http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3012630939062786693

My not-quite-three year old is really becoming his own person.  He loves books and to be read to.  'Jesse Bear' books are a big favorite of his!  We've been working on potty training a bit.  This particular day that I snapped the 'potty' picture was a very good day with it.  But, everyone was getting colds and all of my kids were needy.  So, we stopped.  I haven't tried anymore.  Though, I was told by a nursery worker at church that on Sunday my little guy said "I hafta go potty!"  I am happy that he is at least showing an interest.

He also LOVES music.  He and his older brother often fight over the keyboard, so it gets put up....alot.

These two LOVE babies.  And they just happened to be fighting over a certain baby doll one night.  My oldest and my youngest were fighting for the same toy....how strange!  But, that just happens to be normal in our household right now.  I've gone through this now four times with having a SN child.  And yes...my youngest pictured at the top completely has the attitude of, "MINE!"  Isn't it obvious????

And also, yes...my oldest daughter's legs ARE a bit purple in the picture (you're not seeing things)  She tends to have a bit of poor circulation due to her syndrome.  She's beautiful nonetheless.  And when she loves on her baby doll and calls herself a "Gnng nana," (good mama), she is even more beautiful to me.

Just had to throw this one in of my precious four year old all ready to go to sleep.  It just looked like a pretty picture to me, so I grabbed the camera.

It's a Horned Tomato Caterpillar.  A family member pretty much told me what it was when I described it and I looked it up.  My 6 year old and I found it when we went on a nature walk on Saturday morning.  Truthfully...the thing kind of disgusted me.  I love being outdoors and taking walks.  I appreciate nature and even like examining it.  But big green caterpillars aren't for me.  I like the little fuzzy ones.  But, my son was ecstatic when we found it, and I was a little excited too.  Mainly,  I just wanted to make my son happy.  We ended up scurrying home to get our jar (that our previous caterpillar died in), to deposit this big green fellow in.  We got to watch him for 3 days...but he ended up passing on as well.  Sigh...so sad.  I am pretty certain that we didn't get the right kind of leaves put in the jar in time for him to eat.

BUT...I am not giving up!  I have heard good things about this: http://www.adoremusbooks.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=6104

A Live Butterfly Garden :)  I want to try it.  I'll definitely be posting about it when we do. 

My little guy above will be 3 in October!  Hard to believe.   He is really into books.  I am just starting to do 'Before Five In a Row' with him.  Today we read one of my kids' favorites, Caps for Sale.  Today my little guy was sorting colors for me and we worked on counting.

I ENJOY her.  What an impression she makes on me.  Most of all I love her honesty. 

http://www.godtube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=a35c3eca7c5a5849d2c0

Ahhh yes...you cannot go wrong with peanut butter playdough.  My 6 and 4 year old had lots of fun playing with it, and then got to eat a bit toward the end of play.  My 7 year old special needs angel wanted to stuff huge clumps of it into her mouth, as did my 2.5 year old.  Why cannot I not remember to have a sense of humor during these moments?  I just kept thinking how expensive both peanut butter and honey are right now.  Because those are two of the ingredients.  Of course, I was okay with my kids eating it, I just wanted them all to ENJOY it, before it was consumed. 

I really want my oldest daughter experience the things that her siblings are able to.  But, often times, reality hits.  She hated having me get her hands all mushy in the playdough.  She didn't want to play at all...just eat.   I tried.  And my 2.5 year old seemed to think this was lunch.  Nope, sorry Bud.  He was mad at me when I took it away...as you can see.

I gave my kids chocolate chips to use to decorate their artwork.  My four year old created the perfect educational moment by counting her chips over and over...yay!  My six year old said, "Hey mommy, come look at the eyes and mouth I made!"  The recipe I found on-line for this Peanut Butter Playdough was: 1 cup creamy peanut butter, 1/2 cup honey, and 2 cups non-fat dry milk.  Mix the PB and honey together first and then slowly add in the powdered milk.  But, do not use the whole 2 cups of dry milk if playdough seems to be getting dry.  Mine turned out fine.

I don't know how long this playdough saves.  But, I put my kids' playdough in the refrigerator, as well as the left overs.  I'll have to let it sit out to soften up before they can play with it again.

Oh my.  It's kind of hard to believe that our oldest son is six years old.  I remember the day of his birth very well.  Here's what I remember the most.  I entered into the birth center already in hard labor.  When the nurse went to check to see how far dialated I was, her eyes got real big.  All I asked was, "Can I have an epidural?"  And she said, "I don't think we're going to have time."  About an hour and a half later our beautiful baby boy arrived.  I couldn't see his face at first, only his feet as the nurse carried him away to clean him up and weigh him.  And my first thought and what I said to my husband was, "My...what big feet he has."  Then I waited for him to really cry.  I was expecting a typical high pitched newborn cry.  Instead he had a very low and mellow cry for a baby, almost soothing.  We were surprised.  And then when they placed him in my arms, the first thing I noticed was how big his nose was.  I know that sounds strange.  But, his older sister had such tiny, tiny features and an itty-bitty  nose when she was born (because of her genetic disorder.)  So, I was holding a much different child.  Just as special as my first and oh so beautiful.  The other thing I remember about him was that he had such coppery highlights in his blond hair (that later disappeared), and then the comment that his daddy made about him while holdilng him.  He said, "He's a sweet baby."  And yet, just the other day his daddy said the same thing again about our now six year old..."He is a sweet boy."  That he is.  And we love him so much.

For his birthday, our son wanted a 'Ping' cake, inspired by the children's book called, The Story of Ping.  Our son loves the main character in the book, a little yellow duck, who lives on the Yangze river in China with his very big family.  My son wanted me to include Ping's siblings on the cake as well.  He loved the cake.

Daddy took our son out for the traditional pizza birthday lunch.  And then onto a trip with mommy to spend some birthday $.   We had "the cousins" over and beloved aunt over for cake and ice cream in the evening of his birthday.  Our son specifically asked for that  Our son's main gift was a barrel of tinker toys.  Hopefully this will be something that will keep his busy hands and mind occupied for many, many days...maybe even years...(prays his mommy!)  It was a good day.

Out of all of our kids, these two are the closest in age....18 months apart.  They've been playing together a lot more.  It's been a lot of fun to watch them giggle and crawl around on the floor together.

We were able to take two of our kids on special outing while our other three kids stayed at gramma and grampa's house for the day.  We decided to go on a Dessert Train!  Our 6 and 4 year old LOVED it.  They in fact, spent most of the over two hour ride outside on the train deck (with daddy and mom of course!)  Fortunately the train didn't go too fast.  The weather was wonderful.  Low humidity and a refreshing breeze.  They served a light snack and then a very yummy dessert.  Fortunately they did have a bathroom on the train as well.  That was....interesting.

I love these pictures.  I especially love the ones of my kids covering their ears as the whistle BLEW!  I love the one of daddy holding our little girl.  Our favorite scenic view was the 'High Bridge.'  And it was very high.  Very creepy for me to look down upon from the outside deck while riding on the train.  It's kind of hard to tell just how high it was from the pictures.  185 feet high.  You can see my son peaking over the deck rail down upon the trees.  There is the river below.

  At then end we took the kids to the gift shop and they each got to pick out something to remember the day by.  I ended up picking out the picture book, Orphan Train, by Verla Kay and Ken Stark.  Really, the book rather sad.  It's very real, but not too much so for little ones...in my opinion.  It's important for me not to shelter my kids from a world of suffering.  After reading the book today, we talked about the children in the book and their circumstances.  We also talked about children and families less fortunate then we are.  We talked about how the Lord calls us to help the poor and the needy, and to care for orphans.   I also wanted them to see the reality for other children from the past and even across the world today.

Going down another conversational track  I really enjoy trains.  They seem kind of mysterious and romantic to me.  Yet, the only one minor downside for me is that after I got off of the train, the whole entire rest of the day it felt as if I was still on the train.  My brain was fooling me into thinking that I was still moving and I felt sick as well.  The same thing happens to me on planes.  I guess there won't be any cruises in our future.

I love teaching Desiring God's, He's Established A Testimony.  I am only on the fourth lesson, but I can truly say that not only are my kids learning a lot (hopefully!), but I am too.  I aim to teach a lesson a week.  I try to read the bible passages several days ahead of time (suggested in the teacher/parent's manual), and let it soak in.  It's amazing how the Lord helps me for the most part, read straight Scripture, yet helps me re-word phrases or difficult words that my kids might not understand, into ways that they do. 

I did not grow up in the church.  Even though I am a Christian, there are definitely areas that I need and want to be more grounded in.  One of my prayers is that the Lord would help me thirst for His Word more than anything else.  I am finding that I very much feel like a little girl myself when preparing these lessons.  They have been so satisfying to me.  I feel as if I am crawling up into the lap of my Abba, Father and learning straight from Him.  

I have been wanting to be in a bible study.  Yet, the Lord has said "no" to a few options for me.  But, for now, I can see Him saying "yes" in this way.  I am learning while teaching my kids.  This is one of the very reasons that I have been excited about homeschooling too.  It's also funny to me how God has given me the grace to even teach these four lessons, with minimal interruptions.  And yet it seems that when I really try and teach anything else, it is much harder.   

Here are a few shots just from yesterday.  Our baby is finally starting to pull herself up and walk along the couch at 14.5 months of age.  NONE of our children have been early walkers.  Our pediatrician has said more than once (good naturedly of course) that our children just lack the motivation to walk early.  Well...so be it.  But, it is so much fun to watch them once they finally decide to get up and try.  It never gets old to me.  We also got our baby girl to walk at least 2 steps to me.  But, now she is too scared to try any more of that at this point.

Our oldest special needs child has been so up and down with her moods and behavior.  We feel fairly certain that it is related to her digestion.  We are now trying something different with her and waiting to see if we've found something that will be helpful.  She has had a few really good days.  In fact, Sunday evening was absolutely wonderful with her.  We all sat around (yes, with 5 kids!), and ate popcorn and cheerioes while daddy read aloud, Wind in The Willows.  We just LOVE to see our daughter's smile.  It feels like a little bit of heaven to us, truly.

Sorry for being so cheesy.  But, I couldn't resist!  Doesn't my baby look like a little pirate in first picture posted above?  We did such a simple and FUN craft for the Fourth of July.  It spruces up my dining area, because there is nothing on the walls at the moment as we're in the slow process of repainting our first floor.

I want to post more pictures of our Fourth of July when I get some more time.  It was for the most part and unfortunately a hard day with our oldest daughter.  She continues to have off and on days with stomach or digestion problems.  We're still trying to figure it out.  For me as a mom, I feel very sad at times that she has to experience such chronic issues.  I just want her to be happy.  Thankfully, at the end of our day she was much better.  Of course, my other kids had a *very* happy day with gramma and grampa.  We're very thankful for them.

My favorite part, and the part that was a lot of fun for everyone was the evening fireworks.  I am looking forward to post a few of those pictures.

I'll let the pictures speak more for themselves.  But quickly...in hopes to keep the kids entertained this summer, I've resorted to lots of paint and color crafts.  The kids love it and they aren't that messy with it...so far.  Every morning for months now, we've been listening to lots of classical music.  My kids LOVE it.  It's a great way to introduce different instruments and my kids are becoming familar with certain songs even.  One of their favorite things to do is to decide what the songs remind them of.  One song reminds my almost 6 year old boy of hot air balloons being fired up and taking off.  Another song reminds my 4 year old daughter of a mother duck with baby ducks swimming behind her.  We found yet another song that reminded us of a little mouse running up and down stairs.  My son said, "Yeah...to get the hypers out of him!":)  Because this is what I have started having my son do sometimes when he has TOO much energy.

These other pictures are just ones that have been snapped through out the last couple of weeks.  My girls are growing up so fast!  Our baby is still very tiny.  She is way ahead in her verbal skills.  But, the doctor is really hoping that she takes off in weight in the next several months.  Which, he is pretty optimistic about.  She is just now starting to pull up to things and has tried standing at the couch a few times.  She still reminds me of a chatty little mouse.  Isn't she sweet?

I am just starting Rod and Staff First grade math with my son.  He had a lot of fun helping me get one of our math projects ready...20 felt ducks.  Well use them throughout the cirriculum.  I drew them up, cut them out, and he drew the eyes and wings.  A really cool thing is that the blue back drop that I am using for the ducks is actually for my bible felts that I ordered when we do our Desiring God lessons...another favorite thing that we are loving!

Well, just wanted to play catch up.  We are having a trying time with my oldest daughter's behavior.  She is just so exhausted all of the time.  The plan is to get some blood labs done on her and check her glucose.  I will update after we know more.

I'd like to write a bit more on this, but I don't have the time right now.  Things have been so crazy and challenging over the last several days around here.  Maybe that is why I've been thinking of this more, and then came across this little book, given to us by a family member.  It's called, Family Worship-In the Bible, In History, and In Your Home, by Donald S. Whitney.

Family Worship.  We do it.  It doesn't always go the way I would like.  And that's what I've been struggling with a bit.  We have five kids.  One of them is special needs, then we have a 2.5 year old and a 1 year old.  These three seem to be the demise of our family worship :)  My almost 6 year old and 4 year old do great, for the most part. 

We are in a season.  I know it will get easier as the kids get older.  Yet, I am so encouraged because of what I've read in this little book.  I'd like to share more in exactly what encouraged me.  But for now...I'll just say that the Lord can handle our family situation just fine.  He knows.  He created us.  And He will give me and my dh the grace to get through family devotions each time.  I think the key for us right now is NOT to expect success (everyone sitting perfectly still), but rather faithfulness.  Both in our consistency of family worship, and in our efforts to help our children get the most out of it in our particular situation. 

I just had to share this.  Tonight as my husband was working late hours out of the home, and ALL of my kids were fast asleep, I realized I was NOT alone.  I was sitting in the basement, and I had just finished my IM (chatting session) with my dh on-line.  I heard a few noises coming from our tv room.  I looked over trying to figure out what it could be, or WHO it could be.  I waited, watching the semi-open door to our tv room.  Slowly I saw a face peer around the corner.  And it was NOT the face of any of my children!  Rather it was the fuzzy face of our hamster, Emily Peach  Somehow, she managed to tip her hamster house sideways, crawl upon top and slid the very heavy lid partially back on her tank.  Though, I have to admit, since we've gotten Emily, she's gotten a lot bigger...fatter really.  And apparently a lot stronger.  She is located on the first floor.  I knew she as busy doing something tonight in her tank this evening...she was being loud.  Yet, that is just her way most of time.  Little did I know she was making way to escape.

I am glad I found her.  She is really very sweet and didn't run at all when I approached her.  She just sat up on her hind legs, like she wanted to be picked up.  She wasn't all that excited though about returning to her tank.  But, I am glad she's back where she belongs.