Dog Gone

Since I mentioned Charlie (our Golden Retriever) in a previous post, I thought I should announce that he no longer lives with us. Charlie snapped at Edie's cheek. Jon & I were devastated. We both felt horrible for bringing him into our home. We were shocked that this happened. We had spent alot of time with Charlie before we officially adopted him. We had him over for sleepovers & took him for walks. Charlie basically didn't get any attention from his owner. I think going from isolation to 5 kids was stressful for him. My guess is that he felt cooped up during the winter months & couldn't get away from the kids. We have a consultation with a pediatric plastic surgeon next week to minimize Edie's scar. Edie is beautiful with the scar, but as parents, we want to do everything we can to help her. Here's Ellory's sleepy picture. They look so peaceful.

Homeschooling

This is what our homeschooling looks like. We originally made an official school space in the basement. Nobody wanted to go down there. I tried dedicating the dining room to our school room by hanging educational posters on the wall. In the end, it felt cold. I missed my warm, home-inspired decorations & photos. I finally came to the conclusion that one of the benefits of homeschooling is comfort. We currently don't need a dedicated space for it. Its comfortable & cozy to do school on my bed or wherever else Madelyn sees fit. Ansley (& Nolan) have been learning letters & phonics via LeapFrog DVD's that we play in the van Mon-Fri. We decided to watch only educational movies while we're on-the-go during the school week. Madelyn wanted to teach Ansley today. She helped Ansley with handwriting, letters recognition, & spelling. It was one of those moments that made my heart sing! I'm so proud of these two. Here's Nolan "playing" ABC Mouse. Love this website & love this kid! Since my cleaning lady was coming at 2:30 & Jon was working until midnight, I took the kids to the children's museum in a neighboring city. Love these photo ops! On the way home, we stopped by Chick-Fil-A. I came home to a clean house. I didn't have to fix dinner. The kids went straight to bed. No time to make a mess. I am enjoying my clean house for the night.

Back to Blogging

I decided to blog again after reading a friend's blog early this morning. Nolan woke me up in the middle of a deep sleep at 3:00 AM b/c he had wet his bed. He hasn't had an accident since I can remember. I was so tired last night, that I didn't make him go potty again before we hit the sack...lesson learned. Bring on my caffeinated Teavana tea (my new obsession)! Its been a busy whirlwind of a year since I posted last. For starters, not only am I homeschooling Madelyn this year, but everyone is home with me, everyday. Yep, that's right, no preschool. Ansley, Nolan, & the twins are busy, crazy, sweet, & sassy. Jon is in the 2nd half of his 3rd year in residency. Oh ya, we are also the proud owner of a 3 year old Golden Retreiver named Charlie. Since we're on day 2 of the new year, I'll post my resolutions so that I will hold myself accountable. Here they are, in order, drum roll please...1. Be a healthier ME by cutting out sweets, eating more fruits & veggies, being more active, & taking more much-needed ME time. 2. Love & appreciate my children & hubby more. We can never do that enough, right? 3. BLOG! Here's to a Happy 2013!

Ansley's Hair Cut

I came out of my room to discover wisps of hair all over the kid's craft table. When I asked Ansley if she cut her hair, she initially said, "No". She then blurted out, "Nolan did it". Her story wasn't adding up. After I asked her to tell the truth, she pulled out a hair ball from under neath her toy kitchen. I couldn't help but laugh. She actually did a great job. It could have been worse. She cut the side so that it looks like she got layers.

Madelyn & School

Here's Madelyn playing a pilgrim for her Thanksgiving play. Jon, the kids, & I also joined her class for a Thanksgiving feast. Lesson learned that day: get babysitter for Nolan & Ansley when spending long periods of time in Madelyn's classroom with lots of people crammed in there...it was crazy!

Madelyn won 2nd place in her Kindergarten through 3rd grade division art contest for her school! The theme was diversity. Madelyn painted an array of colorful cakes on canvas using acrylic paint. Will post picture when we get it back.

Here's Madelyn eating breakfast before school. She growing & maturing so fast. She's still my sweet Madelyn.

Sweet Babies

I'm a little obsessed with 1. Taking pictures of all my babies while they are asleep & 2. Taking pics of the twins side-by-side. Ellory & Edie will be 7 months old this month. They have started baby food but not loving it. I'm still breastfeeding. I've got my Double Blessings nursing pillow that allows me to nurse them at the same time (in case you needed a visual). They weigh about 12 lbs...still little bitties. I try to keep them on the same schedule but that doesn't always happen. Everyone asks if they are identical. My guess is no, but you can be the judge after looking at these pictures. They are quite the attraction when we are out & about. Madelyn, Ansley, & Nolan adore them. They really are the sweetest babies!

Ellory -> Edie

Ellory -> Edie

Edie -> Ellory

Edie -> Ellory

Ellory -> Edie

Ellory -> Edie

Ellory -> Edie

Edie -> Ellory

Halloween 2011

Our annual carving of the pumpkins.

I bought Nolan this Thomas the Train costume thinking he would love it. He kept it on for about 5 min, enough time for me to snap his picture.

Madelyn was creative by making her own cheetah costume out of things we had around the house. Ansley was a beautiful monarch butterfly. Nolan was Super Why. You may recognize this costume. Madelyn wore it when she was little. Since he wouldn't wear the Thomas one, I was lucky to sneak it on him.

This is always the spookiest house we hit up on Halloween night. You can see Madelyn in line trick-or-treating. She was very scared but very brave to enter this yard. Neither Ansley or Nolan would get close.