6 Years Old

 Joshie is now our 6 year old!  A neighbor asked him how old he was and he replied with typical Joshie grin on his face, "I'm 5 & 1!"  Love this boy!

 Joshie chose to have steak for his birthday.  Now, for Joshie, steak is salisbury steak.  He didn't want anything but steak for dinner.  He compromised and let me make mashed potatoes as well even though he didn't eat any.  In his words, "I just love steak!"  He wanted a chocolate cake in the shape of a car with powered and chocolate donuts as wheels.  Spring made his cake for him this year as her birthday present to him.  I kinda think it was a gift to me as well! 

Joshie was so excited all week for his birthday.  He loved that he got to take a treat into his class at school and chose to have brownies for this treat.  When the Schnecks came over to our house on his birthday he was in the backyard playing.  He saw them inside so he opened the door and yelled, "Birthday Boy!" pointing to himself and quickly went back to playing.  

 A few nights after his birthday Joel and I took him out for dinner, just him and us.  This is something we have begun this year and we love the special time it gives us.  Joshie chose to go to Steak and Shake for a hot dog, french fries, and a Smores shake.  He was so cute during dinner and kept saying, "This is the best day EVER!"  This kid has the most amazing attitude because he often has "the best days ever!"

Glimpses of Joshie as a 6 Year Old

*LOVES rescue bots. He and Gideon play for hours.

*Wants to be outside no matter what he is doing.

*Is an expert bike rider.  We have to remind him to look before he goes in the street, however,

*His favorite song is "Come unto Christ" from the youth music.  It melts my heart to hear him sing along.

*Crazy, giggly, fall on the floor laughing kind of kid.

*LOVES to wrestle

*Will spend hours playing Legos with Sammy.

*Is the peacemaker of our family.

2 Months

This little man is already 2 months old.  Again, as with each of our children, I am amazed at how quickly the time goes when a baby finally joins our family.  If only pregnancy time moved as fast as the newborn time!  We have been so blessed by Jacob's presence in our home.  When he was first born and spent time in the NICU our family was blessed as we came together to work and help make the best of a difficult situation.  We had our testimonies of prayer strengthened as we saw the answer to the daily prayers for little Jacob to gain strength, weight, and learn to eat.  We have been blessed by his sweet, calm spirit in our home.  I love the peace that a newborn brings into a home and family.

Although Jacob struggled learning to eat in the first days of his life, he has become a pro!  He is up to 9 pounds 10 ounces and 21.5 inches long.  He gained 3 whole pounds in the last month and a total of 4 from birth.  He is still in the 5th percentile but is making incredible progress.  I don't mind having a little snuggler for longer.

Jacob is very easy going and patient.  He would prefer to be in someone's arms if he is not sleeping, and at night he definitely prefers to have me hold him and snuggle him.  He was doing well sleeping about 3-4 hour stretches of time.  Unfortunately, the last couple weeks he has decided he would prefer to only sleep an hour or so at a time.  Sometimes I get a 2 hour stretch!


How grateful I am for this little blessing from heaven.  My favorite time is when it is quiet in the house and I can hold and cuddle him.  He grabs on to the neck of my shirt and curls right up on my chest.  His little sighs and sweet noises are soothing to me as I take the time to snuggle.  Often at these times my thoughts are turned to his future.  I wonder what activities will bring him joy, what struggles he will have, how I can help him through those struggles, what I can do to prepare him for the challenges of life, and of the man he will become.  These times remind me of my testimony and gratitude for the gospel of Jesus Christ and the peace I know it will bring him in his life.  Of all my desires for Jacob, and all our children, I want him to know he has earthly and Heavenly parents that love him, a Savior that is waiting to succor him throughout his life, and the ability to recognize and feel the promptings of the Holy Spirit throughout his life.  These things will bring him joy and peace regardless of what life throws at him.

Spring's 1st Cello Recital

Last night Spring had her first cello recital. She began playing the cello last school year with the Orchestra. This summer she decided she wanted to take cello lessons to learn more. I had not realized how much she had improved in that short time span. It was super fun to watch her play.

Family of 10

Horseback Riding Lessons

 Spring continues to love horses.  She received lessons for her birthday from us and Grandma & Grandpa Powell.  This week she redeemed her first of 3 lessons.  She can't wait to go back.

Reflecting

I finally came to a realization a few days ago that we have entered into a new phase in life and I am trying to come to terms with the new "normal" of our life.  At first I thought I was just catching up from Jacob's birth, or the start of a new school year, or having kids in 4 different schools, or Joel's crazy work schedule with preparing for and going through an annual audit at work, or whatever else I could think of.  I kept thinking, unrealistically, that life would slow down and things would get back to normal.  I have finally realized we have a new normal in life.

This new normal includes:

~not signing or completing every paper that comes home from school as soon as the kids hand it to me.

~skimming the said papers for the due date and then leaving them on the counter for sometimes a couple days before I get around to reading, completing, and signing them for the kids.

~family scripture study at different times of the day depending on the day of the week and when we can all be home together.

~Thomas and Spring gone lots of evenings babysitting and realizing we are going to have to schedule our own children if we need a baby-sitter!

~Not being able to really talk with Joel in more than a couple sentences until the kids are in bed.

~not having all the kids in bed by 7 pm at night.  Thomas, and sometimes Spring, still doing homework until sometimes 8:30 at night.

~Living in my car EVERYDAY from 3:30-dinnertime and then again after dinnertime sometimes.

~letting go of the little things because they really aren't important...like having the kitchen clean after breakfast and before the kids are off to school, or sweeping the floor right after every meal, or having clean windows.  I am even OK with it most of the time.  

I am beginning to create a new routine for our family in our new "normal."  The cool thing about this new normal is I get to see our children experiencing new and exciting things in life.  Sometimes, well most days, I wonder if the little things I do all day long really matter.  Many are mundane and menial and seldom noticed.  I had an experience last week that helped me understand my part really does matter and makes a difference.

There was a day when I was gone from home almost from the moment the kids got on the bus until just before they started coming home from school.  The afternoon and evening was crazy and just not as calm.  There just didn't seem to be order in our home and I think we all felt it.  As we struggled that afternoon and evening to get through things I realized the little things I do each day really make a difference in the atmosphere of our home.  I try really hard to have our home be a refuge for our children to come home to.  A place that is welcoming.  I try to have a lot of the "tasks" of the day done by the time they get home so I can focus on them. I want to be available to hear about the good and not-so-good parts of their day.  I want dinner to be a time we can sit and relax together for a few moments as we share about our days.  This was not the case when I was gone all day long.  I know there are times when I am going to be gone for large parts of the day and we work through those days.  I am just grateful that is not our normal.  

I was fortunate enough to have my mom home each day when I came home from school.  I know I took it for granted and didn't thank her enough, if at all, for sacrificing so many things for herself so that she could create a refuge for us to return to each day.  I pray I can emulate the goodness of my mom for my family so they will one day be able to look back and realize when they walked into their home they felt relief and safety from the world. 

Revenge

Monday evening we were all cleaning up the kitchen as usual.  Spring decided to be sneaky and dump some water down the back of Joel's shirt.  He was pretty calm about it and just said to her, "I won't get you back, but I will get even."  He didn't mention anything else about it.  We then had FHE and Joel was responsible for the activity.  After the lesson and treat he announced, "We're going to go in the backyard and I will pull you up in the tree with the rope."  Eruption of cheers from all the kids as they scampered off to find their shoes.  Joel continued, "Spring, you're first!"  

Spring cheered with elation that she was going to be first.  Joel simply said to me, "That was easy!"  We headed outside and Joel lifted her up high then handed the rope to Thomas saying, "Be a good son and hold your sister where she is."  He walked off, picked up the hose, and turned it on.  The video tells the rest of the story!

Snippets from our Week

 One morning I caught Gideon and Sara cleaning the bathroom mirror.  It was super cute.  I love listening to these two talk to each other and play together in the mornings when everyone is at school.

 Playing "secret spies."  They sneak around the house and tell me, "pretend you can't see us.  We are secret spies!"

Most Sunday mornings Sammy asks if he can cuddle with Jacob.  

 Teeth brushing ritual.  This was a calm night because Joel went in with them.  When we are lazy and let them do it without us it usually results in lots of water, splashing, toothpaste everywhere, and it takes FOREVER for them to finish! Sometimes, I am OK with cleaning up after the fiasco in exchange for a few moments of peace.

 Morning bath time and thumb sucking.  What better way to start your day!

 Thomas is often found holding Jacob after school and while he does his homework.  I love this moment I was able to capture...especially with the sweet smile on Jacob's face.

 This was a fun evening that we actually didn't have anything going on after dinner.  Joel headed outside to play with the kids.  They spotted a couple hot air balloons - major highlight of their day.  I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to watch the awe and joy in the simple things in life through the eyes of my children.  It helps me to better appreciate all that our Father in Heaven has blessed us with.

Spring's OASIS teacher sent this to me one day.  They are working on Greek Mythology and Spring made props to share her story.  Spring really enjoys OASIS and the activities they are able to do in that class.

Remodel Project

We have been wanting to redo our flooring for about 3 years now.  It was getting to the point that we couldn't all sit at the table or move around the kitchen table very well because of the limited space before encroaching on the carpet. We knew we wanted to tear out the carpet and linoleum and put down laminate floor throughout the whole area...family room, kitchen, hallway, and bathroom.  We finally decided to do it.  I told Joel my only stipulation was I didn't want a crawling child when we did it.

BEFORE PICTURES

We decided to just go for it this summer.  We started tearing out the floor on a Monday evening and finished putting down the final planks of flooring on that Saturday evening.  During this week we also repainted all the walls.  Mind you, Joel was working this whole week so it made for lots of almost sleepless nights.  The kids and I would work all day and then Joel would come home and we would keep working till the wee hours of the morning.  We would usually stop around 2 am...just enough time to get about 4 hours of sleep before the next day began.  It was a great family project and we all love the results.

We discovered there were 2 layers of linoleum and 2 layers of plywood with that linoleum that we had to tear out to get to the subfloor.  It was hard and it was tedious work.  I realized at this point how nice it is to have a son that is strong and a workhorse.  What would take me an hour to accomplish he was able to do in about 10 minutes.  Spring was a workhorse as well and she would remember it was mealtime when I had lost track of time and would prepare meals.  Grateful we did this during the summer so we could eat outside for most meals since our kitchen was pretty much inaccessible and super dusty!  All the younger ones had fun with the demolition as well.  

We were blessed to finish this project a few days before Jacob made his surprise arrival.  We still have some transition pieces that need to be installed and our pantry and closet doors have not been installed yet.  Jacob's arrival put that on the back burner.  We will get to it, eventually.  I am grateful for a husband that likes to do these projects and worked hard to finish it even with his busy work schedule so we wouldn't be living in chaos for too long.  I am also grateful for children that wanted to work and worked all week to help the family accomplish the goal.

FINISHED!!!