How Does She Do It?

For you Office fans, read the following in your best Dwight imitation...

Question: How do I keep up with all these kids and all the chores and the homeschooling and the kids' activities??? Especially now that I am once again washing dishes by hand?

Answer: Backpack!

I've never had a thumb sucking kid until this Baby came along. And like every other parent in America, I worry about the thumb sucking. I've only had experience with pacifiers! Thumbs never get lost or dropped like pacifiers do. But a pacifier habit is easier to break than a thumb habit. Pacifiers can leach nasty petroleum based compound into my baby's mouth, but a thumb could have whatever nasty thing the baby just picked up on it. I had one baby that rejected both pacifiers and thumbs and would only nurse for comfort and I don't want to do that again! I guess I just have to let her suck her thumb and deal with whatever comes with the territory I guess...

Six Going on Sixteen

Child #3 (who lost his second tooth the other day) had his social pitcher filled today with his first play date without me or his siblings at a friend's house. He came home so happy and so excited! He was bouncing off the walls with happiness. After he came down off his high, he was still happy and excited, but at his normal level of happiness. As I stood in the kitchen preparing many meals for my new freezer, he asked "Why can't I have a phone in my room? At least can I have my own cell phone?" I asked him when exactly did he turn sixteen. "I'm not sixteen, I'm six! So can I have a phone?" "What do you need a phone for?" "So I can call my friends!" I pacified him with some time using my camera.

He has been practicing his photography skills by taking pictures of random things around the house. So now we have blurry pictures of Baby, dog behinds, and really bad super unflattering pictures of me. But here I am, wielding my knife and wearing my favorite apron from Value Village. Who got rid of such a great apron?

RIP New Dishwasher

They just don't make large appliances like they used to. Remember last summer when my dishwasher broke? Remember how we hand washed dishes for six months before we got a new one? About a month ago our new dishwasher started being loud. And louder. And still yet louder. So I called Sears. They sent a guy out a week and a half later (today). And now we need a new motor. Luckily the dishwasher motor is covered by their one year warranty, and it a damn good thing. After parts and labor, the new motor cost more than the dishwasher! And the repair man won't be back to install the motor until August 6th. It makes me want to start washing by hand again.

Speaking of large appliances from Sears... I got a new freezer for my basement! I've been happily filling it with meals for the last few days after a mega-trip to Costco. And I have a new freezer meal cookbook coming in the mail written specifically for Costco shopping called Fix, Freeze, and Feast. I'm sure I will have no problem filling my new freezer, especially since Friday is the official first day of blueberry season! Hooray!

And speaking of appliances in general... I also got a food dehydrator for a late Mother's Day present. This morning I used it for the first time making my own banana chips. With Child #3 and #5 peeling bananas, Child #4 bringing them to the cutting board, and me chopping them, we filled the trays in just a few minutes. The kids even took the peels out to the compost for me. The bananas are still drying, so hopefully they will turn out yummy. I don't care what they look like. Tomorrow's experiment will be beef jerky, which is already marinating in the fridge (which also came from Sears).

Sore Loser!

Yesterday we learned a bit about winning and losing. Here is the story...

Child #4 came upstairs crying yesterday morning because his older sister beat him at Diddy-Kong Racing. Child #2 explained that she had let him win three times and decided to beat him the fourth. He cried and cried and cried until we were thoroughly annoyed at him being such a sore loser. We sent him to bed and wouldn't let him come out until he could apologize to his sister. His apology was scripted: "Thank you for beating me. Will you please beat me again?" which he mumbled very quietly through the tears. His long-term punishment was to be beaten all day long. Anytime he raced his older sister, she would beat him. And he would cry. And throw down the controller. And Child #3 would pipe in quite cheerfully, "You can beat me if you want! I'll play!"

I let Child #4 play video games all day long in the dark basement until his eyes were strained, just like his dad's and older sister's when they have an Alien vs. Predator marathon. And he lost. And won when he played by himself against the computer. And I am still amazed at how quickly he picks up these racing games.

Summer Break

It's raspberry season! Yum! I once again sent my minions picking for me, but this time I went too...with the four little kids. They were actually well behaved! Most people shudder at the idea of taking four spirited children berry picking, but I love a challenge. Only Child #5 ate a berry before it was paid for. Oh, I don't know. Maybe Child #2 and her boyfriend ate some too... I wasn't watching them that closely. We picked just over eight pounds of raspberries in about 15 minutes and then we came home where I made two batches of jam. Raspberry jam is my favorite, so I tend to keep it secret from my kids all year. They can have the strawberry.

Other than that, we don't have too much going on here. We have been reconnecting with old friends and having playdates. And DH is back in the field, spending three days a week camping and doing surveys. Having DH gone means I don't have as much help with kids, especially at bedtime when I need the break, but I do still have Child #2. Cashiers at the grocery store always say, "Oh how nice. It's like having a live-in baby sitter," when they meet or hear of my seventeen year old. I always say, "She is more like an au pair. You know, more like a member of the family!" Duh. She is after all really a member of the family! Yes, Child #2 does babysit for me, and she does it for free (we give her in-kind contributions). She is very very generous with her time, even when I am home. But I would never call her a live-in baby sitter. That totally cheapens her relationship with her brothers and sisters. She is a sister and a daughter and a friend. So there.

The Good, the Bad, and the Snuggly

Don't they clean up nice?


Sometimes I look at my kids and say to myself, "Wow, I'm doing a great job with them." Like yesterday. I took Child #3 and the Baby to the Farmer's Market to buy some veggies and soap. While I was buying carrots, Child #3 saw a lady drop a dime. He picked it up and said, "Excuse me, you dropped your dime." She took it back and smiled at my son. I didn't even know that this had happened until he told his dad the story and added to the end, "I didn't want to take it from her even though she didn't know she dropped it, because that is ROBBING and I am NOT a robber!" And then this morning Child #3 made breakfast for himself and his brother and sister. He got the bowls, the cereal, and the milk and poured everything all by himself. I was so proud!

And then there are times when I obviously have a lot more work to do. At church he was chosen by the pastor to talk about who he wants to be with when he is scared and why. He said, "I want to be with my mom and dad because they protect me from the bad guys. And predators." And since the pastor didn't take the microphone away after this splendid answer, he went on to tell the entire congregation that he had to take care of his brother and sister because his mom was too busy taking care of the baby. Sigh...

Little Mommy

Elizabeti's Doll, a wonderful story about a girl living in an African village who uses a rock for a baby doll, inspired Child #3 to make a similar baby doll for his forgiven sister.

She does spend a lot of time playing in the dirt with her two brothers, who have a huge influence on her (hence the swim trunks instead of a swim suit). But it is time that she has more feminine influences! She does play Little Mommy quite often and uses her Baby Sister's clothes to dress up her baby dolls. This is something her brothers never thought of to do. They were too busy playing trains or cars.

That half-eaten sandwich was stolen from Child #5 by My Pathetic Doberman, right off a chair. You know you have a good dog when they will drop tasty food snatched out of the allowable zone (lower than the table) on command. She dropped the sandwich as soon as I said her name and Child #5 picked it right up and reclaimed ownership over it, dog slobber and all. Yuck!

Baby looks like she smells something. Like Wolverine in X-Men. Could it be Child #4 sneaking up behind her?

Wired? I don't think so!

My DH got hooked on energy drinks while I was pregnant with Baby. Of course with strange sounding ingredients promising to boost energy levels, I decided to abstain until Baby was safely born. I spent months watching DH consume a new brand or a new flavor of energy drink. I watched him perk up immediately and sometimes act a little crazy. Oh, I was jealous!!! I love caffeine! I've been drinking coffee every morning since 8th grade! I love, love, love coffee. So much that I didn't even quit drinking coffee during my last two pregnancies. After Baby was born, I tried the energy drink thing. You Lord of the Rings fans may know the scene where Gimli and Legolas are having a drinking contest. Gimli is slobbering drunk and Legolas might have felt his finger tingle. That was my experience with energy drinks. I drank a Monster. Nothing. I drank many Monsters for many days. Nothing. I tried Wired X344, which is DH's favorite because it has 344mg of caffeine. If he drinks one in the afternoon, he is up very late, unable to sleep. NOTHING HAPPENED TO ME! Heck, I found one in the fridge yesterday, drank it a 3pm and still fell asleep in my chair by 10pm last night. It tastes bad, like it has a lot of metallic tasting caffeine, but that is only citric acid. And I know what that tastes like because of a science experiement I did with the kids. This morning I found a website that lists caffeine content of common drinks. Turns out a Monster has less caffeine than my morning black coffee. A Wired X344 could replace my morning cup of coffee, but would be wearing off by lunchtime. It would also be way too expensive and nasty for my taste. I think I will stick with the simple drink for my simple life: Good Ole Home Brewed Black Coffee.

Frog Talse by Child #3

Just because school is out for summer doesn't mean we aren't learning. My young author, pictured here with one of his three (not four) favorite sisters, is constantly teaching me. I've learned that there is something to the idea of waiting to teach certain skills until a child shows readiness. Child #3 is currently reading on a 2nd/3rd grade reading level. This past year, as a Kindergartner, he read and did language arts on a 1st grade level. Part of his curriculum was to write short stories and learn spelling and grammar by correcting his mistakes. Well, after a few attempts at this, I gave up in frustration because he hadn't developed the maturity to create stories in his imagination. I skipped these lessons for the rest of the year (and didn't feel too bad about it anyway. What Kindergartner in public school is writing short stories?). And then last month a light went on in his head and has been burning brightly for the world to see...

This wonderful child has created a whole series of books! They center around a frog and a trout that go on adventures in the ocean. Other characters join in on the fun when the frog meets and marries a girl frog and they have babies. Each page is carefully and colorfully illustrated. Here is an excerpt from Frog Talse: The Honted Casl [sic]:

Everybody was scared. Except Nuwyith. ... They went to a castle. A very scary frog was there. They went in. Pete knew that he is evil. So Pete got out.

I've corrected spelling. And skipped the part that doesn't make sense (something about a dedly trawt). I can see I have a lot of work to do with Child #3 and spelling! He sounds every word out (or awt as he spells it) phonetically as he writes it, and sometimes the story unfolds so quickly in his mind, his writing can't keep up and words go missing. So reading these magnificant stories requires a lot of mind stretching for us old folks who have been reading for a long time. But I'm not too worried about spelling yet. I'd rather he be excited about writing stories than worried about spelling every word right and see this as work. Besides, you should have seen how many words I spelled wrong as I typed this post (thank you spell check). Between the story writing and the obsessive alphabet writing and race car drawing from Child #4, we have gone through an entire ream of copy paper since the beginning of summer. Thank goodness for back-to-school sales on paper!

Now, who wants to know which sister didn't make Child #3's favorite sister list? If you guessed Child #5, you are correct! Only a parent could truely love an obnoxious bratty two year old princess who is currently fast asleep half naked after a temper tantrum that left her with a bloody nose (she stuck her finger in it too hard in defiance) and wet pants. And the parent who truely loves her is at work today, leaving me to deal with her!

Strawberry Queen

The strawberries were late this year, but I guess I was even later. Desperate for jam made without high fructose corn syrup, I sent my minions to pick a flat of berries worthy of Mordor. My minions (DH, Child #2 and her boyfriend) picked two flats worthy of Mordor, so I am up to my eyeballs in jam preparation. A lot of the berries are just past peak, so we don't have a lot of options besides jam. I was able to pull off two batches of jam last night before I ran out of sugar (4 cups of berries to 7 cups of sugar!), so today I will have to get to the store for more. We have so many berries the kids can help themselves at anytime and not make a dent! Strawberries for dinner? Why not? Strawberries for dessert? Of course! Strawberries for breakfast? Please do!

Hepatitis A Anyone?

DH and I took Child #3 in to the doctor today for a follow up appointment. Child #3 is feeling much better, but he still has abdominal pain. Turns out his spleen was in fine shape and it was just his liver that was inflamed. The doctor, who has been our family doctor for 15 years, thought this was merely an enterovirus, which is the second most common virus after the rhinovirus, or common cold. Enterovirus symptoms are similar to the flu: upper respiratory infections and fever. But we had more than just that. We had Hepatitis A symptoms: liver enzymes in the blood. And Child #3 had his Hepatitis A vaccine a month ago. I've read that Hepatitis A has an incubation period of 2 to 6 weeks. But there is no way to tell if he was infected by a bad vaccine or actually caught a virus just before the vaccine because the only way to tell if you actually had Hepatits A is to get an antibody test. And both the vaccine and the disease leave antibodies in the blood. We have another appointment in two weeks to see if the liver enzyme levels have decreased so stay tuned!

Oh, What a Crunchy Morning!

When Child #4 was two years old, he surprised me with his first savant talent. He was barely talking, yet he was able to identify every letter of the alphabet right side up as well as upside down. Yesterday we learned he has talent with racing video games. Today he presented me with a new savant ability. He was (once again) writing his alphabet on his Doodlepro, one letter at a time. He narrated, "And here is R." Erase board. Draw S. "Look at my S Mom, doesn't it look nice?" Hey, his S is facing the right way! Erase board. "And now T. The twentieth letter of the alphabet." The 20th letter? Is that right? I count on my fingers. Yes. "Which letter is the thirteenth?" No pause for counting. "M." "And the fifth?" "E." We continued in this fashion until I was convinced that he knew the position of every single letter of the alphabet! He stumbled on twenty-second because it doesn't sound like twenty-two, but he knew the letter! He loved this game so much he kept asking to play it again.

Child #3 woke up feeling even better today. His temp is down to 100.something. He knows he can watch lots of movies when he is sick and he is totally taking advantage of it. To the point where I won't let him watch another movie unless he eats something or takes a nap first. He still has dark circles under his eyes and looks very skinny, but he has turned the corner!

I woke up very early, thanks to my little girls (who were sleeping again by 6:00 am). I spent the morning indulging in crunchy living... washing cloth diapers and hanging them in the sun to dry, washing my hair with baking soda instead of shampoo, and eating eggs over organic homemade black beans and salsa instead of potatos O'Brien. The baking soda thing is my latest green living experiment. You should try it! My hair is soft and stays clean longer than it does with shampoo. Two days after my first baking soda wash, I showed Child #2 how clean my hair still was and she decided to try it out too. All you have to do is mix one tablespoon of baking soda in one cup of water, pour over your head, and rinse! Don't get it in your eyes; it stings! I hear people who use baking soda only have to wash their hair once a week and just use water on the other days. Sounds unbelivable to me, but I'll try it out. I'm not going anywhere anyway, right?

Update on Child #3 and My Savant

The lab results were negative for strep and mono, but due to his enlarged spleen and high levels of liver enzymes in his blood, we are to treat this illness like it is mono. Child #3 is hanging out on the couch with orders to drink plenty of fluids and refrain from contact sports. This alone is difficult when your daily life is a contact sport with your younger siblings. Getting Children #4 and #5 to leave him alone was difficult until Child #4 discovered Need for Speed on Playstation. How a 4 1/2 year old can play a racing game designed for an older child is beyond me. I can't even figure out what the different buttons do on the controller. But he is good. He wins! But he finds crashing into other cars and skidding on wet grass and dirt much more fun.




I call this picture Portrait of a Two Year Old Tomboy.

Happy 4th!

We headed down to our favorite vacation destination for the 4th of July weekend. We shot off our fireworks and roasted marshmallows around the campfire, like we do every year. We usually take a family photo on our favorite log, but someone cut it up! And most of our family was missing this year, so this photo is the best we have. Burning the family photo log pieces in our bonfire was depressing. But the kids loved the fireworks nonetheless.











This picture is symbolic of Child #3's weekend. Thursday morning he complained about his ears bothering him. By Saturday morning he had a fever. By Sunday evening he was hollow-faced and couldn't eat. He tried to have a positive attitude and not let his ears bother him, but the illness got the better of him and we headed home to the doctor as fast as we could this morning. DH and Child #3 are still at the lab waiting for results that will tell us if he has strep or mono!




Child #5 had a great time on the tire swing. She is now big enough to go really high! She would sit on the swing and call out, "Daddy! Sing me!" over and over until DH would come up from the well house to swing her. (Yes, the well house. Every morning we woke to the water being out from a broken pipe. DH spent his whole vacation replacing fittings and fixing leaks. And every day he would get the well pump working perfectly until 3:00 in the morning when something would mysteriously break down again.) Anyway, Child #5 would swing and swing and yell, "Sing me again, Daddy!"









The world biggest doughnut! My Pathetic Doberman has a liking for tire swings and likes to jump up in the air and grab them and tear them apart. Its more fun when there is a kid on top. Of course my children have been raised with this "ruff" play and absolutely love it.

Good Bye Summer

Shel Silverstein really knew what he was talking about in his poem Here Comes from A Light in the Attic:

Here comes summer,
Here comes summer,
Chirping robin, budding rose.
Here come summer,
Here comes summer,
Gentle showers, summer clothes.
Here comes summer,
Here comes summer-
Whoosh-shiver-there it goes.

Lightning and thunder storms woke me up last night! I was surprised that the kids didn't wake up. I wasn't surprised that I found My Pathetic Doberman curled up at the foot of my bed; she really isn't that brave. This morning we were greeted by a cold, rainy, gray weather...

So what better way to spend a gray morning, than to take gray scale pictures of my kids?








This little sweetie-pie tried to climb into bed with DH and I last night, but could not figure out how to get up on the bed without crawling on the baby. She ended up tripping over My Pathetic Doberman at the foot of the bed and decided that the dog was good enough company to curl up with for a few hours.
















Here comes trouble!

















Trouble time three!

Welcome July!

The first day of July feels like the first day of summer to me. I love the feeling of not having to go anywhere or do anything. We are spending this glorious sunny day outside: line-drying diapers, swimming in the pool, and eating orange juice popsicles.

Elimination Communication is the practice of watching the baby for cues and "catching" the poo instead of using diapers. After joking about switching to EC and holding Baby over a bush when she needed to go, I handed my diaperless baby off to DH to grab the camera. Here he is saying, "Will you take this baby before she does something on me, please?" I was totally kidding about going permanently diaperless. She was just airing out in the sunshine. See my diapers on the line behind them?




Here is My Pathetic Doberman protecting my children from the scary leak in the hose. I have never known a Doberman to love water as much as this one does. Child #3 and #5 are in the background. Child #5 is using a baseball T as an umbrella.

Even though we are now in the summer months, the pool doesn't get warm enough in the sun for my little cold weenies. Sweet DH, caring father, is boiling water on the stove to warm up the pool for his little ones. Our little family-sized pool is no longer big enough to meet the needs of our Super Sized Family, so we may just head off to WalMart to buy a bigger one. We justify this purchase by calculating the cost of swim lessons times four kids plus gas money getting to the pool and back plus my time sitting by the side of the pool... buying our own pool is much much cheaper, I think! But that all depends on how much my time is worth.