5th Child Perks

Well, if you just read a few of my posts, you will soon see what Sophia is up to. She offers me a bounty of material to write about. (In our meal prayer, she says,"From they bouncy through Christ our Lord. Amen.")

Here are a few other things she has been up to...

Holding her new baby cousin!

Getting the DVD player all to herself!

Counting all of my plastic bowls while I make dinner.

She starts a Mother's Day Out program next week. Please join me in praying for her teacher! ;)

Update on the Kids

We didn't send out a Christmas letter this year. Instead, I just put a note on the back of our cards directing friends and family to check out the blog if they want updates. So here are a few quick newsworthy items...

Josh is in the 8th grade and is doing very well in school. He is in the National Junior Honor Society and loves to read. He also enjoys swim team and has amazed us with his dedication. We can't imagine swimming when there is frost on the windows and there is steam rising from the pool, but he does it without complaint! He also recently got his first lesson on how to fix brakes!

Katie, 6th grade, is a go getter in all areas of her life. She LOVES soccer and was thrilled that her team made it to the championship games this year. They are the "Little Team that Could." After 3 really tough seasons, including one with no goals made, they placed 2nd in our local league, 2nd in the area league, and 3rd in the district! We even got to travel to the beach for the last tournament! Katie also does very well in school and sang her 1st solo at this year's Christmas concert.

More updates on Luke and Hannah tomorrow!

A Little Bit Country, A Little Bit Rock and Roll, and a Hawaiian Ballerina

Christmas 2008

Merry Christmas! May God bless you now and forever! Thanks for stopping in to share the journey with me!

Stay tuned for kid updates!

Details

Last night we were putting together 20 teacher's gifts and plates of goodies dipped in chocolate. A LOT of chocolate was consumed last night. I had told the kids to not eat anymore when I noticed Sophia putting a chocolate kiss close to her mouth.

I told her, "Sophia, no more eating candy."

She replied,"I'm not eating it, I'm just licking it."

Safety Rules

A few weeks ago, I was taking Katie to a mid-morning ortho appointment and we encountered a very sad and disturbing sight. A deer had been hit by a car, and badly wounded, and was holding up traffic as drivers were trying to drive around him. I held back my tears, but Katie could not. It was a sight that I wish my daughters had not seen, but one that we couldn't avoid.

I do not wish to make this a laughing matter at all, but in priceless pre-schooler fashion, Sophia noticed all of this from the car seat and in pure innocence she said, "I guess deers don't know to look both ways."

I Thought the Day Would Never Come

Today in Sophia's Sports Class at the Rec. Center, a mom, who also has a precocious little 3 year old named Sophia, turned to me and said,"Your little girl is so good!"

I just smiled and said, "Thank you." I didn't give her my blog address.

Rise and Shine

Luke does not share his oldest sister's enthusiasm for the morning routine. Katie is the 1st one up, and it is often her turning off the alarm to check the weather or our newish dog that wakes me up from my 4th time to hit the snooze button. Luke tends to be a little more like me, and he has been telling me recently that the nights are too short. He even seems agitated with me about that.

This morning I turned off the little fan in his room, and turned on his closet light, and lovingly rubbed his back and tried to gently coax him out of bed. He got up went straight to the fan, turned it back on, and climbed back into bed.

Of course I had to get on to him and tell he better get out of bed right now or else, but then I went downstairs and cracked up!

Too Much of a Good Thing

Hypothetically speaking, a mom with 5 kids, whose youngest daughter is as small as a peanut and is presumably (although that mom has learned better than to presume) the last baby she will be blessed enough to have, may possibly not make that daughter walk enough. When they are out and about, that mom may carry her 3 year old daughter too much. In fact, when that 3 year old girl's siblings were the same age, the mom was usually pregnant and carrying a one year old, so the previous 3 year old children had no choice but to walk. That same mom may also have an uncontrollable tendency to kiss the head of the 3 year old when she is carrying her into Target, especially when her sweet blond hair blows in the wind or her little head brushes past the mom's lips. Finally the 3 year old might grow weary of this affection and say, very sweetly and sincerely, "That's enough Mommy."

I Often Wonder

How do 4 school age children generate 20 cups in the few hours they are home and not sleeping?

Inequality

I have been a little worried that I post too much about Sophia and not enough about the other kids, but she is 3 and offers some hilarious perspectives on life. I have also tried to make sure I don't divulge too much information about my older kids who might not want the world to know about some things they do that I think are hilarious. Well, yesterday I got the question from an older child, "Why aren't there more posts about me?"

How to Make Your Kids Cry Before School

You can totally overreact when their newish dog jumps up and scratches Luke in the face. (No broken skin, but tears because it did hurt and scare him.) You can tell them that if we don't get this jumping under control we aren't going to be able to keep the dog. Yeah, that will do it.

MOTY Award #3.

Just Swinging

I will put this picture in Sophia's photo album. (No, not a scrap book with pop up pages and pull out dancing ballerinas with her voice saying, "Mommy, I lub you." Just her plain jane 3 for $20 photo album from Sam's.) Omar was home and captured a little moment between Sophia and me. It was fun. We were swinging, and singing, and the sun was warm. It was heavenly!

When she is a mom and looks back at her album and thinks, "Oh, my mom just used to sit and swing with me all day," I will lessen her mom guilt and I will reassure her that this was a blessed moment. This was not the norm. Most days I was working trying to fix the past or trying to be ready for the future, but every now and then, I slowed down and I took a little time to enjoy the present.

Go Getter

Hannah's latest projects. She is so lovely.

Hannah and I made pies for the teachers, she did most of the work.

She really loved it and made two more apple pies for our extended family, all by herself.

She organized all of her Littlest Pet Shop Toys to try to sell them on Craig's List. She spent a great deal of time cleaning the different sets and then meticulously setting each "house" up and taking a picture of it.

Story Time

Luke asked me to read to him tonight. As he is getting more competent with his reading, he is needing me to read to him less and less. He still loves it though, and so do I. I love snuggling up to him and sharing those few moments before sleep. I learned more about Star Wars and Marvel comics versus DC comics than I ever cared to know when Joshua was young. Luke's interests have been different and just as foreign. You never know what it is he will request. There was a long time when he only wanted to read about Disney World and roller coasters, I actually found that phase really fun. Then, he moved onto pirates and knights. I think I could have lived my whole life and been ok not knowing different ways pirates tormented their victims. Tonight it was a fiction called Bionicles, Chronicle 1, The Tale of the Toa. Tonight I learned about Lewa, the Toa of the Wind.

All She Wants for Christmas

Grame was asking the kids what they wanted for Christmas.

Without missing a beat, Sophia piped up and said, "An ipod."