Summer 2014

Summer once again! Our summers seem shorter because the twins and Steve are on a different school schedule than us. For our summers, I imagine a big long sub being chopped off at either end. We are not home all together as much as when Steve taught at Norwayne Middle School. I'm teaching summer school and Steve is working at PT's Grille as well as working on getting his AIG certificate through 4 online courses. Still very busy plus our house is for sale. It has been so pleasant to finally get everything (and keep everything) in order in our house. Summer is so much more laid back and my brain feels not so overwhelmed. Now that Georgie Pie is not nursing anymore, this year should be a little easier. For the first year after I have a baby, I nurse and pump and my brain just isn't as free. Keeping up with the milk supply is always on my mind and takes up some time. I'm certainly not complaining because I wouldn't have it any other way, but it definitely takes up a big spot in my life that now is freed up for other things.

Praying for our house to sell quick! A few weeks before school got out, our upstairs air conditioner went out and we all had to sleep downstairs. For about two weeks, we all took our pillows and blankets and piled all around downstairs to sleep. We were all together and I loved it. That's where the idea for selling our two-story house began. Hopefully we will move to a one-story house soon.

Linus...Pie has fallen in love with carrying around a blanket. The blanket is a bit long and she's prone to trip anyway so we have to watch her.

Steve, Dellaney, and Blinson left yesterday for Lake Junaluska. They will be back on Sunday. It was a little hard for Dellaney to leave for that long, so we are all praying here that she has a good time and that the time flies by.

For this weekend, it's just me and the 4 younger girls. Hopefully we can have fun and keep the house straight at the same time:)!

Mirrors

Whenever GL sees a mirror, she immediately starts waving. It is instant - automatic - I think she likes seeing herself waving back. She waves from her shoulder all the way down with her whole arm. She will always wave at Jimmy more than anyone else.

How She Talks

The paperwork is underway for LG to get some speech therapy. She mainly drops off the first consonants of many words. Her talking sounds like a pile of vowels. In context and when you are with her, she is easier to understand. When she is on the phone, it all sounds like gibberish. These three words sound exactly the same...barbecue, baby food, bathing suit. Hadley and Daddy used to sound identical, but she has since fixed Daddy. Hadley still sounds messed up. For B, she used to say B Beer, then she moved to Bibbitz, and now Binton. For D, she says Naney, the exact same way that D used to say her own name. For J, she says Yoyo. For GL, she says My baby or Orge En. She speaks with lots of expression and her most recent new word is "embarassed".

The Maid

After all the kids got up from the table, it looked as if they weren't finished eating. No one had cleaned up their space. Feeling frustrated, I called the oldest three back in to the dining room and asked them to bring me a phone. When they all got in there, I told them that I would give any one of them $100 if they could call a maid to come and clean off the table. Immediately, Joey and B started cleaning off the table, while D started doing something with the phone. Suddenly, my cell phone started ringing. D said, "I'm calling the maid...all day long every day all you do around here is clean up:)!" Quick wit!

What Kindergartners Say...

Running crazy around my house yesterday morning getting ready for school...I told H to go and count to 50 for her daddy. Joey must have heard her counting. On the way to school, Joey mentioned that each time H got to a number ending with 9, she would pause awhile to determine what number came next.  Then Joey began to explain that in 1st grade you can't count like that. Instead, you have to count fast. Joey began to demonstrate, counting very rapidly. When she got to about 84, H put her hand up on her forehead and said, "Do I really have to learn this RIGHT now?"

H conversation with Joey in the car...
H: Mama was talking about helping me quit sucking my thumb and she looked on that dot.com thing. It said cut off your thumbs. I'm not gonna let anybody do that.

Later on that same ride, I was praying our prayer for the morning and Joey and H started talking. When I finished praying, I said, "Why are y'all talking in the middle of my prayer?" J said, "I'm sorry, Mama." H said, "I'm sorry, Mama. I was ignoring you. I didn't know you were talking to God. I thought you were talking to us."

Last night, H and Joey were invited to spend the night at a friend's house since they don't have school today. When I agreed, H came over to the friend's mom and said, "I'm going to try not to freak out, but I am so excited!"

On another day, H said, "I heard at school that it is a bad thing to stick up your middle finger. What am I gonna do if my teacher asks me to show her 2? Should I do this [She put her two fingers pointing down.]? Or maybe I could do bunny rabbits [holding up bunny ears with crooked fingers]?"