Why is it?

I took Charlotte to the doctor today because her cough is still horrible five days after our initial visit. She coughed all the way there. She coughed all the way home. She did not cough a single time while we were at the doctors office. Argh! I swear she did it just to make me look crazy. Of course, I coughed the the whole time we were there.



Hopefully the new medicines will give her some relief and she will be up to going to school tomorrow.

Jenn

Fixed for Now

Before



After



Since we are on February break I scheduled dentist and orthodontist appointments for today. Dentist for all and orthodontist for Eliza Claire.

Rehm's appointment had to be rescheduled due to a band rehearsal he had to go to. Can you hear my annoyance in my typing? Ugh! And he told me about it at the last minute.

In addition to a cleaning Eliza Claire also had her front two teeth repaired. She spent an hour an a half in the dentist's chair and thirty minutes later had to have X-rays and spacers at the orthodontist. She was a trooper and her new teeth look great!

The big question is, how long until she does something to these teeth again? Any bets?

Jenn- Posted from my iPhone

Overheard from the Backseat

But stealing is more fun! ~Eliza Claire

What?! It seems Ruby was telling Eliza Claire that she should ask to borrow Ruby's socks before taking them.

Meanwhile Charlotte was doing a neb treatment for her wheezy cough that just won't go away.



Given our afternoon of appointments. I was glad she could do the treatment in the van on the way to the dentist.

Jenn

Eliza Claire on Reading

Reading is awesome because it lets your imagination go wild! - Eliza Claire



I'm sure her teacher will be as thrilled as I was to hear this. I love having children who love reading. I am blessed that all four enjoy the pastime.

Learning Ally has been a huge help to my tow that have dyslexia. It allows them to read books their peers are reading without the frustration. We are lucky that our school provides accounts for both of our girls who need this wonderful tool.


Jenn

Love Notes for my Children

Last year I used a Pinterest idea and wrote notes on hearts and put them on the kids' doors each day from February 1st until February 14th. The girls loved it. I think Rehm secretly did as we'll but was too "grown up" to admit it.

I realized yesterday that I had already fallen behind for this year. Instead of trying to catch up or give up on the idea completely I decided to do something a little different this year.









Today I made these little stuffed hearts. They have a keychain attached and a small little pocket, perfect for small notes or treats. My plan is to hide them in their rooms tomorrow with the following note:

This little pouch is yours to have, please let me borrow it until St. Valentine's Day.
Each day I'll add a kind word or surprise, and tuck it away for you to find.
Once your surprise you've found please let me know, I'll borrow it again and on it will go.

Then, each day I'll hide them somewhere different. When Valentine's Day arrives my three girls will have cute little key chains to add to their backpacks and Rehm can hide his in some random spot in his room.

Jenn

Seeing the face of God

Our family attended church yesterday, like we do most Sundays. We worshipped as a family at the 8:15 service, again, like usual. I left in tears. Not bad tears. Tears of wonder. Tears of love. Tears of compassion. Tears of empathy.

Yesterday the wonderful gentleman playing the piano touched my heart. He is battling serious illness. This was to be his last Sunday to play for this service. His health is not good. Despite his health, and barely being able to sit at the piano, he played beautifully as always.

I was moved to tears, watching and listening to him play. I was witnessing what true sacrificial service looked like. I was also witnessing what pure worshipping of God looks like.

I thought of how easy it can be to skip church because of other commitments, being tired, having a cold, etc. I thought about how easy it is to be in the service but not be mentally present. I thought about all the ways I fall short of serving my God and worshiping Him.

I was brought to tears by the beauty of seeing such pure devotion and witness. I'm brought to tears as I write this and every time I think about worship yesterday. I am so very blessed that I got to be present for such an amazing and selfless gift.

Thank you Vince and Jan. I know it was not easy to be there yesterday but you were both an amazing blessing to me and I'm sure many, many others.

Jenn

Happiness in the Little Things

These pictures show three things that made me smile today.

I love these sunny yellow flowers. Can you tell what they are? They are broccoli flowers. One of my three broccoli plants bolted. The other two are fine and looks like they just might produce edible broccoli, eventually. I have no idea why one bolted and the others didn't or what caused it to bolt. This is the first time I've planted broccoli.



Above my posies hangs a stained glass piece of two birds. I bought this for Christmas one year for my Granny. I was in college at the time so the piece is approximately 20 years old. It hung in her kitchen window. She frequently looked out that window to check on the cows, admire her gorgeous flower garden, check the weather, etc. It makes me smile and think of her.



Next to my unusual flowers is a piece of McCoy pottery that one belonged to my great grandmother. I was very young when she passed away. Oddly enough one of my earliest memories is being at her funeral. Not a bad memory, just sitting in a pew and wanting to go to my Daddy who was one of the pall bearers, and thus, not sitting with us. I've always been a daddy's girl.

I realize I need to add something that reminds me of my mom to my window. Hmmm. I'll have to give that some thought. Mom? Do you have any ideas?

I love having reminders of the strong women in my family softly encouraging me each day.
Jenn

Random

Poor Charlotte she has a wheezy cough that is making her miserable. I took her to the doctor yesterday and he agreed with me that she would benefit from nebulizer treatments. It is so weird to see her doing these again. They were such a regular part of her life from ages 1-3.


I cleaned out the van yesterday. This is all the junk of my kids I found in there. Two bags of shoes, coats, random toys, and one bag of trash. Grrr! Drives me crazy!


Eliza Claire informed me this afternoon that I need to park the van in the driveway or on the street so there would be more room for their bikes and such to spread out in the garage. She tried to sell me by telling me how much neater it would be. Yeah, not happening.

Jenn

This Guy

I'm shaking my head about this guy. This man I chose to marry. I'm doubting the wisdom of that decision at this moment.

I was in the middle of a discussion of one of the kid's district assessment results and a conversation I'd had with her teachers today. You know, one of those important "how do we help our child reach her full potential" conversations.



This man I married burst out with an exclamation about said child choosing a slice of pepperoni pizza for dinner, over cheese. Making sure his son, who told him his sister never ate pepperoni pizza, saw that she did indeed chose pepperoni. He announced that he was FOY - Father of the Year for saving pepperoni pizza for her! And, topped it off with an exuberant "Bam, what!"

His son informed his dad that he was watching too much Disney Channel.

The education conversation was completely forgotten. I'm glad "Bam, what!" Gets you Father of the Year and being concerned about their academic success makes you the boring parent. Yep, shaking my head.


Jenn

I Just Don't Know What to Think about This

Eliza Claire's class did an assignment where they had to make campaign posters. Several of the children had slogans about being able to get you friends, being nice, being good students, being able to get you what you want. This is Eliza Claire's poster:




In case you can't read it, it says, "I'm willing to do anything, Vote for Eliza!" How do I interpret this? She's willing to lie, cheat and steal for your vote? She'll pay you for your vote? She'll be your friend for your vote? She'll do your homework for your vote? Not exactly what you want to see on your seven year old's school work. I can't wait to ask her what she meant by this. I'm sure it is something much better than what I'm thinking. And, if not, I'll start explaining why this is not what you want to say or do to win elections.

Jenn

Snowpocolypse

Today was our second day this year to have school closed due to weather. This time the call announcing the delay did not come until I had already woken everyone and made breakfast. I made lunches being optimistic that they really would end up at school. An hour or so later school was canceled and those lunches were quickly stored in the fridge so no one would eat them and i wouldn't have to make lunches tomorrow. Yep, I'm sneaky and lazy like that.

Then I came upstairs to catch up on Downton Abbey and promptly fell asleep.
I slept until 1:00pm. I have no idea what the kids did during that three to four hour chunk of time. I do know they fed themselves Mac and cheese for lunch and were even nice enough not to eat it all so I wouldn't even have to make my own lunch.




Before I could make dinner I had to run to the store. I needed milk and bread. I thought it was very humorous that I actually ran out of both during the Snowpocolypse.

Of course when I returned from the store and told the kids that the electronics had to be turned off and homework and chores had to be done things got ugly, fast. I seemed to be short on patience and they seemed to be short on action. Not a good combination. At this point I was cursing the Snowpocolypse, dreading February break and wondering how in the world we would ever survive summer.

We received a letter from the superintendent apologizing for not call school off more quickly. I kind of feel bad for the school officials today. The only way they weren't going to receive a mountain of complaints was if the had called off school yesterday afternoon and we had woken up this morning to three feet of snow. Any other combination and someone was going to be annoyed that it was called off too soon, not called off soon enough, etc.

Luckily, we all survived. The weather cleared up, thank goodness, which means I don't have to be the horribly,mean,slacker mom tomorrow.

Jenn

Sleep Is Overrated

We seem to have a round of colds hitting our family. At the moment, Charlotte and I seem to be feeling the worst.

Charlotte has been having trouble sleeping for the last few weeks. I think it is mostly because she is really enjoying reading more and more and has a hard time winding down after reading.

The best way to get her to go to sleep for the last several weeks has been to lay down with her and snuggle. She is usually asleep in five to ten minutes.

Tonight, I offered twice to snuggle and she refused. Finally, about an hour ago she decided it would help. Between her cough and falling asleep on me, it took me longer than usual to extricate myself from her room.

Within five minutes of getting back to my bed, I heard footsteps in the hallway. I'm pretty sure, from the sound of it, that the footsteps included a trip downstairs. Sure enough it wasn't long until another sleeping princess arrived in my room.

This time it was Eliza Claire. She was apparently sleep walking as when I asked her what she needed she said, "I'm finished."

"With what?" I inquired.

"Washing my hair," she informed me.

Alrighty then. I helped her go to the restroom. On the way back to her room, she tripped over a chair in the hallway. You know, that chair none of the wonderful children ever put back all the way under the desk? Yep, that one. Not fun to trip over, especially when you are sleepwalking. Needless to say, it took a while to get her calmed down enough that I could leave her room.

So now I sit, ok, who are we kidding, lay here blogging instead of sleeping. My guess is that with the next 30 minutes Ruby will be in because she had a bad dream, or Charlotte's cough will wake her up, or some one will have an accident, or Michael's snoring will be loud enough to keep me from drifting off.

Such is the life of a mom. I recognize that this is but a season. One that will be gone too quickly. One I will eventually look back on and miss. Right now, I'd just like a good night's sleep.

If I look like a zombie tomorrow or any other day, you know why.

Jenn

Random Saturday Happenings

Ugh! I just had a post completely written. I needed to add pictures and it was done. When I tried to do so the app crashed and I lost the post. Grrrr! I'll take a stab at rewriting but I'm sure it won't be as witty and chatty as the first go round.

Charlotte and Eliza Claire both had basketball games this morning. The Ninjas and the Smurfs both had good games. Charlotte had a really nice basket toward the end of the game. I think this is her first basket of the season. I enjoyed hanging out on the sidelines with the other three kiddos at each game.




This evening Ruby and Eliza Claire had a bit of a misunderstanding. Ruby came running toward Eliza Claire to giver her a hug. For some reason Eliza Claire thought she was trying to hit her. Eliza Claire pushed Ruby who fell and hit her head. Both girls ran crying to their rooms. All is well now and no one was injured.

I was working on the back of one of my quilts tonight. I finished the front a few weeks ago. I decided to use the scraps from the front to make the back. I had it laid out on the floor trying to decide what to add next. Ruby and Eliza Claire came in and wanted to use it to play hopscotch on. They said it looked just like a hopscotch board. Neither one was happy when I told them that wasn't a choice.







No sooner than I had the girls away from the quilt, Pearl came in and promptly laid down in the center of it! When I complained, Michael reminded me that I was the one who wanted dogs and also the one who wanted to quilt. I told him I needed a design wall to keep my quilts off the floor. Of course that would require me to have an actual wall to hang the design wall on.

All in all it was a typical day in the land of mayhem.

Jenn

Why?

Please tell me why my girls can not use toothpaste neatly? It is constantly all over the counter and sink, caked on their toothbrushes, on the floor, on the cabinet fronts, everywhere. I noticed yesterday, while laying on the bathroom floor with Ruby, who was mad about something and refusing to go to bed, that there is even a spot about the size of a pencil eraser on the ceiling! It is just gross, disgusting, and drives me crazy!



I'm seriously considering taking away the toothpaste and making them just brush with water for a while.

Jenn

Snow Day

We has sleet overnight and below freezing temperatures. I, like my kids was hoping for a snow day.

We got our wish and spent the morning lounging around in our pajamas watching tv. It was the best day ever - according to the kids.

Of course the kids spent about a half a second outside running around admiring the ice. During that time Ruby managed to run into a tree with her face. I never have heard the full story on how that happened.



That lasted until lunch when I informed them that chores had to be done before more free time. Wailing and gnashing of teeth ensued.

One child laid in the laundry room crying for over a half hour and then moved to her room for more of the same.

Another hid in the restroom for over an hour watching TED talks. When reprimanded, he tried to excuse it because it was educational.

Another insisted that I sit in her room and help because she couldn't do it by herself. Everything I mentioned that needed to be done was met with whining.

The last child, bopped up to her room, cleaned it, came downstairs and did her other chore and was done in 20 minutes.

After the drama I made rainbow loom bracelets with two of the girls while Rehm made chocolate chip cookies.

Of course all of this occurred while Michael was trying to work from home and had multiple calls. At one point he was using the home phone for a conference call and Ruby interrupted trying to call her friend Jolie. Oops!

All in all it ended up being a pretty good snow day.

Jenn

Report Cards

The girls all brought home their report cards today. All three had great reports. I'm especially proud of Ruby who is finally reading on grade level for the first time! It was wonderful to see how proud she was of her accomplishment. She has worked really hard and it shows.

I am so thankful for the amazing teachers my girls have. Teachers who are truly invested in them and encourage them. We are so blessed.

Jenn

My Newest Hobby

The last two years my new hobby was sewing. This year that is morphing into quilting. Something I said I had absolutely no interest in doing.

What changed? I'm not really certain. I think getting more comfortable with the basics of sewing helped the most. Then going on the quilting retreat with my mom in November seemed to be the catalyst that made me decided to actually give it a try.

This year I've signed up for a block of the month. Each month you take in the previous month's completed block and receive instructions and fabric for the next month's block. At the end of the year you decide how to set them and finish the quilt. Here is January's completed block:




Tomorrow I start a modern block quilt club. For this one, you actually bring your machine and work on blocks while at the shop. Mom bought a copy of the book we will be using when she and Dad were visiting. The book is Tula Pink City Series 100 Modern Blocks. She suggested I try a couple of blocks before I went to "class." Here is what I've done so far. The photos have the picture of the completed block in the book on the left and my completed on the right.









And here are Mom's blocks so far. She is using this as a way to use up some of her stash. Notice her block on the right; it is the same block as my first one with the snake, just different fabrics.




Jenn

Skate Night

Wednesday night was skate night for our elementary school. All three girls had fun. I'm glad they are all getting more comfortable skating and don't hug the rail all night long.


















Jenn- Posted from my iPhone

Why Does This Child Always Injure her Mouth?

Yes, Eliza Claire has done it again! She has chipped/broken her front teeth. Permanent teeth. Permanent teeth that came in undamaged even though she fell injuring the baby teeth in a way that we were concerned would also damage the permanent ones. This girl seems prone to always injuring her mouth. I don't get it.






Honestly, I'm just glad this injury seems to be primarily cosmetic and not overly painful.

I just realized that I didn't mention how she did this. She was riding her scooter and hit a crack. She must have fallen tooth first into the sidewalk. I'm shocked she didn't bust her lip or injure anything else.

Jennifer

Art

Several pieces of art came home this week. Here are my favorites.

Ruby's:







She must have been asked what she would do to make the grinch happy. Her answer, "I would tickle him."

Eliza Claire's:



Her answer, "I would sing to the Grinch."

Charlotte's:






Jennifer

For My Dad

Eliza Claire did this at school for Veteran's Day. It just came home this week.



It says, "Veteran's Day is important to me because my Papa was in the military. I think he fought in World War II. I really love him."

He actually fought in Vietnam. World War II was over before he was born. I guess the good news is she knew he fought in a war, even if she didn't know which one.


Jenn

Ruby's New Reading Buddy

Ruby gets the privilege to read to a dog named Cowboy at school on occasion. Cowboy played Diego in Beverly Hills Chihuahua. She loves reading to Cowboy.

Yesterday Ruby decided she should read to Baron. Baron was not being as attentive as she wanted. She told me she was going upstairs to find a cat to read to.

When she came down she informed me that she had read to Pearl and what a good reading companion Pearl is. At the time I didn't think anything about it and was just glad that Ruby had finished her reading and was in a good mood.

A few hours later, I started laughing. It finally sunk in that Ruby had read her book aloud to our deaf dog and was thrilled by how well Pearl listened. It has yet to occur to her that Pearl did not hear a word she read. Pearl is a great snuggler and I'm sure was just happy to be getting some extra attention.

In the end, it is a perfect situation for both of them. I may have the only deaf literacy dog around, but she does her job well.

Jenn

Surprises

I found these pictures on the tablet I'm currently using. I never know what I'm going to find on the cameras. It always makes me wonder what they were thinking or trying to do when I find these.













Jen

Mac and Cheese in the Crock Pot.

My family loves homemade maccaroni and cheese but it takes forever to get it in the oven. I've been trying crockpot recipes and finally modified one that pleases my entire family. The original recipe can be found here.

I love how simple this recipe is. It take five to ten minutes to get it ready, including clean up time. And even better, the only thing that has to be washed is a measuring cup.






Crock pot macaroni and cheese

16 ounces of pasta shape of choice, uncooked
4 cups of milk
One stick of butter melted
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon of ground mustard
One half teaspoon of cayenne pepper
4 cups shredded cheddar cheese
One 12 ounce can of evaporated milk
Two eggs beaten
Salt and pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients in 6 quart crockpot. Cook on low for four hours. Top with toasted breadcrumbs before serving if desired.

I used speech to text to "type" the recipe. So much quicker than actually typing, especially on a mobile device.


Jenn

I'm Lucky

I have an awesome husband. He did the grocery shopping for me tonight. This is after taking Eliza Claire to basketball practice and, of course, working a full day. He didn't get home from grocery shopping until after 10:00 pm. Not only did he bring all the groceries in, he also put them all away.

Grocery shopping is right up there with laundry on chores I dislike. It was a lovely gift to not have to deal with this week.

Now if I could just get him to come around on the "lovely" 70s hamburger chair I would like for my sewing room. You know, the sewing room that doesn't exist...yet. Maybe this grocery store trip was just bribe. Maybe I should have done the shopping after all.




Jenn

Bingo

We had lunch with the grandparents today. Bingo was the pre-lunch entertainment.









Everyone was enthralled. You would have thought they were playing for prizes or money. They weren't.

I love continuing my family's Sunday family lunch tradition. I think it is good for all three generations involved.

When we left it was raining. This is how my kids reacted.








In other happenings today, I was very proud of Charlotte. She helped Michael lead worship at the 8:15 service. Getting up in front of 60 or more people can be daunting. Charlotte read the call to worship and the prayer of adoration. These are not easy things to read when you are ten and have a learning disability. She totally rocked it.

Eliza Claire came through the house practicing her zombie walk. According to her the key to an authentic zombie walk is dragging your right foot. Dragging your left foot is a dead give away that you are a zombie imposter.

The girls spent the entire afternoon running around outside with the neighborhood kids. I love that Texas winters typically allow for lots of outdoor time. I guess it partially makes up for the six months of the year that being outside is unbearable.

Jenn- Posted from my iPhone

Saturday

It's been a good and productive day. My little girls spent a good bit of the day running around playing with different kids from the neighborhood. Rehm rode his bike to meet his Boy Scout patrol for a social gathering. He loved having the new privilege.

Charlotte finished her second Harry Potter book - Learning Ally is awesome. I highly recommend it for kids with reading difficulties. It requires a paid subscription. We are blessed that our school provides the subscription for my to dyslexic children.

Michael started digging out a new garden bed. He also moved several furniture pieces around to make room for the new to us pieces my parents brought us.

I got some chores done and got to spend some time sewing. I finally got some mending done I've been putting off for weeks. I hate mending. Now that I sew, my family expects me to mend. They don't seem to understand that it is a chore not a hobby. I'm hoping to finish piecing a quilt today. This is my first completely on my own, without any help top. Once I get it done, I have several other sewing projects I want to start, including a top for Ruby, my block of the month block, a zippered pouch and some other things I'm not remembering right now.

Happy weekend all,
Jenn

Interpretation

Michael turned on Star Wars this evening. Not sure which movie. I'm assuming the first one since Michael didn't clarify. A scene came on that was on the millennium falcon.

Charlotte: Who's the drunk guy? (Referring to Han Solo)

Michael: He's not drunk.

Charlotte : So what is he?

Me: He's swashbuckling

Charlotte: What's that mean?

Rehm : He's drunk.


Jenn- Posted from my iPhone

Conversation with a Middle School Boy

Rehm walked in the house after school.

Mom: Hey, Rehm! How was school today?

Rehm: Good.

Mom: What was good about it?

Rehm: Well, it was good because nothing bad happened today.

And that, my friends, concludes all I learned about his day.

Jenn

I've lost my mind

I must be crazy. I have now officially signed up for two different monthly quilting activities. A block of the month and a modern block club. I have never taken a beginning quilting class. The only knowledge I have is by watching my mom. I'm probably in way over my head. My plan is to have fun, hopefully learning something and end up with a finished product I'm not embarrassed to show.

I know getting out of my comfort zone is good for me. It stretches me. Now I'm hoping I enjoy it and stick with it for the whole year.


Jennifer

Going back to school is hard work

Someone is tired and has conked out on the couch.



Jenn

Blessings

In transcribing the kids' answers to their end of the year survey last night I was struck by how many people have been a blessing to them.  I am so grateful  for all the people in my parenting village.  Below is a list of the people that showed up on my kids surveys:

The other families that we celebrate New Year's Eve with.  Each family in attendance has at least one baby in heaven.  The hosts lost their baby on New Year's Eve.  More than anything on New Year's Eve were are celebrating their son and all the children we have in heaven and that we have learned to have a meaningful life after such a profound loss.  Not only do the adults support each other, but the kids also enjoy knowing there are other kids like them that have a sibling (or more) in heaven.

Boy Scouts.  Rehm is not an outdoorsy or sporty kid by nature.  He loves scouts and all the skills he learns there, including shooting.  I am so thankful for the adults and other teens that spend their time encouraging and teaching each other.

Band.  Being part of band at the middle school has be amazing.  Rehm loves his band director and his band director from last year, whom he helps out during his lunch with the 6th grade double reeds.  Band is definitely his most challenging class at school. His directors encourage him to do his best even when it means working hard.  

The girl who has made my son realize that girls are not horrible creatures.  Having three younger sisters he does not always think highly of girls as they tend to annoy him. I am grateful that he is learning that girls are funny, smart and kind, even if he still does not recognize these traits in his sisters. 

Johnny Football (Manziel).  Rehm is not hugely into any sport but he loves watching Johnny.  Who can blame him?  Johnny is a wonder to watch.  I love seeing Rehm developing an appreciation for sports, even if he still has no desire to play them.

All of the teachers who continue to inspire and encourage my children to love learning.  I am in awe of teachers.  It truly takes a gifted person to teach.  We have been blessed with many wonderful teachers this year and honestly, every year we have been in school.  A special shout out to Ruby's teacher who made her list as the best thing in 2013.  

All of my kids coaches.  Especially Eliza Claire's softball coaches.  They have done a great job of teaching and motivating her.  She loves playing softball and that is most certainly due to her coaches. 

These are by no means the only people who have blessed us in the past year.  However, I was overwhlemed with gratitude when I realized just how many people outside of our family bless us on a daily basis.

We are truly blessed.  Thank you all for being part of our journey.  We couldn't do it without you.

Jenn