Ah, the things that have occurred - and left me with no time to blog about them. I'm sure I'll forget a few, but I'll try to catch up.

Today Ruby and Eden are modeling for the Bass Pro fall catalog. Blaine was in the 2010 Fall Master a few times, should anyone care to see. He looks so entirely out of this element in hunting gear though... I had to laugh. Ruby's modeling t-shirts and Eden's modeling hooded towels today. Eden's on cloud nine... and keeps telling me she's going to be wearing her swimming suit under the towel "So I can be modest." Can you tell we've been working on that one? It's a hard one for me; I want them to learn to keep their bodies covered without thinking they ought to be ashamed... how to teach that???

My belly is huge. Blaine tells me he's not certain if I was this big at this point with the others. With 10 weeks to go, I'm starting to wonder if I'll be graduating yet another size in the wonderful world of maternity clothes before this is all said and done. So not cool. I'm still mowing the lawn these days though - it takes me about 5 hours over the course of two mornings to get it all done, and a nap is most definitely required on those days, but pressing forward... makes me hopeful the massive amount of weight I've gained thus far will "just fall right off" like everyone says. Weight falling off of me has not been something I've experienced in the past, but hey, I'm allowed to dream a little.

It's 90 degrees today. The heat index is 105. The A/C has not made it to the top of Blaine's to-fix list yet. I'm 29 weeks + 6 days pregnant. Feeling my pain? The gas line is still in progress. No hot water yet. Cold showers right about now aren't really a problem though. Blaine's promised me several hours of A/C during the photo shoot this afternoon though... and given me permission to go shopping should I feel the need to cool down in the meantime. Yep, that conversation was a funny one.

On the bright side, sun tea takes a whopping 12 minutes to brew properly. The other 12 hours I leave it sitting on the patio are just for good measure.

We've had a big black dog in our yard most of last week. I think it's a rottweiler/great dane something or another. Big. It stands about waist (ha! if I had one...) high to me, and comes up to wherever the kids and I are at the moment and growls and barks. Blaine comes around and it runs away - all the way to our shed. I finally called the sheriff, unsure what I could do about it once I'd introduced myself to the neighbors. (That was a nice lead-in. "Hello, I just moved in down the road. Here's my giant belly, there's my MSC*... do you own a giant black dog?")

*MSC = Many Small Children

So of course, once the sheriff told me I could do what I wanted to do to rid my yard of the big black dog, the stinking thing moved on. I was really looking forward to, you know, exercising my rights as a property owner outside of the city limits... but nope. But now I know! And as for the neighbors... they thought the thing was ours and were wondering about us, so I'm ever so glad we cleared that one up! Brady, teeny whimpy black dog that she is, isn't going to post a threat to the neighbors, rest assured. No one who hears "Yorkie Poo" quakes in their boots, exactly... unless they're a toad. She loves the toads... but they don't love her so much.

We have a spy frog. Every night, once it's dark and the lights inside are on, it climbs onto our living room window and eats the moths that our lights attract. It's far more interesting than anything on the three channels we get on the tv. But a frog, on your window, night after night? One begins to wonder if it's a spy. You know, because me, collapsed on the couch in front of a fan and under a ceiling fan after a long day... now that's a sight to behold.

I'm missing many stories, but I'm drawing a blank and this post has grown plenty large. I had an entire blog written in my head after being unable to sleep the other night, itching with chigger bites - aha, there's one of those stories - but beats me if I can remember what that post was about. As for the chiggers, blame them on the growling big black dog. It's all her fault.

We're moved, if you call living around boxes moved. Everything's here, anyhow. We're still heating water for baths/dishes, but being here is so much better than the traveling back and forth each day. It's home.

About the baths... It takes many minutes and many pans of hot water to be able to take a bath. No quick and easy feat. No complaints, just life for the moment. But tonight...

We had "company" over - thankfully, friends we've known for years and nothing awkward, but Ruby pushed that one just a bit. She wouldn't stop fussing over not getting a second brownie, got put into her bed and that was that. Ha. She started hollering for me, I went to check on her, and the stench met me first. She'd pooped in her panties, taken them off, and smeared it everywhere. She even sat on the windowsill next to her bed. Ah, new low. Right? Not exactly. That is the first time I've washed poop off of a windowsill, that's for sure. Blaine began the heating water process to bathe her, and 20 minutes later when the bath was warm, the kids in it, Sterling hollered "Mom, Ruby pooped in the tub!" Seriously? She's never done that before that I can recall - ever. So the heated water went down the drain, we called them clean enough until tomorrow, and Ruby called it all "Funny". Momma? Not so much. And now, dear friends, I believe I've reached a new low. Ah, the embarrassment. The anger. The stench. The kids are in bed. Vindictive child, I'm thinking. What to do with that one? They just don't warn you enough about these things.

We've moved!

Through a fun turn of events, we're moved, without hot water, and I've never been so glad to take a cold shower in my life. So cool. (Ha, didn't that one come out funny!) We'll be without internet until I can get the proper people called, so here's a goodbye until we surface out from under the pile of boxes...

One small step.

Just sent off our first mortgage payment for the house that we're not even living in yet. It was a "Well, here we go. For the... Next. Thirty. Years. kind of feeling. A 'I'll be 56 when we get this paid off if we only pay the minimum. Likely a grandma, many times over.' kind of feeling." Wow. And, just in case you were wondering, I didn't send just the minimum. Here's to paying it off before I'm 56!

Somebody check that man's ears.

Liberty came out of their bedroom tonight with shorts and a tank top on, announcing she was going to wear that instead of sleeping in her panties like she has been doing (It's about 90 degrees right now, at 9 pm.) because she sleeps next to a window and someone might see her. Blaine's response went something like:

"No, we can't open your window. There isn't a screen on it, and the bugs will come into the house."

I laughed. And laughed. "You have no idea what she really just said, do you, Blaine?"

"No, I guess not. Didn't she ask about opening the window?"

"No, she said she's wearing a tank top and shorts to bed because she sleeps next to a window and someone might see her while she's sleeping."

"I am turning into my Aunt Edith. She always answered questions she hadn't been asked."

And... I laughed some more. And then I told him he was about to make my blog. He was a good sport and told me I could. It was just too darn funny! Aunt Edith was the sweetest lady, born in Holland I believe, and her accent said she spent quite a bit of time there before coming to America. And her hearing was really, really bad. Oh, still funny, dear Blaine.

Pretty sure these children have one goal: embarrass Momma.

Yesterday I had an OB appointment. I was a little stunned when they told me that my next appointment in July will be my glucose test, and from there on out I'm on every two week appointments instead of every four weeks. You mommas out there know what that means. Eek!

Anyway, the appointment. Or rather, before the appointment. We waited and waited - apparently someone's labor/delivery took precedence over my checkup, wouldn't you know? So we waited. And Sterling and Ruby played and played, chasing each other in circles having a great time. Then Sterling decided to lay down on the floor, Ruby laid on top of him, and Sterling decided she needed a bouncy ride. There they lay, belly to belly... Seriously! What do I do?! To tell them to get up would be admitting to all the nervous gigglers also waiting in the room that my children were mimicking something they have never seen. Never. So do I let them play, pretending they are sitting quietly instead of what it really rather looked like? Do I tell them to get up and act all embarrassed at their actions? Seriously, what do you do? I decided to ignore all and hope they went back to running in circles sooner than later. Still wondering what the right answer was.

After that whole morning, we went to another store, and the woman helping me asked if I homeschool. I told her I did, and she said she'd thought I looked like the type. The type?! No blue jumper or bun in sight (although I admit I have a jumper, maternity and all, and it's darn comfortable) so what makes me look like the type? I asked, and she told me my patience level and how I talked to my children and how they obeyed me. Is that what my ignoring the behavior in the doctor's office was? Patience? We can say so. I can anyhow.

The girls saw on TLC this morning that the Duggar's make their own laundry soap too. Suddenly, you could see it on Liberty and Eden's faces. "My mom is cool!" I'll remind them of that moment when they are sixteen. In the meantime, I'm enjoying the moment. And enjoying the fact that my girls' favorite show is 19 Kids and Counting. Now there's a typical homeschool family. You know, just super-sized.

The police just pulled away from my yard. My (rental) mailbox, and that of the two houses across the street, lay on the lawn, tire tracks in the lawn, and the car that hit them nowhere in sight. Time to move. I'm enjoying the fact that, should something similar ever happen in our new house, Blaine planted our mailbox in concrete. That little car would fare far worse than the mailbox here did if he ever decides to hit that mailbox. Pretty sure I'm on the neighborhood hit list for calling the cops though. Ah, the glares.

I have two babies with fevers and aches. The ibuprofen has them quite fun though. Still wondering if tomorrow brings a visit to the doctor or if this will fight itself. The snuggles I've gotten today will be entirely worth it when I get sick next week. Remind me of that.

Slightly sleep-deprived ramblings of the moment

I think the ticks don't like me; not that I mind. The kids have each had a dozen or more on them by now, and I haven't had any, even with the many hours I've spent in the grass. Strange? Stop contemplating? The great state in which we live, while Blaine assures me there are no recorded cases of Lyme disease ever, has one very impressive tick population. So much so, that I've begun trying to convince Blaine that these would be a wise pet:


Ugly, I know. But from what I was told, and have since learned through research, guinea hens are fantastic bug eaters. And watch birds. Should you wander onto my property in the near future and hear a strange cackling, beware. I've read these things are not overly friendly to strangers. But don't tell Blaine that - he already looked at my quite skeptically when I told him of my bug control plan.

I got another area of our hayfield mowed! More specifically, during our recent Memorial day come-to-our-house-and-we'll-put-you-to-work day, most of it was mowed once by a generous and kind soul. Today I finished what wasn't cut on Monday and then mowed all of it again. Two cuttings later, my lawn just grew by many more feet and a good hour or hour and a half's mowing. Smart plan, I know. Blaine's on the hunt for a riding lawn mower though. I think he just knows that my stamina will likely taper as the summer progresses and this baby grows, and while I rather "enjoy" doing it now, he'll be up next and he doesn't want to push-mow the entire lawn. Pretty sure that's it.

With all that was accomplished Monday, we had high hopes of finishing what has to be done before move in this week and move this weekend, but now Blaine's working required overtime. Good, but bad. Hard to get much done anyhow. I dropped off the water to be tested today. Praying that comes back good, and that we can cross that off the list of to-do's.

Off to get something accomplished before Ruby wakes up. Once she's up, it's just best to keep her nearby at all times lately. Either that, or spend more time cleaning up the messes that she makes than it takes her to make them. The new house still has a pile of chocolate cake on the floor that I have to clean up. She climbed up on the folding table while I was mowing and helped herself, I'm told. Seriously now, if you had just asked! Actually, you're right, I'd have probably said no. Maybe that explains the "Do it and get forgiveness later" mentality. Because, after all, as my dear husband says, "It's easier to ask for forgiveness than gain permission sometimes." Ugh. Ruby's got that one down pat.

Fireflies or lightning bugs?

On the way home last night, we drove past several fields all aglow with fireflies. Or lightning bugs. Whatever you want to call them. The conversation went a little like this:

Me: "Look at all the lightning bugs in the fields!"
Liberty: "Oh, there's fireflies too!"
Me: "Fireflies are lightning bugs. Same thing, different name."
Liberty: "Do lightning bugs bite?"
Me: "No. We've talked about this before."
Liberty: "We did? I thought we were talking about fireflies."
Me: "Honey, fireflies ARE lightning bugs. Same bug. Different name."
Liberty: "Oh, so fireflies and lightning bugs must be friends!"
Me: "Oh boy. Liberty. They are the same. It's like a nickname. It's like calling it a couch and a
sofa. A cup and a glass. Same thing. Two names."
Liberty: "Oh, so lightning bugs ARE fireflies?"
Me: "That's what I've been trying to tell you!"

Homeownership has been... well, so far mostly the downs of trying to get things ready to move in, but we're loving it anyhow. The yard is awesome, the shop has Blaine quite pleased with his space to work in, and the fireflies are great fun for the kids. Yes, I know fireflies come out after dark and long past bedtime. My poor children are on a new, no-bedtime schedule. Last night it was 10pm before we were home, their filthy bodies were bathed, and all were in bed. On a bright side of this late night life, bedtime is super easy, once Sterling gets his pj's on. He gets a bit emotional when he's tired, so that's always fun, but Ruby is too tired to get out of bed - something she's been trying lately when she's not completely exhausted. It's a good thing she's not been fighting me - I don't have the energy to deal with it.

Sterling is three! Photos to follow - as soon as Blaine dumps his camera onto the computer. Every day though, Sterling gets up and informs me he's still three - I think he's a little afraid of reverting back to two.

The landlord wants us to move asap. Theoretically we have the house until the end of July, but moving sooner means less rent - a very cool thing. They have a new renter that wants to move in sooner, so now the pressure is on to get the new house ready. That news came on the heels of being informed from the propane company that our gas line is leaking. Add another job to Blaine's list of jobs to finish. In the meantime, my procrastination on buying paint for the kitchen paid off. Lowe's has a mail in rebate on the paint I wanted now! Very cool. I bought that today, and am headed out there later to start painting the kitchen. Yesterday we microwaved water to scrub the house down (no gas hooked up because of gas leak means no hot water) and we're starting to take everything we can live without out there. Great fun. Makes moving day easier!

I've mowed the lawn out there twice. The first time, a month after being mowed for the first time of the year, took me 7 hours with our 21" push mower. It was disastrously tall! The second time, five days after I mowed it the first time, took 4 hours. Much better. I read yesterday that pushing a lawn mower burns 408 calories an hour. Pad that slightly since the lawn is 80% hill, and that's looking like a great exercise program!

That's all I've got. Life's crazy busy, trying to go back and forth between the two houses, maintain both - and if you think that's crazy, hold on a minute. We're eating supper out there every night, often lunch too, cooking only on the grill without a stove or fridge, hauling dirty dishes back to the rental since there isn't any hot water. Ok, minute over. Back to work on... something! Babies are sleeping, and with our late nights, I hate to interrupt their naps to haul them back out there so that I can paint. So, here I sit.

One memorable day - some memories better than others.

Yesterday, we closed on our house. Half an hour of signing our life away and handing over one very large (in my world, anyhow!) hard-earned check, and we have keys! We did that over Blaine's lunch hour, then Blaine in his van and me in mine with the kids headed to lunch quick before Blaine went back to work. Stop and go lunch-break traffic near the mall later... Blaine stopped abruptly in front of me, and I couldn't get the van stopped in time. I bumped Blaine! Seriously. He has a lovely license plate etched out of the paint on his rear bumper. I'll never, ever live this one down. Pretty sure. In all fairness, the can's brakes are a bit strange sometimes. I'm blaming them.

After lunch, Blaine headed back to work and the kids and I headed home to pack up cleaning supplies and headed out to our new house to clean it up a bit. When we got there, we realized we'd left quite possibly the most important bag we'd packed - the toilet paper! What a day.

Today, we're painting polka dots. With the weather not cooperating with my plan to mow the hayfield that is now our yard, we're going to buy the paint for the kitchen, air out the house Blaine bug-bombed last night and paint polka dots on the kids bedroom walls. So much to do - and yet, it's great fun to do it for our own house again.

On another note, Sterling doesn't like the storms we have going on right now. He told me this morning that the thunder is scared (scary, I think he meant!) and asked if I could turn it off. He wasn't pleased when I told him I don't have a switch for that one.

Random thoughts on a rainy day.

I made oatmeal for breakfast this morning. After the kids were done, all four, ages 20 months to 6 11/12ths years hopped up, scraped their bowls and put them in the dishwasher. A mother of eleven told me once, several years ago, that those were the hardest years. Now, a few years later, my olders - at the ripe old age of 5 and nearly 7 - are teaching the youngers - without any encouragement from me. It's certainly posing new challenges - but the benefits far outweigh the problems. I can only imagine it gets better from here.

On that thought, tomorrow is my 20 week ultrasound for this baby. Followed by a dentist appointment, our final walk through on the house, and the marriage class we've been gleaning much from at Gospel of Grace Church. But for today, I've got nothing going on. I'm going to enjoy today.

Thursday, barring the unforeseen, we are closing on our house. We take possession the same day. I've been having fun comparing paint swatches and have decided on a color for the kitchen. The kids room I'm going to make a few different sized circle stencils and paint polka dots in six colors that the kids picked out. Fun fun.

Sterling learned the proper name for his male body parts on Saturday. He's a bit confused though, calling it a "peanut". Poor boy.

Sterling has a firetruck bike. When it gets rained on, the sirens on the bike go on - and not off. Removing the batteries until things dry out is the only cure. At 2:00 am, when I heard thunder booming and rain coming down in buckets, I knew that bike was likely playing it's annoying tune. And then I rolled over and went back to sleep. It was (still, most likely) going off at 7:00 am this morning, warning all in the backyard of it's travel to a fire. Without a driver. Our poor neighbors. Pretty certain there's things going on in a few of the surrounding houses that shouldn't be. Maybe they were dashing around, panicking, hiding paraphernalia at the sound of sirens. Oh, what a sick, fun thought.

I can't wait to move.

You know those people that have a nickname for their babies long before they are born? Peanut, squirt, munchkin, junior - you know. I've always wanted to have a name/sex determined long before birth, but it never happened. Two of our babies we knew the sex of - and those were the two we took the longest to choose a name. One wasn't named until several hours after birth. So today, with this thought (and it was momentary, I assure you. My thoughts don't last long, or they don't get completed. Trust me on that one.) in mind, I thought "Hmmm. Falkena. 5th baby. F5. Wait, that's a tornado rating. Or an earthquake. No, a tornado, I think. At any rate, is that a good nickname to give to a baby? Are we setting ourselves up for major trouble? Can it get worse than Ruby?" Thought over. No conclusions, but there you have it. F5???

P.s. Once this thought was over, I went to trusty Google and found out it's a tornado. I think I preferred earthquake. But at least I learned something today - beyond how many times of spraying/scrubbing carpet it takes to remove poop. Yes, thank you Ruby.

Happy May! It always seemed, growing up, like spring had arrived once May rolled around. Here, spring has arrived, say, the middle of March. I'll take it.

Everything is going well as far as the house goes. No big surprises; we're actually ready to close. Inspections done, appraisal's done, roof is re-shingled, financing is cleared. So cool! Close date is still May 20, but that might get moved up. Very cool. Then the work begins! Blaine has plans to bomb it with bug bombs, then gut the laundry room where the roof had been leaking, re-sheetrock it, clean the whole house (fairly certain Blaine does not plan on that one, he plans on me cleaning...) and then we can start moving stuff. We have to search for a stove right away, and a dishwasher and a freezer, eventually. So much to do!

The girls started the next grade this last week. Eden's in 1st, Liberty's in 2nd. So far, we're in that easy-peasy stage that the books begin with, covering a review of last year's material, so the girls were loving it. We'll not work too hard through the summer, but hard enough to be ahead a bit and not lose ground over the summer.

Other than that - I've got nothing. Life continues to be busy, and we are looking forward to moving - and then not moving again for a very, very long time. My pregnancy has been uneventful, although this one has me sick still, just a bit now. Blaine admitted to me that with the size of my belly, he's still thinking twins. Ultrasound's in a week and a half; then he can see for himself. It's not.

We're under contract!

Ah, the excitement. I've spent far too much time on the phone lately, but finally... we found a house, made an offer, accepted their counter offer, and we're under contract! So very cool. I copied/saved photos, just to give you a little mini tour, but first, some details. It's 6 miles from town, nine miles to work for Blaine. There are five acres, with which we hope to grow a large garden, get some chickens soon, and maybe more animals later. And now, if you don't mind my copied realtor photos...



front of house from road


Driveway/front

back of houseliving room

fireplace off of living room
kitchen/dining room
kitchen sink - just because it's pretty :) Or maybe it's the light that's pretty, I'm not sure. Either way, I'll get to look at it often, since we have to buy a dishwasher, and Blaine tells me that's not real high on the priority list for the moment!

bedroom - only one photo but it has two bedrooms - and they both look alike
porch off side of house - the sliding doors are off of the kitchen - This is where we think we'll add on another bedroom/bathroom - someday.
The bedrooms are above the garage - these stairs go up to the bedrooms.

Likely to be Blaine's fun - a shop, and a big one at that.
Yes, it's only two bedrooms. But it was the closest thing we found to what we wanted, where we wanted it. We hope to add a master bedroom and bathroom on in a few years - before Sterling gets too big to share a room with his sisters! In the meantime, we're very excited. Very. Hope to close the end of May. Oh - and in the meantime, the seller is putting a new roof on it, because those wavy photos - the roof is pretty wavy too. That porch shot isn't just camera problems... or maybe "isn't the camera's problem" is a better way to say that.

Why, oh why?

Why, when my children starting "playing church", do they open up to, of all things, Song of Solomon? Then why, when they start giggling, didn't I keep my back turned and ignore all? Instead, Liberty sees my mortification, asks why my face looks like that, and I have to answer. "Um, Song of Solomon is about husbands and wives." "But they are talking about kissing! and breasts!" "Yes, that's part of being married." I'm barely keeping a straight face. So not a conversation I am having with my five and six year old daughters. Not now. Not like this. "Oh." Breath, Momma. And then... they kept reading. Kept giggling.

Hey, looking at the bright side, they didn't have friends over and Momma didn't have to explain to another mother why... oh dear. And another bright spot - I'll have less explaining to do when the time comes. Can't think of a more romantic book that I... well, I'd rather them not read right now, but someday - when they're thirty or something, you know. They can read it. And learn. Except right now, Liberty's reading like she's in the middle of the best book she's ever read. I have a feeling more questions are coming. Seriously, it's a small book in the middle of a huge book. What are the chances???

Ah, nothing like potty training and spring to supply blog material!

Ruby's doing... I'm not sure. She's holding it until she has something on her behind. Does that count? It shows she's ready, but other than that, little successes. I gave her chocolate milk to spur her to go - is that bad??? She did go - a tiny bit on a chair, stopped herself, and finished in the potty. Hmmm.

Then Ruby went outside with a chocolate chip cookie. And a bird left something not quite - but close - resembling a chocolate chip cookie, and Ru tried to eat it. Twice. Remind me not to kiss that girl. Apparently bird poo tastes bad though, because she spit it out with a grimace. Oh, I'm gagging just writing about it. Eww.

I had three loaves of banana bread and six dozen chocolate chip cookies baked by 10:30am this morning. How did that happen?? Oh, and a haircut. The mo' went. I wasn't sure if I liked it when Sterling got up this morning, Blaine said he wasn't so sure either, and so off it went. Fun while it lasted, but not quite my style.

Liberty lost her first tooth yesterday! It was knocked loose Monday, after she bit into a candy necklace from her Easter basket. I tried to get her to pull it out, I tried to get her to let me pull it, but no. Certainly not. Then a friend from church suggested the doorknob/string method, and Liberty wanted to try it. By all means! We tried, but couldn't get the thread to stay on the tooth. My best slip knot just wanted to slip, not knot. You know. So I helped the tooth along a little and Liberty - shocked - pulled it out of her mouth. Ah, fun times. Now she looks to big though! Nothing like a gap in your teeth to show progression of age... or lack of good dental care, one of the two.

Sterling got a new look.

Little Man has the roundest head possible, needed a haircut, and I was curious. So...




I think he pulls it off quite nicely. At age two. And when I'm sick of it, we'll 1/4" the rest of it. I did get a "rebellious" comment - never occurred to me that it is rebellious, but maybe. Either way, I cut it like this:And Blaine took it even shorter, to this:


So if it is rebellious, I'm not the only one.

Used up the last of my carpet spray cleaner Monday. Started potty training Ruby Tuesday. (Wow, did that come out funny. Leaving it.) Wondered Wednesday if she's too young. Put a diaper on her before bed after no accidents all day (that I found...). She drenched her diaper just minutes later. I think she might actually understand. The holler from Eden when she headed for bed said she gets it all right. Dear Miss Ruby climbed onto Eden's bed to pee. Oh, she gets it. Started Friday out with a definite need for carpet cleaner. Right outside the bathroom. A trip to Walmart for carpet cleaner just got added to the days' plans. I hate potty training.

Grand revelations of what I really don't know.

Went to MOPS today. The speaker talked about the 5 love languages, then we each took a "quiz" to name our own love languages. Turns out, your love language changes when you have kids. Somewhere along the line "Acts of Service" hit the top of my list, when it was at the bottom before. Seemed odd to me.

Even odder was when I explained the five possibilities and asked my girls to choose theirs, after making my own choices for them. Eden, without hesitation, declared "Hugs!" - not a real big shocker for that lover girl. Liberty paused a second and named my own choice for her. "Gifts." Yep, glad to know I know my kids. But a bit disturbed they both could name theirs without a doubt, when "Acts of Service" topping my own list shocked me.

Ruby, during the two hours at MOPS, serenaded Grandma Jean with her powerful vocal chords, all the while displaying her impressive temper and anger at being left there, again. I then displayed that I really don't know as much as I think I do on the way home. My normal route was closed due to an accident, and I decided to take a road that headed in the right direction, ignoring my chances to get back on track once I'd passed the accident section. Twice. Then I turned the wrong way. Twice. Almost landed back where I'd started. Apparently my little "I'm getting to know Springfield" moment I'd had last week with Blaine was one big fat lie. I didn't know it at the time, but today proves me wrong. Wow. Sterling and Ruby got good long naps on the way home though, if you want a bright side. The trip home took a long time.

We didn't get the house we made the offer on. We didn't want to pay what they wanted for it. Nine properties later, we've seen most of the options currently on the market. Found a perfect one Saturday. Perfect until mold and rotten floor joists in the crawlspace. Jacking up the entire backside of the house, cutting out rotted wood, replacing it, setting the house back to rights and hoping the walls didn't crack and the doors still close properly... oh, nevermind.

"Mom! There's Dr. Grasshopper's dentist clinic!" Dr. Snodgrass is a dentist from church - but Liberty was a little confused.

Our internet is sketchy. Our phone is out all together. Yes, I paid the bill. No, I'm not quite sure why. If you've tried to call... well, the cell phone might be a better option. We're on month two of this... or thereabouts.

Liberty finished her math for 1st grade! Ah, the excitement this morning when she was done with school in two hours instead of the typical 4 or so. Math is her enemy. The look on her face when she asked if she has to do math in 2nd grade and was informed she has to do math for another 11 grades, plus college, was pitiful. She might have cried if I hadn't changed the subject. Poor girl - but she's really good at math!

I ordered the curriculum for next year this morning! We're all set. I'm excited. Liberty... not so much. Thinking we'll do one math lesson a week all summer, keep her fresh and give her a four day math week this fall. Ask me in July how that's going.

We put an offer on a house... and still haven't heard. The offer expired Friday night, but I was told a decision hadn't been made yet. Not sure what's going on, but it would be nice to know something - even if it wasn't ours.

Laundry load number six, calling buzzing my name.

It's been a rough couple days. I thought the morning (ha!) sickness thing was done, and it's back with a vengeance. Last night after supper it snuck up on me, I made it as far as the bathroom sink... and plugged it up royally. Blaine, valiant knight that he is, ended up (without complaint!) using the shop vac on the drain. Seriously. Insult to injury, I assure you. Um, honey? I can't get the drain to go down... good grief. Next time I'll just keep going and clean up the floor later.

Still reading? I'm impressed.

Ruby likes to empty her dresser drawers. She tries each piece of clothing "on" (around her neck, usually, although some things end up over her head) and then casts them aside for the next thing. This is a discipline issue at this point. I'm tired of cleaning up and refolding her clothes. So last night, when Sterling hollers that Ruby's making a mess with her clothes yet again, I called her to me. She came out with her fists covering her eyes, not wanting to look at me, moving them minutes later only to cover her behind as I got up to deal with her disobedience. Try not to laugh at that one!

We made an offer on a house! After a long and ridiculously difficult day getting the banker to get the papers to me that we needed to make the offer, it's been submitted. Keep you posted on that one. It's 3 bedrooms/2 bathrooms on 7 acres near Strafford, MO - a 12 mile commute for Blaine to work and about 20 minutes to shopping, etc in Springfield. I'll get excited when we're under contract...

We're down to one box of cereal in the house. The kids don't know, but I'm doing it rather on purpose. If I don't "run out" every so often, that box of cereal they begged for that turned out to have better marketing than flavor will never get eaten. Poor children, forced to dine without options, I know.

News... good news.

I had my first OB appointment today. Ultrasound reveals: one baby! While some people (Thank you, Sister.) might be disappointed, I was waiting with baited breath for one image to arrive onscreen.

In other news: All this sickness that is going around my house isn't getting better. Found out Mom has pneumonia and all the same symptoms of dear Sterling. Time to find a pediatrician???

One nose, running away...

Sterling: "Daddy, can you blow up my nose?"

After trying to catch his runaway nose all day, apparently he's fed up with it. :)

Alive and... well, maybe just alive.

We're still here. I'm still puking - sometimes. I'm 12 weeks now, and hoping things start looking up soon. I called the OB today, scheduled my first appointment. Gee, I can't wait. There's been speculation regarding my sister's twins and her sick desire for me to experience twins as well, so ruling that out will be lovely. Not too worried, but saying "I told you so" to Erin will be sweet. She can keep that experience all to herself!

We went to my parents while Blaine was on location in Florida Feb 27-March 10. Mom and Dad have newborn lambs - although the ewes seemed hesitant to kick into high gear until we were getting ready to leave. Liberty and Eden thoroughly enjoyed the sheep though. Sterling says they are scary and Ruby says that unless Momma goes too, she ain't going. Momma didn't go. There's lots of snow to sled on in South Dakota though, and Dad made a few sledding hills for the kids to play on. I took naps and was generally lazy. Thanks, Mom.

On the way back through, we visited friends in Iowa. The kids have made friends for life in the 52 hours total they've spent with those kids. Fun times. I love meeting up with friends I've had since childhood and watching our children become friends too. The dirt they could dig up on Momma that way...

Weather in Missouri is warmer. Apparently we missed some of the really warm stuff, but it's still warmer. The sound of the birds in the morning is a cheery thought. Spring can come. :)

I'm not feeling funny. At all. It's hard to blog when I'm only upright because I already took one nap, the house needs work but I'm not quite getting there... and I can't find a stinking thing funny right about now. See why I haven't written?

My girls, on the other hand, are figuring out pregnancy. Too many episodes of "A Baby Story" later, their favorite game is labor and delivery. Eden just announced to Liberty that Liberty is 9 centimeters and almost ready to push. I am slightly disturbed, and yet... it's life. They also pretend to give epidurals. Eden was thrilled that the pin they found to use "doesn't even hurt because I'm so chubby". Oh, but I wish it worked that way. That's not life.

Coupon, anyone?

Oreo sent me a coupon for a free package of Oreos when I became a fan on their Facebook page. I redeemed my coupon today, and the kids enjoyed their very first Oreo. Pretty sure they've never had them before. Is that sad? But Eden took the cake - or the cookie, if you'd rather.

"Thanks for buying these cookies, Momma."

"I didn't buy them, honey. I had a coupon that made them free." (Never too soon to implement the money-saving values needed to survive in this world. And mentioning this also lets me remind them, when they want me to buy them again, that I didn't buy them and they are most definitely not in our budget.)

"Oh. Well, thanks for freeing them!"

Oreos: Independence achieved.

(And a side note, Liberty asked me if I could watch for a coupon for her that would make new doll clothes for Felicity free. She doesn't want a dollar off coupon though. Only free. Girl after my own heart.)

Here we go again.

I'm not certain I'm ready for the announcement, but it's hard to hide these days. Baby #5 is due in September. Judging from the way I've been feeling, everything is doing what it's supposed to. Judging from how I'm looking, I'm a lot further along than the 8 weeks that I really am. My muscles seem to have just given up, given in, and let everything go. At this rate, I'll be in maternity clothes long before I'm ready. The girls, on the other hand, are checking every day to see if my belly is growing - and it's seeming to oblige. Then I told them the baby is about the size of a kidney bean, and the wheels started turning. What else is making my belly so big right about now? A friend put it nicely. "You've got to give the baby some padding, so it'll be comfy." Padding, I've got.

Excited? Most definitely. It was a little easier being excited before I started feeling like I'm going to be sick at any moment. That's putting a damper on things. I'll get there though. The nausea is zapping my humor though. Sorry folks.

And so life goes...

Blaine's home. Life's back to "normal". My "old" friend's visit went well. So well, we'll see them again tonight for supper. It was so fun to "reminisce" on times past.

I got a comb stuck in my hair last night. Rephrase: I had nothing to do with it. Names withheld to protect the guilty, one comb cut into many pieces and two hours and waiting for Blaine to get home and help later, my hair is intact and the comb isn't. And one small child now knows that playing with Momma's hair with a comb means combing - not pretending the comb is a curling iron. That is, if said child ever gets to play with Momma's hair ever again. And no, there are no photos. I considered taking a photo of the comb in it's 25 pieces, but didn't. And I didn't consider taking a photo of the comb hanging from my head. Laugh with me, not at me. It's definitely funnier now that I know my hair is not the two inches long it looked like it might end up being when the comb was stuck. Blaine had threats of me finding my shotgun if he laughed. To his credit, he did not. Within earshot.

My washing machine has been down and out for 5 days now. The drain isn't draining and the laundry room floods. I do laundry every day. Things are getting rather slim for pickings right about now. I'm tempted to head to my children's drawers and see what's left - since it's not gone yet, they really don't need it right? Unless the washing machine drain stops draining, that is. Then clothing, any clean clothing, sounds golden.

Off to get my children presentable before supper. If I can find anything clean.

Diet results: unsatisfactory. Must have been the placebo.

I've been on a diet for about 6 1/2 years now. It's the "one bite for you, two for me" method - otherwise known as a hovering child that must eat whatever I'm eating. So tell me, why am I not a good 20 pounds lighter? Like today. Lunch today, sans Blaine, was tater tots dipped in sour cream. Healthy, I know. Without my husband to cook for, things are pretty lax around here. I asked if anyone else wanted some, the older girls did, Sterling most definitely did not. But when they came out of the toaster oven resembling chicken nuggets, he wanted to try them. Certain he wouldn't like them, I dished up the girls and mine, gave him one of mine, and waited for the predicted spit. Didn't happen. I got to eat roughly 2/3 of my original lunch. I suppose that's only fair, since I ate two of his orange wedges as I peeled it for him. But again, why am I not lighter? Maybe it's the stuff I sneak when the kids aren't looking... ice cream, you know, tastes better at 8:16pm when the kids are in bed and mine is the only spit on the spoon.

I get to see an "old" friend tomorrow. It's been 9 years. Life is drastically different than it was back then. But why am I so stinking nervous? And why, just now, do I have to break out so that I closely resemble what I looked like 9 years ago? Seriously.

Blaine's driving home - should be home Monday! He got to leave early, once again. So very cool. It'll be great to have my husband back.

Just an FYI: Fisherman's cough drops are highly effective. Try drinking chocolate milk while you have one in your mouth though, and it works all the better. The flavor achieved is enough alone to scare whatever is bothering you into submission.

Everyday funnies.

Ruby's teething, which means a rash. I took her diaper off, left her bare bottomed for a bit before her bath, and she climbed onto Eden's bed to pee. Really now. I figured I'd be cleaning up a puddle off the kitchen floor - but not washing sheets, blankets, quilts, the whole bit. Seriously now.

All that to say that Eden slept with me last night. She had her birthday party, we were gone all day, and her sheets are still working their way through my overflowing laundry room. Tonight's looking about the same - less the birthday party excuse. But when I told her she could sleep with me so long as I could use the lamp and read without disturbing her, she told me, "I don't care Mom, as long as you aren't too loud reading." Um, honey, Mama doesn't make too much noise reading. Reading silently, after all, is a learned skill - one she hasn't learned yet.

I woke up yesterday with a raging headache - day 3 of such. I don't know. But when Eden found out, she told me we could skip her birthday party with friends. Sweet girl. She didn't, however, balk when I told her we would do no such thing.

Kissing Sterling before bed tonight, I got one very wet kiss. He's started rolling his bottom lip when he kisses, but I asked anyway. "Why was that such a wet kiss?" His reply had me laughing. "It's my boogies, Momma!"

ABC Mushrooms and Food Sharing 101

We had pizza for supper last night. Afterward, I had my younger two in the bathtub while the older two finished eating. Liberty came to me with a mushroom from her pizza. I love mushrooms, she doesn't, it's a good arrangement. I chewed and swallowed before she told me the whole story.

"I was eating my pizza and tasted a mushroom, decided it was too big and I didn't want to eat it, so I spit it out and thought you would like it instead."

"Um, yeah. Honey, next time can you not give me food you've already had in your mouth?"

"Oh."

Ewww. I know she's my daughter and all, but that's just a little too much sharing for me. Again, ew.

Blaine's headed across Arizona at the moment. Destination: San Diego. They decided that Friday, I think, after throwing around many different destinations. He was 8 hours out when I talked to him earlier.

Tomorrow Eden Rayne turns five. Wow! When Liberty turned 5, it was hard, but this almost seems worse. She's the baby! Not anymore, obviously, but she was. I just keep waiting for her to be 5 like Liberty was 5, but Blaine tells me it's not going to happen. Eden's a different breed altogether. She did, however, request that she only open the gifts from Blaine and I before he left, and save the others for her birthday. That was about as grown up as I've ever seen Eden!

It's really not that complicated, baby. It's not.

"Mom, can you make me eggs that are flat and either hard or runny?"

I laugh.

"Are those called fried or scrambled? I can't remember!"

"Fried, honey."

"Can you make me fried eggs that are runny?"

I fried her eggs. I broke one in the pan. It's the stove's fault, I'm sure. (Really, it's not level, so when 5 eggs in a pan are all on top of each other because they all run towards the back of the stove, I'm allowed to blame the stove. I say so.) When I broke her egg, she exclaimed, "Mom! That one's runny for sure!" So glad. I thought I was going to have to eat the broken egg. She wanted it - because it was runny for sure. Silly goose.

Sterling woke us up 2 hours after we went to bed. That was pretty much the end of my night. He's wheezing and coughing - and crying most the night. We camped out on the living room floor. He kept complaining of a belly ache. An hour in, I realized why. The rest of the night, during the 13 other times he woke up with a belly ache, I'd have giggled if I hadn't been so stinking tired. "Just toot, Sterling! You'll feel better!" It does, however, have me giggling now. That's one thing I never thought I'd say before motherhood introduced me to the world of all things not being obvious. It's really not that complicated, baby. It's not.

After my less-than-restful night that left my back feeling like - well, like I'd slept on the floor, I grabbed a glass out of the cupboard and put a scoop of sugar in it. My hand was on the coffee pot when I realized I probably should use a coffee cup. Is it nap time yet?

Blaine heads out again Saturday morning. He's still not quite sure where. Florida was the original plan, but the weather there is making them re-evaluate. Mexico came up as a possibility. He dug out his passport this morning. He's got one more year on it before marriage and the lack of funds to travel catch up with him and his passport to expires. Poor guy. I've never had a passport, so I'm really feeling his pain.

Just a common thief.

Sterling was stirring hot chocolate on the stove for me. Not certain he was getting the bottom as it heated, I took the spoon and stirred it a bit.

"Mama, I can't stir the haa' choc-ate any-more. You stir it Mama. I can't stir it. Nope."

"Why can't you stir it anymore?"

"'Cause you 'tole my 'poon!"

Oops.

Momma's not nice after 8pm.

We moved rooms around today. I decided to put all the beds in the small bedroom, and all the dressers and toys in the front, larger bedroom. Before I started I figured if it didn't work, I'd move it back. Having moved three dressers and a set of bunk beds from one room to the other and having cleaned up the mess I made in the process, let's just say "ain't nothing" gonna make me change my mind. I'm still tired. But when Liberty brought Ruby out tonight because she was talking and Liberty didn't know what she was saying, then I found Sterling and Eden in the bathroom just after I had told them to go before bed - and all this was less than five minutes after tucking them in and saying goodnight, my blood pressure went up. I started to wonder at this combined bedroom idea. I'm pretty sure we're clear on the staying in bed part now. Momma's not nice after 8pm.

It's a long story... but a guy was here to fix the kitchen faucet today, and commented on my fixings for the potluck tomorrow. I was making sloppy joes - from scratch, which he apparently had never seen. Then, the bowl of dough raising on the counter, because I was lazy and made buns rather than heading out and buying them. I have a stand mixer, so this is not that big of a deal. I said I was being lazy, he commented, "Making buns is being lazy and going to the store is work?!" Uh, yeah. I have four kids. That's getting them in shoes, in the car, out of the car, across the parking lot, across the store, back across the parking lot, back into carseats, back out of carseats, back in the house. It's work. Making buns, not so bad. I got the four kids part out before he went, "Point taken." I laughed.

Never wanted to be a single parent, but just in case you were wondering, it's no fun. All the work, all the kids, no company, no fun. Blah. Blaine's paycheck, full of overtime and direct deposited yesterday, that was fun. Not worth missing him, but fun anyhow.

I'd better go. Hamburger buns to get out of the oven. I still say that was entirely worth it. Entirely.

Calling it a day after that one.

Let me start with a disclaimer - we live in town. Not a bad neighborhood from anything we've seen, but we've got neighbors. Lots of them.

We went for a walk today. The kids had been itching to go for a bike ride, it's been well below freezing for many days now, and it's finally warming up. It was 49 degrees and we headed outside. We were on the next street up from ours, and I stopped to fix Sterling and Ruby on the trike (that's a sight - photo another day) and a car pulled up near us. I ignored them. We started walking again, they followed along. It's daylight and an old guy is in his yard nearby, but it was still a bit strange. A "brown" - in my kids world, they're brown. And they are kind of right. Anyway, a brown man stuck his head out the window and asked why I didn't have at least one black baby in my group. Didn't I want a black baby? Would I like to add one to the mix? Uh... I just looked at him. "Why don't you have a black baby? You need to experience (stress on the word 'experience' here) a black man. Where's your man?" I said, "You mean my husband?" "You're married? For real?" "Yeah, definitely married. To a white man, obviously. Nothing personal, just the way it is." Then he told me he was just trying to be friends. Yeah, sure. The weird part was when Eden asked what he'd wanted as he drove away. What do I tell her??? And where's Blaine when I need him??? I have to admit, I'm a bit freaked, even though the guy, despite his crude suggestions, was polite - but my doors are locked and I couldn't help but wonder when the cops drove up and down my street 12 times in the hour after we got home if something bigger was going on. Ugh.

Maybe...

With Blaine gone, I let Eden sleep with me last night. She was thrilled. This morning, I told her that she was a great bed companion - I really expected to be pushed out of bed, kicked, something, but she did great. Her reply? "Yeah, but you kept taking the blankets. I kept having to pull them back to cover me and keep me warm."

Maybe Blaine's complaints about me stealing blankets has more merit than I gave him credit for.

Teething at it's finest.

Yesterday I thought Ruby fell asleep in the shopping cart. A good 20 minutes into her full-face plant into the handle, one of the kids ran up to her yelling. I scolded them for trying to wake her up and was informed she WASN'T sleeping. She'd been chewing on the handle the whole time. Ewwww.

"Mom, are these oranges or tactarines?" Sounded like something dangerous...

Sterling's wearing his undies to bed without accidents! Now that I type that, I'll be washing sheets - but he's been dry all week!


Blaine's in CA. He left Tuesday, driving the box truck full of photo shoot stuff. He called yesterday afternoon, having arrived and needing to rub in his surroundings. It's not even funny. A pool, two hot tubs, two full time gardeners... it's a rough life. Meanwhile, it was 3 degrees when I got up this morning. All five of us are in layers and more layers, and I gave in and turned the heat up to 69. Brrr. Poor B had to put a long sleeve shirt on over his t-shirt when the sun set, because it cooled off. Poor thing. I'm starting to rethink this whole "Sure, go to CA!" idea that I agreed to. Asking that in the mild November temps didn't sound nearly so bad as the frigid temps we're currently experiencing.

Whining over. Just had to get that out of my system.

Where do I find a boy's scarf? Or at least not a pink and purple one? Sterling wants one desperately, but all I can find are pretty feminine. I'm running out of ideas - but I'm not so desperate that I want to learn to crochet/knit/whatever skill I don't know how to do that involves making a scarf. Maybe I'll sew him one. Hmmm.

Puking seems to be done in my house. Ruby is happy when awake but sleeping lots - but with the impressive number of teeth currently making their way into Ruby's mouth, it's no wonder. Sterling escaped it all together, lucky guy.

Someone in Aldi yesterday commented on my children - particularly the number, ages, and lack of gender balance. She said Sterling was "a lucky boy" in a voice that said she didn't think he was so very lucky at all. I told her that his wife would be one blessed woman, and she looked at me with a puzzled look, then dawning, then complete agreement. I mean come on, wouldn't you have loved to marry a man who grew up with three sisters? One who understood what he was in for? Then again, my husband has five sisters, and I'm not sure if he knows what hit him yet. Maybe my theory's bunk.

Thank you, Eden.

In the dressing room at Target:
"Mom, your belly looks kinda like fireworks."
What?!
"You know, your belly button is the middle and the lines are like the fireworks."
Be still, my beating heart. The words I've so longed to hear.
"Eden, YOU gave me those lines."
"So did Liberty and Sterling and Ruby, right Momma?"
"Yeah, they helped too." Way to spread the responsibility, Eden.

Oh, and in case you were wondering, there was a pretty distinct snort from the neighboring stall when Eden told me my belly looked like fireworks. I'm just hoping it was another mother with an impressive case of fireworks herself. I'm hoping.

Cookin'.

Sterling loves to cook.

Resolutions

I looked up the word "resolution". I typed it into dictionary.com, to be exact. I have a dictionary floating around the house somewhere, but I didn't bother to find it. That's so... yesterday. :)

At any rate, I was wondering if resolve means to decide to do something differently, or if it just means to decide to do something, period. I want to resolve to do the things I've been doing - to continue them. Turns out, I can! So, without further ado, :

I resolve to care for my four children. I resolve to love them unconditionally, and to "bring them up in the way they should go".

I resolve to cook, to clean, to do laundry. Not always well, and not always every day, but I'll try.

I resolve to shower at least once a week. That's a resolution I know I can keep.

I resolve to love God and my husband with all my heart.

And with that, I'll stop while I'm ahead. I'd say I'd get dressed every day, but then I'd get the flu and being sick on the couch with blue jeans and a bra on sounds like not so much fun.

Random Christmas Photos with a personal narration by me...

Some random photos from Mom's camera - because she's better at uploading photos off her camera than I am! I'll narrate, but I make no guarantees for clarity. With as much nastiness as I have in my head right now, clarity is not likely. Ruby shared her cold very well, Eden's been on the couch for a good 24 hours now with fevers on and off and a mandatory bucket in case that stomach decides to talk back a bit more than the cramps she's been complaining of. Liberty seems to have escaped everything, Sterling has about as much clarity as I do, Blaine's popping cold meds around the clock on a strict schedule, and Ruby is in great spirits for looking like she feels like I do. Mom? Dad? Did Ruby share with you too???

Without further complaining...


Christmas morning... actually Christmas Eve morning, because we opened gifts early to accommodate a few plans for Christmas morning, all of which didn't happen in the end. Oh well!


Grandma and Ruby became somewhat friends before they left. That's a lot coming from snobby Ruru!

Eden was more than content to snuggle with sleepy Grandpa after they drove all night to get here before the snowstorm hit SD and stranded them at home.


Cowboys in fleece. Is that wrong? Does the jean jacket make up for it?


This photo is funny on so many levels. Dad looks positively evil and Sterling's floppy ears... yep, just funny.

Merely the fact that he let me take this photo makes me love him all the more. That he didn't forbid me to post it on my blog is even more amazing.


And this, dear friends, is what my parents came home to. I'm not certain if all the shoveling was done before they got home or if that's what they had to do to get into the house though. I'm thinking Naomi - and if Naomi reads this, thank you thank you thank you for doing chores so Mom and Dad could come - did it with the Bobcat. I'm hoping.

Bleach can't handle Eden.

The tree is down, the house is mostly clean. My parents are headed north to face the storm they missed, Ruby generously shared her cold with Sterling and I, likely Blaine as well, but hopefully not Grandpa and Grandma. The pine needles have been cleaned up - but I'll likely find them for months to come. I always look forward to getting the tree - and even more so to taking the tree down after wards and getting my house back to rights.

I've only gotten one "Return to Sender" Christmas letter back - the one addressed to the people who live the closest. Sorry, Alicia. Seriously, I even know their address. Helps to read the labels I put on the envelopes, apparently.

Blaine leaves in eight days. He's headed to Santa Barbara CA for about three weeks. That'll be great - or not. I'm determined not to head north to my parents or west to my sister's during that time - mostly because I don't trust my van these days - but we'll see how long that resolve lasts. Three weeks with limited adult conversation is likely to drive me just a bit batty.

We got snow for Christmas! Just a bit, and most of it is already gone. Blaine got a few photos of Grandpa with the kids in the backyard...
Do me a favor. Click on the one above and take a good look at Sterling's face in the full-size photo. Just for laughs.
Today Ruby fussed over her breakfast bread until I got to the bottom of why - she wanted butter. Ugh. The allowable laziness in the name of keeping her clean was fun while it lasted.

Turkey doesn't like my oven. Or my oven doesn't like turkey. Maybe the oven just doesn't like to function properly period, I'm not quite sure. Thanksgiving dinner was several house late because it wouldn't get done, and now Christmas dinner was sans turkey after it cooked for 6 hours and was still not to the required 185*. Now it's in the crockpot, hopefully to finish cooking and becoming supper. Between the mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce, dressing, and pie, it was not missed a bit on Christmas though. Maybe I'd make a good vegetarian after all. Likely not though.

Liberty's worn a white shirt for about a year now (not continuously!) and it recently was handed down - in perfect shape - to Eden when I bought a bigger one for Liberty. Eden wore it once. I've soaked the darn thing in bleach twice, washed it twice, and it's in bleach once again, all today. I'm not sure it's ever going to be the same. I'm rethinking my "Buy white, it can be bleached" mentality, at least for Eden. Bleach can't handle Eden.

Christmas 2009

Our Christmas letter... if you didn't get one, didn't get one yet... or something like that!



If you want to get technical, this is a year late. I didn’t get a letter sent out last year at all. But if you’re getting this before Christmas 2009, I’m going to consider it on time anyhow. Some things can’t be caught up on. J

This year was… busy. Then again, so was last year. Ruby Alexandra was born September 3^rd, 2008 and she’s added plenty of fire to our everyday blah’s. Ruby’s fifteen months old now and walking, trying to talk, and giving me a run for my money when it comes to training her to sleep through the night. She’s the baby around here and she knows it! Ruby is the first kid around here to throw herself on the floor in an all-out temper tantrum and discipline seems to only make her mad. We keep at it though!

Sterling turned two in May. He, despite being the sweetest boy I’ve ever met, has decided to be two anyhow. Let me tell you, Sterling has figured out how to be two. Maybe it’s the three sisters thing, but when he gets tired, reasoning goes out the window and sleep is the only thing that can fix the problem. He loves books and anything with wheels. “Read that me?” is the question I hear most from Sterling. Well, that and “Hungry boy, Momma!” Now if I could just get him to be enthusiastic about more than hot dogs, peanut butter, and anything containing sugar.

Eden is four, will be five in February, and has been doing Kindergarten this year. I’m homeschooling, and Eden was either going to be “in” school too or I was going to go crazy trying to keep her occupied while Liberty did her work. Her memory amazes me; she’s getting better at reading every day and is starting to show signs of someday being coordinated enough to draw letters smaller than 2” high. Someday. She learned to ride her bike without training wheels this spring and is itching to get outside during all her waking hours. The colder weather we’ve had lately is putting a damper on Eden’s style.

Liberty is almost six and a half. She’s a huge help around the house and excelling at her first grade schoolwork. “Felicity” is still her favorite toy – she takes better care of that doll than she does of the poor gerbil. She begs to go for “walks” – as in, I walk, and she rides her bike. She’ll ride for miles willingly, but when I made her actually walk last week, well, let’s just say that her stamina was limited. Very limited. Liberty remains quite particular about her things – to the point that when I was cleaning her dresser drawers out and removing her summer clothing, I found her shirts arranged neatly in piles according to color! We’ve come to a great place where she takes care of her own clean laundry – and apparently does a better job than I even realized!

We moved to Springfield, Missouri in August. Blaine is working for Bass Pro Shops in their photography department and I’m home with the kids, homeschooling and following Ruby around, trying to clean up her messes hopefully as fast as she makes them. We’ve been involved with starting Gospel of Grace Church, an independent Reformed church that is working towards joining the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, hopefully in the spring. We love Springfield, Blaine loves the warmer weather and I have to admit, I’ll take it too. J

I keep a blog at http://balesf5.blogspot.com/ - you’ll get a bit fresher news there than from my sporadic Christmas letters, if news is what you are after. I hope this finds each of you well… and perhaps a bit more caught up than I am!

Adrienne for Blaine and the gang - Liberty, Eden, Sterling & Ruby

Yesterday on the way to church we were about two blocks from home when Blaine realized he forgot something. He turned, I didn't grab the crockpot full of pulled pork fast enough... can you see where this is going? Yep, on the floor. Not just tipped, propelled across the front seat's floor. Some neighborhood dog had a feast, because it's gone without a trace from the place on the front lawn where I'd dumped the rug.

Then, in case you thought I was finished, I threw the meat-juice soaked floor mat into the tub. This morning, when Blaine stepped into the shower, he slid on the oily mess, stopping my heart for a minute while I watched him flail through sleep-filled eyes. He caught himself, cleaned my tub for me, and all is well. At least until it gets hot enough in the car to rot the remnants of our lunch that wasn't.

My pile of gifts are all wrapped! Ok, less one I forgot I'd stashed elsewhere, and one that's still coming in the mail, but still. This has to be a new record for me. Usually it's Christmas Eve and I'm frantically trying to get everything done. Christmas letters sent... I'll post one here in case you aren't on my Christmas list and wanted to see how not funny I can be.

And, I'm off. Getting up early is only beneficial if you actually get dressed and get moving, after all!

Would this be wrong?

The bathroom is the warmest in the house when the door is closed and the heat is running. Would it be wrong to grab my book and hang out in there?

When I asked Liberty why she took the approach (strange as it was) that she did to her schoolwork today, she replied, "Well, I think I was just bored and didn't want to do that." Remind me to up the ante on the schoolwork. Bored is a dirty word.

I ordered prints today to put into the kids photo albums. Some people scrapbook - I don't. I'm lucky to get prints slid into the little slots, preferably in the right order. The last time I ordered prints? October 31, 2008. Number of prints (I think! Once I get these Blaine will appear with images from his camera that I don't have. I think I may just stick to my camera so I'll be done with this yet this year...) anyway, number of prints: 321. Ouch. I also ordered photo calendars for my parents and my grandma. Price of my procrastination: -18.99. They were buy one get one free. Sweet! First time I think procrastination has paid off.

Eden has High School Musical tennis shoes. I know, I know. I don't advertise on my kids. I don't even know, really, what High School Musical is. But when she needed new shoes, the cheapest ones I'd found were $9 and guaranteed to wear out in a month, and these were clearanced to $5 - and the strings light up, which Eden thinks is the coolest thing ever. Turns out even I have a price. But when Eden asked to wear her new shoes to bed last night... ah, the joys of getting a #2 child something new and cooler than her older sister has. I know the feeling. :)

And now... curtains! I'm not convinced that I love them - but open is certainly better than closed. I looked for grommets to use for curtain-rod holes, but I can't find ones big enough for the life of me. These work - and as long as they're open, I think I like them, but since I made them with the idea in mind of closing them at night... now what???
Then, there's this - my attempts to keep the drafts from the back door in the laundry room. I kinda like it. I didn't sit and plot this one at all - made it on a whim at 11pm Friday night. And yes, clown collar and all. I wanted it covered above the suspension rod and didn't know how else to do it.Brr. Hot tea awaits. It's not that cold outside - like 25-30 or so, but I must not be typing fast enough to keep my hands warm!

Should I be worried?

This was what Sterling emerged wearing this morning. Eden's tights, Liberty's bathing suit, and shoes - Sterling is never without shoes - and they were backwards - also something pretty common for Sterling. This was after he'd come out with the bathing suit over his boxers - apparently that was a little cold.

I got my Christmas letter written - 2nd draft, in case anyone cares to know. Nope, not finished. Turns out these little blogs are a whole lot easier to write than a summary of our year in one page. I got photos ordered too - now, for my goal: get the letter printed and in envelopes, complete with address labels, before the photos arrive via mail. I'll let you know on that one. Or we can leave that one alone and all just pretend I get these things accomplished on time and under budget somewhere outside of my dreams...

Speaking of under budget, when did everything get so stinking expensive?! I head out with my limited budget, trying to buy gifts for the kids - wow, that was a frustrating venture. I did get quite a few things, not nearly what is on my list, but enough the kids will be thrilled in spite of my barely-dented list. I found a toddler bed-sized quilt/sheet set full of trucks for Sterling today at the consignment store. He'll love it. Very cool, and that definitely helped with the budget! I get to chalk up original prices when I decide if monies spent were divided evenly, right?

I also got curtain fabric for the living room windows today. I'll post photos of the finished product - if I'm happy with it. :)

Sterling woke in the night in hysterics. He'd peed in his diaper and eczema has his behind rather raw. I was trying to get to the bottom of it all when he came out with "My...butt...really, really... hurts! Really...really...bad!" He never says that many words, that clearly. I felt so bad for him - but it was nice to know he really can talk clearly when he wants to.

Ruby's sleeping through the night! Even through Sterling's fit in the night, she slept. Ah, progress. I actually had two nights - in a row - last week that no one woke up between 8pm and 6 am. So nice. Now if I can rehydrate Sterling's raw backside - or get him to wake up to pee in the night - we'll be all set.

I'm off to figure what kind of curtains to make. I have visions of stripes, but limited ideas for the tops. No ruffles. They remind me of clown collars - and we have enough funny business around here without putting clown collars on the windows!

And, in case you were wondering, you can find a free pattern to make a clown collar of your very own, looking like the one pictured above, at:

http://sewing.about.com/od/hallowee1/ss/clowncollar.htm

On that note, maybe I know what costume to add next to my girls' dress up tote. Hmmm.

Blaine's work for the morning...

For those interested, this is the article Blaine wrote and took the photos for this morning. :)

http://www.pulaskicountydaily.com/news.php?viewStory=1468

Who spilled on my pj's?

December. Really?!

The girls and I watched "The Baby Story" today. They are fascinated with that show. There was a little girl on there today who was named Eden. She was 3 and, well, Eden. Eden means "delightful" and it was so funny to see another little girl with the same name - and so very much the same in personality as well. The mother was due with "Penelope" and she said that they expected her to be just like her older sister Eden - and if she wasn't, Eden would teach her! Ah, yes, that sounds just about right.

We walked around the block today. Our block, while exceptionally big, would be traveled far faster if we didn't have to stop and steal a small amount of gravel from every gravel driveway along the way. Don't worry though, we give theirs to their neighbors, theirs to their neighbors, etc. It's Sterling's mission. I don't ask why - it's hard to know when the answer lacks a few consonants. He "urt" his "inger" (hurt his finger) and wanted a "ar-el" (marble) in his "uck" (truck) tonight before bed. Perfect sense! You should hear him say "convertible". It cannot even be typed. Don't even ask why he knows what a convertible is. He's a boy.

Blaine gets to shoot a book signing with Sarah Palin tomorrow. Pretty cool! I'd go, but then there's the four small children part that throws a wrench in things.

Eden woke me up in the night complaining her pj's were wet. When I asked if she'd wet her bed (something she hasn't done for at least 6 months) she said she didn't know.
"Well, are you panties wet?"
"Yes!"
"Then you probably peed your bed. Are your sheets wet?"
"Yes!"
"So why are we having this conversation?"
"Because I don't know what got on me!"
"Uh, honey, pretty sure we know what is on you. Unfortunately."