Lets Catch up....

I told you I'd be really bad at this.  Like, 'lets not post for over a  year and expect someone to have been posting for me' kind of bad.  But, you were warned over a year ago, and less than four blog posts ago that this whole blogging thing is not high on my radar.  I wish it was though.  With every child I have it gets worse, I'm afraid.  For example, I started a tradition with Madilynn that I start a journal where I write letters to them from the moment I find out I'm pregnant.  I did really well with Madi.  I have almost a whole journal filled with her first steps, first words, first day of school, riding a bike on two wheels.  But, it went downhill from there.  So downhill, in fact, that I have to look at pictures from almost a year ago to remind myeslf of what happened at that time so I can go back and write posts I should have written then.  Sad.  I have such good intentions...but when you multiply it by four kids, times it by all the memories and firsts they have and then divide it by the amount of hours in a day....well, my math never was that great.  So, I do what I can when I can and tell myself it will probably be enough.

Bennett.  Now a big 17 month old chap.  He's just the cutest thing ever (mommy goggles...heck yes!) and he's spunky and energetic and very much a boy.  Thankfully that's all in his genes, because raising a boy was something I was skeptical of.  I figured he was destined to play with dolls and have tea parties.  And while he has had his share of dress-up in tutus...he's still all boy.  Trucks, basketball, cars, dirt, mess, noise....it's him.  Currently he's teething with four eye-teeth, so the noise has reached heights I don't even want to talk about, but it's a phase and if I've learned anything from having four kids, it's having the mantra 'This to, shall pass'.

Going up the ladder is Avery.  Starting kindergarden, um, today!  She is such an introspective kid.  She can easily go off by herself and play all day long if I let her.  She's painfully shy, but loves to talk when she opens up.  She gets lost in movies, books and anything else she focuses her attention on.  She's a free spirit, and there are days I wish I was in her mind to see the thoughts that float by.  Despite being 'flighty', she's so smart.  She taught herself to read, and I think she inherited 'bartender ears' from her dad because she remembers everything and hears conversations you think are private.  I was busted more than once for saying things when you think she's not listening.

Hannah is the most mellow thing.  Totally even about 99% of the time, and the 1% she does loose it, she looses it for the other 99% of the time she didn't.  Thankfully those melt downs only happen about once a month or so, so I'll take that.  She's our tumbling, bouncing, jumping gymnast and it is so amazing to see her learn things and flip around the gym in ways that I would have loved to do when I was little.  Now days, I'd break something.  So, I'll be content watching her and cheering her on.  She was invited onto the gymnastics team, and the practices are grueling, but she's doing it with such a focused spirit.  Olympics maybe?  You never know!

Madilynn is the oldest and embraces that position with open arms.  She's at the age where she's still little, but not-so-little any more either.  I look at her with her feet that are almost as big as mind and wonder where the heck the last 10 years have gone.  She LOVES her family.  Bennett will go to her almost over me most days.  She is my best friend, even though we butt heads daily.  She is a super-star swimmer.  She's so brave, I could never do at 10 what she does.  She always gives 100%, and is willing to try anything, even playing baseball with a team of 6th grade boys all summer.  She is confident, smart, beautiful and I feel so undeserving to be her mom.

So, that's the catch up on the kids.  We are beginning our 2nd year of homeschooling, which is always an adventure.  More on that in another post. Maybe even this week.....well, let's not get too ahead of ourselves :)  Maybe this month.

Good times, Valentines!

January was a bit of a tumultuous month, so I was happy to flip the page to February.  It's the month for one of my favorite holidays and one month closer to Spring...which I'm SO ready for.

We have, so far, avoided the plague that everyone seems to have.  Hopefully this is attributed to the fact that we home school, that my kids were breastfed, that we have partially-quarantined ourselves and because of the fact that Bennett eats things off the floor.  I mean, part of strengthening our immune systems is exposing ourselves to things.  And while I'm not about to schedule play dates with kids with 104 degree fevers, I'm completely fine with a few floor cooties here and there. Funny how your outlook changes with your 4th child.  With Madi, I would have been giving her a bath in lysol if she so much as touched a stale cheerio.  Now, I mentally add it to his nutrition intake for the day and call it a victory. 

Today I got to go to the nail salon with the girls, thanks to a gift card from Seth for Valentine's day.  And while sometimes going to the nail salon with three kids in tow is anything less than relaxing, they are getting to the age where they actually can appreciate the pampering and sit and enjoy it.  Hannah is our constant chatterbox and spent the entire time talking to her 'guy' about all things...colors, her nail painting techniques, how to clip toenails, you name it.  Avery was exactly the opposite and sat completely still and stared at her feet the whole time.  Which is hilarious to me because she was the one who was the most excited to go.  Madilynn, at 9, was pretty happy with just watching TV and letting her feet be loved on.  Unfortunately what we watched was the World Series of Poker, followed by Shark Tank.  Probably not what we would deem acceptable television at home!

 

In true girls day tradition, we capped off the day going to the mall and grabbing some things we needed along with a few not-so-needed things!  After a week where things were kind of blurry (figuratively and literally--more on that another day), it was definitely a better way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

Call It What It Isn't

I'm not one for New Year's resolutions.  Partially because New Year's Resolutions typically are meant to be finished throughout the year, or are so big that you need a year to finish them and both of those things are completely unappealing to someone who doesn't like having things undone and just out there all year long.  No thank you.  So, I'm not calling this blog a New Year's Resolution.  If it were that, I'd already be behind considering this is February already. 

Before I just jump into our lives, lets give you a brief run down of us.  My husband and I have four children.  Three girls and one boy.  Madilynn, Hannah, Avery and Bennett.  And no, we were not trying for a boy.  If our last had been a fourth girl (which we were fully expecting, although we didn't know the sex), we still would have been done with four kids.  We have no more seats in the family car, therefore we are done.

We made the decision to home school starting this year.  It's not easy, and some days it's not even fun.  But, I know I can do this.  On the bad days, I can catch myself longingly watching the school bus drive by as mom's head to the gym or out for coffee or (in my fantasy) back to bed....on the good days I consider making myself a cape and walking around in it along with a mask, tights and bodysuit (oh, did I forget to mention that this fantasy has me with a perfectly toned body) because of my amazing skills in juggling teacher and mom roles.  Most days I fall somewhere in the middle and call it a success if we finish school, are dressed, the house is somewhat clean and dinner is on the table at 5:30.

So, that's the run-down.  With many more details to follow in, hopefully, many more posts to come.  Although I'm not going to guarantee anything because, like I said before, this is not a New Year's Resolution.