Thursday, October 13, 2011

Talking about...

Blogging...
The boys have discovered my blog.  They love looking through the archives at the pictures of them when they were small.  I read a bit to them the other day and they laughed and giggled and sometimes said "I remember that!"  or "No, I didn't do that!"  lol!  And really that is what my blogging is all about and why I returned to it.  So that years down the road we could enjoy remembering the little things that make up the story of our life...but I don't have to wait years because it is being enjoyed now.  It makes me happy.


Playing...
I enjoy watching the kids play and hearing their imaginations delightfully active.  Duplos are the toy of choice right now.  There are Chinese, Turkish, Indian and South African armies battling it out on my living room floor.  They get on these kicks where they play with one thing constantly.  Do anybody else's kids do this?  Last week it was drawing.  Their drawing is play, because as they draw these elaborate battle scenes (war, again.) there are sound effects and stories to go with each one.  Their drawings are acting out their play.  It is the coolest thing.  I've never seen any other kids draw that way...I know I never did.  I don't know how old kids are when they start to outgrow this kind of play, but I am cherishing it.  It makes me happy.


Breakfasting...
I've been doing a lot of baking recently.  After the kids had been "oatmealed to death" I needed to come up with other breakfast options that were A. Yummy and B. Still fit in the budget.  So besides the granola bar recipe I make I've come to rely on quick breads...corn bread, banana bread, pumpkin bread, apple bread, zuchinni bread... so many varieties nobody gets burnt out.  They're quick and easy to mix up, pop it in the oven and then I'm free to change diapers, nurse babies or check Facebook while waiting for the timer to ding.  No standing at the stove like with eggs or pancakes.  Whole wheat flour and halving the sugar make them more of a sweet bread and less of a desserty cake.  (Desserty is a word, right?) Although I did learn this morning to keep and eye on the oven temperature.  One of my sweet daughters turned the knob up to 550 degrees...successfully giving the zuchinni bread a nice crispy black top. *oops* Another benefit of early baking is the oven heats up the house nicely on these chilly fall mornings.  And that makes me happy too.


And because Morgan noticed his missing snow picture and said that it made him sad
here it is...

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

First Snow of October

The 7th of October to be exact.  I'm suppose to be posting pictures of pumpkin patches, apple picking, piles of crunchy leaves and corn mazes.  But, no...we had snow.  A little early for my liking, but on the other hand, the kids were thrilled.  We had smiles all around, except for Tesni... she wasn't quite as happy.


Paul, the boy who was making "dirt angels" not too long ago, got to make "snow angels" instead...


















Jason made several new friends...


It took about an hour to get everyone bundled up.  The layers of clothes, hats, gloves, coats, boots...it seemed neverending.  And, of course, as I was getting the last one out the door the first ones were cold and wanting back in.  Being, the compassionate mother that I am, I told them..., Uh uh, you're going to stay out there at least as long as it took me to get everyone ready. 

Does this face look tramatized for being made to play in the snow a bit longer?


No, I'd say not. And it gave me enough time to get ready myself so I could join Caleb and the kids outside for a bit of fun.  We even have photographs of me which is truly a rare thing...even more rare than an October 7th snow.



Tuesday, October 4, 2011

ec·o·nom·i·cal

1. Giving good value or service in relation to the amount of money, time, or effort spent

With Caleb looking for work I tried to think of some good fun we could do as a family over the summer that did not include much money.  We've played a lot of games like Chess and Monopoly.  I've taught them Skipo and a couple other card games as well.  We visited the local park and library regularly.  So often that I even heard somebody refer to us as the "library and park people".  Haha.

We are also the "campfire people". 

Twice a week we sit around the firepit in our front yard and roast hotdogs and marshmallows.  Well, Caleb and I roast marshmallows...the kids burn them.

I love to see their excitement...how happy it makes them.
I love the good family time of feeling close and connected.
I love the memories we're making.

Economical indeed.

What about you?  What kind of economical fun does your family enjoy?

Monday, October 3, 2011

4 Buoys and 2 Gulls


Kids, as they currently are...
Left to Right.

Tesni 1
Seth 8
Elisa 2
Paul 5
Jason 7
Morgan 4

Good thing there is nothing wrong with this picture.  Like stuff hiding under the couch or legs that look like they haven't been washed in 3 days or imprints on the wall of an enthusiastic door knob...because those could all be slightly embarrassing.   Nope.  This picture is perfect.  Perfect real life.

You'll have to excuse me as I'm still trying to clear out 2 years worth of dust and cobwebs on my blog.  We've had a new paint job and title, but I haven't gotten to the sidebar pictures yet...seriously outdated and I'm missing a child.  Although looking at the picture of a 3 year old Paul makes me realize that Tesni and Paul really do resemble each other. 

You may notice in my archives that we go from 6 entries May 2009 to Wow! 49 entries October 2011.  I've entered blog posts I've written elsewhere (ie. Facebook and "my secret place") in an effort to update while avoiding the "Well, It's been a while.  Here's a recap..." post.  So read them, or don't,  but posts will continue on as if I didn't space out for 2 years. Haha.

*Disclaimer
This picture was in no way influenced by the professional photographer husband.  The credit for this beauty is %100 mine.

Sunday, October 2, 2011

Planted


Well, we've ended up in Idaho.  The beautiful Teton Valley.  We have a new home.  A church to serve in.  School has started once again.  Tesni is walking.  Elisa is potty learning.  Laundry is on the line.  Meals to make. House to clean.  Kids to parent.  Everything and nothing is the same, but one thing is certain life does move on.  We desperately miss what was, but I am determined that we will have a home filled with happiness and contentment no matter where it is on the map.

Saturday, October 1, 2011

Wednesday, April 27, 2011...As I was saying...


Flight into Dallas. We have friends near there with whom we will stay while we look for a vehicle. (This will be Tesni's first time in a car seat! Woo! Hoo!) Plans after that are kind of up in the air. Okay. Really there aren't any. See what I mean about things not turning out as planned. You have some direction and life is going merrily along and then "poof". You don't and it's not and you're left wondering what happened!!! I'm taking it one day at a time. Starting with the losing of all my stuff...again. It's amazing how much comfort and security a bit of familiar worldly possessions can give one. 7 suitcases, 7 carry-on...that is all. But then, of course, I see things like what just happened in Japan and I think...who really cares? Does it really matter? In the grand sceme of things my piddly problems are meaningless. It's just stuff. I get to take with me the most important "things" in my life...we bought them tickets. lol!

Everywhere we go we get counted. People are constantly counting my blessings. :) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6...beautiful children, whom I adore and thank God for. What to see them? I know you do!
700_6017 fc3 c ow2 ws

And this one. Just because I love it!
700_6010 fc3 ow ws

See how blessed I am!

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Things don't always turn out the way we plan.  I'm learning to trust God in ways I've never imagined needing to...ways that hurt.
I've been working on my weight. Down 38lbs since january.
We fly into Dallas may 10th.

Saturday, December 18, 2010...A Picture

Don't know that anyone will even see this as I'm pretty much a nonexistent blogger, but just in case...




All the kids.
Today.
Good looking bunch, if I do say so myself.

Monday, November 29, 2010

Thanksgiving was good. We had company over for the day. She's American. He's Welsh. They have a 1 year old son and go to our church. This was the first time we've ever had guests for a Holiday.

In the morning we did a turkey craft with the kids. Just a color, cut and glue turkey, but on each of the 5 feathers we wrote what they were thankful for. Most of them said things like God, food, snow, family, ect. But Jason said second chances, which if you know anything about Jason you'd know why this strikes me as a little funny. Morgan was funny too. He was intently coloring and I asked him ...

Morgan, what are you thankful for?
"TURKEY!"

Morgan, what else are you thankful for?
"CATS!"

Okay. Morgan, what's another thing you're thankful for?
"CATS!"

I already got that one. Something else.
"CATS!"

No, something else.
"CATS!"

Okay. We'll do cats again. Haha. It was really funny!

I've been thinking a lot about traditions recently. How I want to incorporate more into our holidays. We only have a few because for so many years we just did holidays with whomever we happened to be near had the time. One Thanksgiving tradition we do have is we eat pie for breakfast. This one was Caleb's which he brought into the marriage and who am I to say we can't have pie for breakfast. Haha. It's fun and the kid's love it. :)

I guess I just need to try some fun things and if the kids like it and we all enjoy it and want to do it again next year then it becomes tradition. One idea I stole found was wearing Santa hats anytime we are out together till Christmas. I bought the kids some. They wore them yesterday to church. They loved it. I loved it. It was fun and so incredibly cute seeing 5 little kids walking/riding to church decked out in Santa hats. If this actually does become tradition, I'm going to look into hats for Caleb and me as well. It will increase the fun factor for everyone. :)

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

I have so many thoughts swirling around in my mind. It would help to be able to think things through, but the funnel is jammed. clogged. stopped up.

So how about a list of topics. Can I manage that?

Acceptance gets easier with practice.
Contentment.
Parenting children (not babies).
I have a 7 year old, people! I don't know what I'm doing!
On being 30
Weight loss, or lack there of.
Sweet baby girls.
On decorating.
Unschooling.
On how I don't know how to unschool.
Balancing friendships.
Completing a breastfeeding course.
Welsh Class.
Morgan was potty trained 2 weeks before turning three.
If my ideal cannot be reached, maybe I should change my ideal.
Tandem breastfeeding.
Blessed with furniture.
One year anniversary of being gluten-free.
At 20 months Elisa finally fits her size 12 months pants.
How did I birth such a tiny petite little thing?
Paul, his surprising vocabulary and the funny things he says.
Jason is doing well.
Tesni has a tooth.
Morgan is FINALLY talking.
Tesni is a loud, boisterous, happy baby.

Speaking of whom, I need to go feed her...

Sunday, August 29, 2010...Busy Times

  • We just finished up putting on a week long Holiday Bible Time/Vacation Bible School. We started the week with our three (kids) plus one and ended the week with our three plus seven...all boys. It was pretty fun. A success. And my boys are already looking forward to next summer. It was a lot of time and work on our part, but when I hear Seth and Jason going around the house saying "What time I am afraid, I will trust in Thee" then I know that even if that was all they learned...it was worth it.
  • Jason is doing SO much better. I'm glad that his medicine (homeopathic) is fast working, unfortunately it is also just as fast in not working if we forget to give him a dose, so we really need to stay on top of that. It is hard to believe that just 5 drops 3 times a day could make such a difference in him. He calls it the "medicine that makes you not be angry" and will recommend it to his siblings if one of them is having a temper. lol!
  • I've been doing some more decorating. Elisa's room has been painted and curtained. I'll share pictures once I've added a few more things. Right now the only things in her room are her crib, 2 throw pillows, 2 drying racks (they have to go somewhere lol!) and a sheepskin. I've purchased bunting to hang and there are plans to get a pop-up tent sometime in the future, but that might be a while. I love the colors I chose for her... Very fun and bright.
  • We got a Wii. Can't say that I was too thrilled with the whole idea. I'd rather they play with wooden blocks and cloth dolls lol!, but they have so much fun with it I guess I will just have to tolerate it. Paul (4 years old) is the champion of Swordplay. Oh, that is one good thing about it...they can sword fight without actually hurting anyone. :) Anyway, only Caleb can beat him once in a while. He is that good...don't know how he does it. I also don't need to worry about them being all lazy playing video games. They get hot and sweaty every time. They think you need to put more energy into it to win. I wish we had a video recorder...it's hilarious watching them play. Paul has this one move he does while sword playing. Something like this at 2:09. Cracks me up every time.
  • I'm potty training Morgan tomorrow. It's do or die time now. I missed his "perfect moment". He decided he was ready while I was 9+ months pregnant and unable to cope with it. I made him wait and now he doesn't want to and doesn't care. So it's going to be a bit of a challenge with him. I'm going to have Elisa (18 months) do it with him in hopes that it will encourage him along. And who knows maybe I'll get lucky and Elisa will catch on early.

Monday, August 2, 2010...Moving On

Ok. I'm doing better today. :) The current plan is..

Wait for Jason's medicine to come (we had to order it from the States).
See how he does with it (Doctor says he should be fine).
See how we do over the winter (mold grows most during the cold season).
Re-evaluate the situation in the spring.

Until then I'm going to pray for and love on Jason as much as I can. God has given us this challenge for some reason and I aim to learn all I can because of it. One thing I have learned because of Jason is to never ever judge another's parenting based on how their child behaves. The two don't always coincide.

I'm also going to live as if we are staying. I just did up the boys room (pictures to come). As I was painting the thought was in the back of my mind that I shouldn't even bother because we don't know how long we will be staying. Or why bother with Welsh class. I don't enjoy it and if we leave I will never again use Welsh. Or why bother trying to make friends if we will just be leaving in a few months. But like I said I'm not going to live like that. I can't. It drives me crazy.

Anyway...something fun. I'm learning to crochet! :) I'm so excited about it. :) I have visions of lovely handmade Christmas gifts dancing in my head. Last Tuesday a friend came over to teach crochet. She's coming again tomorrow. I can't wait. :) Pictures of what I've been working on this week...

A hat for myself. It's a little big, but with my thick hair it doesn't matter so much.




A blanket for my new nephew due to be born in October. I'm really pleased with how this turned out. I want one. :)




And for Tesni a little baby bowler hat with a posy. So cute!

Saturday, July 31, 2010...Thoughts With Tears

I don't know what to do with him.
He is up to two naps a day because he is so tired.
He is almost 6 years old.
This shouldn't be.
I have to be careful which room I put him in because he is so destructive.
He will throw and break things.
He's become violent when crossed.
He is big enough now that he can actually hurt me.
When he has the screaming fits it helps if I just hold him...
but what I really want to do is push him away.
Lock him in a room alone.
Leave the house.
It hurts my heart so badly to see him like this.
If it were up to me I'd leave here so fast.
Run away someplace where my child won't be sick.
It's not up to me.
Why did God send us to a mission field and then give us a child who can't be healthy here?
He knew Jason would be sick in Wales long before we did.
I don't understand.
Jason, my son, my sweet baby boy is gone.
I miss him.
I miss who he can be and isn't.

Jason,
I'm so sorry.
We are suppose to take care of you,
but we have not and you are suffering.
I do love you.
Please come back to us.

Monday, July 26, 2010...A Screaming Day

Have I mentioned that Jason has problems with Welsh dirt?

Two weeks ago we got in touch with our naturopathic doctor. One last thing to do before considering taking Jason back to the States...again. He has progressively gotten worse since we returned in February...major de ja vue as parents. I haven't written about it because I promised myself that I would only write positive things about him. We went back to the States in hopes of finding help for him. We did. He was diagnosed with Lyme's disease. He started his supplements. He was doing so well...a different boy. Now he is struggling again. Is it food allergies? Is is the Lyme's? Bad parenting? What is happening?

His test came back showing he has toxic levels of silica/silicone. Silica is in coal and slate (amongst other things). Hundreds of years of slate and coal mining and also burning coal has laced Welsh soil with high levels of silica. His body is not processing it out. Since these findings we have experimented. After being kept inside Jason improves in a couple days. He leaves the house...the next day is bad, especially if we let him play outside. Yesterday he was outside...which makes today a screaming day.

The doctor seems to think that once his body is detoxed he should be able to live here as long as he continues taking his supplement everyday. I just hope it's not too long before he is feeling better. I hate this for him.


Monday, July 19, 2010...Matchy Matchy Sister

I'm not a matchy matchy type person. In fact, I'd say I'm the opposite. Whatever that is... Hodge Podge. Mixy Matchy. Eclectic. I don't know. I can tolerate coordinating, but like it best when we don't match at all. It's not even necessary for clothing to match. Today Seth is wearing green camouflage shorts and a dark purple shirt with green, white and lavender stripes... He looks great. I love it!

I have a few matching outfits for the girls (love saying "the girls" :D) passed down from cousins, but they're usually worn on different days. Sunday I thought I would do something different. Go crazy. Live outside the box...

I matched them. *shock*

And I must say they do look kinda cute. :)




Saturday, July 17, 2010...Long Distance Grandma

The other day Paul was looking through a photo album,
which incidently had pictures of my mom.
Which got him talking about Grandma
and how he wanted to visit her.
How he wished she wasn't so far away.
How this isn't our house...
the house we live in is near Grandma's house.
Getting himself really worked up.
Real tears and everything.

So...
After swallowing the lump in my throat
A brilliant idea.
Let's call Grandma and you can talk to her.
Yeah!

Quick prayer that she is home.
And then...

A happy boy chatting with his loved and missed Grandma.

Telling her about the photos...



Telling her how she is his favorite person in the whole world.
Asking when she is going to come visit.



Telling her about bug armies and other fun boy stuff.
Talking of his new baby Tesni.



All while doing acrobats on the couch...



And loving every minute with his special Grandma.

Wednesday, July 14, 2010....Sibling Love







Sunday, July 11, 2010.... Stuff

  • Leftovers for lunch today. Lentils, re-fried beans with corn chips, cauliflower and sweet potato... aren't you all incredibly jealous. Ooh, careful there, you're going to drool on your keyboard. Haha!
  • I went to a breastfeeding support group on Tuesday. Only because it's a way to meet other moms... not for the breastfeeding support since I could probably run the group myself. lol! I've found that where ever we go we are sort of a crazy novelty... (That's the family with 6 kids in 7 years...Let's everybody stare and count. ...Hey, look. There's one more in the back!) It was no different at the group even though I only had Tesni with me. So that was a little awkward at first, but it was okay by the end. Of course, I was asked how I do it which is always a weird question for me because there are so many things that simply don't get done. So that is what I told them... that I've learned to let a lot of things go. Well, apparently what I thought was common sense was actually pure genius. lol! Everyone was in awe and inspired and the lady in charge wrote it down in her notes so she could share that little gem with other moms. Haha. People are funny!
  • I've finally started decorating the house a bit. I was waiting until we got all the furniture we need, but I've realized that we already have all the furniture we are going to have for the time being so I might as well hang pictures up. My decorations don't fit this house as well, but it's nice to look like we're settling in.
  • Thursday there is usually a mother/toddler group at the library which I've started attending. It was canceled last week, but I walked into town anyway as it's my day. I check all the little charity shops and just have some quiet time with just Tesni. I was suppose to meet a friend on the main street, but we never did find each other. lol! So we are going to try again this week. Mother's group and then out for coffee. It should be fun...I'm looking forward to it.
  • Morgan has made a lot of progress with his speech over the last 2 months. We can understand about 50% now and just this week I've noticed he has moved past the baby babbling stage and he wants to really talk now. Sometimes he stands there and so intently tries to make us understand. I feel bad for him. It must be so frustrating for him even though he is very good about not being understood.
  • And a picture just because I want to share her cuteness. :)


Wednesday, July 7, 2010...Comparing Baby

Well, if anything this post has made me realize how much I need to organize our photos. What a mess! Seth and Jason were born during our traveling days before digital graced our family so what pictures there are of them are spread from boxes in my garage all the way to Grandma's attic in Pennsylvania. And I apparently have folders and folders of really bad pictures sneaking around in my computer making the finding of a good picture much more difficult and time consuming. Oy!

I know I said I thought Tesni resembled Paul, but after looking at these pictures I'm thinking not so much. Maybe it's the temperament that reminds me of him... that and he and she weighed the same. She's looking more like Elisa to me with lighter coloring, but they all have such similar features it's hard to tell. Anyway, since newborns change so quickly I tried to get pictures from their first week of life... one sleeping and one awake, except Seth, who only has one picture.

Tesni 9lbs. 13oz.




Elisa 8lb. 11oz.




Morgan 9lb. 5oz.




Paul 9lb. 13oz.




Jason 8lb. 15oz.




Seth 7lb. 7oz.













So what do you think?

Sunday, July 4, 2010

It's been a month since Tesni joined the family. I felt like I really needed a babymoon and since most my friends really do live in my computer that is the reason for the silence. I took this last month and focused on my recovery and the family adjustment of adding Tesni. (I forget just exactly how difficult those two things are.) She is such a good baby. She's been sleeping through the night since day one. (...if her last feed is around midnight she will sleep til 7am or so, but if I go to bed earlier she will wake sometime in the wee hours. I choose the late bedtime over the interrupted sleep.)

Everyone loves baby. We have had no jealousy issues up until the last couple days. Elisa gets jealous if Daddy is holding Tesni instead of her, but she has no problem sharing him. It's so neat having a daddy's girl...all of the boys have wanted me. Elisa loves rubbing Tesni's head, giving her hugs and licking her face kisses. It's so sweet. This is my second set of 3 children aged 2 and under and let me tell you it is so much easier having a couple pair of 5 and 6 year old arms to hold the baby when I need to get something done. Seth and Jason have been such a big help. They will also pick her up just after I've put her down to sleep, but what can I say...it's a learning process. :)

Tesni weighed in at 11 lb. 6 oz. a couple days ago. Usually when a new little one arrives it makes the previous little one seem so big...like they shot up over night. It didn't work this time around. With Elisa having been so tiny it makes Tesni seem huge. At 4 months Elisa was just a few ounces more than Tesni is now. I'm sure their sizes will even out, but if not they will be sharing clothes a lot sooner than I thought they would.

The general consensus is Tesni looks like Paul. I agree with this both in looks and temperament. She is really laid back and content. I recently found some of Jason's baby pictures (They were lost. Shh! Don't tell him.) so I'm working on a comparison post. I had wanted to do one when Elisa was born, but since there were no pictures of Jason I didn't.

Also coming soon... pictures from the month of June. I just need to go through them and pare it down. There are so many.

Friday, June 4, 2010...Introducing...

Tesni Simone



Arrived today after a 3 1/2 hour labor
at 7:45am
9lbs. 13oz.
20 1/2 in.


So thankful for an "easy" delivery
and a healthy baby.

Birth story to follow...eventually.

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Trying out a new form of birth control...

Keep the baby inside.

For. Ever.

Friday, May 28, 2010...10 Days Over

  • I didn't get the 12 week dating scan...maybe I got my due date off. I've been measuring 1-2 weeks small the entire pregnancy. I NEVER measure small.
  • Hopefully she shows up before Tuesday. The midwife is going to start pressuring me for induction if I go more than 2 weeks over.
  • I declined a sweep on Wednesday. Didn't want to chance her breaking my water and putting me on the clock to get this baby out when baby is obviously not ready yet.
  • I said I would think about a sweep for next week at 2 weeks over. She wrote in my notes that I consented. I don't think she was listening to me.
  • Yes, there have been signs of labor. Lots of lower back pain. Cramping. Strong, take-my-breath-away practice contractions. My hip ligaments feel like rubber bands. Seriously. It's weird. Now if all these lovelies would combine their efforts I'd be grateful.
  • A lady at church told me how she went 21 days late with one of hers. I don't know why she felt she had to share this with me. *sigh*
  • Tuesday I have an appointment at the hospital to get the baby monitored for a while...make sure everything is still working okay.
  • I'm hoping to miss that appointment.
  • Do you think jumping on the trampoline would help?
And...

a couple pictures that have nothing to do with anything except to impress you with my hair styling skillz.



Friday, May 21, 2010

Still waiting. 3 days overdue. I'm pretty sure we nixed our baby name today. I told Caleb this afternoon I was having second thoughts...wasn't sure about it. He said he had been feeling the same way but hadn't mention it because he didn't have any other suggestions. So I guess it's back to square one...or maybe square two as we are tossing around a name we passed over when choosing Elisa. At least now I have something to keep my mind occupied while waiting. :)

Things have slowed down...always does after I pass my due date. I just realized the other day that 2 weeks over makes for a June baby. I really was wanting a baby in May.

Monday, May 17,2010

Elisa is at such a cute age...she's more independent wanting to do new things, but not yet at the tantrum stage because she can't do some things. I love seeing the differences between her and the boys.

Two weeks ago she was working on her 5th and 6th tooth...crabbing and fussing even while being held. I set her in the middle of my bed and put a pile of summer clothes that I had just dug out in front of her. "Here." I said, "Do you want to try on some clothes?" She looked through the pile, picked something out and tried putting it on. So I tried a few items on her, let her pick something new to wear, put her shoes back on (she insisted) then she got down and happily went off to play. lol!

The boys hated trying on clothes.


I stayed home from church yesterday...my ride had sick kids so she wasn't going. Last Sunday I had sick kids... soooo it's been two weeks since I've been out of the house. I have a raging case of cabin fever. It's been so beautiful out too. Just watch, after this baby is born and I'm finally able to walk freely the weather is going to turn rainy and cold. I just know it.

Baby is really really low and I've been enjoying some prodromal labor. I'm dilated to about 4. I was at 5 with Elisa for 2 weeks, so I know it's nothing to fill the pool over, but it does mean progress and that's something.


I accidentally ate wheat several times last week. It didn't cause the stomach pains it was over the fall and winter, but my weight went up 4 lbs in one week. Not happy with that at. all. We got some frozen french fries (which we never do) with a half off coupon from the mail. I didn't even check for wheat. Should be potato and oil, right? ...apparently some people put wheat on their french fries. They don't salt them over here...so maybe there's a sprinkle of wheat instead. Ha. I was kinda bummed about that. What am I suppose to do with the other half of bag sitting in the freezer calling my name? Not eat it that's for sure. 4 lbs in one week is ridiculous, especially since I was at 8 for the whole pregnancy. Wheat is e-vil!

Monday, May 10, 2010

  • Mother's Day consisted of staying home with 2 sick grouchy little ones. Yeah me!

  • Measured Jason's feet...his shoes are 1.5 sizes too small. Couple weeks ago Morgan's feet started getting these weird spots (thought they might be worts?), but found his shoes were 1.5 sizes too small as well. Bad Mommy. Guess I'm going to have to keep up on that better...apparently they are not going to tell me when their shoes don't fit.

  • I'm one week from my due date tomorrow. Any guesses on how late I'll be? I've been 1 day early, 18, 3, 6 and 7 days late.

  • When we go to London to get the baby's passport and birth certificate we are thinking of getting a B&B and spending an extra day doing some fun stuff. I really hope it works out. The challenge will be finding someplace that will accept all the kids in one room. I found some really cool free stuff to do with the kids in London so hopefully it will work out.

Friday, May 7, 2010....A Milestone Day








  • At 14.5 months Elisa is walking.
    She's so pleased with herself.
    Giggling, giggling, giggling
    the whole time.

    Her actual "first steps" were taken for Seth.
    He was pretty excited.