I put Lily’s hair in a pony tail this morning. It is so lightweight and fine, it barely goes into a rubber band. But during her nap she took the band out and this is what we got: Lion Girl.
I have to tell you, this girl is just about as wild as her hair.
When a girl needs a drink, sometimes she just has to help herself.
While Ben did his homework, Molly got up on the table to get herself a drink of her water. She got her cup, turned around and climbed right back down.
Mission accomplished!
Molly and Lily hang out in the swing together. Molly was swinging first, but Lily just had to get in there too.
This photo was taken in the dark, with my phone and then lightened up to be able to see Miss Molly, so it is certainly not meant to be a high quality picture. But who can resist such sleeping cuteness?
Molly is our first child to get attached to a blanket, and then at Christmas she added is a special little doggie from her godparents. Having these as her sleep and cuddle cues is so nice and such an easy way to calm her down. When she is tired she will often bring her blanket to me and throw it on my lap and put her arms up for me to pick her up. If she can’t find her blanket, she will come to me and sign “Blanket” and we will go find it together. Once we have blanket with us then she will ask (sign for) her doggie, and we are all set to nurse and go to sleep.
We have conceded our crib. After all the recent recalls of drop sided cribs, I just couldn’t deny anymore that it was a potential death trap. Molly has never really slept in it anyway, although Tessa, Max, and Lily did. So Molly is stuck in a pack and play.
Jay decided to cut it apart so that it couldn’t be used again. (We didn’t want that whole *death trap* thing on our consciences.) And he discovered that it was made out of really nice wood with a great sound to it. So he is going to try to make a xylophone out of the slats… or at least that is his current plan. I’ll be sure to post a picture of the crib xylophone if he can do it!
Project week in my older children’s school is a week where they make you homeschool.
The week after Christmas break, the kids have another week off, where each grade has a specific and HUGE assignment that they need to complete that week, and they need to log their hours worked on it so that we can justify it as a school week. It meant that instead of getting my house in order after Christmas, we made multiple library trips and had to monitor their activities every second so they would get even close to done.
Posy had to work up a 10 minute (minimum) presentation on Charles deGaulle. That was pure torture. Ben had to create a diorama of and animal habitat, write an outline, and give a 5 minute (maximum) presentation on his animal. He had to have 5 sources. Unfortunately he didn’t pick an animal with easy to find sources on like penguins, hummingbirds, or kangaroos. No, he picked a North African Jerboa, which has about a half a paragraph saying the same thing in about 3 books in the world. Of course building the diorama was the fun part. The outline and research? Notsomuch.
And in case you are wondering, when I took that first picture, I got, “Really mom?!?” Then he sat down and gave me a nice smile. That stuff on the plate is paint.
The laundry kitchen, originally uploaded by groftzoo.
Our house was set up as a caretaker situation before we owned it. There was a paralyzed man who lived on one side and his caretaker lived on the other. So we have two kitchens, a full one with a fridge, sink, microwave and stove, and a partial one with a fridge and sink but no stove.
I use the counter top in the partial kitchen as a permanent laundry folding area. Since laundry is such a huge part of my life, there is just no way I can get it all folded AND put away all the time, so this allows me to fold large quantities without using one of our couches as a laundry couch – although one of the couches catches the laundry spillover often.
Because, really, no one person can stay on top of laundry for 9 people. Not if they have anything else they need to get done.
Dinner helpers, originally uploaded by groftzoo.
I’m getting started a few days late on this 365 picture blog, but I am sure I will catch up with more than one picture per day at least a few times. (I started today then backtracked Jan 2, 3, and 4)
Today was a hectic one, as I spent a lot of time updating and adding some new features to my blogs, and dinner suffered. Especially since Jay was going to grill and he didn’t end up getting home until well after dinner. Thankfully Paisley was around to lend an extra set of hands tonight, and Molly and Lily were there to “help” make salad.
So in the end, we all got fed.
And now to catch you up with the rest of the family!
Paisley and James are navigating early adulthood’s bumpy waters, neither one took us seriously when we told them we weren’t paying for college or a car and now they have to figure those out on their own. But they are around a lot and still love to be with the little ones and spend time with the family. So for all their mistakes, they seem to have the basics of family love figured out. Paisley lives about 5 miles away and is over often.
Posy (15) has been paying attention to how things have played out with P&J and is working very hard in school and hoping to get scholarships. She is even saving for a car. She works hard with the youth group (and has a bit of fun there too), sings in the choir for the evening Mass, and is planning to go on a mission trip to Mexico in February.
Ben (13) is a comedian, we switched his school this year and it was perfect for him. Praise God! He is blooming in his new environment. He has great friends, good teachers, and is smarter than is good for him.
Tessa (8) is a sweetheart. Every week several people come up to me and tell me how she went out of her way to brighten their day or say something nice. She really knows how to lift people’s spirits. Around the house, though, she can be a bossy little know-it-all. But it really is just because she wants things done properly in the best way for everyone. We’re working on more diplomacy around here.
Max (6) lives on his own little musical planet. He has learned most of the beatles songs inside and out, he figures out songs on the piano, and he loves to play video games. We have to limit his screen time because he gets very emotional when he has had too much.
Lily (3) is a firecracker and a half. She is outgoing when she wants to be, never plays with toys, is always in my face about something and is FINALLY weaned. She was recently diagnosed with asthma as well and is finally not coughing at night. She and Molly are inseparable.
Molly (1) my fussiest baby by far. She has been a bit of a puzzle medically, with allergies, reflux and asthma, all sorted out except the asthma. She seems to be verbally delayed, but has very good receptive language skills and excellent sign language. So for now she tested out of services. She also won’t eat solid foods. She is smart as a whip, and stubborn as a mule. She is a serious baby, and saves her smiles for when she really means it.
This crew keeps me hopping every day, running people here and there takes up most of my time, and laundry and cooking take up the rest of it. But we have a great family and James was recently quoted by our priest in a homily about large families. He said something to the effect of there is always enough love to go around, and even if they don’t have the stuff they might want, the love multiplies and keeps everyone happy.
Our older kids like to be around the younger ones and will spend time with me and my husband on purpose.
So I have a feeling that somehow, we will all make it through this alright. 🙂
A friend challenged me with some questions about the old year and the new year and I want to save my response and also to be more transparent here on my blog. So, since it is already written and all, here it is:
Did you accomplish what you wanted to in 2010?
2010 was a year of emotional recovery for me. I had a tragic accident (full discussion of that here) in December of 2009 and it pretty much just tore me apart. I spent a lot of time in therapy working through that issue and the many others that seemed to be dragged out of the closet to keep my accident trauma company. Combined with Molly’s health issues and getting those sorted out (allergies and reflux – which seem to be mostly gone, and asthma – which is definitely not gone), it seemed that I spent 2010 mostly just getting by. Just existing was enough work for me.
But sometime in the fall I realized that my head was clearing and I was feeling more alive and more like *myself* than I had felt in any time I could ever remember. What an amazing feeling! I am still far behind on my house and overwhelmed by my family’s demands (how could I NOT be?) But suddenly, I felt a fog lift and I began to think, to be happy, to desire to express things that were simply part of me and not just aspects of me-as-mother or me-as-wife. On the one year anniversary of my accident, I realized that I had stopped counting how long it had been from the event in days and weeks and months and had somewhere along the line just started living.
What will be different in 2011?
2011 still holds more work for me personally. I need to work more on extended family relationships. That will be tricky, but I think it will be good for me. I think this year will be a year of positive movement still, without so much negative energy to fuel it. I hope to write more, to read more, and to be a more positive influence on my own family. (By yelling less, for example.) I started a new blog in 2010 http://circlingjericho.blogspot.com/ and every time I post to it, I kick myself and tell myself it is stupid, but within hours I get an email or message from someone thanking me profusely and encouraging me to keep it up. So I guess I won’t quit it yet.
What was the best thing about this past year?
Mostly that it is over. But I am grateful for the personal progress I made. Jay released his Christmas CD and having him gone all the time to work on that was really hard, but it is done now and is utterly beautiful. I am so proud of him.
What are you looking forward to?
I am looking forward to starting this year on a healthy note, last year began with me curled in a ball on the couch, barely functional. I have a lot of things I want to work on this year, spiritually, physically, and mentally. I will be leading a weekend mom’s retreat this summer, and I plan to start working on that in the next month. That will be a challenge because I have so little time to spend in study and prayer now, but it will necessitate that I change that and stick to it.
What are you thinking as you move forward to 2011 and how are you going to celebrate this weekend?
I am so thankful of the contrast of where I was at this time last year and where I am now.
This weekend involved sick kids, going to bed early, sleeping late (relatively speaking) and ICE CREAM. Mmmmm…. Next on to working on weight loss, at least until I get pregnant again. 😉