Lucas said, "mom take my picture!". Guess he's feeling a bit left out in the that department lately.

Couldn't resist snapping a picture of Abigayle proudly sitting gnawing on her apple.

In the news...

Presidents day dawned lazily. Rick was home, amazingly our bed wasn't mobbed by three squirming little bodies.

Lucas didn't join us at all- unusual for him. He loves his cuddle time.

I heard him banging around in the kitchen, apparently messing with the disaster from building tin can stoves with daddy yesterday.

A bit later, he crawled up to my bed, proudly announcing that he'd made us breakfast. Yes, the table was set with full bowls of milk, sodden corn flakes and peanut butter. He said, "I thought it would be a nice thing to do, so you wouldn't have to fix breakfast."

My heart summarily melted in a giant puddle.

In other news items... Saturday night driving home from a Sabbath School get together through the main drag of Walla Walla ,Abrianna burst out, " I don't see my home!" "oh, no! Where did it go?" I replied. Her little face puckered up and she fairly wailed, "I DON'T KNOW!"

Did I ever mention my little red head is a home body?

Abrianna in prayer last night, " I love momma, and dada, and Wucas, and A'gayle and me, and wucas, and me and momma and dada..."

Sabbath afternoon

Sabbath afternoons are such great family time for us. It's the one day of the week dad's good and relaxed and available.The older two climb on and Abigayle joins in the fray with her baby roars.

Abigayle loves Eliab our kitty ( who consequently is 2 weeks younger than her). If you click on the picture you can see her puling his whiskers. He didn't even bit or scratch though she was laying on top of him.

Piggy back ride

For the family

Just a random video for the family so they can see my little ones.

9 months ( maybe I'll clean up the dialog)

The third tooth. She's working on the vampire look.

Her eight month has seen the appearance of another tooth, of all places on the top right SIDE! She's working on the vampire look =-)

Oh the determined frustrated, crying, and grunts followed by the triumphant ear to ear grin as she heaves herself to standing. The rudiments of cruising are beginning as well as she slowly creeps along the couch.

She sits completely on her own, pushing into the sitting positions.

She weighs in at 19 lbs. My youngest is my middle-ist as far as size.

She delights in practicing her pincher skills on cheerios.

What a bouncing baby girl. Boy, is it challenging to be holding her bouncing on my lap, swiping at my glasses while I'm trying to read to my older two.

Unfortunately, this past month has also seen lots of bugs. She's been snotty nosed, fevered, and coughing for more than a week. ugghh. Poor baby.

Open and closed hand waving. Not the arm, just the hand.

Words, we have WORDS now! momma, dada, and bubububu ( brother).

Quickly crawling to explore everywhere from the massage room to the kids bedroom to the bathroom ( if I forgot to close the door.) to my room. No place sacred.

Life and change

Winter and cabin fever seem synonymous. My children's boundless energy and my boredom with routine combined with my guilt for setting healthy boundaries has been affecting my kindness to my children.

I had been allowing my sweet children to pile in bed, salving my guilt for not filling their little love cups enough during the day or for being grumpy/short with them.

I had also been leaving their food on the table for hours, in case they got hungry before the next meal or bed.

Rick firmly told me that both things needed to change. He was right. Thank God, I listened.

When meal times are over, food is put away, and the table cleaned off in a timely manner.

Rick's been backing me up in the middle of the night when a little "sneaker" tries to join us in bed. They are redirected to the sleeping bag on the floor. I'm so much more rested. I'm waking up rested. I'm enjoying my children again.

About a month ago, I started working through, "How to Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons" with Lucas to relieve some of the cabin fever. Some days were better than others until the past few days. His little brain "clicked" the past few days. He's totally exploring reading with sentences like, "Sam is mad at me." I look forward to teaching him each morning as we rocket through the lessons. My precious little baby boy is no longer a baby. He's a BOY! and growing up so quickly.

Speaking of growing up, today Abigayle mentally stomped her little foot and said, "by golly! I'm gonna stand!" She cried, grunted and pulled to standing on any and everything with her vice like grip, letting go and balancing briefly several times.

She'll be walking before I know it. I thought she'd be slower than her big brother and sister. She seems to have set out to prove me wrong. You go GIRL!

Alas, I've run out of inspiration. I'll grind to a halt. Have a good evening all.

He answers before we ask....

I stand humbled and awed at God's protection.

Several days ago, Lucas woke up soaking wet and asked if he could have a bath. He always bathes by himself, barring momma washing his hair.

"Sure go ahead," I mumbled and turned over in exhaustion to reenter dream land. for another hour.

Later in casual conversation, "momma, I got black marks on my jammie pants." "Oh? How did you do that?"I asked "On the heater." he replied.

Lucas decided to dry his pj's and warm his littlest sister towel on the 1955 cherry red hot wall heater in the bathroom. Both bear charred reminders of their of their contact with the red hot heater.

I am humbled and grateful for God's protection. It could have been so bad! Our whole home could have started on fire before I'd known what was going on. I could have lost some of my children like a family did in a neighboring town this week.

This did turn out to be a teachable moment. We discussed what we should do if there is a fire and where we should go. Now the challenge will be remembering to remind them periodically so the information sticks.