April

In the interest of keeping up with our activities, I'm hoping to at least get one p0st a month on here. Just to prove to future generations that we did not disappear off the face of the earth. =)

So let's see what happened in April:

The 1st was the season opener for the Rockies. We are huge fans so that's always a fun day for us. I made baseball-themed food for dinner: hot dogs, peanuts, etc. and we watched The Sandlot as our family movie. Chase bought a ticket for one of the home games and attended with 2 of his youth leaders from church.

On the 2nd, Brenna turned 12. We only do big parties for ages 1, 5, 10 and either 15 or 16. With such a big family it's really too much to have a party for each kid each year. On the other years, the birthday child gets to pick out his meals for the day and usually opens his presents throughout the day. We used to do a family meal out at a restaurant, but with so many of the children no longer eating kids meals, that isn't an option anymore. So this year we decided the birthday child will still get a meal out, but only with mom and dad. That gives them time alone with us, too.

So Brenna picked doughnuts for breakfast and Wingman wings for lunch. We waited until Saturday for her dinner and went to Red Robin. It was really nice to be able to visit with just her. She has become such a sweet and mature young woman; and a pleasure to be around.

Conner has been working approx. 2 days a week with his dad. This earns him spending money, which he uses for new bowling equipment, activities with friends and which he'll need next month for gas and insurance once he gets his driver's license! He is eagerly anticipating that. I am, too, as it will significantly cut down on my chauffering time. He is a good, conscientious driver so we're not TOO worried about him being on his own. =)

Chase made the decision to not continue with Boy Scouts. Instead, he is also trying out bowling. Conner gave him one of his bowling balls and we had it re-drilled for him. He started bowling in a junior league and will start some tournaments probably in the fall. He also is still doing archery a couple times a month. Both boys and Brenna have stayed very active in our church's youth group.

Aiden has been taking a karate class and the last week of April, he passed the test to receive his yellow belt. He was so excited! We just found out the classes will continue through the summer so he is thrilled about that. Brenna has decided she might try it out also. Aiden has also been participating in flag football at our Rec. Center as well as swimming lessons. Cub Scouts is wrapping up for the summer, so we are trying to keep him busy.

Zane and Declan attend a music class every Tuesday that they love. That is coming to an end, though, so I'll be looking at library programs for the summer.

Scott is busy at work and volunteers in the 2nd & 3rd grade room at church. I somehow ended up with 3 different bible studies this spring, but each was unique and filled a definite need. I met so many neat ladies! Only one continues through the summer and I think that will be enough as the baby will be here soon. I have about 4 1/2 weeks to go according to the doctor. But my babies are notoriously a week or so late. I'm doing well, just getting uncomfortable, but I'm trying to savor these last few weeks of what will most likely be my final pregnancy.

I can't believe I've done this 7 times! That's a total of 70 months I've been pregnant. And yet, it doesn't feel that way. I have been blessed to have fairly easy pregnancies and absolutely love some aspects, like feeling their little hiccups almost nightly, while I hate other aspects: namely, heartburn. That has been the bane of each of my pregnancies!

Whew, this was long but I feel more caught up now. Onward to May!

not off to a great start

I started out the new year getting organized, putting away all the Christmas decorations, buying calendars and just overall being ready for a fresh start to the year.



But as a favorite saying of mine goes: "We plan and God laughs". The first weekend of the new year, 4 of my 6 children came down with a stomach bug. The following Monday, I followed suit.



So the week I had planned to be about getting back into our busy routines, combined with decluttering projects, became about washing bedding over and over, buying lots of saltines and Pedialyte, and basically just getting through each day.

We all finally seem to be over it, at last. Several of us had recurrences but not for 2 days now.

I'm glad I had so much energy the first couple days of the new year and got several projects done.

But I'm also glad I learned to slow down a bit, let my family take care of me, and enjoy taking care of them.

And all the housework and business just waits for us anyway doesn't it?

checklist

Christmas tree down..........check



Christmas decorations taken down and packed up............check



After-Christmas clearance shopping at Target............check



MAJOR clearing out of the 1 and 2 yr olds room, resulting in 3 bags of toys for Goodwill and 2 for trash........................check



Purchase new calendars ( somehow I seem to require 3: one for my purse, one for my desk, and a central family one on the refrigerator).............check



Return all library Christmas books.................check



Finish eating all fudge, banana bread, etc. from holiday baking..........check



Print December pictures to put in Christmas album...................check






Okay, bring on the new year!

It's snowing lightly outside; fat, lazy flakes that take their time from the clouds to the ground. I see God's magnificent mountains, the snow-covered trees surrounding them, a soaring eagle in flight.

This is from a journal entry I made the Sunday before last as I was sitting by a fireplace at a lodge in Breckenridge. I'd gone there for a retreat with four fabulous friends. We created our own weekend and it went something like this...

As we walked along a mountain path, a fox walked nearly right up to us. Later, he visited us along the walkway around the hot tub. A blue jay flew overhead. Or was it a crow? (inside joke)We watched a muskrat and huge trout race each other to devour food thrown from a bridge.

We laughed, we cried, we talked of painful things, past mistakes and the families we are all so proud of.

We planned, we shared ideas, we created a concept that's going to be so great in the lives of many families.

We relaxed, we walked, we shopped, we swam, we separated for bible study, reflection and time alone with God.

We grew closer to God and to each other.

Oh, and the views weren't bad either.

getting back into the groove

Fall is here, school has begun and I keep telling myself to find time to blog. Obviously, I haven't been listening. =)

However this weekend I had three separate people mention that they have checked my blog, and nothing new has been added. Hey, I can take a hint. Most the time. Eventually.

So look for some updates this week, hopefully complete with pictures. As for tonight, I have a backache and need to get up early to take the older 4 kids to Options, so off to bed I go.

God Bless,

catching up

Such a busy time of year! Every year the sheer volume of things to do surprises me, I don't know why.

And it seems like every single activity we're involved in planned some kind of function this year where we were asked to bring either an ornament, a plate of goodies, a small gift or something for a potluck. So did I do the smart thing and make up a huge batch of cookies or something? Noooo...I had to make/buy something completely different for each one. Usually the night before.

But we did manage to get through it all. And of course it was a lot of fun.

Here are a few pictures from this month:

I attended a Cmas party/ornament exchange for MOPS

Brenna had her very first piano performance at a nursing home

Chase competed in an archery competition for Boy Scouts. He came in second in his division!

We got the tree up and decorated

The boys worked on building an igloo in the backyard

A very dear friend was in town visiting from Florida, and she got to meet Declan for the first time and see how all the other kids have grown

Then she and I (and Declan, of course) got to spend an evening out having dinner and shopping and catching up

And Declan somehow turned 2 months old!!!

We had a few more fun events but I kept either forgetting my camera or batteries!

Tonight we're celebrating as a family here at home, then tomorrow we're off to the mountains to see my parents for a few days.

Merry Christmas to everyone!!

May God Bless you all in the coming year!!

still here

I know I missed over a week of posting...I seemed to have problems with all sort of electronics last week. My camera wasn't working, my e-mail wasn't working correctly, our vacuum was on the fritz...

Over the weekend, my wonderful hubby fixed everything. =) So I'm a little behind on pics of Declan turning a month old, but I'll still put up a post.

He's so sweet. He really has a wonderful temperment. He doesn't get upset very often and when he does, he's pretty easy to appease. Each of the kids has learned their own special way of calming him when he cries. It's so wonderful to watch them with him. He also has been sleeping well at night, yippee!

Brenna and Aiden had Options today, but other than that we're taking the week off school. My parents will be here Wednesday and staying a couple days. For the last several years we've traveled to them in the mountains so we're excited they get to be here this year. They are coming a day early so my mom and I can shop for the food for our Thanksgiving dinner. Most years we also go shopping on Black Friday but with the baby, I think we'll only hit 1 or 2 of the smaller, less-busy stores this year.

I'm way behind on Christmas shopping. Today I finally sat down and made a final list of who I need to buy for and ideas. The kids want to give teacher gifts so I want to look for things we can make that are pretty frugal. Brenna has 6 different teachers for Options!

Can you believe it's the last week of November already?!

week in review

We're slowly settling into a routine with the baby during the day and he's sleeping pretty well at night. Last week was too busy with activities outside the house so this week I made an effort to stay home. And I have to say I've loved it. I also felt like I was coming down with mastitis but it cleared up after a couple days of nursing more frequently and using a warm washcloth.

Zane has had a runny nose and cough, and Scott caught it. He was pretty miserable for a few days but they both seem to be on the mend now.

From his class at Options, Aiden brought home a caterpillar. I had my doubts, but we did end up with a butterfly.

A friend from MOPS had her baby boy on the 2nd and I was able to take her a meal and see precious Lukas.

Wednesday night was the AWANA Grand Prix races. Both Brenna and Chase won a couple of their heats, but didn't prevail in the end.

Brenna ( and dad ) designed a Target truck, while Chase opted for a black Corvette.

We are not quite back to full schooling, but getting there. I've learned I need to find some activities to keep Zane busy. When left alone, he gets into all kinds of mischief! =)

I

I've also been perusing a lot of frugal cooking blogs. With 8 of us now, including a teenage boy and a pre-teen, I'm finding I have to make more food. And with grocery prices being so high and buying diapers for 2, I need all the frugal ideas I can get. Tonight we're trying out something called Bubble Pizza.

That's about it around here. This weekend Scott works for a few hours on Saturday and I have MOPS. Sunday I'm hoping to get the boys' hair cut and spend some time planning our school lessons for next week.

Oh, and I've also been loving on this sweet face. =)

f

catch up

Well, we're in the home stretch now. One week to go according to the doctor. About 2 according to me. =) We'll see who is right. I finally started having some light contractions this weekend. With my previous pregnancies, I've had contractions for 1-2 weeks before the kiddo showed up.

I am definitely at the end of my energy. Everyday tasks are taking much longer and much more effort on my part. And baby boy has moved his big, heavy head directly onto my pelvis in the last week. Yeouch! But overall this has been an uncomplicated pregnancy so I shouldn't complain.

In other news, both Brenna and Aiden are doing well in their Options program. Brenna absolutely loves her sign language class, although she really enjoys all her classes. Aiden is doing wonderfully in his Kindergarten class. I think one day a week is just right for him.

Conner and Chase are doing well at FACE also, although Conner doesn't really enjoy all the homework that comes along with being in high school. =) He is really learning a good lesson in time management this year.

Zane is growing so fast and putting together new words everyday. I'm finding it so hard to believe that he will no longer be the baby around here!

We had a very busy weekend, Saturday was MOPS. This is the first meeting I was able to attend this year and it was so good to see everyone. We had quite a few new ladies which was wonderful. Then I went to a friend's house and had a nice chat. In the afternoon, Conner and Chase went to a birthday party, so I dropped them off and Scott picked them up.

Sunday Brenna went with her Girl Scout group downtown to hand out water bottles at the finish line of the Race for the Cure. Scott and the kids went to church while I had an unexpected surprise. A friend I hadn't seen in 2 years was in town and I got to have breakfast with her. It was so nice to catch up with each other!

Then I took Aiden to a birthday party and then church choir. It's been a very full weekend and it's gone so fast. Guess it's good to keep busy in these last weeks, right?

I plan to show Scott how to update my blog so he can post when baby does arrive.

school update

Well, 2 weeks into our school year and so far, so good. They boys started FACE last Friday, and it's going well. Conner does have a lot of algebra to do each day. He and I are trying to work up a good schedule for him, so he manages to get done all that he needs to. Chase has a much lighter load but his Bible Geography class does require a bit of time.

Brenna and Aiden have attended one day at Options so far, and they both like it. I was a little worried about Aiden being there all day long, but he did great. Brenna especially enjoys her sign language class, she has learned a huge number of signs already.

As for here at home, we're slowly adding things in each day. I'm trying to be a good manager of my time too: not just schooling the kids, but planning meals, cleaning house, etc.

The funny thing is just as this schedule starts to gel, our new baby will arrive! And then we'll need to adjust it again.

new season

It officially feels like the end of summer to me now. Scott and all the kids spent the weekend in the mountains at my parents' house. Know what that means? I had the house to myself. All weekend. Just me, myself and I. Oh, and the cats.

I had planned to just rest all weekend and do some planning for school which starts next week. But I started thinking of ways our various bookshelves and storage areas could be better arranged. So Saturday I did way too much cleaning and moving of things. And I felt it afterward. I was so sore all night.

But I was much smarter today. I did the weekly grocery shopping and spent the rest of the day planning. This evening and tomorrow morning I'm actually going to rest like I'd originally planned.

This school year promises to be challenging. Last spring when I realized how hard it would be to homeschool a high schooler while juggling a newborn (not to mention the 4 kiddoes inbetween), I panicked a bit.

Scott and I prayed about it and I started looking at different options. We are still going to homeschool, we both felt strongly that it is still God's will for our lives. But I decided on a little help. Last year the kids took a couple classes at FACE, a private school that offers classes for homeschoolers, but they were mostly for fun. This year Conner will be taking some high school courses that will take a bit of the burden of me. He and I will still work at home during the week but he'll also have outside assistance to help keep him on track. Chase also opted to stick with FACE.

For Brenna and Aiden, I found a program funded by the public schools. This took a lot of thinking and prayer, but I feel good about our decision. They will attend on Mondays. Brenna has 6 different classes and Aiden will stay with one teacher and do a Kindergarten program. Again, we'll still school at home the rest of the days.

I'm hopeful that between these programs and our curriculum for home, everyone will get what they need this year. And I'm looking into some ideas to make up activity boxes for Zane to keep him busy and involved each day.

This is our tentative schedule for the year:

Monday -- Brenna and Aiden to Options 8:30-3:30 ; work at home with Conner and Chase
Tuesday-- School at home
Wednesday-- School at home
Thursday-- Reserved for field trips, bowling league
Friday-- Conner and Chase to FACE 8:30-2:30; work at home with Brenna and Aiden

For extra-curriculars this year, we have girl scouts, boy scouts, church choir, AWANA, bowling league, gymnastics and swimming.

We begin our new school year on Tuesday. I can't wait!

Baby update time

I had my 32-week appointment today. Very uneventful. All is well, although my blood pressure was just a tad high. Could be the total lack of sleep I got last night thanks to my teething Zane! The baby is doing great.

I will have another quick appt. at 34 weeks, and then my Dr. wants to schedule an ultrasound at 36 weeks. Since my quad screen numbers came back high, they want to check on the baby's size. I am also hopeful they'll be better able to look for the markers for Down's Syndrome at that time. That would still give us 4 weeks to prepare ourselves mentally.

I've been in a good place these past months. I've heard from so many ladies who have told me they tested positive for DS also and their babies were born perfect. So while it's definitely still a possibility, I've chosen not to dwell on it. If he does have DS, that is God's plan and he will equip us to deal with it.

I am slowing waaay down. Stairs are not my friend. Neither is bending over, lifting anything over 20 pounds, or trying to get up from our couch. But what I'm lacking in energy the baby is gaining. He is so active! It's fun for the other kids to see how much he moves.

Only 8 weeks to go! Or based on my previous experiences, 9 or 10. =)

end of summer?

We had maybe 2 inches of rain so far this summer. Isn't that sad? Now in the last 2 days we've had more than that. And it's supposed to continue all weekend.

I'm loving the cooler weather. It makes me want to snuggle on the couch under a blanket and read a book. And it's also making me finally switch gears toward fall. I think I've been in denial that summer's about to end.

I have friends whose kids are already back in school. That's crazy. We start the Tuesday after Labor Day each year. So we still have a couple weeks to play. I'm hoping to fit in some more swimming at least.

On the other hand, I also need to buy school supplies and work out a good schedule for each of us this year. And try to factor a baby into the mix! That should make my schedule fly right out the window, right?

So that's where I am right now -- kind of in limbo. Trying to enjoy the rest of summer while getting ready for fall and baby.

just wring me out

It is hot, hot, hot here today. 99, I believe we hit. UGH. I don't do well with heat in the best of times, let alone when I'm 6 months pregnant.

We went to the zoo today. What were we thinking?? Actually, it wasn't as bad as it could have been since we went early in the morning. By noon, I was thoroughly wilted, it was scorching hot and we were out of there.

A friend and I do a kid swap each summer. One day she takes my girl to her house to play with her daughter and I take her 2 boys to play at my house with my sons. Another day, we do the opposite.

So today after the zoo, I brought her boys home with me and they fought off the heat in the pool. I hid inside with the swamp cooler on HIGH. In the afternoon we switched our kids back and then Chase was invited by another friend to go with his family to Lakeside amusement park for the evening.

I dropped him at their house and spent the rest of the evening taking Conner to baseball practice and Brenna to soccer practice.

Now it's quiet in the house. All are in bed, and I'm waiting up for Chase to get home.

And it's still hot. UGH.

tired

I know I haven't been great about posting lately. I do feel much better than I did in the early weeks of this pregnancy, but I still have some lingering fatigue.

I've finally thrown in the towel as far as Project 365 goes. I will still participate but no longer try to keep up. However many I take this year will have to be enough. =) Of course, once the new baby is here I'll probably have more than enough pics.

With our warmer weather, I hope to have more pics AND posts up soon.

In the Christmas mood?

From reading other blogs, it seems so many people already have their tree up. Am I the only one that doesn't feel in the mood for that just yet??

I am making a lot of headway on my shopping, but haven't thought about decorating just yet. Of course, first I have to take my fall decorations down. =)

We had a warm day today but it's supposed to cool down again tomorrow with a chance for more snow. We didn't get much from last week's storm. There was a bit more in Wyoming on the way to my parents', but not much:

Scott is working in Idaho this week. He was able to take Chase with him. His company is great about things like that. So they had a looong 12 hour drive there yesterday. But they are staying in a very nice hotel and Chase got to swim and play pool before bed so he was happy. They should be home by the weekend.

With Chase gone, we're having a light school week. And the plan is to start on making some Christmas gifts, but we haven't gotten to it yet. Maybe tomorrow.

Okay, now I'm just rambling. =) Maybe playing some Christmas music would put me more in the mood?