"I thought it looked a little small"

The harsh realities of sharing a closet with your little sister, and having your dad still dress you.

random thoughts on a friday...

Later this afternoon, we are looking forward to heading out for a long weekend of camping adventures. The weather forecast looks gorgeous, and I am SO looking forward to spending quality time with my 6 favorite people. However, packing for 7 is no small task, especially when the littlest person has the biggest and most necessary "stuff".

I have been flying around like a crazy lady for the past 2 days (nights actually) ...because the "anal annie" in me also likes to come home to a clean house and no extra laundry laying around.

Okay, the reason for this post. While cleaning up this morning, I went to fix the blanket on the couch, and stumbled upon Austin's rhino that he has treasured since birth.
Lovingly tucked in with a pillow before he left for school.

He does this every day.

So today I thank God for simple joys. For seeing the sensitivity and love in my firstborn son, when so often our temperments colide. As I type this these thoughts, Dylan has interupted me 17 times to tell me something. I thank God for this too.

Have a good weekend friends!

why i've given up on cleaning this summer ....

6 months

Are you tired of hearing about our pets yet? Don't worry, this isn't another pet post :) Sadly, little Annie didn't make it. We buried her, and performed a nice little ceremony out back. Sydney was crushed. But lets face it, I'm no mama cat! In my haste to make her feel better, I told Syd that maybe we could get another kitty. I'm an idiot ;)

Well, back to the topic for this post. Ellery is now 6 months old. God is good. Sometimes I get so overwhelmed by the day to day tasks involved in caring for our 5 young children, that i fail see them through God's eyes. They are all beautiful gifts from God. Each one unique. Each one a blessing. When I reflect on this, I am so in awe of God's goodness. I feel blessed to the depths of my soul for all that He has entrusted me with. My prayer is that I never take it for granted.

Anyhow, I've had a lot of sentiment these past few weeks. It has been a bustle of parties, field trips, soccer games, and beautiful weather. Last year at this time I was on complete bedrest. I was missing all of this busy, praying that our little baby would continue to grow and not enter this world too early. Not knowing what the future held, but knowing full well that God's way is always perfect. In the ER when I was 10 weeks pregnant with Elle, the doctors told us that miscarriage was quite likely. There is so much peace in knowing that God is in complete control, and nothing happens apart from His perfect plan. I still don't know what the futures holds, but today I marvel, marvel, MARVEL in God's goodness in the blessing of our little Elle.

Ellery was baptized on Mothers Day, and Tim's grandpa performed the sacrament. All 3 of our girls have been baptized on Mothers Day. This is special to me, I guess because we really never planned it this way. Both boys were born the same time of year, but happened to be baptized on different dates.

Okay, enough sappy nat. Some stats @ 6 mos....

*I can finally say with much confidence, Ellery is sleeping through the night! It finally clicked a few weeks back. She has gone from waking up every couple of hours, to sleeping 10 hours In. A. Row!! On days when we are able to stay home all day, she naps pretty well. It's the waking her up to go to pre-school or soccer practice that really messes her up.

*Her list of favorite foods includes...oatmeal, sweet potatoes, applesauce and bananas. Did I mention she likes to eat all day long? She still takes a 6oz. bottle about every 2-3 hours.

*She is getting real close to sitting up on her own. If you put her on her stomach, she will roll right over on her back. If you put her on her back, she will stay that way, because that's the way she likes it :)

*The girl knows what she wants. If I set her down and walk away, she will scream until I come back and pick her up. If I am in the kitchen, she is pretty happy sitting on the counter in her bumbo, as long as I maintain eye contact and conversation. Most days I hold her All.Day. Long. This is usually a conflict in interest with Stella :)

Annie

While sweeping out his barn on Saturday, Tim lifted up the kiddy pool sitting in the corner, and stumbled upon 3 brand new kittens piled together in some leftover straw.

The funny thing tho,
we don't have a cat.

The kittens were so new, that their eyes were not yet open, and their stomachs still had cords attatched. I cannot even describe the level of excitement in Dylans voice when he ran into the house to tell me of this discovery. He never even got all the words out, I just knew that this was "drop the broom and follow me now" important.

We let the kids see them, but then put them back where we found them in hopes that the mama would come back. We continued to check on them throughout the day. We put out some food for the mama cat, encouraging her to return and take care of her babies. Before we went to bed, Tim went out and checked on them, and sure enough, there was a big brown cat hissing at him in the dark.

Before leaving for church the next morning, we all eagerly ran out to the barn to check on the kittys, only to discover that there was only 1 "myew" as Stella calls them. Sadly, in the excitement to see the kittys, we startled the robyn living on top of the door, and she took off so fast, one of her eggs fell out of her nest and landed on Sydneys foot. Yuck.

When we got home from church, the kids went flying in there, and still only one kitty to be found . One poor, tiny, hungry little meowing kitty. Thank goodness for modern technology, we quickly learned to feed this abandoned newborn kitten a mixture of egg yolk, mayo and condensed milk.



We put her back in the barn after feeding her in hopes that her mama would come back for her, but no such luck. So, like a newborn, we've been feeding her every 2 hours, cleaning her fur and trying to keep her warm. We thought maybe the mama would come back again after dark, but no such luck. It appears she is an orphan. It also appears, we now own a cat. Her name is Annie.

just some photo randomness....

Dylans pre-school mothers day program

Austin's class took a field trip to a one room school house. All the kids dressed up, brought tin can lunches, used feathers and ink and pretended to be pioneers.

I left the bowl of food and Ellery on the counter, turned my back, and next thing I know Stella is on the counter and the 2 had joined forces.

The kids ran in the fifth third junior race!
Once again, not so happy about being dragged along.

tuesday's tadpoles

They've arrived.

The directions insist on using bottled spring water, which seems a bit high maintenance for creatures that naturally spawn in dirty ponds. We shall see how long these beautys last. For now, they are all the talk around here.

ants

Dylans most prized Christmas gift this year?

Uncle Miltons Ant Farm

(ants sold separately )


For a small sum of cash, plus shipping and handling, Uncle Milton promises to mail your ants, when the weather is permissible for shipping in your area.


Needless to say, Dylan has learned the virtue of patience. Back in the thick of winter, we would hear "Are my ants coming today?" all. day. long. Sometime mi-March, he gave up.


Well, a few weeks back, the glorious day finally arrived! A delightful little cardboard box of Uncle Milton goodness came addressed to Dylan.

It actually caught us by surprise!


Tim spent the morning with the kids putting it together. They really were quite fascinating to watch.

It's hard to pinpoint exactly when their troubles began.

Perhaps it was when Stella took the lid off and tipped it on its side.

Perhaps it was the "earthquake" Dylan keeps talking about... referring to when he brought them to pre-school, and 18 little kids passed them between themselves, some tipping them side to side.

Perhaps it was the piece of of ham that Tim lovingly slipped them from his dinner plate.

Perhaps it was a combination of all of these events.

Regardless, after 1 week all of the ants were dead.

And after one more week, Dylan finally accepted this fact....and stopped trying to persuade us that one was moving, or that they were sleeping or taking a break.

So, this past weekend, Sydney and Dylan overturned rocks and caught a new batch of ants the old- fashioned way.

Sadly, they are now all deceased as well. Perhaps these less civilized ants would have appreciated my casserole.

Good thing we are still awaiting the tadpoles he sent away for!