Good News

After 22 months of life, Jane is FINALLY walking!
Her babyhood lasted a looong time. I'm happy she is a toddler now.
I'm also happy the knees of her existing pants will stay intact from now on.
She adopted a binky about the same time she started walking. Weird, but it keeps her from squealing. My ears have thanked me for letting her keep it. I know I'm crazy.
And this sweet little babe of mine finally allows me to rock her to sleep, which I do sometimes when I need to spend time in my favorite spot (the rocking chair). She is great at going to sleep on her own too, but I'm just glad that after so long of not being able to console her at night she lets me snuggle her. It is Heaven to hold a sleeping child.

Lately

Ivie turned 7. We our celebration was all her ideas...Chinese food eaten with chopsticks and lemon cupcakes. She finally got her American Girl doll! She worked and worked to earn enough to pay for half. What a girl. She chose "just like me" doll, which looks nothing like her, but she was very specific in what she wanted....Red hair, freckles and blue eyes. Her name is Kate. I love Ivie's unpredictable ideas!

When I only had one or two children, I always let them cook with me and we made marvelous messes. Now that we have reached a chaotic number of children, the cooking experiences are fewer for the youngest ones. But this day I had Norah help me make bread, then she played in the flour for at least an hour...measuring and leveling, scooping, spilling, looking for the hidden treasures Mom hid in the flour. She had a ball and I felt like a good mother. And the mess was ALL worth it to have her happily busy for a whole hour!

Norah takes really great pictures of random things. Here is Jane clutching a can of Spaghetti-os, licking her lips at the thought of eating such a delectable meal. Norah and Jane almost live on Spaghetti-os...at least for lunch, which kills me. I'm 'from-scratch' kinda gal, but the ease and simplicity of a 3 minute meal is just what we need sometimes.

Every one of my girls have sooner or later taken an interest in clothing. Suddenly clothes are more than bits of cloth that cover one's body. Jane is there and walks around with 1, 3, or 5 articles in her hands until she convinces me to just let her wear them. Here she is sporting jeans, 2 skirts, a onsie, 2 shirts, and one around her waist.

Another self-chosen outfit. Go Jane!

Caleb and Wes went to Arkansas to hunt with my brother and his son. Caleb got 2 deer, all by himself! He was so proud, and so was his daddy. His Uncle J worked hard to make it a good first hunting experience, and it was! Caleb has big plans to hang the antlers in his grandparent's cabin, where they are sure to draw plenty of attention. I'm glad he isn't asking to hang them in my living room.
The whole idea of hunting and killing things isn't my favorite thing, but I'm happy for the time my little guy spent with his Dad, Uncle and cousin creating memories. Guaranteed Caleb will remember this for a long time to come.

Boo!

I'm a Halloween Baahumbug. It is such a bizarre holiday, and the huge amount of candy and WRAPPERS drive me nuts! But the kids love it, so I slap a smile on my face and do it anyway. Each year, we have at least one really random costume in the family. The last two years it was Caleb's "old grumpy man that just woke up" and "the richest man in the world". This year it was Ivie. She was a "scrub-a-dub-dub girl". She came up with the title and costume all by herself and was sure to tell anyone who asked that she was going to be a "scrub-a-dub-dub girl", which usually required a bit of explanation. Caleb was a mad scientist with Albert Einstein hair, Norah was a princess (doesn't the look on her face tell you exactly how she feels about her costume?), and Jane was a giraffe (who thought she was a horse). She sat contentedly in the wagon clutching the same few tootsie rolls the WHOLE time. Our neighborhood did a 'Trick or Treat Street" (similar to a trunk or treat) with dinner before the trick or treat-ing. Super fun and not too cold thankfully!