18 Months!

One serious pose, so you can see what she looks like without her cheeks about to pop! Rose is one big, sweet, happy baby. She loves to play inside and especially outside. She is an active, curious little one. Her favorite things:

Daddy (of course)

kitchen stuff, she would much rather go through cabinets than toys

baseballs :)

DeeDee and Dylan (our dog and cat)

shoes, especially her crocs

climbing and running

toy phones and real phones

milk, cheese, eggs, most any food....ice cream too

nursing :)

playing with brothers and sisters, of course!

We are enjoying our sweet Rose. She is such a blessing.

A Little Perspective

I took this sweet picture on Mother's Day. This is Jacob, my soon to be 16 year old and Rose, my soon to be 16 month old playing in the sand box. Precious. This loved and well traveled sand box has been in the family for 14 years. A gift to the boys from my Mom and Dad.

Jacob is a six foot two running machine. But his needs aren't a whole lot different than little Rose's. He depends on me for food like Rose. LOTS of food. You see he is a growing young man that runs an average of 30 miles a week. No joke. He is a serious runner. But most of all he needs me to listen. He talks a lot about things that are important to him. And I listen.

Someone accused me of being too protective when Jacob was a baby. That was probably true in a sense. But only when it came to dirt. Because I was as confident then at age 21 as I am now that all he really needed was me and his Daddy. Lots of me and Dad.

So, this picture and memory was one of many gifts on Mother's Day. I was spoiled by everyone and loved every minute of it (thank you guys), but mostly I was honored to be called Mama.

But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God. Luke 18:16

Cute Therapy

Rose walking....

Rose just started taking steps about a week and a half ago. She has been so determined to walk and walk fast! I have felt sad for because she falls hard on her bottom A LOT. It's another benefit for baby that she is cloth diapered 99% of the time:) I love these videos because she has that baby tucked under her arm. So sweet! (Thank you, Elizabeth , for the baby doll:)

They watch and mimic our behavior. Let us always be showing Christ -like behavior for them to follow...We can be so careful to protect them from outside influences and miss completely the greatest influence that they are watching most of the time.

I've been reminding my older kids lately of what I call "the trickle down effect". If they are bickering or picking on each other. It's not good enough to say "Oh, I was just kidding." The damage has been done. The little ones are going to treat each other the way we treat each other.

11When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. 1Cor. 13:11

Pink Smoothies

Rose is patiently waiting with her cup for a smoothie.

I used to serve smoothies most days of the week. Now that I'm serving nine, it's more of an occasional treat. I may be able to serve them more if I can get back into making yogurt or keifer (a yogurt type drink).

Ingredients:

frozen strawberries

bananas

vanilla yogurt

milk

Add one and a half bananas and four spoonfuls of yogurt. Fill the blender halfway with milk. (orange juice makes a great smoothie too) Blend this until smooth. Add about four handfuls of strawberries. Blend until smooth and serve right away.

We make this twice to serve everyone.

This is so good. Making it with milk makes it taste like a strawberry milkshake. Add a little whipped cream on top and you've got yourself a gourmet desert.

This post is a part of Kitchen Tip Tuesday , hosted at The Finer Things in Life.

Why do they do this.....

It starts out so innocent.....
Ok, she has your attention.....

Now, if I can just reach that "little punching bag".....

Ahh-ha, GOT IT...

Gaaaaaaaaaag..........

No worries, I recover quickly, I'm fine now.....really.

Back to dinner, Mama makes good spaghetti.

***picture credit-Anna-Kate***

Homemade Thursdays

All my girls except for Anna have been blankie girls. Wendy and Lily have been very attached to their blankets. Wendy has a pink Martha Stewart blanket, from my Aunt Barbara, that has been worn so thin it is barely in one piece-thinner than a dryer sheet with big holes. She loves it still and says it is beautiful. I bought her a similar but thicker blanket when she was 2 to see if we could "replace" the grubby one. She wanted nothing to do with the new one I offered, but thankfully Lily took right to that one and it did not go to waste!

I crocheted this blankie size blanket for Rose for her first birthday. It may not become her favorite. We'll just have to wait and see. Click here to see the pattern. I used the softest yarn I have ever felt! It is this bamboo yarn from Micheal's. If you are into yarn, you must check out this squishy, wonderful yarn and find something to make with it!

We also made this sweet little card for my husband's co-worker that had a baby boy this week! I picked up the stamp of baby foot prints at Wal-mart several years ago. It is my favorite for obvious reasons:)
Go join in Homemade Thursdays!

Cute Therapy

Merry Christmas!

picture credits: Abigail , Anna, and Jacob

Rose is 10 Months Old!

We will be celebrating this child's birthday before we know it! She is such a joy and so full of personality! I snapped these pictures one after another, it is so funny to look through them and see her personality. She only knows a few words, but these pictures say a lot!

fyi...she threw her fry and it landed on her head, I laughed so hard!!!

About me...

I love

yogurt

Cheerios

apple juice

my exersaucer

chewing on Mama's keys

crawling army style

my people

my dogs

squealing

being carried

the piano (playing and listening)

nursing

my basket of toys

couch fuzz (don't ask)

I hate

socks

having my nose wiped

being put down when i am sleeping

when they take away my couch fuzz (don't ask)

when Mama leaves the room

October News

October has been a busy eventful month in our house. I am terribly behind on posting, so I thought I would catch up on things in one post.

October has been a good month of schooling for us. Everyone is doing very well and our schedule seems to be working well. In a nutshell, we are up by 8, chores and breakfast are done by 9, most are done with lessons by lunch time. Jacob has to work for a while after lunch usually. But he has some big books to work through. Tommy has taken on the responsibility of teaching grammar to the kids in the evenings. He is doing a great job too! Jacob has started Algebra this year and is doing very well. Samuel is learning to be more disciplined with his time and is completing his work most days by lunch time! Abigail does more than all of us pretty much everyday. She and Anna have started preschool curriculum with Wendy and Lily and Wendy is loving every minute of it. Wendy is a sponge right now! Abby is also practicing for a December recital for piano. She will be playing "We Three Kings". Anna has become quite the reader. We are very proud of her progress and is learning cursive and has nice hand writing.

In sports news, we had a month filled with soccer games and a baseball tournament. Samuel's travel baseball team had an excellent showing in the AAU state tournament. They took second in the tournament which made them 9th in the state! We really enjoyed watching Jacob and Samuel play soccer for the first time since they were age 4 and 6! They played their hearts out, and enjoyed it even though they only won one game. In other news.....Anna's soccer team, coached by her Daddy, has not lost a game and is playing for the Championship on Saturday, weather permitting. Go Fighters!!

October has been great, but not without some stress too. Little Wendy had a terrible fall on the playground....scared this Mama really bad! She fell from the top of a rock climbing wall, and pushed her two top teeth into her gums. We thought they were knocked out completely, but x-rays showed them pushed up in between her permanent teeth. So sad and painful for Wendy, but she is unbelievably tough. We are just waiting for her to heal and are not sure what will happen with her four top baby teeth. Wendy is trusting God to bring down her teeth. We are so thankful that God protected her from other serious injuries because she fell eight feet. Praise God for protection. The very same weekend of Wendy's accident, Jacob had his new bike stolen out of our garage. Obviously this was very concerning to think someone would come into our garage and steal something. The great news is that Jacob's bike was replaced by friends of ours that are in a community group called the Jaycee's...another blessing!

In baby news, Rose is nine months old! She loves food and is currently cutting teeth number six and seven! Her tooth filled grin is almost as cute as her gummy grin was! She is really getting around, by army crawl, our second to crawl this way! She definitely makes her presence known with lots of baby talk, squeals, and giggles. She is such a joy!

I cant' finish this "newsletter" without introducing the newest member of our family. Her name is Josie and she is a sweet heart with a face that is so ugly it's cute! She's a boxer and is full of playful energy and seems to need all of our attention, which we are happy to give!

Cute Therapy

click on me if you wanna see my new teeth, I am working very, very hard on my teeth!

My Barking Fat Baby With One Tooth!

Yes, you read that right. Rose has a tooth and can bark!! Hey, when your this adorable, any trick is cute. A couple of weeks ago she could say Ma Ma and Da Da. This was soon to be replaced with barking, something Daddy likes to teach all the babies. I always think its going to scare them, but they LOVE it! She loves her Daddy and barks to get his attention...their love language, I guess:)

My Favorite Things....Baby Edition

This is a must have! The Clean Shopper is a quilted fabric cover that covers the seat of a shopping cart. The picture is from their web site. I bought mine on ebay for half of what they sell for new. I actually have two. Usually Wendy or Lily want to ride in the cart too. Even if they don't use it in the front seat we will fold the cover in half and they sit on it in the back of the cart. I love being able to protect the baby from all the germs on the cart handle. It works well on the tiny carts at CVS and the giant carts at Sam's and everything in between.

I was in Walmart recently and there was a toddler in a cart with two binkies, one in her mouth and one in her hand. She was cute as a button, and we watched her rub the binkie in her hand back and forth over the cart handle, then proceed to switch it out with the one in her mouth and start all over again. I literally got chills and felt a little sick! And because this is the kind of thing my children would do I have a cover for the cart! You can also use it over the wooden high chairs in restaurants. Like I said, a must have.

Share in more favorite things at Fiddledeedee!

My Favorite Things...Baby Edition

This is one of the prettiest favorites I have for Rose. I bought this Gap diaper bag on ebay over two years ago for Lily when we decided to use cloth diapers part time. I needed a bigger bag and this one fit the need. It's a great bag with lots of space!
I really like the leather buckles and fringe around the side pockets.
There is a nice zippered middle pocket and lots small pockets on either side of the middle section for all the baby necessities that we have to tote around. Here is a list of things that are always in my bag...

1. extra clothes
2. a receiving blanket to use as a nursing cover
3. a cloth diaper for drool, or spills
4. desitin
5. the cute little duckie you see in the next picture. It holds roll of disposable bags for stinky diapers or wet clothes. You can buy these at Target and the rolls of bags are replaceable. This makes a great little shower gift.
6. diapers and wipes of course!
7. a jacket or sweater

Rose approves! Visit Sarah's blog, Fiddledeedee to share in favorite things!
Anna-Kate took this sweet picture of Rose this week:)