Peanut Bragging

My little Peanut isn't so little anymore. She is big, getting bigger and thinking she is a lot older than she really is. She'll be six months old at the end of this week. Hard to believe almost half a year has passed since she was born.
- Her hair is brown, light brown, but most definitely brown.
- She pulled herself into a standing position yesterday (Sunday) - twice.
- She likes to sit in the kitchen sink while I cook and clean in there.
- She can get from her tummy into a sitting position.
- She is trying so hard to crawl, she has officially crawled, but she hasn't really made it anywhere yet and she gets so frustrated that she can't move. There is a world to be explored and she can't do it. She realizes that and so she screams in frustration.
- She would prefer to be walking. We'll hold her by the hands and "walk" with her. She giggles and squeals as she walks where she wants to go.
- She is taking 2 good naps most days. Not so much on the weekends because having the two older brothers and dad around on the weekends messes with her schedule. Mom is very happy 5 days a week.
- When she is really hungry and I ask her if she wants a bottle, she giggles.
- Her brothers and sister are the funniest things in the world to her. They can make her laugh so hard.
- She likes to eat bananas, apples, pears, and sweet potatoes. She doesn't like peas (I don't blame her).
- She once got a hold of a ham sandwich that her brother left out (we were having a picnic) and she did her best to eat it. It was pretty funny. I took out the ham and cheese and let her go at the bread. She mostly tore it apart with her excited little hands.
- She has three teeth. Watch out, they're sharp.
- She makes Mom and Dad smile. We think she is just adorable.

Had to brag a bit. She is growing so fast, a little too fast. Before long, she's going to be quite mobile and then look out! Nothing will be safe.

misc thoughts

Well, fall has arrived here, sort of. The last week has been cool, with an almost cold wind blowing for 3 days. I've loved having the windows open to keep the house cool and not use the A/C. The living room window open to our little pond with a small water fall. I love the sound it makes and having that window open is so pleasant. The only problem is the F-18 jets that fly everyday of the week, all day long and late into the night. It wouldn't be so bad if they just flew over us, but our house in right in their turning area, so we get the back burners pointed at us while they make their turns to go back to the base. They fly very low in this area too. This is incredibly loud and can make holding conversations or getting babies to sleep a real challenge.

Still, I love fall.

Yesterday in this area of the country, the New Family Search site was opened to us.
I re-registered (I tried earlier in the year, but it wouldn't let me) and got onto the site. I'm so excited about it all! I looked up some family and couldn't find much new, and some where I found some problems, but one line of the family, I found a line that went back a few generations more than what I had, and this line lead into "royalty" in Wales. I say royalty, but they were dukes and earls and knights of that sort. Once you get into those areas, the lineage was very well documented and so, a great number of names are new to me. I'm a direct descedant of the 1st Earl of Warwick. However, considering the 1st Earl lived during the Norman Conquest in 1066, it is a great many generations back in direct descendant and there are probably thousands who can trace their line back to him. It isn't the royalty I'm interested in, it is just the incredible number of years and generations this is taking me back that I'm loving so much. Can you imagine, I know the names of ancestors who lived in 1066! They were the French speaking Normans who conquered the Old English speakers of England. (I'm not interested in the conquering either, just the fact that I know the names of ancestors who spoke Old French and Old English!) I'm loving the new family search!

So my mom introduced my kids to High School Musical. Not having TV for the last 3 years, I haven't kept up with what is hot in today's youth. For whatever reason, my mom is up on the latest trends and she got my kids the HSM movie. Can I tell you my kids love it? They LOVE it. They have watched it everyday and now I've got all these songs stuck in my head! I like it too, I must admit. My hubby is so embarrassed that his sons should like a musical. He hates all forms of musicals and is tolerant that I like them, but I don't watch them when he is home. Still, I need to get these song out of my head, or as my daughter once put it, music is coming out of my ears!

Blue Angels

I love the air show. The Blue Angels get up close and personal with our neighborhood. We get to enjoy them for about 5 days each year. Here are some pictures I managed to get while they flew over the house.
The two pictures with the blue sky were taken on Thursday, the two with the gray sky are from today. We get to watch them once more tomorrow!





Aren't they awesome?! And loud!

Air show weekend

This is the weekend of the annual air show. The local F-18's have been out a lot more lately, in formation, doing cool things. Today, though, what I wait for each year - the Blue Angels! They are so fun to watch. This evening they were just flying two around, but the fly right over the house! It is so awesome. We believe we heard a sonic boom once this evening as they broke the sound barrier. I've never heard that before, and have always wanted too. However, I was inside when I heard the loud noise and it sent me running outside to watch. They will probably practice tomorrow, the entire group and I'll be out watching. Then on Saturday will be the show. We'll be out on the lawn for that too. It's a fun weekend!

what's up?

Well, I was hoping for a bit of time because I got Peanut to sleep and laid her quietly in her crib. That often works for letting me get an hour or two, but I didn't even get 10 minutes this time. Oh well. We had a nice weekend. My mom came for a two day visit. We had lots of fun and the kids loved showing her all their latest projects and interest. My oldest son signed up for 5th grade string class. He is so excited because he is going to learn to play the violin. I'm going to go pick up his instrument today. I'm excited too. The sting section is the one instrument section I never learned to play anything in. I've played woodwind, brass, and percussion. When he is at school on his days that don't have string class, I'm going to be testing it out. Yeah! I wish he had picked the cello:)

Otherwise, things are going along about the same. I'm going to attempt to do some other projects. I've always wanted to be a writer and while I've had a hundred ideas for various books, I've never had or taken the time to really work those ideas. I want to try now. It might not work, but who knows, it just might. We'll see. However, if Peanut is only going to nap for 10 minutes, like she did today, I might not get any writing done at all.

Fondue Day!

It's my birthday and tonight we'll do the traditional fondue. I love to fondue. This tradition started about 10 years ago, my birthday after my first son was born.
Tonight there will be a cheese fondue with Havari and Gouda and then there will be a chocolate fondue for desert. Mmmm... I can't wait.

I got three of my birthday presents already. One, yesterday, was from my visiting teacher. She gave me a lovely smelling bath set. Now, for the time for the bath.... Today I got my gifts from the kids. (Hubby picked them out for me). I got Silicone oven mitts and a rolling pin. The oven mitts that I have been using are thin and one has a burn almost all the way through. The rolling pin I use has quit rolling on it's axle or whatever it spins on. It just stopped. I make tortillas often and rolling them the last few months has been tough. I look forward to making them next and trying out my super smooth rolling pin.

My sister-in-law posed an interesting question lately. What makes her happy? It got me thinking, what makes me happy? It is a question that needs great pondering because there are several levels of happiness and there is also what makes me happy and what do I think will make me happy. It is something I'm going to be thinking about and sorting my ideas. It is an interesting thought. I read that men should never give their wives kitchen stuff for Mother's Day or their birthday, but I'm so glad when I do get kitchen things. I love to cook. Baking and cooking tasty foods makes me happy and my family happy too. Getting these oven mitts so I don't burn my hands make me VERY happy.

Fudge

Every year at Christmas time, I want to just bake and bake and bake. I want to make fudge and other candies. Every year at Christmas time, what really happens is I don't do much baking. Maybe I'll make a couple of batches of cookies, but I never get to do what I really want to do.

There are two reasons for this:
#1 - The kids make baking and cooking so hard. They want to help and I try to let them, but they end up fighting over whose turn it is to add or mix.
#2 - I really don't like the dish mess that comes with cooking

Now, it is September and my husband decides he wants fudge. He looks up a fancy recipe and reads off the ingredients to me. "Do we have all of this?" he asks. I let him know that we do. "I'll leave up this website for you, should you feel like making fudge."

Last night was busy and I ended up having four tired kids last night while he was off at a meeting. He came home and asked, "Did you make the fudge?" No. So this morning he pulls up the website again. "I've got the site up again in case you have time to make fudge." Because, you know, I've got nothing better to do.

The truth is, I love fudge, I've never made it and I decided to give it a try. It is halfway done now. It is very time consuming. I'll have to finish it soon, provided Peanut permits me. I hope it works. If not, he can make it next time.

PS, it is 10:45 and I'm still in my PJ's. Taking care of kids and making fudge hasn't let me have the time to go shower and change. Well, as long as no one comes to the door and I have changed by the time the older boys get off the bus at 2:45, it will be alright. :)

Update! It is now 12:53. Right after posting the above blog, I went and finished the fudge and decided I had better go shower. I start to go up stairs and I hear Peanut screaming. By the looks of her, she had been awake and screaming for a long time. (I guess it is time to finally break down and get a baby monitor) So, I hold Peanut, feed her, love her, reassure her she is not forgotten and when she is happy enough, I gave her her toys, and put her in the living room with her sister. I go shower. After the shower, I came down to rotate laundry and as I'm loading the washer, the door bell rings. It is my visiting teacher! She showed up about 40 minutes after I wrote that little PS at the top there. I'm so glad I got showered and dressed. The house was a total disaster, but I was clean, fresh and wearing clothes! Whew...

Weather

"As they say in Texas, "It shure looks lack we're fixen to have some weather." Now that sounds ominous. Actually, having weather is traditional in most states. In fact it would be quite unnerving to learn that tomorrow there would be no weather. Texas does have weather, and it will try to kill you."
a quote from Coping with Texas and Other Staggering Feets, by Lowell Christensen

Now, I'm not living in Texas, but I grew up there. I'm in an eastern state now and funnily (to me) we are in the middle east. Maine is the north east, South Carolina is the south east and Virginia is the middle east. Ha Ha! So anyway in Virginia, over the weekend, we had Tropical Storm Hanna. It was the most pathetic tropical storm I've ever seen. It rained off and on, and there were some wind gusts that took out some limbs and power lines, but nothing spectacular. Thanks to Hanna, our lawn was nicely watered, but that was it.

Growing up in Texas, I endured Texas weather. If you've spent any amount of time in Texas, you will understand. In the summer, the heat and humidity will try to kill you. Winters in Texas are cold, and Texans will bundle up for a 45 degree day like a Alaskan will for a -30 degree day. However, in the winter, you might get some ice on the road once in a while. Texans have no idea how to drive on ice, so it is safer to stay indoors. In the spring you get the most amazing North Cold Fronts. They will bring rain, thunder, lightning and once in a while, a tornado. Now, if you are lucky, you get to see the tornado and it's awesomeness before it hits your street. I was unlucky growing up that our couple of tornadoes that hit the area were at night and I never got to see it. Fall is probably the safest season in Texas, but don't get to comfortable in October, because Texas weather has a way of changing it's mind.

"Texas does have weather, and it will try to kill you." I'm proud to be a Texan!

What am I doing here?

It's 3:55 am. Why am I at the computer? The 5 month old sitting in my lap, banging on the keyboard, is why. She woke up and won't go back to sleep. She is trying to bite my fingers too. She has two small, sharp teeth now and is attempting to use them on my hands.

I was hoping for more answers by now on this upcoming change, but I don't have any more yet. I wish we could get some answers so that I could begin making plans one way or the other. I hate waiting.

One change coming is I have been asked to accept a new calling at church. I did accept it, but after this week, I might not be able to do it. Apparently, the Bishop approved me with one condition, that my children not accompany to the various meetings. This was all ok because Hubby said he would watch kids and support me, but now....

We might be moving. That is what I'm waiting on finding out. If we are, Hubby won't be around to watch kids so I can take on the new calling. So, I'm going to have to talk to Bishop tomorrow (or later today since it is now 4:01 in the morning) and see if he wants me to do this or not. If things go like they are most likely to, Hubby will leave for new job by the end of this month and I will stay behind to sell the house.

(Sarcasm) On the lighter side, (end sarcasm) we are expecting Tropical Storm Hannah to hit tonight and all day tomorrow. We are ready, but it is messing with my weekend plans.

It is now 4:05, Peanut is sitting on the floor with her toys. Why oh why is she SO wide awake?

BTW, I do eat carrots. They are the only veggie I like... And as for the Star Wars and Lord of the Rings stuff, I'm working on selling that too, but can you believe it, no one wants to buy it! (Sarcasm font again) I can't imagine why.

Changes in the works

Changes are headed our way. I won't say yet what, because nothing at all is set in stone, but there are some changes coming.

These changes are constantly in my thoughts, but I'm trying not to let them stress me out. There is nothing to stress over - yet. Hubby stresses all the time, whether he needs to or not.

Hubby fixed the toilet tonight. He has been working on it for 3 days. It has taken several trips to Lowes, some DW-40, some power tools, and lots of laying on the floor under the toilet. Some parts of the job required two people and I was happy to help when I could. We haven't been able to use that toilet since Sunday morning and Toddler has been quite disturbed by it. He had several accidents Sunday and Monday because he wouldn't go upstairs to use the potty. Well, it is usable again, thanks to a lot of dirty work from Hubby!

The jets are flying over the house this evening. The windows are rattling because they are using their burners a lot. Our house sits in the turning area they make in this direction. It is noisy and makes getting Peanut to sleep difficult. Well, the good thing is, the air show is in a couple of weeks! I can't wait. It is so much fun to sit out on the lawn and watch the F-18's, the F-20's and the Blue Angels flying over the house.

pumpkin time

We planted a pumpkin in our garden. Well, we actually planted 5 pumpkins, but only one germinated. We picked it a few weeks ago and it has been sitting pretty in our dining room, but it was time to do something with it. After much reading on the Internet I learned how to make pumpkin puree.

First, we start with our lovely pumpkin:


Next, I cut the pumpkin and took out the seeds and stringy innards. I saved about 20 seeds. We'll use these next year. As you can see, this pumpkin's insides weren't very orange, they were more white.


I placed the pumpkin half on a cookie sheet with some water and baked it for about an hour or more. This is the pumpkin after I took it out of the oven. It was very, very hot! It sat there for a while until I could pick it up to move it.


Next, I used a spoon to scoop out all the meat from the pumpkin into a strainer. I was really amazed at the amount of water in the pumpkin. After it drained for a while, I used a hand held blender and pureed it.


Today I took the puree and made a pie out of it. I got about 6-8 cups of puree from this pumpkin. I'm not exactly sure how much, but there is a lot. Half is in the freezer and half in the fridge. I'll be making pumpkin recipes for a while! I love pumpkin. And this one is my own pumpkin. I'm very happy and excited about the fruits of my garden!

mix up

The other day I asked my two year old to bring me the broom. He happily hops away and returns a few moments later with the toilet plunger.

Ewwwww

Guess we need to work on that vocabulary.

not such a rough day

Today hasn't been as tough as yesterday, thank goodness, but I haven't tried to do as much either. No laundry, no cooking, no much needed sweeping, nothing that really needed to get done.

I was chatting with my sister on the phone today and my home line phone completely died. I'm going to buy a new battery for it tomorrow. If it works with the new battery, great. If not, I guess I'll have to buy a new phone. It is amazing at all that this phone has lasted as long as it has. It went through the washing machine about a year and a half ago.

Peanut has been into eating foods lately. She grabs at the cup when I get a drink. She loves to drink from a cup. Over the weekend, Hubby gave her root beer. She loved it, but I couldn't believe he had done it. He also gave her ice cream. She loved that too. Still, no-fun-Mama is insisting that she eat baby foods like a baby should. I've given her sweet potatoes, which she really liked. Yesterday I gave her apple baby food. She didn't like that as much. Every spoonful I put into her mouth, she spit it out. Sometimes she would start spitting while the spoon was still in her mouth. I tried it again today. She is still spitting it out. I guess we'll try it again sometime this week and then move on to bananas next week. If she doesn't like those, I've got more sweet potatoes.

having a rough day

I'm having a rough day today. I need a hug. Hubby is out of town this week. That's ok with me. I'm quite independent and not afraid to be alone, if you can call being in a house with 5 kids alone. What has been hard is that my sweet baby is no longer sweet. When she turned 4 months old, she turned into something of a terror. She screams when I'm not holding her and sometimes gets so worked up that she screams when I do hold her. She doesn't like to be held while I'm sitting, either. That means when I sit down at the computer while holding her, she screams. When I sit down to watch a movie or read a book while I hold her, she screams. When I sit down to write in my journal or write the grocery list while I hold her she screams. And of course, if I put her down, she screams.

I do nothing for work or pleasure without hearing her scream. I'm frustrated at what I can't accomplish and frustrated that what I do accomplish is with a screaming soundtrack.

This evening, I got her to sleep and I was hoping to get a few things done to get the house and kids ready for bed. I had to run outside to get something that had been left. My two younger kids HAD to come with me. Because they were so slow, they let in a lot of bugs. When I got back in the house I was horrified to see my kitchen wall covered with bugs. I grabbed the fly swatter and started whacking away at the bugs. This woke up Peanut. After I finished with the bugs, I grabbed Peanut, 2 diapers and headed upstairs. My two younger kids peed in their beds last night. I had the sheets clean, but not back on the beds yet. I had to put Peanut down. She screamed non stop while I put on two sets of sheets and put some laundry away. I put diapers on the older two and as soon as I had, they both announced they needed to go potty. I took off the diapers and waited for them to pee. I got diapers back on them and headed to my room to change into PJs. Peanut screamed. All of this took about 20 minutes. I finally got Peanut to sleep and the phone rings. I go get it and it is my MIL asking what year I was born because they were inputting genealogy info into their computer. It is 9:50 at night and it woke up Peanut. That's all they wanted, my birth year and birth place. I've been married to this family for almost 12 years. You would think they would know those two things.

I got Peanut back to sleep after the phone call. I can't blame her entirely for her actions. She is teething and it hurts. She can never get in a good nap during the day. Instead of two good naps lasting several hours (like a 4 month old should have) she gets 10-15 cat naps a day, never lasting more than 15 minutes. This is thanks to loud siblings who show no respect for her or me when I ask them to please be quite. She also wakes up the moment I lay her down. It is all very frustrating to me.

Don't get me wrong, I love all my children, but I didn't plan on a fifth kid. My fourth was such a screaming terror that I knew I couldn't handle anymore. Well, Peanut decided to come along and we had a sweet first three months, but now she is following in her brother's foot steps and I'm tearing my hair out. I can't get work done around the house, I can't spend much time playing with the other kids, and I defiantly get no personal time. A friend of mine is trying desperately to get pregnant. Part of me hopes she can and a part of me that I feel really guilty about is thinking "why?" Why do you want to do this? Why do you want to be screamed at? Why do you want to never sleep? Why do you want to never have personal accomplishments again? Isn't that terrible? I'm such a horrible person for thinking that.

I know that eventually, the screaming will end. I know there is light at the end of the tunnel, because the other 4 kids reached it, but to endure this now and for the next year is so hard. I don't want to be screamed at anymore. How do I get though this next year? How can I get nothing done and feel good about it?

It is night and I'm so tired. My Peanut is sleeping in my arms while I type. Things always seem so hopeless at night. Tomorrow won't be much of a better day. I know Peanut is going to scream all day, but when the sun is out, I can handle it much better. I'm hoping the night goes smoothly and tomorrow morning comes quickly.

Poetic Thoughts

Three years ago this week, I was in Pisa, Italy. I was there for the ICOS conference (International Council for Onomasitc Studies). Onomastics is the study of names. I went alone to this conference, except for my seven month pregnant belly with kid #4. It was my second trip to Europe and there are some ways of life in Europe that I absolutely love. For one thing, you walk everywhere. I wished while I was there that I had my pedometer. I would have loved to know how many miles I walked while I was in Pisa. So, I walked back and forth to the conference several time everyday as well as all the sight seeing I did.

So, all this walking gave me much time for thought. I discovered that I had extremely poetic thoughts. My thoughts are very eloquent. I carried a journal everywhere I went. There was a lovely little park next to the building where the conference was held. It was a plaza with benches, trees, and a water fountain. On the hours they rang the bells, I could hear three to five different sets of bells ringing. It was a lovely place. So, during breaks in the conference, I would head out to the plaza, set myself on a bench under a tree and start writing. I discovered I couldn't write as poetically as I could think. I was disappointed.

I'm still that way. I think all day of great blog ideas and I think out the thought in a very elegant way. However, when I sit down to write, my time is limited by the kids. My oldest son was just in here telling me he would like a blog but doesn't know what he would put on it, but he kept talking about what he would say or wouldn't say. I finally told him to not talk to me at this moment. I can't listen and type at the same time. Then, I'm always holding Peanut (as I am now), she was asleep until this moment because Toddler decided to start throwing a loud tantrum. Well, just now all five were in here defending themselves as to why Toddler is crying. Guess what, Peanut is wide awake now and I'll never get to finish my thoughts now. I got really mad and yelled at them all to get out of this room and leave me alone.

Well, that's the end of this un-poetic thought. Ugg, I'm mad now.

laundry

You ask any stay at home mom and I'm guessing just about most any woman what is the number one thing to do on her TO DO list and the answer would be - Laundry.
Incredible isn't it?

As we are a family of seven, there is always plenty of laundry to be done. But what really amazes me is when I do mine and my husband's laundry. Hubby wears two sets of clothes a day, a suit and tie to work and then short or pants and t-shirts at home. I wear one set of clothes each day.

So, why in the world when I do our laundry is my pile twice as big as his? I don't get it.

My 4 year old always has the biggest pile. She loves to wear and change clothes and she dumps all the clothes she wears all over her floor. When I go to collect laundry from her room, I'm never sure if I'm getting dirty or clean clothes. In the end, it all gets washed and she has a pile that is bigger than anyone elses.

I'm not even going to into what odd little things I find in the laundry, like toys and rocks. And the missing socks.... well, I have a basket where I collect them and then after a while I'll go though the basket and match socks, but there are always a few with no match. Where did they go?

I think aliens are the cause of the laundry oddness.

1st tooth

Yesterday Peanut spent the day very upset. Now, she has the most wonderful personality and I know that when she acts that way, something is bothering her. With my 2 year old, he just cried all the time and I never knew why. So, this morning, she got me up very early (sigh) and she was chewing on my hand and she has a tooth! It has only just come in, but it is there. Her first tooth. I'm sure the one next to it is on it's way as well. She has been in a better mood today, but not her usual happy self so I believe the other tooth is making it's way in. I love toothless grins and I'm sad to see it end so soon, but I also love toothy grins.

Kilts and skirts

Back to some random thoughts!

Several weeks ago, I was out running an errand for Hubby and I was coming up to a red light. In the lane to my right, just in front of me we two men on motorcycles. One of them was wearing a kilt. It was black and I was very amused. Well, to tell the truth, my first thought was, how does he keep his kilt from flying up while he rides his motorcycle? But as I passed him, I saw he was sitting on it in the middle, holding it down. Smart. I'm not sure if kilts are becoming a fashionable thing to wear or not, but I could understand their appeal.

I prefer to wear a skirt. I wear them more days than not. I wear them with my T-shirt and tennis shoes. I mow in my skirts, I take walks in my skirts, I just prefer skirts right now. The ones I have a long, black, stretchy and comfy. I just am more comfortable in my skirts than pants right now. I could see why some me are wearing kilts more.

I read an article recently and I'm afraid I don't remember where it was from, but a man who works for the Postal Service is asking that a regulation kilt be added to the dress code. I have no preference to this. I wouldn't mind my postman wearing a kilt. But then, I am of Scottish heritage and the idea of kilts appeals to my Scottish side.

There is no point to this. I like skirts and I could see why men would be attracted to kilts. I wish my hubby liked them, but he is the last person in the world I could see in a kilt. Military men just aren't the kind who would wear kilts. True be told, I wish the style of clothes like the men wear in the Lord of the Rings movies were culturally acceptable. I really like the way men look in tunics. :)

the neglected blog

I have had lots of thoughts and no chance to write. Peanut doesn't let me do much. She is sleeping right now and as long as her siblings are respectful and don't wake her up, I am trying to do some things I've put off because they require two hands. If I try to type while holding her, she whacks my hands, or tries to squirm off my lap, requiring me to catch her with both hands. Typing with her is almost impossible.

Peanut is a sweet baby. I can't believe how good she is. The other four were never this good. She is ready to crawl. You can see it in her eyes. She wants so much to just crawl away. She'll lay on her tummy with her arms and legs just going, like she is swimming. Someday she'll figure it out. She is trying solid foods now, officially. (I won't go into what that means) She hates the rice cereal. Can you blame her? It tastes like cardboard. She loves the sweet potatoes.

Well, Princess just made Toddler scream like a banshee (she took a toy of his) and has now woken up Peanut. UGGG! I can never get a break.

The summer is going along nicely. Only two weeks left before school starts. We couldn't go anywhere for a summer vacation, but having a vehicle to just run errands or go to the park in has been great. I'm thinking of taking the kids to the beach next week. I really don't like going to the beach. I hate the sandy mess and I hate trying to keep an eye out for two great swimmers in the water, an eye on a four year old who is incredibly independent and just wants to do her own thing where ever she wants to do it, and keep an eye on a two year old who is doing his own thing. All this while trying my hardest to keep the sun off the 4 month old with no umbrella of any kind. It is way to stressful a trip for me, but the kids love it and we live just 5 miles away from the coast. It will be a much more fun trip to make when they are all a bit older.

I've had all sorts of random thoughts to write about, but Peanut is crying now and I can't write. Well, my time bomb has gone off and I must go.

Kids

As always, things here are busy. Summer is flying by quickly. We have 4 weeks left before school starts again. I wish I could have done more with the kids this summer, like swim lessons or something, but not having a vehicle made it impossible for me to do that when summer began. Now I do have a van to drive around in, but to conserve gas, we don't go anywhere unless we need to. So, home we stay and find plenty to do here.

The oldest two love to swim each day in our pool. Unfortunately, my 8 year old son developed an ear infection. I figured it was just swimmers ear. Well, I was surprised to find out that he has inner ear infections in both ears. Those don't seem to be bothering him, though, thank goodness. So, he has some meds. Mostly, he is just upset that he can't get his head underwater while swimming.

I'm trying to get my oldest son to write a couple of thank you letters and to write them in cursive. He is refusing to do them. He hardly knows how to write in cursive (and he is going into 5th grade) but his printing is SO sloppy, it is unreadable. I'm still amazed at what he was allowed to get away with last year. He is waiting for his class assignment for next year. He is really hoping to be in the same class as his two best friends, but I don't think he will be. His best friends are in the gifted class and getting all A's while he is in a regular class and barely pulling B's and C's. He could easily get A's in the gifted class if he would apply himself, but he hates to work and so he accepts his low grades. I have much to say on this, but Peanut is screaming in my arms and I will have to cut it short.

Peanut had her 4 month check up yesterday. She is 15 lbs, 1 oz now! She is 27 inches long. She is a big, healthy, little girl. She screams way to much, but she isn't as bad as Toddler was at her age. She sleeps through the night most nights too. She is my first to sleep through the night before they are two. Well, it is near impossible to write now because of her.

Later....