Sleeping Irony and Agony

The kids sleep best next to someone, and their parents sleep best next to no one. Check out last night's bed hopping: Mark: my bed all night long (he's sick otherwise he would have been hopping) Jennifer: my bed, Jonah's bed (with Eli, not Jonah), then up at 4:00 for the day Anna: Sarah's bed all night long Jonah: my bed, his bed, my bed Eli: my bed, his bed, my bed, Jonah's bed Sarah: her bed all night long Simon: his bed all night long and then up at 4:00 for the day At least the girls stayed put! And I had four kids awake by 6:30 with two wet beds. I'm told we will miss these days.

For those of you in warmer climates....

Our little piece of the world is beautiful. The kids don't realize how lucky they are to have this right outside their front door.

Five In A Row

Fire & a 6yo Boy

What happens when you cross fire with a 6yo boy? You get a manly milestone! Jonah lit his first fire yesterday. He was so proud! He lit a candle and then immediately wanted to call Mark and tell him. It was an obvious boy thing. Working the lighter. Got a flame! Lighting the candle.

Did it!!! Jonah's first lit candle.

Throughout the rest of the day he asked to "practice his lighting." Makes me giggle. Up next? Well....bow & arrow, BB gun, pocketknife....he has all of it in his sights!

Have you ever heard the story where

if you take a group of people, divide them in half, and give money to half of them, eventually all the money will be held by the "savers" in the group. If you do it again, the spenders will spend and the savers will end up with all the money a second time. Rinse and repeat. Well, I have decided that we have a similar force operating in our house. We have one collector of stuff and six others who live here. We could empty the collector's room, and eventually everything we own - furniture included - would end up in her room. I ruthlessly cleaned her room last week taking out bags and bags of stuff. I went in there yesterday, and I found some of my things have already migrated. I should start praying for her future spouse. Here is how Simon spends a large chunk of his day. He gets wrapped up in a special blanket and put between two rolled up towels in his crib. He loves being snuggled like this.

Everyone loves Simon! Sarah says, "Him's cute!" I think she's cute. Even Simon gets to play board games. Anna loves him so much. She always wants to carry him and hold him.

I'm back...I think

Simon is 7 weeks old now, and I think I'm back to carving out some time for blogging. Most nights I can get about 6 hours of uninterrupted sleep so I'm starting to feel like a real person again. Here are some brothers acting silly. Here are my little three. Simon looks tiny! Anna loves the pioneer time period. Here is a picture of her wearing her pioneer get-up. She had just made her own broom from a stick and long grass. She's getting a new pioneer dress for Christmas - one that fits!

Here is a merry-g0-round that Mark's parents found for us. The kids loved it. Too bad they only had a week of so with it before the snow came.

My pioneer girl dressed up her sister too. I was amazed at Anna's creativity with these things in their hands. She wanted a rag doll so she cut some rectangles out of extra fabric, sewed them together, stuff them with grass, and drew dolls on them. She was very pleased with the outcome. She then made versions for Sarah and Simon. Oh, she cut out an apron for Sarah too.

Forgot to tell about my accomplishment

Last Wed I took the kids to the Doc for Simon's 2 week check-up. After that we went to eat at Pizza Ranch and Walmart in Montevideo about 45 minutes away. Not only were we successful with all our errands, but a very kind couple complimented me on the kids' behavior at Pizza Ranch. That compliment was worth the whole trip! I assume most people groan when they see our family sit next to them at a restaurant.

I have a rare quick minute

to tell a little story. We took little Simon in for his 2 week check-up (where he measured in at 11 lbs), and the doc was going through all the annoying, invasive questions like, "Does your husband abuse you?" and "Do you do drugs?" and "Have you thought about harming your children?" I was answering all of them with the appropriate answers - no, no, and no. Then he got to "Do you have firearms in the house?" I took a deep breath and answered honestly, "Yes, we have three guns." And then I waited......and my doc told me that he RECOMMENDED to moms that they not only have a gun but that they know how to shoot it. He said he wants his moms to be able to kill wild animals. Wow. I was shocked. He is definitely a small-town, rural doc. He understands my life. I should know how to use our guns, because I will need to kill wildlife. Since we moved in we have been welcomed by an opposum, skunk, raccoon, bats, deer, rabbits, weasel, and woodchuck. Some of them have met an untimely demise by either a bat or a gun. Other than that, Simon is fitting into our family nicely. We haven't resumed school yet, but I have managed to take care of all the kids, feed them, and keep the house fairly clean without going insane. My hands are rarely empty or still, so blog updates will be few and far between for the next few weeks. I was scared to have five kids, but it really isn't any more difficult or more work than four. That doesn't mean that we need to have #6, however!!!!

More Love....

This dude loves the little guy. Eli was 9lbs, 4 oz and Simon was 9lbs, 3 oz. Wonder if Simon will keep up with Eli all the way through? This little girl is obsessed with her baby. Poor Simon! Grandma!

Grandpa!

Everyone Loves Simon!

The most doted upon baby in all of Minnesota........ He certainly has Anna's coloring. We have come full circle.

Yikes. This looks like a big family.

The proud biggest sister. Anna told me that she could spend hours just looking at Simon.

Biggest big brother who is in LOVE with having another little brother. He doesn't yet see the negative of sharing one room with two little bros.

How Disfunctional is Your Family?

We were eating dinner the other night, and I realized that we could certainly be considered dysfunctional. Sit back and listen in on our conversation about Anna stepping on a nail. Mark: Where was the nail? Anna: In the back shed with all the extra wood. Mark: How did you get in there? Jonah: I held on with my hands on one side and pushed the other side with my feet. I used all my strength to open the doors. Mark: I had the doors closed for a reason - so you wouldn't go in there and step on a nail. What should we do to keep you guys out of there? Anna: I know! Put a padlock on the door. Mark: Do you think we could just tell you to not go in? Jonah: I have a better idea. Maybe you could break my legs so I can't open the doors. Geez. Should I worry about his future now?

Sarah Stories

Sarah is old enough to have her own "hall of fame" stories. Geez. I took the younger three to get their haircut at the neighbor's. In the country neighbors aren't just neighbors. They are the people who cut your hair, deliver your mail, snow blow your driveway, and attend your church. Everyone is very inter-related. Eli & Sarah were outside playing while Jonah was getting his haircut and I was chatting with the neighbor. Eli burst through the door and excitedly reported, "Mom! Sarah pooped on the grass!!" We are the neighbors who fertilize yards. Then, yesterday Sarah proudly reported from the bathroom, "Mom! I went potty in the cup!" I checked on her, and she was right. She managed to go in a plastic cup, just like she sees me do at the doctor office. What a great skill to master at 2yo.

A delightful fall afternoon at our house

Sarah is taking a nap. Big Mark is working on the ceiling in the winter room. Yippee!

Little Mark is sliding down the stairs on left-over thermal barrier.

I am making cookies.

Anna & Jonah are making domino creations in the garage. They charge $0.10/person per show. Do you think they are budding businessmen or scammers?

Baby Prep

Life is all about cramming projects before baby comes. This week I surprised everyone by turning the swing on our refrigerator door. Only took me most of an afternoon. Now I am in cleaning mode. Yuck. Today we are working on the ceiling in the warm room, finishing the bunk beds, and running baby errands in South Dakota. Tomorrow we are *hopefully* finishing the ceiling and moving the deep freezer into the laundry room. Here's my cutie pie. Oh, I guess I have more cutie pies.

This is how my life goes.....

I'm painting the bunkbeds generic white before we put them up again (due to the situation coming in a few weeks), and look what happens. A chicken sits on my paint job and poops on the bed frame.

A Day in the Life....of Us....

The kids are out before 8:00 playing with chickens. Sarah loves the dog even though he thinks she is a chew toy.

Every morning the kids check the chicken nest and find two eggs from our brown chickens. We are eagerly waiting for the other chickens to start laying too.

What day wouldn't be complete without a tantrum?

Mark & kids hauling metal junk to the salvage yard. They have been cleaning up the buildings and grove all summer. Wasn't it nice of the previous owners to leave us some work? Check out our beautiful old farm truck and trailer.

This week on the prairie

Despite being weird homeschoolers who DO immunize, Jonah caught whooping caugh. The doctor put all the kids on antibiotics since it's not something you want kids to catch. Here are the medications lined up and ready to go. I put different colored rubber bands to attach each syringe. I don't know how else I would keep them straight. Another cute sib pic.

We spent Mark's reserve weekend in the Cities having fun. It's only the second time we've gone despite having free lodging and transportation for the weekend. The kids & I made out like bandits on free activities. We swam at the hotel, went to the Como Park zoo, and the Minnesota Children's Museum - all for $0!

Eli at the Children's Museum.

Sarah wearing Mark's military boots.

We visited LegoLand at the Mall of America too. A definite must-see for little boys. Here are the kids posing on huge legos outside the mall.

And one more delayed post....

My two littles who are best friends.

Putting up the crib.

Proof that I canned this year. My first attempt - 6 jars of apple pie filling made with apples from our trees. We'll see how it works out in a few months.

Sarah & I taking a nap together. She insists on sleeping on top of my pregnant belly. Weirdo