Take good care of my baby!

I dropped Lorraine off at camp this afternoon!  My big third grader...  it felt a little bit like her first day of Kindergarten!  She is going to be gone for 3 nights and four days!

A great day for a swim!

Aggie and the boys!  Oh boy!

Mommy who am I going to sleep with while Rainy's gone?

God thank you for the blessing of summer camp!    Bless the workers and the kids with good weather and good health, joy in Your creation, new friendships, and wonderful adventures! Please watch over my "baby" and everyone else's too!  May they enjoy their taste of independence...but not too much! May they meet new friends and grow closer to old ones; may they learn more about You and be strengthened in faith; and bless them abundantly with the simple joy of being Your children!  Amen

Memorial day

Today we remember soldiers, and I remember my soldier.  I remember the hard year of 2004.



Memorial day parade, 2004




Saying goodbye after leave, July.
This goodbye sent me into early labor (30 weeks.)





Daddy hears the news of her safe delivery on the phone.
Come home soon, daddy.





Stubborn Aggie held on 40 plus weeks.

Hi little pink stranger!
Aggie 1 month old.

Lorraine watching her 'daddy movie'

And finally, here is a goofy video Lorraine and I made for daddy while he was gone.

We hated to have him missing out on so much stuff, 

so we brought his picture with us on our adventures.

Hug a soldier today, 

and pray and thank God for the ones you can't hug!

If only plants would grow like children...

Behold, mother! I have not lost one of the house plants which thou hast given me! 

Now to try something a little more ambitious. 

Oh, boy, my boys.

You think we can handle this?

Rookie gardening...

here we go!

Conspirators

Big sister left a bowl of cereal on the table, unguarded.

They conspire.

 

So glad I can crawl now.

 

What?  I was just trying to be nice to my brother!

 

These things taste better than bugs.

Bad idea #876 (this month)

It's just mud now, but it was full of water and mud.

Hmmm I wonder.....















Ew.  Bad idea.

The last leg

Only three more days left of school! 

Of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh.
Ecc 12:12

Father in heaven,
Bless the students and the teachers as they finish this year of school.  Strengthen the weary ones and calm the wild ones, that they may finish the year in peace and joy!  Amen

moments like this

I am utterly amazed at the grace of God, and the flourishing of my little Aggie-that-had-a-brain-tumor.

movin'

My little Petie has hit the age of constant motion.  Naptimes have suddenly become difficult.  (For him, not me.  I just put him in his crib and leave.)  He wiggles and moves and crawls and somehow ends up sitting upright, and then he just can't figure out how to get himself back to a sleeping position! So, sometimes he falls asleep like this:

Nice flexibility.  I think it's pretty neat that he can fold in half like that.

But then he wakes up with odd impressions on his face:

From his toes or the blanket lumps I think :)

Unexpected blessing

A tractor ride!

Thanks, Delbert!!!

social skills

I don't blame the boys for getting sick of each other sometimes.

I think now and then they just need a break from each other.

They need other friends to play with...
friends that will let them be themselves,
friends that will let them make the decisions,
and let them put them in jars and shake them up a bit.

like pill bugs

and caterpillars

and helpless little frogs

yum

Frosting face.

chocolate face.

its good to be 2.

favorite things

(I needed to write one for Aggie that wasn't so "sad!" So I took off the Dr. Seuss had and am trying on the Maria dress!)

Hot summer day, Aggie sliding and slipping

She sprays me with water till my hair is dripping

Wrapped up in towels we sing on the swing

These are a few of my favorite things

Rain dancing, laughing, and chicken-butt calling

Home after long trips with big hugs and falling

Bright paintings of rainbows and butterfly wings

These are few of my favorite things

When the boys fight, when the bee stings

When I’m feeling sad

I simply remember my favorite things

And then I don’t feel so bad!

A sandwich with Aggie on top of her brothers

Laughing I watch as she’s stealing  Bump’s covers

She runs home from school, new pictures she brings,

These are a few of my favorite things

Wrestling in dresses, my wild princess

Craft-making chaos, her room all a mess,

Loud music playing, she cleans and she sings

These are a few of my favorite things

In the dark nights, when the storm brings

Cause for feeling sad

Simply remember our favorite things

And then you won’t feel so bad!

wild hair- another favorite :)

List power

This is a list of:

A: The things we intend to do today

B.  The things I can take away from them for bad behavior.

Mua Hah Hah HAH!!!

My motto this week: "It's a privilege, not a right!"

Girls!

"Are they ALL yours?"

Yes, that is alot of kids at the playground, and for once I could say no, in fact, they're not ALL mine, not technically.

Little Enola got to come over and play yesterday!
So much fun to have a little girl around!  Lorraine and Aggie were especially happy to get the chance to play with her (they were always at school when I babysat!)

It's true what they say.

"Girls rule boys drool."  

But don't tell the boys I said that!

so clever I almost gave in.

A scowling little boy stares at his plate. Salad. THEN the cookies. Sweet, wonderful, chocolate chip cookies. Waiting for him. Right there, in reach, just waiting for him to climb that very last hurdle before he tastes sweet victory.


But first, salad. Laying there in all its ugly greenness. He scowls deep.

Suddenly, an idea.

“I’m saving the best for last mommy! Grammy says you should always save the best for last!”

“That’s right Marcus. Now is your salad gone?”

“No, mommy, salad is my best! So I’m going to eat my cookies first and save my BEST salad for last!”

An older sibling who believes in objective truth snorts and says, “Marcus, COOKIES are better than salad. Salad is NOT the best.”

“Salad is my best mommy! I just really really want to save the best for last!”

Laughing hard I tell him no, but I wish I could give him points for cleverness!

I really really just love salad mommy!

Evening glory

"Mommy, the sky! Hurry, come look!

Can we sit here and read some of our chapter book?"

Sky pink and pretty, full of evening bird song

Lorraine grabs my hand and she pulls me along

We sit on the swing with our slippers and story

Surrounded by God's art, His day-ending glory

We read and we dream of what-if and maybe

I enjoy the beauty of my growing first baby

The hands that once held my finger, her bottle

Now able to help me, cook dinner and coddle

The baby, sweet Petie, her drooly cute brother

He rides on her hip, and she learns to mother

What plans does God have for you, my beautiful girl?

What heartaches and joys will you face in this world?

I sigh, but I smile, knowing God will be faithful

When life brings the rain, when people are hateful

Lorraine will be cared-for as she goes here and there

Because God is her Father, and He hears my prayer

We swing and we watch the dim of sun's rays

and we savor the gift of these little-girl days.

 

not ready

I am really not ready to have another crawler.

Petie is not technically crawling, but he is magically getting into things nonetheless.

This morning, he sat on the back patio with (I thought) nothing in his reach but toys. 

Seconds later I notice him chewing on something:

Yep, a big fat bumblebee.  Dead of course. 

It didn't seem to hurt him and I got it out right away, but I might have missed a leg or two....

Peter Pan update!

Aggie's day of appointments is done! She saw her epileptologist who was extremely pleased with her- so much so that she does not need to see her again ever, so long as those seizures stay away! The doctor who keeps an eye out for the return of the tumor was also very pleased and does not need to see her until next march! (She will continue to have MRIs locally.)

 

Praise to God, who has been faithful to us in both sun and rain!

We celebrate and thank Him for another sunny day!

twas a night without Aggie

'Twas a night without Aggie,

and all through the yard
The frogs and the flowers

were crying, and hard

That sweet dancing girl,

the flowers were missing
The frogs, without Aggie,

had noone for kissing 

The dog lay down, quiet. 
The swing, it stood still
The watering can empty
No Aggie to fill

Lorraine in her room
All alone, with no sister
She knew if it thundered
She really would miss her

In their beds causing trouble
Were three little boys
Talking of Aggie
And making some noise

And Petie, sweet Petie
In a puddle of drool
Wondered why Aggie 

was still off at school

Working hard in the kitchen
On floors that were muddy
Was mommy, thinking of
Her sweet kitchen buddy

Mom looked out the window
And whispered a prayer

That God would keep Aggie
Warm and safe in His care

That Jesus would help her
In appointments and tests,
To think of His love,
In His hand she rests

Mom knew God was with her,
Was holding her tight,
Even in Cleveland
In the dark of the night

When will Aggie come back?
Asked her sister and brothers,
Buddies on her bed,

And even her mother

We wait for the moment

Aggie bursts through the door
With pictures and kisses

and hugs galore

Waiting to see her

and hug her to pieces

Saying "Aggie’s come back!

Hallelujah! Thanks Jesus!"

While mommy drinks coffee

After I enjoyed my mother's day breakfast and coffee, I began the day by getting the little boys in the tub. 

Marcus says to me, "Mommy, that green stuff in the kitchen that you can spray smells REALLY good!" 
Oh, that cannot be good.
What green stuff? The Lysol?

No, actually it was this:

"Seth sprayed it on the back of my neck and it smells GO-OOOD!"
Seth, sensing trouble, protests, "Marcus sprayed it on me too!"

So, If my boys smell funny today, funnier than usual, now you know why.

Interesting choice of cologne, boys.

April pics

Peter's kryptonite

Petie is the most laid back, cheerful baby ever.  If you watched the movie, you know his days are filled with many things that you and I would consider stressful, overstimulating, or just plain annoying.  Yet little Petie rarely complains. 

Nothings seems to upset this kid.  Not brother pokes; not rough sister kisses; not being forgotten in another room; not body management frustrations; not dropped toys; not a face covered in snot; not loud yells in his face; not playing by himself; not messy diapers; not even being used as a drum.

But this week, I discovered super-baby's kryptonite.
Roseola.

This mean, mean virus turned my sweet child into a screaming cling-on for four days and nights!  His fever reached 103 at the worst of it, but his horrible mood topped even Eldon's bad days.  Petie learned all kinds of new unhappy noises, and those noises came out of his little mouth all day and night.  His favorite sad noise was a cross between a the whimper of a kitten left out in the rain and a hoot of an owl who was grieving over the loss of his best friend.  He adhered himself to his mother and was pathetic, pathetic, pathetic.

Today, the ugly noises are gone, and my happy little Petie is back.  Welcome back, sweet baby.

Eldon's terrible horrible no good very bad day

Eldon really did have some legitimate reasons for throwing fits yesterday.. it does seem like the entire world was conspiring against him!

In the hours between nap time and bedtime:

Eldon was cheerfully helping me clean his room and suddenly started screaming.  I thought he just stubbed his toe, but when I stopped to look, I saw a thumb tack sticking out of his foot!  It went deep into the inside of his toe-knuckle (or whatever you call that body part!) (The boys have  solar system hanging from their ceiling with putty and tacks, but alas, they like to throw stuff at the planets and occasionally make them fall.  Hence, the tack.)

An hour later, Eldon was toddling alongside me while we walked at the park.  His feet were suddenly removed from underneath him, he flipped violently upside down, feet in the air, forehead smacking the concrete before the rest of his body followed.  (Copper had freed herself from her chain and bowled him over.  Hence, the flipping.)

A half hour later, Seth was taking a time-out by a tree, and Eldon was cheerfully harassing him.  He suddenly started screaming his head off and running towards me holding his arm.  Seth was smirking so I suspected he was to blame, though I never did get a confession.  (Later as I was getting him ready for the bath, I noticed the sting on his arm. Hence, the screaming.)

All that earned him some comfort food.




 

 

An extra cookie-

Please don't tell his siblings

what's it like?

What is it like to be the youngest of six children?

learning to sell it

Instead of, "Who wants to help me scrub the floors?"

I say, "Who wants to have SUMMER PLAY TIME!?"