That's a Whole Lotta Love

Happy St. Valentine's Day!

Usually I demand that Matt not make a big deal out of Valentine's Day. I tell him it is ridiculous that people spend as much money as they do at retailers that jack the prices up like they do. "PLUS," I add, "you are supposed to love me EVERY SINGLE DAY of the year!"

  Do I still feel this way after all that has gone down in the past year? No way! Bring the over-priced retail home, Baby! Just kidding. But, we do need to celebrate the love this year. Life gets so crazy, busy and over-run that I think we forget to celebrate the thing that brought us to this place! I am glad we have a day dedicated to love. It is important.

 

It is a gift from God.

 

Valentine's Day is a day of thanksgiving for me. A day to be grateful to God for the gift of Matt...and all these other little people that followed.

 

The children are psyched. Sarah asked yesterday if she could have off from school for Valentine's Day.

 We made Valentines for eachother and hung them up all over the house. It was awesome. Seeing them when I woke up this morning was such a delight!

Joseph made me a mountain. He also made a Valentine for his new best friend, the Dinosaur.

See? They DO love me!

 

 

Meet Dinosaur.

Besties.
There is a story, of course.
Joseph's godparents gave him a K'NEX set for his birthday. This particular set makes a number of different dinosaurs. Joseph's goal was to figure out how to make the most difficult one...the one rated three stars. After he accomplished the build, I think he realized how much energy and love went into it. He refuses to take it apart and now Dinosaur is a part of the family. He even asked permission for Dinosaur to join our family rosary. Dinosaur is adept at finding the right bead and following along.
At one point during the rosary, Thomas got too rough with Dinosaur.
Joseph: "TOM!! The Dinosaur was gonna pray the rosary until you distracted him and pulled off his head! BUT THEN, (as Joseph is patiently putting it back together) MY DINOSAUR NEVER GAVE UP!!"

Welcome to the crazy train, Dinosaur.
Happy Valentine's Day.

I Can't Believe...

I can't believe how quickly these days are flying by. Esther is over 5 months now. The doctor says I really need to stop waking her up in the middle of the night to eat...and he means it this time. "Let her fuss. Don't rush in to her. She is actually big enough now to sleep through the night. (She's been big enough since 6 weeks)," he adds under his breath.

He's outta his noggin' if he thinks I want to be with this crazy all night long.

Side Note: Babies, in general, should not have bags under their eyes.

 

I'm slightly (very much so) under the weather. I think it may be exhaustion or maybe the flu. Either way, I tried to call in sick yesterday and here is what my bosses said.

 

Sarah: "Oh Mommy! You are such a good Mommy. I will watch all the children while you take a hot bath and a nap."

Joseph: "And Mom. Hey Mom. And Mom. So Mom. I really think that I can do Legos pretty good while you sleep. That might be a good idea! And I will put an exclamation point on the end of my last sentence because I am excited...so that is like school, when I tell you about punctuations. So I did schoolwork all by myself, Mom."

Thomas: "If you go to bed, I will eat all the Hershey Kisses!"

Nate-Dawg: "Dar Wars! Da Na NA! DAR WARS! NODDING WIKE DAR WARS! DA NA NA NA!"

Esther is not amused. She feels like all her siblings are ganging up on her.

 

Anyway, Matt will continue to be my Knight in Shining Armor. Two weeks ago, I texted him at work and told him (very sweetly, of course) that I was worn out. He showed up that night with Chinese food and two bottles of wine. I think I cried. The dinner was awesome and I was so grateful for a night off from making dinner, but the exhaustion still hasn't left.

Matt says in order for things to change, I have to initiate different bedtime parameters.

Esther, it is time. We are really going to do this. "Sleeping through the night" will be our mantra.

I just realized that I write a lot about sleep.

Switching gears now.

 

The four "olders" have been so good.

Get ready for a whole bunch of happy...

 

 Nate, working hard, clearing the yard.

 

Sleep

Dear Sarah,

I love you.

Love,

Mommy

Packages and Presents

Matt is putting the finishing touches on the school room and probably will continue to do so until we grow out of this house. But in the meantime, I am going into "serious homeschool mom" mode.

This means that I put all the books with spines facing out on the bookshelves.

Also, I got out of my pajamas yesterday. (And into yoga pants...so does that even count?)

But the pièce de résistance?

I ordered us some laminated maps.

Please pass all awards and trophies this way.

 

 Oh Amazon! Oh Amazon! How lovely are your bargains!

Esther was trying to help.

 The Pernot January birthday party was full of excitement. We celebrated Greg, Mike and Thomas with much gusto. There were some announcements made also!

The groom-to-be and his best men.
Esther is photo bombing. Always.



The bride-to-be and the future flower girl.

Ummmmmmm...this is Mike.



Grandad and the twins

Birthday Boys + Lightsaber

Zee Happy Couple

Erika wore Esther out for me at the party. She actually slept the entire ride home (10 minutes) which is an all-time high.

Esther and Sarah, side by side.

These pictures truly don't do their similarities justice.

Yes, Esther is wearing the turtleneck, just like Sarah. It is just tucked in the folds of her neck.



Just a small picture of Nathan in his NEW DAR WARS pjs from Aunt Karen and his 'Bacca slippers.
Wearing clothes!
Boom!
 

Addressing Your Questions/ Cell Pic Dump

Life has been slightly chaotic since September. I just took the time to transfer the pictures off my cell phone this morning and realized that I haven't done so in a long while.

Let's re-live the past 5 months together.

 

I received personal notes from many alert readers recently, sharing their concerns about the state of Nathan's wardrobe.

 

"After looking through your blog, I'm thinking Nate has a vendetta against pants of any kind."

"Does your son actually own pants?"

"Isn't Nathan cold?"

"There he is again, without pants."

 

Some of you have started a fund for our family at The Children's Place.

I received the anonymously-sent package of size 2T clothing that was over-nighted to my house.

Thank you, kind reader.

 

To clarify, Nathan DOES have real clothing. He just chooses not to wear it.

 

But, to make myself look better (because I care about that type of thing), I have attached the photo below of Nathan completely clothed.

 He tells me that he is Obi Wan on his land speeder, heading to Mos Eisley.

 Now you tell me what is more disturbing: clothed or unclothed Koala.

 

 

Esther was only weeks old in this picture...so were her chins.

 

 

 Sarah and Tom, preparing for Halloween.

 

Oh My Word! Grandma Schwalm made this cocoon and matching hat for Esther when she was just a smidge of a Mess.

 

Travels to Michigan wouldn't have been complete without applying for (and receiving!!!) a Kroger card!

 

Nathan prefers to sleep at the dinner table.

"Did you dress her up like this?"

"No!"

"Yes. A bit."



Thinking/Dreaming hard about where in the world that next meal might come from.

Yes, these are diapers.

 

Lost another tooth.

So pretty.

 

Joseph, doing some light reading.

 

 

Some concerned readers have also been asking why there aren't more pictures of me on the blog.

I am normally behind the camera, for good reason.

Those bags under my eyes (on my thighs, around my middle, and on my upper arms) aren't really fit to be seen on a high traffic website.

But, yes, I am still here...documenting and enjoying this crazy train ride.

Occasionally, I will get notes from some of you asking about Joseph...and why there are so few pictures of my first born son.

He avoids pictures at all costs.

He closes his eyes when he sees a flash.

When he sees me with my cell phone or camera, he hides.

Joseph likes to be invisible.

But then he will stand with his best friend and take a great photo for his Aunt Erika. When I showed him this picture, his response was perfect.

"I NAILED IT, MOM!"

Hambones.

 

A typical school day.

 Esther is taking fashion advice from Nathan now. 

Bald and Beautiful.