Six months!!!

Mmmmm, tasty toys. Let's see some teeth!

She is now very seriously off-blanketing it. See that blanket to the right? Yes, she was on it only about a minute before. She is even trying to turn the corner.

What we have been up to in school

Working with oil pastels in art

We made a paper chain of things are thankful for before Thanksgiving. Issy and Isaac wanted to take pictures of it, so these next two are courtesy of them.

The Annual "Christmas Tree" post

Big news: This last Saturday we put up our Christmas tree.

Well, that isn't really that big of news, right? Because we put up a tree every year. And we are known for being slightly excessive in the Christmas tree department.

The reason this is big news is because it is *gasp* an artificial tree.

I know, I know. But Joe's parents bought a pre-lit tree this year. And their gorgeous, tall, symmetrical, doesn't have to be watered, doesn't get dried out tree was just sitting in their basement. It was waiting for us.

I miss two things about having a real pine tree. One, I miss the experience of going and picking one out. Two, I miss the piney smell. Other than that (see list above of the pros) I am very pleased. Thanks for the tree, Mom and Dad Marney!!

Liam decorating the tree. Or admiring the ornament.

Oooooo, what is this? I am so glad I am mobile just in time for them to put a big tree in our house!!

What? I wasn't doing anything.

Random things that make me happy

I got this fabric the day after Thanksgiving. It is going to become a blanket for Adelle. My love for it is twofold: I love the print. The owls are adorable and I have a thing for purple. AND. It was on super sale. Call me cheap (or frugal if you prefer) but getting a deal on things I like anyways makes it even better for me.

The refinished crib. I got the crib from my friend three years ago and it had seen better days looks-wise. So I asked Joe if he would paint it for me. Soooo much better. The sleeping baby in the crib makes me happy too ;)

My holiday mug that my niece got me for Christmas a couple of years ago. I am drinking tea out of it as we speak.

My new tablecloth.

It is the simple things in life, right?

I miss the snow

Playing in the snow, Christmas 2008

I know I know. I should be grateful for an unseasonably warm November. And I am. But one of the things I really liked about living in Idaho was the amazing snow we would get in December and January. I wasn't particularly fond of driving in it, but we didn't leave the house very often, so it wasn't a big deal. And I was about done with it after February, and it didn't really melt until April. But it was so gorgeous during the Advent and Christmas season and it made me feel all festive and like snuggling in the house with a warm cup of tea and crafting and all that fun wintry stuff.

Is there a place in the US where it snows in December and January a fair amount and then melts? And has a moderate climate in the summer? Sign me up ;)

My babies

For amusement sake, I decided to go through pictures of my children when they were babies and compare (um, and as a means of procrastination!) I know who I think look similar, what do *you* think? Leave a note in the comments section. There are two pictures of each kiddo, all taken when they were under a year old.

Isabelle

Isaac

Liam

Adelle

Halloween 2009

Yup, I realize it is the end of November and I am just posting Halloween pictures. Oh well, better late than never, right? I was confused about where on the computer my pictures were, but I think i figured it out. For now. Anywho....

Because we were in the middle of Fever Fest, we didn't go trick or treating. So instead, we had a candy hunt (Issy's idea) similar to an Easter egg hunt. This apparently was a good substitute. Maybe we will do this every year :P

We also went to the park to feed the ducks, so that we could get out of the house but so as not to contaminate other people. It was gorgeous that day and the kids loved it.

Especially Liam he kept jumping up and down with joy.
Thought this was cute :)

My little Delle on Halloween. She was demonstrating how a 4 and a half month old can get on her hands and knees. Silly little peanut.

Optimus Prime, Bumblebee (who are both Transformers, for those who don't know) The Butterfly and the Baby.

Busy Busy

Ahhhhh, I have blogging guilt. Or lack of blogging guilt, as the case might be. No good excuse- homeschooling has been taking a lot of time lately, not as much time to sit down at the computer. Which I suppose is a good thing. When I am laying awake at night with the baby, I often think of things to blog about. It is too bad that it can't just somehow get from my brain into the computer with minimal effort from me. Some things in life right now:

-We have finally start our Math U See curriculum. Still on the first lesson, but so far so good. Issy's first lesson was on place value and it is clicking with her. In Church, she was telling me how to say the numbers for each song :)

- I finished my sweater that I have been working on. No finished pictures yet. I think that if I make it again, I would do the collar on smaller needles. And I would make the size smaller. Apparently I just like my sweaters slightly more fitted. But overall, I like it. I love the color. And it will be warm, should there ever be weather cool enough to justify sweater wearing. Not that I am complaining :)

-I can't believe it is almost the end of November. It is just very weird. It is still quite warm and the last couple of months have just gone by really fast.

- Starting to get used to Kansas again. Not feeling quite as homesick for Idaho. I am ok most of the time now, especially with so many friends and family to visit with. Every so often I have a moment of longing for Idaho. But I am pretty sure it isn't sixty degrees and sunny here, so I will just be grateful :)

I survived Fever Fest 2009....

....and I didn't even get a shirt :P

So for like a week and a half, the three younger kids were running (mostly low grade) fevers. It was ridiculous. No other symptoms. In good spirits, most of the time. Just these ridiculous, persistent, drive-me-crazy-because-we-can't-be-around-other-people, maddening fevers. And then when they were finishing up with them, Issy got it. So we hung out at home. I am feeling very grateful that that is over. And I am hoping that is the last we see of illness this cold and flu season.

Here they all are, ill but cute:

So you know how I was talking in my last post about how he has been doing his afternoon rest better lately? This is usually how he ends up:

I set the timer for an hour, give him a few books and tell him that he can get up when his timer beeps. For some reason, this works. I am about 99.9% sure that this would not have worked had I tried it 6 months ago. I will not try to analyze this any further, I will just be grateful. In the second half of the hour, he usually falls asleep with a book on his lap.

In this post from a couple of months ago I talked about how my children sometimes do odd, amusing things. One day recently, I walked into the basement at rest time and Issy and Isaac were sitting on the couch, laughing heartily while staring at something near their feet.
It was this:
....which is a fire truck with a superhero cape and Spiderman mask. Why this tickled them so much, I am not sure, but I am glad that it made them happy.

An "All over the place" post

Just cuteness, waiting to bake pumpkin bread with me.

My brain often works overtime. So in an effort to purge myself of the thoughts that are rolling around in there, I am going to jump from thing to unrelated thing in this post. Hang on.

-Life with Liam has gotten (relatively) much easier lately. In a weeks time, he stopped nursing, started to go to bed without us "sleeping him" (i.e. sitting in his bedroom until he fell asleep) and started to do rest time in the afternoon without a fight. I have waited three years and two months for this. It is just as magical as it sounds. The amount of free time (ha, like any mother really has free time! it is always something, right?) I have now is ridiculous.

- Simultaneously, where did my little baby boy go? Just wow. He has always been my little guy who did his own thing, in his own time, when it was his idea- which was often exhausting. Honestly, as one of my friends and I have spoken about often in regards to our three-year-olds, all the things that sincerely drive me crazy about Liam are the things that are going to make him a really interesting adult. I look forward to someday seeing the fruits of my labor.

-I love canned pumpkin. Seriously, a lot. I mean, yes, you can bake and puree your own pumpkin (Michelle!) but that takes time and effort. Which would mean that I would likely never get it done. It really simplifies baking pumpkin bread and pumpkin cookies. Delish.

- I am pretty sure that I read about knitting more than I actually knit. This is due in part to Ravelry which is basically a gigantic database of knitters/patterns/yarns. It is an amazing resource. I like to knit, of course, but part of it isn't the physical act of knitting, but also an appreciation of the finished product and the work that it took to make it. And I can only make so many knitted things, so I enjoy looking at what other people have made. It is like art, really :)

- On days when I feel like a bad housekeeper, unorganized and unmotivated, I have to remind myself how far I have come.

-I love the feeling of Adelle's fuzzy head on my cheek. I think it is the small things like this that make motherhood all worthwhile. I don't know if/when I will have more babies so I am very careful to make sure I notice this while I can.

That is all for now. I am sure there will be more randomness some other time though.

Our Learning Room Version 2.0

We finally got our carpets cleaned and got the chance to set up our learning room- hooray! It isn't as big as the one in our Victor house, but it has a big view out window, which is great because it gives us more natural light. And it has a nice big closet to store things in. Here is our work table.

Reading corner

Waiting for story time. This was their "Crazy Picture". Apparently Issy and Isaac got the memo. Liam was going for a more thoughtful look. And I love the look that Adelle is giving Isaac.

This is about a month and a half overdue. My kids made this tooth fairy box back in Idaho and wanted me to take their picture with it. I uploaded in about a month ago, but it just didn't get posted. It is what it sounds like- a place to put your lost tooth for the tooth fairy. So she doesn't have to dig around in the dark for your tooth :)

Why Kansas is good

Knitting night :)

Cousins to help you open your birthday gifts!

Cousins to hold you upside down and tickle you
And so on and so forth...

These are the reasons I am glad to be back. I love getting to be with so many of my friends, such strong, beautiful women. Mothers raising their babes with all the love and joy and insanity that comes with it. Several of these women I have known since we were walmart-scavenger-hunting-teenagers together. I could have never guessed 10 years ago the wonderful ways that we would grow and change.

Cousins. Aunts and Uncles. Brothers and Sisters. Parents. Grandparents. Our kids especially are just over the moon to be near all of our family again. Their joy brings me joy. Sleepovers with cousins, family get-togethers. Playing with Grammie and Grandpa.

Such a blessing.

There's a baby on my back! (and other thoughts on moving)

Right before we left Idaho, Delle got a mild fever- not ever sure what that was about! She did not want to be put down, so I put her in the Babyhawk on my back and did some packing.

She has gotten so much older in the last month- sleeping better, moving better (yikes!), just a generally happier baby. I can't believe she is four months old already, didn't I just have her?

Our move to Kansas is complete- me and the kids got here, got house and the stuff got here, hubby got here last week, started new job. Soon, the house will be all unpacked, we shall get back to homeschooling and life will again be normal.

But it will still be slightly surreal. Because sometimes it seems like 28 months in Idaho were some sort of dream. Like I was living someone else's life. I am not sure how to adequately explain that- so I won't try right now.

The Camping Trip

Our last weekend together in Idaho, we had the opportunity to go camping as a family. Well, Adelle and I joined in the eating and campfire fun festivities, but went home to sleep in our bed while Joe and the big ones stayed overnight.

We borrowed a tent from some friends, but I am not quite sure how you could get that thing up without an army of people. There was sweat and effort, but alas, Joe abandoned that one and put up his two person tent. Which held him and the three kids like a hug ;)

The little helper gathers firewood.

Joe demonstrates fire safety- shove your hand in the kindling to get it to light ;)

Adelle and her placenta tree. We had to do something with it before we moved, so we buried it under a tree in the forest. Deeply and with a rock on top of it so as not to attract bears.

A boy watching Daddy. His trusty dog in the background.

My girls.

Smily boys

Mmmm, s'mores!

He kept jumping out of the tent yelling, "TA DA!"