I decided to be brave and take all four kids to a swimming party today. It was good. It was fun. Until Evie realized that she didn’t actually have to play in the little shallow area that I set her in. She saw “the guys” (Timmy and Ben) playing on a ledge that had water shooting up into the air and that was where she wanted to be. Did I mention that they were jumping off the ledge into the water?

It was then my job to keep her away from said ledge while holding a 20 pound baby and dodging wild children. It was awesome.

I did manage to get her away from the pool when lunch was ready. She found a little boy who was willing to play with her on the slip ‘n slide, so she was happy. After lunch, though, she found a poor mom whose youngest child is about 7 and this woman really wishes she could have another. Somehow she convinced this mom to watch her and entertain her in the pool while I sat with Violet in the shade. I think it might have been the not so silent sobbing while she tried to squeeze herself through the fence that may have clenched the deal.

Unfortunately Violet’s first taste of grass wasn’t so great

Have you ever noticed that Evie is one letter away from spelling evil? What does it mean that another mom pointed that out to me?

I only have a bunch of randomness so here it goes.

1. I finished 3, yes 3 blankets that I’ve been meaning to sew forever. It will probably be the only thing I do all week that does not get undone in 2.5 seconds.

2. Violet can now sit up all on her own.

3. When she falls over, she tenses up her whole body so that when she finally hits the floor her body is in the same position as she was when she was sitting. It’s kinda like how in Toy Story the toys all freeze up when a person enters the room.

4. We have a little water play table in the back yard for Evie. Well, she stripped down naked and climbed in it to play this morning. I have pictures, but I still don’t know how to put photos on my blog.

5. When Evie gets hurt she runs around yelling “My teet! My teet!”

6. teet=hurt

7. Tim and Ben aren’t quite sure what to do when Evie decided to take off all her clothes and run around naked.

8. Tim and Ben luckily don’t know that “teet” could be have any other meaning.

9. Ben likes to ask me if he can put a “Sarah” on for Evie when he wants to watch a movie.

10. Sarah=movie or dress or princess doll and is actually pronounces with a w sound instead of an r sound.

11. We now call all movies Sawahs to help Evie expand her viewing habits.

12. Violet is now eating solids. She loves bananas and hates applesauce. Because we tried feeding her applesauce and she hated it, we now have to jam the first bite of any food into her mouth so she can see that it is not in fact applesauce. Then, if it is not applesauce she will happily eat. If it is applesauce, she will cry. It is very sad and Michael is getting concerned that we will have another picky eater.

Well, I guess I should go relieve the babysitter, Sawah, before she demands more money and better benefits!

When I first decided to start homeschooling I had this wonderful vision filled with well behaved children, lots of baking, an endless supply of patience and always enough time in the day for my children to learn whatever topic was at hand. During all of this, the house would stay clean, with everything put away right where it belongs. If there happened to be a mess created it would be because some amazing learning had just taken place and would promptly be cleaned up, so that everything would be perfectly perfect again. Alas, that is not my life. The good news is that amongst all the chaos, disorder and toilets that need to be scrubbed I got the most awesome camera bag ever. Or at least I think so. If I ever figure out how to get the pictures off my camera I’ll post a few of the blessed event, but since my SD card holds around 4000 pictures and I’m not even to 100 yet I’m thinking that it will take awhile.

What else has happened in our house recently? Well, Violet rolled over. She’s been working at it for what seems like forever, but she finally did it and oh, was she proud of herself! She hasn’t repeated it. I’m sure that is just proof of just how well she has that skill down and isn’t an indication that her rolling over was just a fluke… Just so we’re clear my official stance is that Violet is such an amazing roller overer that she does not roll over because it is now boring. Kind of a been there, done that mentality. Just so we’re clear.

Have you met Evie? If not it’s because Evie is on a mission! What that mission is exactly, I’m not sure, but it would explain why she is constantly going, going, going. Just this weekend she has eaten body wash, poured shampoo all over herself while clothed, written about a million E’s, asked at least 5 other people to write E’s, scraped up her chin and knee, watched multiple Sawwah movies and spent probably a couple of hours dancing around the house. Lets not forget that the girl sleeps in till 8, naps for 3.5 hours and goes to bed at 7:30. My weekend was not nearly as productive!

I love Valentine’s Day! Not so much the Valentine’s Day that is filled with pricey dinners and expensive presents, but the one with homemade cards and paper hearts that were cut out by kids to decorate the dinner table with. I am so thankful for the people that God has given to me to love!

So, I was going to do a list of 10 things that make my heart happy, but I don’t want to list my kids names because that seems kind of lame, and 2 of my kids are just now waking up from their naps while the other 2 come tell me random pieces of information about every 30 seconds. So, my list of 10 thinks will now be 3 things because they are three of my favorites and that’s all I have time for because, well, I’ve already finished them.

My Happy Heart List

1. My kids sing in church again. They used to sing in worship, but then we went church shopping and the churches we visited either had a children’s program during the whole service or the kids stayed with their families, but the church sang old hymns(that my kids probably found boring). When we decided to go back to our old church they just didn’t sing anymore. Heck, they didn’t even want to stand during worship. I was seriously concerned that I broke them I am happy to report, though, that they sing of their own free will during service and there isn’t a sound on earth that makes me happier.

2. I don’t feel so down anymore. Pregnancy doesn’t agree with me. I’ve finally accepted the fact that it truly doesn’t. I’m awful during it and my husband is a saint to put up with me. My friends are saints to put with me. Seriously, I’m not kidding. I’m awful. So, now that I’m not pregnant I feel like a completely different person and I am very glad for that.

3. A husband who prays for me. It may sound dumb and I’m not sure that I can explain it on my blog very well, but it always feels like genuine concern for me that brings him to do it, not compulsion to be a “good” Christian. Growing up I never knew of praying for me. So, it means a lot that Michael cares enough about me that he would pray for me about whatever struggle I’m having in life, big or small.

So, there you go. Happy Valentine’s Day!

Yesterday was an exciting day. Have you seen the commercials for Teach Your Baby to Read? Well my boys have and they are convinced that it works and that if Evie learns to read now that it will make school much easier for her. They are also convinced that teaching her to read at 2 will be much easier than teaching her to read at 5. To start they wrote the word “cat” on a piece of paper. Timmy showed Evie the piece of paper and sounded the word out “c-a-t, cat”. Evie looked at the piece of paper and looked at Timmy and said “hat”. Tim and Ben laughed and nicely corrected her “no, cat”. Evie responded with “hat!” So, the boys saw that she wasn’t getting it and decided to show her what hat looked like, they wrote it on a piece of paper, showed her and said “hat”. Evie smiled, looked at the Tim and said “yeah, cat”. We laughed, it was funny. They continued to take turns pointing at the word and saying it to her, but she insisted that hat was cat. Tim saw the problem. Evie loves The Cat in the Hat. When she hears cat she thinks hat and when she hears hat she immediately thinks cat. So, he moved on to a new word….tiger. He wrote it down showed it to Evie and told her the word and she promptly said “no” and walked away. I’m sorry to say that this was definitely more successful than the last time they tried to teach her to read…..when she was oh, maybe about 6 months old.

Start off by asking a pregnant woman how far along she is. She probably won’t mind talking about the pregnancy and she won’t suspect what is coming. If she is still in her first trimester tell her that you were the same size that she currently is when you delivered 2 weeks late. There’s nothing like being called fat while you’re pregnant! You can then go on to tell her that there is no need to listen to doctors who say to gain 20-25 pounds because the baby will take what it needs from her body anyways. This really is best if you can catch a pregnant woman while she is eating.

Here is a possible scenario.

You see a pregnant woman sitting down eating lunch at, let’s say, a homeschool end of year potluck. There’s no need to actually walk up to her, just holler at her from across the room, “hey, how far along are you?” Keep in mind, her discomfort will be proportional to the number of people who are listening.

She’ll probably smile and then respond something like, “12 weeks.”

Pause, look at her and then say, “I was that size when I delivered my son….2 weeks late. Don’t listen to those doctors that tell you you should gain a bunch of weight. The baby will take what it needs from your body anyways. You don’t need to gain anything.”

She will probably sit in stunned silence. Or punch you in the face. Really, it probably depends on the woman. But that concludes todays lesson.

Here is a conversation I just had with Ben while he was packing for his very first sleepover.

Me: Make sure you pack a clean pair of socks.

Ben: No, that’s okay. I wear socks for lots of days in a row. I put these on yesterday.

Please tell me putting on clean clothes comes more naturally to girls.

Today I was half listening as my 7 year old was talking to me about the amusement park he is going to build when he grows up. I know. Epic parent fail. But he talks about this alot and I was trying to make lunch so really I didn’t hear the whole description of the 2 rides he has planned out. There was something about a hippopotamus and the ride being very tall. Something else about pregnant women not being able to ride it and how children who are afraid of heights also shouldn’t ride it. Oh, and how there’s a big splash at the end so everybody should hide behind the seat in front of them. But then he got real serious and said “Mom, I’m just kind of worried.”

Me: “Why?”

Ben: “Well, I’m just worried that you guys (referring to Michael and I) will be too old for my rides. I mean, they’re gonna be pretty crazy.”

Me: *silence as I try to figure out what to say to that. Really I wasn’t sure if I should be offended that he thought we’d be too old for his rides or glad that he could talk about us getting older in a very calm matter of fact way.

Ben: “Don’t worry. I’ll have lots of dining for you guys”

Me: “Did you just say dining?”

Ben: “Yes, dining. Dining and shopping. I’ll have lots of that so you guys will have lots to do.”

Me: “Oh, okay. Well, that sounds good.”

He then proceeded to tell me how he was going to make his park free or at least really cheap so that lots of people would be able to come to it. He also let me know that he was going to have signs up in around his park that say “Ben loves Disneyland!” and “Ben loves Fantasmic!” I didn’t have the heart to tell him that those signs might not be in the best interest of his business. Oh, and he has decided that he is going to build it wherever Michael and I are living at that time so that we will still be able to go even if we are old. And just in case you are wondering he does indeed have a name for his park… Benland

1. If you soak an owl pellet it will be easier to dissect but it will also smell like some sort of weird chocolate.

2. Boys have weaker stomachs than girls which makes them much more likely to throw up during an experiment that involves soggy, smelly owl regurgitation.

3. Any experiment that is done with soggy owl pellets and boys should be done in an extemely well ventilated area just in case 2 boys lose their breakfast during the first 2 minutes of the experiment.

Ten years ago right now I had been a mom for all of 3 hours. You were the most beautifully amazing little baby I had ever seen! I still can see you perfectly in my mind as the doctor held you up for me to see for the very first time. Oh how I wanted to do everything absolutely perfectly! I’ve failed a million times over with my parenting techniques, but thankfully God is good and He has created in you a wonderful young man. I knew you were special long before you were ever born and I know that He has wonderful plans for your life. I pray that in your eleventh year your Dad and I will be able to adjust accordingly to the fact that every day you are less and less a little kid and more an almost teenager and that God will grant us the wisdom in raising you for what He has planned.

I am thankful for you everyday, my sweet Timmy. Thankful for your kindness, compassion and your heart for learning. I’m looking forward to seeing what God does with your life!