My life is mundane and yet there is never a dull moment. My days are full of kissing boo-boos, changing diapers, making bottles, answering questions about the number of levels on an aircraft carrier, fixing the Barbie dress that a little brother tore, changing diapers, doctors appointments, lots of coffee, changing diapers(seeing a pattern?), lesson plans, feeding kids....and that's before lunch. I love it, but hate the part where some people assume that because I homeschooling, I'm available. I'm not. My days are packed full, just maybe not the sort where I'm getting paid or physically absent from my home. My job is my home and all of its inhabitants. While I'm on the topic of things I do, I also would like to point out that just because I have four kids, I'm not a freak. I'm not a Duggar, I'm not sporting a bun and an ankle length denim skirt. Yes, I know where they come from and no, I'm not insane. So thanks for letting me clear up a few misconceptions. I wouldn't trade any part of my life if I could. Also, I'm considering keeping all four of my kids. They are the cats meow, or pajamas, or whatever. Yes, my hands are full...of blessings. Today we had an eye appointment. What a trip! Imagine for a moment that Myself, Aidan, Izzie, Noah, and Eli were all crammed into a tiny room for 1 1/2 hours and three out of five sets of eyeballs were dilated(I see a math lesson here...anybody? No? Okay - I see lessons everywhere. Hazard of the job.). It wasn't imagined. It was as real as the housewives of Orange County(Bad analogy. Those chicks are as real as the silicone in their ridiculously large boobs. Good times and blurry eyes.The "Doc" as Aidan called him told us no playing outside today and they took it like champs. Did they laze around the house and complain of excruciating boredom? Nope, they worked as a team and made cardboard race cars and a cardboard Barbie gymnastics studio. God bless them - they never fail to amaze. Adapt and overcome. Hubster to the rescue! He's taking us to the best restaurant in Abilene for dinner. Thank goodness because things are so blurry I would've botched up dinner.

It's been forever...

It's been forever ...since I've blogged. My time is so precious, fleeting, and ,well, stretched to the max.So much has changed as life has a tendency to do. I'm a list girl. It helps me organize my life and thoughts that are scattered 97% of the time. The other 3% of the time is during the night...when I'm sleeping.SO, without further ado - the list. List of Our Recent Adventures: 1) Most importantly, Eli. Our new little one. By new I mean 4 months today. I'm a rotten excuse for a blogger. He is such a precious little guy. He laughs, smiles, talks, and growls. The big kids adore him, especially Izzie. I love watching her little mommy ways - so nurturing. Eli is lucky to be surrounded by lots of love even if it borders on smothering at times.

2) Move to Abilene. This is my least favorite adventure except for the house - love it. It is a very lonely feeling to leave all you've ever known - family, friends, church, life - to go to a strange place. I'm continuing to plow through to find some sort of connections here, but it's slow and I miss home so much. I have no idea where the road will take us next and that bugs me, but I'm trusting that God will reveal that in time. I don't think/hope that any plan involves us staying here. I want to plant roots - I need to give that gift to my kids. 3) We lost our precious dog, Phoenix. I dearly loved him and my heart is still broken. We have since gotten Marley and though she is so sweet and smart, there are so many days that I sort of force myself to love her. She often reminds me of the fact that she's here because Phoenix isn't. Time is a great healer and soon she, too, will steal my heart.

Those are the major points. I'm sure I've missed many in this whirlwind! My kids are my life and my joy. Aidan is 8, soon to start 3rd grade. He doesn't look like a little boy anymore! Izzie is 5 and chomping at the bit to start Kindergarten. She is in gymnastics, loves horses, Barbies, art, and reading. She shines so bright! Noah is 2 1/2 and is a stick of dynamite. He is all boy and is really developing his own identity. They are all so different! Eli is such a joy - no colic, doesn't fuss much, etc. My hands are full and blessed! There is so much to add, but no more time for now. As Scarlet would say, "Tomorrow is another day!"

NOT that anyone will read this but me, but I will ramble about my sweet life anyways. It's my blog and I can blog if I want to!

The run down on each of us:
James. Well, he works, comes home, and works again. The coming home and spending time with us is the part we like. That and the paycheck part are the cool parts. Fathers Day is coming up in a couple of days and my hat is off to James. He is an amazing, loving, playful dad. The kids and I took him out to eat and each child(other than Noah) told him what their favorite things to do with him are and the answers were so sweet. Aidan likes to wrestle and Izzie likes to play Barbies with him. Happy Fathers Day, Love!

Me: Hmmmm, I'm in the trenches of motherhood - what else can I say? I'm taking a break and enjoying a little of summer before moving on to the planning phase for school in the fall. While the planning seems very tedious, I love my job as both an educator and mother.

Aidan: Just went to the dentist today and needs lots of work. Yikes! Other than that, he is done with school for the year and I'm not sure who breathed a bigger sigh of relief, him or me. I passionately love homeschooling, but it is NOT for the faint of heart. Despite being given the choice to go back to "regular" school, he has zero desire to do so. He is doing well at reading, likes math, and LOVES science.

Izzie: What can I say about Her Majesty, Princess of Perfection? Well, she's pretty awesome for one thing. She is enjoying her summer INDOORS. Girlfriend does not do hot weather and bugs. Nope, dress up and Barbie's and "babies" in the comfort of her air conditioned home are just the thing for her. You know how you can tell if your daughter is a city girl at heart? It's when she wants to go "pick flowers" at Hobby Lobby. In other big Izzie news, she now sports beautifully pierced ears and will be entering Pre-K/Kindergarten in the fall. She is SO excited!

Noah: This child is hell on wheels. Seriously, how many things can one kid destroy in five minutes? Approximately 4,126 items. No kidding. He is so stinkin' cute while he does it though - all that unruly, Albert Einstein-esque blonde hair and half the time naked tush. He is strongly opposed to diapers and is one heck of a bruiser. I'm considering duct tape for the diaper! My favorite phrase of his is, "Bug Bug!" in place of Slug Bug when we're on the hunt for VW bugs. I could just squeeze him.

That's all she wrote.

December and other such ramblings...


Wow! The year is wrapping up and I'm wondering where it has gone? It has been a great year full of exciting and not so exciting events.

A brief recap of the last month:
Most importantly, my sweet Noah turned one on December 2nd. We had fun celebrating his birthday. I made the same birthday cake for him using the same teddy bear shaped pan that MY first birthday cake was made with. I made a Winnie the Pooh cake for Aidan, a pink bear for Izzie, and had and epic fail with Noah's cake. His bear imploded. I'm not really sure where things went wrong, but they did somewhere along the way. There will be no pictures of the giant chocolate blob. Noah loved it and I guess that's what really matters. Aidan and Iz had a great time picking out their own gift for him this year. Aidan thinks big and wanted to get him 4,023 things, but we were able to whittle his purchases down to one thing. They chose a ball. Such a simple gift, but by far his favorite gift. Noah squeals with happiness when he throws it and watches it bounce. It was a quiet celebration of his first year. He is a firecracker who has the sweetest grin. I can't wait to see what the future holds for our littlest man.

Aidan has been hard at work rehearsing and preparing for his part as a Wise Man in our church musical. He was the cutest little wise man who was singing his heart out. He LOVES to sing and despite James and I not having any musical talents worth mentioning, Aidan actually has a good voice. He can generally be caught belting out a favorite song or a Christmas carol. That kid. I think I'll go ahead and keep him.

Both older kids are taking gymnastics and love it for completely different reasons. For Aidan, it's a license to go crazy, jump on things, around things, and hurl himself into a giant pit of foam. Izzie prefers to explore the less spastic side of the sport. She is so adorable to watch in all her tiny-ness. She loves the trampoline and fancies herself quite the gymnast. She is ready to try tap dancing and is really excited about the possibility of becoming and Irish dancer. We Texans refer to it as clogging, but she is more intrigued by the more refined version. She loves to watch the Irish dancers on TV and tries her hand at it in the kitchen with her jellies on. Izzie is God's special gift to me in the midst of all these crazy, gross, weird boys that surround me. Even the stinkin' dogs are boys.

We took about 2 weeks off school before Christmas so that we could take the time to enjoy the season. Not to mention the fact that we just needed a breather. An academic Aidan is not. He would much prefer to skip school his entire life. Except recess. That part he likes. Hmmm, I see a problem with that. Playground time does not equal a successful career. Oh well, he says that he is going to be a police officer and live with me forever. That's cool with me. For now. Anyways, back to what I was actually writing about. I have blog ADD - please forgive me. Oh, and it's the middle of the night. We really enjoyed this holiday season! We made sugar cookies, explored the Polar Express book in depth, read lots of Christmas books that we hadn't read, and did a fair amount of chillin' like villains. That's how we roll.

We celebrated Christmas with James's family at Six Flags. I am not a lover of the Six Flags experience. I find the place trashy and teeming with people. Add to that motion sickness and it's just not my thing. I did ride a roller coaster for the first time since high school. Big. Mistake. I was reminded of how I hated it. We let Aidan ride it too. I will never forget the terror I felt about him being on there as we were upside down on that horrid contraption. I vividly remember thinking about climbing over the car in front of me to get to him for fear that his little body would fall out or be crushed. This feeling is not one that I recommend. James was with him and while I completely trust him, Aidan is my baby. Enough said.Did I mention that I loathed that experience? Yep, think I did. Aidan wanted to do it again! He loved it! Mommy can accept that when he is larger. Maybe like 200 lbs. larger. Who am I kidding? He could be a linebacker and I would still be terrified.

We followed Six Flags with a three day Christmas extravaganza. First, Christmas Eve at Spaghetti Warehouse. Garlic Shrimp, angel hair pasta with a lemony sauce. What else is there to say? Ok, well, I will mention that my kids looked so cute all dressed in there Christmas outfits. Particularly Izzie. She looked positively angelic in her red layered tulle dress. Oh how I wish I could bottle her at this age and keep her small forever.We went to Christmas Eve service after dinner and really just had a great evening. James read to us about the birth of Jesus - the reason for all of this - and then we had a very special treat. We were given a book by my parents that contains a recording of my dad reading "Twas the Night Before Christmas". What a special gift for me and for the kids! My dad read that to me as a child every Christmas Eve and I cherish that my children will have that same legacy.

I am stopping here because I just realized that my "brief" summary of the month rivals the most lengthy of dissertations. Oh my.

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Wow! That time of year already!

Can't believe it's the week of Thanksgiving and a couple of weeks until my sweet baby boy turns one. Where does the time go? Please, please, just slow down a little so I can enjoy a few more moments of time when my children are still young.

Noah is walking all over the place and is saying a few small words. Although most don't understand what he is saying yet, I do. He says dog, drink, bye-bye, mom, and dad. His favorite pastime is taking a bath, playing in water, and playing trucks. It is a blessing to watch him!

Izzie is turning four in about a month and is my saving grace between these rough and tumble boys! Love that kid! She is all things girly - nails painted, red lipstick, sparkles, and sequins. Did I mention the coiffed do? Simply fabulous.

Aidan is doing pretty well with homeschooling. He has his moments for sure...He is taking P.E. and has lots going on to keep him busy. Lord knows he needs to stay busy! He really enjoys being able to rest his brain in between school work. Sort of his reset button. We are finishing up a lengthy unit study on Thanksgiving that has been a real learning experience.

I really want to instill in our children that thankfulness for all our blessings is NOT secondary to the impending Christmas craziness. I want them to pause and remember that there have been many before us who have sacrificed to allow us the freedoms that we so enjoy. We have the ability to worship God in the way that we choose and I want to honor that. I also don't want them to have this idea that Thanksgiving is just a prelude to Christmas, but give them the gift of being thankful for the promise that Christmas brings. There, I am stepping slowly off of my soap box - or pulpit, or whatever. I will also admit that the prime rib and turkey doesn't hurt....Well, maybe my waistline(fortunately, I don't have one so it doesn't really matter).

Ok, back to Squanto and planting corn. The Native Americans and Separatists would have ALL died if they were counting on my growing skills. Can't even grow ivy.

Where to begin...

So much has happened since my last blog and I have not had one dull or even semi-calm moment to blog about it!

Things are so crazy and I am completely overwhelmed. We decided two weeks ago to pull Aidan out of school for various reasons and homeschool him. HUGE undertaking! So far, things are going well, but this will definitely be an adjustment for all of us. It's really hard for me emotionally and physically to be everything to the kids all of the time. I pray that we are acting on what God had in store for us and that this is truly a wonderful experience for us and also that I have the patience and stamina to do this. There are moments that I feel like I will collapse under the weight of it all, but God always gives me just what I need to push through.

I am also nearing the end of my semester, so of course that means more papers, exams, etc. Yikes! I struggle with feeling like I am only able to give a small part of myself to my education when I know that I am fully capable of so much more. I don't like settling with a passing grade and I am not one that is okay with mediocrity. Maybe that's why I am homeschooling...

The best news of all is that Noah started walking about a week and a half ago. I was so startled that he just let go and started walking. It completely took my breath away! He is such a sweet and special baby boy. He is starting to put words together: so far we have dog, go, da-da, and trying for Aidan and drink. It kills me, absolutely breaks my heart that I may not get to experience these firsts with a baby again. James says no more.He hears a crying baby and I hear one that needs to snuggle with mommy. I don't want there to be a day when my house is silent and still. I love the chaos and noise of my kids! Anyways, I am so proud of my No-E. He is getting so big!

Izzie is learning her letters and is learning to write. She writes lots of "lists" for me. She joins in with Aidan and I and does school too. She wants so badly to be big and I want so badly for her to stay small. Love my sweet girl. She is such a gift tucked in between my rough and tumble boys.

I am exhausted. Completely wiped. And I have a mound of dishes that the maid left behind. Damn her!