Lovey-dovey babies

I LOVE the new pics I took of my kids!!

Seasons of Love

Well, insomnia is good for one thing... I'm actually posting on here!

So you've noticed my blogging habits are a bit erratic. o well. Sometimes I'm all into it and excited, and others I just don't have the time. Deal! :)

Some interesting news as of late:

Olivia has an imaginary friend. Her name is Erica and she gets in trouble a lot. She's about three inches tall, like Tinkerbell, but no wings. She's on time out a lot for hitting, but she also likes to dance and hang out in the middle of the living room floor - where I stepped on her the other day. I was just walking through the living room when Olivia said "don't step on Erica!!!"

John is SOOOO excited for Christmas. We were looking through a toy magazine this morning and he says "What's that?" (it was some gadget, but before I could answer he continues...) "I want that!"

Emily's eczema is better!!!! YAY!!!! I finally took Chrissy and Becca's advice and took her off gluten (mostly, I'm still learning) and she's doing a lot better. Not all the way... she's still itchy and whiny, but so much less!! We also ALWAYS put her in long sleeves and tape them around the bottom so she can't pull them up to scratch. It has REALLY helped. (Jayme, you're a genius!) We do the same thing with her pj pants if we need to, but the real problem is her arms. We're pursuing more allergy testing, and getting more answers in that department, too. It's so nice to have her better.

Ella is crawling and saying "hi" and "mama". And she's still a moose. She likes to eat.

Jason and I are hanging in there. Barely... but we're still here. I'm enjoying weighing less than I have in 4 1/2 years!! Jasons been having a tough year at school, but that's slowly improving. Life with four kids is tough, but it's nice to have so many smiling faces around here. We've got really good kids. They are awesome!

O yeah, the kids looked great on Halloween, here are some pics...

We're all a little Loony

Today I am going to explain the origin of the nicknames for our children. It only takes two words... Tiny Toons

John = Tazmanian Devil because he leaves messes everywhere he goes.

Emily= Montana Max(ine) because she screams and yells all the time.

Olivia = Gogo because she's insane.

Ella = Furball because I am Alvira who is always loving and squeezing Furball and never leaving him (in this case, her) alone.

Jason is Buster Bunny because John thinks his daddy is the coolest guy in the show.

I'm up late, with nothing to do but blog, and I can't think of anything to write about. Maybe I'll go post on foodie babies about all the yummy dinners I've made lately.

Just to learn to be a parrot

I flatter myself by thinking some of you may want to know how school has been going for us. I guess I'd have to say that all depends on the moment ...

This is Taz when he "just can't handle it right now!"

We have done some really fun activities, like measuring our hallway with unifix (is that what they're called? I don't know...) cubes, and making a "barn" on the bunk beds that we read Charlotte's Web in.

But The Tazmanian Devil is still kinda having a hard time with all the practice reading and writing. Oliver DeMille would scold me for all the structured content I've put in the school schedule, and Susan Wise Bauer would say there's not enough!

How about what Mommy (aka Alvira) would say??? I think we're playing it by ear to tailor my child's curriculum to exactly what he needs. And he's doing great.

We've already seen some improvement in his handwriting, solving problems that he suffered with all through kindergarten. He just needed the one-on-one attention and encouragement. He is reading fairly well, I wish he was better, but I really can't force him. I want him to continue to like learning, so I'm just trying not to push so much that he begins to dread school time.

The girls are sorta-kinda-maybe adjusting to the new schedule. They all want my attention ALL THE TIME no matter what and school time doesn't seem to be any different. Furball usually naps during the bulk of school time and that helps. It's most bothersome when I'm trying to help Taz with his reader and his handwriting. They don't want to sit and listen/watch, but they wont go play on their own, either. Some days are better than others. With math, science, and history they are pretty involved in what we're doing, I just tailor it to them. They all LOVE being read to. That makes things A LOT easier, we do A LOT of sitting and reading... science books, history books, poems, fairy tales, children's scriptures, etc.

The only thing that's certain is that mommy has NO TIME!! And I make time to do the things I want to do (like blogging) by ignoring things that are much more important. That's why I don't blog as much as I would like to. That, and I'm having trouble thinking of my fun song-lyric-blog-post-titles.

I'll come to her by night,

So, last night I had a dream that I was pregnant again. I didn't know the definition of NIGHTMARE until now.
I guess if we had another one, I'd just add her ('cause that seems to be the gender trend) to our little conveyor belt

not a new concept, but very effective.


On a sidenote... I wish I were as cool as Chrissy (and so do my girls).