls, so somehow I had just assumed that we would follow that path as well. I am so glad we had Caleb instead of a girl! He's such a special part of our family, and I can't imagine not having his dimpled smile to look at each day!

(For the record, let me state that was the only time I was disappointed at an ultrasound, and it didn't last long. When I got pregnant with Jonathan, I wanted it to be another boy, since they would be pretty close in age. Plus, I just figured God wanted me to be a mom to boys, and I was fine with that! Of course, once I was all settled and content with having all boys, I started having girls . . . LOL!)

Differences

People are always asking me if I have noticed a difference between boys and girls. Now that Anna is 18 months old, I can say that yes, I have noticed some differences.

1. Attention to details. So this morning as I was feeding Grace, Anna was piddling around in the kitchen. Everyone else was at soccer, so it was pretty quiet. Finally I got up and noticed that she was under the table. She had gotten into the left-over birthday cake (we took a cake for Caleb's birthday to Bible study last night) that was on the counter, found a bowl, put a piece of cake into the bowl, and hunkered under the table to eat it. The boys would never have bothered with a bowl. Also, Anna always picks the pink princess bowl if given the opportunity.

2. Drama queen. When Anna has a temper tantrum, she is such a drama queen. She wails loud, noisy tears, and then, as if an invisible hand is pulling her, she heads off into the bathroom to sulk and cry in lonely solitude. Ahh, the pathos.

3. Shoes. Anna has always been deeply attracted to shoes. When we were in Colorado last February for Nana's funeral, we stopped by the play area at the Chapel Hills Mall. Anna was crawling around, and I was trying to keep an eye on the 4 boys, when I noticed that Anna was deeply fascinated by another lady's suede boots. So she crawled closer and started LICKING them. Bleh!! Now she just puts on whatever shoes she can find. In fact, if you come over to visit us and take your shoes off, I can pretty much guarantee that she will end up trying them on. She has taken a particular fancy to a strappy pair of black sandals that I bought to go with a formal I had to wear a few times for balls and dining outs when we were stationed at the Air Force Academy. I now see those crazy sandals all over the house because Anna has worn them around. I'm not sure where she gets this love of shoes, since I am no Imelda Marcos or anything remotely close. I pretty much wear about 3 pairs of shoes regularly.

There you have it so far. I'm sure more points will be forthcoming.

Chuck E. Cheese

As is our tradition, we spent Halloween evening at Chuck E. Cheese with the other 3 families in our Bible study. We started doing this back in Colorado with the L's, and the boys totally look forward to this night each year. I mean it is a real highlight of the year, LOL.

This year we had a really nice time. Last year the place was so crowded, and there were a lot more people wearing costumes, especially ones that were more on the gory side. This year was back to how it normally has been--some kids in costumes, but of the cute variety, and not that crowded.

There were a lot of Muslim women there with all their kids, probably looking for a place to get away from it all like us. Fortunately Anna exhibited none of her hysteria at women who cover, so there were no diplomatic incidences, LOL. Now the giant Chuck E. Cheese who walks around greeting people was a whole different matter. Anna was abjectly terrified of him as soon as she could tell he was walking over to our table. She leaped out of the high chair and into Bob's arms. Before that time, she had been tolerant of the mechanized Chuck E. there on the stage who "sings", but after the real one came walking around, she kept a wary eye on the one on-stage, and if he moved his paw too suddenly, she burst into loud noisy tears.

Anna was also not a fan of the rides that bounce around (such as the car we are all standing on and around). We finally did find a ride she enjoyed however--the little merry-go-round--and that is where she spent all the tokens allotted to her.

Grace was marvelously cooperative, riding around in the frontpack that Bob carried. She napped a little and otherwise just looked around in interest. I didn't have to nurse the whole time we were there!

The boys played all the games they could, maximizing token use for maximum ticket gain. But we didn't trade the tickets in for any of the lovely junk offered. I guess we're saving up for something big, LOL. They really had fun though. I am looking forward to the day when all the kids will be old enough to run around playing games by themselves so that I can just sit at the table and visit. Just another 4 years or so, at minimum!