Oh my goodness!

I just cannot seem to get my act together enough to hit this blog like I should.  With that said, we have been very busy, for us that is.  Our family tends to be rather inward focused - we homeschool, don't do too many playdates, and most days eat all 3 meals together. It works for us, but that also means that we really think through activities that will take us outside of our home - geez am I making us sound like hermits?? We're not!  Since it's been a while since my last post here's an update:

Jack:
Last month Jack worked diligently to get his pine car ready for the AWANA derby.  He and Jeff spent some time working out the design Jack had drawn up and then Jack sanded, painted etc. to personalize his car.  It looked great and after a heated competition, he won first prize!  We were so proud of him!

I'm trying to edit together the footage we shot that day down into one clip, but until then here he is with his trophy and car.
He and Ella-Kathryn also got to participate in a kid's fishing tournament last weekend.  Jeff took off with those two around 7:45 last Sat. morning and they didn't get home until4!  Long day, but they had a great time and Ella-Kathryn took 3rd prize for her age group! 

Here she is in her Bass Master's fishing hat and free t-shirt.  Her goody-bag included a ton of fishing gear - tackle etc. for which she now needs her own tackle box!  Again, I've got some clips that need editing so I'll post that later. 
Both she and Jack had their spring choir concert tonight.  They both did very well - Ella-Kathryn got to do the motions with a little scarf for the first song - something she was very excited about.  It really was precious to see her between her two friend Camille and Cadence!  They are all such sweet girls and God has really blessed her with their friendships.  Jack's choir did a whole performance and he did have one verse to say. I am pleased to report that he was not nearly as goofy as he was during the Christmas one and he was given sunglasses meant for a boy this time!  Overall, it was a fun experience for both kiddos. 
Ella-Kathryn as finally chosen an activity!  After a free class last month, she decided that she wanted to try gymnastics.  We found a great place in Bentonville - smaller than some of the very large gyms around town, and a bit less expensive.  She has a blast every Thursday night.  I am continually amazed by her innate self-confidence and her terrific sense of humor.  She is one of the older girls in her beginners class and she literally has no background knowledge in this area.  Yet, each time she goes and is introduced to a new skill, she gives it her all and if she messes up, she simply laughs at herself, shrugs it off, and tries again!  For someone who was painfully shy and horrible self-conscious, it is truly overwhelming for this mamma to witness such self-assured-ness in my one and only daughter! 
I am trying to reinstate my morning quiet time and while it is great to get a few minutes start on the kids in the morning, more often than not, I am joined by my Will after only about 15 minutes.  Oh well!  I ask the Lord to bless those few moments alone with Him and then I try to enjoy my time with Will.  I do often try to set him to another task, reading or drawing, so that I can finish up my time.  However, I have noticed that if he and  I can sneak in a bit of time at the beginning of the day, he too has a better day.  He has really been struggling lately, hitting and hurting his siblings, angry outbursts, screaming fits, and while this morning time is not the silver bullet, it certainly plays in nicely with our overall plan for getting this boy back on track! 
Ryan is, as always, such a delight.  Even when he's exercising his lungs at full upper range, he really is a hoot and it's fun to see him growing into an active and wild toddler!  He loves to be outside, which can be a bit challenging at times, and will ask to have his shoes on just in case he might sneak out the door:)  On nicer days we've all been heading out to do school outside that way Ryan can be where he wants to be, but we're not sacrificing our day's work.  We ventured out to the new splash park in B'ville last week - basically a concrete pad out of which water shoots at various angles upwards etc.  The kids had  a great time and it was perfect for Ry as he could walk all over the place and I didn't have to worry about him being "in" the water just yet!  He got really brave after the first half hour and started putting his face right over the holes - his face when the water shot out...priceless!  I did get some pics on my phone but Jeff's going to have to show me how to download them:(  I am a techno idiot.
I'm trying to plan out our next school year - I've got most of our curriculum here, I just need to map it all out so I can see where the gaps are.  I still need some kind of art instruction book.  Art is not my strong suit.  Ar History, yes, but the technical side, not so much!  I am sooooo excited for Crystal Bridges to be opening in the fall and have already asked Jeff if we can forgo eating for a month so that we can get a family membership!  That request was not well received:)
Ok, enough for now - my bed is calling my name...

Here We Are - Over Here, Amid The Pile of Life:)

This is what we look like these days...

The many faces of Ryan:

The many faces of Will:

And the other two turkeys who live here:

So, yes we're alive and well for the most part:)  Ryan does have a double ear infection.  More to come on that little trip down candy lane...

Finally!

Hooray for Ryan, who at 20 months, finally walked!  He's been using the bubble-mower outside lately, and was making great progress.  Then today, he was walking with the mower, spotted Pip the cat and decided the cat was too good to pass up. As the cat lazily walked away from Ryan, Ry let go of the mower and just walked on towards Pip!  It was amazing!  I still am in awe of these little people and how God allows them to do so much in those first years.  Truly awesome - His creation, from my womb, walking:)  Sorry, a bit philosophical I know, but hey, he's my last, I can be awed if I want to be!
So, we posted it on youtube, but i'm embedding it here as well. 

Whooped

Ugh, another post with no pictures.  Boo. Hiss.  Oh, wait.  I'm booing myself:(  Oh well.  I am sorry - and I've not anything spectacular to excuse the lack of photos.  We've been busy, but with what???   This past week was the local schools' spring break, so we took full advantage of having all of our friends available for play!  We met at the park one day, other days at friends' homes, and yet another here with friends.  I got to visit with my sweet girlfriends too - 2 during the day and even one night out.  It was wonderful but by Thurs. I remembered something very important about my family.  We love our friends and we love to spend time in relationship with these dear families.  Yet, we need rest.  We did manage to do school most days and then we did skip one, but by Fri. we were all whooped. 
Jack was having a friend spend the night, but a turn of events resulted in our "returning" our friend.  Jack made some major mistakes.  All is fine now-trust will have to be regained, as well as some privileges.  I am being purposefully vague here.  The older Jack gets, the more I desire to respect his privacy - his right to make mistakes safely under our roof where he can be loved and trained without fear of having these errors becoming labels that follow him forever.
That being said, all of the children went to bed without protest and slept well til morning.  The busyness finally caught up with me as well and thanks to my amazing husband, I slept til 10!!!  He poked his head in to make sure I was ok and I finally dragged myself out of bed:)  We did stay up past 11 last night, but I really think it had all just worn me out - not to mention the crazy weather does a number on my sinuses.  So, I am praying that I'll be able to sleep tonight!  Oh well - just so long as I'm back on schedule for Mon. we'll be ok.
Today was a great rainy, lazy day.  I am still in my pj's and clearly never left the house.  We all ate all 3 meals here and while I did a bit of cleaning, overall not much was accomplished.  And it felt great!  This is what a Sabbath should be:)  I'm wondering if our family shouldn't adopt the Jewish tradition.  It would vastly ease my guilt over not being able to honor Sunday as our Sabbath.  Something to think about.  
Ryan is finally, and thankfully, over his ear infection but that second molar has not quite broken through.  His overall attitude is much improved:)  He still won't walk more than a few steps, but we are finding him standing on his own randomly in the middle of the room:)  And have I mentioned what a JOY it is to finally have a child who goes to sleep on his own?  Ah-ma-zing!!!!  Praise God for small favors!
Will is really changing - his language is getting so clear and his expressions are a trip.  "Yeah, I had that on my brain," when told what we were having for lunch. 
Ella-Kathryn is going through a bit of a phase, at least we hope it's a phase!  She's struggling to have a joyful heart when asked to do things, and has developed a rather sassy 'tude.  Again, I'm trying to discern if it's a matter of attention, as she's my lone girl and usually so quick to do the right thing with little prompting, or if it's the age (6) where she needs to set some more independence?  We'll see.  Overall she is still such a hambone, entertaining us with her silly faces and goofy expressions.
Jack is such a good kid.  I mean really.  When you're in the thick of it, this parenting thing, it can be so easy to lose sight of your kids hearts while you're furiously focusing on the behaviors.  It's a daily struggle to step back and after seeking Him first, view these precious children as the gifts that they are!  Yes they are human and yes they will err, but these kids of mine are truly fun, bright, enjoyable little people and I am trying to see what He sees:)

Bullets

Here's our life in bulleted format:

• An elderly woman, whose husband is suffering from Althimers and who had recently lost her job, won the $1,000,000 Publisher's Clearing House sweepstakes.  The local section of the paper had a photo and I was telling the kids how lovely it was to see someone who really needed that money win!  Ella-Kathryn responded, "Wow, that's almost as good as winning a tent!" (her name was drawn at a church function in the fall and she won a tent.)
• I told will he looked cool.  He told me he wasn't cool, he was awesome. 
• At dinner one night, Will quietly said, while shaking his head, "Daddy, you so, so good."  We kind of smiled at each other, and then I asked him what was daddy good at.  He replied, "Daddy, you so so good at breakfast."
• Discussing Lent and fasting from soemthing that means a great deal to you, Jack got a panicked look on his face and said, "are you going to give me up?"
• While on a shopping trip with EK, she was reading all of the signs and store names.  She asked if we could go to the RackRoom and when I told her no, she asked, "well how about the Shoe Det" by which she meant the Shoe Dept (phonetics, gotta love 'em)
• And in a huge Praise - Ryan has been sleeping through the night-in his crib!!
• Ryan is still recovering from an ear infection (been on antibiotics for about a week and I'm not convinced it's doing its job)
• Homeschool is going great - I am so grateful that we can do this even on the hard days:)
• Ella-Kathryn made me a sign for my door that says "mommy is butiful" - I tried to take it in the best way possible even if she did draw me with a horrific pig nose
• I know I'm insane, but I have baby fever - again...on a trip to the hospital to visit a young friend of ours, I was truly saddened that they had curtained the nursery for the night.  Maybe it was for the best though.  On the phone this morning, Jack told Jeff that I wanted another baby and  I could hear Jeff laughing from across the room:) 

Ok that's it for now and I need to get some pics on here too, so I'll try to work on that!

ryan dancing, not dancinc - or why I can't type with a baby on the computer desk

This kid loves to dance:)



Ryan Dancinc from melanie simpson on Vimeo.

Restless

These were taken 2 hours ago.  There's more now.  Tons more.  Well, maybe not tons, but we now have a total of 2 feet.  And it's still coming down. 

I am feeling uber-restless.  I hate my use of the word "uber."  But there it is.  I pace back and forth between the front and back doors.  Looking for signs that someone miraculously forged a path in the road.  Jeff had to get a ride home in the county truck.  Even with studded snow tires, he couldn't get out of the parking lot.  It took them and hour and a half to get home.  Normally he's home in 30 min or less.  The front of the truck acted like a snow plow pushing the snow up over the hood instead of off to the side.  No hope for my minivan I suppose.  I remind myself to be content.  Roaring fire.  Snacks.  A meal or two.  But I wanted to make cookies and I don't have enough butter.  So now I really want cookies.  See how that works.  Just like my children.  If it's out of reach, I want it even more.  I'm praying now that I can turn this day around.  Long for Him instead of cookies.  Yearn for and crave His sweetness.  Stop pacing and just be still and know that He is God.