Thanksgiving and other news

I haven't posted for awhile. Huh. We got a new door! It is so pretty and the wind doesn't blow in the crack anymore. My Pathetic Doberman barked at it for a whole day until she realized that the door wasn't going to attack us and was here to stay.

We spent our Thanksgiving at our eldest child's other home and had such a lovely time. When Child #4 finished he pie, he held up his plate and said "MORE!" He sounded like a gruff, four year old Oliver Twist.

We spent the rest of the weekend down at Twin Firs, and what a lovely weekend it was... hauling firewood, chopping brush, eating wild huckleberries, listening to the coyotes howling at the full moon... Rustic. We can't wait to get back there.

Child #5 will be two years old this week. I can't wait.

Why we need another child...

My DH is definitely of balance and needs one more to keep him from falling over...

Lollipop Girl

One for you...
And one for me...

What are friends for?

Of course My Pathetic Doberman took this as an invitation to help herself to any lollipop or lollipop stick she found in a kid's mouth or not. It was like stealing candy from a baby. Okay, it was stealing candy from a baby.

R.I.P. Sir Jack

Our Jack Dempsey, Sir Jack, passed away sometime in the night. He has been a member of our clan longer than I have, over six years! He will be missed by us all.

Happy Halloween!

Child #3 is a fruit bat, I am a witch, and Child #4 is a ghost. I made the boys' costumes myself! The ghost was easy; I bought a white sheet from Goodwill for $2 and cut holes for eyes. The fruit bat was so much harder. He insisted he had to be BROWN because fruit bats are brown. If he believed my not-so-convincing argument that Egyptian fruit bats are black, I would have been able to buy something. But, no! I spent two days last week modifying a cape pattern to meet his standards. Thankfully he wasn't too picky about the ears, which make him look more like a kangaroo!

Our first stop was the public library. Who else would go trick-or-treating at the library besides us? We are only on a first name basis with most of the staff...including our Princess Child #1!
The puppy dog is Child #5.


We spent the evening at my friend (and fellow homeschooler)'s house. We went around her neighborhood since we got attacked by a viscous dog in ours last year. We spent that time teaching our kids social skills you don't learn in public school. Like how to walk up a driveway and not across the flower beds. How to ring the doorbell one time. How to say "Happy Halloween" instead of "Trick or Treat." How to say "Thank you" clearly and cheerfully, no matter if you got a small piece of Tootsie Roll or a giant chocolate bar. And most importantly, staying with an adult on the sidewalk instead of running madly down the street to the next candy stop. I told my kids that I would charge them a piece of candy for every time they ran ahead and left the group. I only had to reach into their candy sacks once! Child #3 offered to hold his best friend's hand so he would stop running ahead (Different moms have different rules. I tend to be meaner than the regular mom. Taking their candy right out of their bags. Like, who would do that besides me?).

After the candy part, we went back and watched Scooby Doo and ate cupcakes and brownies. Mini Me (aka Child #5) put on my witchy stuff and posed for the camera. She figured out the Halloween business pretty quickly and was so cute saying, "Appy 'Een!" She also knew that the orange wrapped squares were most likely Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and to put those in her sack. A girl just like her mother!

Family Pics

It's been awhile since I've typed anything due to normal pregnancy exhaustion. Above is the picture of us at The Spaghetti Factory last weekend with my grandma, aunts, uncle, and two of my nine cousins. We had so much fun! It was my kids' first time in a real restaurant (McD's does not count) and they behaved so nicely. I think Child #4 spent more time coloring his place mat than eating.
Here they are all dressed up and ready for church! Really, we don't normally dress like this, even for church. I was having a laundry crisis that I still haven't recovered from and had to pull these crisp white button-up shirts out of the closet with the tags still attached. They are no longer as white as they were and I'm not planning on ironing them, so I guess we will never wear them again!

I took the three little ones to visit my midwife today. We were all excited to hear the heartbeat. Child #4 kept asking if he could hear it again! One month until we get our ultrasound. Any guesses on gender? DH thinks we are having a girl, I think we are having a boy!

Belt Ceremony

Today was the much-anticipated belt ceremony for the boys. Now, little kids make mistakes. Lots of them. But usually it is someone else' kid and its cute! But when it is your own child (or children) making all the mistakes... well, that can be very trying, especially for their dad who is a judge. Here is a list of my favorite bloopers for the day....

1. Child #4 answers "Yes, sir!" to every name that is called for the first three names
2. Child #3 runs to the front of the room when another child of the same name is called and stands there confused until five or six people tell him to sit back down.
3. When belts are handed out to my children, they dash back to their places instead of waiting with the rest of the kids and have to be called back to bow.
4. When the kids turn and bow, Child #4 keeps his back to the class because he is lost in his own mind and has to be physically turned around by one of the teachers.
5. When trophies are handed out (remember how Child #4 felt about his trophy?), the children are told to face their parents and bow. This confuses my children, because their father is the one handing them their trophies from behind the table and they can't see me, so they just kind of do what their class is doing.
6. Child #4 is heading back to his spot with his trophy. He finally spots me, stops in his tracks and says, "Hi Mom! Look, its my trophy! See?" and then he just stands there while everyone snickers at him (because he is cute, not stupid. Remember, he isn't their child). He inches slowly to his spot, as if sleep walking, because the trophy is holding his attention...
7. Both of my children have been sitting for a long time and starting wiggling. Child #4 is sitting sideways. Child #3 starts wrapping his new belt around his trophy. Then he unwraps it. Then he swings his belt around his head like a lasso, hitting the kid sitting behind him. He looks at me, sees the look of death, and freezes from my icy stare.
8. After the ceremony, Child #4 pokes himself in the eye with his trophy. And cries. And here are the pictures...

Here are the boys with their two favorite teachers...