Nathan Aaron xoxoxo

Here's our little Halloween baby :)

4 lbs. 15 oz.

7:16 pm

Home Stretch!

Just weeks away! 

A picture of me and my THREE children!

I'm not sure why they decided to shake their booties at the camera...

My face and hands and feet are SUPER puffy and swollen. You can kind of tell in these pictures.

Everyone is telling me: You look exhausted! Gee, thanks, everyone!!!! I do feel exhausted a lot of the time, but today I feel pretty great, thanks to a trip to my awesome chiropractor this morning.

Then we went to parent-teacher conferences and got GREAT reports! I really love both Maxwell's and Mimi's teachers this year, and they are really enjoying their new school!  So nice to be able to say that!!!! The kids stayed with Mary and Phil and had a lot of fun while Pa and I learned all about their little school lives.  Phil went out and got us a gallon of milk and some treats for the chillins! THANKS PHIL!!!!

Also, some snoozey and super cute children having a slumber party!

Some FHE scanning!

Tonight was Family Home Evening and the lesson was: Showing Thanks to our Heavenly Father. As usual, the kids come up with the best ideas :) 


Mimi's:

 Maxwell's:

Here's Pa's:

 And Mommy's:

The treat was brownies with glaze made by Maxwell :) 

Home Improvement

First, a Zen parable:

There was a man walking on a lonely road. He came to a torrential stream and saw that the bridge had been washed away. He decided to spend several days cutting down trees and vines with his little knife to build a raft. He built it carefully and well, and the raft carried him safely across the water.  When he got to the other side, he said to himself, "This is a good raft. If I ever come across another stream, I can use it again."  And so, he carried the raft for the rest of his life.

I asked myself this question: what would make me feel the best right now? Have the least anxiety? Feel ready to welcome a new babe? And the answer is: a very clean and organized house, sparse even, without many THINGS.  When the house is neat and clean and organized, I feel energized.  But the problem is: it never stays that way for very long. So I've really been kicking it into high gear around here trying to get it that way.  And there's really only one way to do it: get rid of stuff. We don't have a huge house, but that cannot and should not be an excuse.  I remember living in France 10-12 years ago and working as an English teacher. A lot of parents hired me to give private tutoring lessons at their homes. I saw a lot of Parisian apartments that way. Most of these families were pretty well off.  And their apartments were teensey.  They made 800 square feet or less work for a family of 5 or 6, and made it seem spacious and luxurious. So I know it can be done. Maybe I need to think like a Parisian, only it's been so long that I don't remember how.... I'll have to figure it out along the way. All I know is I'd much rather have a clean, organized, uncluttered home than a house full of fantastic rafts taking up all my space and energy and patience. SO FAR, THIS is what I've done:

Donation:
50+ books (I'm not going to write how many over 50 there were b/c it's so embarrassing that I'm such a book hoarder... But no longer!)
5 large full-to-the-brim bags of clothes- mine, Maxwell's, and Mimi's. 
10 plastic Tupperware containers and some other kitchen-y items that haven't been used in many years.
2 large bags full of not-touched-for-over-a-year toys.
LOTS of odds and ends, too many to mention.

Gone for good:
4 ugly throw pillows that constantly got in the way.
An extra crib mattress someone gave us.
A crib (too broken down for donation).
Two wooden chairs I absolutely hate.
Many, many old coloring books, magazines, bunches of half-dried-out markers and dull crayons.
Our old, used-to-the-final-moment infant car seat & base (the stroller broke long ago but got heavy use for 4 years).
An old printer from college that is super out-dated.
A broken sewing machine (sniff...)
All puzzles with missing pieces and all games we never play (sorry Operation and Mouse Trap, but my house is just not big enough for all of us).
A massive sweep of our food storage that revealed quite a bit of expired canned & boxed goods. Our recycle bin was heaping that week.
Old toys that the kids never touch that can't really be called "gently used" anymore.
LOTS of outside toys that have been cluttering up the joint and never get any play.
CD's I will never again listen to and are too scratched up to donate, also I don't have the original cases.
90% of my college papers, tests, and notebooks.
LOTS of odds and ends, too many to mention.

Things are really starting to shape up around here :) .  Some good books that got me going were Clutter Busting by Brooks Palmer, The Simple Living Guide by Janet Luhrs, Clutter Clearing Choices by Barbara Tako, and Throw Out 50 Things by Gale Blanke.  I've also found some good blogs and websites devoted to simple living, downsizing, and clutter clearing.  Life is better and easier with less stuff!!!

Worth the wait.

Every year since we've been married, Chris has wanted to go see the WWII bombers at Oxford airport, and every year we either can't go or we miss it. This year we finally went.  Maxwell was so excited. Mimi had a good time too.

I got in line for this one, but as soon as I got to the top of the ladder, I came right down. It was very claustrophobic in there!  But the rest of the fam didn't hesitate :)

Maxwell was getting pretty excited, it was very cute :)

Going over to the other plane...

The line was shorter for this plane so they wanted to go through again, but this time they wouldn't let Pa come with them!  Then they went through the other plane again with Pa because the line was long.  A sidenote: for the past two days, Mimi has been calling Pa "Shnozzle", as in, "Come here, Shnozzle. Hi there, Shnozzle."  She was doing it all weekend and the whole time we were there.  I asked Maxwell where on earth she got that from, and he said that it was the name of the proboscis monkey on Wild Kratts (a show about animals that they love)!  Mimi! So now every time Mimi calls him Shnozzle, Pa calls her Shnozzle Jr., and of course she flips out!  But hopefully it will make her lay off of poor Pa soon, who is a really good sport, and who in no way deserves such a handle!

Proud Mommy Moment

After a rocky start to our new school, I was so happy to open up their backpacks this week and see so much beautiful, thoughtful work!  So far we have been very blessed with wonderful teachers, and it looks like this year is the going to be the same.  I was anxious about them going to the bigger school, and it was a little crazy the first week with late buses, etc. BUT they both come home happy and giving me great reports :)  SO relieved.  I think we'll be okay after all...

Here are some backpack delights and highlights of the week!

Maxwell brought home this beautiful picture of a lion.  The kids listen to a story and draw what they pictured in their minds, and then write a description (I love that kind of stuff! Maxwell's teacher seems really, really good).  Max wrote, "I drew when the lion got trapped" and drew this detailed picture! I went crazy for this and Max was pretty proud :)

In Mimi's folder I found this note from her teacher. WOW Mimi!  Great job!  Her teacher seems just right for her, and she's settled right in.  Mimi says she really likes school! It's great to see her excited about it after all my worries. PHEW!!!!  So glad I can give this good report!!! 

Summer's not over just yet!

Cookout at Pepere's

Reading in the trampoline after school :)