Our latest school project:Learning the days of the week. I used our glass door by the table to tape signs with each day written in marker on it.Each morning a kid gets to move the smiley face to the correct day, then we all chant in grade-school fashion "Suuuunnnnday, Monnnnnnday, etc." Camie got all 7 by herself yesterday, and Micah got "Day" after I said the beginning of each. :) But he did count to nine by himself when he and Lissy were playing hide and seek. I didn't even know he knew that many numbers, much less in order.



After breakfast I usually read a few short Bible stories with questions to the kids. Micah was not paying attention the other morning while I was reading about Jacob deceiving Isaac. He was oozing out of his booster seat and being silly. After the story was done I asked Micah the first question: "What is Jacob telling his father?" Micah considered for moment, and was no doubt thinking, "What would I ask my daddy?" He meekly offered, "Do you wanna pway baseball?" And believe it or not, I kept a straight face. :)

Here's our big 4-month old girly. . .. . . looking goofy ("Would somebody just pick me UP?!"). . .

. . . rolling over (note the burp towel. Burp rags get soaked way too fast. We've graduated to hand towels.). . .

. . .Looking sweet. She's got us all wrapped pretty tightly around that little finger.

Grinning at Felicity.

Hannah's boys and our kids watching Frog and Toad the night I babysat (Matt had somewhere he'd already planned to be for part of the night) while Hannah and Steve went out.

The Fountain of Youth

Recently Felicity came inside with their doll Woody (from Toy Story). She grinned and said, "I bathed him in the pool!" I pulled his string that makes him talk and he sounded like one of the chipmunks. Of course that made it hard to get on to the kids when I was laughing along with them. We pulled it a few more times to hear him say all his phrases. He eventually recovered, had a relapse, then regained his deeper Tom Hanks voice and seems to be doing well.

Just now Micah asked to pick up a light bulb. I told him it would break. "Well, it not bwaking to me."

Matt has started night classes. He said it's boring (World Civilization), but at least they are in the room with cushioned theater-like chairs. Thanks for all the prayers to those who have sent some up for us. His first weekend went great for us at home, and I think well for him at school. He has classes every Tuesday night, and about every other weekend from Friday-Sunday, and an online math class. Keep praying for us.

Cassie rolls over very well now. This allows her to spit up on the rug more accurately. She spits up a lot a lot. (That was not a typo. I meant it, as in "great quantities often".)She coos ("whoo's", as Camie says) a good bit, especially at the other kids. Sleeps about 10-12 hours at night and naps pretty well. God has blessed us with an easy (so far), scheduled baby.

That's all for now. Matt needs me to go get something at the main college campus in Gulfport for him tomorrow , so Hannah and I plan to take all 8 kids to the children's museum down there. I have a free pass for 5 people that expires next month, so we're going to finally take advantage of it. ( I won it in a drawing last year.)

Latest of the latest model

And here's one of Cassie. She's too hungry too smile, but it took me about 15 minutes to get even this serious shot. She's nearly 4 months old now, and just as sweet as ever.

We started school this week. The kids have been waking up early anyway the past week or so, so that made it easier to get in a routine. After breakfast and a quick chore per kid, Lissy and Micah are supposed to sit on the rug with a few toys and play fairly quietly while I help Camie with her workbooks for 30-45 minutes. Then I release the wild animals from their rug-cage and let them come color for a while with us at the table. It's gone well. I have a few toys per kid set aside on a shelf that are only school time toys. Eventually I hope to include some cutting paper, playing with stickers, etc. But until Camie and I get in a pretty set routine that'll have to wait.



Today, out under the lean-to by the shed.

Thursdays are designated as Craft Day on my feeble school-schedule. That way we all get something to look forward to during the week. (Maybe the kids, more than me.) :) Camie gets a break from seatwork and the other two get to do some "school". I get to practice mulit-tasking and staying pleasant in the midst of it. Today we made bird snacks: Toasted bread spread with peanut butter, dipped in birdseed, and tied to a limb. The kids were excited to be making something, but Micah was hurt that the peanut butter and bread was for the birds and not him. He kept saying in an injured tone: "I daught (thought) we were gonna hab a nack.(have a snack)." A cat fight between Flopsy and Patience stole their attention as we got started, but all in all, our 15 minutes of school went well. :)

Micah's bird-treat.

Ready to hang it up.

I have very little space left on our camera memory card, so I didn't get to try for a better shot. Lissy calls this her muscle shirt, because it's like Daddy's. She has two and wears them a lot.

This was the other day after a much-asked-for "craft". I drew a house on paper and then cut shapes to match it, sort of like a puzzle. They've played something like this on a Blue's Clues computer game (that's where I got the idea) and loved it. But this was even better (to them) because they got to use scissors and glue. I felt proud of myself. We completed a project with three kids who all need help at the same time and I didn't turn into Frustrated Mean Mommy.

Lissy's completed house. They sort of learned Josh. 24:15 to go with it.

I couldn't find Lissy the other day. I located her in the downstairs bathroom with the tall chair pulled up to the sink. She was standing in the basin washing her feet.

I heard them giggling upstairs in the loft just no which made me suspicious. I asked what they were doing. "Just tying each other up." "Oh, okay,"I answered. Then I realized how that sounded. :) Actually, they were winding a jumprope around each other, and I could see them, so I wasn't too concerned.

About that time Hannah drove up to drop her boys off while she and Steve (and baby Amberly) go out. Hannah and I are trying a babysitting trade-off for date nights rather than the mom's two-hours out we had been doing. So in a few weeks, Matt and I will go out (and Cassie) and Hannah and Steve will watch our kids for a few hours. Matt is supposed to start night classes soon and will be very busy, and Steve works in Gulfport which makes it hard to find time for him and Hannah to go out, so we're hoping this will work out well. Babysitting costs make date nights too infrequent for my taste.

About two weeks ago we went down to a church-member's part of the creek that runs behind our house. It was about knee-deep on the kids, had a rope swing, zip line, and even a slip and slide down the sandbank ending in the creek. The kids loved it. Lissy turned out to be quite a monkey on the rope swing, although she never really got the nerve to let go and drop in. Micah learned to close his mouth when he fell down so he wouldn't breathe creekwater and they all flew down the slip and slide a few times. I wish I'd taken a camera. Their faces would have terror all over them as they bumped and whizzed down the slide. Then as they hit the water a huge grin would cover their faces. Such a contrast in expressions in a few seconds.

This week my sister Lauren and I took her son and my oldest three down to the same creek, but upstream behind mom's house. It was even shallower, but just as beautiful. The water looks golden like honey and is just fast enough to move you if you lay on your back and float. Micah and Lissy found small patch of sand where one built and another threw. Mom watched Lauren's baby Caroline and Cassie at her house so we could keep our eyes on four kids 2,2,3, and 5. Thanks mom. It was lots of fun. And LOTS of thanks to my brother Matt for being the kids' hero once again. He spent about two hours the other day clearing brush out of the creek so it was accessible.

That's all for now. So much more I've thought of writing throughout the week, but with 6 kids playing close-by in the playroom (Cassie's asleep--or was until Micah rode the tricycle into the side of the bouncy seat) my brain power if fading.

Maybe I'll do a post later. . .

For now it'll have to be just pictures.

"Sassy Pope" and Daddy (one of his many nicknames for her)


Trying for a quick shot of all four.

Cassie, 3 months

Self portrait on the back porch.

Micah's attempt at crossing his eyes.

She's just sure she's crossing hers.

The standard they struggle to attain. This is awful, but makes me laugh every time. :)

A normal picture of our sweet oldest girl.

Why? Betuzz.

I find myself slipping up and asking our two year old why he did something. I try not to do this because it seems to be breeding ground for excuses and lies, besides which he usually has no idea why. He now has a standard answer to "why" that must've been valid to one of the questions I asked, so he tries using it for most things now.

Yesterday morning:
Me: Why did you scatter the catfood?
Micah: Be-tuzzzzzz.....my tummy hurt.

Yesterday afternoon:
Me: Why did you hit Lissy?
Micah: Be-tuzzzzz... . my tummy hurt.

This evening:
Micah: Lissy cwies betuzz her tummy hurt.

I'm sure it'll get better over the next few days; meaning even more times his belly-aching causes him to commit transgressions.

Just in (or should I say out?). Matt called and I let Micah answer the phone.
"Hehwo. We hab paper towels." Don't know why that was important (oh yes, I do! Betuzzz, my tummy hurt.). Either Matt hung up or I cut him off trying to put it on loudspeaker. :)

Our Life in pictures

Caroline, my sister Lauren's baby, 8 months old



Cassie, three months, cooing and making goofy faces.

"I'm the Big (unfashionable-but-I-can-dress-myself) sister."

Q.: How many preschoolers does it take to play a computer game?

A.: 6. One to play and five to aggravate.

Another shot of (one of) my beautiful niece(s).

I made an apron as a birthday gift for one of Camie's friends. She was my model for the finished product. All the kids had some part in helping with the sewing. Micah was the pin selector when I needed a straight pin, and he also put them back in the pin cushion as I got done with each one. They all took turns pressing the machine pedal, and did great. Micah only nearly ran over my finger one or two times. :)

Lissy was playing with Cassie, asking her "You got anymore questions?" Cassie would coo and grin, which made Micah and Lissy squeal with laughter. And then repeat it all again.

The big girls enjoying the unmown grass in the back yard.

"POWWWWWW!" (This was better than what he had been doing earlier: throwing the stick at the clothespins on the line, very nearly hitting the girls with it.)

Yesterday afternoon Camie was outside playing with the cat. I saw her bending down looking in the grass, so I figured she was after a grasshopper or cricket. Seconds later I heard a shriek. I laughed to myself as I imagined her horror over the bug grabbing onto her finger, and I calmly went outside to tell her to come in and get ready for church. When I got there she had a bloody spot on her finger, and the cat was playing with a field mouse. I asked her if Patience, the cat, had scratched her, to which she sobbed, "no it bit me!" That's when I realized she meant the mouse bit her! Her finger was in pain and I think she was still in shock, so the yelling went on for a while. I cleaned the area with alcohol and triple antibiotic ointment, and wrapped a bright yellow band aid around her finger. As I doctored her I asked her how it happened and she said she picked the mouse up, thinking it was dead. (Ugh.) Now that would be a terrifying moment, to have that limp creature in your hand suddenly chomp down! She also said she couldn't get it off, but it finally let go.
After she recovered a few minutes I took all three older kids out to watch Buddy, the dog, play with the mouse so they could see it. Apparently mousey nipped Buddy's lip when he bit it, because he yelped and flung his head, sending the mouse about 10 feet across the yard! The kids thought that was pretty funny. Buddy had no idea where it went and kept sniffing the ground where he was standing.

So now Camie has a bo-bo on her finger (boo-boo to you northerners) and a most unusual story to tell about it. I checked the cut today and it looks fine; no infection. I don't think Camie will be catching mice for a while now. :)

I have new pictures but am having trouble getting them imported from the camera to the blog. Maybe tomorrow it'll decide to work.