Christmas morning

Advent... the last candle is lit...
and the last ornament, a star, was placed on our Jesse Tree.
JESUS IS BORN!

Merry Christmas... from our house to yours.

Eve of Christmas Eve...

If only we had a little bit of the East Coast's snow right now. We're dreaming of last year when it snowed for days and gave us a beautiful white Christmas. I keep hoping we'll be surprised and wake up to a little dusting here and there but I don't think it will happen. We are enjoying every bit of December though with plenty of things going on.

We had cousins over to decorate (gluten-free, dairy-free!) cookies. The table was covered in frosting and little shiny bits of topping in every color. We had dinner and cider and lots of Christmas music. It makes me so thankful for family...

Sawyer insisted on red and doing it all himself.

I think he enjoyed it, even if he had to choke his way through the sprinkles.

________________


The presents are ready and nearly all wrapped. We tried to keep it simple this year as far as our gift giving. New books are ALWAYS on the list.

And a few handmade things that I'm so happy about it (more on them after the big day!).

And little gifts sent across the country to family far away.

_______________

The boys are counting down the days... Ian especially. Most of our mornings are spent bundled up with a blanket (around the heating vent) by the tree and reading or drawing or pretending to hang Luke up by his legs in the wampa cave. Eloise takes swipes at our legs or toes, whichever is closest. I love these days.

Decemberings...

Lots of gold tucked into corners. A new Christmas village on our mantle. It's little and glittery and I made it myself. I loved this idea for the "snow" and found a perfect tablecloth for the job.

Our Christmas tree star found at an antique shop is rusted in places and very, very much loved.

This year we've decided to make gifts for each other. Nothing too difficult, something within our creative range, and it can be as simple as it needs to be. I'm almost done with the my gift for the boys, Jeremy's working on his, and the boys came up with some great ideas to make for Dad. We've also been working on some smaller gifts for family. It requires lots of soapy water and felt roving.

It's messy, I won't lie. But the boys love it and I don't mind mopping up the floor afterward.

Christmas is happening everywhere we look. Only 10 days left!

Thanksgiving time

The days after Thanksgiving mean eating pumpkin pie by candlelight at 11 am... just because.

...insisting on playing outside in just a diaper because clothing is so overrated, even in 55 degree weather.

And drawing time with Dad. Whole scenarios can be played out on paper...

While Dad's drawing of a Clone Trooper, R2D2, and a Boba Fett head get new bodies from Ian.

We had a full week off with Jeremy, a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner with family, and lots and lots of time together. So much fun and many memories of our last Thanksgiving as a family of 4! We are soaking it in, knowing next year a new little personality will be here to join in the fun. Hope your Thanksgiving was just as peaceful.

_______________

Advent begins today! Candles are up and ready for the first lighting tonight. So excited for this month and all it will bring.

Eloise

I couldn't resist. The thought was too strong for my hormone-laden mind to ignore. We all missed him so much that another cat seemed like the right thing to do. And this time, a kitten!

This is little Eloise Eva. She is 12 weeks old and a little spitfire. I was unsure at first if I was up for it... or rather her. She talked constantly and wouldn't let us sleep. But then slowly, her little lap naps and soft purring won us over and she's here to stay for good.


We got her for free from a woman that seemed to love her and wanted her to go to a good home. Eloise was one of two left in a litter of six babies. Ian went with me to pick her up and on our way home I realized that she was infested with fleas. The next morning I discovered she had a bad case of worms. She spent the first night in our bathroom which didn't settle well with her... she was scared and lonely. But by the next day, after the flea medicine kicked in and after many many little grooming sessions with me and a comb, she began to feel better. She's completely free of her little problems, both inside and out, and I can tell it's made a big difference. She's also putting on weight. She was only 1-1/2 lbs and very skinny but she's eating enough to make up for what she lost so I have no doubt she'll be plump and happy soon.


She's soaking up the attention now. She jumps into any lap that's available and her constant talking has softened to just the occasionally meow when she's hungry. Ian picked out her middle name Eva. He said she reminded him of the girl robot in Wall-E who was white and black with blue eyes. It suits her just fine.


Welcome home Eloise Eva.

Halloween love and the aftermath

Superman and a Storm Trooper ventured out Saturday night to find some candy. It was so cute to see their faces when we walked up to these houses that we see everyday, knocked on the door, and were given candy. We made it to about 8 houses and then they both declared they were ready to go home. I think they were more excited about digging into their candy stash rather than getting more.

Ian as Luke Skywalker dressed as a Storm Trooper. And he means serious business when this costume is on.

We stopped by Papa's and Grandma's house first and practiced knocking on their door before the real work began. It was a successful Halloween!

_______________________

And now that we have handfuls of candy lying around.... Did you know that sugar suppresses the immune system? Having the equivalent of one can of soda (8 tbsp of sugar) can depress the immune system by 40% for hours... up to 7 hours in fact. So let's say you have some form of sugar for breakfast, your immune system may only be functioning at 60% for the entire day. That leaves you vulnerable to all sorts of germs and viruses. And that's assuming you only have 8 tbsps of sugar all day. Add more soda, a piece of candy, some coffee cake, a mocha... and suddenly your system is suppressed continually. That makes it really hard for your body to function at it's best during the sick season.

We've been fighting some cough-runny nose-thing this entire last week. We've been keeping it at bay and it's been pretty mild so I debated on whether to let the boys have the candy from Halloween. I was worried that the work the herbs and veggies and vitamin D we've been doing would be undermined by the sugar. But they hardly ever eat traditional candy and they were so excited that we decided to let them have some. And of course, then I had some because I just couldn't resist a little Milky Way bar (or two) that was sitting next to me.

Then last night I realized that this cough and runny nose I had held at bay was hitting me full force. Being pregnant, my immune system is weaker anyway, then add in pure sugar and suddenly there's not much to keep the little germs from invading. My head is full, my nose is running, and I cough constantly. Ian is doing about the same.

So today I brought out the veggies and decided we had to add some nutrients back in. We've spent the past month going between juicing our veggies and fruits and making smoothies with them. This morning I decided to use the juicer and went with apples, lemon, romaine lettuce, fresh ginger, and 2 beets.

The boys love to help with the juicer and I know this gets them excited about drinking their vegetables.

Their favorite part is watching the different colors of juice pouring out in the bowl. "It's GREEN! It's RED!"

Then we immediately drink up, not even bothering to clean first, to maximize all the enzymes and nutrients the juice gives.

Today was red mustaches thanks to the beets!

Ian is a really good eater but Sawyer is not, he's as picky as they come. But somehow, he loves the juice we make with our veggies and fruit. The boys know it's made of vegetables and they know vegetables keep them healthy. It's my goal to keep it fun but real and I don't think you get more real than drinking beet juice.

This juice was good, tart, but good. I love the way it makes me feel and I'm hoping our colds will be gone very soon because of it.

Our days

... are waking up in warm flannel sheets

... in bunk beds in the room that's been shared since August. (Sawyer sleeps on the top, Ian on the bottom- they worked that out themselves)

... reading the Fall and Winter books that have been put away since last March

... playing in the leaves and making Dad rake them over and over again

... enjoying the vibrant red on our Japanese Maple out back

... forgetting about the rain boots out in the rain

...crocheting and knitting every evening


... making pumpkin faces with paper and seeing them glow inside when it's grey outside

... playing "action-figure bowling"

... with rain boots on of course, just in case we get a chance to run outside.

_____________

Thank you all for the baby boy congratulations! We can already see him here with us and that makes it hard to wait 5 more months. And it doesn't hurt that I'm feeling MUCH better and the holidays are almost here! Hope you are enjoying the Fall things around you.

The boys' turn to share

It's true! We found out this past week that we are expecting another BOY!!!! (Although I realized after making the signs that "on his way" could be interpreted as possibly soon, it won't be for another 6 months until we get to see his little face.) We decided to go in for an impromptu sonogram because we were all curious about whether a little boy or a little girl would be joining our family. And we are so excited to know! He was so little in there but everything about him was perfect. We saw each individual finger and he would push his arms up above his head and then jump with his little feet. Absolutely beautiful. His little profile was perfect and we both thought right away that it reminded us of Ian's and Sawyer's profile pics. Here's his profile, facing up:


We can't believe we get to have another one of these boys. We can't wait to meet him and he has two VERY excited bigger brothers who want to know what he will be like. I can almost picture him sitting on the steps with them. What fun life is going to be like with 3 little boys running around. They will all three be teenagers together and we hope, the best of friends. How lucky are we that we get three handsome, gentle, sweet-natured, full-of-life boys to surround ourselves with. Keep growing strong little one... we'll be kissing you someday soon!

We're back and it's Fall!

Our Maui vacation was exactly as expected... relaxing and busy... wet and sandy... warm and breathtaking. We swam and played on the beach, we read books, and ate delicious food. I ate more fish in that week than my entire life combined I believe. And by the end of the eight days, the boys were so encrusted with sand it was hard to tell where their hairline began. They loved it, of course. We were a bit worn out because vacation with two young boys is well.. busy. But the memories are awesome and I love that we made some there.

_______________

And we came back to Fall! The weather was very cold when we flew back home but the sun was shining and that makes all the difference. I'm happy to be back where I need to wrap up warm when I go outside and where the leaves are almost off the plum tree that was still bearing fruit before we left. The colors are amazing and remind me of why I love this time of year so much. This is what we've been doing since we've been back....

Painting autumn trees of our own.

Spending our mornings playing many games of "Let's Go Fishing".

And our afternoons making a craft. Today they sorted through buttons to look for all the colors of Fall.

Then they took turns threading them with string...

and making sure they were on tightly.
When they were finished we hung them from the tree branch in our family room.

And lastly... we picked pumpkins from our own garden! They started from a single seed that we had found sprouting in our compost bin. We planted it just to see what would happen and it took over our strawberries, basil, and lettuce reaching past 8 feet in every direction. But we got two beautiful pumpkins that sit perfectly on our porch. (Sawyer in full "smile" mode!)

Aloha

We're putting the rain boots away because tomorrow morning we fly away to Hawaii! Eight days in the sun, feeling the sand between our toes, and trying our best to not to get a sunburn. And oh yeah... did I mention the food? And the luaus? And the volcano?

See you next week!

Our newly painted house

Here are the before and after pics of our home! We are so happy with how it all turned out. The men who installed the trim were very meticulous and careful considering they had to saw the trim design into the siding. And the painter did an amazing job to make the whole thing come together. We decided on a Kendall Charcoal from Benjamin Moore and Pear Green from BM for the door. We love the way it pops!

House front before:

House front after:

____________

House side front before:

House side front after:

____________

Porch side before:
Porch side after:____________

Porch right side before:

Porch right side after with honeysuckle arbor:

____________

Back of house before:

Back of house after:

____________

Trim detail:

Is this thing on????

Thank you all for the wonderful congratulations on our news! We are so happy and feel very blessed to be expecting another baby. It's hard to believe it's been 2 weeks since I posted last but things seem to pile up when you don't feel well. But it looks like even that is slowly changing. I'm having more good days then bad now so I think we are turning a corner!

My sleep could use a little improving however.... I've been awake since 3am and figured what better time to catch up on a blog post! Better to get something done then just lay in bed staring at the ceiling. I had this same issue in Sawyer's pregnancy... I wake up during the night and it takes a couple hours to get back to sleep. Good thing I can adjust my mornings and lay low for awhile.

But life has been good! The boys are as active as ever and we are coming up with all kinds of things to keep busy. The weather is changing and we have warmer days and cooler days. I'm really looking forward to the colder weather, warm soups, and blankets curled up on the couch.

In the meantime though, we are getting outside and making the most of our warmer weather. We've taken hikes with silly boys...


Made water stations out on the back deck so little Lego men and Transformers can go swimming.


The boys have enjoyed dinner out with Dad on a few occasions while mama sleeps.


And there's been a lot of music being played lately. Jeremy's obtained a new music area now that Sawyer and Ian are sharing a room. The boys grab their guitars every time Dad does and it makes for some very creative music.


And it finally dawned on me to ask Jeremy to teach me chords on the piano so I could play something... anything. I've had a few lessons over the years, just enough that I've picked it up pretty quickly this time and now I can play a good list of worship songs. I love being able to sit and play and sing.



So all is well in our little world. And I've taken pictures of our newly painted house... it's been done for about a month now. (I KNOW... I've been horrible with the updates). For those of you that have been asking, I promise I'll get them up soon. Everything turned out amazing and we love the new colors!

Back to bed for me... maybe I can fall asleep for a couple of hours before the boys wake up...

Spring arrival

In the last few weeks I've nursed a few of these jars...



Spent my free time here...



... and taken lots of naps. But it's all worth it because tucked away inside of me is a little baby. A baby!

Yesterday, the four of us crowded into the doctor's office for the ultrasound. We saw a perfect little baby with little arms and legs. We even got a few wiggles out of him/her! It was fascinating especially since a couple of weeks ago all we could make out was the beautiful flashing of the heartbeat. The boys are so excited and ask us all the time when the baby is coming out. It will be a long winter for them I'm sure. Little baby should be here around April 5th.

The sickness has been worse this pregnancy then the ones before. I'm counting down the weeks until the first trimester is over and hopefully I'll start feeling better. Jeremy has been amazing. He's picked up the slack, making sure we're all taken care of and spending lots of extra time with Ian and Sawyer. The boys are understanding and know when mama needs to rest on the couch and they let me, without any complaints.

It's amazing how seeing the little baby can lift my spirit and help me look past the nausea. It never ceases to amaze me how miraculous this entire process is and it humbles me that I get to experience it again. And that by next spring, I'll be holding another little baby of ours. We love you already little one.

Little baby at 9 weeks:

Learning at home

Ian came to me when he was 3, just before his 4th birthday, and asked me if I would show him how to write his name. Sure! I thought and sat down to go over each letter and write a dotted version for him to copy. He skipped over all of it and just wrote his name. Plain and simple. Since then, he's been a writing maniac. He's taught himself most all the letters just by copying them out of books. Throughout the day he asks me how to spell certain words and then writes them over and over again. Sometimes he writes them backwards, sometimes they are split in half because he runs out of paper, and sometimes he just makes up words like he's writing a whole story.

About 2 months ago he asked me if I would teach him how to read. My sister gave me her old Bob books and we sat down to look at them. He has less patience for reading but he gets it quickly. He can easily read the first couple books in that simple series and has started rhyming words in his spare time. "Hey Mom... COAT GOAT!"

It's amazing to me because I decided long ago, when he was really little, that my goal with them wouldn't be to teach them how to read at a young age, but to focus on manners and attitudes. Because, I always thought, who cares when you begin reading as long as you get it some time. But manners are something that can easily be over looked in the frenzy of early childhood education.

Plus, about a year ago something really began stirring inside me that I couldn't ignore anymore. I had to look at it from every angle, decide what it all meant, how it would look, and ultimately... what would Jeremy think. I really... really... wanted to homeschool.

I prayed about it and we'd have discussions about what that would look like and what it would mean for the boys. Jeremy was unsure and I knew his reasons why. They had been the same reservations I had had before. But slowly, our perspectives started changing and we started seeing how good it could be. We read this book and became even more convinced that we wanted to offer something different to the boys.

Another aspect that appealed to me was unschooling... especially in the early years. I wanted the boys to be children. To not have the stress of homework, to not have to sit in a chair for hours on end but to have the freedom to study or play with what they wanted. The other part of unschooling that attracted me went along with what I mentioned above. That I wasn't going to pressure Ian into learning his letters. I wanted him to show interest whenever that happened to be and I had prepared myself for a long wait and possibly years of hearing parents talk about their 4 year olds reading while my 7 year still didn't. But funny how things happen... when Ian has space to think and be creative, space that's not taken up with the TV or being entertained, he shows interest in learning.

I hadn't planned on starting any type of "school" this year but instead wait until next year when Ian would have started kindergarten. He, however, has different plans and wants to learn now. Which ultimately is part of the unschooling philosphy... that life should be spent learning, not just during school hours, but that we are constantly learning every day of our lives.

"Birds fly, fish swim, man thinks and learns. Therefore, we do not need to motivate children into learning by wheedling, bribing or bullying. We do not need to keep picking away at their minds to make sure they are learning. What we need to do, and all we need to do, is bring as much of the world as we can into the school and classroom (in our case, into their lives); give children as much help and guidance as they ask for; listen respectfully when they feel like talking; and then get out of the way. We can trust them to do the rest."

-John Holt, How Children Learn

So this is the beginning of our journey into homeschooling. We are really excited about it and where it will take us. We live in a city that is full of life, culture, and experiences. I'm excited for the boys to meet people of all ages and backgrounds while we run errands. To have the freedom to explore and touch and interact with things on their level and on their own time. To learn music and to play sports and not have it crammed in to an already full day of hourly classes in a classroom. To watch them be creative and have space to experiment with it. To have time to be quiet and not fill every hour of their day with busy things. And I'm most excited to be there to watch it all happen.

Life and vacations

Sitting outside while the boys play. Happy that the sun is out today, if even for a moment, but thankful for the rain that fell this week. Not feeling too well and still feeling sad about our Henry. Thinking about the coming months and what they will bring.

It's important to change and move with life. I know this but it's never easy. I really do love feeling content. But little things move, they flow in and out as days go by. So we make little adjustments to move with it.

It means cutting back on our spending. Letting go of our one hundred tv channels to find contentment in just the few. To eat at home more and enjoy our own company. But realizing that even though we have to cut back on our spending habits, our house is (nearly!) painted and we've avoided further problems by waiting another year.

It means thinking that our 4 year old has finally learned a lesson in yelling only to have to sit down with him again and again. Repetition, quiet voices, gentle reprimands to calm the storm. That he has to be mindful of everything he says and how he says it. But knowing that he is learning to speak kindly even in the midst of his outbursts. And that we must show him, by example, what that means.

And how a 2 year old whose vocabulary has consisted of new words every day, is now stuck on two phrases: "I do, I DO!" and "Mine!". It means realizing that we cannot raise these boys without prayer and without constant emotional and spiritual attention.

But I'm so thankful for it all. So thankful for God's reminders of what it means to live fully and peacefully. That He isn't content to let us just sit and be idle. He's always teaching us and providing opportunities to trust Him and to grow in Him.

***

I'm still finding pieces of our vacation lying around. A dirt-filled shoe here, an extra nap needed there. Our week away was very busy. We packed our days full of activities with only a little time at night to fit a board game in. The boys had an incredible time. Staying up late, constant company with their cousins around, lots of food, and so many opportunities to run and play. They fell asleep every night exhausted but woke up in the mornings ready to go full speed ahead.

Keeping tabs on cousin Caleb was a favorite past time of Ian's.

There were deer everywhere and like the dutiful city-folk we are, we took pictures whenever we could with however many cameras we had on hand.

We hiked and climbed our way around a couple of waterfalls. I left the picture big so you can see the teeny tiny man standing nearly underneath the fall on the right. That would be my Dad who still thinks he's invincible at 62 and loves to scare us all with his daring adventures. (Really... I can only blame my need to skydive the day before I graduated highschool on him. I get a lot of that from him.)

The boys making brownies with cousin Meagan.

Licking the spoons was the best part.

And collapsing every afternoon for a quick rest and to catch up on Shark Week.

Out of all the pictures we took, there wasn't one that turned out clearly of my 14 year old niece Meagan and I. So I included this one... blurry me and beautiful Meagan. It still makes me happy.