A walk back in time

Since some people have been wanting pictures, we'll go back in time. (Hopefully it won't confuse anyone!)

Here's a "snapshot" of our last couple of months:
Aren't I funny?

Karissa and I have been taking sewing lessons from a lady at church. For her first project, Karissa made a simple jean skirt with an elastic waist. I hemmed a pair of Matt's pants. For our second project, we bit off a little more than we could chew. We decided to make matching flannel pajamas for all four kids as a Christmas present from Karissa and I. They got to open them on Christmas Eve. This is right before bed on Christmas Eve. Karissa's nightgown doesn't have buttons and buttonholes yet. I didn't get that far. Hers needed it the least and she was in on the surprise. They've been wearing them a lot and they look really cute!



Here are the kids before church on Christmas Eve. There is only one picture where Rachel is smiling and of course, no one else is looking OR smiling. So, this is the best you get!



Micah, our very persistant young lad, built a snowman on a day with TERRIBLE packing snow. It was dry and windy and really cold. He was out there for HOURS patting and patting the snow until he could make balls out of it. I think he just melted the snow with heat from his hands. We were so proud of him for not giving up.




Cutie-pie Garrett having fun in the snow:



Here is a treasured picture from Rachel's birthday party on November 17. It includes Matt's Granny, all four of our parents, Matt's sisters and our whole immediate family. Too bad that we couldn't get the other 3 Great Grandmas in there. But still, it's not often that we can all be together. It was taken right before everyone left for the night.



Rachel and her cupcakes:






Rachel with the pumpkin pie that we shared on our actual birthday (November 11):




The Birthday Girls in the morning before church:



Here are some pictures from November 4 when we were TRYING to get a decent picture for Christmas cards (which didn't get done anyway with everyone being sick):












How do those of you with more than two kids EVER get good pictures? Heather? Kim? Angie? Anyone from the Woodshed? I've seen some of your pictures and they are much better than these!

If you are interested in more pictures from Rachel's birthday party, my mom has some at her blog: http://bradleyupdates-godisgood.blogspot.com

I was having trouble getting the link to work today. So, you'll have to cut and paste.

A Garrett Saying

I have so much to catch up on. I have pictures and stories from Rachel's birthday, from her party, from Thanksgiving, from a piano recital, from the church Christmas musical, from Christmas and from fun times in the snow. And, hopefully, I will eventually get some of them on here. :) We are finally back from the land of the sick. We only have a couple of runny noses. We have survived bad colds, stomach viruses, respiratory viruses, pink eye, sinus infections and more. Our family didn't have more than 2 healthy people at a time for almost 5 weeks. But, we are FINALLY healthy! I am so thankful! On that note, I will leave you with a cute "Garrett-ism" from today that reminds me of how thankful I am for my children.

When Garrett woke up from his nap, I was downstairs. I heard him calling, so began to make my way upstairs. I met him at the top of the stairs and he was crying a little. When he saw me, he started wiping his eyes and then, in the sweetest voice, said, "Mommy, now I will wipe the sad out of my eyes." Don't you love 2 year olds? They are SO precious!

Accomplishments

Don't worry, this isn't another post about all that Rachel is doing. (Although, she DOES walk about 3/4 of the time now.) :)

Yesterday, Micah and Garrett were playing out back and I was working downstairs. All of a sudden, Micah opened the door and said, "Mom I want to show you something!" So, I went outside to see what was so great. Garrett was on the swing pumping back and forth and Micah was so proud of him. What I see as the bigger accomplishment is that Micah patiently taught him to do it instead of tossing a ball around or running around the yard. Micah usually prefers to play by himself and often complains when others want to play with him. Although it's not necessary to ALWAYS play with others, we have working on at least thinking of the feelings of others and SOMETIMES including them in whatever play is going on. In this instance Micah willingly and selflessly took time to teach his brother how to do something. Then, he was not proud of his own personal accomplishment in teaching Garrett to do something but was genuinely encouraging his brother. ahhhhhhhhh.....

Karissa and Micah have also been spending a lot of time reading to Garrett. Thankfully, I do think that Karissa has given up on her original goal of teaching him to read at the age of two though. (When he was born, she announced that he MUST read at two, since she read at four and Micah read at three. Logically, this also means that Rachel needs to hurry up as well, because she would need to learn to read at the age of one. This thinking could lead to real trouble if we were to have two more children. Would that mean they would need to learn to read in utero?) We have also been working on NOT comparing ourselves with ourselves, but obviously we haven't accomplished that goal yet. ;)

More Baby News

Rachel is getting SO big! She now walks at least half of the time. She also loves to watch her brothers and sister play and tries to join in the fun. Getting thrown in the air by Daddy or playing "hide and seek" with him are great fun! She's got such a lovable, easy-going personality. She's rarely fussy-- just so content. (And unfortunately she didn't learn that from her Mommy, but I'm working on it.) I think her favorite person to watch and play with is Garrett. He's full of energy and is always entertaining. He's also always singing and she loves music! Sometimes it sounds like she's really singing along!

A Working Day

Today we kind of puttered around. I did lots of laundry. I worked on sorting out clothes bins (when I changed out bins for the fall, I realized they really need some work) and I still have lots more to go. We did some straightening up. Micah did some vacuuming-- YES my seven year old LOVES to vacuum! Am I a blessed woman or what?

We also had times where some people were having "diligence problems." We have tried all manner of punishments, incentives, rewards, consequences, timers and other methods to increase diligence on morning jobs, chores and family work times. We are still working on it! Today, Matt and I decided that we would institute a new plan. If someone isn't working diligently and with a good attitude, when they satisfactorily finish the job they are doing they get an additional job. That way they get extra practice on whatever area is needed: focusing on the work at hand rather than worrying about what others are doing, doing your best, having a good attitude, getting your work done in a timely manner, etc. We figure that if the kids don't learn to work hard with a good attitude, at least we'll have a clean house! ;)

Oh, and lest you think all that we were doing was slave-driving our children today, we also played a game of "Sorry" with Micah and Karissa while Garrett was napping. Our family likes games. We have LOTS of them! Garrett is just starting to get old enough to get in on the fun and the kids do a good job at patiently teaching him how to play. There are some games he's just not quite ready for though and those are a little more fun when he's napping or already in bed for the night.

Another highlight of the day: Rachel listened to Matt reading lots of stories to Garrett and her before bed tonight. This is a rare event. Usually she acts as though she is being tortured when someone is reading to her. In our house of bibliophiles, that is quite distressing! (She has enjoyed looking at board books for quite a while, but listening to stories has been quite another matter.) Let's hope this is the beginning of a whole new era for Rachel!

Oh, and there's more Rachel news! She is toddling around quite a bit. I would say she walks about 1/3 of the time and crawls about 2/3 of the time. It's hard to believe that she will be one year old a week from tomorrow. My baby girl is growing up SO FAST!

Vision Forum Drawing

I really like Vision Forum. They have lots of great books, CDs and toys! Someone sent me a link with this entry at the Life in a Shoe Blog. So, I thought I'd share it.

Here is my dream order (well, kind of-- I'd like to be able to spend more money ;) but it's a little version of my dream anyhow :D ):

Passionate Housewives: Desperate for God by Jennie Chancey and Stacy McDonald ($16)
Thoughts for Young Men by J.C. Ryle ($8)
The League of Grateful Sons DVD ($20)
So Much More by Anna Sofia and Elizabeth Botkin ($20)
How to Dethrone the Imperial Judiciary ($14)
The Importance of the Electoral College ($10)
Of Plymouth Plantation ($24)
Beloved Bride: The Letters of Stonewall Jackson to His Wife ($15)
The Influence of Older Children on Younger Children CD ($10)
The Bible Lessons of John Quincy Adams for His Son ($12)

The contest is only for products that are published by Vision Forum. There are lots of other things that our family would enjoy as well!

Saturday Soccer Game

Our kids seem to be involved in a lot and it keeps us busy. But at this point we still can do most things together. If, because of the busyness, everyone starts going in different directions we will probably need to rethink some of activities. On Saturday, we all enjoyed spending part of the day at Micah's soccer game. The other kids didn't watch 100% of the time, but they did spend some time cheering Micah on.

Here are some pictures of our time on Saturday. (Daddy had the camera that day, so he's not in any of them.)