My girls (all of them) cannot stop laughing at this picture of ME. They imitate me. Booty sticking out.
Down to the littlest one.
Our family is sick.
Carlisle has had it the worst.
We have watched at least A movie...if not more, every day, for the last 4 days. Between the three girls and I, we have eaten no more than 2 bites of food each....saves time on dinner prep and clean up.
Brian has been a best friend to me and 'King Daddy' to the girls. The doctor made it clear he didn't want me getting what Carlisle had, could be dangerous for tummy baby. So I left the puke clean up and crying girl to him.
He has done dishes, made meals, ordered movies, ordered pizza, and maybe even done a load of laundry. Of course, I ended up getting sick, but not Brian. He skates under the radar and is healthy as a horse. Leaving me and the girls only long enough to go to the gym and come back.
Now, I am trying to believe all that we have gotten done... inbetween the vomiting...
... and the staring at the vomiter.
And keeping Vivian away from Carlisle. The baby won't let Carlisle rest alone. She finds her. Lays down and snuggles her. And sucks her tiny thumb.
We purged and organized the guest bedroom, the playroom, the closets, I made a new home video for the family and now I am blogging.
I feel it coming on like a tidal wave.
I am nesting.
And I love it.
I WISH I would have taken a BEFORE shot of this guest bedroom. The transformation is staggering. The before was obscene. All the Christmas decoration boxes were scattered / strewn/ haphazardly thrown everywhere + Little girls summer clothes, shoes that needed to be put away + Whatever it is Angel baby wanted to take out and play with and scatter about.
My new pink IKEA tubbies for shoes. The perks of having a 4th girl. Recycling clothes and shoes again and again and again.
Christmas
We decorated a month ago. Mid-November. I hope to do it that early every year. It has been so nice to have been able to enjoy it for such a long time.
Especially with all that we have going on around here.
Baby showers, biblestudies, Christmas parties, dinner parties, etc.
It's been so long since I've been on my blog, I forgot the password to get in. I forget everything. But thankfully I can't forget just how forgetful I am.
Because Carlisle helps reminds me of that.
My priorities are shifted around right now. I'm a wife, homeschooling little ones, leading bible studies chock full of cool people whose lives I want to invest in, aerobics 4 times a week...and then there is the normal stuff...laundry, dishes and meals....whew. But I miss blogging.
People ask how Homeschool is going. It is the BEST thing I am doing in my life...other than making a baby in my tummy, which I will say ties for number 1 with Homeschooling.
There is a wide array of locations that we homeschool. It varies, kind of with the weather. This day, we flung open the doors and did school in the kitchen. They are good little students. Willing to learn and smart. I pray with them, and for them, first thing. And usually in my prayers I say, 'And Lord, help me to be a great teacher, because I don't know what I am doing.'
So the other day, Carlisle is praying before we start school and she prays, 'And Lord, please help Mommy be a good teacher, because she needs your help. She doesn't know what she is doing.'
I laugh. And love it. Because she is so right. I don't know WHAT I am doing. But I know that THIS is what GOD asked me to do. What He is requiring me to do.
And just as I teach obedience to my girls, so that one day they will be obedient to God. I have to do the same. Be obedient to God.
So God has taken over our 'Academy' and (ALL GLORY TO GOD), the girls are flourishing.
And I goof. And sometimes I get it right. And they learn. And I learn along with them.
When I ordered the Math curriculum over the summer I ordered the Kindergarten material. It was all wrong. As I dove in to the curriculum in August, I kept thinking, this is so easy. I will just skip a few lessons. The harder stuff must be coming.
It was not challenging enough for her. It NEVER got challenging enough. So a month and a half in, I pulled the plug. I admitted to Brian that I ordered the wrong grade level. It was an almost $100 mistake, but I ordered the Level 1 material and we are cruising. She is challenged and is learning. It's fascinating. She learns addition. I squeal. She looks so proud. I wouldn't miss that face for anything.
Evelyn is writing. She loves her letters. Loves to write them. On everything. Big Sister is her biggest cheerleader and high-fives her over the simple writing of a letter.
And I.
I had time to squeak in making a new blurb book. www.blurb.com
It is a chronicle of life with Brian and these little ones. I guess it would remind you a lot of this blog.
Only better. It's on paper. It's a big hard-back bound book. 160 pages. 749 pictures. But it's intense. It takes hours. Brian took the girls one weekend, and I worked sun up to sun down all weekend and completed it. I had already done half of it, I was trying to turbo finish it.
TIME well spent. We adore it. The girls climb up in our lap, and we slowly flip through it. The pictures remind us of the stories and we reminisce about the 'old days' back when they were 'little'. 2 whole years ago.
I now have a book for 2007, 2008, and 2009. (So now I am only 2 years behind.) :)
(Mom sent this over email. And I love it.)
An older, tired-looking dog wandered into my yard. I could tell from his collar and well fed belly that he had a home and was well taken care of. He calmly came over to me, I gave him a few pats on his head; he then followed me into my house, slowly walked down the hall, curled up in the corner, and fell asleep. An hour later, he went to the door, and I let him out.
The next day he was back, greeted me in my yard, walked inside and resumed his spot in the hall and again slept for about an hour. This continued off and on for several weeks.
Curious I pinned a note to his collar: 'I would like to find out who the owner of this wonderful sweet dog is and ask if you are aware that almost every afternoon your dog comes to my house for a nap.'
The next day he arrived for his nap, with a different note pinned to his collar: 'He lives in a home with 6 children, two under the age of 3. He's trying to catch up on his sleep. Can I come with him tomorrow?'
Pictures by my new friend Ainsley Glotzbach. I love her.
Carlisle and I were just laughing at Evelyn. I told her, 'Ev, you are totally HILARIOUS!'
She made a very sad face and said, 'I'm telling Daddy that you and Carlisle called me a name.'
I heard her walk in and say to Brian, 'Daddyyyyyyyy... Mommy and Carlisle called me hilarious.'
