My Butter Cup

I just cannot believe how big this girl is getting.  And how lovely she has become.  My Butter has profound understanding and intuition and sometimes she baffles me with maturity.  What a gift she has, and what a gift she is!

Keepin 'Em Busy

I remember the days when I thought it couldn't be possible to homeschool more than one grade at a time.  I wondered how exactly one was to keep little guys busy so a math lesson could be taught without a toilet flooding.  I knew I didn't want to resort to using the television as a baby sitter, tempting as it may be.    I thought I must need special toys (helpful though, they are) or magic tricks or something.

It didn't take long to figure out that it doesn't take much to keep little ones occupied long enough to teach a math lesson or two.

a full 45 minutes this lil bird played in the flour, pouring it back and forth between a couple of bowls, "helping mom cook."  He loved the texture of the flour between his fingers, toes, and apparently, eyelashes.

You don't have to find a baby sitter to bake bread, teach a math lesson, or sew.

There are so many exciting things to do, and many of them are right in the kitchen.

Today Pops stayed busy long enough for me to cook dinner by "washing the dishes" standing on the stool at the sink with a pot of water and a couple of measuring spoons.  Sure, he splashed water on the floor and counter, but I just dry it with a towel and count it as mopping. I know that he is learning so much by exploring, helping mom, and not watching mindless t.v. (or flooding toilets) plus, it's darn near free, and extremely adorable, in my opinion.

Bucket much prefers measuring cups and spoons to fancy toys.  

What are your favorite activities for keeping little ones busy?

Today, I am thankful...

Just a few recent pictures

Butter learning about Moses and sporting her new hair cut.

Guys loving on Bucket.

Great Big Smiles- how precious it that?!

Mom with Bucket via Sis's new found love of taking pictures.

Boy loves helping with baby.

Sis does too.

Pops is such a happy boy!

Already smiling for the camera.

Thank You!

I thought I finally found the time to write out my Thank You cards for all the meals/gifts we received when Bucket was born only to discover someone was being thoughtful and decided to help me by writing the thank you's for me.

So if you brought us a meal or gift, it'll be awhile before you get your card in the mail.  I have to go buy some new cards.

:~)

Bucket is almost 3 weeks old.  Time is flying.  It makes me sad how fast time flies!

Who do you think she looks like???

After

Now you don't!

I have his curls in a little bag, and I am ok with that.  

Turns out (as usual) my nervousness was for absolutely nothing.  Dad was totally right, he looks handsome and I love it.                                          

Dad is putting his foot down.

I have to say good bye to the Little Curls.

Dad said~
There is a time for everything.
He will grow up.
He is a boy.
They aren't even really curls anymore.

I guess he is right.  Boo Hoo.

Be looking for some pictures with a little boy missing his curls.  And a momma with a tear or two.  :~)

A very important question

When the little voice yelled "mom, can you come in here" from the bathroom, several random thoughts ran through my mind.

"Why?" I asked nervously.

"It's vewy important" was the reply.

So I opened the bathroom door expecting some sort of catastropy.
"Yes Butter, what do you need?" I asked, scanning the tiny room for flooding or something foul.

"Uhm, when I ask you for ice cream, can you say yes?... So, can we have ice cream?"


You know a question like that cannot wait until one finishes going potty.
Especially if one is three years old.

He Still Has His Curls!

Pops weaned about two weeks ago, but don't tell Dad!

Of course, Dad knows Pops weaned, but I am not going to reminding him what he said.  ;~)

That There is a Bath Tub!

I just found out my youngest son doesn't know what a bathtub is.  My poor deprived child!

We were visiting friends last week and Pops followed me into the bathroom (there goes my wild notion of having alone time when we have a normal bathroom again) and pointed to the tub and grunted.

"Bath" I said.

He looked at me for a few moments and then asked "Bucket?"

Uhm, yeah.  He takes a bath in a bucket.

I said "yes, bucket"

He sang "Happy Day" and did his little dance.  Happy Day started out as a dance and song for cookies and desserts, but now it is for anything he likes.  Pops likes baths.  Even if they are in a bucket.

Happy Birthday, Boy!

Our Boy is 9 years old!  I can't say enough how time is flying by my very eyes.

Dad had to work all day to prepare for his cross country this weekend, so we celebrated Boy's big day on Saturday.
                          
His requested dinner was San Marcos Mexican and I did not argue even though the dinner request is supposed to be homemade.  My family LOVES mexican food.

He received sweet cards from his sisters.

And was quite happy to have some real tools of his very own.

He was very pleased.

It is so wonderful to have a son with such a big heart.  We are delighted to watch him grow into a fine young man.  Happy Birthday  Boy!

                                    

From the Mind of a 5 Year Old

Dad- Wonder if the ducks will have ducklings again this year?
Sis- Yeah, during baiting season.
Dad- Baiting season?
Sis- Uhm, I mean mating season.  Baiting season is when the fish bite good.



Can someone please tell me when it is baiting season, I sure don't want to miss it.  Oh man, I love my chuckles.

Daddy's Girl

Yesterday Peanut and Butter were coloring together and I was listening in on their conversation that went like this;

Butter- Sis, do you love Daddy?

Sis- Yes, of course!

Butter-Well, he is MYYYYYY Daddy!

When I say she is a Daddy's girl, I mean it! Every nap time or bed time when Daddy isn't home from work, she will fuss and tell me how much she misses him. The other day when he got home she snuggled up to him and said "Daddy, I want to keep you!"

During that weekend he was in Taos a jet flew over our house and Butter got very excited and announced, "Did you hear that, that was maybe my Daddy's jet, he is looking for me!"

I am right there with her, I think her daddy is pretty wonderful. I just wonder if she knows how she is wrapping daddy around her tiny little finger. I think it is precious.

Happy Birthday, and Happy Birthday Again

Guys turned 10 years old. I cannot believe how time is flying. Our birthday budget for gifts is small because we make a fairly large deposit into the Birthday child's bank account. This year though, for the special Decade gift, we decided to get something really special and skip out on the bank deposit. Guys really, really misses our piano. We really miss hearing her play. She is very talented and could never keep her fingers off the piano, so we bought her a very nice keyboard and stand. We totally don't have room for it, so we have to pull it out every time she wants to play, but it is worth it. We also always let the Birthday child pick what we are having for breakfast and for dinner. We had homemade pink waffles for breakfast and spaghetti with meatballs for dinner. Happy Birthday Guys!

Butter also had a birthday, she turned 3! The morning before her birthday she woke daddy and mommy up by happily shouting in our ears "It is Christmas Eve of my birthday!" which of course delighted our hearts. Where does she come up with this stuff?! She was sure to remind us all day long that she wanted a purple birthday, a purple doll with purple eyes and purple eyelashes, purple sparkle shoes for herself and her doll, purple presents, a purple cake, and you get the idea. So for breakfast daddy made her requested pancakes- but he made them purple. (This was his first time making pancakes and they were fluffy and delicious!) She also had purple ice cream and purple cake, and even purple presents. She had a hard time accepting that her birthday was over the next day, and she is already making plans for next year. She is so funny!

Cowboy's Have Milk!

Mom- What would you like for breakfast, Butter?

Butter- For bretfast I want chereal and Cowboy milk.

Ok, I know bretfast is breakfast and chereal is cereal, but Cowboy milk?- this baffles me.

We drink many different types of milk in our house, baby drinks mama's milk, Peanut drinks rice milk, daddy has coffee milk (aka French Vanilla Coffemate) and apparently Butter thinks she drinks Cowboy milk.

I won't ever tell her it is just organic cow milk. I think Cowboy milk tastes way better!

I used to try to correct my children's incorrect pronunciations. I thought it would help them be smarter or something. Now, I make it a point to not correct them because I discovered they will figure it out fast enough and I will long for the days when a superhero is a hipperoso and chocolate is cholahcolate. It goes by too quickly. They grow up too fast.

So today we are having Cowboy milk with our chereal. Although our chereal will soon enough become cereal, we will forever drink Cowboy milk.

Memory Journal

Mom thinking out loud as the shelf came crashing down ~ What in the world?

Butter ~ Oh, no! I will get Dad!

Butter to Dad ~ Dad, quick! The World!

Dad ~ What?

Butter ~ The World!

It is truly a JOY to raise little ones.

I just ordered special blank journals, one for each of my children. I want to write moments like these down, so they don't get lost in life. It is my plan to keep a record for each child of the funny things they say, special milestones and moments, along with the struggles and trials they experience. I will also include specifically chosen Bible verses and the prayers that we pray for each one of our children.

We will then present to each child their own journal sometime later in life, maybe on their 18th Birthday or their wedding day...

What a special way to pass down the memories!

Change your attitude with a snap!

You know those days when everything seems to be going wrong? You pour the water into the back of the coffee pot and hear a funny noise. Trying to figure out what it is with a still sleeping brain and see in the dim kitchen through crusty eyes you discover there was already water in the coffee pot and you have effectively poured water all over the kitchen counter. You knock over another cup of water someone so thoughtfully left on the counter while trying to clean up the mess. This wakes the baby up. Now you are trying to hush baby with one arm so he doesn't wake up the other children and clean up the flooded kitchen with the other arm. Your arms are full, but your baby's arms aren't so he grabs the bowl of cereal you just poured for your husband and throws it to the floor before you can stop him. This wakes the other children up. With cereal on the floor and awake children at 6 am, you have a choice to make about how the rest of your day is going to look. It could be ruined. Or you could have joy.


I have learned a little trick to help me keep things in perspective and have joy in times of trial. In moments like this early morning kitchen disaster, I pull out my joy-theft prevention weapon. It is also called a camera. The time it takes me to find my camera and snap a picture allows me to find a chuckle, keep things in perspective, and make light of a situation. I don't want to cry over spilled milk. Or spilled coffee water and cereal. How you react in the small trials is a good indication of how you will react in the big trials, and there will be trials.


Before I learned this trick I might yell, I might get huffy, and I might let this mess ruin my day. I still might yell or get huffy on occasion, but I press on to learn this spirit of joy in all circumstances.

Besides, looking back at the pictures makes it all worth it. I didn't take a picture of this morning's kitchen disaster because it didn't even phase me. But I did catch this "disaster" two days ago...


My little two year old ruined my favorite make-up and the counter has permanent glitter, but look at her smile! No, she didn't get away with this mess and my children know that mom pulling out her camera is not a "get out of jail free" card. She had to clean it up herself, and she won't do it again. Well, we are talking about Butter, so I hope she won't do it again, lol. But I could have stolen that smile off her face and stolen the joy from the entire day by my attitude. Instead, I took a picture, we cleaned up the mess, brushed it off, learned a lesson, and kept going. And we have this adorable picture to laugh about.

Next time things start going downhill, I challenge you to take out the camera and make a memory out of it!

"Do I look bigger to you, Mama?"

That is how my sweet little Peanut greeted me the morning after her 5th birthday. Moments like this make me smile from deep inside my heart! She turned 5, so she must be bigger, right? What a doll!

we started the day off by making pancakes at her request. Banana walnut, yum!

Then a gift, of course!I think having big brother play tea party with her was a gift in itself! (He asked me to please not post this picture, I reminded him that it just shows what a wonderful big brother he is!)then some more gifts!for lunch her request was a peanut butter and jelly picnic by the lake with extra bread to feed the ducks. That was easy!

She really wanted a doll that looked like her. She named her Cordelia Faith. Where does she come up with this stuff?

Peanut is (one of) my "have a big party with everyone I know wearing dress up clothes, with fancy napkins, balloons and matching cupcakes" kind of girl, so this was a mellow year for her.

Her final gift was a pink princess big girl Bible with sparkles and diamonds on it. She has been asking for her own Bible for some time now. We wrote a special verse and prayer for her and read from her new Bible for bedtime.

Peanut was quite pleased with her birthday even if we didn't have balloons with matching napkins. She really loved all the attention and her of course, her gifts. I just hope she knows what a special gift she is to us, she is a sparkle in our lives.