Party Time

Last night we had a Halloween party with some of our friends who also homeschool. The kids all came in costumes and looked adorable. We played some games, read a story, did a craft and ate LOTS of food!

For those of you who know me, I am not a fan of Halloween but as long as it doesn't involve trick or treating - I will compromise so the girls can join the fun of dressing up. There were 12 kids 6 and under - it was crazy and fun all at the same time!! The kids get along remarkably well!

I didn't take many pictures - oops. Luckily, our friend (and one of the dads), Will, is a photographer so he took tons of great pictures!

Here are a couple of cute ones that I took:

I made Daphne's tutu yesterday. It was so fun and easy - Norah and Lucy may need tutus, too!!

Daphne is seriously thinking, "WHAT am I wearing?"

Our little friend, Jack. He is so sweet with the babies!

A Sweet Baby

The girls and I headed to Morton on Sunday to meet my new little nephew. It was a very last minute trip and we really didn't tell many people we were going. It ended up being a really nice visit - we weren't running around trying to see people, we just hung out with my parents, Denise, Contessa and Alex. Wow, he is a doll!!

While we were there I ended up teaching one of Denise's art classes. The gal who is teaching art this semester couldn't be there on Tuesday afternoon and Denise really didn't want to cancel the class. She was considering teaching it herself, but given she just had a c-section 2 weeks ago she asked me to do it. It was REALLY fun. I had a great group of kids who were all about Norah's age, so she came with me!!

Here are a few pics of little Alex!! He was totally loved on the whole time we were there!

It is hard to tell in the picture but Alex totally has a cleft chin!! I love it!!

I made sure to get school in both Monday and Tuesday mornings. I am quite proud of myself for actually getting it down. It would be so easy to say, "Forget it. We are out of town" but I know that I need to be consistent with our schooling. (I also do NOT like to miss something we have planned. It totally messes up my plan book if I have to switch days. The OCD in me doesn't do well with that!) Much of what I planned was appropriate in some way for Lucy and Contessa too. Norah LOVED having school with Contessa!!

Check out Lucy's outfit! Although they were playing dress up, this was her outfit for the day (and night, actually! I forgot jammies and didn't realize it until bedtime!! Lucy Lu got new jammies out of this trip!). There is a dress that goes over the shirt - not sure why it is so short, though - but Lucy didn't want to wear the dress. Ha!

My little niece, Contessa!! The girls had a BLAST together - running and squealing for hours on end!! So fun!

Seriously, Lucy looks so grown up holding Alex!!

In case you didn't know, Norah is an expert with babies now!

9 Months!

Daphne turned 9 months on October 17th - I know, I'm a little late. . . .again!

She had a doctor's appt. last Friday and she weighs 15 pounds, 10 ounces. I know, she is a little thing. That puts her in about the 8th percentile. Her length is about 75 percentile and her head is the 40th - both of those have stayed consistent. I mentioned to the doctor that Daphne is a horrible bottle drinker. We are lucky to get 20 ounces of formula in her in a day - the doctor would prefer 24, but she isn't too concerned yet. We are supposed to be feeding her high fat foods - cheeses, yogurt, and egg yolks. She also said to add butter to anything we can - never thought I would be forced to give any of my kids butter! Ha!

Daphne is still babbling like crazy! She has now figured out how to be louder than her sisters - it's lovely, really (note the sarcasm). She screeches and squeals frequently! Norah and Lucy will be running in a big circle on the main level of the house and Daphne tries to follow them, crawling as fast as she can. All 3 girls will be screeching and squealing at the same time - I don't think Kevin realized little girl voices to be so high and loud at the same time.

Daphne is cruising of furniture and climbing on EVERYTHING!! Nothing safe anymore - Norah and Lucy get very frustrated when Daphne gets into their toys.

Daphne seems to be a little drama queen already (really, can I handle another one?). She had just started doing this pouty face thing several minutes before she cries. Her bottom lip comes out and her chin gets all wrinkled. She looks like maybe she is trying not to cry and then all of the sudden she wails and buries her head. It is pitiful. When she first started it, we were at my mom's and my mom and I thought something was wrong. Now, I really think she has figured out how to get attention. If I act like I am not looking, she doesn't even cry. If she catches my eye, the pouty face begins!!

Rain

I love this blog and now her new one too! One suggestion recently was to have your child write a list poem. My friend, Sarah, had her daughter write one today and Norah wrote hers today, too!

Probably Not Gonna Happen

As heard by Norah during lunch today, "I know what I want for Christmas. I want my own room, but I know Santa can't give me that. I can have my own room when we move."

Just for the record, we are not moving in the foreseeable future!

A Camping We Will Go . . . Again?

Alright, if you have been reading my blog for awhile or you know me well, you know that I don't love to camp. I do it occasionally because Kevin likes it so much. We went camping about a year ago (well, actually, Lucy and I slept at home - I was 7 months pregnant and was not about to sleep in a tent). Then we went camping again this summer for Father's Day.

In early August, Kevin started talking about camping again . . . this year! Ummm, I don't think so. Daphne struggled with her sleeping and I just didn't want to do that again. Once she was asleep, she was fine, but she had a hard time falling asleep and I just didn't want to go through the stress of her waking everyone else up in the campground! Kevin asked me if I would consider going if we stayed in a cabin. I think my response was something like, "I guess I could consider it." Well, that was all the okay Kevin needed. He made reservations that day for last weekend!

His parents are big campers so we invited them to go with us - the cabin sleeps 8. We went last weekend to Klondike Park. The cabin was really nice - but it would have been even nicer with a kitchen and a bathroom - ha! The weekend ended up being pretty cool - especially once the sun went down. Daphne REALLY struggled while we were there. She didn't take ANY normal naps. She slept occasionally in the the little hiking backpack thing, but really didn't want to sleep in the pack n play in the cabin. Friday night we put her to bed - lots of rocking, swaying, singing, but about 9:30 she woke up screaming. I calmed her down and put her back in bed. More screaming. I tried putting her in bed with me - she was fine for a little while, but not sleeping. Then she started crying and she cried and cried. Kevin and I finally decided I should take her home - we really didn't want to risk keeping the big girls up ALL night. We were just about 30 minutes from home so I drove her home - slept in my bed in my nice warm house!!

Daphne and I headed back first thing Saturday morning. Norah and Lucy seemed to sleep well and we excited to eat pumpkin pancakes for breakfast! We were busy all day hiking, playing, and running around. If you live in the St. Louis area and you have never been to Klondike Park, you should go. It is really nice! The trails are nice and they also have paved paths - we took the girls bikes so these paths were perfect! The girls totally wore grandma and grandpa out with all their walking and running and bike riding. Seriously, Norah could hike FOREVER!!

I took Daphne home again Saturday night and Kevin, his parents, and the girls headed home mid-morning on Sunday.

And the Drama Continues!

My lunchtime conversation with Lucy:

(Background info. I had just asked Norah if she wants juice or milk. She said juice.)

Lucy: I want juice.

Me: Lucy, you don't like juice.

Lucy: Yes I do, I want juice.

Me: Lucy, you NEVER drink your juice. Why don't you have milk? (I know, I should not have asked a question, but just told her what she was having)

Lucy: No, I want juice. I will really drink it this time.

Me: Fine. You can have juice, but you have to drink it. You will not get anything else to drink until you drink your juice. (I realize that if she decides she wants milk or water, that would be better for her than juice. Just trying to make a point: Tell me what you want the first time.)

I give Lucy the juice (barely a half a glass) and instantly, "I don't want juice! I want milk!"

Me: Lucy, I told you to drink your juice first.

Lucy: But I don't like juice!

Me: If you want milk, drink your juice first.

Lucy: (through tears) I'm drinking my juice. Now can I have milk?

Me: Sure! (pour her milk and pour Norah more juice - which happened to be the rest of the bottle)

Lucy: (in a WHINY voice) but I wanted more juice!

Oh, Lucy

We have had an interesting day with Lucy today. She still isn't feeling well and isn't napping (due to not finger sucking) - not a good combination!

A few quotes from her today:

Last night before supper, Lucy said, "If daddy isn't home, then I'm not eating!"

Last night Lucy bit a hole in one glove. This morning she said, "I'm sorry I broke the glove."

At rest time, I was laying with her to try to get her to fall asleep. She kept saying, "I'm ignoring you!" When I wouldn't respond she would shout "Mom, I'm ignoring you! Did you hear me? I'm ignoring you!"

After being sent to her room SEVERAL times today, Lucy yells, "Ahhh! I'm stuck in my room!"

I cleaned ALL. DAY. today. While in the middle of cleaning the bathroom, Lucy climbed into the bathtub, threw her hands in the air and shouted, "I can do anything I want to!"

Another funny. "Your (pointing to me) house isn't funner than the Diehl's house. Their house is much more funner!"

After rest time (okay, I guess I can't really call it rest time since there was ABSOLUTELY. NO. RESTING!), Lucy said, "Can I have a donut?" When I responded no, Lucy says, "You are not in charge. Daddy is the boss, you are not the boss."

Also, while cleaning Lucy says, "Did you clean this shelf and these candles?" I said no and she said, "Well you should. It is really, really, really, really, really, (she actually went on and on - but you get the idea!) dirty."

Wow! What a day!

My New Nephew

I have a new little nephew, Alex Ignacio. He is 7 pounds 7 ounces and 19 inches long.

As with my c-sections, Denise's wasn't the typical planned c-section. She was scheduled to have him on Friday, but she started having contractions last night so she went to the hospital today and he came a little early.

Can't wait to meet him!!!!

Little Peanut

When Daphne was weighed at the doctors office today she weighed 15 1/2 pounds (she will be 9 months this week)! I seriously thought she would be close to 17 or maybe even 18 pounds! She is actually smaller than Norah was at 9 months by about 1 1/2 pound and Lucy by 2 1/2 pounds. Hmmm. We go next week for her 9 month check - I'll be curious to see if the doctor has anything to say about her weight!!

Sick Again

We went camping over the weekend, so I have a lot of pictures to post, but right now I have 2 sickos - yet again. I know it is only October - it is going to be a LONG winter. Daphne and Lucy both have bad colds - the type where you are wiping their noses every 2 minutes. I wish I was kidding - it is disgusting! They both have coughs - Lucy's is croupy sounding, but our doctor doesn't like us to give any kind of cough medicine. We steamed up the bathroom and she and I sat in their for awhile tonight. You can tell they both feel miserable and Daphne is not sleeping well. I took Daphne to the doctor today - thinking she had an ear infection, but her ears were fine, thankfully!

We were supposed to head to the zoo tomorrow with the Diehl's, but I don't want to risk getting the boys sick and it is probably going to be too cool for the girls to be out with bad colds. Norah is not happy that I cancelled - neither am I actually. I am really praying that the sick season doesn't get any worse than this!!!

Let's hope the rest of us don't get it - Norah especially! She is so not wanting more breathing treatments again so soon!!

Homeschool - Our Way

After the torrential downpour we have experienced the WHOLE day, I decided for our science today we would talk about weather. We used the Usborne Children's Internet Linked Encyclopedia. We read the pages on weather and then used Usborne Quicklinks. Norah and Lucy looked at a variety of activities and websites related to the weather. I usually try to follow Norah's lead with what she wants to learn more about - today it was snowflakes. I'm thinking rain, thunder - you know, things that we are actually seeing today. No, Norah wants to learn about snowflakes. Okay, so we looked at a variety of snowflakes and talked about how no two snowflakes are the same. We learned how to fold a square piece of paper and then to cut it out to look like a snowflake. One more thing that I LOVE about homeschooling is that we can go off in a direction totally different than we had planned. We still go our math, reading, science and art in today! So fun!!

My God and I

I am doing a Bible study at church called Live a Praying Life by Jennifer Kennedy Dean. For someone who grew up in the church, there is a lot that I don't know about prayer. So far this has been an excellent study!

One thing that stood out to me a couple of weeks ago is that God is a "Yes" God. 2 Cor. 1:18-20 says But as surely as God is faithful, our message to you is not "Yes" and "No." For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by me and Silas and Timothy, was not "Yes" and "No," but in him it has always been "Yes." For no matter how many promises God has made, they are "Yes" in Christ. And so through him the "Amen" is spoken by us to the glory of God.

What stuck out to me about these verses is that it says God is not a God of 'yes' and 'no' but he is a 'Yes' God. I heard somewhere that God answers our prayers with a yes, no or wait. This didn't necessarily fit with what I knew of God. God always answers our prayers with a "yes!" - but it is His yes, not our yes. God obviously doesn't always answer our prayers the way we want, instead He always answers them in the best possible way - in a way that is more than we could ever imagine! Ephesians 3:20-21 says, "Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen."

My facilitator took it a little further and said that, knowing that we need bread, God isn't going to give us a stone. Sometimes God's answer to a prayer may seem like a stone, but later on we may (or may not) realize that God was giving us bread.

A friend in my study led worship yesterday and she sang a song called, "My God and I." She said that it is an old hymn that she rewrote the music for and added a new chorus. The song is beautiful. Click here and then scroll down just a little until you see the play, stop, etc. with a song list underneath (this is all on the left hand side). Scroll down through the list of songs and click on "My God and I" and listen to the beautiful words. I love that it gives the picture that God is SO powerful that He watches over the whole world and yet He cares about me and my "little" life. AMAZING!

(And while you are on Kiersten's website, check out some of the other songs!!)

Little of This and a Little of That

Kevin and I spent the weekend at the Lake of the Ozarks with our small group from our church. We had a great time! We shopped, hiked, ate, and played games. The kids stayed with my parents so it was a nice weekend away, but I am always glad to get home to the girls!!!

Daphne has 2 more teeth that just popped through - making it a total of 6 teeth. We knew we should see them any day - the way she was drooling!!

We went to the park yesterday when we finished school. I took the jogging stroller and the girls' bikes. I walked/jogged while Norah and Lucy rode bikes. Then they played on the playground while Daphne crawled around. She discovered fallen leaves -yum! She would crawl away from me and shove some leaves in her mouth as fast as she could. I dug them out and she would crawl away again as fast as she could and shove more leaves in her mouth while laughing and squealing! Wow - she has such a personality already!!!

Norah and Lucy watched Little Rascals over the weekend - more than once. Lucy has several parts memorized - she is totally cracking us up as she quotes the movie!! She told my mom over the weekend, "I have an Alfalfa in my class at church. I really do, I promise, I'm not lying." Not true - but so funny!

A couple of weeks ago when Lucy was in Morton for the P-fest, my mom asked Lucy what she thought they should do that evening. Lucy says, "We could go to Starbucks or something." It is hard for me to give the full effect of Lucy talking because she talks SO fast. Words just FLY out of her mouth and often we can't understand her.

Lucy is doing a little better wearing the gloves to bed. She still cries about 5 minutes at bedtime - whether we lay with her or not. It breaks my heart because she is such a happy girl and usually talked or sang herself to sleep. She literally is asleep within 5 - 10 minutes every night. She is exhausted because she isn't napping now that she isn't sucking fingers. Every once in awhile she gets her gloves off in the early morning and puts her fingers in her mouth. It is going to be a LONG process.

Daphne's New Favorite Spot

I should probably add that Daphne was wearing a little Notre Dame outfit - for Kevin. For those of you who know me, my girls usually look very girly, but we thought ND needed a little help from Daphne (the little outfit does have a little pink on the front)!