Embrace the Camera Sept. 30, 2010...

I think Lulubee might have my eyes. However, she has her Daddy to thank for those lashes!



Lucy has two special blankets that are both hand-me-downs from Jesse and Shelby. Shelby gave her a pink silkie blanket with princesses on the corner and Jesse gave her his green one. The green one is her favorite by far. People have given her new ultra-soft beautiful blankets, but the one she loves most is greenie. She likes to fold up a corner and rub it on her face or smell it until she falls asleep. Once when she was really upset she said to me, "I want my blankie...I need to smell it." Kind of freaky, I know. When she really wants to show us how much she loves us, she will share a corner with us and let us partake in the glorious smelling of the blankie.


Our after nap ritual lately has been for Lucy and Preslie to lay with me on the couch, watch PBS and drink some vanilla rice milk while they wake up. I love snuggling my baby girls!

My boy is growing up...

Every mom thinks her son is the most handsome boy ever and I am no exception. Jesse is almost 6 and I am afraid he is going to be a big time heart breaker in a few years, especially since he has a sensitive side that will drive all the girls crazy. If he develops his Daddy's love for music we'll be in even more trouble!



I love to see how his personality is developing. He is so kind and gentle with babies and pets. He truly feels compassion for people who are hurting. He is headstrong and stands up for himself and can hold his own in a fight with his sisters, and yet he is fiercely loyal. The other day he thought someone was being mean to Shelby and he said, "Hey, don't talk to my sister like that!" I was so proud of him.



He kills scary bugs and picks up crickets with his bare hands. He has even rescued a bird out of Samson's mouth. He loves to dig in the dirt, ride his bike and toss the football. And he is bold with his faith. The other night I overheard him asking a friend, "Do you love Jesus?" He's constantly inviting friends to church. Several times I have heard him tell people that they shouldn't say, "Oh my God." Once, I had to tell him to give it a rest because a little girl kept saying it over and over and he kept asking her not to.



I can't believe he is going to outgrow me one of these days! As old as he is starting to look, I adore the fact that he still loves his blankie. Notice it in the pics. He still sleeps with it every night and likes to hold it when he is really tired. Still my baby...always. I love my son.

Christmas in September...

It's CHOIR time again and the kids are back into it full force. They play their choir Christmas musical cd nonstop and produce their own little plays almost daily. This is the manger scene for their play. Jesse is Joseph and Shelby is Mary, of course. They tried to shove both Preslie and Lucy in the manger to be baby Jesus, but they weren't having it. Lucy is happy to dance and sing, but she won't be confined or forced into small places. The animals in this particular manger are quite interesting. We have bears, turtles, a puffin, a caterpillar and a frog. Unconventional, but creative.




Preslie had some fun of her own making baby Jesus ride on the Spider Man car. When they play the music, she always dances and claps with a huge smile on her face, but during the drama part she gets a little side tracked.

Our neighborhood...aka Melrose Place...

One of our neighbors calls our neighborhood "Melrose Place" because there are so many attractive young singles living here who love to party. She and her husband also moved here from Anthem thinking this would be a neighborhood full of families with young children. Not so, I am afraid. We are among the oldest. She and I both feel like grandmas when we see our neighbors running around half dressed, skate boarding with boom boxes on their shoulders, washing their cars in bikinis, talking about beer bongs, and side walk chalking each other's driveways.

We do feel very safe, however, because there are probably upwards of 8 friendly fire fighters living in our small neighborhood. Strangely, both she and I have fire fighter neighbors who never wear shirts. James and I call our next door neighbor "the shirtless wonder" because we have seriously never seen him in a shirt. He will pull into his driveway and hop out of his truck shirtless. He is probably in his mid twenties, and his life seems so free it makes us feel old.

There are also a few retired couples who live here and a handful of families. After reaching out and meeting some of these families, we are starting to like this place a little more. Tonight, a few neighbor kids {from two separate families} are even going to church with us for a pajama party puppet show. Shelby and Jesse were so excited to have friends to invite! Tomorrow we have another neighborhood friend's birthday party at the pool and Sunday we have an ice cream social at the pool! What?! I know, it is insane, but good!

Lately, when I think about our neighborhood, I am more focused on my new friends and the kids' new friends than the partying youngsters who are always using the pool when we want it with a tapped keg and several coolers to keep them happy!

Who knows, maybe our {huge} little family and the other sweet families in our neighborhood will inspire a few of them to get married, settle down, and have a few kids of their own...

why do we bother buying toys?

As I type this, Preslie is sliding the screen door open and closed over and over again. This little girl, as much or maybe even more than her brother and sisters, is way more interested in playing with ordinary things than toys. We rarely buy toys ourselves, but we have very generous family members who love to spoil the kids. Although, I have to admit that the spoiling has decreased as the number of kids have increased. That is a good thing!



After reorganizing this stack of diapers and pull-ups hundreds of times a day, I finally wised up and moved it to an enclosed box on a shelf. Preslie still dumps it out at least once a day, but it is much less of a temptation. So she moves on to the "plastics" cabinet in the kitchen to rearrange all of the tupperware, or the bathroom to play in the toilet if I am not careful. Never mind that they have a playroom full of exciting toys, regular old diapers, bowls and toilet water are much more fun!



Oh to be so easily amused! Love this baby girl!

our son, the moderate drinker...

Humbling parent moment number {who knows}...they are coming more frequently these days.

This Sunday in kids' church, Jesse got to answer a question in front of all of 1st and 2nd graders. They were discussing the difference between a WANT and a NEED. The teacher asked for an example of a "WANT" and our son obliged with the following answer spoken directly into the microphone, "beer." To that, the teacher replied, "Yes, beer is a want." Shelby was mortified and said she thought to herself, "Oh no, My brother just said 'beer' into the microphone in front of everyone at church!" So when she told us about it, Jesse proceeded to argue with her and say that the teacher didn't ask for a "WANT" she asked for a "ONCE."

His mind processes information much like his Uncle Matt, so I knew whatever he thought was a "ONCE" would make perfect sense to him but probably not to anyone else.

So, I asked him, "Jesse, what is a ONCE?"
He said, "You know something you can have only "one" of. You told us that it is okay for grown-ups to have one or two beers but that the bible says that they can't drink more than that because it makes them act different."
He was firm in his argument that the teacher had, in fact, asked for an example of a "ONCE" and not a "WANT." I explained to him the difference between what he was calling a "ONCE" and a what the teacher meant by a "WANT" and told him how the answer "beer" would correctly answer either question.

Now, I am wondering if we should mention anything to his teacher or just leave it alone. His answer is especially hilarious {albeit puzzling} considering the fact that his parents don't even drink beer.

Too hot to sleep...

Our air conditioner has been acting up for almost a month and the night before last it petered out completely. Thankfully, it is under warranty so we won't have to pay to have it fixed, but we had to pack up and come over to my parents to escape the heat for a few days until they can get out to fix it. It was 91 degrees in the house last night when I went to get our stuff. A few weeks ago we had a taste of fall with a little cooler weather. It is back up to 105+ this week. I am so looking forward to October through April when we have picture perfect weather here!

Handy Manny and Potty Humor...

I have previously discussed why the potty humor issue is not worth fighting around here and it would be the fault of the father. I went to join James and the older ones last night for bedtime stories after putting Preslie down and walked in to James saying this:

Ring Ring "Hola, you break it, we fix it. This is Manny."

"Yeah, Hi Handy Manny I need your help. I am sitting on the potty and and I can't reach the toilet paper. Will you please come wipe my bottom for me right away?"

"We'll be right there!"

and then James' version of the theme song, "Hop scotch jump in, go wipe his bum."

warning: My kids are pretty good at controlling the potty humor, but if you are terrified of your kids hearing potty humor you might want to rethink play dates with us. They may hear booty, poop or toot a few times during their visit.

sunset and Preslie...

I took this picture of the sunset last night from our bedroom window. I know so little about how to use the settings on my camera that I didn't even think about catching our reflection in the glass. I love how it caught sweet Preslie admiring the sunset with us. Arizona has some of the most amazing sunsets I have ever seen. And to look out over the vast desert and the mountains from our bedroom window and see God's workmanship...a little "good night blessing," is breathtaking when we stop to take it in. James painted our bedroom last night and all of our curtains were down or else we might have missed it. I'm so glad we didn't.

infomercial madness...

My parents bought us Montel's Health Master Blender!! Whoop Whoop! I am so stoked. I have wanted this thing forever! I eat salads for lunch almost every day and I get so tired of chewing and chewing and chewing while managing lunch with the kiddos. They are always finished long before I am. So, I half-jokingly told my mom I wanted this blender so that I could blend up my salads everyday and just drink them. She is a big smoothie drinker and has returned her super-nice expensive blender 3 times because the motor keeps burning out. I convinced her that Montel's Health Master was the answer to her dilemma. She got her blender the other night and we actually blended up a salad mixed with a banana, some yogurt and a few blueberries. It wasn't half bad! She brought mine over tonight and I can't wait to experiment.

Our son and his grandparents are infomercial junkies. Two years ago for his b-day, Jesse asked for {remember this post} or {this one}the Pancake Puff! Jesse and Shelby are glued to the tv every time the Magic Bullet comes on and they have even made their own commercials. My parents also bought themselves and us the Jack Lelane Juicer, which I have been asked to sell on ebay to offset the price of the Montel. Jesse talked them into the brownie pan, and I am sure if you dig through their cupboards you will find a plethora of other infomercial merch...maybe even the shakin' weights! Just kidding. But really, infomercials are pure entertainment. So much so that a few months ago Shelby and James spent an entire afternoon cracking each other up writing several of their own hilarious ones. Here is one of my favorites that they wrote together:

Magic Mane
Are you Bald?
Does your head constantly slip off your pillow at night?
When you go bowling, are people always putting their fingers in your ears?
At parties, do have to wear shades when they are talking to you because of the glare from your baldness?

Well, a new cure is here! Announcing for the first time ever, anywhere...Magic Mane!

Magic Mane penetrates deep into your scalp where the dormant hair follicles reside, bringing them back to life with our patented mane producing technologies. In no time at all you will look just like a lion with Magic Mane...by Mennon.

I love that they can be so silly together...I am much too serious. I need a little silly in my life!

delicious description...

I am still IN LOVE with Katherine, the character in the amazing Stepping Heavenward. I am trying to slow down my reading to only a few passages a day so as not to end it to quickly! I will miss her so much! I am borrowing this book or I would have underlined every other sentence because her words are so rich, so descriptive I want to read them over and over.

I have gone back to read over this one passage in particular every day for the past week because I love the way she describes her feelings on bringing another baby into the family.

First, upon her new babies arrival her sister-in-law says that she shall now have "one mouth more to fill and two feet the more to shoe, more disturbed nights, more laborious days, and less leisure or visiting, reading, music and drawing."

Katherine goes on to say, "Well, this is one side of the story to be sure, but I look at the other. Here is a sweet fragrant mouth to kiss; here are two more feet to make music with their pattering about my nursery. Here is a soul to train for God; and the body in which it dwells is worthy all it will cost, since it is the abode of a kingly tenant. I may see less of friends, but I have gained one dearer than them all, to whom, while I minister in Christ's name I make a willing sacrifice of what little leisure for my own recreation my other darlings had left me. Yes, my precious baby, you are welcome to your mother's heart, welcome to her time, her strength, her health, her tenderest cares, to her lifelong prayers! Oh, how rich I am! How truly, how wondrously blessed!"

I love Kate because she is real and as much as she adores being a wife and mother she is not perfect by any stretch of the imagination. She is often impatient, short-tempered, prideful and selfish and has to come back to the Lord for his grace and his strength. The book is written as a journal, so it is very raw, real and surprisingly relatable even to us "modern women." Love...

The cookies worked!!!

We have met 2 neighbor families and gotten a note and picture from 2 others! One sweet neighbor down the street who has two girls, 4 & 18 mo, told me she has been praying about homeschooling and asking God to make it clear to her what she is supposed to do. She said that getting our cookies and note and finding out we homeschool is such an encouragement to her and she is excited to get together. We had an awesome chat and I am sure we will become fast friends.

A mom and her 2 boys, almost 6 and 4, came over to meet us this afternoon and the boys hit it off right away. Shelby and Jesse showed them around our house and they ran over to check their new friends' house out {which was much cooler than ours of course!} The older son is in half day kindergarten, so there will be plenty of time to get together during the day after he gets home.

We found a note on the porch from a neighbor and her two daughters, 8 and 6, who the kids are dying to play with. AND, our across the street neighbor kids (the girl I knew from high school's children) also left a note on our porch with a drawing of their family.

It feels so nice to connect with our neighbors, finally! Maybe this place will start feeling like home after all.

Mummies and Neighbors...

We are immersing ourselves in ancient Egypt this month. Nomads, pyramids, mummies, Pharaohs, kings, queens, false gods and much more...We have plenty of awesome books with beautiful pictures to keep us busy.



We practiced a little reverse hospitality yesterday. Shelby drew this picture of our family and wrote a letter to our neighbors with kids to introduce ourselves. They made cookies at Noni's yesterday and hand delivered the bags and letters to our neighbors. Arizona is much different from Kansas. Neighbors, at least in the neighborhoods we have lived in so far in AZ, tend to keep to themselves. Our across the street neighbors are super friendly and their kids are awesome, but we haven't really met many others. Hopefully the cookies will open the door for some new friendships!

radical thoughts on parenthood...

Over the years, I have heard a handful of messages by a few different pastors about the various things we set up as idols in our lives. Their lists always include "job, sex, money and children." I have often heard idol defined as "whatever we spend most of our time thinking about or doing."

I always bristle when I hear this particular flawed definition because if it were the only definition we'd all have to agree that most men and many women would idolize their jobs {since they spend most of their waking hours at work.} And, all stay-at-home moms would surely idolize their kids and family. The Proverbs 31 woman would definitely idolize her family because she spends all of her time focused on caring for them. A more accurate definition of idol is something we set up as God in our lives, something that takes the place of God in affecting the decisions we make, & something that interferes with our relationship with God. A godly mom will spend most of her time and energy on her family, but everything she does should be to the glory of God while she is in constant fellowship with Him and acting on His power and not her own.

Sadly, I have even heard a few pastors say that women who "keep having babies" idolize their children and are trying to "fill themselves up" by having more and more children.

I wonder if this message breaks the heart of the Creator of all Life. Ultimately it comes down to who we believe creates all life. Is it us or God? Do we really have that much power? I also wonder if this is a message only common to our "money and success, American dream saturated" culture. In order to achieve the American dream, we must limit the number of children we have because having more will ultimately get in the way of the plans we have for our lives.

James and I have had many conversations about this topic and studied what the bible has to say about children. We aren't completely rigid in our thinking, but we are definitely leaning in one direction over another. We are still mulling all of this over and considering the viewpoint held by some families that, "Children are a gift of the Lord," and that there is no other gift we would limit that He would give us. Why do we feel like it is not only our job to make sure we only have a few, but that those who have more are freaky families who idolize their children.

Here is the most radical part of my thought process this morning. When we consider the reasons why we might choose to limit the number of children God would give us, we may just reveal the true idols of our heart.

We want to get on with the next phase of our lives and be able to go more places and play more interactive games with the whole family. {freedom}

Children are expensive and we want to be able to save plenty for retirement. {money}

We want to have more free-time to serve. {notoriety--there is no reason we can't serve with our children [it may just look different than we prefer]and they are our first ministry after all.}

There are so many more reasons we might limit the size of our family, but are we supposed to do it? I think this is a question every family has to answer for themselves. Some people have serious health concerns or other very legitimate reasons to limit the number of children they have. We are still praying about what God would desire of our family. I would just encourage every individual to take it before the Lord and truly make it a matter of obedience to whatever HE asks of you, not just a fulfillment of your own dreams and plans for your life.

At this point if you are still reading this you either agree with me or hate me for voicing my radical thoughts. Just know that most of my friends disagree with my viewpoint and I STILL LOVE THEM. I know many of the stances I take on certain issues are radical, but that doesn't mean I lack respect for those who disagree. I just think so many issues that are really "God issues" have been so incredibly impacted and shaped by our culture and I want to always challenge myself and others to take it back to the bible and talk to God before accepting what the world is feeding us wholeheartedly just because our "Christian friends or pastors believe it."

That's all...

p.s. No, I am not writing this because I am pregnant. In fact, I think I may be starting menopause early, so all of this talk is just me philosophizing. BUT, we have also been praying about whether or not God would have us adopt at some point, so we may still be growing one day...

D-Backs...

This summer we participated in the library's reading club full force. The kids read all of their books and earned all of their prizes in lightning speed. {I need to find some prizes of my own to continue to motivate them this school year.} One of the best prizes was a ticket to a Diamond Backs game. The D-Backs play in the very comfortable and air conditioned INDOOR Chase Field.




We took Shelby and Jesse to yesterday's game while the littles stayed with Noni and Papa. Because I am not a big fan of crowds or sports, it is a miracle that we went. I am glad we did, because the kids worked hard to earn those tickets. They had a blast! When we left in the 8th inning, it was still 0-0.







We parked about a mile away so we could stop by Starbucks on the way. It was HOT and we got our exercise! Good Day!

Oh Lucy! Naptime Mischief...

As I have said before, Lucy is my wild card. The oldest two have never had a problem with bedtime or naptime, but she is a whole new ballgame. Yesterday, she did take a nap, but at some point she woke up and decided to trash the closet. When I went to get Preslie up I heard rustling around in her room and walked in to find this. She may not even be 3 yet, but I had her rehang every piece of clothing she had thrown in the floor and she didn't even put up a fight. What am I gonna do with her?

Embrace the Camera...

I am so sporadic at this, but here is my September addition of Embrace the Camera. Me and little Miss PJ after bathtime.

embrace the camera thursday...

girls' weekend...2010

Everyone pitched in some cash so that Emily and I could join them on a girl's weekend in KC last weekend. We all stayed at Jenn's house and had a fabulous and relaxing time. I missed James and the kids, but it did my frazzled brain good to have some much needed time away. I realized on the plane ride to KC that it was the first time I had had real uninterrupted time to think in ages...and I do mean ages!

One thing I love about these crazy women is that I know when we get together we will have FUN, but we will also have intense heart to heart discussions, prayer and encouragement. We laughed until our bellies hurt and some of us cried until our eyes were swollen. LOVE!

Allyson and Emily brought River and Kohen for part of the time so we got our "baby fix" too. When you spend time with those babies apart from their other siblings their personalities really shine. Both of those boys stole my heart!

I hope this turns out to be an annual thing. That's why I said girl's weekend 2010. Thanks, ladies for an amazing weekend!

p.s. In case someone reads this and feels left out, just know that we wanted to see more people when we were in town, but we had to look at the weekend like we were meeting somewhere neutral with no one to visit in order pull this thing off in KC. Originally we were supposed to go to TX, but this saved everyone a ton of money. I hope no one has her feelings hurt, that would make me really sad.

some of our curriculum for 2010-11

Shelby, Jesse {and Lucy sometimes} are enjoying bible study, American and world history, science, health, and penmanship together. As soon as we get into The Story of the World, our units will be based around the time period we are studying. I am planning to immerse them in the time period & part of the world we are studying through literature, my favorite way to teach. I think I am a Charlotte Masoner at heart, but I also use traditional school books as well. I include Christian school text books in our curriculum so that our study is complete and they will know how to learn from school texts if they ever are in a public/private school setting.

Here are Shelby's school books. I am inculding pics of all of their books for other homeschooling moms who might be looking for ideas. I always appreciate it when homeschooling moms posts lists of what they are teaching year by year and I'd like it even better if they included pictures. Seeing the book makes it more real for me and less overwhelming to find on my own.

These are Jesse's books. He is in K, but past K reading, so we are on a fast track with him. Math, I am afraid is going to be the same way b/c he does 6 or more lessons a day with no problem. We may have to switch to 1st grade math midyear.

So far, our focused school time takes about 2 hours a day with additional readings and activities throughout the day/evening. When I planned what we'd be doing this year I thought it would take closer to 3 hours. It is probably because most of what we have done so far could be considered review. I may have to beef it up to challenge them. That is one of the beautiful things about homeschooling. I can beef it up or trim it back as needed and at their own individual paces.