Kiddoes

A quick update on everyone:
                                                                   SARAH
September 19th--  Happy 11th Birthday Sarah!  I can not believe I am old enough to have an ELEVEN year old!  What a joy each of the seasons of mothering are!  Sarah has become such a wonderful helper-- I can't remember running our home without her!  After Natalie was born she took full charge of the kitchen....cooking, cleaning, menu planning.....she did it all!  She LOVES to work in the kitchen and is very proficient.  Her breads usually turn out better than mine!  Since she is usually the first one up and going in the mornings, she loves to prepare breakfast for the family.  She has such a wonderful sense of humor and is growing up in so many ways!  Such a joy! 
She loves to read--she's into Nancy Drew right now,  loves History,  and still loves dogs and horses!

                                                                    MAYA
Maya is a super-dooper baby holder!  She loves making Natalie smile and seems to have a special knack for getting her to quiet down when she is fussy.  I will find her singing some silly little made-up song to her and Natalie will be listening intently.  She is Boden's morning buddy which means she gets him dressed in the mornings, helps him with his breakfast, then helps him wash his face/brush his teeth/make his bed/etc. after breakfast.  She is so creative at making these chores into games for him.  She is a wonderful listener and is so good at being a great friend.  This girl is gifted in relationships for sure!   Her laughter brings such joy to our home!  At this moment she is ironing all her dad's uniforms for work-- a task she enjoys and does well.  So sweet.
She loves horses, making people laugh, and whittling with her pocket knife.

                                                                    BENJAMIN
November 6-- Happy 8th birthday Benjamin!  What a little man our big guy is becoming!  He wants to be wherever Dad is and doing whatever Dad is doing.  This year he got to learn to mow, ride a skateboard, and shot his first deer!  He loves to play with Sarah and Maya and is beginning to enjoy his brother more and more as Boden is able to run around with him now.  He constantly comments on Natalie, "She's just so cute!"  He is creative and is always coming up with very logical ideas and inventions.  He often stumps me with his questions.  He loves building, hunting, and cooking when I let him!

                                                                        BODEN
  Boden.  Oh Boden!  He is our little "Joy-Boy".  So full of life and laughter!  We all adore him completely.  He is so very verbal and has no problem communicating his need, wants, likes and dislikes.  He thinks he rules the roost and he probably does!  He keeps up with the "Guys" and wants to be doing everything they are doing.  He loves to play hide-n-seek and as a result can already count up to ten!  He also knows all his basic colors already!  He says the cutest things and will repeat everything he hears.  He loves riding his red tricycle, eating (anything, anytime), and running in the back yard with his brother and sisters.

And last but not least.................................... NATALIE
She was two months old this week.  We are finally getting some of those precious smiles and coos!  I love this time when it's as if they all of a sudden "wake up" to the world around them!  She loves to look out the window and swing in her swing.  She is starting to push herself up in order to look around.  She turns to the sound of voices and will interact with coos and smiles.  She is a happy, content baby-- as long as I'm holding her!  :)  I do carry her around in the Ergo a lot of the day and she still sleeps with me at night.  What a sweet cupcake.  

And that's all folks!

Kid Funnies

Benjamin:  I was staring off into space the other day and Benjamin started waving his hand in front of my face.  "Mama, mama!  I don't want you to be stare-i-lized!"

Maya:  She and I were discussing future spouse credentials so to say and she shyly let me know that it is the boys with long hair that she finds most cute.  "But," she was quick to add, "I always ask myself, are they kind, are they honest, do they love God... and you never know, God could have me marry a bald guy!"

Sarah:  "Mom, I'm starting to sweat.  I smell like you!"
 






 

Love Notes

As you all know, nothing could be worth more in my sight than this:

Mothers
By Sarah Pool

Some mothers are mean,
Some are fat,
Some are clean,
Some work,
Some bottle feed,
But some, like you, are just perfect.

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Things
Also by Sarah Pool

Flowers are pretty,
Clothes are cute,
Grass is soft,
Purple is the best,
But You are the super best.

**********************************************
My Mom
by Maya Pool

1. My MoM is beutful.
2. She is lovely.
3. She is the only prfict MoM. (sorry ladies!:) )
4. She is a Rose.
5. She is a qeen.
***********************************************
Me and You, You and Me
by Benjamin Pool

Mom's eiys are blue.
************************************************

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!

Tomorrow

So, we got this puppy from a friend of ours. Our friend breeds and sells registered German Shepherds and wasn't going to be able to sale the runt. Poor little guy had his tail broken off by his litter-mates! Yes...literally! He is now a stub-tail German Shepherd by de-fault; anyway, so our friend called us and asked us if we would like to have him for the kids. Well, of course we said yes, so now we are one-dog richer...I hope...

We got the little guy yesterday and the kids have LOVED on him! He is tiny. Today, I started noticing he wasn't playing or acting very puppyish and then I started noticing he wasn't eating and then I saw the diarrhea and throw-up..yep, I'm pretty sure he has parvo...ucky stuff indeed! So after about two hours of sobbing on the kid's parts and an hour of calling around on mine, we decided if we could keep him hydrated enough he might have a chance of making it. So we agreed we would syringe-feed him Pedialite and Gatorade through the night and do what we could to give the poor guy a chance. So, I have my alarm set for every hour from 11:00 PM until 6 AM. The kids are all camped out on a pallet on the living room floor with the puppy between them and I am on the couch. The idea is that they will each take an hour shift of watching the puppy, feeding the puppy, taking the puppy out for a potty break and then wake the next one up at the hour mark for their turn. I warned them that if the puppy messes on the floor during their shift they are also responsible for clean-up duty (this was supposed to be the incentive to help them get the puppy outside on time!) They will rotate throughout the night and I will "supervise" from my spot on the couch. Hmmmmmm......I just came downstairs from taking a shower...everyone is crashed out already!

The other thing that is going on is...this is also the week I am supposed to be weaning Boden from my bed into his own bed. He has done pretty well so far, only waking about three times last night, nursing briefly then going back to his own bed just fine.

So, I am calling this a week of "night school!" (Ryan is on night-shift right now too so he is working from 11:00PM until 9AM) Actually, it is probably totally out of my character to allow the kids to be up all night taking care of a dog but hopefully I have learned some things too in the past few years:

1. THIS IS the important stuff...the three R's they can learn anytime from anyone, certain things they will only be able to learn from Ryan and I as the opportunities present themselves.

2. How often do you get the opportunity to stay up all night nursing one of God's creations back to health?

3. Encourage their servant's hearts whenever I have the opportunity.

4. Do I believe God will provide all I need (including joy after a sleepless night?)

5. What better way to allow them to express love, dedication, perseverance and a shared responsibility for something that matters?

By the way, they decided to name the puppy, "Tomorrow".

Miracle of Life

Well our female cat, Callie, had kittens on Friday! It was so weird how the kids knew all day long that "today was gonna be the day." They took her out to her designated birthing center (a box in the playroom) about 15 minutes before she started having the kittens! They got to see and be a part of the whole thing! It was so cool! She had three completely white kittens and one little orange one-- I think the orange kitten was a gift from God just for Maya. Whisper is Sarah's cat and Callie is Benjamin's cat and Maya wanted an orange kitten but I couldn't bear to get another animal just now. When we found out Callie was pregnant I began asking God to give Maya an orange one. And He did! Just because He can do stuff like that! :)

Watching the whole birthing process with Callie led to some very interesting questions concerning the upcoming labor and birth of our own little Will-be. I promised the kids I would not be eating the umbilical cord-- no matter how nutritious it is for a cat Mommy!

So, now the question remains.... anyone want a cat?

Spit Art

OK, as far as I'm concerned, here's one for the records:

the other day we were at the new house and the kids were getting a wee bit bored. It had gotten really hot and their clubhouse is right in the sun so they were trying to find something to do in the shade of the porch. No chalk, no bubbles, no toys of any kind....hmmmm....what is a kid to do? Well, they are usually pretty good at amusing themselves with rocks and sticks and dirt and bugs so I figured they would come up with something pretty quickly. I was sitting out on the porch with them but had gotten distracted by a phone call. the next thing I know, I hear them spitting...spit, spit, spit....laugh....spit, spit, spit.....laugh.....spit, spit....and so on. I hung up quickly as I was dying to find out what in the world they were up to. "What in the world are you guys doing?" I asked. "Spit Art!" They informed me giggling. "See. You spit on the sidewalk, then get some dirt and cover it up and then blow all the dirt away and see what kind of design is left behind."

Come on now, I know some of you are dying to go outside and try this right now... just make sure you have a child along with you-- you would look pretty funny doing spit art out on the sidewalk all by yourself :)

Kid Funnies

I walked into the living room the other morning and Benjamin and Maya had pulled the couch out from the wall and were back there with blankets over their heads. I asked them what they were doing. Here is the conversation that followed:

Maya: We're making plans.
Mommy: Plans for what?
Benjamin: We are going to ask PipPop to build us a big boat-- after all he can build houses so surely he can build us a boat, right?
Mommy: What do you need a big boat for?
Benjamin: We are going to go on a 1 1/2 year mission trip all around the world to tell people about Jesus.
Mommy: Oh!
Maya: But we need someone to go with us Ben.
Benjamin: Well, let's ask Daddy--he IS a genius you know. He can ask his boss if he can have 1 1/2 years off work to go with us.
Maya: Ok. But first we are going to sail to Nevada.
Mommy: Nevada?
Maya: Yeah, I'm going to get a wild horse and Benjamin is going to get a rattlesnake to take with us.
Mommy: OK. (thinking to myself-- just what kind of mission trip do these kids have in mind anyway?) You know Nevada is a desert right-- you couldn't sail there.
Maya: Oh, that's ok. We'll just sail to the edge of the desert and then walk from there!

(Maybe we need to work on geography some more?) :)

Breaking..er, I mean Baking Bread

This is one of the kids favorite things in the whole wide world to do. One day I was in a hurry and suggested we just make a batch and stick it in the bread machine to knead for us....they were so upset....they love to knead the bread. "Kneadless" to say, we went ahead and made it the way they wanted to. Ummmm, nothing in this world beats the smell of homemade bread and butter! (Probably why I can't lose those infamous pounds when I want to! :) P.S. I might recommend not watching Benjamin very closely if you ever plan on EATING bread at our house!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Y...Ike....s!!!

So, here's the scoop...

Ever heard of a little rain storm called "Ike"? That is where Ryan is. He was deployed to go help with hurricane issues that arise as people are evacuated and homes are destroyed. In the last three days he has visited San Antonio, Beeville, Houston (where he ran into two cousins of mine in Wal-Mart!), Beaumont, and back to San Antonio. He has been sleeping in the back of a truck or on the bus and no, there haven't been showers. He will be arriving in Galveston by 7 AM Saturday morning (at least that is the plan right now) and will probably be gone 1 1/2 to 2 weeks depending on damage, etc. I will keep you posted as I know more. I may not be able to talk to him for a few days depending on phone service.
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The kids and I are doing fine. We went to see my brother who lives and hour and a half from us yesterday. My cousin's football team was playing in the town where my brother lives so I got to see Jeremy in action as a coach! It was neat but wierd-- he's 6 years younger than me-- coaches are supposed to be old guys! The kids loved it!
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School is going really well. The kids are just zooming through their math books and I am so impressed at how quickly they are learning and understanding new concepts.
Here are some new skills they have learned:

Benjamin: the Pledge of Allegiance, able to identify all the continents and oceans and directions (N,S,E,W) on a map, some patriotic songs, days of the week/months of the year, all of Psalms 100 and 121 (plus various other verses), books of the New Testament, how to correctly write his numbers 0-9

Maya: has beautiful handwriting, is beginning to read with confidence, place value (to the hundreds place)-- which includes writing the numbers and saying them correctly and showing that she understands the concept by "building" the number with cubes, all of Psalms 100 and 121, books of the New Testament, identifying places on a map (example: India, Philippines, Jerusalem, etc.)

Sarah: reading very well, advancing in math quickly-- I started her out in an easy book to make sure she hadn't missed out on any basics because of our crazy year last year, she will finish it by Christmas and be into multiplication after the first of the year-- all of Psalms 100, 121, 23 and 1 plus lots of other verses throughout the Old and New testaments, the books of the Old and New Testaments, she loves to write in her journal

They all LOVE puzzles and listening to me read to them. Often, our evenings find us camped out in the living room with me reading to them and the three of them sprawled out on the floor working puzzles. They love collecting bugs and rocks-- you should see our back patio-- it is a working rock and bug farm! Come by for the tour!

I am anxious to finish up our curriculum and start the next one! We will be finishing it in December and starting a new one in January. I alternate what I buy every 6 months to break up the cost for us....I buy Sonlight in November and Math-U-See in the summer. It has worked out pretty well so far doing it this way.

It is so exciting to see the children growing in knowledge and wisdom! I LOVE that God has given me the privilege of teaching our children at home! What joy!

Today...

So far today we have...

Read two chapters of a new book,
Played two games of Uno and Yahtzee,
Watched a movie,
Painted,
Played with Goop,
Done four science experiments involving pennies, water, and oil (thanks Dadddy!),
Painted some more,
Played a video game,
and had a tea party. And... the day is still young! These children just crack me up with their energy and ideas! What a way to spend a Saturday! Whee!!

Here are some pics of the Goop creatures they made....what a mess! It is so fun to play with this stuff but really, be prepared for lots of clean up!

Welcome to my world...

I have the three funniest kids on the planet! Now I am sure some of you will disagree with me but, really, they are. It amazes me how content the three of them can be just playing together--like for hours--literally. When I first found out I was having 3 kids ages 3 and under, I must admit, I kind of flipped out. But now, five years later, it is the best thing that they each live with their "best buddies" as they call each other. They will play and play with each other, skipping from one game to the next, becoming a new character in the blink of an eye. I have tried to play with them before and I just can't do it right! Amazing! Right now they are running around decked out in full costume as "Karate Girl" with her amazing sidekick "Puppy Face", "World Girl" with her sidekick "Captain Rusty B" and "Meatball Boy" (because he can shoot out flaming meatballs). Meatball Boy rides an amazing Tyrannosaurus Rex!!! Oh how I love these kids!

We love Chinese!

One of the things we did while on vacation earlier this summer was to eat out at a Chinese Food place in San Antonio. The children loved trying out the chopsticks! We had a blast laughing at everyone's attempts at actually getting the food into the mouth! Benjamin finally started stabbing his-- smart kid!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Waiting to be Found

We went on a nature hike today at Seminole Canyon State Park. It is a convenient 9 mile drive from our house. The day was perfect-- overcast and slightly windy. We took the Windmill Trail-- 2/3 of a mile long. It took us over 2 1/2 hours to hike it. It was so enjoyable. Maya and Benjamin picked up every millipede that crossed our path-- probably about 8 in all. We saw millions of different cactus and red ants and lots of rocks! The children are infatuated with bugs and rocks! They love to look at the different designs and colors. Benjamin even observed that, "some flies have green eyes and some have orange!" We found a spring that was once used as the main source of water for the railroad that was built here in the early 1900s. The thing the children seemed to enjoy the absolute most was the rock climbing! There was a rock wall about 10 feet high-- just dangerous enough to peek their adventuresome spirits, but safe enough to be Mommy-approved-- they climbed up and down for over an hour. They went lizard-hunting and even saved a baby millipede from being carried off by some enemy ants! Maya finally caught a lizard for Benjamin and as soon as she had it in her hand, its tail detached from it's body. The tail continued to squirm in her hand as the lizard escaped under a rock. I was just beginning to wonder how she would react when I heard her exclaim to her brother, "Well Ben, now you have a pet tail!" I love how God allows me to enjoy His creation with the renewed eyes of a child.

God's wonders are all around,
Simply waiting to be found.

Sew Fun!

We have a new past time at our house! I taught Sarah to sew on a button several months ago. She was wanting to know how to sew and since that is about the extent of my knowledge, I taught her everything I know! I gave her an old cloth diaper, some buttons and a needle and thread and 40 buttons later, she is still going strong. Every once in awhile, she will pick up her "button project" and sew for awhile. She has since taught her sister and brother the fine art of button sewing also!

The other day we were in Wal-Mart and I got the bright idea to try to come up with a project that she could actually start and finish that included lots of button-sewing. We looked at material, and buttons, and ribbon, and finally, as we wandered into the scrapbooking section, I saw something that sparked my imagination-- there on the front of a scrapbooking magazine was the cutest scrapbook page that included flowers and ....buttons! So, we decided we would make the "page" into a pillow top and make a pillow for her bed--- perfect! So now, we are learning how to stitch and sew a pillow all by hand (I don't have a sewing machine of course). And oh how I wish I would have paid my mom more attention when she tried to teach me these seemingly boring skills so long ago! It thrills me to have our three children sitting around me at the dining room table....sewing....wierd! Maya patiently and diligently sews button after button on the "button project", Benjamin sews on a button, takes it off, sews it back on again, then takes it off again because his favorite part is cutting the thread, and Sarah and I are working on her pillow! Who knew sewing was "sew" much fun?!

P.S. To our close aunties and Grandmothers: if this trend keeps up, I'll bet I can guess what you will be receiving for Christmas!

Planting Seeds

I hope some of you are still enjoying spring! We took the children to an air show at the Air Force Base in Del Rio yesterday and it was HOT! When we got in the car, our gauge read 108 degrees! That is what I heard on the news that it really was! I guess summer is here to stay! We enjoyed the planes so much and the children got really excited about all the guys who work so hard to protect us. They got to sit inside the cockpit of a helicopter and go inside the cargo hold of a huge cargo plane (sorry I don't know official names). We can talk about our military and pray for them but something like that really gives them a visual as to what it is all about. I was asking Ryan why it is that an airplane flying by while a patriotic song plays evokes such overwhelming feelings (usually resulting in tears for me) inside? I don't know the answer but I am excited to be able have these kinds of opportunities with our children. The seeds of a vision for a country that will turn back to God are being planted even now.

Oh, Brother!

Last week, the children came to Ryan and I and announced that they wanted us to go to an orphanage and adopt them an older brother. They had discussed it fully and knew exactly what kind of a boy he should be. Then yesterday, we received a Bealls ad in the mail and the girls sat down and picked out the exact boy they wanted! Now, its not that I am against adopting a child. Or even a brother for that matter. In fact, Ryan and I have discussed it extensively. But, I do find it strange that they have all agreed to an older brother of a certain description. Is God preparing our family for something through the hearts and dreams of these three children? When we talk about more children in our family, they always insist it must be an older brother. Maybe each of the girls wants a dancing partner?