Well, it has been a while, sorry about that. I normally try and blog more often, but we have been busy and really nothing too new is going on. Christmas is rapidly approaching and we are very busy pulling everything together. Not to mention, we are leaving the day after Christmas for a two week jaunt in Florida (yes, I know, life is rough). Actually, as great as this Florida trip is (and trust me, we love it), is does make things a little harder. It is always very time consuming to pack for all of us, let alone being busy with holiday stuff. The good thing is that most are clothes we bring are summery, so I am can start packing now. Well, not actually now because I have no where near that much for-thought, but you get the idea.
I will post some new pictures soon. We are going to take our annual pictures around the tree today and while I am loading them up I will load some candid ones I have taken over the last few weeks.
I thought it might be nice to post what a typical day is like. I do plan to eventually save and print this blog and having a record of a day in the life would be fun. So, I must say, we are pretty boring. We are all up by 8:00 and from 8 to 10 I get the little kids breakfast and changed/bathed. The older kids have chores to do which include their household chores, plus practice piano and getting themselves ready for the day. After things settle down a bit I let the little three watch cartoons while I find my spot at the kitchen bar. This is pretty much my throne off and on for the next few hours. I check homeschooling and get the kids' school work ready for another day. We start homeschooling at 10:00. From 10 to noon I check school work, do laundry, do dishes (yes, our dishwasher is still broke after over 9 months--can you tell I am SO bitter?) and just interact with the kids. Often times one of the little ones sit beside me and "help" me do my work. Lunch is at 12:00. Leah and Logan eat at the bar and the 3 little one's either eat at their little table in the kitchen or I feed them. Nap time is from 12:30/1:00 to about 2:30/3:00. Also, the older two go back to work at 1:00. Gee still sleeps in his crib and Anna sleeps in her big girl bed. Madeline is still in her pack n play in our room because she is so untrustworthy unsupervised. While the kids naps I usually have some free time (in between homeschool questions). I will often times catch up on line or cut coupons. These days I am sewing because I have lots to do before Christmas. All 5 of the kids have an afternoon snack (if they ate lunch well) around 3:00/3:30. Most days the older kids are done with homeschooling by that time and the younger ones are running around like hooligans after a nice snooze. Dinner is around 5:30/6:00 which is about (I use that term pretty loosely) the time Ryan gets home. Daddy getting home is a pretty big event and the 3 little one's get very excited. "Daddy's home, daddy's home......" The rest of the evening is spent eating dinner, cleaning up after dinner and just being together. The little ones go to bed around 8:00, although they don't always go right to sleep. We will often times chill around the tv then. We tivo various shows like "Dirty Jobs," "Survivorman," "Man vs. Wild," "Planet Earth," etc. We will usually pop one of those on, I will eat me daily bowl of oats and Ryan will catch up online. The older kids go to bed at 9:30 and Ryan and I hit the pillows around 10:30. That is pretty much it. I totally realize that by now you are bored stiff, but this is my life and as boring as it may seem, it is pretty exciting and wonderful in my eyes. Oh and this is really only how it goes 3 to 4 days a week. We are gone pretty much every Wednesday from 12:30 to 8:30 (piano, Awanas, etc) Saturdays are church days and we leave for that around 4:00. And, we usually have another day or two interrupted by a trip to the store or some sort of get together.
More specifically, Anna and Gee are doing well. I think Gee was struggling with something for about 3 to 4 days. He was super moody and just not himself. He also had pretty bad diarreha. All 3 of the little ones have had the poo's lately, but Anna and Madeline have been acting fine. Gideon was better yesterday, so I am hoping he is over whatever was bothering him.
Anna would probably be classified as my most low maintenance child right now. At least out of the three littlest. She is still a drama queen, but she is really just a sweet kid. She's a little sneaky about stuff (getting into things), but Madeline is no help there, as Anna tends to do what Maddie does and Maddie can be just down right ornery. Anna is extremely perceptive of her surroundings, probably more so than any of the kids. She notices things like the "lit up moon"and the cat crossing the road. She also has a great sense of direction. She knows we are going to drive by the "poopie water" (the local sewage plant we sometimes pass going into town) roads before we do. She can see daddy's truck coming from a mile away, just stuff like that. Anna has the most tender heart ever (very similar to Logan). She is easy to cry and make the most pathetic face when she is upset. She is also very sensitive to loud noises, scary images or potentially scary situations. For the first time on Sunday she got scared by something on tv. I was watching a show and a scary image came on and the poor girl coward to the corner of the room. I felt so bad and I comforted her, but there she remained for like 10 minutes, even though the image was gone. I didn't even know she was watching tv. I was watching a movie while wrapping presents and apparently she was paying attention. Anna's speech continues to improve. Her favorite sayings are "I wuv you" and "I miss you." She pretty much uses them interchangably which is super cute.
Gideon is chugging right along. He is very good kiddo also, but he is a little more high maintenance than Anna. He is more stubborn strong headed. Both of those are characteristics I know and love, so that is fine, it just makes for a harder upbringing. Gee is very funny, and pretty easy going most of the time. In some ways he is pretty sensitive (somewhat emotionally and very much physically), but in other ways he is very rough and tumbly. He is so wired up at times, it is actually pretty fun to watch him. He jumps, runs, hangs off things, he is my little monkey. Gideon is saying "no" to us more often than I'd like, but I know that is just part of being a stubborn toddler. He is funny though because he doesn't just shout it out, he kind of says it under his breath and then doesn't do what he is told to do. Don't get me wrong, on an everyday basis, he is pretty obedient and easy to get along with. But, there are those times, usually when he is upset about something (like telling him "no" or scolding him for some reason) and he will not cooperate. Example: Yesterday he was done napping and yelling from his bed. He knows he is not aloud to yell because it will wake Anna up. So I go upstairs and go over to his crib and tell him he may not yell. I wasn't overly forceful when I said it and he didn't get punished, I just stated firmly "Gideon, you may not yell." Well, he then says "no mommy." That starts like a 3 minute dialogue trying to get him to say "yes, mommy." He is so stubborn it took forever to get him to say it. This is a pretty typical situation with him. First off, he does not like any attention that he perceives as negative. Even if he is doing something cute and he thinks people are paying attention for the wrong reasons he gets real reclusive and won't even look at people. So, I think when he gets scolded he internally panics at the negative attention and then his stubborness spews out "no's." One last thing I would like to add about Gee is that is is such a daddy's boy. He would choose Ryan over me any given day. I am mostly fine with that because I get tons of love from him on a daily basis, but sometimes it is difficult. I tend to be the disciplinarian with the little ones and Ryan is way more laid back with them. That is tough when he wants to let things slide and I do not. Then, I become the mean one. Ryan doesn't make me look mean and he is supportive of me disciplining the kids, but I still often times look like the bad guy. Ryan disciplines some (he expertise is the older ones though), but when he gets home and hasn't seen the kids all day, the last thing he wants to do is make them stand in the corner. For some reason, Ryan tends to let things slide with Gee more than any of the little ones, and for the most part, I do not.
Ok, this post was way longer than I expected. I guess that's what happens when you don't post for so long. In summery, life is good and we are continually blessed. Sometimes things seem very mundane and boring, sometimes things are way more "exciting" than I'd like them to be, but through it all, I feel so blessed and I love my little life.
Julie
Some of the pics are grainy (not sure why). Most are self explanatory, except the snake one. Leah walked right beside it on one of the trails and we were all getting ready to walk beside it also (including the 3 little ones) when Leah noticed it. I hate snakes and I freaked when I saw this one because it was so big. We got the other kids back and Ryan leaned my camera over the snake and snapped the pic. When we got home we looked it up and yes, it is a copperhead. I guess they are pretty common in the Smokies. We were literally 2 feet from it. 
CHEEEEEESE!
