What do YOU do when...?

What do you do when, after putting your kids to bed at 9 p.m., you go to their room at 10:30 p.m. and find them quietly sitting together on an office chair, each with a pen and paper in hand? I, unfortunately, scolded them and put them back in bed before I saw what they were writing: love notes to mom. And Tessa had even asked Ella how to spell "MOM" and written it in her best 3 year old penmanship. Seeing that drove me to tears and made me vow to be more patient, and less quick to jump to conclusions. Especially when I'm tired.
What do you do when the sun is shining, and everyone could use some fresh air, but it's only 20 degrees outside? Knowing how long it takes to bundle up and un-bundle for just a few minutes of outdoor activity, I usually opt to stay in. Or, like yesterday, let everyone go outside with just a coat on, and come in when they are cold. It's less work that way.

Ella and Tessa have begun spelling words, Scrabble style, with the Leapfrog letters. Maybe soon Ella will provide some Scrabble competition for Daddy and Aunt Sandy!! Tessa completed her 11th reading lesson today and is reading am, ram, sam, sat, mat, see ... Ella is doing Saxon Math. I thought she was enjoying the lessons as I am. But today when I wasn't looking, she wrote, "Schol is Boring" on her worksheet. sigh I guess she needs more "scholing"!

What do you do when your husband, upon seeing his co-workers' hobbies, laments that he doesn't have any hobbies, and it seems as though life aside from work consists of emptying and filling the dishwasher? Sounds like we need a little more balance in our lives! The mundane chores are never-ending with 4 little kids under the roof. Also, we've been improving this little old house for 3.5 years and it's still not all done!! But we want it to be! We're considering hiring out the bathroom/flooring project to save ourselves some time and sanity. And we're quite confident we shall NEVER own an old house again. Maybe after that my husband can have a hobby?

A little pat on the back for us: even though it's winter, Adrian and I got the kids everyone out the door and took a hike every day last week. One day I was first in line up the trail, carrying Aaron in the sling, so I turned around to see the rest of the gang. I burst into hillarious laughter when I saw my family behind me ~ Adrian with the Kelty backpack on his back, pushing our double jogger stroller with Jaci inside, pulling Tessa with a rope on her trike, and Ella scooting her scooter alongside; all of us in winter hats, boots, gloves, coats and scarves. At that point, with the thermometer reading 27 degrees, I thought we were quite ridiculous!! Wish I would have had the camera!

So this is how we warm up feet after we've been outside, even bundled to the hilt!

By the way, the above little one is back to potty training this week! We're homeschooling in the kitchen to make clean up easy. I must have confused her royally yesterday. Fruit snacks were the treat of choice for attempts or successes on the potty chair. One time, in the hustle of teaching Ella & Tessa, I remember Jaci asking for a treat ("MOM! BEAT!!") but I reminded her she could have one if she used the potty chair. Quite a while later, I found a deposit in the potty chair, but have no idea when it was done-- the little sweetie had a completely unrecognized success! We all cheered and had a fruit snack after the fact anyway.

Sweet baby is so content and easy going. I make sure he keeps the warmest of anyone on our outings! He continues to sleep 7-8 hours each night, then feeds, then back to sleep for 3-5 more hours. Here's what he is wearing today... thanks Uncle Dale & Aunt Mary for this adorable outfit!!

Now the girls are playing "mommy" behind me (I just heard, "you have to cut the umbilical cord and check the heartbeat"). and I've typed this entire post one-handed while nursing little dude. It's time to be done! ~A