Small Successes

1. Sorted through their fall/winter clothes and put away the summer stuff. Of course, I can't put away all the summer stuff because we have freaky weather and it is possible we might need our shorts and tees even in November. This is a task I dread every spring and fall. I am so sad to see the little boy clothes go. Sometimes, when Luke has outgrown something, it is an item that has see us through three boys! The jammies are the worst. See these darling Superman jammies? They came with a little cape that velcroed to the shoulders. My boys wore these out! I finally parted with them *sniff*:

2. I completed week 4 of the CT5K. I should have been on week 5, but I did week 4 twice. Last Thurs. I pulled a hammy (hee hee, I never thought I would be typing that) or something so did a week 3 run and then went back to do week 4 over. I'm still enjoying this program so far and I am amazed at how much my stamina has improved already.

3. We tidied and cleaned out the playroom. I wanted to start that space for our homeschool time and it needed a big cleanup before we could be up there and not be comepletely distracted. It has been wonderful to begin our mornings at home with a prayer, a Bible story and some good read-alouds before we dive into math while listening to the local classical music station very softly in the background.

We have always done math first, just to get it out of the way honestly, but this change has helped us start and finish our seatwork more calmly and peacefully. Thanks to my internet friends and the ladies at the 4 Real Learning forums for their suggestions...

Mother in law update

Thank you for your prayers!

It was discovered that Jojo has a severe hiatal hernia. When she arrived at the hospital, her hemoglobin count was 4! The docs said she was talk of the day. They'd never seen anyone walking around with a count that low. She took 4 units of blood!

Now she is back to her old self and feels like a new woman. She will be taking Nexium and iron pills and should make a good recovery.

7 Quick Takes

It's my first time joining this enormously popular meme, but I had lots of little things to say so here it goes. Be sure to visit Jen's for more quick takes

1. Kids had an All Saints party today. They were supposed to dress up as saints. Thanks be to God I managed to pull together a few costumes. Laine was Mary, Luke was St. Maximilian Kolbe, Ryan was St. Peregrine and Jake was St. Phillip of Neri. Come to think of it, the last All Saints party we went to they were all the same except for Luke who was St. Michael the Archangel. They ended the day with some games and food and the kids enjoyed it.

I have to admit, I am ambivalent about the kids dressing up for All Saints. Sure, I think it's great to celebrate the saints and all, but I am not thrilled about scrambling for a costume and playing the silly games though like Fishing with St. Peter, where someone behind the cardboard cut-out attaches a treat bag to a fishing pole. I don't know, it all feels kind of forced to me. Maybe I am just being a bah humbug grump though. (I hate kids birthday parties too. shhhhh!) Like I said the kids all had fun and were very enthusiastic.

2. Sara's two upper teeth cut through this week and she's learned the thrill of tapping them and grinding them together. So cute! So cringe inducing! Oh and apparently she's a nature lover too.

(when I was posting this I noticed again how much she looks like Ryan. I mean she has the same ears even! See how that one is a little bendy... just like Ry's!)

3. We made the best three ingredient cookies, maybe the best cookies evah (well except for chocolate chip, cause they will always reign supreme in my book):

Yep, just canned pumpkin, a spice cake mix and a bag of white chocolate chips

4. I bet your house doesn't have one of these:
In case you can't see, here is a closeup of the sign on my hall closet.
Yes folks, we have our very own Transmographier right here in our upstairs hallway closet. Just set the dial to whatever you would like to become, then enter the closet and instantly you will be Transmographied. Luckily the inventors added a Human selection so you can return to your natural form when your Mom calls you for dinner, cause if your mom is like mine, it's humans only at the dinner table. (well, ok, maybe unicorns sometimes, but definitely NO armadillos allowed!)

5. We're loving the new deck! Visit my sister's blog (Young At Art...over there on the sidebar) for the final pictures.

6. Speaking of my lovely sister... Her sister-in-law (whom I am now claiming as mine too) and I held a shower for her and also attended another one recently. Doesn't she look wonderful!
The one I went to on Saturday was so cute! The hostesses outdid themselves with a totally adorable Dr. Seuss theme. One of the girls is an event planner and every detail (I mean every!) was themed.
7. I need to end these 7 quick takes on a serious note. Please keep my wonderful mother-in-law, Jojo, in your prayers. She is in the hospital with severe anemia caused by some unknown internal bleeding. She had a few transfusions today and will be having lots of tests run tomorrow.

Thanks for visiting and reading~!

Happy 10th Birthday Ryan!

Ryan and Sara last week. She looks so much like him when he was a baby.

Jake was only 14mo. old when Ryan was born, still a baby himself. But when he came to the hospital to visit me when Ryan was born, he looked huge! My Ry was just 6lbs 13oz. He had a sprinkling of dark, auburny hair and a classic English roses and cream complexion. The freckles came later! He gained weight quickly and became a strong and sturdy little toddler with round cheeks and the absolute softest skin. We called him butter baby cause his skin was 'soft as buttah'. He was also nicknamed Danger Baby. Ryan is almost fearless and is full of bold curiousity and as a baby, we could always count on him to find the most dangerous object or situation no matter where we were. He gave and surely still gives his guardian angel a workout! He has always been a people person. He is a friendly and outgoing kid, a total extrovert! We joke he has never met a stranger and he could make friends with a doornob. This kid is a total charmer and one of the most good hearted people I know.

He is a nurturer type, always looking out for the little guys and born leader with a soft heart. The younger kids adore him and even the sibling he fights with most can often be found giggling and whispering with the adored big bro. Lately they have found some common ground and have been getting along so much better. He is a great big brother and he actually likes to help with Sara, asking us if he can feed her, hold her or just play with her. I see him making great strides in his self-control. He is so determined and willfull, two traits that can really try the patience of a mom, but will serve him well as an adult as he continues to learn to apply those strengths in positive ways. I admire that quality in him.

Happy Birthday, my son. I treasure you and I'm so happy that God has put you in my life. You make the world a better, brighter place.

Love, Mom

Do you Boo?

We do!

What the heck is 'Boo-ing?' you may be wondering. Well basically you make a little sack or two of treats and take the treats and a note like this to your neighbors. You place the treats and the note on the front door step then ring the bell or knock loudly then run and hide!

(scary faces)

We've been doing this in our neighborhood for a few years and our kids look forward to it every October. It's fun to walk the streets at night and hide in bushes giggling with your family.

a dream for my children

“Our aim in Education is to give a Full Life.––We begin to see what we want. Children make large demands upon us. We owe it to them to initiate an immense number of interests. ‘Thou hast set my feet in a large room,’ should be the glad cry of every intelligent soul. Life should be all living, and not merely a tedious passing of time; not all doing or all feeling or all thinking––the strain would be too great––but, all living; that is to say, we should be in touch wherever we go, whatever we hear, whatever we see, with some manner of vital interest. We cannot give the children these interests; we prefer that they should never say they have learned botany or conchology, geology or astronomy. The question is not,––how much does the youth know? when he has finished his education––but how much does he care? and about how many orders of things does he care? In fact, how large is the room in which he finds his feet set? and, therefore, how full is the life he has before him?”
Charlotte Mason(Vol. 3, pp. 170, 171).

Confessions of an introvert

This article is fantastic. Go read it and then come back here and tell me what you think.

I have been in denial about being and introvert. But I am done hiding. It's true, I am an introvert.

Even my bestest friend, who has known me since I was 11, was skeptical about my introversion -and she's an introvert too! We've talked about this ,at length, and discovered we've both had misconceptions about intoversion and also felt societal pressures to surpress our introverted tendencies.

Of course there is a general misunderstanding of what introversion is and also I'm very good at masking. I know there are several people who think I am this social, outgoing gal. They've been surprised after they get to know me better they realise I'm actually quite melancholic.

I'm not particularly shy and I do enjoy being with others...to a point. I know what is expected in certain social situations and of course I'm not going to run off and hide in a corner when I'm suppossed to be making small talk. I want to make others comfortable and I do genuinely care about people. Introverts are not misanthropes.

So are you an extrovert or an introvert, in general?

PS. Here is another short blurb about introvert confusion