UUUUUhhhhhhh…..

I don’t know what happened to the pictures in my last post, but I don’t feel like dorking around with it, so it will probably stay that way; at least until I can find some time to try and fix it. Oh well…

May Day, Cinco de Mayo, and a Month Old!

For Mayday we made paper plate baskets, and watercolor coffee filter flowers.

Our supplies:

• coffee filters
• green pipe cleaners
• watercolors, brushes, water
• flimsy paper plates
• stapler
• assorted flower stickers

First, we watercolored the coffee filters and hung our “flowers” out to dry.  Then we made and decorated the baskets.

The finished products:

The Cinco de Mayo flag idea I got from here.

The results:

They started to color the center column just like they saw it in the atlas, then they decided to redesign what they thought it should look like.  I live with creative children…

BTW, my son took the final pics. of the flags; that’s his shadow you see.

And now, for little man, at one month:

And a shot of him and his big baby blues:

I won!

I never win anything, but I did today!  Yay!  Here is the post, over at Se7en.

Check out her site here.

The Six

The six

Almost the end of the day; after dinner but before baths.  The “warmer” weather has allowed us to be outside more, which makes for some wonderfully dirt-stained kiddos!  Now evening is approaching, the sun is starting to hide and there is a chill in the air again…as well as a chill in their happy attitudes as the day’s hard play catches up with their little bodies!  But, dad wanted a recent picture of them, and we pushed through it as best we could.  This is the result.

It takes a little longer for spring to show it’s face where we live.  Our snow only recently melted and just being able to see the ground, however brownish and “un-green” it may be, is a cause for celebration for us.  The same 40-50 degree weather that prompts us to break out our coats in the fall also prompts us to break out our t-shirts in the spring!  Barbecues in brisk, runny-nose weather…we endure it knowing that warmer days are coming…

Happy Spring; a month late from us here in colder climates!

Update

So my usual second trimester burst of energy only lasted about a month this time around.  I. was. miserable. from about February and on.  BUT, all went well, and our new baby boy is here:

April 4, 2009, 1:12 AM

And this is him now, 2 weeks old:

James Henry, 2 weeks old

My mom has come and gone, along with Easter, it is spring break for the neighborhood kids, which means no school for us this week–our doorbell rings all day long.  Besides, we are finally having beautiful weather and who wants to stay inside all day?

I am trying to find a “groove” with this new baby and my husband being deployed; but things are going well.  The baby is pretty predictable, just like the others and it’s easy to work around his schedule.

Now we just wait for the next big event–dad’s return home!  It can’t come soon enough!

One Month Down, Five to Go

So we made it through the first month, Christmas, the new year, and our first week back at school after a month off.

And we were fine.  We had some happenings;  a power outage, some testing from the boy (which is still continuing and I am having to correct), but nothing too serious.

I have been doing some major decluttering.  On Saturday I donated 5 large garbage bags of toys, a pink and white fisher price toybox, some plastic shelving, and a plastic Thomas table.  It all started after having a fantastic homeschool week, and waking up Saturday morning ready to reorganize their toys; except, when I took one look at the room, I cried!  Every inch of floor space was covered with clothes, books, you name it.  The funny thing is, the only toys they had were what they got for Christmas because I packed all the others away the last time their room was too messy to handle.  So I took all four of those totes that I had packed with toys and dumped them into garbage bags and they went straight to the van to be brought to Salvation Army later.  Now, they don’t even have a quarter of the toys they had before, and yet they have plenty.  It is so freeing!  Once again, I wish I had a camera.

Things that have been good since he has been gone:

• Either my 5 yo or 7 yo will rub lotion on my legs and feet before bed.
• The children rotate who sleeps in my bed each night, so I get some one on one time with each of them.  We will read, or watch a movie, or just talk, and it’s a special time for both of us.
• My oldest daughter has been a gem!  She is such a help, especially when I am not feeling well–yesterday, for instance, I was sick and she not only ran the household, she took care of me as well.  I was able to rest all day and am about 90% better today.  Enough to function again.
• My children have kept me from being bored, lonely, and lazy.  They do that anyway, but even more so when I am doing the “single parent” thing.
• I am leaning on God more than when my husband is home.  I found I had been drifting away, neglecting our relationship, and now I can hear His still, small voice once again.
• I am able to declutter!  It is difficult, if not impossible, when hubby is home because he likes to keep everything!  He has given me permission to get rid of anything I feel necessary to get rid of–it’s easier for him when he is not here to see everything and talk me out of getting rid of it.  This eases a lot of stress off of me since we are moving this summer!

That’s all I have time for for now.  Have a blessed day!

Another Long Day, and I Wish I Had My Camera

We had an ice storm–the trees looked beautiful, and I am without my camera.  My husband took it with him, with permission to buy a new (nicer) one in a month or two.  But until then, I am at the mercy of my picture-taking friends and the snail-like speed of my cell phone camera.

Aside from the beauty of the trees and icicles, we were without power all day, along with about one million other New Englanders.  Once again, I thank God for good friends.  My best friend has a large house with an enormous finished basement, and had power most of the day.  So we packed up, being told to expect to be out of power overnight, and headed on over,  hungry, tired, yet kinda excited at the prospect of a sleepover!  We ate what we had this morning that didn’t require cooking, and after that, it was either go for fast food or cook at my friend’s.  By the time the ice was scraped off  of my windshield (it took an hour!), I had some pretty hungry and unhappy children.  We were told not to expect to have power at least until tomorrow, but probably a few days to a week, and would be informed where we could go for shelter if we needed it…again, thank the Lord for my friends.  And we had power before the day ended.

It is also my oldest’s 14th birthday today.  Since we couldn’t cook we decided to have her birthday cupcakes for breakfast and open her presents.  She wanted chocolate with whipped frosting.  The choices at Wal-Mart were Spongebob, Tinkerbell, and Christmas themes.  I went with Christmas.  It came with a problem I didn’t anticipate until we were all seated at the table happily eating (and some of us mushing) our cupcakes.  RED FROSTING.  What was  I thinking?  All of my littles looked like they were bleeding from somewhere in their heads since they managed to get it all over their faces.  And after they are cleaned up, they are stained red…don’t know how long that will stay, but again, wish I had my camera…

She will be having her official b-day sleepover next Friday, so her b-day wasn’t a total bust!  Plus, she has a friend sleeping over tonight.

Today is also one week since my husband left on deployment.  Things have been fine.  We are just still trying to work out our routine and adjust to not having him here.  Even though he misses Christmas with us, I believe this is a good time for him to have to leave because we always take December off of “official” school.  So we have time to just be together as a family without anything pressing our time, which really is a great comfort.  Although I miss my best friend, the children keep me from getting lonely.

Weather (and power) permitting, I will be doing some Christmas shopping tomorrow.  There are some stores I love to go into during this season because  they look so beautiful!

Looooong, Loooooong, Day

My husband left for his 6 month deployment at 4:45 this morning. The rest of the morning and afternoon was a blur of cleaning and preparing for the evening, which was Hannah’s 5th b-day party at Chuck E. Cheese’s. What was I thinking?…Oh, yeah, I was thinking that that would give the kids something to look forward to since their daddy left this morning. In the end, it turned out to be a fun, but crazy evening. We had two potty accidents, in which I just happened to have pants in just their sizes hidden in the back of the van for Christmas that I had to open up and let them wear. I had nine children with me in my van that I was responsible for. I thank God for my friends who were there to help, and also for the two of those children who are old enough to help with all the littles. But, I am EXHAUSTED!
Now I wait to hear from my husband for the next few days to let me know he’s arrived and settled. I have another birthday next Friday (my oldest is turning 14!), and the Friday after that is when she is having her b-day sleepover…I am sending two of my younger ones next door on that night in an attempt to try and curb some of the chaos in this little house…like I said, it’s an attempt.
Life is full; children keep me busy and from being lonely, and there is always something to laugh about–even if it’s not funny until later!

What We Ate

• Two deep fried turkeys, with a cajun rub
• mashed potatoes and gravy
• sausage stuffing
• cranberry jell-o salad
• cornbread casserole
• green bean casserole
• yummy yams with sweet, sweet topping
• cranberry sauce
• buttery pan rolls

And for dessert:

• pumpkin pie
• blueberry pie
• peanut butter pie
• mocha brownie truffle
• and of course, it was all topped with cool whip!

Announcement and Accountability

First, I would like to announce that we found out on Monday that we are having a boy!  Our son will finally have some backup!  That makes girls-4, boys-2.

That being said, I just wanted to pop on here quickly and make a to-do list for today, mostly to help me 1)-remember what I have to do, and 2)- motivate me to do it!  I had to run errands Monday and Tuesday–my ultrasound and then getting paperwork settled before my husband leaves next week (still couldn’t get it completely done! 8-P  )  So that leaves today for me to prepare for tomorrow!  We have 2 other families joining us for Thanksgiving, which will make a total of 11 children.  It can get crowded in here with so many people, and the children’s rooms usually get DESTROYED!  So I want to finish sorting the toys in their bedrooms and pack most of them away.  This will make it easier to clean up afterwards.  After that, everything else is pretty much cake.  Small tidying tasks here and there, and any do-ahead prep. for tomorrow’s meal.

Here is my list:

• Sort toys in children’s rooms.
• Clean children’s rooms.
• Tidy bathrooms.
• Dust living room.
• Tidy mudroom.
• Sweep and spot clean downstairs floors.
• Pull out a few fall decorations. (I didn’t put any out this year!)
• Make cranberry salad.
• Make buttery pan rolls.
• Do a little bit of laundry.
• Read Thanksgiving stories to children.

I know as I am working I will find other things that need doing, but these are the majors.  Pray for me!