They wouldn't have made good pioneers

This afternoon, we had a heckuva storm blow through. It actually passed through pretty quickly, but it was strong. I was sitting in our bedroom nursing Evie when it first started to come through, and Stephen came in to show me (dramatically) how the tree in the back was blowing around (complete with sound effects).

When the thunder started, it was really loud. Normally, the kids (especially Marc-Adam) are afraid of thunder, but I've been trying to calm them down about it every time it thunders. The best thing I could come up with was to tell them that it was "just a sound". I told them it was a sound just like the quack of a duck is just a sound...don't ask me why I compared it to the quack of a duck, it just popped into my head.

So now, anytime they start to freak out about thunder, I say "Quack quack!"

When the thunder started today, they all stayed totally calm, Marc-Adam came to me smiling and said, "Don't worry! It's just a duck, Mama!" :) Love that boy.

Shortly after that, we lost power. At first they were a little lost and confused. They kept saying, "Well we can watch a DVD!" (as opposed to being able to watch the satellite.) Or, "The computer might still work!" And they still attempted to turn the lights on in every room they went in....but then again, so did I. Finally they gave up and we started reading some books and playing silly games like singing everything we said instead of talking. Once they wandered off to play, they kept getting so excited when they found a (battery-operated) toy that worked. Then, when Marc-Adam went to the bathroom, he came out screaming, "The toilet works! The toilet works!"

When dinner time rolled around and the power was still out, that's when the whining and grumbling began. By that time, the storm was long gone and the sun was even shining and we were all starting to get a little sweaty with no A/C and no ceiling fans. I didn't want to open the fridge or freezer so we had to eat of the pantry. We ended up with peanut butter on crackers and a can of fruit salad (I could've come up with more/better, but I'm lazy when I'm hot). Stephen tried to turn on the dining room light and started grumbling about it when it didn't work. I asked him if he had started feeling grateful for all the stuff we take for granted every day. He said, "Yes, but I still want it to come back on now." I told him that there were people in the world right now that live without power every day. Zachary asked me what their names were.

When the lights finally came back on, they weren't even excited about being able to turn the TV or computer on. They were seriously happy that the A/C kicked on! And that they could eat something out of the refrigerator.

It was a fun little break in our day, but I'm so glad I live in the time with all our modern conveniences!

Cue the tight rope music

This week, at the boys' gymnastics place, evaluations were held (and YES, this post is kind of about the kids, but also about me). Every few months, the coaches evaluate the kids to see where they are skills-wise and to make sure that the class that each kid is in is still challenging for them. They last did evaluations in May, and both boys got promoted (they started their new levels in June). Then this week, evaluations were held again, which I thought was kind of soon since they'd just been promoted 2 months ago. But I guess they wanted to move up the kids that didn't move up in June so they could make room for the new folks that are signing up at the beginning of the school year.

ANYWAY, the point of all this is that my boys were VERY excited about it being evaluation time again. I tried to tell them gently that they were not going to be promoted since they've only been in their new levels for 2 months. They understood, but were still excited.

Lo and behold, Stephen got promoted. Again.

Zachary did not.

So began my tightrope walk of being super-excited for Stephen (promoted! again! for the 2nd time in 2 months! to the acclerated level! you're getting so good!) and trying to explain to Zachary that it's okay that he did not (you've only been in the "green" for 2 months. you're still learning all those tricks. you have another full year before the kindergym level and if you promote now, you'll be in the next level for a whole year. we talked about the fact that you were not going to be promoted. it's totally okay! you're are really good, but it's just not time to promote yet.).

Zachary was having none of it. He was totally fine with not promoting until we went to pick Stephen up and Stephen ran up waving his paper that told us what new class he was in. Z didn't understand why Stephen could promote and he couldn't. It was awful trying to contain my excitement for Stephen while being supportive of Zachary. I really am proud of Stephen and was so surprised that he promoted again. But I didn't want to make a huge big deal out of it because Zachary was already feeling badly. It was totally fine that he didn't promote. It doesn't mean he's not good at it. He really is good and he's a quick learner, but like I told him, he's only been in this level for 2 months and he's only got one more level before he starts the kindergym. And he's only been promoted once in the last year. But he didn't care. The fact that Stephen got promoted negated everything else that I tried to tell him. And the more excited Stephen and I were, the more upset he got.

Now, normally, I would just tell Z that that's just how things are and that it's not all about him and that his time will come. But this was genuine disappointment and I'm trying hard to not let him fall into the "middle child syndrome". But it was also hard because I didn't want to hold back our little "mini-celebration" in the car on they way home simply because Zachary was disappointed. That's not fair to Stephen. And we all have to learn to live with disappointment and we have to learn that sometimes other people get what we want.

Thankfully, things have settled down since then. This Sunday is promotion Sunday at church, so the kids will get to step-up to their new Sunday School classes. That helps. I'm just praying that next time evaluations roll around that Stephen will stay put and Z will get promoted (or at least that BOTH will be promoted).

Science AND faith

This morning, the boys and I were reading a book about the solar system. We read about how the universe was formed and how the sun came to be. The book talked about the gases compressing and exploding and all the scientific ways it came to be and I asked the kids what they thought caused all that to start happening. Stephen said that "God caused it because he got all the stuff together and squished it together in his hands (because his hands are HUGE!) and then let it all go and there was the solar system".

:)

Couldn't have said it better myself!

Not boring, just not interesting

Aside from day to day details and me getting high from sweet baby smell (oh, and sweet baby breath), there's really not much going on around here that's worth blogging about. Nothing terribly funny or interesting or worth sharing. But I certainly wouldn't call what's going on in our home boring. So here's just a little brain dump, so I don't go too long without blogging:

• Evie's doing just swell. She's waking up a little more each day and starting to really look around. I think we might get a smile out of her any day now. She's doing FANTASTIC at night, which makes me want to dance at about 5am every morning. Um, but can she stop with the growing...? She's getting so big, and will be a month old on Sunday. I didn't think it would be because things have been so calm and easy, but the last month is a BLUR.
  

• Marc-Adam has been quite the challenge. He's still sweet enough that's it hard to stay mad at him for long, but oh my, that child makes my head hurt. We've tightened the reins a bit on him, and that seems to have helped...he's listening better and we're able to make it through an entire meal without having to put him in time-out *sigh*. We recently moved him to a twin bed and now the trouble he caused from his crib can now be caused anywhere in the room or hall. It's been quite the battle and Sweet Hubby and I are desperate to find a way to make bedtime a little more calm.

• Zachary has just been so funny and so sweet (but seems to have contracted a case of selective hearing). The other day, he wanted to sing a lullaby to Evie and he sang, "Little giiiirrrrl....with a head! I love you, sweet little girl!!" And then later at dinner, he started a conversation with, "Next time, when I grow up, if you're still my mom and dad..." Wha...?

• Stephen's *thisclose* to losing one (or maybe both) of his front teeth. 'Bout darn time. The things have been lose since Thanksgiving. It makes me slightly nauseous to think about it. I wish it would just fall out already. I've tried pulling it, but it's not ready so I've been telling him to wiggle it any chance he gets.

• I'm starting to get homeschooling back on the brain and am starting to plan out our next year. I think I'm going to try to relax our school schedule a little bit and not try to do every subject every day with Stephen. I plan on starting grammar this year (using First Language Lessons) and keeping up with our same math and writing curricula. So I think that maybe we might try doing math 2x a week and writing/grammar 3x a week with reading every day. I think he can handle that, but we'll see. For Zachary though, we'll be working on the same things every day because he doesn't have as much to do as Stephen. I also plan on sticking with Five in a Row...it's just a really good curriculum and we all enjoy it. There's a homeschool conference in August that I plan on going to...I just hope I don't get sucked in to trying something new. But I'm really excited about it. I didn't get to go last year.

• Next week is Sweet Hubby's last week home with us. I'm slightly panicked about it. I think, though, that if I plan it right, it might be a whole 'nother 2 weeks before I'm actually all on my own after he goes back to work. The good news is that he only ever works for 4 days at a time, and once he goes back to working days (instead of overnight), he'll only be working for 3 days at a time. Logically, though, I know that I'll be just fine on my own with all 4 kids, it's just scary to take that first step, especially since I have 2 very high maintenance children.

I think that's about it for now. Any questions?

Catching up...a picture post

I finally uploaded some pictures from my camera to the computer. So here's the story of the big things going on in our lives since Evie arrived.

Stephen had a big weekend last weekend. Saturday was "Mayfest" at the gym we go to for gymnastics. Mayfest is really just a time when the kids get to show off what they've been learning. Stephen's been working extra hard, so he was really excited to show us what he can do. (I apologize for the quality of the pictures...it's hard to get good pictures of moving kids and I also wanted to avoid posting pictures where other kids' faces are clear which cut down on my options.)

Stephen stretching...he's the one in the middle of the picture. I show this picture only so you can see just how flexible this kid is...he's almost in a full split with his head down.

"T"-what they do after they've landed and stuck it.

Salute

Rings

Pommel Horse

Mayfest Trophy

I love looking at these pictures because in the pictures of him actually doing something he looks so intense but in between he's all smiles. I think he really enjoys gymnastics. Jonathon Horton (winner of the silver medal in the all-around at the Beijing Olympics) trained at this gym way back when and is coming back to train for the 2012 Olympics...I heard that he may even be working with some of the boys. Stephen thinks that's cool and I'm super-excited about it.

Zachary and Marc-Adam performing their own little routines while watching Stephen at Mayfest.




Stephen also had his first performance in children's choir. He even had a line, "Look at that old shoe!" He did great and loved being in the choir. Again, not a great picture, and I have a ton more, but don't want to post faces of other kids.


Also happening this week, Evie's first bath. Her umbilical cord finally fell off so she got her first good bath.

As you can see, it was a family affair. The boys were so excited for her and kept telling her how brave she was....as if a bath were something to be afraid of. :)


And just for fun, Marc-Adam, wearing some kind of Batman scuba goggles.


And Evie and I were left alone for a little while last week, so we played dress-up. I started trying all her bows on her. They are all still a little big for her, so we're sticking to the little bows that I stick to her head with Karo syrup, but she still looks awful cute with these big ol' bows on her head.

Now available at your local convenience store!

Stephen ran some errands with my dad the other day while we were visiting my folks. After they came home, my mom and I were chatting with him about what they did and where they went. He told us they went to the mega-convenience store near their house and my mom asked him what they needed there. He tried several times to get the words out, but his little tangue got all tungled tongue got all tangled and this was all he could manage:

"Gice and @ss."

He knew as soon as he said it that it wasn't right.

It sounded like he said, "Guys and @ss."

Ahem.

"Ice and gas?" we asked.

"YES! Yes. ICE and GAS!"

Entry 4,137 of Things I Never Thought I'd Say

There was a particular incident this week in which one of my children provoked me to say:

"How do you get your tongue stuck to the toilet paper?"

Pretty sure his picture is next to the definition of "trouble"

While I was checking some e-mail, Stephen walked in behind me and said, "Mom, you should always be prepared if you're going to do something dangerous." I turned to see what he meant, only to see him walking out of the room wearing safety goggles.

Thankfully, he and his brothers and our home are still intact.

Six...going on thirty-six

Dear Stephen~

Yesterday, as your Daddy and I stood in front of the cake case at the Walmart (because I forgot to get eggs so I could bake your cake), I asked him how it was possible that we could have a six year old. How is it possible that that little tiny bald-headed baby could already be so tall (you come up to my chest!), so smart, so wise and so loving?

I kind of had to giggle to myself because after I wrote the title to this post, I went and looked back at your 5 year old letter, and I said then that you were 5 going on 35. Obviously, that aspect of your personality has not changed. You astound most of the adults in your life when you use words like 'sarcastic', 'dilemma', and 'assume' in conversation. You don't just say what's on your mind, you say it with intelligence and with style. This year, you also tried your hand at some more "grown-up" language.

One of the things that you started this year that has surprised me is the way you eat. You eat everything. All the time. All day long you want to eat, and you will eat just about anything that I put in front of you. And then you eat what's left on everybody else's plates. You've always been a good eater (my best!), but in the last few months, you've started cleaning your plate. Which no one in our family ever does. It's also obvious, that besides just being hungry all the time and filling up, you also have an appreciation for food. And that makes me glad. I try to give you new foods often because I know now is the time for you to be open-minded and I know now that you are learning what really good food is. You still love you a chicken nugget and mac and cheese, but you're finding all the more grown-up foods are really good, too.

You lost your first tooth this year, and I wasn't even there for it. But I was there for your second tooth, and your daddy was there for your third. Both your two top front teeth are loose now, and I can't wait until that happens. You are cute now, but I'm not sure I'll be able to keep from grinning and crying when you lose your two front teeth.

This year, you've really started learning self-control and how to handle stressful situations. You still fly off the handle (I'm afraid to say that I think you have your mama's temper) once in a while, but a lot of times, you will just seperate yourself from the situation, and there's been several times I've found you alone in your room sorting things out in your head, praying, or just taking a few minutes to calm down. I'm so proud of you for this, and I hope it's something you never forget because knowing when to give yourself a "time-out" is a valuable tool to negotiating your way in this world.

You started gymnastics this year, something you love and are getting really good at. Last week, I saw you hold yourself upside down on the rings which astounded me. The first week you tried gymnastics, it was obvious you had little upper body strength, so you've come a long way. Last month, you were evaluated by your coaches and they said that you are doing well at learning all the skills, but that you needed to work on listening skills. Hmmm. It seems that you love gymnastics, but you also love the antics of all the other little boys and have a hard time remembering why you're there. But you love showing off new skills and you and Zachary compare new tricks every week.

And I just have to add quickly, that your knowledge of all things relating to the Star Wars universe is staggering. You don't just know about Yoda and Darth Vader, but every other obscure character and storyline. You know all about the heirarchy of the Jedi and you are quick to correct me when I say something wrong about it all. How you know all this is still a mystery to me, but the fact that you do amazes me.

I talk a lot about how grown-up you are, but there are times you remind me that you are still a little boy. You jump off your bunk bed (and teach your brothers how, too), giggle at cartoons, love a good game of Guess Who?, color outside of the lines with one color on each page, laugh at words like "butt" and "toot", fall out of your chair at the dinner table, run through the house swinging a lightsaber, have an imaginary friend, sleep with stuffed animals, flip-flop all over your bed while you're sleeping, wake up at the crack of dawn, cry when you're overtired, have dirty fingernails all.the.time, can't tie your shoes, love to play in a bubble bath and ask amazingly bizarre questions. You are this perfect balance of little boy and wise, old man.

What's been so amazing about having you as my firstborn, is that you have taught me so much! Sometimes, "firstborn" translates in to "guinea pig", but you take all that in stride. Aside from watching you grow, one of the joys of being your mom is that I have grown with you. I look back to that excited but scared and ignorant 21 year old mom that I was when I held you for the first time, and I can see how much you've taught me and how you've not only made me a better mother every day, but you've also made me a better person. You are joy to have in this family and none of us will ever be able to know how much you've blessed us.



I say it to you all the time, and every time I mean it: I'm so glad God gave us you.
Don't grow up too fast, I'm having too much fun.
I love you,
Mama

Honestly.

After a playdate we had this afternoon, Stephen was recounting how many pets his new friend had. He then announced that while he really wanted a dog, he also thought a guinea pig would be nice. Zachary asked him what a guinea pig is and Stephen replied:

"Well. It's kinda like a rat...just a little bit cuter."

Yes, my dear, just a tiny bit cuter. But not enough to convince me we should get one.

The Question I wasn't prepared for (and some fun updates)

So this evening, Stephen came to me and asked, "Mom, how did you first know there was a baby in your belly?"

Uhhhh.....

I've been prepared for the "How did the baby get in your belly" question....not quite ready for this one.

So I stalled.

"Well...what do you think?"

"God told you and you heard him?" he asks.

"Ummm...no....not quite..."

"You felt the baby move?"

"Well, I can feel her move now, but not early on."

"Well, then how?"

"Ummm....(freaking out in my head..."COME UP WITH SOMETHING SIMPLE BUT LOGICAL!!")"

So this is what I came up with: "Honey, we'll discuss this more when you are bit older, but there are certain things that happens to ladies. And when those things stop happening, the lady might think..."Hmmm...I wonder if I'm pregnant?" So she takes a little test and the test tells her whether or not she's pregnant."

And to my relief, he said, "Oh! Okay!" and ran back to what he was doing.

Whew. Didn't see that coming. I had no idea what would be appropriate to tell my 6 year old boy. So. What would you have said? I'm sure if I hadn't been blindsided while chopping potatoes, I could have been much quicker on my feet and thought of something wiser, like I usually do.

Annnyway...moving right along. We started potty training Marc-Adam last week. The first two days were okay. He had as many successes as he had accidents. Sunday, he spent all day back in his diapers because of the other stuff we had going on, and yesterday, he spent a good portion of the day in diapers, but still had a few successes. Today is only the third full day and he's done fantastic. He even pooped on the potty all on his own with no coaxing from me. He had one small accident where he started to tee on the couch, stopped himself, ran to the potty and finished. All on his own. He had another, bigger accident, but I'm not sure I'm going to count that one because he was in time-out and I think it was an intentional ploy to get out. He just let loose, never told me he was going, and didn't even stop himself like he usually does. After he was done, he told me he had gone. So, I think he's doing really well. I didn't think it would take him long. If he still progresses this week, I think I'll put him in underwear this weekend.

On the Zachary front, he's really been surprising me with his eating. Zachary's always been a terribly picky eater due to some issues he had when he was about a year old. But the last couple of weeks, he's been eating new foods (even eggs which has always been off-limits for him). He's eating greater amounts of food and actually enjoying it. I'm so proud of him. And I'm a little relieved. His diet has always been a source of concern for me. Today, he ate a whole handful of spinach with only a little bit of encouragement and yesterday, he ate a chicken-pasta dish that a month ago he would have never even looked at it. I'm so glad to finally be making progress in that area with him. His brothers eat circles around him.

Anatomy lessons

The kids stayed the night with my in-laws last night and my MIL relayed this little gem to me this morning.

She said that all the kids had piled up in bed with her when they woke up (too early) this morning. They were flip-flopping around and when they finally got settled, Stephen said, "Zachary? Would you please take your knee out of my thorax?"

I think "love of food" is genetic

A few days ago while we were eating lunch, Stephen was explaining a new food he had tried at his Nonny's house.

"Mama, it was so good, I had to close my eyes while I ate it."

That's my boy.

Comedic relief

Earlier this evening, Sweet Hubby had to run into the Wal*mart for a few things while the kids and I stayed in the car (brrrr...baby, it's cold outside). Stephen started to tell me something, then asked me to turn the radio down so he could concentrate. I did and he said, "Toads have dry, rough skin and frogs have smooth, wet skin." I told him he was exactly right.

He immediately followed up with, "And did Jesus have teeth?"

Silly and sweet

The kids have been funny and sweet lately. A couple days ago, Marc-Adam was asking for me to pick him up. He just kept saying "UP! Up!". When I asked him what to say, Stephen jumped in trying to be silly and said, "Up, please!" in a baby voice. Marc-Adam pushed him out of the way and yelled "My up please!"

Zachary's got a nasty little bug. Snotty, coughing, irritable...the works. He's slept most of the day today and after playing by himself in the playroom for about 10 minutes, Stephen plopped down next to me on the couch and sighed real big. I said, "What's up, Bud?" He said, in a pouty little tone, "I wish Zachary would get better." I asked him if he missed him and he said yes. He was actually sad for Zachary and himself at the same time. And then when I made Zachary lunch in bed, Stephen was so excited for Zachary. He couldn't quit smiling about it. It was so cute and sweet.

Zachary's convinced that the new baby is going to be a sister for him. When I ask him what her name is, he says, "Gene-VEEEEVE!" Which is right, I just love the way he says it....all the emphasis on "VEEEVE".

Progress Report

Just a small update about how school has been going around here. Today, we finally finished what I had planned to get done in the first week. Four weeks later. But it's okay. I had planned to take it slow, and there were several days that I just had to focus on surviving so school didn't happen. And there were several days that we just didn't get everything done. But the kids have been doing really well, and we're all still really enjoying this.

Both of the older boys now have the planets memorized and usually can get them in order. We talked about the difference between comets and asteroids as well as the difference between meteors, meteoroids and meteorites. They know all about orbits, and how the planets rotate and revolve. We've also studied the months of the year, and the last few weeks we've studied the winter months and the kinds of the things we eat, do and wear during the winter. We did some experiments to show the power of gravity and centrifugal force and made up a little song about how Isaac Newton discovered gravity.

Math has sort of fallen by the wayside because that's something that I have scheduled to do one on one with Stephen during the other boys' nap time, and most of the time, I have to get a nap, too. But I'm not too concerned about that yet. He understands as much or more about math in practice as most kindergartners, I think. His reading is getting better as well, and he's able to read more without sounding choppy. The sentences flow better and he's also getting better with comprehension. And when he gets to a word he doesn't know (which is rare), he figures it out on his own using context. We've been studying some poetry as well, and both boys have blown me away with their understanding and interpretation of poetry. Zachary listens so well and can answer any question about what we just read and Stephen is able to not take the poem literally and is able to interpret what the poet is actually trying to say. He was able to explain to me what a Robert Frost poem was actually saying. And then I prayed that I would be able to keep up with him past first grade.

Handwriting is just okay, but I've backed off of trying too hard. The last two days, Stephen has done great and there has been no tears about practicing the letters H, K, L and U. Which is nice since the program is called Handwriting Without Tears. Zachary is tearing through his Explode the Code book as well, but we're skipping a lot (but not all) of the handwriting exercises because I think he's just too young for all that writing.

Now that I've shamelessly bragged on the intelligence of my kids, I have to share a funny with you, lest you think that I'm snotty about thinking my kids are actually geniuses or that I think that I'm the best teacher ever (I so don't). This morning, we were studying and talking about February and so we were discussing President's Day. I read them a poem about George Washington and asked some questions afterward. The poem talked about George Washington "hearing the bugle's call" and going off to fight for the country. I started a "leading" sentence that I intended for Stephen to finish. So I said, "He heard the bugle's call and went to join...." And Stephen finished the sentence "....joined the.....Midianites?"

Wha....?

I almost couldn't finish the lesson because I couldn't quit giggling.

A meme.

Because I still can't think of anything else to blog about other than my sour mood. I'm sorry. I know "listening" to me whine about nothing is not why you come to read. So I figured I'd do something a little fun. A while back, there was a little "meme" going around where you were supposed to post the 6th picture in the 6th folder of pictures from your computer. It looked like fun, but I didn't do it for a while because I was never home when I thought about it. But I sat here for a while looking at the little blinking cursor wanting to blog something, and that came to me. So here goes. The 6th picture in the 6th folder. My folders are by date, so this one's from the summer of 2006.


It's Stephen. Eating something. It looks like it might be a small can of fruit, I guess. Although, I can't remember ever buying little cans of fruit like that. It's certainly not something I would buy today. And I'll also point out (since someone is going to notice it, for sure, and I'd rather point it out first) that the wall behind him looks kinda gross. Not sure how something would have gotten thrown or splashed back there. BUT, Stephen looks so young and pudgy there. So cute. Looking at pictures of my kids always reminds me of how stinkin' cute they are. I guess it's harder for me to see that in real life because pictures don't talk back, whine, or smell.

The jury's in

And it was more optimism than stupidity that led me to go ahead and start school today. Although, there were several points in the day that it could have gone either way.

We started our school day at about 9:15am with some Bible study. We read Genesis 1 about what God created when and discussed that. I was impressed with some of the questions both Stephen and Zachary had. Then we did some reading together, me reading to the kids and Stephen reading to us. During most of the reading we did (bible and regular books) Marc-Adam fussed, cried and bullied his way into my lap. It got a little hairy during that time. Zachary wanted to read one of the BOB books, so I pulled out the very first one, and he read it! He's read it before, but not as well as he did today. He needed help with one word, but other than that, he didn't have a problem. He might have just been looking at the pictures and guessing, but still. That's the beginning. I told him that when he could read the whole first box of BOB books that he could get his own library card. His very own library card has been sort of a holy grail for Zachary, so now he's very motivated to read. I'm actually really surprised...I thought for sure he would be a late reader, but it looks like I might have another early reader on my hands.

Okay. Brag over. Sorry.

After we read, we took a break to get some wiggles out and I taught the kids how to crab walk. If you've never seen a young child do that, you need to. It was a good laugh for everyone...even the kids.

Next was handwriting. Each kid got their own book (Marc-Adam a coloring book, Zachary had a Kumon tracing book and Stephen's working out of Handwriting Without Tears) and pencil. I was actually pleasantly surprised at how happy everyone was working out of their own books. Marc-Adam tried to mark in Stephen's a couple of times, but once I handed him the whole box of colors, he was fine playing by himself (mainly throwing crayons at Zachary and tasting the color pencils). I'm still feeling a little discouraged about Stephen's handwriting, but I'm going to try to make sure we do at least a couple pages every day, even if we do no other school, just to make sure he's getting practice.

We made lunch and had our quiet/nap time. While the two younger kids slept, Stephen and I did a review of some of the Math-U-See book we didn't finish last year. It won't take us long to catch up to where we left off, I don't think.

The most fun part of school was the afternoon. After naps and a snack, we did our KONOS work. We talked about the days of the week, sang a song about the months of the year and studied a calendar, pointing out special days and holidays. Then we started learning about the planets and even made up a little song about them. We talked about the difference between rotate and revolve and acted each out and then acted out doing both at the same time. Stephen and Zachary both got to take turns being the sun and the earth. They thought that was the best fun ever. We did some more "work" about how the earth orbits the sun and finished up by reading some poetry about the universe and the earth.

When I announced, "That's it! We're done for the day!" I was met with groans and "Oh man!" So I guess the day should be counted as a success even though we had to deal with several melt-down and discipline issues with Marc-Adam.

It was really a totally fun day. We're all looking forward to more tomorrow. Let's hope we can keep this momentum and enthusiasm!

Imaginary Jones

Yesterday morning, Stephen introduced me to his new friend. "He's just in my imagination, Mom," he whispered while pointing at his head. "His name's Joshua." How old is he, I asked. "Almost six."

And so the day went on with Joshua included in the activities.

This morning, Zachary informs me that he's got an invisible friend. I asked the same questions of name and age. "His name's Joshua, and he's almost 4, just like me." Stephen was in the same room with us, and I smiled and said, "So you both have new friends named Joshua who happen to be the same ages as the both of you?"

Zachary said, "Yep."

And Stephen replied, "Yep, 'cept mine's got a bullwhip."



*Edited to add: I've never once heard Stephen ever mention anything about a bullwhip. I have no idea how he knows of such a thing. Which is why that comment was completely out of the blue and so funny to me.

SO glad to have that off my chest!

The news is out now! We're expecting baby #4 sometime in mid-May. My official due date is the 18th, I think, but I know I'll be scheduled for a c-section earlier than that, but who knows when the baby will actually come. Marc-Adam taught me to never be so sure of the plans that I've made. :)

I've known for almost 3 weeks now. The first few days it was terrible not to be able to tell anybody. I really wanted to wait to announce it until after our trip because we were planning on telling my parents and the kids while in Disney World. So we told my in-laws just before we left, and then broke the news to the kids and my folks the first night we were there. I actually got it all on video. The younger two kids didn't really care obviously (Zachary has yet to say anything about it), my parents got excited, but Stephen, who had been up since 3am that morning and had only an hours nap jumped up and yelled, "WHAT?! I already have to listen to him cry *pointing at Marc-Adam*! Now we're having another one?!"

Dork.

Not the reaction I was expecting. Especially since he's been saying for months that he wanted another baby. He's since apologized for acting like that and is acting more excited, but it would've been nice to have him really excited on the video. I feel bad for his future sibling to have to watch that.

But who knows....it might win us $10,000.