Library Tuesday

Woke up this morning kind of dreading getting everyone out of the house again. (I had intended to complete our library visit yesterday, when we were already out and about, but they were closed for Columbus Day.) It was so exhausting yesterday, running errands all afternoon/evening, that I didn’t feel like it attempting it again. Turns out we didn’t get to the library until 3 PM, but we had the place to ourselves for a while. Will said, “At least there’s no people here!” Oh no! I’m raising loners like me. 

It was another full, busy day. Definitely got some things crossed off my list and managed to do school again with the boys. This will be our first full, legit week and I’m hoping to get into a groove fairly soon. At one point, one of the boys said, “School is fun!” I sure hope it can stay that way. 

Nursing the baby and watching the kids play… a peaceful morning moment.

The boys playing with their gears. (Finally ordered a replacement piece for the part that broke, and I’m looking forward to this toy no longer provoking a nagging feeling in my mind.)

The boys made a dinosaur train. William told me a few times that there were 21 dinosaurs.

Neva would bounce these babies to soothe them, just like I do with Mac. She just about had a meltdown when it was time to put them back, but God sent a random little boy who at that moment decided he wanted to show her a butterfly puppet, and it made her so distracted and amused that we were able to put the babies away without a huge fit. 

William is obsessed with this red eyed tree frog puppet. We’ve checked it out of the library two weeks in a row now, and I don’t think they’re going to let me renew it again next week. He sleeps with his hand inside him and calls him Wacky. He would love his own Wacky for Christmas, but this particular puppet has been retired and is now approximately $70 used on eBay. Hopefully I can find an appropriate substitute. 

“Can I feed these bugs to Wacky?!”

Having some fun with the winter hats. The weather was a little chillier this evening. Neva has no pants on because… potty training. 

Mac does his exercises with daddy.

Picked up some superhero costumes at Goodwill yesterday, and the kids got to try them on tonight. I bought one for Mac, for when he is bigger, on a whim, and I’m so glad I did because Neva desperately wanted it. Oh my goodness, I laughed and laughed at the sight of her in that little muscle suit. She ran around with the boys and they were all  so cute. More photos I’m sure will be forthcoming when I actually wash and dry them. I hate the smell of goodwill clothes before they’ve gone through the laundry! 

And finally, this is me, super super excited because, as of tonight’s work out, I can do three pull-ups in a row!

Happy Columbus Day!

Today was a full day in celebration of Columbus Day (or maybe just in celebration of summer weather day in October!)… A trip to Goodwill, an attempted trip to the library (which apparently closes for Columbus Day?), a McDonald’s picnic at the park, and peewee sports camp at night. I was gone from the house for five hours with the kids but I survived! We actually had a really nice day. Before we left the house, we did laundry, Bible time, homeschool, cleaning up, playing inside and outside, a couple cooking projects, and a work out. It’s been a packed day and I’m exhausted. 

Neva was really sweet today (not to mention is doing so well with potty training). At the Pee Wee Sports Camp tonight, she was one of three toddler girls who were too young to play. The other two were throwing screaming fits the whole time (Neva just screamed for, like, a minute total). Haha! Her behavior wasn’t perfect, but in contrast to the others she was an angel. I was so proud of her. She would look at the other two screaming girls and say with big eyes, “Baby sad.” I had Mac in my arms the whole time and I so needed her to be a good girl, and she was. Now, if the other two little girls hadn’t been there, I might have been thinking she was being difficult (she was persistently pushing the boundaries to see if she could go play with the bigger kids). But I always compare her to my easygoing boys. I was glad to have some little girls around to help me go, “Hmmmm maybe she’s just a normal little girl...”

Barrett (below): “ I was just bein’ silly.”

Quote of the Day (in reply to me shooing away the hornets, saying, “Go away… I have nothing for you!”): 

“Mom, you lied to the hornets. You do have food for them.”

The kids wanted to swim in this water so badly. Guess which of my children disobeyed me and ran into the water, getting her shoes all wet? 


Still wearing Neva. This is a lifesaver. I dread the day she decides this isn’t fun anymore. 

William: “Barrett, that looks amazing! It looks like… like a zoo!”
Barrett “It’s a parade!”

William has my heart today. As a sidenote, he desperately wants light up shoes. When we went into Goodwill, he pleaded to go look at the shoes and see if there were any light up shoes. There WAS a pair of light up shoes… a great deal… really cute… in BARRETT’s size only. They were such a great deal and Barrett did need another pair of shoes... I couldn’t pass them up. I thought William was going to cry. But he sucked it up and had a great attitude. He did not sulk at all, and many times told Barrett how cool they were and how excited he was for him to have light up shoes.  Then, at peewee sports camp, since I had to be there by myself, I had to duck out of the gym for several minutes to nurse Mac and let Neva run around in the cafeteria and blow off steam. When I came back in, I saw my first born choking back sobs in the middle of the gymnasium. I tried to call to him, but above the chaos and noise he could not hear me. I began walking to him, Mac and Neva in each arm, when I made eye contact with his coach and asked if he was OK. “Yes,” he replied, “he was just looking for you.” When I finally made eye contact with William, I waved, and his face brightened, and he ran off, kicking the soccer ball with new vigor. 

Charlevoix Day 4

The most full day of the entire trip started out with some more baby cuddling. Specifically, my older baby cuddling my younger baby. Notice Mac's terrified look in the third photo.

Nana got some more baby cuddles, too. 

Around noon, after playing with Lake at Nana's house for about an hour, we parted ways with Lake and went to Lucas's house to play for a bit. We stayed there for about an hour and mostly played outside in the beautiful sunshine.

The kids had a rather difficult time sharing the Jeep, and I admit when the battery ran out after a short time (Christie explained that its life is coming to an end), I was a little bit relieved. All the kids, however, continued to camp out on the Jeep and eat popcorn.

After our little play date, we met up with a Lake again at Michigan Beach. David took Sage home for her nap, and Lake stayed with us. We wanted to fly the kite, but it was too windy at MI Beach to do much of anything besides flying the kite. So after all the kids got a turn to fly it, we packed up and headed to Depot Beach instead.

Lake and Barrett on the slide. 

Frankenmuth

Auntie's here!

Today

So much cute. Too much to write down. Everyone is just CUTE. 

"Mac's a tiny dinosaur, doodah, doodah 

He's a tiny dinosaur all the doodah day. 

Wanna hear him roar?

Mac the Dinosaur!

He's just a tiny dinosaur, all the doodah day."

(Sung to the tune of Camptown Ladies)

"This is an alligator, eating me and a frog. And fish. And this is you, Mommy, driving the submarine, and Daddy is driving the motorboat, and you're coming to rescue me!"

"Baby Bac? Hold-you? 'Gain?"

Neva talked all the way to church tonight and all the way home. All. The. Way. Mostly gibberish with recognizable names thrown in there. I told Brian, we are in for a lot of cute when she starts making sense. 

School (kinda) starts

This morning started out with baby snuggles. I can't express how much I love this stage. It's hard to believe that I had this with three other kids. The moments are so fleeting that I don't even remember them. Is it possible that I really cuddled a tiny, two month old Barrett on my chest?

In the first picture, I had picked him up from his bassinet after he slept literally all night long (!) and he was just content for several minutes to rest his face against mine like this. 

Then he nursed, and snuggled into me and fell sleep again.


William looked so handsome in his shirt, so I wanted to take a picture of him. He wasn't  very happy that he had to wear a "church shirt" so he gave me a more mischievous smile. What can I say?? It was a chilly morning, the boys are so used to summer clothes that they detest the thought of a sweatshirt or pants, so the warmest thing I could think to dress them in that they would tolerate was a button down shirt over their shorts and T-shirt. This one in particular was soft flannel and comfortable. I made him keep it on although he took it off mid morning, saying he was hot. 




"I'm a frog!" William is really into frogs right now.

"mom, can I wear two watches??"

Here, he is doing a cool "two watches dance"


William is a dinosaur, in his favorite "dinosaur shirt." He seriously loves this shirt and would wear it every day if I let him. The only thing that prevents this from happening is that it occasionally does go into the wash. 


We've had this placement for a while, but today Will randomly flipped it over and said, "Oh. My. Word. I want to do this." As soon as he was finished with his lunch (Cheerios and milk) he sat with a dry erase marker and traced every letter and number on the page.


He did so well! Barrett was transfixed as he watched Will. It was almost 4 PM and I still had not put Neva down for either of her two naps, and at this point she was sitting in her highchair with a glazed expression in her eyes, so I took pity on her and put her down for a nap while deciding to let Barrett stay up. I gave him the same placemat I had given to William a long time ago to begin learning to trace his letters. He gave it his best effort.

When they finished, I said, "Show me your work, you guys!" 

They held up their placements and shouted, "Fireworks! Fireworks! Boom! Boom!"




"You know what that was, you guys? That was school!" I said. "Was it fun?"

"Yeah!!!"

"You know you get for starting school? A special school treat." I have had these lollipops on hand for the day we "started school." Since that day is ambiguous and is a serious point of stress for me right now, I busted out the lollipops. 




They loved them. I took a lick and they tasted like bubblegum. Gross!! 

Yes, the thought of how I am going to fit homeschooling into a day that already flies by without a moment to spare, is stressing me out. If it wasn't for that, I don't think I would have much stress. Yes, the day goes by so fast that I often don't get the kids down for naps until half an hour before Brian comes home, but everybody is doing well. Yesterday we learned about ants, poring over a Zoodles magazine together for about half an hour. The kids aren't stuck in front of the TV, they are playing, either inside or out, getting along and learning how to use their imaginations. Yet in the back of my mind I think, none of this count unless I am doing proper school. Life is so busy here. How in the world am I going to carve out even three hours a week? Let alone more, when we move up. Also, I'd like to start Barrett in pre-K, too. The lessons for William's kindergarten are so basic. I know that William already knows the information covered in at least the first 6 to 12 weeks, and Barrett could easily grasp it, So I'd like to do them both. But Barrett still naps in the afternoon so how on earth??

I just keep praying, Lord give me wisdom