Fall!!!!!

The air has been off for days now - what a relief!  I thought Jeff might go AWOL with the horrid temps we've had this summer (he loathes the heat.)  So, it's cool at night and even pretty cool during the day.  Tonight we've planned a trip to the corn maze - something the kids look forward to every fall.  We're going to try a new one this year since our fave is about 35 min. away and this one is a bit closer and more importantly less expensive:)
Homeschool is plugging along.  don't really have much to say about it all right now...
For your comic relief, I present Jack Simpson.  Jeff and I have always explained that movies that were rated PG or R are for adults.  Only a few days ago did I realize that he has been thinking of this way.  As in the conversation with our neighbor the other day: "Ms. Meadows.  Do you watch adult movies?  My mom and dad do."  Oh. My. Gravy!!!!!

My history forgot me!

What I mean by that is that it's been SO long since my last post that I had to type in the whole name of our blog to pull it up!  Usually I just start typing http://www.6/.... and the rest come up.  Oh my, my! 
So what wondrous adventures have we surely been on that have been taking up all of our time?  Nada.  Zip.  Life my friends.  Life at 6,000 mph, give or take a couple of mph:) 
Our elderly neighbors have split up, left town separately, and in a hasty barter made by none other than yours truly, we got a new-to-us fridge in exchange for a deep home cleaning to get their house "show" ready.  The cleaning really wasn't that bad, but in one ginormous moment of bad mommy judgement, I decided that it would be fine to take all 4 kids over to the vacant house, so that I could get a start on the cleaning.  All was fine until Ryan swallowed something.  We'll never know what, but after his choking and gagging for 30 minutes we ended up on our way to the ER.  In the car he vomited again, so I made a split-second decision and pulled into the Bella Vista EMT/Firehouse.  The EMT's were great and they said he seemed fine, but Jeff, who had been in class in Fayetteville and was running lights and sirens up to us, thought an x-ray was in order, just to be sure that there was nothing blocking his bowels or anything.  So, we headed to Mercy where he was x-rayed!  All was well and while in the ER room, Jack then says, "well, I did see him with some hair on the side of his mouth."  Oh my gracious!!!!  Now he tells us!  To his credit, I had only ever asked him if he saw Ryan actually eat something:) 
I managed to get the house clean on Thurs. and Fri.  and am glad to have that behind us. We will miss our neighbors and it has proven to be a really good starting point for some discussions about marriage, God's covenant intentions for marriage, and dealing with our kids fears and concerns about their mom and dad. 
Jeff is off camping for a couple of days, so I took the kids to AWANA tonight solo.  Went great and then on the way home they all went berserko!!!  I mean just nuts!  They were amped up and hungry and it took forever for them to fall asleep.  Crossing my fingers that they sleep in a bit.  Ella-Kathryn even lost one of her bottom teeth in the madness:)  It was loose -she didn't lose it amid infighting or anything!  And, Ryan took an hour nap in the nursery, hence the 10:00 post.  Oh well - ce la vie:)

Birthday Fun

Poppy came to town for Will's 3rd birthday party.  We had a blast and managed to fill every moment of every day:)  Party shopping, LPGA, George Washington Carver's birth place - you name it, we did it!  And here's the proof...

Today is Will's actual birthday, and this morning as I was telling him his birth story, I was truly amazed.  God has been so good to us, amid the pain of loss and sadness, there has been so much good.  So many blessings.  And today we celebrate just one of those!

Happy Birthday Will:)

It finally rained here !!!! HURRAY!!! Not that it's going to do a thing to help our poor "grass" (in quotation marks because our lawn is really clover and weeds now) or my now dead boxwood:(  RIP boxwood - let's see if Lowes will exchange your sad carcass for a fresh new shrub:)
I am in the middle of Oliver De Mille's A Thomas Jefferson Education: Teaching a Generation of Leaders for the 21st Century.  Fascinating stuff - and ridiculously motivating, for homeschoolers and public/private schoolers alike.  He posits that the classics/mentor model of "education" is really the path to raising up folks who will know how to think as opposed to what/when to think.  I'm not yet finished so if there's more to add I'll do so in another post; suffice it to say, I am yet again praying and thinking over how to improve what we're doing here at home.  There are truly not enough hours in the day!

All of the kids (well not Ryan) pitch in during meal prep. Here's a perfect example of how we roll in our house!  Stripped down to our skivvies to peel a carrot:)  This was actually his first time peeling a veggie - he did a great job and his big bro was very complimentary at the dinner table.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, being in such close proximity with the kiddos all day has certainly brought to the surface some sin issues.  The children's ministry at our church has been studying the fruits of the spirit.  Great teaching for the kids, catchy songs, and a fantastic segue to our home learning, especially since we're around one another so much now!  So, I took each "fruit" put it on an index card and then added a magnet to the back, posted them on the fridge in easy reach, and we've been making a point of reminding one another of our fruitful or fruitless spirits!  We did this a while back with verses pertaining to behavior and I know my friend H has been doing it with the fruits too.  Anyway, I noticed last night that 'goodness' has corner missing. 

Turns out Ryan took a bite out of this one last night!  Really that about sums up our attitude lately - while we persevere in our desire to learn about our God, sometimes in a family unit, someone just takes a chunk out of our fruit!  Thank heavens that He is big enough to mend that hurt or soften our hearts from the anger that caused us to lash out and take the bite in the first place.  We forgive one another, pray for peace and a mended relationship and move on.  We have learned that more often than not we will sin again, but in those precious moments when we find victory over that sin and we have chosen His way and the fruit is demonstrated - boy howdy, doesn't that call for a celebration!  Mommy does a happy dance for self-control and peacefulness (a big victory in this house!) and while my kids may not want me following them around for the rest of their lives doing a victory dance over every little sin that's overcome, they know that their Lord does just that!  Hope he's a better dancer than mommy:)

Ho Hum

We are chugging right along in homeschool, albeit it's a slow, jerky kind of chug.  2 of the new books I ordered already got here, the rest are due today.  This, I think, will make our days a bit more organized.  I researched the books we would need from the library and hit that today.  Check!  Bought more milk for my sweet boy who now adores milk.  Check!  New tire and inner tube for Jack's bike (which as he will kindly inform you or anyone else in a mile vicinity that he's not been able to ride for OVER 8 WEEKS - the horror.)Check!  I felt downright productive this morning.  And then we came home.  And all steam that I thought I had ran clear out of me.  If you find it let me know, cause I'm gonna need it.  After some soup for lunch I found myself lying down for not one, but two naps.  Ok so I really didn't nap, but it was awfully nice to have to lie down with Ryan first and then Will later:)  I may, or may not, have kindof sortof dozed during the latter of the two naps.  But only for a minute. I swear.  So, we regrouped.  Circled the wagons.  Whatever other turns of phrases you might care to insert here...I got my crap together and we met back up at the table.  I with my Diet Dr. Pepper, they with their water, cause no Jack, life is not fair and yes caffeine will stunt your growth (wink, wink nudge, nudge if you see my kid and he asks just agree with his parents on this one, pretty please.)  We got through LA, Math, History and a lively discussion on why the Spaniards might knowingly lie about finding cities of gold. Any help with that last one would be greatly appreciated. 
Ok, off to drop Jack off at golf, swing by Wal-Mart, pick Jack back up and eat some dinner.  I know I'm tired - how 'bout y'all?

Catch Up

We are into our 3rd week of homeschool and yet again change is in the air.  This is sadly a post w/o pics, as I am writing on the fly, headed out to celebrate my sweet friend Kimberly's bday!  Yeah for a girls night, but boo for not time left in the day to do this:(  Oh well.  So here's the low down:  I bit the bullet and ordered some books that we really needed to proceed with school. I felt a huge weight lifted once I placed those orders, really knowing that we are doing this.  We went with MCP math for both, Truthquest History for both, and then I picked up Learning Language Arts through Literature for EK (I had bought one used for Jack a while back,) and then also got some various books for nature study and science.  I'm really amped because this will simplify alot of things for me and hopefully make school a bit smoother for all involved!
Ryan is still scooting around and is starting to try and pull up on things.  He is finally drinking his milk so we're completely off formula now!  And thank goodness for that - saves us about 20 bucks every week and a half!
He's really doing great eating "real" food - loves pasta, mac-n-cheese, peas, and mango:)  I still get tickled when he and Will are in the bath together - I think he might outgrow his big brother sooner rather than later! 
Will is still a handful, but our consistency seems to be paying off.  He can be quite a pill with his siblings, pinching and hitting when things don't go his way, but he seems to just be so dang frustrated that they won't HEAR him.  We'll just keep on fighting the good fight:)
Ella-Kathryn and Jack got to go to Silver Dollar City with their friends and they had a blast! It was such a nice treat for them.  Of course it wouldn't be a day if one of the kids didn't make me blush.  Apparently, when they were all in the Marvel cave, EK told her friend that it was "cold as hell" in there!  All of the kids just stood there, not sure what to do or say, until the friend of the older brother asked Kimberly what they should do about that?  She asked do about what, to which the big bro told her what EK had said.  Thank goodness my sweet friend can take this kind of think in stride and merely turned to EK and told her that we probably shouldn't say things like that!  Of course, EK quickly turned and placed the blame on her big brother saying that Jack had taught her that!  Oh dear :) 
So, there you have it - another exciting update on our crew!  I've got more pics to post, so hopefully I'll find some time tomorrow to get that taken care of. 

August Birthdays

August is chock-ful of birthdays around here.  Ryan's is the 5th, my mil's is the 11th, Jeff's the 13th, Ella-Kathryn's the 15th, and my dad's is coming up!  So, we do alot of celebrating:)  This week alone we've gone out to dinner, hosted a BBQ and then EK's friend party.  Whew!  But it's been such a sweet time - experiencing the celebration of Ryan's first birthday was truly amazing.  As I've said before, looking back to his rocky start makes the birthday all the sweeter.  And, my baby girl is 6!  Oh man alive - that one is a hard pill to swallow.  She wants a sister so bad, and I will NEVER be done having babies, except that my husband is SO done, so we're at a bit of a crossroads.  I still have a heart to adopt (no more biologicals for us thanks so modern medicine:)) and Jeff most certainly says no.  When explaining this to my daughter, I made the mistake of telling her that only God could change daddy's heart, soften it to the idea of adoption.  So, every night now she prays,"Dear God, please soften daddy's heart so we can have a brown baby girl."  Oh my goodness - I am hoping God answers this one!  But, this will be a great lesson in spiritual discipline (praying,) obedience (for when He gives us an answer,) and understanding (because I don't foresee Jeff's heart changing on this one!) 
In the meantime, we are in the throes of some major sin-exposure.  Homeschooling and the intimacy of relationship that occurs in this new "all-kids all-the -time" environment has brought to light some glaring heart issues, for them and me!  I am trying to embrace this:)  God has given us the time together so let's use it well!  If that means skipping a math page in favor of addressing the sin, then I'm all for it.  But, as you all well know, dealing with sin is rarely easy.  Not often is it just, let's sit down and talk about it, read some scripture, pray and ta-da, you're fixed!  Tempting to handle it that way, but I've not had success with the hit-it-and-quit method.
So there you are - a quick update of us.  The pics are from the parties - Ryan got his cake Fri night - loved it!  EK had a great time at her party too:)  Sweet girlfriends and thoughtful gifts - hope they stay friends forever!