This is as good as it gets.

Okay, I tried to take a good picture of the boys together but do you have any idea how hard that is to get a toddler and baby to pose and smile and look at you all at the same time? I even tried burst mode thinking that it would help but this was the only pose I could get the boys to do. I then thought Liam would cooperate with Taylor but as you can seen he wasn't too happy about that either.

I just finished a homeschool conference and spent WAY too much money on new books but hey, it's my kids' education. I really enjoy homeschooling my children. It's given us a relationship that I don't think we would have had if they'd have gone to school for several hours a day. I'm looking forward to teaching a new batch how to read and write! Taylor's close to high school level so we're getting really serious about some things.

How did this happen?

I look at this young lady that I have in my life and wonder how she went from being this chubby baby to beautiful girl? I love watching her dance and making choices about her life. We talk about marriage, boys, and school and so far she has a great head on her shoulders...much better than mine at that age. She loves life and makes things fun for the rest of us. The only thing she wants and doesn't have is a sister, not much I can do about that one.

I enjoy my time with her when we shop and talk. It's great to have a girl in the house full of boys! I'd be so alone otherwise! It's nice to have help organizing and cleaning instead of reprimanding someone to stop mutilating things! I enjoy seeing her barbie pink toenails and watching her develop her own taste in clothes and music. I'm grateful it's stuff I like too!

Enjoy pictures of her.

A rare sick free moment

I don't remember when I took this but here's Liam going potty. He's awfully proud of himself when he goes. He sheepishly looks at me and asks, "See?" If I see pee-pee then I shout, "Yeah, Liam went pee-pee in the potty!" He then dances around and then shouts with both fists clenched, "M n m!" He knows he gets one. He then immediately wants me to dump the potty so he can flush. It's a very cute routine. Can you believe he'll be two next month?

Sickness update.

Well, I'm slowly on the mend here with whatever we've caught. It's been awful. I've had three days of not caring whether I or anyone else lived or died. Friends brought by food and Bill stayed home Friday to take care of the kids since I couldn't get out of bed.

Gavin's still got a high fever. He's going on almost a week now being feverish. The docs took chest xrays yesterday and said his lungs looked great but that his head was full of mucous so they gave me some stuff to dry up the mucous and also amoxicillin to prevent infection. I hope that helps because he's just so miserable. I miss seeing him smile and try to suck on his toes. Now he just lays there with watery eyes and moans in misery. If he feels as bad as I did then I'm sure he's not too happy about being here either.

Dylan's now bedridden and Austin's got a sore throat. Taylor's still asleep so I hope that doesn't mean she's in for a second round. She is almost a teen so maybe she's discovering the benefit of sleeping in.

As nasty as this is I'm very thankful that it's temporary. I really feel for the parent with a chronically or fatally ill child. I can't imagine what that would be like. It's so stressful with what we have so that would just be horrible.

Thanks for the prayers I can tell people have been saying them. I slept for the first time last night in a long time.

Calling all prayer warriors!

When will I learn? I actually told someone that I thought I had dodged the bullet on sickness this year. Then Liam and Taylor got mono. And now guess what? I think me and Gavin are sick now too. I'm achy and feverish and so is Gavin. Please, please pray for us. I'm worried about a baby getting mono. I know we're in the Lord's hands but I'm not looking forward to this.
Thanks!

Charity in all things.

I'm not good at everything. Yes, I know that's a shock to everyone...lol. It's just something that hit me today. I beat myself up because my house is messy and the kids bicker and I think, "What's wrong with my mothering that I can't handle all of this?" I want the house to be picked up and for the children to skip around saying, "Yes, mother, how may we help you?" I know this is unrealistic but for seome reason I can't let go of this idea. It really slammed me between the eyes today that I'm not good at everything. I do some things well with the kids and for the kids. I am a good wife in some areas but not others. I really need to extend grace to myself for the areas I'm weak in and pray for the ability to extend grace to others. Thank the Lord that He doesn't expect me to be perfect so by all means I shouldn't expect it from myself or others.


ON another note, I pretty much think this daylight savings time is designed to torture parents. Just when you get a routine they throw this at you and bam, you have a week of gettting things back on track. I'm so tired today. We just didn't get to church, Taylor's still sick, and Gavin threw up all night due to some new formula I tried. Oy! I"m hoping tomorrow brings better things.

Super duper Gavy!

I just love bathtime. Gavin and Liam do too. It's a chance to kick in the water and play with each other. I usually have a rotating chart for one older kid to help me so that no one gets hurt.

One night Dylan was helping me and Liam had given Gavin a toy. When it was time to go Liam ripped the toy from Gavin's hand and Gavin started to cry in protest. I then took the same toy from Liam and gave it back to Gavin and then Liam started to cry too....loudly. This scared Gavin so he started to cry again. Dylan started laughing at the scene and shook his head and said, "I can't believe this is all over a stupid toy." I found that funny since you should see the way he and Austin bicker over stuff. The whole thing was reminiscent of my life about ten years ago with those guys. I figure I survived that so I can survive this phase too. Actually I'm enjoying it this time around so I'll have more fun this time.

In the meantime, enjoy the great picture of a chubby baby!

Another one down!

Well, my big helper is down with a fever, sore throat and cough. She feels awful. She's been sleeping most of the day. I was told she already had had mono, can you get it again? I'm bummed as she's great help, plus I hate to see her feeling so miserable. I'm hoping no one else gets it.

On the bright side, Gavin slept until 6:30 this morning. Whoo-hoo! I was a new woman. I still woke up at 5 but to have 1.5 hours to myself to spend in quiet time was quite a treat. The Lord must have known I would need it because the rest of the day's been stressful.

During a particularly tiring moment I sighed and looked upwards. THere was blueberry smoothie on the ceiling that "someone" had done but "no one" copped to it. I laughed. My kitchen ceilings are 15 feet high so really that took a lot of talent.

Apparently Bill had seen it too but didn't say anything. The next day we were at Costco and the kids asked to get frozen berries. They pulled the bag out of the store's freezer and Bill sighed, "Ahhh, spackle for the ceiling!" I was laughing so hard. I'm glad he has a sense of humor about our house.

I know one day the kids will be gone and my house will be in order but way too quiet. By that time I will have to make bionic smoothies for myself. I'm glad for my messes for they mean my house is full, if I laugh then maybe that will teach them to laugh at themselves too.

In the meantime does anyone know how to get marionberry stains out of white ceilings?