Five Years Together and Best Christmas Present Evah!!!

This year marks Aaron and my fifth anniversary. So much has changed in five years, I cannot even remember how my life really was before. I remember it was a lot less full though. Now, four children later and hopes for more down the line; I can't imagine life without him. Sometimes I think it's not possible to love him more than I do, but everyday I fall a little more for him.

The above drawing is a portrait that Aaron's sister did for us for Christmas this year. I adore it and it will always be one of my most treasured gifts. :)

Four Babies

Less than 24 hours after giving birth to my fourth child a doctor from my OB's practice came in to check on me. She told me that she didn't see how it was possible to fully love and adequately nurture four children. I told her we would be just fine and made a mental note never to let this woman near me again and that if she was on call when I went into labor with my next child, I would, by sheer will power, hold him/her in until the shift change. :)

It certainly is difficult taking care of and having time to connect with each of these children; especially right now, when I'm so "connected" to the smallest one. But, it is certainly not difficult to love them and to make room in my heart for each new blessing. When I walk into Madelynne's room to get her in the morning and she's cooing and waving her arms and legs, my heart swells and I am filled with an overwhelming love for that child. This seems to happen with each new baby. My depth of love is stretched to a new level. My heart gets bigger.

As to my ability to nurture each one, I have learned what each one of my children responds to. Anna and Charlotte are both very much the same. They are fiercely independent (I DO IT!), but they also want you along for the ride...to be there to share the experience (I DID IT, MAMA!). Abby and Maddie have a need to be with people. Little Maddie is already quite the talker and those of you who have spent any small amount of time with Abby will marvel at her communication skills. My extroverts, they need their energy to be filled up by other people.

I love all my girls so much and love being their mama. I hope to have many more children and know that they'll each be different in their own ways. I can hardly wait to meet them. :)

My Sister and Crowd Come for a Visit

Madelynne is just over a week old and my sister, Amy and her family, came for a visit. It has been a lot of fun seeing all the girls. They have five girls: Alexis, Raegan, Ashleigh, Ryley and Sydney. So, yes, the girl thing is apparently contagious in my family. :) As are twins, notice Ryley and Sydney. :) This is the earliest my sister has every seen one of my girls which was a lot of fun. That is one of the hardest things for me having her so far away right now, is that we're not more able to share those special times in our lives; pregnancies and births. I am just thankful that I live now and not 100 years ago. Then, maybe, I would have been able to see her every 10 years. I just can't imagine.

As I'm sure you can imagine, our house was incredibly crazy. At one point, my cousin's wife, Holly, came over with their three children and it literally felt like a swarming tornado of children! :)

Amy's twin babies are getting so big! They seem to be developing at exactly the same rate. I still can't tell them apart. Maybe someday?

Everyone was playing so hard and I think Miss Ashleigh just needed a little down time.

Raegan trying her hand at the piano.

The oldest grandchild, Alexis is becoming such a big girl and I'm sure a real blessing to her mama.

Amy holding little Madelynne at only a week old. Unbeknownst to us at this visit, she is also pregnant with their sixth little blessing in February 2010!

Sharing Our Space

After Madelynne's birth, because the older girls are still so small, we wanted her to have her own space. That meant moving Charlotte into Anna and Abby's rooms. It seems to be going well so far. The only thing that seems to be a problem is Charlotte staying in her own bed. She is showing herself to be a little climber...even at 15 months old. She's also learned a new sound. She's mimicking my sharp intake of breath when I come into their room and find her perched in the top bunk. :)

The Girls

Anna and Abby are very interested in the new baby. They want to see her and are concerned about her. They always want to know where she is and what she needs. Charlotte could care less about her and doesn't really acknowledge her existence yet. Maybe this is a good thing. We were concerned about Charlotte showing jealousy towards the baby. Maybe she does realize the baby is there and just knows that that small "thing" needs Mommy an awful lot right now. She is becoming waaaaaaay more independent, which is also a good thing right now. Now, if we can just keep her out of the toilet. :)

Madelynne is proof to me that we should keep having babies. I love all my girls so much, but each one opens up something inside me that I hadn't yet experienced. Each one has taught me something about myself, creation, humanity and God's wonderous love that without these little beings, I wouldn't otherwise know. I praise God for seeing me fit to hold even one of these most marvelous of creations.

Madelynne is Here

After cooking for nine months and ten hours of labor, Madelynne Olivia made her grand entrance on May 31, 2009 at 7:05pm. She weighed 7lbs, 7oz and was 20.5 inches long. She is absolutely beautiful, and most defintely has her own look. I can see bits of all the other girls in her, but she is so different and special.

We thank God for her and His grace in bringing her to us safely. Aaron will be home with us the rest of this week to help out as the mama heals up a bit and we adjust to this new member of our family.

Full Term and Off to the Hospital

Here I am 39 weeks pregnant. Sorry to those of you who were hoping for more, but this is as good as it gets. I am leaning against the wall because that is the only way I could get comfortable enough for Aaron to take a picture of me standing. I have been having contractions on and off for the last three weeks, and making progress as I was dialated to a 3 at my last appointment. We now also have a labor-day. Because I have not gained any weight in my final month, my OB wanted to do an ultrasound. The ultrasound showed that there was a very minimal amount of amniotic fluid. That coupled with a recent jump in my blood pressure has set us for a delivery date of May 31st. We'll be going in at 7am to be induced. Wish us luck!

All Grown Up

I will be 27 years old this year. I am soon to be the mother of 4 (!!!) children. Sometimes when I pause long enough(or am allowed to pause long enough) to really think about how much my life has changed in the last five years, it is absolutely mind-boggling. Recently, I've been reconnecting with my cousin's lovely family. (My mother's brother's son) I can hardly believe the transition that he has made from the young man he used to be. He is now the married father of three boys running his own real-estate business. Seriously, that blows my mind, because when I think of him, or any of my other cousins, I still feel like I'm eight years old playing hide-and-seek in my grandma and grandpa Jackson's backyard.

We've recently done a couple of playdates and here are some highlights from our trip to the park. John (my cousin) is a true Jackson in his face and has transferred that on to his sons. I wonder if there is any of the Jackson features in my girls. I see it every now and then; more in a particular face or pose they make rather than a physical resemblance.


Beautiful Charlotte just chillin' out at the park, enjoying some water and fishie crachers. :)

This is the middle boy of the three, Enoch, with our oldest, Anna.


This is their youngest, Ezekial.

Their oldest, Elijah. (Notice a letter theme? :) )

Freezin' for Tomorrow

One of the things that I try to do before each baby comes is to stock up my freezer with easy and quick meals that someone could throw together with one hand tied behind their back, or in my case with a baby in one arm. This go around, it was my goal to go about this is a more organized manner. Here are some pictures and links to the recipes of the meals that Aaron and I made to stock up our freezer for after Maddie gets here. All of this was made much easier by my mother's day gift this year of a new upright freezer. I love my husband. This is something that will, as our family continues to grow, help enormously with meal prep and shopping trips.

First we made something called "Brown Bag Burritoes." These were so easy and are so yummy!


Here is my family's favorite recipe for Pumpkin Bread that makes sensational muffins. These are great for a quick breakfast or morning snack when everyone is hungry at the same time and you've got to nurse the baby. :)


This is "Chicken Tater Bake." A recipe that my sister introduced me to, it is also super easy to make and is a complete meal.

Our new favorite recipe for "Chicken Pot Pie." I've blogged about this before, but the great thing about it is that it makes two pies. I also have made up extra filling and mixed it with cheddar cheese and rotini for another pasta dish option.

These are "mini meatloaves", with the exception that I used my own personal meatloaf recipe. I know that everyone has their own preferred meatloaf recipe and I think the concept would work with whatever recipe, but this is the one that I used.

Robert and Tamara Get Married

This past Saturday, Aaron's youngest brother, Robert, married Tamara Knapp; adding a wonderful new member to this already wonderful Greenwood family. Robert and Tamara started dating when I was pregnant with Anna and I think we all knew pretty early on where their relationship was headed. Here are some favorite pictures from their big day.

How often do you get to see your hubby in a tux? Yes, I took lots of pictures of him all spiffed up.

Mary Jo and Bob, Aaron's parents, looking especially beautiful together; married almost 38 years. They are absolutely the best inlaws anyone could ask for. All of us daughter-in-laws lucked out tremendously with these two.

From Left to Right: Lee Greenwood, Bill Greenwood, Robert Greenwood, Roger Knapp (Tamara's father), Bob Greenwood, Justin Greenwood and Aaron. For whatever reason we forgot to get all the kids, wives and siblings together for a big Greenwood picture, but now with all the boys back in the states now, we should hopefully have more opportunities.

Such a lovely wedding and a lovely day. Aaron and I majorly lucked out with some great babysitters for our girls that enabled us to really enjoy the wedding. Four down, two more to go. I wonder who will be next. :)

Picture Update

I've been asked to post some pictures to update folks on what my girlies are doing now, so I thought I'd take a minute before our crazy, beautiful weekend started. (Aaron's brother, Robert, is marrying a sweetheart of a girl this weekend.) I'll blog about that next week. It sounds like all of Aaron's family will be together for the first time in almost four years. Really looking forward to some of those photo ops.

I've also been asked to post a baby-belly shot, but I'm going to wait a few weeks to do that. Aaron and I have a special ritual where we take some prego pictures when I get to full-term, so we'll post those closer to the end of May.

Here is a picture of Anna with her George, sitting on the top bunk. We finally got the room painted that lovely purple color. Aaron finished refurbishing the railing and Anna's been sleeping up there the last few night. She seems to be really enjoying it. We have had one jumping/slipping accident, but no more jumping since then.

While we may not quite be potty-trained, they are still having fun with the underwear. :)

It is almost impossible for me to get my older girls to wear jammies to bed. Some of you may remember that with Anna we tried cutting off feet from footie jammies and putting them on backwards. As warmer weather comes along, it's not such a big deal, but we got each of the girls a nightgown and they seen to be a big hit. But, so far, they only want to wear them during the day to play in. Figures. :)

Charlotte is getting so big. We're really enjoying seeing her come into her own as a full-blown toddler. As the warmer weather has come on, we've also had some new challenges to face with her. Charlotte seems to suffer from seasonal allergies on top of her eczema. She just seems to have a constant runny nose and itchy skin. We're praying that this is something that she'll grow out of soon.

Some fun towels that the girls got this past Christmas. Anna's is an elephant and Abby's is a duck. They really enjoy the towels, but bath time has become a bit of a challenging time her lately; not really sure why. I think it's a bit of a protest against daddy doing the baths all the time. We went through the same thing when I was pregnant with Charlotte and couldn't bend over the tub to bathe them.

We've been enjoying the warmer weather and taking advantage of it by playing outside as much as we can. Next weekend, we're planning on putting in our garden and doing some revamping of the flower beds. I cannot tell you how much I'm looking forward to that. I love working in the flower beds and garden when I get the chance. We'll have to make sure we take lots of pictures to pass on to you guys. :)

I hope you all are enjoying your Springtime and this season of planting. :)

Just slowing down a bit

I have been less than enthusiastic about the ole blog the last few weeks. There have been some personal struggles that I've been dealing with that have weighed down my heart considerably. It's something that I can't do anything about and finally, after the advice and counsel of good friends, was able to just give over to God. The burden is way too big and honestly there is nothing that I, in my power, can do; so thankfully, while my heart is still sore, I am not dwelling on it as I was.

I've got less than six weeks left in the semester with Ulysses, and while I have learned a LOT, and certainly have a new respect for James Joyce, it will be some time before I pick any of his material up again. It looks like I will finish the course strong and I am extremely excited about writing the final paper that I have due that first week of May.

The baby is approaching the 3 pound mark and getting more vigorous every day. I can't believe that I'm already 30 weeks and that in just two months or so, we'll have another baby here. :)

As we prepare for her birth, we're also preparing the older girl's room for Charlotte. My darling husband, Aaron, painted the girls room for me this last weekend and it is now a lovely shade of purple. I can hardly wait to see where we'll go from here with the decorations and the mural Aaron's sister, Mary may be starting soon.

As we start April and then May, we'll also be starting planning for our flower beds and veggie garden. I cannot tell you how much I'm looking forward to those summer tomatoes.

With all that's going on in our family right now, I'm sure you can understand that the posts here are not as frequent as I'd normally do, but I will try to keep it updated fairly regularly. I hope that you all are enjoying Spring. Has anyone else noticed the Magnolia trees have blossomed? I absolutely ADORE Magnolias and hope to be able to get one someday when we have a larger space to put it.

Never Again

I do solemnly swear to never again make Tater Tot Casserole for dinner. This is my promise. This is my pledge.

Yummers!

I have been trying out some freezer meals in anticipation for putting up a few that first week of June to help us get through those first weeks after Maddie's birth a bit easier and have found two that I absolutely loved that were super easy to make. The above Chicken Pot Pie and a Chicken Tater Bake. The best thing about these recipes is that they each make two meals. One to eat when you make it and another to sock away in the freezer. Bonus! The recipes can both be found on the recipe blog I do with my sister, Amy. Maybe it's something you'd like to try? :)

Busy Week

We have had a super busy week for a family that stayed home most of it. I ran after the children with the camera trying to chronicle parts of it and as you can tell from the bellow picture, Abby was getting a little sick of me.

She then decided it was okay and that she'd give me a smile. :)

A new Abby achievement for this week is puzzles. She will sit and do puzzles over and over as long as someone is there to do them with her. She's getting pretty good at them, too. Anna started really enjoying the 24 piece puzzles a few months ago, but I think she's ready for the next size up...not sure what that is though. 50? 100? Maybe it would be a good Easter gift or even better new baby gifts? :)


My beautiful man Aaron has started to prime the girl's room in anticipation for its "grand" makeover before Charlotte moves in. For those of you who actually saw this room, it is a big improvement just to have it primed. Early last year, Anna went around the room with a pink highlighter, and Magic Eraser was getting us nowhere. Abby then added her touch during nap one day after sneaking in a box of crayons. I cannot tell you how much better that makes me feel that have that covered up. We're very excited about our princess themed room that will hopefully be completed before Maddie gets here in June.

We have had some lovely, just gorgeous weather here in central Indiana with temps almost to 70, which was then promptly followed by temps that dipping below freezing. But, we were definitely taking advantage of every second that we could. Abby and Anna enjoyed spending some time outside in their playhouse, which was a great "hand-me-down" piece that we received last year. Thanks, Emily! While the girls played, I was able to go through the yard and clean up all the winter debris and clear out leaves and sweep down the patio. It feels good to get a start on some of those Spring tasks. Aaron and I also tackled part of the garage and a closet; making a trip to Goodwill with a trunk load of donations. I'm hoping that we'll have nice enough weather next weekend to get even more down outside. We've already had some crocus' bloom; which were promptly destroyed, but beautiful nonetheless. I see daffodils starting to sprout and can hardly wait to get started on my flower beds.

We hope you're enjoying the Spring routines as much as we are!

Why We are Choosing to Homeschool

My oldest child is only three and while we have yet to leap headlong into the homeschooling world, it was something that my husband and I decided on before we were even engaged. We personally, do not feel that, in good conscience, we could send our children to a public school. But, we also believe that it is the right of the parents (not the government or society) to choose how they want to educate their children and what would ultimately best work for their family situation. That said, here are a few thoughts for the day on why we homeschool. :)

There are so many more reasons why we homeschool, but the number one reason is that public schools or government schools directly attack my way of life and the moral values I want my children to learn. They teach that creationism is not a valid argument, and instead argue that it is the uneducated that follow that mindset. They teach sex education in elementary school and stress that abstinence until marriage is an unattainable and old-fashioned goal. History has been “rewritten” to completely keep God out of the founding of our country stating that most founding fathers were either atheists or deists. English curriculum contains books that openly attack religious morality and claim that it's okay because, “Hey, the children are reading!”

There are certainly several arguments about why homeschooling is wrong or at the very least should be heavily monitored by the very system that most homeschooling parents are trying to avoid, but my personal favorites are the following: Homeschooling parents are overprotective and are out of touch with reality! And the most common, albeit the most uneducated, What about socialization?!

The generalization that homeschooling parents are overprotective is an old and tired argument. As another homeschooling parent once said, we are simply “proactive.” I am not saying that there are not public school families who are not also proactive in their children's education, but neither would I say that they are overprotective in their desire to know what is being taught in the curriculum that their children are exposed to. I am simply cutting out the middle man, by being directly involved in the teaching and presentation of our curriculum, there is no necessary “un-teaching” that will have to occur. As for being out of touch with reality, I am well aware of the “reality” of the public school system, and quite frankly you can keep it. As someone who LOVED school, I myself dealt with drugs in the hallways and physical attacks. I will instead bring my children up in an environment that will actually meet the original goals of education and preserve in them a love for learning that will not be shadowed by the natural occurrences the environment of the public nourishes.

When someone says that our children are or will become under socialized, useless and zombiesque members of society, I usually laugh it off and pass it over as an old saying that is simply being repeated, because that's all anyone really knows to say when arguing against homeschooling. I think that people who use that argument are simply uneducated in all that is available to the homeschooling family. I am certainly not naive enough to think that there aren't those homeschoolers who fall into that unsocialized view, but the percentage of homeschool graduates that emerge that way is insignificant, and I believe shrinking.

Just a few thoughts headed your way after my reading of an anti-homeschooling article. I should really stay away from those things. :)

Shared List on Why Homeschool

Here is a little list that I love that I thought I'd share to give even further insight into why we are choosing to homeschool.

Why We Homeschool
from Amy Bell's Natural Learning Page

A few reasons, in no particular order, certainly not all-inclusive:

Because I think I am more intelligent and more capable than any teacher my child might have in a school. (How's that for elitist? )
Because I think my children are more intelligent and more capable than any teacher they might have in a school.
Because I don't trust people who don't love my children to have their best interests at heart.
Because I think schools short-change girls in science and math education and encourage violence in boys.
Because I do not value traditional measures of success.
Because I think schools damage a child's self-image, ability to make unassisted decisions, motivation, and trust in him or herself.
Because my own school experiences were miserably boring and useless.
Because I don't want my children's socialization to be hampered by being stuck with a random group of 25 or 30 age mates for 7 hours a day, 5 days a week.
Because I want my children to have the freedom and flexibility to learn what, when, and how they choose.
Because I think schools are ineffective places for learning.
Because I think schools are fundamentally anti-intellectual, emphasize peer acceptance over moral values, and promote all the most trivial aspects of socialization.
Because we believe a strong family life is important. This is impossible when families are separated for most of their waking hours. We like being together.
Because I think spending most of the day indoors with two dozen kids the same age is unnatural, unhealthy, and very limiting. Children need to see much more of the world than that.
Because I think schools promote the status quo, conformity, obedience to authority, passivity, intellectual dependence, emotional dependence group identity, inter-group conflict, hostility towards achievement, and antipathy towards thought. And, they are a colossal waste of time.
Because we do so many interesting things, I don't know how we'd fit in time for school.
Because I think homeschooling helps my children be more secure, happier, and more accepting of others.
Because I don't believe in traditional measures of "appropriate" child behavior. (aka, I've seen 'normal', and I don't like it).
Because I don't like the idea of a school trying to teach values.
Because I don't trust the government with my money. Why would I trust them with my children?
Because I think learning is more meaningful when it is intrinsically motivated.
Because our children can be exposed to more of the world by being with me than by being in a school.
Because I adore my children. I intend that they have the widest, most broadening experiences I can provide.
Because homeschooling allows long, uninterrupted blocks of time to work on an activity ( which might involve daydreaming or planning or brainstorming).
Because homeschooled children can spend more time outdoors.
Because homeschooled children become more responsible for their own education. They will not be passive recipients of subject matter selected by their teachers (actually administrators or government committees), but will at least have input into designing their own education and will eventually take over full responsibility for it.
Because homeschooled children learn how to learn, not just how to be taught.
Because our children will learn to relate to people regardless of gender.
Because our boys will not learn to hate kissing and hugging and girls.
Because our girls will not learn to lose themselves during adolescence.

Copyright 1998 Amy Bell. (Some points admittedly pirated from other people's lists published on the net).

Update on the Kiddos

It has been ages since I have been up to leaving anything here on the old blog. Any reason I give would just sound like an excuse, so I'll just say, "I'm sorry!" and jump right into an update on the kids. :)

Charlotte is 13 months now. Her new favorite things include unplugging the phone at the answering machine, so that none of the cordless phones work, (If you have tried to call and can't get through to anyone...you now know who to blame) and also turning off the glowing red light for our computers. Lovely how this seriously go with the flow easy baby is now trying out her toddler ease of finding trouble. But, this is small potatoes to where her sisters were at this point, so no complaints. In the below picture, you can see her shirt sleeves are too short. That is a 12 mth outfit and we have just moved her on up to the 18 mth clothes and they fit perfectly. I can't believe she was already there. Although I shouldn't really be surprised. She weighed in at 25 lbs at her one year check-up, putting her in the 90th percentile for weight and she's also in the same range for height. She is doing some major teething here lately and also having to suffer with some skin issues...she's gotten attacked by the eczema fairy with one large patch on her back and one on her ankle that just seems to keep coming back. She is walking all over the place, but is still a bit unsure of herself outside. Hopefully, as the weather improves she'll get more opportunities for practice.


Abby is such a beautifully interesting child. She has come into her own when it comes to vocabulary and will talk to you as long as you're willing to come up with responses. She will chat with people on the phone, while I could never get Anna to do even a hi or goodbye. She is also extremely polite and helpful. She is always saying, "Thank you." and "You're welcome." and "Are you okay?" We are having a bit of a problem with pinching right now, but hopefully she'll grow out of it soon. Here she is in the dress-up outfit that Grandma Greenwood made for her last birthday. She likes to get dressed up before she she heads to "work." :)

Anna, our oldest, is "almost" potty-trained. Every week or so, we get a little closer, and I hope, I hope, I hope we'll have her completely potty trained before the newest baby comes. On other fronts you'll notice that Anna is clothed in the below picture. This is something we're working on and at times we actually go like a whole hour now where she'll keep her clothes on. She is turning into somewhat of a ham when it comes to the camera and loves to say, "cheese" and flash her mega smile. She is also becoming more of the typical older child in terms of finding perfection. Which, at times is throwing a wrench in our school time. She likes to practice her letters, but gets frustrated easily if one doesn't follow the form or doesn't look like Mommy's. Oh, well. We'll keep at it. :)

As for the newest baby, Maddie, she hit the two pound mark this past week and we'll enter our final trimester next week. In some ways I can hardly wait for this time to pass. I want to meet her and trace her features. I want to introduce her to her sisters and start that next chapter of our lives. In other ways, I don't know how I'm possibly going to get everything done that I need to before she gets here. We know that we won't be making the leap to a bigger place this year and possibly not next year either, unless God intervenes in an amazing way. Because of that, we're doing all we can to utilize all the available space we have and make the best possible storage decisions. We're getting rid of a lot of things that we haven't used in years and perhaps our new biggest challenge, we're preparing the girls room for a new occupant, as Charlotte will be vacating the nursery. I'm really excited about this project and will share bits of it with you as we make progress there over the next three months before Maddie gets here.

Again, sorry I've been a bit of a blog slacker, but hopefully, I'll get back into the swing of things and keep y'all updated better. :)

Back to the Blog

I've been away a couple of weeks. Mainly, because, we lost our camera, and there weren't any pictures to go along with what I wanted to blog about. I plan to maybe "go back in time" and fix those entries. I can fix them because my sweetie got me a new, totally awesome new camera for Valentine's Day. It's a much better camera than the little Sony that I'd had previously and I spent most of the weekend getting it figured out and terrorizing small children with the flash. Look for updates soon. I plan to get on that one afternoon this week. :)

Charlotte

I started this blog a year ago with the birth of our third child. Charlotte turns one year old today. I look back on our lives and I hardly remember what it was like before she was born. I remember her birth and her first cries; she sounded a bit like a donkey...hee-haw, hee-haw. She is such a wonderful child. She is almost always happy and smiley. She is thoughtful and contemplative. She likes to dance and she especially is fascinated by teeth.

She loves her sisters to pieces and there is nothing that can get her to smile faster. She follows them through the house on their adventures and adores it when they talk to her. Abby calls her Charlotte Grace. Don't really know why. They love giving her kisses goodnight and Abby loves to hug her...She also like to sit on her and smoosh her down when she tries to take steps. Oh, well. I suppose that makes them sisters.

Speaking of steps...Charlotte starting taking more of them this week. She is practicing a lot. I figured that she'd be walking before her birthday and she is. She's even turning and taking more steps after. There is still a lot of falling going on, but she gets a little better every day.

She prefers Aaron to me and it is the most beautiful thing when Aaron comes home from work. No matter where she is or what she's doing, when the key turns in the lock, Charlotte races to get to the front door and climb up Aaron's leg. She has to be picked up and if for whatever reason, Aaron's hands are full when he gets home, she'll cry until she gets picked up. She loves her daddy.

Charlotte is changing into a little girl and not so much the baby anymore. It's kind of sad, but also exciting to see what kind of little person she'll develop into. I wonder what her voice will be like. I wonder if she'll also inherit my curls and if she'll be the one that the red hair will stick with.

The time has literally flown and I known that one day, I'll turn around and she'll be all grown up, driving, and leaving us, but for now, I shall enjoy her as she is and treasure this time. :)

Happy 1st Birthday, Charlotte!

My Bucket List...Not Yet Complete :)

Aaron and I watched a movie recently called, 'The Bucket List.' We both thought it was a great movie. I've had a life list or bucket list since forevers and have been thinking I'd share parts of it here with you. There are certainly some things that are more personal that aren't on this particular list, but it'll give you an idea and maybe encourage you to make your own.

"Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart" Psalm 37:4

Celebrate New Year’s Eve in Times Square
Observe High Tea in London
Go on a cruise
Learn a foreign language
Ride a motorcycle
Watch a play at The Globe theater
Visit the Great Pyramids in Egypt
Kiss my husband on the observation deck of the Empire State Building
Learn to play the violin/fiddle
Ride in a NYC taxi cab
Graduate from college
Read the complete works of Shakespeare, Plato, Aristotle, Dickens, Thoreau, Rousseau, Conrad, Hemingway, Twain, Burroughs, Tolstoy, Longfellow, Keats, Poe, Bacon, Whittier, and Emerson
Become familiar with the compositions of Bach, Beethoven, Debussy, Ibert, Mendelssohn, Lalo, Liszt, Rimski-Korsakov, Respighi, Rachmaninoff, Paganini, Stravinsky, Toch, Tschaikosvsky, Verdi
Marry and have children
Type 50 words per minute
Read the Bible from cover to cover
Visit the Great Wall of China
Travel along the Via De la Rosa
Pray at the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem
Publish something in The New Yorker
Write a book
Learn to ski
Go on a missions trip
Visit the Grand Canyon
Climb a mountain
Take a carriage ride through Central Park
Vacation in New Zealand
Run for office
Save a life
Go skydiving
Ride in a hot air balloon
Sing Karaoke
Drive a convertible
Meet someone famous
Go skinny dipping in a mountain pond
Buy a lottery ticket
Learn to fence
Ride in a gondola in Venice(While I'm there, wouldn't it be cool to see the library that had the big “X” on it from the Indiana Jones movie?)
Take a photography course
See the Aurora Borealis
Act in a Shakespeare play
Visit every state
Touch a potentially dangerous wild animal
Swim in the ocean
Go on an African Safari
Spend the night in an honest to goodness castle
Participate in some kind of re-enactment
Eat at “The Brown Derby” and sit where Lucy sat
Learn how to Kayak and go white water rafting
Visit St. Peter's Cathedral, The Sistine Chapel, Westminster Abbey and the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris
Attend an Opera at the Sydney Opera House
Go on an archealogical expedition
Pan for gold
See a volcano erupt
Get a hole in one
Kiss the Blarney Stone in Ireland
Fly somewhere on a whim
Go on a roadtrip without a predetermined location
See a broadway play
Eat a hotdog at Coney Island
Eat something from a street vendor in an Eastern country
Drive across the USA
Drive an Indy Race Car
Learn to identify all the major constellations
Memorize an entire book of the Bible (it always amazes me when people can rattle off these scriptures passages-when I was a little kid our pastor told about a professor that he had in seminary who had memorized the entire Bible...well-maybe one book at a time)
Discover something new/ invent something
Spend the night in a convent
See a shuttle launch in the flesh
Make a quilt
Get a graduate degree
knit a sweater
Create a mosaic table

It's tough being a woman

This is a response to my sister's recent blog entry. I tried to respond there, but I found there was just too much to say inside her little comment box. So, I am responding to it here.

Of course, as a normal Christian mama, I worry about many things, too. As a rule, I am not a worrier. I am married to a worrier and as we all know...only one worrier per household is truly workable.

1. I think its tough being a mother of small children, born so close together. Its tough sometimes to trust that God knows what He's doing when He builds your family; to remember that He'll never give you more than you can handle. There are days when you'll be nursing, cooking dinner, disciplining, playing a game, singing a song and sweeping the floor(well, you'll be sweeping the floor. that's just too much for me) all at the same time, and you'll feel it all start to well up on you and you'll think/pray this is just too much. Then God will send you a blessing to remind you that He's in control. Perhaps your lovely sister will call and remind you about how bad a day can truly be, and you'll smile at your children as you hang up the phone.

2. Thankfully, I have never had serious issues with my weight or self image; either one extreme or the other. I really just want to be healthier and know that I'm not there currently, but can't do a whole lot about it in my current "condition." (Oh, how I hate that word).

3. As for all that a woman has to get done in a day, I am so not the average woman on this. I don't stress out about that. I grew up around lists and therefore hate lists. The only lists I have ever made are the books I want to read, the occasional grocery list, the things I want to do before I die and educational lists--as in what I needed to accomplish for a said class and now what I want my children to accomplish. I appreciate and admire the woman who can operate that way, but I am not one of them. I learned early on that I had certain things that were important to me to get done in my day and cleaning out the fridge or wiping down the bathroom sink did not make the top of that "list." This brought strain to my relationship with my sister growing up because one of us is a Mary and one of us a Martha (bet you can't figure out which one is which. HA!). But, I have learned that each personality is a gift in it's own right. I have learned things from her about making and building my home. I would hope that she could say the same about me.

4. The sheer awesomeness of our responsibility--this is one that my sister didn't have, but one of my own. If I worry about anything, this is it. I feel a great responsibility in being a wife and mother. I have the responsibility to guide and shepherd my children's hearts...to steer them in their relationship with God and understanding. I worry that I'm not doing enough. Am I echoing the steps of the Savior closely enough that they'll see Him in me? I worry that because of some deficiency on my part, I might cause my children to stumble later on. The thought of that, in and of itself, brings me to my knees...both literally and figuratively.

I worry that as a homeschooling mom, I won't be able to handle their academic needs. Even though, education and learning plays such a huge part in my own life, will I be able to develop that love for learning that I myself have. Will they see the importance in, not just being able to read, but in being able to read good books?

Will they be women of quality and substance? Am I showing them how to live their lives in such a way that they'll want to mirror me and ultimately Christ later on down the road?

Am I being the helpmate for my husband that God would have me to be? Do I serve him and love him as God would desire me to do? Am I submitting to him as God commanded me to do? That old stinky head of feminism is just as much a part of my thinking as any other woman in my generation. I have to remember that God placed my husband as the spiritual head and the leader in my home.

Whoa! Kind of heavy there, but those are my worries. These are where my heart lies...where my prayers tend to go.

I'll pass the question from my sister on to you; what are your worries? What makes your heart, as a woman, bleed?

A very eye opening question.

Growing

Charlotte's feet can almost reach the footrest on the highchair. Waaaaaa!!! WWwwaaaaaa!!! My baby-baby is changing so much. She's loosing some of that baby look and changing into (duh-da-da!!) a toddler. Her hair is growing longer. Her legs, a little less chunky monkey. Her little face is developing more, too. She has started standing on her own without holding on to anything. I think she might be walking before her first birthday at the end of the month.

Right now, we're in that beautiful "building our family" stage of coupledom. We hope to have many more children before our family is complete. Charlotte is the first baby that I've really been able to watch closely as she went through the "change" from baby to toddler. With all the others, I was either extremely pregnant or already had a newborn in my arms. It's a sad and beautiful process. It makes me wonder how it will affect me when I know that there will, in all likelihood, be no more babies. Waaaa!!!! WWWwwwwaaaaaaaa!!!

I suppose though, since the women in my family are generally able to have children into their early forties, that by the time I'm done having children...Anna will almost be old enough to get married and make me a grandmother. Hmmmm. :)

Back to School

Some of you may already know that I transferred my college credits to IUPUI. Well, I've taken the next step and have registered for a class this semester. I will be taking my Senior English seminar on James Joyce. The class will be on Wednesday nights for about three hours. Major thanks to my hubby for being understanding about my need to finish and also being willing to work his schedule out for it as well.

Please pray that I haven't lost too many brain cells to mommy-itis and will be able to actually perform well in the class. :)

All Things Disgusting

This has been a week for the parenting books. Never have I dealt with such yuckiness in such a short span of time. Abby and Charlotte were each fighting some sort of stomach bug. Anna, thankfully, was spared, and Charlotte seems to be over it. Poor Abby though just can't seem to get a break. She's been waking up in the night off in on with either vomit or bad diarrhea. Diarrhea is most definitely worse to deal with. Yuckity-yuck-yuck. So we've been doing lots of extra laundry. I can't imagine what our water bill will look like this month. :(

We've had a bit of a break and hope to be able to go to church on Sunday. We'll see what happens.

A FULL House

Amazingly, we were able to fit another entire household into our house for the new year's holiday. My sister and her family stayed with us for just a couple of nights, but it was so much fun. It's a lot more fun having them stay with us, because we get more time to visit since they don't have to travel to a hotel room to put their children down for the night.

We hosted dinner at my house on the 30th. Dinners at mom's house on the 31st and 1st. On New Year's Eve we even stayed up until past midnight Arkansas time playing Mexican Train Dominoes. :)

It was crazy having eight girls 4 and under in such a small little space, but we made it work and all the girls had a great time. It was certainly noisy, but it make me thankful for the space I did have and made my girls seem not so loud when they all did leave. :)

Unfortunately, their family won't be able to come again until this summer, but there is a possibility that they'll be here for the birth of our baby. Because of the distance, she's never been here for the births of one of my children, so that would be very exciting for me. I was blessed to be able to watch their firstborn, Alexis, when their second daughter, Raegan was born, and was able to see her when she was just a couple of hours old.

I'm really looking forward to them moving closer. The possibility of a day trip is super-exciting.