29 Weeks

A tooth at last.  Teething hurts DG SO MUCH.  The only thing that makes it even remotely okay is being in Mom's arms.  She laughs and lUghs at her siblings' antics when she feels better, and that is so sweet to hear.

Watching a movie.

EVERYTHING IS AWESOME!

Quick post.  I just have to say that late summer mornings, when the nights actually cool down and it takes a bit to heat up for the day, are fabulous.  I have a few windows open, with a cool breeze coming through, and all I can smell is fabulous cut grass and growing things.  Ahh, pure heaven.  Not to mention 2 little boys play contentedly (um, never mind) while I get started on work for the day.

I forgot to mention our back to school feast.  I picked a theme-be a builder-as a reminder that we should be building each other up and not tearing each other down at school (AND AT HOME) and that we should be using our creativity and intelligence to build AND that we should always remember to build our foundation on the Rock of the Redeemer.  Lots of building thoughts.  I shared a quick little message and then we ate foods that they said were their favorite currently.  Green beans-Matt  Grilled cheese-Ben  Lasagna-Lily.  Plus we had to have some dessert with chocolate because I am their mom.  We watched the Lego Movie (note Lucas's smooth tie-in to my building theme), and then Lucas gave each child a father's blessing and we sent them merrily to bed.  It was a great send off and the first week has gone really well.  Though curious me would love to be a fly on the wall in Matt's and Ben's classes.  I hear many details about Lily's day, but boys (at least my boys) make whatever they are doing outside of the home a secret society.

P.S.  Thinking of bribing encouraging the 3 school kiddos to memorize Helaman 5:12:

And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall.

Seriously, need they know anything else if they know this???

Back to School 2014

Well, well, well.  It is here.  We got a few clothes, A LOT of supplies, met teachers, and have got enough paperwork to drive me nuts for hours (literally) because 5 kids means 5 times as much paperwork (only 3 times as much for now).  Sometimes I can't understand why I can't just fill out 1 paper with all their names on it and photocopy it BUT NOOOO.  Must have separate forms for everyone and then specific forms for each teacher and, and, and...

My kids LOVE school, so no worries there.  I, we, they are excited about their teachers.  I am excited about being more involved in the classroom than I typically am.  Last year of elementary for my eldest.  Why?  How?  Because...

A few photos of my MOST PRECIOUS CREATIONS!!!  I am so blessed to have each of them.  I forget it at some point during every day, I am sure, but I love moments when it dawns brightly in my *thick* skull just what I have going on here.  This day is one of those moments.

 He's ready.  So ready.  He will have to work...but any time, any time, he is going to fly, fly, fly.

 Let's be honest, he already is flying.  Hat and happy and hungry have replaced wat and wappy and wungry.  Thirteen has replaced the imaginary number firteen.  He is so smart.  I am so in love with his brains and his ninja skills and that pure soul of heavenly grace bursting forth from his blue eyes when he desperately reaches for one last kiss and hug, one last kiss and hug from me.

 And these 2.  Mutt and Jeff?  Um, not quite.  Lily gets to be queen of elementary for the year.  Nothing like being an upper classman.  It is, as Nacho would say, THE BEST!!!

 Matt gets to sit next to his best friend in class, at least for now, and after school they were all bursting to tell me things, lots of things.  Okay, I have to drag info out of Matt if it doesn't involve dragons and obscure fictitious game characters, but otherwise they were full of exuberance that had to be shared IMMEDIATELY.

Photobomb Shawn.  Wassup lil Dude!

Highlights of my day!!! 

1. Making myself get out of bed to wake Lily who was insistent if she wasn't out of bed by a certain time I must rouse her.

2.  Chipper moods during morning routine and everyone being all set.  There was a pair of missing shoes but that was the PM kindergartener, so no sweat...only a little bit of a raised voice from moi.

3.  A relatively clam morning.  A counter was degunkified AND disinfected.  It sounds like nothing, but you have no idea how much it meant.

4.  Learning that a 10 minute walk can EASILY take over 30 minutes with a cheerful and curious 5-year-old and his amiable 3-year-old sidekick.  Can anyone say rolly-pollys???

5.  Learning that though the walk back with a 3-year-old is quicker than 30 minutes, it can involve a little drama, just a little, and lots of exhaustion.  He has little legs and it WAS almost 2 miles round trip.

(incidentally, that was a magical walk BOTH WAYS)  With 5 kids, lively, talkative types, not everyone gets their fair share to shine in a group setting, so hearing what Ben had to say and noticed on our walk was eye opening.  Then, on the way back, to actually hear what Shawn heared-he asked me if I heard this sound and that sound, etc.  It was a precious walk.  We even saw a bunch of big chickens which I think Shawn would have watched for hours, but alas, work called and off we went).

6.  Poop...in the toilet...man, I did go there, but it was so...beautiful?  Thank you Steve Jobs for the iPad and Netflix for Netflix.  And then we rejoiced.

7.  Ben blushing red when I asked him about his day.  He gave me a thumbs up and thumbs down.  The thumbs up was that they got to go on a gingerbread cookie hunt.  The thumbs down?  "A girl has a crush on me!"  I asked how he could tell.  Completely exasperatedly, he replied, "Because she followed me everywhere!!!"  There are worse things in life, my little friend.

8.  Smoked turkey.

9.  Family Home Evening.  We did some test runs of air rockets for Pack Meeting that Lucas is in charge of on Thursday...and ate Oatmeal Cooke Bars.

10.  Falling in love all over again with my wee ones...and not so wee ones.  They are messy, sometimes smelly, sometimes moody, sometimes mean but always beautiful, mostly brave, shockingly smart, and full of all the goodness all children are originally full of...unless the world/rotten people snuff out the sparkle.

This is the life...except for the relative (I said relative, don't go hating on me) poverty, little rest, and wanting very much to do the best for each of my kids and each of the parts of my life and my husband but struggling to feel it's anywhere near good enough.  I think that will pretty much be an always feeling.  Sometimes I feel like I hit the nail on the head.  Sometimes I wish I could do a moment or a day or a week over (or have it erased from my memory), but I am always trying...so if effort counts, which it does, and if the Lord knows my heart and desires (which HE most definitely does), I guess it's worth it.  I may not get to live out half the dreams I had for this life, but I am definitely living the ones I wanted most, so that will do for now.

Potty Talk

Yes, I went there, on a blog that anyone could read.  But...potty training my boys, it's ridiculously hard and gross...and it makes me that much more thankful when they finally get it.  I'm not kidding myself.  This battle, tug of war, journey?, is not over yet BUT we had a major, major breakthrough develop today...and that's all I can say about that.   Squirmy boy is hard to get a shot of, but he had fun and wanted me to keep taking more pics.

Oh those days of no pants so that we can be speedy to the bathroom.  I am assured in some cultures you just let the kids run around naked until they get it, so we are relatively civilized.

28 Weeks

SHE'S ONE OF THEM!  I mean I knew D was one of my kids....but now she is starting to act like one-rowdy and with a GREAT desire to cause chaos on a larger than personal scale.  I was expecting it, yet her seemingly mild manner had lulled me into a state of thinking perhaps, perhaps, I was capable of rearing a timid child.   Nope.

Look what Daddy did again!  For this (among many other things), we love you.

Lil Miss has gotten super attached to Mommy AND being awake the last few days.  Um, I'm exhausted, but needed.  Here we are enjoying a late night kitchen session as Dad prepares for Work Iron Chef.

27 Weeks

Daphne likes cats!  Okay, she likes to try to taste our cat's tail, but she LOVES kittens.

Cattails, anyone?  Bwahahahaha!

She still loves to hide her face with a blanket and then play peekaboo.

She chooses to lift her bum and push off with her feet to propel herself across a room.  Unique, as her sibs all would at least roll around until they could crawl.

I love my kids.  Five different souls who make every day an adventure and a life lesson.

L-so concerned about dressing and looking her best for school this year.  It is so odd to see your little baby girl grow into a rough tomboy and then her alter ego (we'll call her nonchalant fashionista girl) duke it out daily with the tomboy.

M-that kids soaks up facts like a sponge and spews them at me like a geyser.  I so often forget how his mind works.  I asked him today about his King David Sunday School lesson.  He said he would not try to marry a girl who was married already and that when he was married he wanted it to be to someone who hadn't been married before so they could have all their firsts together.  He said the advantage of marrying a divorced girl would be she could tell him what is was like but that he would never want to get divorced and wants a forever family, like his mom and dad.  He thinks and thinks.  Whew!  All that from me asking about King David as I was curious how his teacher handled teaching the indiscretion of King David.  Lily's teacher was more blunt, which makes sense because if your 11ish year old has no clue about birds and bees ya better hurry up.

B-I've had 3-4 people say his speech is getting better.  He is a ninja fanatic.  He is the original ninja at our house, to be clear, and he is ridiculously good at what he does.  He can bide under my bed and I haven't a clue, or jump out of my closet, appear from nowhere.  He is my BONAFIDE little ninja.  2 weeks to kindergarten.  Deep breath.  "Mom, you happy at me?"  Very, my precious boy, very.

S-3 may be a rotten age sometimes simply because I can't logically reason with him on a consistent basis and because he WON'T poop in the toilet (Tmi, I know, I know), but if I'm not stressed out, it is all quite comical and I laugh and laugh.  "I not poopy....I is, I is poopy."  "I is a good boy.  I a little boy, not a big boy."  "Nes" (no/yes).  "I cute."  "I not ebil" (Ben tries to convince him he is evil).  Oh, essentially each day, whatever I want him to do, he casually argues to do the opposite; however, reverse psychology makes him quite manageable....for now.

26 Weeks

How could she turn 6 months old already?  My marvelous girl went to her first movie yesterday, poor thing.  It was dark and loud, but she did great with just a little nurse talking and a small bout of hiccups.  I do think Little Miss got a little scared/overwhelmed and hid her head against me when she woke one time, but she fell back asleep speedily.  She didn't cry or fuss once.  As exhausting as it can be at times, there is something very rewarding to know your baby can handle anything as long as she knows she is safe in Mom's arms.

Funnily enough, Daph trained herself to use a binkie after the movie.  I put it in her lap because she HAS to have something to teeth on,  and at our next stop she was sucking away.  I hesitate to use it too much because I don't want her to have to be weaned but she likes it; she actually likes it!

My Summer Review...so far

Deliberate mothering is not for wimps but then neither is marriage or doing so many things out of your comfort zone...but if you have a small comfort zone....okay, I digress.

This summer has gone quickly.  It has been spectacular.  I have not gotten a lot of rest during waking hours, which for my party animals go,way past a decent bedtime.  Way too many times, after having them officially go to bed, I will finish work and climb in bed, only to hear exciting chatter below me in the basement.  What is wrong with them?  Apparently they love life and don't read scientific studies about importance of sleep In Childhood brain development.  Don't blame me kids....I tried.

I can honestly say we have given them a great summer.  Such a gift!  Maybe they don't need Christmas presents this year.  I've made sure to limit tech nearly every day.  I've made them do chores before they even get tech.  Before the temps stayed relentlessly near 100, we did tons of parks, and will continue that this week.

We've had swim lessons, soccer camp, bike riding, board games, sidewalk chalk, running randomly inside and out of the house., Times tables, magical reading, play dates, and lots of creativity, cloud watching and ice cream making.  We still have to:  bury Matt in sand at Kleiner, go to the eagle island beach, belatedly celebrate 13 years of wedded bliss ( and not bliss), master times tables, say goodbye to diapers (c'mon Shawn, you are so ready...in so many ways), eat solids (Daphne thinks she's ready x infinity), and cap it off with a potentially grueling 10 k (c'mon marathoners, I'm still ridiculously sore after 3 miles, let alone double the fun).


But what I have to slightly more detail blog today is our trips.

At great personal sacrifice to Lucas and Myself, in many ways, we have had our travelingest summer since the Oregon Coast/Las Vegas summer of 2006..  It's not saying much, but for people who get like 2 trips out of town per year, it was kind of a big deal.

And would you believe above is one of the few pics I took?  Oh agony.  I lost my camera and I was busy having fun/relaxing rather than missing moments to grab my phone for pics.

Personal background.   I was born under a wandering star.  It's my dad's fault.  But with a big family, responsibility, and some serious financial obligations, moving lots

Is not a great option and lots of vacations are completely unrealistic.   We don't really have play money and though I don't crave designer clothes, the perfect house and many luxury items at all, I 

crave travel.  My heart aches to see the British Isles, Canada, all 50 states, Argentina, Germany, Africa...you get the idea.  The way I feel when I see a new place, learn new things is indescribably amazing and nourishing.  I feel so alive and rejuvenated...and it hasn't happened in a long time.  Still...money...always comes back to that.  So, hey, baby steps.  Eventually we will have debt paid off, no baby hospital bills, no diapers (and I won't think yet about how the grocery bill may actually equal all those things with teens circling the kitchen), but until then we have to wisely choose how much money we use for the "frivolity" of travel, and we certainly can't do anything fancy.  Enter earlier this summer Lucas and I feeling like we would go crazy if we didn't get a break from the monotony of 

stress and work and every day things.  We knew we couldn't do anything crazy but...

With some planning, willingness to bare bones it, pet sitters, fabulous counselors, our newer van, and some crazy awesome relatives who gave us fun, food, precious time, and amazing memories, we've had a feast of family and different the last few weeks.  The home parts have stunk with mountains of laundry, exhaustion, and trying to fit a lot of hours of makeup work into a few days, but from July 14th to yesterday, consider monotony broken.  Now to recover.

For our travel, we knew we had a 10K in August and that Lucas, his sister and mom were coordinating a visit to Ely when they could agree on a good time.  We also decided to go to North Dakota to visit Lucas's dad, I.e., The kids' Grandpa Terry and Grandma Dee.  It was new to everyone except Lucas and over 20 years since he'd been.  Our kids were GREAT travelers.  Minimal fighting, minimal complaining, and minimal tech usage.  even Daphne managed way less crying than I expected, though she did get so excited to be out of her car seat and see new things that she would be too busy to eat at all the stops we tried to feed her at.

After fitting 22 hours of work into 2 days (nightmare, fail, madness), we left here at 4 am to make it to my dad's by 8.  He and Karen fixed us breakfast while we changed and kids played on the trampoline.  After an a hour, we were off to West Yellowstone.  Beautiful scenery, even with road 

construction to slow and stop us.  We headed north to Bozeman.  I drove that leg and wow, the mountains and newness and rivers were thrilling.  I LOVE BOZEMAN and it's environs by the way.  The Rocky Mountains ROCK.  On that drive I starting getting giddy.  My heart was singing in my chest.  I felt so happy and silly and, above all, grateful,to God for allowing is this trip, letting our car work well, letting our kids have this experience and letting our whole family get along.  I  was so thankful he created all this beauty for us to see too, Down to how the sun shone on the mountains that day, the clouds, everything.  We made it to Billings where we had apparently subpar pizza which I couldn't stop eating, and the whole Nicholes family went swimming at the hotel pool, a rare sight indeed.  Daphne in her suit, awwww.  Matt accosted teen girls and oil riggers while there.  His lack of shyness knows no bounds.  Next morning we headed across Eastern Montana which I enjoyed.  The Yellowstone River valleys were pretty, though we'd been warned it was dull.  Lack of big cities never stopped me from liking a place.  Entering ND brought us to Williston which we learned we hate more than or equal to North Las Vegas.  We won't make the mistake of going there twice.  Walmart, Joann's at Christmas time and Williston, ND.  My hell list grows.

We made it to Burlington, the valley was pretty.  Up on the plains I felt a little phobic.  I feel nervous without mountains around.  We had 3 days of that flew by with swimming and swimming and swimming.  Grandma Dee got Shawn more comfortable in the water.  Day 1, with a life vest on, he would squeal, "save me, save me, save me!"  By day 3, he could kick to the edge of the pool.  We met cousins, sister-in-law, and brothers...not to mentionDee's family.  These people were all incredibly friendly and great with the kids.  Grandpa may have had a few stressful moments with 9 grand kids tearing around, but it was a great time.  Guys golfed.  Girls got a pedicure (I guess 5 kids is a novel thing to some and I got seriously teased by my male stylist about being a bunny).  We also went to the ND State Fair and parade.  Candy and rides galore...all new to my kids who didn't grow up going to fairs or parades.  We were well taken care of, and it was a priceless trip.  My sister Kate had just moved to Minot so we got to visit with her family too.  It had been since Thanksgiving that I'd seen her.  It was great to let Daphne meet new people.

On the way back, we avoided Williston and went through Bismarck .  I don't think I could live there, but visits are great.  Our ND family means a lot to us, especially now that we met the whole gang.  We saw some wicked weather passing through the mountains.  We stayed the night in bozeman at a *gasp * motel.  Lucas and I were so exhausted we barely managed to get dinner and drop into bed.  Pretty sure EVERYONE was asleep by 8:30 that night and slept nearly 12 hours.  We took a different route back to idaho falls via Whitehall /Dillon.  Again, some heart singing on that drive.  The rivers and ranches felt like home.  If I had a million dollars...  In Twin Bridges, MT, we saw a Victorian looking house and dilapidated buildings that we had to google at home.  If I had a million dollars...Lucas could fly fish and I could have the country life.  We made it home exhausted, attempted to recover and do laundry and yet more makeup work.

Then BAM to Ely.  It was a shorter, less crazy, well known drive.  We had less time to enjoy our family there, but still it was some time.  Daphne got to see Grandma Laura again and meet Aunt Sam and Uncle Jon, great aunts and uncles, cousins, AND I will forever cherish that my kids have great grandparents on the earth with them, a blessing I did not have.  Even with that blasted lost camera, we managed a couple pics on Lucas's phone.  Lucas's Mom, Sam and Jon took care of everything, and we are thankful for them and all their effort to make a great weekend.  Lots of family was visited-including both great grandmas, yummy thoughtful meals were had.  But my favorite memory will be the ultimate water balloon fight of all time...all my life at least.   Everyone got involved.  Grandma probably singlehanded.y filled up 250 balloons.  It was madness!  Even Daphne got wet accidentally as she was watching the action with Aunt Sam.  Lily, macho girl, was in her element.  The boys alternated maniacal laughing with tears, with a few war cries (many actually) for good meAsure.  All were better rots than I expected, and Shawn thrilled me to watch.  So bold for being so small.   Oh, they slept well after that day.  So thankful for all our drew/green/Nicholes, etc family there.

You know, sometimes I am overwhelmed to have not 2 sets of grandparents but 4 to try to visit and get my kids to know, not to mention the great grandparents.  It makes it more challenging to me, and it is hard to,please everyone (not that I even try that all the time or I'd go mad) or be everywhere. (only when I'm independently wealthy with loads of leisure time).  I could get hives just trying to make it all work, so we do what we can.  We have made a resolve to make consistent visits, though they be few and far between, a priority in our budgeting, and if people visit us or not is up to them.  We will still do our part as long as we can pay our bills.  I digress again...

What my point was is that even though all these visits involve some juggling and 4 places to visit and a serious amount of gas money and hotel rooms at times (I will get a visit to my dear poor mom eventually fit in), I can see the blessings of having all these different personalities who love us and who we love, all the different traditions and activities and values that we can participate in, and so just like twins are much more work than a singlet and sometimes 4 grandparent units feel like more of a challenge than 2, we are doubly lucky compared to some to have a lot of great family to love.  My kids need never feel lonely or uncared for, that's for sure!

And see, I avoided the temptation to just steal off to the coast by myself and visited family instead.  Pretty good for my loner heart to overcome that temptation.  Good, better, best!

25 Weeks

Why does 25 seem like such a milestone?   25 weeks we've had little Daph.  It's been a wild ride, but she feels to,have always been a part of our family by now.  I suppose she was at least watching all along...and STILL chose to join our team.  She must like adventure.

She is possibly a comedian.  I've read time and again that a baby's personality starts manifesting itself when they are still young.  I wonder how accurate it  is.  If it's correct, I predict Daphne to have a sensitive personality and to love to make people laugh.  This week she started bobbing her head back randomly and, getting just plain silly when she is tired, she'll bob her head all around like a bobble head, stick out her tongue, suck her lip.  She can make people,laugh.

Her pic this week is from speech therapy.  I took the boys and her with me, and we were in a fairly small room.  While Ben was working with his therapist, the boys played.  I spotted some tiny pink sunglasses and then I did a silly photo shoot.  The 4 of us had too much fun. So I'm impressed Ben was able to focus with all the goofiness behind him (albeit quiet goofiness).