Of monsters, gardens and patios

I can take pretty much absolutely no credit for any of these, except maybe a small part of the craziness my children exhibit... Anyway, the garden (normally under a plastic sheet) was an idea C. got from an 80's video about gardening. We have lettuce and spinach in great abundance right now and lots of huge white radishes...that taste very much like dirt. The radishes, not the lettuce and spinach. We'll see what becomes of our next crop, since the grasshoppers are just now starting to show their wee beady eyes (I disliked grasshoppers even before gardening, but now....I think "hate" might be pretty accurate). Christian pretty much does all the hard work while I just get to eat out of the abundance. It's a great set-up. :) And of course the last picture is of the new patio- on which we've been enjoying the fire pit on evenings that aren't threatening to blow us away. It's so nice to have something between the dirt and the house- I've noticed a lot fewer rocks getting tracked in! Huzzah!

Managing

A lot of people have asked me in the last few months "How DO you manage?" I've been thinking about that and I've remembered something a friend of mine told me once upon a time..."When you have a baby they take up 24 hours of your day. When you have another baby, they take up 24 hours of your day..." (I guess I could just keep on going, but I'll spare you) Fortunately needs change- I'd definitely hate to still be changing diapers and spoon feeding my 8, 5, and 3 year olds at the same time as the twins. First and foremost though, is the grace of God in working in my children's lives even when I fail on a regular basis. I don't often feel like I'm pulling my hair out (except maybe at bath time...and certain times of the month...). I stay home. All the time (with the exception of Sundays). THIS is my job. We're not involved in sports, we don't even do Awana. We do school, we learn how to take care of our house and possessions, we learn how to do things we don't feel like doing, we learn how to get along with each other. I don't sweep every day. I don't clean the bathroom every day, I don't even do the dishes every day. But that's ok. My kids are fed and they go to bed happy. I am very grateful for the wisdom of my husband in keeping things simple for us right now. Someday we'll probably get more involved in things and I'll miss this period of time of just getting to stay home and live and learn. I have a friend who now has 10 kids in a pretty small house- and you know what? She always looks so calm and so happy with her life. I also have friends with fewer kids that are way busier and more stressed than I am. Anyway, the babies are chewing on some "unknown" from the kitchen floor, so I'd better go investigate. :)

9 months

Oh boy. You know SOMEone needs changing when you can smell SOMEthing (that you know what) as you walk down the hall even with all the doors shut. Whew. Not looking forward to the end of nap-time.

Anyway, the girls had their 9 month check-up today and showed amazing memories of being there before...they both freaked out when we laid them down to get measured, remembering that that's where they lie when they get their shots. But at least they didn't get shots today, so maybe they'll forget about that sometime in the next three months! Both girls are in great shape, Tirzah's slightly larger- maybe 3 ounces difference in weight, 1/2 inch taller, and 1/2 inch bigger in the head.

Patio!

The day before yesterday a couple friends came and helped Christian lay a patio outside our back door. We called it a "field trip" day for school (like they would've been able to concentrate with a cement truck right outside the window...). The kids were real troopers and I think E only stepped in the cement once! Yesterday the wind blew so hard it blew our big playground set right over! So it's good the guys put laid the cement when they did!

Fun times

The girls have enjoyed watching C working on our up and coming patio (to be poured tomorrow!). C says it's pretty amusing to see two little faces plastered to the glass. 

Berea is sporting a lovely Flintsone-style ponytail (sans bone, unfortunately)

and enjoying playing in the boys' room.

 

Maybe we need to teach some gun safety.... Can you guess whose bed that is with the large pencil "drawing" on the wall?

Our little T-bear with her pony tail.

We had a fun game night last night with some friends at a park- the kids mostly just hit the baseball around. Peter woke up giddy this morning, so excited to do it again next week. :)

And of course we left the girls' sweatshirts at home on the living room floor- thankfully our friends had extras for their boys, so we just rolled up the sleeves a little and- voila!

...And the little slugger getting some more hitting practice.