A Pea Gravel Patio!

When we tore off the decks to add the basement, I told Paul that rather than build the huge wraparound deck that we had previously, I wanted to replace the deck outside each door, but build a patio between them.
I'm not sure he quite agreed with me, but he designed and built two beautiful decks.

We laid gravel with plans to pour concrete within a year.
Well..... 3 years later.....  It still looked the same.  Part was due to finances - concrete is a lot more expensive than it was 10 years ago when we installed our sidewalk!  But a lot was due to indecisiveness.....  Neither of us wanted a square chunk of gray concrete.  But flagstones, staining, texturing - all added to the cost!
And then I read an article online that said you can use pea gravel as an affordable alternative to concrete.  Just that; no pictures, links, or anything.
So I tore the internet apart trying to find inspiration.  I did find a couple of blogs that made very basic, very tiny patios using pea gravel.  But I couldn't find any ideas that we could use on our space.  So I imagined, talked to Paul, did some price checking, and then.... We started work.

We leveled the area and used 5x5 timbers to frame it, secured to the ground with re-bar pounded through drilled holes.

We laid down landscape fabric (on the windiest week in April, I think!) to keep the weeds from sprouting through the gravel.

Slave labor.  11 tons moved in 3 hours.

View from the corner by the house and back deck.  I'm standing in the flowerbed we designed to edge it on 2 sides (against the house).

I decided I wanted a solid transition from the stairs to the patio (not to mention it was a giant step down!)  I had slightly under-estimated the amount of gravel needed, also, so we laid rocks at the base of both sets of stairs that served both purposes - solid landing, plus several square yards worth of filler!

 

I love how the "transition area" turned out.

Paul used leftover rock to outline our tiny bit of grass in the front, making it look very nice an tidy.

I priced patio furniture, and decided we couldn't afford it - at least not the style I wanted.  Paul took some measurements and built us some!  Here we have the first couch he built and the 2 cushions that actually did arrive with the "free 2 day shipping."

And this is the finished project!  We had to wait to stain it because the lumber was still very wet. 
(And it's a good thing we did, or the hail would have destroyed it!)

Add some flowers for perfection!

The purple cow is an ongoing family joke.  We confused the heck out of one of my dad's milk route drivers when we were young, by leaving a note for him on the fuel tank (just for randomness sake):
I never saw a purple cow.
I never hope to see one.
But I can tell you, anyhow:
I'd rather see than be one!

I don't have a completed completion photo of all the deck furniture Paul built, with the flowers growing in the beds (actually, cabbage and kale, as the flowers were destroyed by hail).  Paul built us two full-length couches, a loveseat, chair, and footrest table for our outdoor oasis - all matching, and sized for standard "deep seating" patio cushions.
Despite not having a photo inspiration, the whole area turned out exactly how I had imagined.  It is the perfect place to relax in the evening, and has plenty of seating for all of our large family, plus guests.

The only drawback is that we got cats about the same time as we made the patio.  And they like to dig and....you know.  So there is that consideration if you are interested in tackling a gravel patio as your own project.

Where Has Summer Gone?!

Isn't summer supposed to be slow and lazy? Ha! Despite having no plans at the beginning of summer, we have rushed through like a freight train!
What all have we done? Let's see, just off the top of my head.....

• Two garage sales in under two weeks. Not a complete bust, as I made about $60 between the two, but hotter than Hades and disappointing traffic. I'm convinced the weekend before Mother's Day is the best and only weekend to do garage sales.
• My sister moved. Not that I was able to help nearly as much as I should have and wanted to, but it still took a bunch of time from my abundance of free time. Keith and Lurenda and girls are settling into their new home in the country that's in the perfect location for them!
• I turned 34. I'm actually feeling less old than I was a few months ago. Sleep does wonders!
• Nathan and Jacob took a vacation with my parents to Colorado. Mom's aunt and uncle were celebrating their 50th anniversary. There was no way Paul and i could get out there, so they invited the boys. They had a blast, having a "solo" adventure, and my parents said they would have made us proud with their behavior.
• Doctors's appointments! With having a baby, we knew we would meet our deductible for the year. So we decided I would do something about these horrible varicose veins! (We started the process 4 years and 3 babies ago.) So I've had 3 appointments with the vein doctor, and one with a gynocologist to address some dermoid cysts they found on my right ovary. So I'm having surgery July 27 to remove that. 3 of the last 5 years are July/nursing baby/surgery. We'll start the process with the veins in August.
• Emergency room. I can't believe we made it to child #4 without going to the emergency room. But it doesn't surprise me that Gideon was the first..... It does surprise me that it took this long for him to land there! Gideon fell getting out of the van and cut his forehead on the bottom of the seat frame. He got 3 stitches, making for an exciting Father's Day evening. (Unfortunately, our "smart" phones gave us wrong information, and told us urgent care was closed, so we'll pay double what was needed.) He's supposed to keep the scar covered for the rest of the summer to keep it from turning purple from sun exposure, so we've been having fun with the "pirate hat."
  • Swimming lessons! This is the first year we've done this. (And if public school running, running, running is like this, COUNT ME OUT!) I've been meaning to look into it for several years, but it has ranked pretty low on my priority list, sadly. Mom encouraged me to enroll them, after watching them in the hotel pool on their trip. So they're learning, and loving it...... And we get daily sobbing from the other two who want to go, too.

That's a brief rundown. From my smart phone, so I apologize for grammatical and proofing errors. It is randomly underlining, etc, as I type. Not to mention the blasted auto-correction! But nursing + computer aren't compatible, so we'll see how I do from my phone.


I'll see if I can attach a few pictures...... I won't even attempt to order or caption them from a phone!

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I'm Still Here!

I do think about blogging, a lot.  But I just keep not doing it.  I'm wondering about the future of my blog.  I do love keeping my "journal" online, but I'm getting it done less and less often.  I know I don't have a readership, and I don't want to acquire readers.  I do this for myself.  We'll see how it goes this summer.  I've got my laptop fixed, and found the power cord.  It's been missing for several months, but was pretty low on my list of important things, since we have the big computer and a smart phone for internet.  (By the way, the cord was in the dvd cabinet the whole time.  I kept searching the computer cabinet and box.)
How is life?  Good!
Elsa is sleeping most of the night now.  She backed her go-to-sleep time from 11 to 9, and moved forward her waking time.  She usually sleeps at least 6 hours, but earlier this week slept 10 hours! If she wakes, it's usually just once, and she finally will go back to sleep in her own bed, without being swaddled.  We still have absolutely no daytime schedule.  She likes to be held and to nurse a lot of the day.  (My milk production is still struggling, so I think she nurses more often than is typical.)  She will lay on her blanket or in her bouncy chair, but prefers to be able to see and hear me.  So it's really hard to get anything done.  But I just try to peck away on projects whenever I have 5 minutes.
My body is feeling (and looking!) all of it's 33 (almost 34) years.  I don't know if it was all brought on by this last pregnancy and childbirth, but I feel old!  I have an outrageous amount of gray hair falling out during my post-baby molt.  People claim they can't see gray in my hair, but I say bull.  My skin has been going crazy with extreme dryness and what I have self-diagnosed as rosacea.  I switched soap and moisturizer to an all-natural approach, and it seems to have helped a lot.  I'm doing the oil cleansing method and moisturizing with a mix of jojoba, coconut, sunflower, avacado, and rose hip seed oil, along with some essential oils.  (By the way, I've become a bona fide hippie in the last year.)  My metabolism has flat-lined, and I've only lost 10 lbs of baby weight.  My varicose veins are better than they were during pregnancy, but are still pretty bad.  (My first appointment to repair is next week.)  My back has been hurting for 3 weeks, with no known cause.  It's getting better slowly (no more stabbing pains), but I'd prefer it be fixed NOW.  And there's other hormonal things....  To sum it up, I'd rather just take naps every day. :)
We finished school, for-real-but-not-really, the first week of May.  The boys finished their math before Elsa arrived, and were basically done with new material in Language Arts (phonics, spelling, reading, language, poetry, etc), so I let them skip the lessons and just finish their worksheets and readers.  The lure of finishing early wasn't enough to make them do 3 days at a time, but they finally got it all done.  Summer schedule is reading a story or two, and math flashcards every day, so I am making them do "school" during the summer.  I had backed Nathan up a year to 2nd grade Language Arts and he made a HUGE leap (from Kindergarten reading level, to a normal 3rd grade boy level), so we're going to try jumping ahead to 4th grade (where he should be) Language next year.
The boys LOVE being outside.  They are constantly out there building (or destroying) things, digging in the dirt, or helping do anything.  I am so glad they have the opportunity to just "be boys."  Nathan can run the lawnmower, and we recently acquired a pushmower, and Jacob begs to mow with it.  If Paul asks them for help doing a project, they leap to join him.  I really appreciate their helpfulness, and hope they keep that quality throughout their life.  God knows the house would have completely fallen apart had they not been doing the bulk of the cleaning lately.
Zadie starts school this fall also, and she's excited and ready.  (She turned 4 last month.)  She wants to write her name, and has finally mostly got her colors sorted out.  She's such a big girl (literally, and as an expression)!  She loves her little sister and is always trying to mother her and snuggle.  She keeps telling me about, "when I'm a mommy."  I love that she's identified with me.  Whereas, I don't think that all women should only be stay-at-home moms, I will encourage her to dream about being a mommy as much as I'd encourage her to be an astronaut, if that's what she wants to do.  I think that being a mom is just as important, if not more important, than being a doctor or teacher.  She's figured out how to ride her bike, and can actually ride without training wheels, but can't launch or stop, so we keep them on for now.
Gideon is..... a two year old.  He amazes us with his vocabulary and ability to communicate (our last two were just starting to use words at his age), but he is a pill.  He is a bully and will hit other kids when they don't do what he wants.  We've been having a trial with screaming "NO!" tantrums.  It's really pleasant at 4 AM, let me tell you.  I know it's "just a stage" but.... Oh my.  It takes everything I have to stay on him.  (And he has figured out the "Mommy is nursing and can't do anything right now.")  Not to mention the little bugger can do anything he sets his mind to, even if it could potentially kill him.
We have had basically nonstop rain this month.  The garden has only been dry enough to work in for a few days, and that was at the beginning of the month.  It now has algae growing in it (future fertilizer?), and standing water in several places.  The only way I can see where the peas are, is because they're turning yellow among all the weeds.  I complain like a city person, but I think even the farmers are ready for it to end for a while.  I know quite a few still haven't gotten all their crops in.  When I look at the weather map, there are flood warnings along rivers from Wyoming to Texas to Missouri.  It makes me wonder what the rest of the summer will be like.
Well, even though I opened with bragging about Elsa's nighttime sleep schedule, she is thinking about waking up, so I need to get my lap empty and ready for her.
Hopefully I'll be here again soon, blogging about more randomness and discoveries!

It's a GIRL! Elsa Anne Rhodes

Our 5th baby arrived at 8:00 AM, on March 15.  (Yes, I realize that was over a month ago.  Do you realize how hard it is to find time to blog when you nurse 8 hours a day and have four other kids?? :) )

This baby took her time in getting here.  My charts said I was due March 7.  I thought it should have been March 14.  (I was right, obviously.)  But starting about the first of March, the baby started shoving and making things very uncomfortable.  But at each appointment, after examination, the doctor said I wasn't even close.  She even did an x-ray to make sure the baby was head-down. 
Wednesday, March 9, I was sure was going to be "the day."  I woke up about 3, having light contractions.  They were uncomfortable, but not intense, but very regular, about 10 minutes apart.  I laid in bed, timing them for two hours, and then when Paul's alarm went off at 5 (for him to go to work), I got up and ate breakfast with him, wanting some nourishment before going in to the hospital.  Paul called in to his supervisor and told him he wouldn't be coming in.
And then the contractions stopped.  Completely.  Not a single one the rest of the day, although the baby was still giving me the "pushing down" feeling.  But even that lessened as the day went on, and at my regular appoinment that afternoon, the doctor examined me and said I was barely even dialated and the head wasn't any further down.
What???
So move forward to the weekend.  I hadn't had any more contractions, but the baby continued to make me very uncomfortable.  But I was okay with no contractions!  My doctor had left Thursday night to go on vacation, and she wouldn't be back until Monday afternoon.  Although I was sure I could give birth with a stranger delivering, I would be very uncomfortable.  My doctor is the only female that delivers babies in our town, and any of the other doctors I don't know AT ALL.
Monday came and still nothing, but I laid down that afternoon, and then had a few contractions.  They again were about 10 minutes apart for about two hours.  Paul again called into work (he was going to nights this time).  My sister came and got the other kids to stay the night with her.  The contractions continued, steady but not intense, but then stopped at 7 PM.  Then about 9 they started up again, this time irregular but stronger, 10 minutes, then 6, then 20, then 3, then 10.....  I'd never had this happen before - all 4 other babies, once contractions started, they were steady and grew stronger and we had a baby within a few hours.  I called the hospital and asked their opinion.  They could look at my charts and know my history.  But the nurse said it was up to me.  If I was worried about delivering at home, to come on in, but otherwise, I'd be more comfortable having my early labor at home.  (I later found out that I called just as they were delivering another baby.)
Then at midnight, my contractions stopped.  Again.  At 1, I gave up and went to bed, figuring I needed whatever sleep I could get.  I finally fell asleep about 2.  Paul came to bed at 3 (he was well-rested from sleeping all day to go to work nights), and then I woke up at 4 with a "real" contraction.  When the second one was 6 minutes later, I got out of bed.  Another came 5 minutes later, and so I woke up Paul.  "I think this is the real thing."
Everything was ready to go to the hospital, and the kids were already gone, so we just left.  Once we got to the hospital, the contractions kept growing in intensity, but still weren't really regular.  They'd come steady, then would be a longer break, then two or three close together.  Any way, I could tell this was "the real deal" and knew we'd be having a baby that morning.  My guess was by 6 AM.
Six o'clock came and went.  The nurses called the doctor before shift change at 7, and she came immeditately and did paperwork while waiting.  Seven o'clock passed.  Then finally, IT WAS TIME.
Gideon had been such an easy delivery, two half-hearted pushes, that I assumed this labor would be easy.  Everyone got in position and I pushed, and.... Nothing.  The nurses encouraged me, "Push as hard as you can," so I gathered my strength for the next contraction and gave it my all and..... Nothing.  What the deuce?  How much of a wimp am I?  Several pushes later, I finally felt the head starting to crown, and then another push and the head was out.  I heard both nurses and the doctor exclaim, "Sunny side up!"  My contraction and strength ran out, but then the next push, she was out. 
Paul kissed me and said, "You've got another girl!"
What??  I was so sure this was going to be a boy.  Not that I was disappointed, but so much for mother's intuition!
So.  A "sunny side up" baby is born differently than a "normal" delivery.  I researched this, because I've never watched my babies come out. I didn't know what was normal or not, and why the doctor would be surprised.  Normally, babies are born face down, and then turn to the side as their shoulders come out.  A "sunny side up" baby is born face-up.  Instead of the crown of the head (the back top part) being the first part out, the whole top of the head presents, so it's a bigger part you're trying to push out.  (Which accounts for my inadequate pushing.)  Also, since the round crown isn't pressing against your round cervix, it applies pressure unevenly, which can cause irregular contractions.  Often there are other complications, which thankfully we didn't have to deal with, but my lower back was a wreck afterwards, and I've had bowel issues ever since.  I think the back of her head pressing into my spine all the way out caused some of the issues.
But she's here!  And she's perfect.  And that's all that matters.

Brand new!

I love this man!

Family of SEVEN!

 

Bright eyes.

 



Back asleep.



She was our heaviest baby, weithing in at 8 lb 5 oz, but our shortest at only 18 inches.  In features, we noticed immediately that she has the same hair that Nathan did in infancy.  She also has a very strong neck like he did, lifting her head off my chest and looking around.  Her cheeks and chin look just like Zadie's did in her baby pictures.  And her nose looks like Gideon's.  It's going to be a while before we can tell whose eyes she's got - the Rhodes eyes with the killer lashes, or the Eichenberger puppy eyes.

The first few weeks were rough on sleeping - or NOT sleeping, to be more accurate.  Miss Elsa wanted to be held all the time.  The only time she would cry is if you put her down in her crib.  So I spent a lot of time on the couch.  A LOT.  Which made my back hurt even more.  Finally, after about 5 days, I couldn't do it anymore, and she moved to our bed.  Bad sleep with a baby next to you is better than zero sleep on the couch.

The sleep issue has worked out since we re-tried swaddling.  We did it the first week, but she'd kick out of the blanket, even the swaddler wrap with velcro, so we stopped doing it.  Last week, I decided to try swaddling using some larger cotton muslin blankets a friend sent over.  BINGO!  Elsa thinks she's still being held when she's wrapped up, and I can usually guarantee a minimum of 3 hours, but last night got six amazing hours alone. (But of course we wasted the first two watching Downton Abbey on DVD......)

Really, she's a pretty happy baby, only crying when she wants to be held.  She's only had one night of inconsolable mystery crying.  (All 3 boys regularly had several-hours-long screaming bouts, most nights.  I don't remember it as much with Zadie.  I know she slept through the night early on.)

Elsa had the hardest time of any of our kids at gaining back the weight she lost after birth.  It took a full four weeks.  Part of the problem was she was tongue-tied and couldn't get a good latch.  (Which she could have done had she not been too sleepy/lazy to open her mouth wide.)  The doctor clipped her frenulum at her one-week checkup, and that immediately fixed the latch issue.  The other part was I am  having milk production issues, despite previously nursing four babies with zero problems.  One side is barely producing, so since I was only nursing on one side at a time, she was essentially only getting fed half of what I thought she was.  But once I discovered this, I started nursing both sides every time and she has steadily gained about an ounce a day.  (Everyone asked how I figured out the production issue.  It was after she went four hours without nursing for the first time since birth.  One side got very full, and the other didn't.  At all.  Too much information??)

As to the name....  She is NOT named after Disney's Frozen character.  However.... Zadie did suggest the name.  Because she loves Frozen.  At first, I said ABSOLUTELY NOT.  But after spending hours and hours on name web sites, and nothing really grabbing me, I came back to Elsa.  (I had liked the name Ilsa, but Paul wasn't on board.)  I looked up it's meaning - "dedicated to God."  Fitting.  I looked up it's popularity (my main reason for rejecting it - I figured it would be wildly popular because of the movie) - it was ranked in the 200s.  Looking better.  "Elsa" sounded good with the middle name we'd picked out long ago - "Anne," a middle name also shared by Paul's mom and sister.  I ran it by Paul, and it was settled.  Elsa Anne.  (And because the boys were sure that Zadie had gotten to pick the girl's name, they decided that if it was a boy, his name would be Luke Skywalker.)

So that's the birth story of our 5th precious baby.  We're settling into the new normal, and trying to get back to doing the necessary things like housecleaning and outdoor work.  And physical activity in general.  We'll get it figured out soon.

Those CHEEKS!

Education about babies and belly buttons.

Surprise..... Five!

Something I've been asked a lot since Gideon, our 4th child, (who just turned 2) was born, is the question, "So, are you done?"
I'm not sure how I feel about it.  Is it judgment?  (You shouldn't have more than four kids.)  Is it curiousity?  (Are you one of those "big family" people?)  I usually just gave a vague answer, because.....  We're weren't sure.
About a year ago, I was feeling pressure from people (and maybe myself) to decide for sure.  Everyone says, "You'll know when you're done."  But I didn't know.  There were a lot of comments about how I needed to get on birth control or Paul needed to have "the operation" done.  (Which I did consider rude.)
We had trouble getting pregnant with Nathan.  I only had one period in the year after I went off newlywed birth control.  That meant one chance to get pregnant.  I had no idea what was going on with my body or what medical interventions it would take to get pregnant.  It turned out that for me, it was relatively simple.  After one round of Clomid (an ovulation drug), I was pregnant.
But in that year, I spent a lot of nights crying out to God with many tears to give us a baby.  All I had ever wanted, my whole life, was to be a mother.  I recently found a poster I made in 3rd grade about my likes and dislikes, and what I wanted to be when I grew up.  I had written "a mommy" and drawn a picture of me with a little child.  I wrote my "career paper" for Senior year on motherhood.  Being a mom was all I had ever wanted, and all I had ever felt "called" by God to do.
And then I got pregnant.  And the hormonoes of pregnancy and nursing apparently set my body in order, because obviously there have been no problems getting pregnant since then.  (Our kids are spaced 2 years, 2.5 years, and 20 months apart.  We had a miscarriage between our 2nd and 3rd, which accounts for the longer gap.)
So, being that God not only answered our prayers, but blessed us abundantly and beyond with four children, and healed my body, I felt like it wasn't my right to tell God to quit sending blessings.  So I left the decision up to Paul, who has to lead and provide for this family.  (And deal with me when I'm losing my mind from dealing with kids! :) )  I had some minor health concerns as well, considering I've had two surgeries to repair hernias caused by pregnancy, and also have severe varicose veins.  But I felt God reminding me that He made my body.  He can heal it and help it carry another baby.
Shortly after I had gotten these thoughts in order in my head, but not really shared them with anyone, Paul sat me down on the couch, last April or so, and said, "We need to talk."  My heart dropped, because previous "we need to talks" had been about very upsetting subjects, and I was not ready for one of those talks.
Paul said, "What do you think about having another baby?"
I just laughed.
I told him that I had left it up to him and God, so this was the answer.  Paul explained, "I've never felt like we should have more.  I was good with one.  I was good with two.  I've always felt it was up to you since it's your body.  And I'm not saying right away.  Let's give you a break and get Gideon older and maybe potty trained and next spring (2016), we'll start trying."
In May and June, my cycles messed up, and in July, after several weeks of suspicion, I found out I was pregnant. (And Gideon, showing God's sense of humor, started potty training himself in August.)
So, basically, what we were saying was, "Yeah, God, we heard you.  But we'll obey on our own time."  And God, being the good Father, decided to make us obey on his time.
So.... We're going to have 5 kids!
This little one is due sometime in mid-March.  The doctor's chart says March 8, but sonograms we've had say anywhere from 3-5 days later.
I actually didn't go see the doctor until I was 30 weeks (7 months) along.  Our insurance charges us for obstetrician care in both years, if you get pregnant in one year and deliver in another.  When we had Zadie (born in April) we paid an additional $700.  Last year's insurance, we had a higher deductible and had had zero medical expenses, so we knew we were looking at paying even more.  I decided that I knew now, after 4 babies, what was normal for me, and I wasn't paying a thousand bucks to go in for 3 or 4 visits, where all I do is pee all over myself trying to pee in a tiny cup, having them measure my belly, and say, "Do you have any questions?  Okay, see you in a month!"  Pregnancy is not an illness, so I didn't see a need to go in.
We did have a sonogram at a local women's life center, just for peace of mind.  That's where we found out I was due almost 2 weeks earlier than I thought I should be.  Even though it's not necessarily a medical sonogram, everything looked good.  We even have a video of our 15-week-old baby with hiccups.
After my first appointment (January 12), my doctor ordered another sonogram.  Given the activity level of this baby, I am confident of it's health. :)  But I went to have one for the doctor's peace of mind.  (She had recently had an unhappy surprise during a delivery.)  And I wasn't going to complain about getting to see this little one!
A baby at 32 weeks looks so much different than a baby at 16 weeks.  I could see the chub starting to form.  The technician pointed out the fuzz of hair - enough to show up on a sonogram, even though there's 8 weeks to go!  She said he's measuring about 4.5 pounds, which is right about where he should be for how how far along I am.  (I say "he", but we don't know if it's a boy or girl....  We're waiting to be surprised again.)
So here is our baby!  (And my excuse for such a prolonged absence from blogging.)

I can't wait to meet him (her)!!!

Summer Craziness

I'm going to just quit making plans to do school over the summer.  The last two summers, I have had plans to do something at least, and failed completely.
We started summer with no plans, so no reason to NOT do some sort of reading plan/school every day.
June hit like a whirlwind, every week having an all-consuming project.  We ground and stained my parent's concrete back porch floor, we painted the boys' new bedroom downstairs, we painted the basement stairway and the boys' very battered bunkbeds.  By the end of the month, they were ready to move in, and I was sick from all the fumes. 
July came.  We knew we were going to a neighborhood VBS, but we also ended up helping with two other week-long outreaches, so it felt like we weren't home for a month.  (The house somehow kept managing to get dirtier, though....)
I'm not sure what's happened to August.  I think we've done a whole lot of the nothing we missed the first two months of summer.  I'm getting the schoolroom cleaned and organized, getting curriculum ordered, planning daily schedules, and getting ready to start school next week.  Awana starts the following week, so I've been contacting parents, getting supplies ready, and looking at lessons.
September will hit with it's own craziness, but somehow I'm looking forward to it - ordered craziness, where every day and every week is basically the same.
So that's our summer in a nutshell.  I'll try to post pictures of some of our projects soon.  And we can look forward to more time to blog when there's not so much to do outside!

I'm Still Here.

Okay, so it has been pointed out to me (Ahem, Carlsie....) that I am not doing a lot on my blog lately.  A myriad of reasons, really.
Even though our family life has not been crazy, my personal non-mommy obligations have been on overdrive, it seems, ever since the first of the year.  I can't tell you what all it has been, exactly, but it seems like every time I'm on the computer I'm working on something else.
And then we have the fact that I have cut my recreational computer time, drastically.  I wasn't doing a lot already, but basically I check my email and that's it.  No blog (obviously), no reading other blogs, no Facebook stalking through Paul's account.  No useless Yahoo news.  I didn't really resolve to cut those things out, it just happened.  Lack of blogging is also due to the fact that most of the stuff I want to write about requires pictures, and I have a lack of motivation and time for finding and uploading them.
I have really, really been making a concentrated effort to keep the house clean.  Today, it's still reeling from the crazy week we've had this week, and I can't quite motivate myself to do the stack of pans on the counter.  But for the first time in months, perhaps years, there's not a box full of unorganized crap sitting somewhere.  I went through every box and basket and got it put away, thrown away, or filed.  That's a good feeling.  And I am trying not to let it happen again.  Inevitably, a box or pile gets stacked together when we're having people over and I haven't gotten the table cleaned off, but I usually am getting through it in a day or two.  And why is cleaning off the table of clutter so hard???  Is it just me??
Recent projects completed (mostly) include both decks getting finished, finally finishing the basement floor, grinding and staining my parents' back porch floor, and getting my front flower bed planted (phase 1, anyhow).  In-the-near-future projects include painting both rooms in the basement next week, and moving the boys to their new room in the basement soon after.  We also need to stain the back deck, if it ever stops raining.  And we have started ripping up the linoleum to finally tile the front room. 
It has rained SO MUCH in the last month.  Seriously.  I think there were 5 days or less that it didn't rain in all of May, and maybe one day so far in June.  My garden is a complete wreck.  A lot of stuff is yellow, some has died, and the weeds are flourishing, so much that there are a few rows I can't even distinguish among the weeds.  I tried to step out there once and sank up to my shins.
Paul's parents celebrated their 40th Anniversary last Sunday.  Paul, Elizabeth, and I threw them a surprise dinner and reception, and nearly 100 people showed up to bless them. 
I guess also, a reason for not blogging is my discovery of Downton Abbey.  I'm a bit late to jump on the bandwagon, but I love that show.  It's not without it's faults, but they are much fewer than many shows - no nudity or crudity, and zero language.  I have even gotten Paul to watch it with me, not just here and there, but every episode.  We just finished Season 5, and I have to say, that was the BEST season finale of any show I have ever watched.  Since Season 6 is not on DVD yet, my evening free time should be a little free-er.  :)
We are about a week away from finishing school for the summer.  (It seems late, but let me remind you we didn't start til late October due to the house project.)  Close to finishing the seatwork, anyhow.  I'm still not sure what we're going to do with Nathan's reading over the summer.  I really would like him to do a full phonics/reading course so he can catch up, but I think getting him to do seatwork will be like trying to give him an appendectomy with no anesthesia.  And about as pleasant for me, too.  We'll figure it out.  Just daily practice will go a long ways.
Anyhow.  That's a bit about what's going on.  Now to find the girl-child and put her in bed for a nap.  She skipped her nap yesterday, and I now know what the term "hot mess" is all about.  That was her by 8 PM.  So today the nap is non-negotiable.

A Long While

Oh my goodness, how long has it been since I actually posted an update?
It was just a bit busy during February and the beginning of March.  Now life has slowed down, and the weather has warmed up, and we are doing good.
I don't even know where to begin. 
The reason I was so busy in February was that I helped plan and put on our church's main (only?) event for women.  We have an annual one-day "mini-retreat."  This year,  we called it "A Season for Everything" and I have to say, I think it was the best yet.  We had 5 women talk about the different seasons of life that they are in or have been in, and what got them through it.  It was amazing how God tied everything together.  We didn't really know any of what the others would talk about, but yet the theme, the ideas, and the Scripture all pointed back to the same things.
We also did an Awana Grand Prix workshop the last weekend of February, followed by the Grand Prix event the first weekend of March.
The second weekend of March I went with nearly 30 women from the Ottawa area to Women's Encounter.  I didn't personally have any friends going as attendees, but I think God knew that I needed this time for ME.  It has been a long two years since the last time I went.  With nursing, not sleeping, and trying to live in it while finishing the projects..... Even though all of those things are getting better, I needed this rejuvination.  I got to give a gospel presentation to 267 women.  And I got to spend the weekend serving with 6 awesome women that have done so much to challenge and encourage and inspire me (my mom and sister included).  It was a great time to realize how much I appreciate the ladies that God has placed in my life. 
Paul and I celebrated our 11th anniversary on March 20.  We went out for BBQ and rented a couple movies.  (Loved Fury, a movie about a tank crew in WWII.  The newest Hunger Games installment, Mockingjay, was a snoozer.)  Every anniversary gets more and more low key, but I am perfectly fine with that.  I love loving my husband!  I'm so thankful for our marriage and the strength and commitment my husband has.... Even on days that I'm not very friendly.
As for the kids....
Gideon has been sleeping through the night ever since I weaned him in December.  He went from waking up 2-4 times a night while nursing, to a solid 8-12 hours.  I got used to that REAL fast, but I still feel like I'm catching up from last year.  The last couple days he's been a bit fussy and grumpy.  I think it's more teeth, even though all 16 are broken through.  It doesn't seem like Gideon eats more than 2 bites at meals.  Even at snacks, he very rarely eats more then a few bites.  The only thing he'll chow down is bananas.  He loves to play "I'm gonna get you!" and will run through the house squealing with laughter as someone chases him.  The older boys love playing this game with him.  He's not talking yet (surprise, surprise).  He nods and shakes his head - not always the right motion for the answer he's trying to give, but it's a step!  And he has one-syllable sounds for some words, like please and thank you and milk.  I was hoping he would be different than the last two, but he's shaping up to be silent til he's 2, just like they were.  (He's almost 16 months.)  He's still pretty high-maintenence when it comes to needing entertained.  He wants to be held most of the time when I'm around.
Zadie is.... Zadie!  That's all I can say, and for anyone that knows her, that says it all!  She's such a little boss.  She is so different than the boys!  She talks to her toys, and her toys talk to each other.  The other day, her hot dog and her toy girl were having a conversation about a toy pteredactyl!  She is really into clothes, but not in a prissy way.  She wants a pretty dress, but then she'll go out and dig in the dirt and climb trees.  Lately, she's been wanting me to braid her hair all the time, which really helps with the tangle situation - if we can get past the drama of brushing it out.  I'm sure our neighbors (who live a quarter mile away!) can hear her screaming like she's being skinned alive!  Some days I just don't want to deal with that.  She still loves her babies, and talks about being a mommy.  The other day she showed me that she was nursing her baby.  Paul wasn't sure what to think, but I think it's great that she has a concept of what's natural.  She also has wanted to start doing "school."  This consists on flashcards to teach her colors, and a calendar like the boys' that she gets to draw on.  Her 3rd birthday is in a couple weeks.  And we're FINALLY POTTY TRAINED!!!!  We still have an accident occasionally, but it is SO nice to have her using the potty on her own.
Jacob has really picked up on reading.  He blasted through all the short vowels and consanants.  He's stuck on long vowels, but I think it's because it requires effort and thought.  He is totally my child when it comes to that.  "I'll do it if it's easy."  But he's also figured out that if he just DOES his school, instead of whining and wandering off, he can get it done SO FAST.  Like seriously, two hours tops.  He's only got about a dozen math lessons left for Kindergarten.  I'm not sure what we're going to do for a stopping place on reading, since we're not really using a curriculum at this point.  I know we'll do some type of reading through the summer, just not sure what yet.
School is getting better with Nathan, most days.  Part of it is I've made a concious effort to change my attitude.  He reflects my attitude.  Some days it's hard.  But I offer grace, again and again (just like God does for us).  I discipline him when he needs it, but show excitement and give enthusiastic praise for good work minutes later, so he can see I'm not holding his bad attitude against him if he will choose to change it.  He's come a long way in his reading.  He's still behind what our curriculum says he should be (probably reading at a 1st grade level according to their standards), but I'm not too worried about it, since he's interested in it and making effort.  We will probably do full reading/phonics curriculum over the summer to try to catch him up.  Jacob is close to catching Nathan, but a lot of that is because it's come very naturally to Jacob (how I was as a child), whereas Nathan really had to think about it at first.  Math is definitely the subject that takes the most time in his school, as he has a math lesson (where I teach new concepts), a time test, a two-sided worksheet (one is supposed to be homework, but that never happens if we try to do it later), plus counting, time, and money questions.  I haven't done as well at drilling the math tables as I should have, but he at least has the skills to figure them out if he can't recall them by rote memorization.  I would prefer he doesn't have to use fingers, but sometimes I still do!
We're finishing up on the house projects.  The electricity in the boys' rooms (play room and bed room) is done, so Paul is finishing putting up sheet rock (right at this moment, actually!).  He finished the sheetrock in the main stairway as well, so now all we have to do is paint.  Paint..... So much of that to do, and I don't even want to think about it.  It's kind of an overwhelming thought, mostly because I know that every aspect of life otherwise will have to come to a standstill to get those projects done, so I am not looking forward to it.  (But I priced hiring it out, and NO WAY.)  Paul got the small deck on the east side of the house put back on - CHANGED MY LIFE.  It is so nice to be able to walk across a porch to access the house, rather than having the all the dirt from the yard applied directly to my floors.  (We have no grass for about 20 feet in any direction from the house.)  We got 3 beautiful solid-wood doors, for the two new bathrooms and the boys' bedrooms.  So the back bathroom is fully funcional and private (previously just had a curtain).  Paul got the toilet installed in the downstairs bathroom, but we're a while out from getting the shower put in.  I told him that the back deck is higher on my priority list.  Having a bathroom downstairs is really going to mess up the boys' school routine - their favorite trick to try is the "I need to go poop!" excuse, and then they promptly disappear for a half an hour.  Going to look for the missing truant means the remaining boy will escape or become totally distracted.  So having toilet and sink down there solves all excuses!
Warm weather means we're planning a garden and flower beds.  My main flower bed got completely torn out, so all there is is bare dirt at the front of our house between the house and the driveway.  I'm excited to start from scratch, but also overwhelmed at the options for such a huge amount of square footage.  I'm also looking forward to replenishing the vegetable supply.  This having to buy produce is crap.  And no one likes the frozen store veggies, so other than salads, we haven't been doing too well on healthy eating!
Anyhow.  That's a glimpse of life lately.  I'll try to put up pictures soon.

The Other Photos......

So I finally sent out my New Year's letter (I gave up with trying to get it out before Christmas, so calling it a "New Year's letter" takes the pressure off).
I almost didn't send a picture.  We've been plagued by various illnesses, and things have been tight financially, but then I thought.....  The pictures are my favorite part of receiving letters!  Plus, it's only like $7 to print them if you have a coupon.
I never made it to my sister's to have her take nice portraits of us.  So we herded the kids outdoors today (first day above freezing in weeks!) and tried to get a decent shot.  (And yes, Gideon is in his pajamas.  It's just normal day attire for us!)

Trying to photograph children is like herding cats - impossible!
Gideon would not stand still.  At all.  (If they held him, he screamed.  If they let him go, he charged straight at me.)

Oh, by all means, let's bring the dog in!  That will help......

And of course when Gideon does stay put, no one is looking at the camera.

Almost......

Close.....  But I was hoping for better smiles.

 

In the end, I went with the first photo I took.  I wish you could see Zadie better, but they're all real smiles, and it shows their real personalities.  And this is real life for us (chaos)!