Trip to Sandpoint

Last week Brady had a shoot up in Sandpoint so we decided to make a family day of it. We drove up to this amazing cabin in the woods on the lake. It was so incredibly beautiful up there! Unfortunately, when we got there we discovered that there were people there (they hadn't told the rest of the family who arranged the photos of the cabin that they were going up that day). So the photo plans were put on hold and we decided to just enjoy the scenery and drive. We drove up to Oden Bay and then to Hope. We stopped at the Trestle Creek Rec. Area and let the kids play in the water, which was remarkably warm! It was a great day. It reminded me of going on drives as a kid- we'd all hop in the car (with our books, of course) and drive up to these remote places on these crazy, narrow roads... inevitably we'd have to back several miles down a dirt trail that was barely wide enough for the car... ahhh... good times! ;) Truly.

I may have passed on my OCD

Yes. This is my 1 year old. Dusting.  

Seattle Trip + Tons of Pics= Procrastination

My blog is disgracefully behind. Every time I think about updating.... I get overwhelmed with all of the pictures that I know I need to edit and upload ... and I put it all off yet again. But no more!! Today begins a new day! A day in which I will finally update our blog and hopefully begin to do better at keeping it updated... hopefully...
First our Seattle trip. ( Just by way of warning... I'm going after "the longest post" title with this one.. watch out Mandy! :p) It's been a while since we have been on a 'vacation' type trip with the kids. I think since Vance was just a little one. So we had a lot of fun. Our hotel room was comped by a client of Brady's who was trading for photos. So we got to stay in this amazing suite... that was probably about as big as our house.
Here are Jax and Ellie right before we set off. Don't they look excited?

Lilah was asleep before we'd even left our street.... Sweet thing!

We stopped the first night at Grandma Rothrock and Leonard's house. It was so great to see them!
The boys made themselves at home right away.. I think the first question Vance asks whenever we get there is "Can we play with the toys?".
And Ellie and Lilah went outside to enjoy the swing.
The next morning was mother's day. Jax spent a little while outside that morning.. mysteriously... and when he brought me out to the swing this is what I found!! He's such a sweet son.


Grandma and Lilah spending some quality time together. This picture is just so sweet.

After breakfast on Sunday morning we headed off to Seattle! The kids really do so well on long trips so we didn't really have any major adventures along the way. We listened to books on tape in the car (Narnia) and next thing you know we were checking into our hotel in downtown Seattle!



This was the bedroom.
The living room.
The kids eating breakfast in the dining area.

We did a little bit of sightseeing. Far more than I'll be able to post because uploading all the pictures would take a year! But here are a few highlights...






One amazing daddy with four amazing kids!
The Children's Museum. What a great place that was!

This is in our hotel. Just a couple of cute kids we found! :)

We took the kids on the monorail... talk about cheap entertainment! Vance is doing his signature half smile.

The Seattle Aquarium. Vance once again with the cute half smile.


Vance likes otters.......
What a doll she is!

When Vance was just a tiny baby my mom made these blankets for all the kids for Christmas. They are fleece blankets, you know, the kind with the fringes on the sides? Well, Vance became extremely attached to his and we are never allowed to lose this blanket. He has specific knots in the tassels that he wraps around certain fingers. He HAS to have those knots when he sleeps. If you move the blanket while tucking him in he yells "mom, you lost my knot!". He also likes to tickle the inside of his ear with the tassels when he's upset.... it instantly calms him down. He's always done this, from the time he was a baby.
Tonight was one of those inevitable nights... the blanket just had to be laundered. It got dirty at the Lake today, and I can't get over my OCD enough to allow my kids to go to bed dirty or with dirty blankies! The conversation went something like this:

Vance: Mommy! Please, please, please get my blanket! *sob*

Me: Baby, you have to wait until it's clean... you can have it tomorrow.

Vance: But I NEED it! *sniff*

Me: Well, here's a blanket with tassels... can you use this one for tonight?

Vance: (testing the tassels out on his ear) It doesn't work!! *more sobs*

He suddenly stops crying.

Vance: Mom! I have a great idea!! We'll clean the blanket and then I'll just never get it dirty again!!

Great plan, buddy. Great plan.

Playing Catch up

Every time I open my picture folder I realize that I have tons of pictures of the kids that I have intended to blog and haven't. So today I'm playing catch up. There's nothing particularly clever or interesting about this post... just some really cute kids!! :)

Why is it that with an entire yard full of grass, the kids always manage to find the one patch of mud to play in?

(I realize now I should have cropped out my shadow... but I'm too lazy to start over and upload again.. )

And the other day I was trying to sneak up on Lilah while she was reading... it's awfully cute because she gets really intense and pretends to be reading the words... but just as I snapped she looked up and gave me this cute "look at how adorable I am" grin. And she is! 

"Is this a good activity?"

My children are strange.

One of their favorite activities is to put on their 'feetsy' jammies and race down the staircase on their stomaches. I guess this is what happens when you're homeschooled and your mom doesn't let you watch much t.v. :p

But I don't mind them being a little strange. Because the sound of them giggling and laughing and cheering each other on as they thump-bump down the stairs is wonderful to me! 

 

Winding down the school year

It's just about May, and our children are almost finished with their school books for the year. They've both done incredibly well this year and I'm very proud of them! Next year Jaxson will enter 3rd grade, and Ellie will be somewhere between Kindergarten and 1st. This is because technically, she wasn't supposed to be in K until next school year, but since she was so ready to start we went ahead and did Kindergarten this year. So I'm just not really sure what to call next year. We may call it K-5 or we may call it 1st.
I'm planning on continuing Phonics through the summer with Ellie, and Math through the summer with Jax. Since we do a year around schedule, we'll take probably only a 6-8 week summer break before starting up again. We're really excited for next year, because we have some fun new subjects to do! We will be starting our first year in Latin, and we have found a really neat Art curriculum we'll be using as well that encapsalates both art instruction and art history and appreciation. We're also beginning our History rotation so we'll be studying Ancient History through the fall of Rome. What could be more fun? :P Okay, so I may be just a little more excited about it than the kids... but I still fully expect them to enjoy our next year.

How logical are you?

I stole this from my friend Deanne's blog...
It's supposedly a logic test given to Japanese job applicants. The goal is to solve it in under 7 minutes. The first time took me about 9 minutes and the second time 6 minutes. Once you get it the first time it's pretty easy to do it again. Anyway, it's kinda fun. :) Enjoy!

Rules of the Game:

The object is to get all of the people across the river on the raft.

• Only 2 people on the raft at a time.
• The Father cannot stay with any of the daughters, without their Mother's presence.
• The Mother cannot stay with any of the sons, without their Father's presence.
• The thief (striped shirt) cannot stay with any family member, if the Policeman is not there.
• Only the Father, the Mother and the Policeman know how to operate the raft.

I really didn't think I'd ever say this....

But what is going on with kids, nowadays??

Evidently I'm officially old. Because only "old" people ask such questions, right? Only "old" people experience such culture shock.

But more and more I find myself saying these things that only "old" people say... and I have to wonder if it's me.... or PERHAPS it's just that society has deteriorated so much that "old" now just means "still having a sense of propriety and decency".

I am continually appalled and saddened especially when considering how "unladylike" young ladies are now. Since when did it become okay nay, normal for a young women to spout obscenities like a sailor? Do they honestly not realize how unattractive it is?

I've recently had a couple of experiences that have raised these questions in my mind.
One of which we were subjected to in the middle of the night when two young ladies (I use the term loosely) had a screaming match across the street.

It's as if we've decided that neither femininity nor masculinity is of value.
Instead of embracing the differences that are an essential part of being either male or female, we develop entire schools of thought that are meant to tear down one gender or the other. It becomes a battle of "patriarchy" vs. "feminism". (I use both those terms in their most negative sense) We continually draw parallels and comparisons between two things which cannot be compared. And while neither gender fits into a perfect little box- it's quite true that there are essential differences between us. And often those differences can be strengths.

I hear a lot about the devaluing of masculinity in "christian" circles and -having two sons- I believe that this is extremely important. I believe with all my heart in teaching my boys to be MEN.
However, I also have two girls, and I hear much less about the loss of femininity.

So those of us who have little girls... let's commit to raising our daughters to be young ladies. To somehow find a way to pass on to them the beauty of womanhood and the gift of femininity.

Don't ya just wish..

....that you could go back to that time when everything was so innocent and simple? Vance made me think of how simple a child's life is yesterday. When all you had to think about was what you were going to play... and what good things you were going to eat! 

I had to take Jaxson into my room after I put the boys to bed to have a discussion with him about going straight to sleep at night and not playing. A few minutes later, Vance came into the room 

"Mommy? What's Jax getting?" he asks. 

"A talking to" replied I.

 "Can I have some?" says Vance. 

I was confused.  "Huh? Some what?"

 "Can I have some talking to?"

I tried to explain to him what a 'talking to' was, and that it wasn't edible. But he wasn't buying it. For the next 10 minutes I could hear him in the room, begging Jaxson to share his 'talking to'. 

"Let me have a bite, Jax!"     "Let me smell your talking to!" 

I don't think I'll ever be able to give one of the kids a 'talking to' again without laughing... 

One Sweet Thing

Brady is out tonight, which means I had to do the whole 'bedtime routine' alone. This can be a challenge. 

Now, the girls are always angels. They both go right to sleep. And sometimes, the boys are sweet and wonderful too. Sometimes. And sometimes, they talk, play and generally misbehave and drive me crazy. This was the case tonight. So, now that they're all finally quiet, I have determined to calm my spirit by picking up my laptop and writing something sweet and adorable about each of my children. Because in spite of the fact that they some nights make me crazy, I can't help but love them with all my heart. 

Jaxson.  He's such a good big brother. He loves his baby sister so much and they have such a special bond. She loves to play with him! She often goes over to him and lifts up her arms for him to pick her up to play. At night, when we go in to tuck the boys into bed, Lilah just won't stop blowing kisses to Jaxson. He's so smart and intuitive. He's so helpful to me with the other kids. He's got such a good heart. 

Ellie. She's such a sweet thing! She's a total clown. She loves to make us laugh. She loves to dress up in hilarious outfits. She loves to dance and sing. She's so smart! She's learned to read so quickly I can barely keep up with her! She helps me with the baby so much. She's always fetching diapers and sippy cups. She gets Lilah up in the morning and plays with her to keep her happy. She's just a natural little mommy. 

Vance. What a sweet, amazing child. Every day he makes me laugh. Every day he makes our lives great. He says the greatest, funniest things! He's so loving. He's such a great cuddle bug! When you need a squeeze, he's always happy to oblige! Usually you can get an eskimo kiss from him too! He's an absolute doll. There isn't another kid like him in the world. 

Lilah.  She's growing so quickly. She's probably the sweetest, cutest baby ever! She's such a daddy's girl now! It's so cute. Every time Brady comes in the door, Lilah runs (which is really funny, because she just started walking) up to him, arms in the air saying "Dada! Dada!". Then she won't let him put her down again. She's so in love with her daddy! 

Ahhh. Much better. Sweet dreams, babies!

Monkey Business

Ya gotta love my little monkey!! Yes, she climbed up there all by herself....

Needless to say... I moved the highchair that was being stored up against this counter. She's just as proud as can be, isn't she?

Back to life

I think that everyone is finally better! Lilah is her normal self- if perhaps a little crankier than usual- and Vance is pale, thin, exhausted- but actually talking and no longer puking. Believe it or not that is actually an improvement! 

We are taking Spring Break this week to recoup and refresh- then back to school next week. School is going very well, Jax is down to his last three subjects of the year and Ellie is reading like a champ. She amazes me every day with how quickly she's picking it up- I can't teach her fast enough! I'm working on collecting all of my texts and books for next year already, since we are now doing a year around schedule we'll be taking a shorter summer break.

I hope you all enjoy a few of Lilah's 1 year photos. She's such a sweetie! Every day she's doing something new and fun. We are so blessed by all of our amazing kiddos!