My day

Today I have:

• showered
• made 5 beds (usually my boys make their own but it was an act of love on my part this morning)
• served breakfast to my family
• done several therapy activity sessions with Finny
• spent no less than 40 minutes in the bathroom with Girly Pie
• spent about 20 minutes in the bathroom (again!) reading stories to Goose for some, uh, quality (stinky) time
• washed two loads of laundry
• changed no fewer than 6 pairs of wet undies and pants
• overseen Punky's first efforts at typing a letter on the computer, to a missionary for his Awana work (how cute is it when you see the word "question" spelled "kwesthin" - even if it does mean a life of spelling trouble ahead for my boy!?)
• cut up and served 3 apples and a pear
• prepared and served lunch to the crew
• read a daily devotional with the boys
• done a quick pop-quiz style math drill at the lunch table with the boys, who were both very impressive in their skills
• presented my precious Finny with his very own real Bible
• read to Finny from said real Bible
• played TONS with Girly Pie
• cleaned two raw eggs up off of the kitchen floor (such a gross job!)
• tucked one little girl in for nap
• settled three sweet boys down for rest
• done Jesse Tree ornaments and readings with my three boys
• eaten food myself three times already today (if you know me IRL you know that's an accomplishment for me!)
• looked through old photos of myself and my Hubby with the kids
• done math with Finny
• been blindfolded by Finny and led by his sweet hand in mine (Punky later took my other hand to assure that his mother would make the trip unscathed) up the stairs to my room, where I found the gift of a stuffed animal and a picture drawn, just for me
• disciplined three little boys for their complete lack of obedience
• laughed inside at the sweet sight of all three of my sons squeezed in, sitting cheek to cheek on the bottom step for a triple time-out, looking up at me with their best "I'm in for it now" faces - all so different, yet all so similar
• watched as all three boys did a complete 180 and became the best listening, most obedient children ever
• praised the Lord for His immense blessings
• begged the Lord for just a little more patience and some guidance
• thanked the Lord for my husband and the recent renewal of our relationship
• cleaned up way too many toys

Still in the plans for the day:

• get dough going for Pizza Night
• decorate our Christmas tree with the kids
• make Fruit Loop garland for said tree
• make homemade pizzas for dinner
• eat said pizza with my family as we enjoy our weekly Friday Night Pizza and Movie night together
• go for an after dinner walk in the brisk cold of the dark evening air with my Man and our children so we can all enjoy the sites of the Christmas lights brightening up our neighborhood
• tuck a few kids into their warm beds for a night of sweet sleep
• enjoy my husband as we sit back after the long, full, blessed day and just bask in the glow of the life we are so blessed to lead.

Happy House in the Wet Woods

We haven't read a good, captivating read-aloud in a while, and I forgot how much they ignite the fires of my boys' imagination.

It's been so refreshing to watch them plan out game ideas and plot lines together today as we begin re-reading Little House in the Big Woods (for the zillionth time, no doubt). But instead of JUST reading it this time, we're officially calling it school and reading it alongside some great unit study materials and a plethora of Little House craft, recipe and history books. Today Punky and Finny decided that Laura and Mary each have a brother slightly older than themselves (which coincidentally lands these new-found brothers right at my boys' ages!) and Punky and Finny have both immersed themselves as strapping young men in the Woods of Wisconsin in the 1860's. I know they love these stories. They always have. They listen to them on CD in their room constantly. But to read them all together, them hearing my voice, their hands busy with lincoln log Little House replicas and their attention and imagination set on the same story... it's just so full of joy and homeyness and loveliness that our house is nearly bursting. We've already had several fascinating conversations and have looked just that little bit deeper into that time period than ever before when just reading it for fun. The big boys are both tuning their ears for our vocabulary words and are so thrilled to be the one to hear one read aloud.

I now have the inspiration I needed to plot out a few fun new recipes (already johnnycake has been requested - though I know at least I will hate it!) and crafts and really pack the coming few weeks with great information, activities and games.

School has been going fine for the year so far. Great, really. But I feel so renewed and inspired today as I watch the reaction of my children to something that just rings true and exciting in their worlds today. We've been doing all the basics, and having some fun with some very science based unit studies. But now I think the fun is really about to begin for a while.

Little House through Thanksgiving, and then on to Advent and all that comes with that time for our family. For me, this is the season that makes up the majority of the good "schoolish" memories and feelings.

And I am just SO happy to be here RIGHT NOW!

Brotherly (and sisterly) Love

Just a few random shots of our kids together. How very, very blessed we are to have this beautiful family. And how very, very blessed they are to have each other. It's the moments like this that make every little argument and struggle between them melt away in memories.

Finny and Goose have one matching outfit. Finny always makes sure to dress Goose in it when he picks his own out.

Punky and Goose are like two peas in a pod. And Goose just adores that biggest brother of his!

Look at those kids! I just love this shot.

A quiet moment between Punky and Finny as they enjoy a cold treat on a hot day.

The whole gang (minus me - the photographer) on our hike to some local ice caves. A little bit of everything... Batman, Transformers, big rubber boots, pig tails, and a big Daddy to show them everything he can about the world around them all.

Finny showing Goose the ropes of this whole alphabet thing. They are doing so well together in their school stuff. Finny really seems to like the role of mentor with the basics. It's great reinforcement for him, and Goose of course loves the attention and time spent with his brother.

Punky and Finny enjoying a new load of books from the library together. I love when I catch one of the big boys reading to the others. It just melts my heart.

Goose and Girly Pie going for a little walk around the house with the babies. What you can't see is that they are both wearing babies on their backs, as well. (And lest you think we have a zillion copies of everything, we don't own all the babies - most are on loan from our local library from their nifty new learning kits) These two are so cute together. They really do enjoy a special connection that I so enjoy watching unfold!

Wordless Wednesday: Stair-Step Brothers

"What," you might ask, "is it like to have a baby girl in a family with three big brothers?"

Well, it's a little bit like this:

Notice the pink shortalls? And the pigtails? Notice the very pink baby doll in the toy baby carrier on her back? Ahh. But did you also notice the golf club swinging from her right hand? And the Samurai sword she's brandishing in her left?

Yes. That's what it is like having a baby girl with three older brothers.

A little bit of everything. And so stinking cute and funny I can hardly stand it.

Family fun

I just love watching my kiddos play together! Goose and Girly Pie are so cute together right now. She just adores him, and he is completely in love with her, too. It's so cute how now that she's walking, Goose likes to follow her around and hold onto her shoulders, like a little choo-choo train together! Of course it's a bit of a problem since she keeps falling over when he does it. But still, it's cute.

And lately Finny and Goose have started forming their own little friendship. For the most part, it's always been Punky leading the crew, with Finny mostly following him in everything. In the past year or so since Goose has been more of a little guy and less of a baby, he's just happily followed along - only throwing fits when for some reason he can't be in the same room with whatever the big boys are doing. But for the most part, Punky and Finny have played fairly exclusively. They have been the buds, everyone else has just been a third wheel.

But now Finny has discovered the sheer joy of being in charge of someone else! He's found that when he plays with Goose, HE gets to deiced on the game, and HE gets to pick which guy he is. HE gets to lead someone around the house and have someone else hang on his every word. Goose adores him and loves to do whatever Finny suggests, and Finny is shining in his role as leading big brother. And I LOVE IT!

Punky is a born leader, and he very much enjoys that role. But sometimes he's a little... ahem... shall we say... bossy? And Finny has this sort of defeatist attitude about Punky always getting his way. He usually just gives in to his big brother, but as he's grown older and has tried to assert his own opinion and independence, he'll often throw a bit of a fit or just whine insessantly at his big brother to try and be heard. Of course, most of the time Punky doesn't even bat an eye. He seems to not even hear his poor little brother's pleadings. So someone ends up getting upset and timeouts are divvied out and the game ends badly. And I feel so bad that poor Finny never really gets his way. Even when I do intervene, he's just the little brother, so it's just hard for Big Brother to follow his lead. That's just not the dynamic between them.

But now often I'll find Finny happily running around, with Goose hot on his heels, announcing what they'll be playing and suggesting (with surprisingly good manners and kind words) what dress up clothes they should don next. Goose is of course thrilled to not only be allowed in the game, but to actually be getting some attention and say in said game. They are so cute running around in matching Batman suits or Superman jammies or Incredibles gear.

But of course, then Punky comes along and laments that he feels left out now that Finny and Goose are playing so much together.

Sigh.

You just can't win. ;o)

I did take that opportunity to talk to him about the give and take of playing with his brothers. I pointed out how nice it was for Finny to be the leader and to get the chance to choose the game and the details without having to fight so hard to be heard. I said that I was sure they'd include him in their game, if he was willing to join their game and follow them - but not just jump in and take over. So far I've not seen much improvement, and He often goes off on his own to do something else. But we'll see if any personal growth can come from this for sweet, but bossy, Punky.

And then there's the little Princess-with-four-handsome-young-knights dynamic! I have to say it is so very sweet to see how much they all adore that little girl. They all clamour for her attention and love to help her get things to make her happy. Finny and Punky love to carry her around when they're allowed to, and they are always so willing to accommodate for their little sister, even when it's terribly inconvenient to them. They pick up small toys and move games to higher ground. They accept toppled towers and slimy pencils that she has found and slobbered one - all without a single complaint. I have had to restart many a movie after she has pushed the DVD player's buttons mid-show, but they never seem to mind a bit. Stories have ended early from her fussing, games are put on hold until naptime, fun is shushed while she's alseep. But those boys never even seem to give it a thought. That's just something that happens with a baby around. And that's all there is to it.

So life in our home with four little ones really is so much fun right now. I really do so enjoy the gift of watching them all grow up as siblings. I'm sure I've mentioned it before, but having grown up an only child, it's just such a neat and novel thing for me to see them all living and loving together on a daily basis. I feel so blessed to be a part of such a family.

And I think that my kids feel pretty blessed to be a part of one, too.

It's here!

Take a deep breath...

Do you smell that? That, my friends, is the sweet smell of spring.

I just love spring. The sun is out on a somewhat consistent basis around here (I use the term "consistent" loosely... this is Washington, after all.) and my three growing young boys can really get out and do what their little bodies long for all winter long... They can soak up the chilly spring sun. They can drag 50 pound sacks of play sand to replenish the sandbox for the season. They can clip away at the remnant blackberry vines out front and make a cave to be their fort (for a few months anyway, until they start growing like mad again and become a wild mass of prickers with a promise of future blue-stained faces and batches of jams and cobblers...). They can ride their bikes in the driveway. They can delight in the discovery of a lizard named Alex near our front walk that we released there just before the real cold of winter set in - and find joy in knowing he survived the cold and will likely remain as our wild little pet friend. They can tie together sticks and random garage bits to make eccentric creations used for who-knows-what purpose. They can rediscover bugs - and their mom can realize that it only takes one winter to wipe the memories of bug names from her children's minds (how can one forget the name of rolly-pollies!?). They can play until far after lunch is normally served while Mommy tidies up the oh-so-messy garage a bit. Then they can eat their (late) lunch at the picnic table under the playset in the back yard, dirty hands and all. The swings get swung. The mud gets trampled. The back door rug gets filthy from little shoes stomping in and out through the day. Plants get discovered, buds are noticed. Swamps (or the more P.C. term, wetlands...) are explored and boots are filled with water. There are at least 5 pairs of filthy socks in my laundry tonight... and I only have three walking children! Girly Pie can get her first real taste of spring as an aware little gal. Goose can run around with any random empty container as a hat on his head. There are smiles. There is chasing and Frisbee throwing. Faces are flushed, freckles begin to peep out already. Grass is there to be wrestled in. Brothers are there to entertain, play, plot and chase together.

Yes. Spring is here. And it is good. I do so appreciate the seasons that God made for us. I love when each new season begins, and I am most definitely ready for the ending season to turn over to the next one.

And one more thing that hits me each year as each new season approaches... Last year's spring was the same in many ways, but very different, as well. Life with a growing family of young children really shows you just how much can change in a year.

Sure, the crabapple out back is getting ready to bud out again at the same time it did last year. Yes, the same flowers (at least those that survived out record snows this year) are peeping out their little heads. The world is still very much the same.

But suddenly the one and a half year old baby brother from last spring is now a two and a half year old boy - and he can keep up with much of the play. The large wiggling belly that I was so sure was our fourth baby boy - our expected child whom we had not even met at last spring's beginning... is now a beautiful 10 month old little girl. I will not be bending over any garden beds this summer with a big belly. Instead, I will be mastering the hike hold with my Moby wrap so that Girly Pie can ride on my back in style while I plant a (very) few veggies to enjoy this summer. Last year's four and six year old boys are now five and seven. They have big plans for the warmer weather, and it's clear that they are getting the skills, experiences and knowledge to pull off a lot more exploration and creation this year, and that they will not need nearly as much help from me as I am used to giving.

My family is growing and changing. These little people are in constant motion. Last spring was wonderful. I cherished my fourth pregnancy, I drank up every moment of expectation and anticipation. I loved watching my boys as they explored the world around them.

And I will never get that spring back. Never again will I be largely pregnant with my fourth child while my boys enjoy a spring at 6, 4 and almost 2 years old.

So with that perspective in mind - along with Psalm 118:24's reminder to rejoice in this day that the Lord has made... I intend to make the very most of this spring. Never again will I have 7, 5 and almost 3 year old boys to watch master the outdoors. Never again will Girly Pie discover the yard for the first time. Never again will my baby girl take her first steps and celebrate her first birthday. Heck, I'll never again be twenty-anything come June. ;o)

So today was wonderful. It was so good to just be there, present and watching the bustle around our little corner of the world, so full of life and smiles and happiness and busy-ness and projects and discovering... And it felt so good to know we get a whole season of this ahead of us.

I won't even get into the figurative parallels here with life's changing seasons... but I'm sure you can see that for yourself.

So off I go to sleep off a good day's living. I cannot imagine being more blessed than I am. Thank you Lord, for this beautiful life you have blessed me with. I do not deserve it, and yet I am so grateful and humbled to live it.

Brotherly Love

I find myself wondering today just how much of an effect our family dynamic will have on our children as they grow into adulthood.

We have four small children, all two years apart, give or take. Each time we have added a new person to our family, each of the older siblings has taken it completely in stride. We’ve never had the sibling jealousy or any acting out by older kids as the new baby takes on the new role of baby of the house. I’ve heard that there can be issues in families when new babies come, but we’ve never dealt with that in any tangible way ourselves. Our new babies are always loved, the bigger kids shuffle a bit to find a new comfortable spot to fill, and we all just move forward together. I just take for granted, I suppose, that my children will love one another and that they will enjoy each other’s company and get along well.

Now of course they have their bickering moments, even their weeks or months of a certain pair of children not getting along too terribly well, but those times are few and far between and are always short lived.

So in all my wonderings, it is more about how they are TOGETHER that fills my mind. I’ve not really taken the time to look at how they will do APART from one another. Today, I got to see just a glimpse of that side of the multiple sibling coin.

Today, four of our six family members needed to see the dentist. The two big boys needed basic checkups, and my Man and I needed some more extensive examinations done to look at what damage we’d done in our young adult lives of neglectful brushing and flossing. We knew that with all four of us getting checked, it would be a long visit. Girly Pie is still nursing full time and she is also very happy to be along for the ride, so we happily brought her along. But, being blessed to live close to a wonderful family we full trust with out children, we decided that leaving two year old Goose behind was the best plan.

If any of you have two year olds, you may understand this decision. Goose is a delight, full of life and energy and personality in spades. He’s got a wonderful sense of humor for such a wee fellow and he really is a hoot to be around.

All that being said, he’s not one who can be counted on to be anywhere near still or quiet for more than a few minutes. And he's as unpredictable as heck, that one.

So we left Goose with my best friend Mary Grace, figuring he’d play all day with his best bud Oliver and he’d be happy as a clam. We rarely leave our kids with anyone, but Mary Grace was there for Goose’s birth. She’s changed his diapers, wiped his snotty nose, held him, hugged him and loved him for his whole little life. I knew he was in good hands and I thought he’d have a great day.

Apparently, I was wrong.

When I called MG after our appointments were over (about 4 hours after we dropped Goose off at her house) she said in the most PC way possible that he had not been “happy.” By not happy, what she really meant was that he had thrown a complete toddler meltdown fit when he realized I was gone, then continued to spend the majority of the morning clinging ferociously to Oliver’s toys and hording them into corners to avoid anyone taking them away. He apparently demanded snacks in a most un-Benny-approved way (of course at our house he knows to ask nicely, but at a friend’s house he points and yells for the desired banana, then drops to the floor in a temper when asked to say it nicely) and was pretty well a grump for any part of the day that was not punctuated with either Diego or The Wiggles.

Now, Goose is temperamental at times, I’ll admit. He is two years old, and boy, can he be a two year old! That child is thoroughly testing our patience and calm these days, in between wooing us with his utter charm and cuteness. He’s just so full of… I can’t even think of the words to describe it. He’s just FULL. His cup runneth over with just about everything you can put in it. ;o)
But today he really was in a good mood. And normally when he’s around other people, particularly people he likes like MG and crew, he’s just a delight. So in talking about his out of character behavior at her house today, she and I both realized that it was most likely the lack of his big brothers that pushed him over the edge, so to speak.

Goose came into this world with a loving mother and father, and two adoring older brothers. He has never known a world without Punky and Finny. Anywhere that boy goes, he goes with a whole crew of peers right by his side. If he’s sad, Punky knows how to help him. If he’s lonely, Finny is always happy to sit with him and play side by side. If he’s feeling unsure about anything, they give him the confidence to get him through, even when Mommy or Daddy are not within arms reach to do for him what we did for Punky and even Finny when they were smaller. His world is not really just his own. Everything he experiences is colored by having his brothers there with him. So today, when Mommy wasn’t there, he also didn’t have big brothers to look to for reassurance that he was OK. He couldn’t see them playing happily, thus feel confident that everything was indeed fine. It was like a part of his own body was missing today. So even though he was in a place he normally finds very comfortable with people he knows almost as well as his own family, he just wasn’t himself… because as far as he was concerned, not all of himself was there.

So all this to say, I wonder if that will make up a part of who Goose is as an adult. Will he ever really feel happy to be alone? Will he feel incomplete when he and his brothers begin to go out into the world separately as young adult men? Will he lack coping skills that others might develop, simply because he has learned to just look to his brothers to cope with difficult situations?

So I just wonder. Mostly I feel like it’s all good. I feel like the bonds they are making will be wonderful over the years. My children will have hard times in their lives just the same as anyone else. And I think that the fact that they will have each other to lean on in those hard times is a huge gift. There may be a cost, but in the end, I feel it will be well worth any cost they might find.

And, when it comes right down to it, I suppose there is not really much I can do about it anyway. Our family is what it is. And I wouldn’t want to change it even if I could.

I guess next time I need to leave Goose behind for some reason, I just need to leave a big brother (or two) behind, as well. ;o)