Friday, April 26, 2013

Not So Deep Thoughts...

I've gotten a little...feedback here lately pointing out my bloggy silence. I don't really know how to explain it. Of course life is always full in our house of nine. But I feel a bit dumb of late. As in, not able to speak. Writing is how I process life best and I'm not sure how to do that here. I want to. I think it'll come, and probably soon. The kids finish their school year in two tiny little weeks and that fact will likely free up some moments for writing and thinking...

But until then, it's update-y stuff!
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Now isn't that a cute little smiling stone there in that rock wall?

We took a school field trip to Sea World recently for a special educational day they were having.

It was FREEZING. It was windy, cloudy, wet, and so.cold. CA and the other children were very sweet about not complaining, but the next picture shows how she/we really felt, out there in the elements!



I helped with the kindergarten class, while BB walked with the 5th graders. The children were delighted to learn about different sea animals and see a few simple shows. It really was cool to see the killer whales do their thing! And the sea lion show was fun to watch:


Life here is a bit random, and so my photo choices today are too. Awhile back, LC did some food prep for me. It was all so pretty and colorful, I couldn't help but take a picture - especially after someone walked by and snitched a bite!


We have a smattering of spring birthdays in our family. BB's is in April. We celebrated with breakfast for supper, then the banana splits he requested.


I decided to make cupcakes to go with the ice cream fun, mostly because I like cake better than bananas, but also because I wanted to light lots of candles. I knew we had a bunch of random leftover candles from different birthdays, so I didn't buy any (but nor did I count what we had on hand ahead of time).

Imagine my delight and thankfulness when I counted the miscellaneous, mismatched candles and came up with exactly 37! What fun! What an inferno!

Baby H looks a little concerned...


We had all the fixin's. Yum: whipped cream, ganache, berries, nuts. The sugar-feast ended with my flinging a spoonful of whipped cream at one of kids, much to their shocked delight. They flung back and I took a shower an hour or two later, to wash the clump of cream out of my hair.

On a more serious note, we've had science experimentation in the house. The sixth graders have been working on science fair projects for the past few weeks and just this week they turned them in and presented their research and findings at school.


We had a nice, quiet Easter. After their sugar-fast through most of Lent, the kids were pretty happy to find some surprises waiting on the table that morning. I made bunny trail mix too, using little cheese bunny crackers and Eastery M&M's, dried fruits and more.


We're always trying different ways to get things done around here. One Saturday recently, the Frigidaire was Bare, so I headed out for an early grocery shopping run with little H, so that BB could get some work done at home. Oh my, was the grocery cart full. The baby was a well-mannered trooper through our long outing! I was really thanking the Lord for that and for the groceries, and for His help.


Our baby son is now NINE MONTHS old. He had his first Cheerios a few weeks ago, and has two-going-on-six teeth!

Do you love the fat wrist? Or does he even have one?!


I'm not minding one bit that H is later than everyone with his milestones. He's not crawling or trying to talk, and honestly he doesn't love food. He eats two small meals a day but mostly he loves his milk and is doing great with that. Our once tiny boy is over 20 pounds now!


Don't tell him he's sitting in a girly high chair, ok?


Well. The rest of life...

At church the other day, someone asked how we are doing, and I told them We're transitioning. She asked if it was taking a long time to get used to having a boy. No, that's no different than the other babies so far. I told her that it's taking a long time to get used to having seven kids!

We are transitioning in so many ways - learning better ways to parent, adapting to the changes that adolescence is bringing to our relationships with the girls, still moving out of survival mode, and so on.

I hope to be able to share about a lot of those things in coming days.

For now, have a great weekend, friends and family!

I'm kidnapping my guy for two just-us nights away. Hooray!!!!!!


2 comments:

  1. I enjoyed reading the family update. Have fun on the get-away.

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  2. Okay, I'm totally laughing over H's t-shirt... "Boys Rule"! Hah, love it! At your house he needs that shirt!

    Fun to read the update-y stuff and see the photos. I think, in some ways, families are always transitioning, yours have just been extreme, but so is God's grace.

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