Our summer is off to a great start!  BW received a new gas grill as his Father's Day present just in time as the heat came and we are adjusting to no air conditioning.  I do have to say that while it's been hot, it hasn't been unbearable compared to all those years of 105+ temperatures.  I don't think we've hit the century mark which really makes all the difference.  However, it is great to have the option to cook outside.

Father's Day weekend we celebrated Girl4's 5th Birthday, making her new name Girl5!  I hope to have pictures up soon.  She wanted a unicorn party.  We had a full house and so much fun!  My parents, brother, sister and dear seminary family made long drives to make it.  My friend's daughter, Caitlyn, made the most adorable Unicorn for the "pin the horn on the unicorn" game along with horns made out of wedding wrapping paper!  It even matched the unicorn pinata even though she didn't even know we were having a pinata!  BW inagurated the aforementioned BBQ  and we enjoyed hamburgers and hot dogs.  Girl5 was blessed with so many wonderful presents, but the theme seemed to be shoes!  She got play shoes and clogs and 2 other fun pairs. 

We started swim lessons last week and God blessed us that all 3 kids' lessons are at the SAME TIME.  Our community pool also has a 1 ft deep "baby pool" for Boy2 to play in since I didn't really think he was ready for lessons of his own.  We are continuing a very light school schedule for now.  Looks something like this:

We are going through a chapter of Proverbs each morning, choosing a few that are most applicable. Then,

Monday - Language Arts

Tuesday - Math

Wednesday - Spelling/Handwriting

Thursday - Konos Activity

Friday - Cleaning & Organizing

Girl8 is also reading Pollyanna to me aloud.  I don't ever remember reading it before, but it is a great book!  I'm trying to resist the urge to read ahead to see what happens next. 

This gives us all a little break while helping them to not forget everything they learned before we start up again and keeps us in some sort of routine.

Last weekend, we enjoyed a visit from my sister in law & her family.  It's always so cool to see all the cousins just pick right up where they left off.  We enjoyed a trip to the park for a birthday party(so they got to meet some of our friends from church) and some time at the pool.  They left after church on Sunday, and the heat seemed to leave with them - Sorry, guys! 

This weekend my mom will be here to visit and babysit as BW will be presiding over his first wedding!!  It is so wonderful to watch God put to use all that BW has learned in the past few years.  (As an aside, there really were times when I wasn't quite sure all those seminary classes could possibly be useful for anything, but turns out that they really know what they are doing:) and have taken a man who loves God's Word and helped him to be able to use it as a tool to teach, reproof, correct, train in righteousness and be adequate, equipped for every good work.(2 Tim 3:16-17). )  It is pure joy to watch him minister to our new church body.

That's about all for now. 

Blessings!

-J

Picture the regular chaos at the dinner table in a family of 6.  Mom is serving kids food and trying to have a conversation with her Sweetie whom she hasn't seen all day.  Girl4 has finished her water and is asking for more but Mom has kind of tuned her out while talking to her Sweetie and cutting up meat for Boy7.  Boy2 decides to take matters into his own hands.  He takes a large sip of water out of his sippy cup and spits it back out into Girl4's glass.  What a good brother?!?  Dinner conversation stops as Mom and her Sweetie try not to laugh and piece together what just happened.

Blessings!

-J

After church on Sunday, I returned home with 3 of the kids and began the mundane, normal things of life.  The cat had thrown up on our bed...again... so I threw it in the washing machine, started clearing the last of the breakfast dishes.  I was thinking to myself that this dreary cloudy day might be a good day to invite a family over for dinner.  Girl4 was playing near me in the kitchen.  Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye sparks flew and Girl4 began screaming.  The key left in the electrical outlet filled in the blanks for me. 

Oh, the thoughts that race through your mind!  Was there a fire?  Should I call 911?  How could I have let this happen - I was standing two feet from her!  How could I have forgotten to put the covers on after the move?  Although screaming, she seemed fine.  I looked at her hand and 3 of her fingers were black.  I tried calling BW on the cell phone.  It went to his voice mail.  Grrr!  I dialed again(and again and again-he must have been in an area of cell phone dead space) while getting the "owie pad" (a bean bag) out of the freezer.  After a few minutes I finally got hold of BW and realized that the circuit had been tripped.  I tried wiping the black off with a baby wipe but she screamed and said it hurt.  Eventually I got a hold of BW and he was down the street. 

BW came home and took a look.  He called his mom, a nurse, while I offered Girl4 some lunch to calm her down.  Through her sniffles, she asked for her lunch to be served on the couch and if she could pick a movie.  Our private nurse's orders were to soak it in water for a little bit so we could see if the black would come off.   It didn't come off and she didn't want us to touch it at all.  Her little nails looked like marshmellows that had been held over the fire.  They looked charred.  We decided she need to go to the ER to get checked out. 

After they left I busied myself by looking up everything I could find on electric shock online and putting the electric covers on every outlet in the house.  I called my mom(it was her birthday anyway) and while on the phone there was a knock at the door.  It was the wife of the church administrator offering to watch my kids so I could go to the ER too.  Since BW's cell phone only had one blip I took her up on it.  As I was driving, I kept looking at the other side of the road half expecting them to be on their way home already.  Upon arriving at the ER(an indirect route as I had forgotten exactly where it was in our new town), I found that one of the other pastors had beat me there!  I just love our new church family!

While in the waiting room, GIrl4 was asking to be tickled and other than wanting to keep the icepack on, seemed fine.  We got called in and waited to see the doctor.  At this point, she is asking to go home.  The doctor comes and we relay the story.  The doctor tells us that electric burns can be very serious, says he is going to call a burn center.  Then a nurse comes wanting to do blood work and hook her up to an IV.  BW steps in and has the audacity to ask WHY this is necessary.  The nurse, visibly annoyed, goes back to get the doctor.  He explains that a risk of electric burns is that a chemical from the electricity can get into her bloodstream and affect her organs.  The IV will flush it out and the blood work will see if there is any affect on the organs.  We consent to it, but Girl4 is now begging to go home.  At some point, the doctor tells us that he recommends that we go to a hospital with a burn unit 2 hours away and that they are ordering an ambulance. 

The calm I had felt was gone.  I run home to gather some things - some books for her to read, the teddy bear she's requested and make arrangements for the rest of the kids.  I called grandparents to update them and then called a friend to send an e-mail out requesting prayer from our seminary family.  Right outside the parking lot, I break down and the guilt really sets in.  My friend reminds me of God's faithfulness and that is the chorus that is playing through my mind as I go back in and the ambulance arrives.  Girl4 is sleeping soundly. 

The paramendic assures me that ALL children fall asleep in the ambulance within minutes.  Well, he had never met my daughter!  I knew that since she had just had a nap that would not be the case.  Sure enough, she talked his ear off for the ENTIRE two hours.  She told him knock-knock jokes and asked him to show her how everything in the back of the amublance worked and wanted to know what everything was used for. 

We finally arrive at the hospital at around 10:30 pm.  There is a team waiting for us as she is wheeled in.  BW is about 10 minutes away in his car.  The ER doctor takes one look at her and says "I'm really embarrassed that your doctor sent her here.  The black on her hand is just soot.  You should be out of here in about a half hour."  The paramedics joke that we will probably beat them home.  BW gets there and is surprised, but excited, that we are going to just turn around to go home.  Then I watch in amazement as the burn unit nurse uses SOAP AND WATER to take all the black off and show just a minor superficial burn.  They give us a prescription for neosporin and pain relief. 

Soon, we are on the road again.  I realized I hadn't eaten since breakfast so we stop at McDonalds.  We plug in the portable DVD player for Girl4.  As BW looks back, he begins to laugh as he looks at this little girl in her car seat, eating her french fries, watching her movie, happy as a clam completely oblivious to the emotional turmoil that had been experienced by the adults around her; oblivious to the financial cost of this little adventure(praising God for our insurance); oblivious to EVERYTHING!!  We arrived home around 1:30 am, very tired and drained. 

We are so thankful for God's protection for our little girl who has had a record 3 ER visits in the past year, the only one of our children to ever have to go to the ER.  We are thankful to all those who prayed for us.  We are thankful for our wonderful church family who has ministered to us so greatly since our arrival 8 weeks ago(through flood, fire, 2 broken down cars, and now an ER trip--has it really only been 8 weeks?)  

Hoping next Memorial Day weekend won't be quite so memorable!

Blessings!

-J 

Last week, while my littles were napping, I was feeling generous and gave my big kids a piece of licorice - something rarely done during the day(Yes, Mom, it is the same batch you gave me from Valentine's Day).  All of a sudden, I heard Boy7crying hysterically.  After much deciphering, I figured out that he had bitten into his licorice and his tooth became very loose, to the point that a little blood had come out.  The taste of blood in his mouth completely freaked him out.  He would not let me touch it and wasn't even wild about me looking inside.  He was crying that he didn't want to lose his tooth.  I explained that it was part of growing up, his older sister has lost 2, that it isn't painful to lose them.  He continued to cry and asked why God didn't just put in his big teeth right away.  This made me giggle as I pictured how he would have looked as a baby with adult teeth!  Nothing I was saying could console him or calm him down so I could look to see how loose this tooth actually was.  He even said that he would never eat licorice again!

He was so inconsolable that I called BW to see how far he was from home and prep him for what he was walking into that evening.  I thought that his father would have words to console him, but while Daddy used all the same encouraging words that I did, the wimpering continued.  At dinner and at breakfast an at lunch the next day, he complained about everything he ate saying that it was hurting his tooth and he didn't like that it was wiggling. 

I offered to tie a string around his tooth and slam the door(completely joking).  A few minutes later, he asked if we did the door thing if it would hurt - he was seriously considering it!

That night, during his bath he called me in.  He told me that he had just prayed that God would help him to be brave about his loose tooth.  I told him that I knew God would answer that prayer. 

Fast forward to Sunday night.  We returned from a trip to Northern California for BW's Grandmother's funeral.  It was his turn to brush his teeth.  As he brushed, his tooth just popped out onto the sink!  BW happened to be in there brushing Boy2's tooth.  Boy7 was so excited!  He was jumping around and showing off his tooth to everyone.  So now my guy looks like this:

The next morning, he was in our room to wake us up.  He was excited that God had helped him to be brave, that it didn't hurt and that he received $2 from the tooth fairy.  He also loves sticking his tongue in the empty space and grossing out his sisters. 

Never a dull moment around here!

-J

(picture taken during first snow day)

BOY2 WANTED: For household troublemaking

Today's schooling lasted a little longer than usual.  Boy2 was quiet, but I knew that other kids were in the back of the house so I figured (well, if I'm honest I was pretty engrossed in school with the others and didn't think about him much since there was no crying or loud crashes) that he was playing with the bigger kids.  After finishing school, I became a detective and re-traced numerous crime scenes to determine Boy2's activities throughout the morning:

1) Based on the evidence of cat food all over the laundry room floor and in the cat's water dish, I have concluded that Boy2 started his morning in the laundry room.  It seems he was originally trying to feed the cats, but then found that mixing the cat food and water was pretty fun.

2) His next stop was my bedroom where I found the linen closet door opened and pretty much every towel and blanket pulled out.

3) Apparently looking to see what trouble he could make in other bedrooms, his next stop was his sisters' room where he completely took apart two 100 piece puzzles his older sister had completed.  She may forgive him one day...

4) His final activity was in the kids bathroom where he had pushed a stool over, climbed onto the counter, opened up the medicine cabinet(which fortunately contains no medicine!) and pulled out and unpeeled EVERY bandaid we own - a total of about 3 boxes!   

The very curious thing is that he did not seem to spend ANY time in his own room!  Checking his room, his bed was still made and everything looked to be in perfect order!

I have a feeling I am going to be in trouble because he is just so cute that it's really hard to be mad at him!  When I showed him the messes room by room his defense was "Oh my goooooodnessss!" to each one in a way that made it really hard not to laugh.

And while I'm talking about "his cuteness", he transitioned from the crib to the boys room bottom bunk when we moved.  He's been pretty consistent about going to sleep in his bed, but coming into our bed(with pillow) before morning.  I have been sleeping pretty soundly because most of the time I don't notice he's there until morning(when my back is all tweaked!).  A couple weeks ago he started waking me up with a smile and saying "Mommy, you are my su-shine"...and then he wants me to sing the song to him.  It took me a while to even figure out where he heard that song though one of the kids finally helped me to credit a Veggie Tales movie.   Now, usually when he's in trouble, he will look up at me with the eyes in that picture and say "Mommy, you are my su-shine!" and put his little arms around my neck!  How can the manipulation begin so early?

Blessings!

-J

Camping is one of those things that if I think about it too much, I would probably never schedule into our calendar.  It's exhausting, takes an enormous amount of preparation, isn't all that comfortable,  and results in many loads of laundry BUT my children love it so I think it will be part of our family memories for years to come. 

Pictures of our trip with our seminary family from last week are now in my slideshow.  I unfortunately didn't take as many pictures as I usually do - the cold air must have done something to my brain!  After our 3 hour drive down to Pt. Magu, we set to work setting up our area of the campsite.  We have the appearance of very experienced campers since we have so much nice camping equipment thanks to our families who granted our request of camping equipment for Christmas one year.  Since BW is mainly responsible for this task, I got to chase Boy2 up and down some hills and through some bush for quite a while.  It has been 8 months since our first ever camping trip and I was amazed at how much different it was camping with our little guy this time.  For one, he is much more surefooted and fell a lot less.  He was able to get up more trails and this meant that I was pretty constantly on the go.  Conversations were started to be interrupted as I saw him heading for the hills.  Also, since he is out of a crib we didn't bother to take the Pak-n-play on this trip.  He got his own sleeping bag!  Not that he actually slept in it.  Both nights, he wormed his way into sharing my sleeping bag with me!

The wind whipped up early and I pulled out my kids' winter coats, hats and gloves that I had recently bought because we were moving to the snow!  On night two I was glad I didn't have a thermometer to make me feel any colder than I already was.  The kids slept in their coats that night.

I will say that it is definitely more fun to camp with a group of other families.  Not only are there built in friends for my kids to play with, but the cooking is shared!  Each kid found one or two other friends to play with.  Girl4 latched onto a 4yo boy who she only knew as her "camping friend".  She never did find out his name, but just called him her "camping friend."   Boy7 found plenty of other boys who were really good at finding sticks and coming up with all sorts of games with which sticks were required.  Girl8 found a group of girls to go "hiking" with, collect flowers and find secret hiding places. 

On Friday morning, everyone was geared up for a "kid friendly" hike.  It wasn't long before we came to a steep section of trail and we realized that we had taken the wrong trail!!!  We headed back down and I was all ready to say that I had completed my hiking duties for the trip.  But I dutifully followed my kids with up the correct trail.  The wind had died down and it warmed up.  I was surprised by how far my kids were able to go though I did eventually have to turn around with the younger ones.  We were able to see some beautiful wildflowers, lizards and butterflies. 

After a short nap, we headed down to the beach.  I knew it would be way too cold to actually go in the water so I didn't even bother to bring my kids swimsuits, but for some reason my kids couldn't get it through their heads that one COULD go to the beach without actually going into the water.  Eventually, they found something else to occupy their time - rock climbing.  There were some great rock formations and Boy2 thought he could keep up with all the other kids.   Amazingly, we came through without any major injuries.

BW eventually joined a group playing volleyball and the older kids were able to join him.  Girl8 was especially impressed with her dad's volleyball skills and kept bragging in the car about how he was diving for balls.  I just kept thinking about the hike from the morning and knew that my beloved would probably be very sore the next morning.

We heard some great devotions and had some wonderful worship time around the campfire.  Boy2 fell asleep on my lap both nights.  Girl4 enjoyed roasting the marshmellows but wanted to eat hers plain.  Our seminary family has been such a blessing to us and it was so fun to spend some time with them.  I kept myself busy enough that I didn't allow myself to think of the fact that I probably won't be seeing many of them on a regular basis anymore.  I continue to operate in a "see you later" mode since we aren't quite finished with seminary yet.  It will be a great joy to find out where God has planned each to serve - we may have friends all over the world someday! 

In the end, I couldn't wait to get home to my warm bed and a long shower - comforts that you aren't truly thankful for until you've been without them.  Then we looked forward to celebrating Sunday with our new church family and starting (finally) into a "normal" routine. 

Blessings!

-J

For most of us sharing and giving does not come easily.  In fact, the Bible has a good explanation for this truth!  But my Boy7 has always really struggled with sharing, holding onto his toys a little too tight.  He's the kid who the day after his birthday was planning what his next birthday party theme was going to be and what kind of toys he was going to get.  He will spend hours pouring through a toy catalog that comes in the mail and want to go through it with me listing all the things he wants to get.  As we have been going through Proverbs in recent weeks during our morning devotions, we've been touching on a lot of Proverbs that discuss the importance and benefits of giving. 

As I've talked about below, we are moving again (we are down to 15 days! Yikes!  I need to get busy!).  And, as always during a move, I try to "consolidate", particularly in the area of clothes and toys.  In the past, I would bag up some toys in a bag they couldn't see through when Goodwill would come out to pick them up(because I had one experience where they saw the man taking their "prized possessions" through the front window and, oh, the tears that were shed! and another where they saw the bag ahead of time and by the time they were done going through it the bag was empty). 

Well, yesterday I was going through toy bins and trying to make it so that they were not overflowing, but that the tops could actually be put on!  Anything that was making it overflow was going to be given the next time the charity truck comes or given away on Freecycle.  Well, I was particularly working yesterday on our Rescue Hero bin because an e-mail on Freecycle had come through asking specifically for Rescue Hero toys or videos for a 7yo boy. 

BW had taken the kids out yesterday and I wasn't quite finished when they came back.  "What are you doing, Mom?" asking innocently but accusing at the same time.  I'd been caught!  I explained that we had lots of Rescue Hero toys and that there was a little boy who really liked Rescue Heroes but didn't have very many.  They looked through my bag and did pull one or two out but for the most part realized that we did have many duplicates.  I was expecting a showdown with Boy7 and had my list of reasons why He was being selfish and trying to wrack my brain to remember the Bible references in the book of Proverbs, but he said nothing!

I mentioned to BW during dinner that I had consolidated both the Rescue Hero and Thomas bins down to one bin each, feeling quite proud of myself.  He asked if we were getting rid of the Command Center too.  My instinct was "of course not", but as I started thinking about it, it is this HUGE toy that often has been put in the garage because it takes up sooo much room(sorry Aunt Kelly).  And the house we are going to has less living room area than we currently have. 

It took a little convincing and you could see the war going on in his little heart.  But finally, he said, I guess I could draw a command center out of paper and tape it up in my new room!  Girl8 thought that was a great idea and offered to help in this new project.  So, he said that he'd like the boy to have it.  We put it out before he had a chance to change his mind.

Later that night, he was just beaming!  He just kept talking about how excited he thought the boy was going to be with his toys and Command Center.  We received an e-mail from the mom of the boy this morning and I read it to him.  She said her little guy was more excited than he had been on Christmas morning and included a thank you typed in by her son.  Boy7 keeps talking about how good it feels to make someone else happy. 

I am putting this story, not because I am trying to say that my kids are perfect --- so far from it --- but because for this particular boy he got a glimpse, for what may have been the first time, that doing things God's way doesn't always feel good at first, but in the end gives us great joy and peace.  Also, there are so many times when my thoughts send me down the road of all the ways my kids aren't where I would like them to be that I am trying to be more intentional about recognizing the progress they are making and to remind myself that there is a process to their maturing.  The process can be painfully slow from a mother's view, but when that "light bulb" goes on it is truly God's gift.  I praise God for working on my little guy's heart through His Word and that we parents are not in this all alone, but have the Creator of the universe to help us in this journey of parenting.  Now, if He could only help me teach Boy7 how to tie his shoes!

Blessings!

-J

Take a minute and check out my new slide show!  I included everything from Thanksgiving through Girl8's birthday through Christmas Day so it may take a few minutes to get through, but in my opinion my kids are cute enough that it's worth it.  Also, before you call the authorities on me, my kids just rode slowly around the block on the motorcycle with bicycle helmets.

-J

I just wanted to take a second to share some routines/habits/traditions that my 2 year old has started.  It is amazing what creatures of habit 2yos can be.  I am trying to retrace to see how some of these got started but right now here are a few of his routines that he is really picky about.

Bedtime - He takes Lightning McQueen, Chick, the King and one other no named car to bed with him along with his Rocket from Little Einstein and a sippy cup of water to his crib.  If any of these are missing, he has me trained to go out and search for them.  Then we usually have to move the cat out of his crib and I put him in.  Then he orders me to pray (he folds his hands).  Then he says, "Mama, sing!"  If I sing anything other than the hymns "Take my life and let it be", he interrupts me.  Then I need to sing "Jesus Loves Me."  He sings along with me and does hand motions.  Then he stands up in his crib for a hug and a kiss.  Then he lays down and says "Blanket on."  Then I turn on the radio to the classic music station and he goes to sleep. 

Drinking milk - My little guy has never gotten used to drinking his milk straight out of the refrigerator.  I have lowered the amount of time in the microwave to only 10 seconds.  It seems to be more important to him that it has gone into the microwave than that it gets warm.  Then he had noticed me sneaking Benadryl into his milk a couple months ago when his nose was runny.  Well now, I at least have to feign that I am putting Benadryl in his cup! before he will drink it. 

Poopy diapers - Think this is a sign that he's ready for potty training?  When he has gone #2, he goes to the cupboard, gets a diaper and spreads it out on the floor, takes the wipes off the counter and then comes to get me and leads me over to the floor to change his diaper.  This reveals two things about being the 4th kid - 1)you never get to use an actual changing table like the first kid(we didn't even own one for kids 3&4) and 2)Mom is not interested in thinking about potty training you until you can competently pull your own pants on and off and we have a complete week where we don't have anywhere to go and can be in lockdown.  Maybe we will have a time like this before he leaves for college...

His favorite food is "roni and cheese" and he gives great hugs.  He is just such a joy to our family!

Blessings!

-J

Boy6 was the first one up, saw all the presents under the tree, came into our bedroom and turned on the lights!  Needless to say, he didn't receive a "Merry Christmas" greeting from his parents.  Once we pulled ourselves together, we went out to the living room. 

A tradition carried over from my childhood is that the Baby Jesus is not put in the manger until Christmas morning.  Before any presents are opened, Baby Jesus must be searched for and placed in the manger.  This year, he was on top of our stack of Bibles (seminary Dad's idea - He is the Word after all!).  Then the stockings were opened.  Highlights - Boy6 got spaghetti - his favorite dinner - and Boy2 got some Cuties(see below). 

I really tried to maintain some order during the present opening so that I could see what everyone got (and who they were from) and watch the expressions on their faces but it got hard towards the end.  Boy2 wanted to immediately play with whatever he opened, making him behind in the present opening rotation and with a stack of presents to open long after everyone else was done. 

Then Daddy made our traditional breakfast of pancakes and waffles with bacon.  Girl8 was the only one who wanted chocolate chips on her pancake.  After that, everyone picked out a new outfit (well, except BW because I've given up trying to buy clothes for him - he really needs to try things on first) and we took off for Grandma & Papa's.

There was a whole other group of presents to open, a delicious dinner and yummy desserts.  It was great to have all of my siblings together (though I blanked on getting a picture-grrr!) and visit with everyone. 

Overall, it was a very Merry Christmas.

Every year except for last year (we had moved the week before Christmas last year) we have spent Christmas Eve with church family.  This tradition started because our first church home had services at a school four doors down from our house.  We invited people over after church, specifically people who didn't have family in town.  Then we spent Christmas Day with relatives, always fun too!

This year we were blessed to have 5 seminary families and 2 families from our church come over for Christmas Eve.  Rather than trying to do something late after Christmas Eve service, we changed it this year to a Christmas Eve potluck.  Considering all the seminary families with children had an average of 4 kids, our house and backyard was quite full but so much fun!  I was blessed that lots of food was brought so the amount of cooking I had to do was pretty limited.  God was kind enough to make the wind die down just for the party so we were all able to enjoy the backyard.  We sang Happy Birthday to Jesus and had special cupcakes.  For the second time, we had a donut eating contest where donuts are hung on a string and you have to eat it without using your hands.  After the kids had a turn, the seminary men had a competition.  The winner was the host (and probably the most experienced donut competitor in the field) was my dearly loved husband!  We were also serenaded by a dear 11 yo boy who is quite accomplished on the violin.   We had a great time.

Then we did some quick change into church clothes and headed off for Christmas Eve service.  At the last minute, BW being the children's pastor decided it would be fun for the kids who were there to sing Jingle Bells and Away in a Manger.  Well, our kids ended being the only children at the service.  We discovered that we will NOT be the Von Trapp family!  Boy2 took one look at the crowd and attempted to hide behind the Christmas Tree.  Girl4 wanted the microphone to HER mouth(see Christmas Program below) and when she didn't have it said she wasn't singing - what a Diva!  Then once the singing began, she went over and hugged the Worship Pastor's leg as he was playing guitar.  I'm sure it was quite humorous to everyone except their mother!  Maybe a little practice would be in order before we try this again...and each kid have their own microphone:) or maybe they'll just retire early...

Then we went home where the kids usual tradition is to open one present - pajamas, usually matching.  But unfortunately, this year I ordered them online and they didn't arrive.  One of those things I had to work really hard not to let bother me and spoil my Christmas.  Fortunately, though, I had finished wrapping the night before and because no one got anything that needed to be put together, we were able to go to bed early and I don't even remember my head hitting the pillow. 

-J

It was such a blessing for me that BW was home that last week before Christmas with finals done:)  I was able to go out and do some Christmas shopping ALL BY MYSELF!!!!  Only moms with children can truly understand the feeling of freedom to have a whole day to make as many stops as you want and not have to buckle anyone in carseats!

A tradition that I have had with Girl8 was continued this year.  Every year we have gone to the dollar store where she was allowed to pick out gifts for family members.  This year she was very proud and excited because she had her OWN money she had saved to spend.  What fun to watch her try to decide what everyone would enjoy.  She chose a doll (and added a bottle and clothes) for Girl4, a bow & arrow for Boy6, a mini nutcracker and dog bath sponge for Boy2 and a toolbox and flashlight for Dad.  So I assume we are done, but she is hesitating.  She wants to buy something for Grandma & Papa too.  And then if she gets them something she also wants to get something for the others who will be at Grandma & Papa's on Christmas.   How early this gene appears in women!

Then she says she wants to get something for Grandma & Papa in Nor Cal.  I explain that it won't get there by Christmas.  She says it's ok because they will have fun opening something after Christmas.  That was where I stopped her because she was ready to start shopping for all of BW's family and I knew that she was close to her spending limit.  So she decided to buy her own wrapping paper and tape.  Then she got to count out the $15! she had spent by the time she was through.  She just loved wrapping her presents, hiding them from the others and watching them open them on Christmas morning.

The next day I took Boy6 in for the same purpose.  His main worry was that Girl8 had told him what she wanted (she had just been there the day before after all) but he wasn't sure which one was the one she wanted. Then he kept finding things he wanted for himself.  However, within 6 minutes he had finished all of his shopping and was ready to go home. 

-J

I hope to have Christmas pictures up soon (I know, I said that about Thanksgiving too - be patient with me!  I haven't had much time for the editing of pictures lately.  Hoping to combine Thanksgiving and Christmas into one slideshow...someday...). 

We were blessed the week before Christmas to attend a wonderful church Christmas concert and a presentation of the Nutcracker specifically designed for kids.  The 3 older kids & I were able to learn a little about lighting, set and costume design as well as enjoy the beautiful ballet and music of the Nutcracker. 

Additionally, we had our own little star in the Awana cubbies Christmas program.  Girl4 was a wiseman(wiseperson?).  Fortunately, since she had been a wiseman last year I had some tips about how to make the costume.  Buy a piece of regal looking fabric, fold in half, cut a hole in the head and buy some gold cord to wrap around the waist.  I had trouble finding a gold crown this time of year so I substituted for a golden candle wreath.  Last year she was freaked out that the gymnasium had been so dark.  Not this year!  This year, she went up, pulled the microphone that was meant for the whole group and belted out her version of "Go Tell it on the Mountain."  Only problem?  The emcee had made a mistake.  The song our group had practiced for weeks was "O Come all Ye Faithful".   So she didn't know the whole song, but the parts that she did know the whole gym heard loud and clear.  Coming off the stage, she said "Can I do it again?"  The rest of the night as we were enjoying refreshments she kept sneaking back onstage to the microphone.  Wonder where she could have gotten that from?

-J

The kids go to Awana on Wednesday nights while I attend my Seminary Wives Discipleship.  We decided that we weren't going to skip out on our church activities because Halloween happened to land on it.  Fortunately, the Sparks are having dress as your favorite Bible Hero Night and Cubbies are having dress as an animal so they are getting part of the Halloween fun.  Girl7 will be going as Queen Esther (went into JoAnn's looking for some fabric to put around her a few weeks ago and found that they were already marking down their costumes 50%! so I got her a queen costume for $8) and Boy6 wants to go as Jesus(will be wearing my white robe).  Girl4 has some ladybug wings to wear (beforementioned sale for only $4) and Boy2 has a spider hat to wear.  Although the kids are bummed about not trick or treating this year, I am pleased that I didn't have to worry about the expense of costumes, what neighborhood to trick or treat in, shielding my kids from inappropriate or scary costumes or purchasing any candy for potential trick or treaters that I would be tempted to eat, not to mention the loads of it that come with trick or treating!

So on our weekly trip to the library last week, I spied It's a Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown! and convinced the kids that they needed to see it.   Before showing it, I told them about how when I was little this only came on once a year and we pretty much cleared our schedules(finished homework, etc) so that we could watch it because if you missed it, you had to wait until the next year - there were no VCR's, DVD's, etc.  Girl7 said, "Mommy, you mean when you were little you could only watch what was on TV?"    All of my children stared at me in disbelief and for what might have been the first time as a mother, I realized how much "older" I am than my kids and what different childhoods they will have than my own.  Then we watched the movie and I was the one amazed to find that it's only 18 minutes long when you take out all the commercials.  No wonder my generation has a huge need to buy everything in sight - Do you have any idea how many commercials we saw each day? 

-J

I was helping Girl4 in the bath tonight, which is when we have some of our deepest conversations.  I put the shampoo in her hair and she bunched it up on top of her head

Girl4:  Don't I look beautiful?

Me:  You sure do!

Girl4: This is how I am going to wear my hair when I get married and have a wedding.

Me:  That will look nice. 

Girl4: When I grow up I am going to be a mama and I'm going to have 5 children."(holding up her hand to show me 5).  But first I need to get married.

Me: You need to marry a man who loves God and His Word.  Mommy & Daddy pray that God will give you just the right man.

Girl4:  He's going to have to be like me. 

Me: What do you mean?

Girl4: He's going to have to have skin.

Me: (Holding back a chuckle) That would be important.

Girl4:And he's going to have to talk like me.

Me: Talk like you?

Girl4: Yes, because if he speaks Spanish or somethin we won't be able to talk to each other so he has to talk like me.

Me: Yes, I guess that would be important unless you learned to speak another language or if he knew two languages.

Girl4: And our boys are going to be named Sammy and Peter and our girl is going to be named Love(ends the sentance with her arms folded, a tilt of the head and a sigh).  And I am going to teach them about God and they are going to be so special!

Sometimes being a mom can be lots of fun:)

Here's another one from my deep thinking 4yo.

Girl4 comes into the kitchen and says:  Mommy, did you know God created the WHOLE world with just saying it?

Me: Uh, huh (patting myself on the back since I was her Sunday School teacher last month and taught on creation).  Isn't that amazing?

Girl4: He said, "Let there be the sun and it was just there."  God is very powerful.  I hope when I grow up I can be just like God so that whatever I say will happen just like I want it to.

Me:  Thinking to myself, Um...think I may have missed a step in the Sunday School lesson and need her dad to go over her theology a bit...

-J

Could use some prayer.  Boy2 lost his last pacifier today ("pie" as he affectionately calls it).  We had been limiting him to just in bed for the past 6 mths or so and refused to buy another one.  It's been pretty cute to see him wake up in the morning and put it on the nightstand before running out and saying "I hungee, Mommy".  I took it with us today as we were going on a field trip and I wanted to stick it in his mouth in case he got too noisy and somewhere over the course of the hour, I realized he no longer had it in his mouth and could not find it anywhere.  I happened to find one in the back of the junk drawer, but it just isn't the same.   In God's sovereignty BW is away chaperoning a science camp tonight and tomorrow night so it shouldn't disrupt anyone's sleep but mine.  Another milestone....My baby isn't a baby anymore.

Grace & peace,

-J

I had one of those scares almost two weeks ago that I will never forget as a mother.  It started as our family's typical Saturday morning with some cartoons and pancakes.  Then BW went off to study while I took the kids to Target.  I had boy2 in the shopping cart seat and girl4 in the back.  The facts are now a little blurry, but basically my list dropped and I jerked the cart back to pick up my list.  Then I saw out of the corner of my eye, my 4yo flip out of the cart onto the tile floor and heard a noise so horrible that those shopping around me gasped along with me as she started to scream.

I picked her up and held her face to my chest to muffle the scream, touching the back of her head where I assumed there would be a huge bump.  I didn't find one.  I lifted her face off my chest and had to immediately put it back again because I saw the grossest green golf ball sized goose-egg growing on her forehead.  Of course, her older brother was busy scolding her for not sitting in the cart and I had to try to keep him quiet and push the cart thinking I just needed to get her out of the store.  A store employee came up, asked what had happened and offered to get her some ice.  Thinking she was taking me to someone experienced in first aid, I followed her.  Then she walked over to the Pizza Hut area and started wrapping some ice in a napkin!  I explained that I just needed to get her out of here because it was pretty bad. 

So I pushed the cart out to my van and strapped her in.  At that point, the other kids saw her head and started getting upset.  Once everyone was in the car, I parked the cart (unfortunately, I realized later that there had been some items in the cart!), and called BW on my cell phone.  He said to just get everyone home and he would meet me there.   Of course, I got every red light on the way home.  I kept talking to her and asking her questions.  She was whining, but ok. 

Once home, I started freaking because it didn't appear to me that my husband was going quite fast enough in getting her to the ER.  He assured me that there were lots of good signs that she was fine - she had never passed out, her speech was not slurred, she was not vomiting.  He put her in the car and I started trying to figure out who to call to watch my other kids so I could go to the hospital.   I chose to try first one of our friends from church who lived close by.  Fortunately, she was doing nothing and was over within about 15 minutes so I began my own journey to the hospital. 

Meanwhile, BW talked to Girl4 the whole way to the ER and as they were crossing the parking lot, she told him she didn't need to go to the doctor.  He thought maybe she was just worried since she had been in the ER just about a month earlier with severe stomach pains and had a bunch of tests done.  Then she said, "Daddy, we can go to the doctor, but it is God who will heal me." 

By the time I got to the ER(which was very crowded), she was all smiles and laughing - I decided she was delirious.  The triage nurse went through a series of questions, and gave her and ice pack but didn't seem to concerned for the same reasons as BW.  When we saw the wait would be a while and I saw that she seemed to be fine other than the enormous ball coming out of her forehead, I went home to relieve our "babysitter". 

Ultimately, BW decided that instead of waiting he would bring her home, watch her and take her back if something changed.  With the exception of some grumpiness, she was fine all day.  Eventually, in the afternoon before her nap with Daddy, we let her look in a mirror.  The expression on her face was almost comical as she touched the bump on her forehead after looking in the mirror.  I even went back to Target later in the day (since I had never ended up buying what we needed the first time) though I didn't go back to THAT Target. 

Praising God!!! that He was gracious to spare her from any real damage.  Sunday, she went to church and did fine other than the fact that she was becoming sensitive about people asking her what happened.  By Monday, she had two black eyes and looked like a racoon with a small bump on her head.  Honestly, she looked like she had been in a car accident.  I didn't show her a mirror - amazing that 4 year olds really don't bother to look in mirrors often!  Finally, on Wednesday, she was in the bathroom while I was getting ready and asked if she had accidentally put marker on her eyes.  Since Tuesday was our first Bible Study Fellowship of the year, I called the Children's coordinator to ask her to tell the teachers what happened so I wouldn't have to tell the story in front of her over and over - and so no one would call CPS. 

Two weeks later, she still has some greenish circles around her eyes, but is definitely nothing like it was before.  BW did decide to take a picture(I had no such desire) and had her make a scary face - Those pictures will not be posted online:)  A close family member said too bad it's not Halloween yet!  Men have such different humor!

I am so humbled that God protected her and give Him all the glory for healing her. 

-J

We've begun our journey into hands on discovery learning and it's making my kids act weird! 

Example #1

Girl7 has become incredibly fascinated with the life of Helen Keller.  We borrowed the Miracle Worker from the library last week and she was watching it every chance she got.  So yesterday, while I was at Costco with all 4 kids, I noticed that she was pretending to be Helen Keller - reaching out to me, eyes glazed over and using sign language to communicate.  Did my fear of man ever creep up!  Then she started spelling everything using sign language - an awesome academic exercise (maybe I should have her spell in sign language during her spelling tests?)- but it was taking so long for me to figure out what she was trying to tell me and I was in COSTCO WITH 4 KIDS!  Boy2 watched her and started copying the sign language.

Example #2

BW questioned what I had done during Konos time yesterday.  I explained, among other things, that we had covered a bowl with plastic wrap, poured some salt on top and talked over it to see the sound vibrations move the salt.  We saw that the louder you yelled, the more the salt seemed to "dance".  BW said that he saw Girl4 outside on all fours yelling at the dirt on the ground trying to get it to dance.  When he questioned her, she explained that it was what Mommy taught her to do.  Boy2 saw her, crawled alongside her and started yelling at the dirt too. 

Example #3

As we've been learning about different composers and music pieces, Boy6 has enjoyed conducting while the music is playing.  I walked into the room to see him standing on the couch, tapping a pencil on a package of diapers.  After finding out that the diapers were his music stand, I found Boy2 pulling his own package of diapers through the kitchen on his way to the couch. 

Benefit of homeschooling - I know where these weird behaviors are coming from!  Can you imagine if they just came home from school and started doing some of these things?  I'd probably think about calling some kind of asylum!

Blessings!

-J

We survived!  It felt a little like I was on Survivor, but we made it through two whole nights of camping!!! 

I have to admit that I didn't know that we would.  A couple nights before we left, BW set up the tent in the backyard so we would know how to set it up at the campsite.  The kids begged to sleep inside and BW & I were drawing straws to see who had to sleep outside with them.  After tucking them in, BW & I came inside and within 30 seconds, Girl4 said she was too scared to sleep there.  She wanted to sleep in her own bed.  We tucked her into her own bed and went back to talking.  In a little while we heard screaming and yelling coming from the backyard.  BW went to check it out - A neighborhood cat had found it's way through one of the tunnels that wasn't sealed off and came into the tent!  Between that and the noise of the traffic(thank God for double pained windows!), it was decided that everyone would sleep inside for the night.  After this incident, I had my doubts that we could become a camping family.

After weeks of planning, days of packing, BW began to pack the car.  He came inside and told me that he didn't think everything was going to fit.  I didn't say anything, but pretty sure I gave him a look that said "Make it fit!"  As you can see from the slide show above, there was not room for a single extra thing. 

We arrived at the campsite and were given options of what sites were still available.  After checking them all out, we opted for the large campsite next to the bathrooms, deciding that with 4 kids 7 and under the convenience was more important than the lack of privacy. 

As BW began to set up camp, we quicky realized that camping with the almost 2yo was going to pose the greatest challenge.  So someone needed to be on Little Boy duty at all times.  This often involved taking him for walks to keep him busy.  Being 23 months and doing a lot of walking, his little legs gave out pretty quickly and he would stop and say "huggie" and we would have to pick him up and carry him on our shoulders.  I soon found that I am out of shape (time to pull out those exercise videos again). 

As far as meals go, I learned a few things.  Everything I read stressed how important it was to freeze your meat.  Well, the first night I learned that you should freeze everything but the meat you plan to eat on the first night!  I also think we may be investing in a camping bbq before the next trip.  I did manage to make spaghetti and stir fry for dinners and pancakes and french toast with bacon for breakfast. 

Boy6 had a rough day the second day.  Within 15 minutes of getting to the beach, he was climbing on a rock, slipped, fell into the water and a wave pushed him back up against the rock.  Fortunately, I had thought to pack a small first aid kit with bandaids that made him feel well enough to start making a sand castle.  He never did go back into the water.  Then after dinner that night, as I was washing dishes, I heard (as did the rest of the camp) a loud scream.  We managed to figure out that he had been stung by a bee on his neck.  I pulled out the stinger as BW held him still and I was pleased that my large first aid kit had some kind of sting wipes which made him feel better - and we now know he's not allergic to bees!  But he was still ready to go home - until I reminded him that we couldn't pack up the tent in the dark and if we left now, we couldn't have french toast(with french toast bread) in the morning.

Sleeping proved most difficult on Boyalmost2.  He didn't like being in the pak-n-play much and had trouble falling asleep, both at naptime and through the night.  Both nights he ended up sleeping with me - my little sleeping bag warmer.  The other kids enjoyed sleeping in the tent and I have to admit it was a joy to hear their giggles coming out of the tent after we put them to bed.  The only problem they had was when their flashlight/nightlight ran out of batteries in the middle of the night. 

Overall, it was just beautiful (see slide show for pictures) and we all had a great time.  We enjoyed some great hiking trails and walking over to the beach throughout the days.  They had some great tidepools and we were able to find hermit crabs and parts of lots of sea animals.  On the hiking trails, we identified some poison ivy, found lots of lizards, bunnies, squirrels and saw a deer.  We also learned from one of the trail boards about how to identify whether a snake is poisonous (the thought that he might see a snake on the hiking trail didn't make boy6 want to go hiking too much).  We went to watch the sunset over the beach one night - What a miracle God's creation is!  How anyone could think that it all just happened randomly is beyond me! 

And probably the biggest blessing is that we were only 45 minutes from home!  We were able to get home, unpack and do laundry before dinner (where we hit the new In-N-Out Burger in town - cooking just sounded too exhausting to me). 

So, I might be converted into becoming a camper after all - maybe just once a year...

-J

Boy6, Girl7 and BW were playing Old Maid last night.  Boy6 did got the Old Maid and said "Oh, man!"  BW explained that he wasn't supposed to tell them that he had it, but pretend he didn't.  Next round, Boy6 gets the Old Maid again and makes a face so that everyone knows he has the Old Maid.  BW tries not to laugh and explains again that he can't make a face because everyone will know that he got it.  The next round of play, Boy6 looks at his cards and says "I'm NOT making a face." 

One of these days, I'm sure he'll get it...

-J