Catching up, finally! We celebrated Jacqueline's birthday the end of April. Here is the crazy, little bug at the glorious age of two!
For the first time, we had a PINATA for a birthday celebration. Here is Jacqueline tap-tap-tapping away on the frog-pinata:
The mad scramble for the goodies----
End-of-January Update:
***Our garage is now a furnished room of the house, and it is absolutely WONDERFUL! 400 square feet of ROOM! Square footage is a marvelous thing. More pictures to follow.
***Our routine has resumed. We're on week 5 of our Winter Term. We're slowly working out gliches and enjoying our learning time! Dorothy Jo is still in AM kindergarten and loving it very much.
***The three older girls are enjoying their Choir Program at the Cathedral! And, loving their Irish Dance class on Wednesdays.
***The girls and Pete met Uncle Scott up in the mountains to go sledding last weekend. And, this weekend everyone went roller-skating and biking today.....Pete's a busy guy.
***I have been busily moving things around, using our new SPACE, and organizing, purging and labeling like crazy. I got a label-maker for Christmas, and I'm completely in love!
***Last Saturday was HAIR CUT NIGHT, and boy did we go crazy!!!!!!! We all felt like it was time for a change and happily parted with a few inches. I poured myself a glass of wine and opened up my beauty parlor, while Pete got busy in the scouring/bathing department! Later in the evening, we each had a White Russian to celebrate our accomplishment! *wink* Here is the inch-off-report:
The girls love their new "look" and Jacqueline is even sporting a little fountain that she actually leaves in sometimes. Now, we need to order some new HEADBANDS and we're set!
Here is a close-up of Madeleine, since hers is the most drastic:
Before:
After:
We took the annual picture of the girls in autumn leaves last weekend. We skipped last year for some reason. But, rallied this year! Here is the same picture from 2006 and from 2007.
Jacqueline isn't too sure what's going on here:
My little close-ones....Dorothy Jo (6) and Erika (7) are a mere 15 months apart.
And, a quick Daybook Entry just for fun!
Here is picture for thought I am sharing...
I know I'm about 2 weeks late! But, oh well!
Somewhere in Seattle, WA is a man who saved our backs. Literally. About four years ago Pete took the girls to a park on a Saturday morning so that I could do my 1-hour-whirlwind-house-cleaning. (I don't do that anymore, btw. Now, when he leaves the house with them, I do something that doesn't involve being on my feet.) But, I digress....
One day in October 2002, after baby #2-Erika was born, we were taking a family walk and passed a house about a block from ours where a VERY pregnant lady was unloading her car. We waved and said a quick "Hello!" and my interior monologue went something like "Ooohhhh, another MOM!!!! with a new BABY!!!! I wonder if this is her first? I wonder if she stays at home? I wonder if she's fun! She smiled....yes, I'll bet she's fun! Maybe someday I'll meet her."
It takes a BIG MAN to handle all these LITTLE GIRLS~
Big shoulders and arms to hug and be hugged~
Six Years Old!
A couple of years ago, my sister, Senta Kay, obtained some little watermelon cupcake toppers, and like all aunties, she said to herself, "Self, I should KEEP these. Just IN CASE I'm ever in Seattle for Erika's birthday in August; it would be a GREAT summer birthday theme." Well, THIS was the year! She would be in Seattle during the month of August for Erika's birthday.
So, the "Watermelon Club" was born and took on a life of its own!
Auntie Senta arrived on the 10:00 plane from Colorado, complete with watermelon cupcake toppers:
Watermelon Headbands:
And, a Watermelon Tie for the only male member of the Watermelon Club:
Erika made these for all of her guests:
And, I couldn't help but to get into the watermelon-spirit with these plates, napkins, and tablecloth:
For the past few days, there was this sign posted on the girls bedroom:
Usually, we are enjoying an outside summer birthday party on the deck, but this year it was raining heavily. So here we are, indoors, ready to eat Auntie Senta's delicious Phad Thai for dinner:
Baby Jacqueline sports her watermelon headband on the lap of Grammy Anne:
The officers of the Watermelon Club salivating over the birthday cake, wishing I would quit taking pictures:
Last, but not least, the Watermelon Club in its absolute entirety:
Thanks Auntie Senta for bringing a bit of themed-excitement, a new club, a lot of pink and green, and tons of LOVE into our favorite summertime celebration.....precious Erika's birthday!
Pete and the girls of the neighborhood slept in the tent the other day. (That sounds like a high-school-note passed around in class, two days after Prom Night.)
How 'bout that laundry bucket over on the left side? (No time for cropping these days!) And, no, that's not me holding Jacqueline; that's my neighbor, Julee. I WISH it were me...that would mean I was down about twenty pounds! The other two handsome dudes in the photo are John (Julee's husband) and Mike, our northern neighbor. Poor Mike.....he was planning on a peaceful evening in front of his firepit in his own backyard, and then....HERE WE COME.....in full force in our backyard. I guess he decided we were no match for his quiet evening, so he just joined in the chaos! The fact that he's willing to pose for one of my lunatic photos, shows just what a great sport he really is.
Are they excited or what????
Night - night!
And, yes.....they actually made it ALL NIGHT out there!
And on the seventh day........
....we have target practice.
Does anyone else find it hysterically amusing that the marksman has BOWS in her hair and is wearing PINK?
My mother called a couple weeks ago and told me about a conversation she had with a woman after Mass at coffee-n-donuts. My mom mentioned that her oldest daughter (me) was almost due with her fifth baby.
"Fifth baby! Oh my! They must have a very big house!" she exclaimed.
"No not really, just average, I suppose," my mom said.
"Well, then they must have lots of bedrooms!"
"Bedrooms?" questioned my mother. "Oh no.....all the children are in one bedroom."
"One bedroom? How do you do that? It must be a very large bedroom," she said.
My mom likes to shock people, so of course, she let it all out. "No, not large at all. 10 x 13’. And, well….they have two sets of bunk beds and a crib in that room. And, to tell you the truth, most of the time there are actually a couple of beds empty."
The woman apparently couldn’t wrap her mind around that one, as the conversation ended right then and there.
Next time my mom will be prepared. I’m considering sending her this photo which says it all:
Look closely. That's THREE heads you see. And, it ain't in a twin bed! IT'S IN THE CRIB, for crying out loud!!!!!! The 7, 5, and 2-year-old (Madeleine, Erika and Caroline) SLEEPING IN THE CRIB together!
Good thing we went through all that work to set up those TWO sets of bunk beds.
Three empty beds! Good grief.
"Why are leaves green?" and "Where does oil come from?" were two questions posed to me before the clock struck 8:00 am. Golly. Photosynthesis and Oil Refinement. NOT two subjects that a pregnant mother of four should have to explain before her morning cup of coffee or tea and a bit of nourishment.
I attempted the photosynthesis explanation during breakfast, and then left the oil discussion and explanation to my beloved.
Little did I know he would take it so seriously. Out came the photo albums, the maps, the globe, and paper and pen. And, of course out came the infamous 8x10 framed picture of his oil rig that hangs in "his" basement bathroom. Yes, that's right. You read that correctly. I am married to a man who has a picture of an Alaskan oil rig that he worked on for 3 months every year for 3 years in his twenties. It is one of my favorite things to tease him about.
It was also one of the things Uncle Scott laughed about when we first got married. Chuckling he says to me, "Soooooo....whadya think of Pete's choice in framed pictures?"
And, to Pete, "Dude, do you actually think she's going to KEEP that picture up there after she moves in here?"
Here is the Gladdest Hours Crew learning everything you always wanted to know about OIL on a lovely Saturday morning:
Everytime I walked by, I got the smug little look from him that said, "See??? Aren't you sorry you mocked me? Some home-educating mom you are! Underestimating the value of a framed oil rig photo."
I just smiled and continued mashing my avocadoes. And, then sat on the couch for a few minutes of reading while my little geologists were occupied.
Note Madeleine learning about drilling oil in her First Communion dress and gloves.
I, personally, couldn't believe how many questions they had. This all stemmed from the oil truck that came to fill our oil tank the other day, and the very nice oil-company-man who was very friendly and happy to see four little smiling faces run out to him, jabbering away. I guess it was his lucky day.
Here is Daddy after a day's work in those days:
We celebrated Madeleine's 7th birthday Saturday at a restaurant, which was a new experience for us. The girls thought it mighty funny that we had ice cream instead of cake.
No birthday cake? Well, not exactly. Thursday, Madeleine made some cupcakes for her Little Flower Group which met on Friday, her birthday. Friday was also the day the anticipated balloon bouquet arrived from Auntie Gina (Pete's sister) and Uncle Victor. 
It was a ladybug theme and was one of the best-ever!
.....next to giving birth to my fifth baby girl. But that hasn't happened yet, so this is definitely my greatest accomplishment SO FAR, this year! (I wonder what my college professors would think about this fact? LOL!)
We have succeeded in getting FIVE car seats / booster seats in a 1999 Dodge Caravan! The "old" minivans are much narrower than the newer ones, so this is really a big deal! Plus, by the time most people have 5 children, usually at least ONE or TWO of them are OUT OF CAR SEATS!
I keep waiting for 20/20 to knock on my door and interview us, but it hasn't happened, so I'll blog about it instead.
These were the previous car seats:
The three on the right have all expired, so they have taken the infamous ride to the dump, never to be seen again.
Here is the obligatory photo of car seats with owners in the sitting position:
Enough with the old! Onward! I was very nervous the day these appeared on my doorstep:
If the contents of these boxes didn't work, then I would:
The contents of these all-important boxes were two Sunshine Radian 65 car seats, thanks to LisaD from from this 4Real thread. By far, the most narrow car seat on the market. The Radian is 12" across the base and 17" at the shoulder area. It holds a child in a 5-point-harness 5 lbs. - 65 lbs., and 53" tall. This is NOT a booster. It's for older/heavier children to be in a 5-point-harness, basically for the rest of their lives, lol.
Then, we purchased a Graco Turbobooster, which is a fairly narrow booster. 16" at the base. We have 49" plastic to plastic in the back seat of the van. After much time, sweat, muscle, and a bit of cursing, Pete installed these successfully, while I stood around and did nothing prayed to St. Jude, the patron saint of hopeless causes.
It actually worked:
Look at that. A beautiful sight. Not an INCH to spare.
From left to right in the backseat:
22 lbs. 2-year-old - Radian
36 lbs. 4-year-old - Radian
40 lbs. 5.5-year-old - Graco TurboBooster with a car seat belt extender from the Dodge
dealership.
The seat belt extender (thanks, Nicole-"humanaevitae") pulls the female seat belt out about 6 inches, which makes it possible to buckle in the booster on the far right, otherwise this wouldn't work, as you wouldn't be able to get your hand down there to fasten the seat belt, since we have not even a millimeter of extra space. I can get my hands in there, but not Pete, and not the child. The verdict is still out on whether or not it's safe to have the buckle nearer the pelvis like this; I've had differing opinions from car-seat-techs. Hopefully, we won't have to use it all the time, but it's there just in case.
Then in the middle seat we have:
Happy Birthday, Pete! You just received $400 worth of car seats for your birthday! And, you have succeeded in avoiding purchasing another vehicle for at least another couple of years! Yes, yes....a glorious 46th birthday present indeed.
Yesterday, March 1, was Caroline's second birthday.
Happy birthday Boopy! You are the sweetest, cutest, little munchkin ever.
Of course, a birthday would NOT be complete without a bunch of sisters gathering closely 'round showing you how it's done:
Nor would it be complete without kisses from daddy:
And, smiles with Grammy Anne:
We really live it up in this house. Every baby gets a new batch of homemade diaper wipes. It's very exciting. I spend an embarrassingly long time picking out JUST the right flannel at Joann's, and then it gets sewn into little 4" x 8" rectangles. I made them for Madeleine, Dorothy Jo, and Caroline. Pete's mom made them for Erika. And my mom made these.
This time I chose FOUR different prints. In the past I've picked out one or two, or even just used whatever flannel material I had in the fabric box. But, this time, I went overboard and got a half-yard of FOUR different prints!! Like I said.....livin' it up!
Aren't they cute?
There are 39 of them. A child, who shall go nameless, cut one up, or there would be 40.
Of course, we make a big presentation of them to Pete upon finishing. He actually puts up with this nonsense simply because he knows how much money it saves him. The cost of wiping baby bums in our house includes:
Once again, here they are.......
Perfectly stacked, probably for the very last time.
Who knew I could write so much about rectangles of flannel sewn together? Hmmph.
This bought us a good 20 minutes or so of read-aloud time:
Getting back to the regularily-scheduled-program will prove challenging and funny, I'm sure, in oh-so-many ways.
You know you live in the Pacific Northwest when your 3-year-old requests Thai food for her 4th birthday dinner.
Here is our very proud birthday girl, giddy with excitement that she is FOUR:
The very much anticipated balloons from Auntie Gina and Uncle Victor:
And, what would a birthday be without a bit of sisterly love?
Dorothy Jo is named after Pete's maternal grandmother and his sister (her middle name). We were either naming her Dorothy Johanna or Johanna Dorothy. We went with Dorothy Johanna because we just liked "Dorothy Jo" so much. She is probably the only female under the age of 80 to be named Dorothy. It gets lots of raised eyebrows and "Excuse me?"
Dorothy Jo is the only girl in our family to have a bit of "meat" on her (besides me, of course) and Pete claims she is just like a teddy bear when she crawls into bed with us in the morning. He is used to the bony, sharp little elbows and knees of her sisters.
Because she is only 15 months younger than Erika and 2.5 years younger than Madeleine, she naturally thinks she can do whatever they can, and most of the time, she can! She is more like them this week, as we finally set up the second set of bunk beds in the bedroom. No more toddler bed for Do Jo!
She has her own space, her own shelves, and her own doll!
Happy Birthday, Dorothy Jo!
How to transform your living room from this:
To this:
Just announce to your four little girls that there is a teeny-tiny BABY growing inside Mommy's tummy and they are going to have a new sibling!
And, THAT is how you get complete joy, excitement, hugs, kisses, screams of delight, and 3-foot-lateral jumps from the six-and-under crowd.
Without a doubt, one of my "Gladdest Hours."
I received Managers Of Their Chores awhile back and started to use it a couple months ago. We started with our morning routine. Each girl has this nifty little plastic envelope that clips on clothing. MOTC (Managers of their Chores) is $25 and is well worth it, if only for the plastic chore-paks and the access that it gives you to the "pre-reader" chore cards, which, of course we are using right now. Although, Madeleine informed me that MAYBE when we print up the weekly chores she MAY NOT WANT pictures. Hmmph. I'll believe it when I see it.
Anyway, here's the drill. The girls get up in the morning and they jump all over Pete and beg him not to go to work. Then, they say, "Oh, hi mom." It's true! They LOVE him. I'm just the woman who hangs around all day. I'm not nearly as cool or fun as he is. After they are finished with this Daddy-is-great-routine, they get dressed and clip their Chore-Pak to their clothing. Dorothy Jo, age three-and-a-half, needs help with this. Then while I am fixing breakfast or getting Caroline ready or doing one of the other million things I do in the morning, they look at the top card with a picture on it, do it, then move it to the back of the pile and proceed to the next card/job.
This is, of course, in a perfect world. In the real world, Caroline is still sleeping and they can't get in to make their bed or straighten the nightstand. Or, someone is in the bathroom and they can't brush their teeth. Or they can't find a hairbrush to brush their hair. Or "WHO already emptied the laundry basket?" and didn't I know that was NOT my job anymore?
So, they spend a minute or two talking about how they can't DO the next thing, while I convince them to just move along, skip that job, proceed on to the next and come back to it later. A fairly complicated concept for a 3 and 4 year old, yet neccessary to understand. I guess this is where the "teaching/training" part comes in. So, that's what I'm doing when I repeat myself for the millionth time!
Although still chaotic, it IS actually quite miraculous how they proceed with their morning routines without me barking out orders every 10 seconds. When everyone is finished with their morning jobs/routine, we eat breakfast. When we have an agenda for the morning and need to be a bit speedy, I set the timer for 10 minutes and we play beat-the-clock. Otherwise, I try to just let them do things at their own pace.
On Sundays, no jobs. Just get ready for Mass. That's a 3-ring-circus in and of itself.
Here is the breakdown:
All:
Madeleine (age 6)
Erika (age 4.5)
Dorothy Jo (age 3.5)
We actually have this down. Time for the next step. On to the Weekly Home Blessing with my little workers. I have the breakdown and the cards ready, and will begin "boot camp" when we return from Minnesota. Lucky them. Madeleine has already been practicing her first job, cleaning the sink:
What. Don't YOU wear a visor when cleaning a 30-year-old sink? Well, WE do. That's standard sink-cleaning-attire around here. An apron and a visor.
Madeleine (age 6): "Mom, Dad was NOT very polite OR generous yesterday when Mr. and Mrs. Christianson were here for dinner. He didn't give Mr. Christianson his favorite beer glass. HE used it instead!"
Bahaha! Totally Busted! You are in the doghouse now! How COULD YOU? Giving the guest your second favorite beer glass???!!! You scoundrel, you!
They don't miss a THING, do they?
A few months ago, when Caroline started pulling herself up to the underwear/sock drawer and emptying it, I added "Put Lock on Drawer" to my to-do list. Like so many other things on that crazy list, it went unaccomplished. As the weeks went by, I decided I just couldn't do it.
Every 6-18-month-old LOVES to do this. It's quite a wonderful thing to occupy their time. She will actually keep doing this for 10 minutes, if not longer.
So much joy. Really, who am I to interupt this masterful inactivity all in the name of "organization" or "tidiness?" Pas Moi! It's not really all that difficult to clean up, and I figured it's probably worth the effort.
It is such a hilarious sight to saunter innocently into the "changing room" and be greeted with a pair of panties flying through air. She stands there facing the drawer, oblivious to anyone walking in and just......FLINGS! Up and back. Or, DROP. Right there outside the drawer. DROP. FLING!
Sometimes over the left shoulder. Sometimes over the right.
Blue socks-FLING!
White underwear-FLING!
White socks-DROP.
White underwear-FLING!
It's especially thrilling when the said-garments FLING right into your face. That always causes such a riot among all those present.
Look at that face! Nope. I just couldn't do it.
We received Caroline's 10-month pictures back yesterday. It fits right in.
The title of this post is from Suzanne Temple's blog, Blessed Among Men . Lest anyone think I am the least bit clever.
I took this photo last week (now I know REALLY WHY), because I figured taking a picture and LAUGHING about it was much better than bursting into tears, which is often my desire at 8 pm, when many renditions of this await me every night. This particular night, mommy's beauty parlor was "open" in the kitchen:
Lovely.
Uh, yeah..that IS a bottle of brandy sitting there. It still hasn't made it's way downstairs from the hot Christmas drink we enjoyed....and it's FEBRUARY!
Maybe if I'd stop taking pictures of things that should be put away, and actually just PUT THEM AWAY.
I was in need of a serious December-Mommy-Attitude-Adjustment. I was feeling tired, ungrateful and generally overwhelmed. What's a gal to do? Slump in a chair and cry? Hide? Eat? Call my mom? Blog? Clean?
No, no, no. None of those was quite the fix I needed.
The Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree
Attitude adjusted. Perspective restored. Gratitude reigns.
On to the next load of laundry. On with the meal planning and kitchen clean-up. On with clearing paths admidst dolls and blocks so we can walk around. On with diaper changing and baby holding. On with kissing hurt fingers and wiping bums. On with crowd control and project management. And, just plain onward....
A book which is enjoyed only by children is a bad children's story. The good ones last. A book which is not worth reading at age 50 is not worth reading at age 10. ~ C.S. Lewis
....but I ain't askin' any questions!
I have learned many things in my mere 5 years as a parent. One of them is.....IF IT HAS TO DO WITH HOT, SOAPY WATER AND MANY RAGS.....DON'T INTERFERE!
Pete (Man-of-the-House, Sole-Provider and Loving-Father-who-cherishes-his-children-crawling-into-bed-with-him-much-more-than-the-Lady-of-the-House) has DECREED: 
All "Pebbles-Hair-Do's" (aka: the Fountain) shall be disassembled prior to bedtime. Lest the aforementioned Hair-Do awakens the Man-of-the-House/Sole-Provider/Loving-Father several times during the night by tickling his face!
......Silly Them!
(How long are we required to leave these up?)
Celebrate the Feasts of the Old Testament in Your Own Home or Church
The Big Book of Catholic Customs and Traditions for Children's Faith Formation
