The Little Fellow

I've been thinking about our little guy and some things I want to remember about this age.

I love that he blinks at me when he is flirting.

I love that he says, "I wuv you!" And when I answer, "I love you too," he has to say, "I wuv you too!" even though he just told me.

I love that he's started saying, "'Cause said so," when we ask him why, even though I'm sure it will drive me crazy when he's six.

I love that if he had a choice he would wear monkey shirts or pajamas at all times.

I love that he knows the names of all the tools in his toolbox and that he keeps shouting, "That's my FAVORITE!" as we walk past things in the hardware store, especially the lawn tractors.

I love the way his eyelashes look when they are wet. And the way he feels snuggled up in my arms.

I love the way he runs at me full force for a hug...or just to knock me over.

I love that he is brave or crazy or both...even if he nearly scares me to death in his climbing, sliding and running.

(He wanted to climb a tree, so I gave him a little help.)

I love that when I put him to bed at night he growls, "Iwuv you!" He has to hold the tag of his baby blanket, he puts his head on a stuffed dog (as a pillow), and he must be holding 'Baby,' a teddy bear with the word baby embroidered on him. He insists that I put him in his 'sleeping bag,' which is a quilt I pulled out for him and called a sleeping bag since his sisters were going to use theirs one night. Then he has to kiss my thumb before I leave. As I close the door, we must blow each other kisses.

Six and One-Half

My darling oldest is six and a half today. I'm not quite sure how they keep growing. They refuse to keep the piles of books on their heads that I want to pile on them to keep them small.

I thought I would ask her some questions to remember how she was at this age.

What is your name? Katie Beth

How tall are you? 4 inches? 4 feet, I guess (actually 4' 1"--pretty close)

What are you really good at? reading

What is you favorite toy? Star Bear

What is your favorite game? Battle Ship

What is your favorite thing to eat? cookies

Where is your favorite place to go? to church

Who is your best friend? Ruby

What have you learned this year? read really good (ah, the irregularities of English)

What is you favorite thing to study in school? animals

What is your favorite thing about Daddy? He tickles me.

Mama? You're nice.

Gabby? She shares her room with me.

Nate? He likes to play with me.

Happy half birthday girlie!

Birthday Wishes

Happy Birthday to my Daddy. If it needs to be built, he'll build it. If it needs to be fixed, he'll fix it. And unless it involves speaking or singing alone in front of large groups, he'll pretty much volunteer to do it.

Thank you for all you do and all you've taught me--from how to out argue almost everyone to how to watch for ways to serve others.

Happy Birthday!

Say What?

Little Miss Gabriella came down with a fever and a bit of a croupy cough. It hasn't bothered her too much, but did keep her sidelined from gymnastics. She sounds a bit off when she speaks and Kate, who loves any figure of speech she can come up with, was quick to point out that Gabby had a 'frog in her throat.'

Gabby found the thought of a slimy amphibian in her throat abhorrent, so the little girl designed a new term to describe her changed voice. A cute and cuddly term. According to Gabriella, "I have a chipmunk in my throat."

Hopefully she'll be as good as new tomorrow and not have shared her chipmunk with anyone. She tells me that the chipmunk has made its way to her left foot. We'll see!

When It Rains...

Friday I had need to run to the grocery store. After 15 minutes of, "Please go get your shoes and socks," and "Please put on your shoes and socks," and "Please come here so I can put on your shoes and socks," and "Please come back here so we can go!" We made our way to the garage, just in time for a huge deluge.

So, I sent the kids back into the house to wait for this rain to pass. Once the rain changed from raining cats and dogs into just raining cats, we finally left for the store. The littles did not appreciate getting wet at all. We make our way into the store and the dripping little goobers decided they must have the ginormaous cart with the car on front. So I pushed the monstrosity around as I picked up the three things we needed. We made our way back home, amid more whining that they were melting.

When we got home, I pulled part way into the garage, so as to fetch an ice chest that is blocked once the van is parked. I turned the van off, but immediately tried to restart it, as I was going to pull it in five seconds later. It didn't start, so I went to get said ice chest. When I came back the van did start, but the dashboard was not working. The odometer was blank, the gauge for tank I had just filled said E, and my speedometer stubbornly read 0 MPH, when I clearly made it to at least 3 MPH pulling it into the garage.

Like any sensible house wife with plans to head to my parents that afternoon, I fed the children. Then I called my husband so he would be prepared to make a quick repair in the evening. I called my mother to let her know I would likely be late. Then after I got my littles all tucked away for quiet time I took my phone to the garage to call my Daddy to see if he could talk me through finding the problem. I started the van...and it worked. Whew.

When Justin go home though, we found that the check engine light was on, so he disconnected the battery, reconnected it and the light that must have been tripped earlier went away.

Lesson learned...don't take the kids to the store in the rain...yeah.

Learning at Our House

Okay, it wouldn't be fair of me to tell you that homeschooling is always easy. In many ways it is one of the hardest things I've ever done, after all it means training and educating a child full time from birth until they finish high school. That's a pretty big project!

That said, home schooling has some very awesome benefits!

Yesterday I got to listen to Kate read from a Little House book to Gabby,

And then I got to watch her wrap up our chicken mummy from our study of Egypt.

(Oh, and in case you are wondering, mummifying a chicken is pretty much as gross as one would expect, even with the spiced oil we made, and she asked to never, ever do that again!)

I am one blessed Mama!

Zoo!

Our Spring Break was mostly a quiet week spent at home, but we did manage to head the zoo for a beautiful day on Friday!

Hanging out with Mama--really noticing the animals the first time this trip.

Always the camera shy one.

Talking with Daddy about the bog while the small ones finish lunch.

The flamingos are always a hit.

Don't you want to ride on a hippo?

Fix-It

Gabriella's baby stroller suffered from CCS (cheap construction syndrome). The seat part ripped after about a month of use and it just kept getting worse. She got to pick out some fabric at the store the other day and I was able to use some scraps of ribbon and quilt binding I had on hand to fix it up. We picked out a flannel that won't ravel like the light weight nylon/polyester type fabric that was on there before. Not too shabby, if I do say so myself!

Ready for a stroll?

Technically, That's Illegal

Here is the video clip of my friend Ann!

Want to 'Meet' my Friend?

I have a dear friend from KS, where neither of us live anymore, who wrote a book about trying to follow all the laws she can find. The book is "Technically, That's Illegal."

If you have cable and you'd like to know more, she has an interview that will be airing on Fox Business (The John Stossel Show) at 9pm Eastern tonight (Thursday, March 8, 2012), with re-airings over the weekend.

Congrats Ann!!

Primary Election

Yesterday was Super Tuesday. Justin was off, so I decided I'd go stand in line all by myself. Only one problem with my little plan. There was no line. There were three voting booths, at least 10 volunteers, and I was the only voter in there. The ONLY voter?!

I keep my blog pretty apolitical, so without endorsing a candidate or party, let me get up on my soap box. People fought and died so we could vote. People are still fighting and dying to protect our freedoms, including that right. And women have had the right to vote for less than 100 years. How can we be so complacent?

I know many would say, "It's just a primary," but honestly...for both parties here there were offices at stake. The republicans chose someone to run against the current President. The democrats had some judgeships to decide. I only looked at the ticket for yesterday (for both parties, as in TN the primaries are open--you may chose to vote in either the republican or democratic primary, regardless your political affiliation). If those democratic judge candidates are uncontested by a republican in November, the primary may have decided who will be sitting on the bench. Even if that is not the case, just as in the republican presidential primary, getting the best person in the November election is important. It can determine the party who will take the office--because one candidate has better overall appeal than another from the same party.

Please exercise your right to vote whenever you have the opportunity. I hope to see you at the polls, even if we are just there to cancel each other out.

Sunshiny Day

I guess I've not been writing much. You see I've not been quilting, or writing, or much of any that requires one to stay indoors. Spring has sprung early around here, so we've been heading outside as soon as possible after our school lessons. I've got Nate (and the girls walking 3/4 of a mile). Sometimes I'll carry him a little way, but we don't need the stroller or the backpack carrier these days.

We're on Spring Break this week (Yes, I know it is still winter on the calendar, but then again, I didn't set the university's academic calendar either!), so if you need us, we'll likely be out back soaking up some sunshine.