a random update

It's another school morning and I'm hanging out with the boys before they go to school.  We are watching their new favorite PBS show, "Odd Squad".  We have seen the show enough times that we have seen all the episodes.  Several times.  

We are also playing fetch with Ponyo.  She loves to chase the tennis ball.  

We've had a little illness here recently.  Kella and Kinley were both sick with a quick stomach bug.  Nothing sets back laundry plans like having to stop and wash extra bedding and pillows.  

Marcus has his last basketball game of the season tonight.  The 6th grade season goes quick and I think he is going to miss it.  

Tomorrow, I have the privilege of taking all the children to the dentist office.  At 8 a.m.  You know, they have you schedule your next visit at your last visit.  Who knows what your schedule will be like in 6 months.  I guess I didn't, because I wouldn't have schedule myself to take all the kids so early.  (I would have sent Andy with some of the kids early and met him there with the second wave of kids.)

January is almost over.  Pretty soon I will put away all my snowmen.  They look so happy on my piano.  I'll have to see what kind of Valentine's Day stuff I have or dollar store here I come. 

Random updates should include some photos...

Cale made this awesome poster of a god he created for a mythology segment of reading.  I love looking at his details.  

Sigh.  I'm sure you saw on Facebook that Kinley got into to brown sugar when no one was watching.  For a long time.  And, really, I'm pretty sure one of the boys dropped the ball when they didn't shut the canister lid all the way.  She ate a fair amount of sugar and I thought that might have contributed to her belly problems the next day. She was pretty happy sitting here, in her own little world.

Marcus brought home A/B honor roll certificates for first semester.  That boy managed to eek out a B in pre-algebra for the semester.  (His second quarter grade, not as great.)

Kella, modeling some costumes she had on yesterday.  This is her Quidditch costume.  You know, the game on broomsticks from Harry Potter.  

Then, she changed into a super-hulk fairy.

Never a dull moment.

New Year's Resolution stuff

It's almost the end of January.  It's about time for me to post my resolution-y stuff for 2015.

1. Finish projects-this worked well last year.  I got caught up on finishing several scrapbooks.  I actually just finished Liam's preschool scrapbook.  I just have to buy the book to put the pages in. I have more books to do.  Also, the stairwell and upstairs hallway finally got painted.  Goal is to change out the flooring downstairs.  This is the year.
2.  Hang some pictures up.  Our walls are still pretty bear every after living here for 7 years. My goal is to hang up one thing a month, at least.  Already met my January goal with hanging up these handprint tiles by the boys' room.  They are from helping in the kids' kindergarten classes.  I left room for one for Liam at the bottom.  I just glued on a picture hanger sawtooth thing on the back with some silicone glue.  Let them dry for a day or so and hung them up. So far, they've stayed up.

3.  Take more pictures.  The above picture is the first one I've taken with my camera since over Christmas break.  Shame on me. I do take some on my phone.  But those are not as easy to upload.

4.  Eat better, exercise more, read more.  blah, blah, blah.  Ongoing goals that I think we did better on last year.  And it's always exciting to be recharged by the start of the new year.

Random basketball update

Can't believe I haven't mentioned how basketball is going.  And, since I'm up with the boys before school, I have a chance to be on the computer.  So, here we go folks...

Marcus has been playing 6th grade ball.  The school has an A team and B team. Marcus plays are fair amount of time with the B team.  He has gotten better as the season has gone on.  His season is almost over.  He has a game tonight, Thursday, a tournament Saturday and one more game next Wednesday.  I think both the A and B teams win most of their games.  I honestly don't know.

Cale is on a 4th/5th grade rec team.  Their name is the Pacers.  The 4th/5th grade teams are called by NBA names.  I think right now his team in 3-1.  It's always fun to watch Cale play.  He gets a little tired of my unsolicited advice so I try not to yell too loud.  He can shut down most of the starters for the 4th grade travel team, which makes me a little proud, since Cale doesn't get a lot of playing time of the travel team.  And, Cale is playing travel ball again.  Still not seeing the floor a whole lot.  We finally asked the coach what he would like Cale to improve on.  It's a start.  I do feel the players are all pretty equal, but whatever.  Cale likes it and it's more practice time for him.  I think the travel team has won 3 games.  The only kid that could really shoot the ball moved away, and since no other players were every developed as shooters.... One more regular season game, a week off and then tourney play starts.  I'm hoping for a fast out.  Shame on me, I know.

Ewan is on a 2nd grade rec team.  I think their name is Auburn.  Their record is 2-1 or 3-1.  There are four teams for 2nd grade ball.  I think he's having fun.  I have seen an improvement in Ewan's playing.  Ewan will tell you that his best sport is soccer, but I wonder if that is because he is not actually playing that sport right now.  Of course, Ewan would probably rather not play a sport and just spend his time in imagination play.  But, on the other hand, I know that he likes and wants to be as good at sports as his brothers.  Ewan is also playing on the 2nd grade travel team.  10 kids tried out, and 10 kids made the team.  He is not the strongest player, by far, but he sees a good amount of playing time in each game.  The league they are in is not very challenging, and Ewan's team, all the players, have been playing organized ball since kindergarten.  Next year, the team will be in the Indy Hoops league, which will be tougher.  Will Ewan be a part of that team?  Who knows.

Liam just started team practices and games a few weeks ago.  I should know, since I am his coach.  A  moment of weakness made me offer myself to coach these small folk.  The team is 0-2 and I will be surprised and excited if we win a game.  For all the assistant coach and I do in practice, the kids can't seem to remember that it's okay to catch a rebound.  They also forget to move around on offense.  And, sometimes, can't remember how to guard the other team.  We also aren't great scorers.  Liam sporadically participates in practices.  I think it's because he is just not very coordinated and basketball is hard for him so he doesn't want to try (might have gotten that from his mother).  But, he likes the idea of being on the team and I can convince him to play in the games if there is a promise of a snack afterwards.  But, the kids seem to be having fun, and I know that 's the most important thing.  But, I'm competitive.  A win would be nice, too.

Rec league goes through most of February.  This weekend, we have a bunch of games.  Saturday Marcus has his tourney, Ewan has 2 games, Cale has 1 game and Liam has a double header.  Then Saturday Cale plays his last regular season travel game.  Busy, busy.

My goal is to maybe take some pictures, since I just realized I have none to share right now.

Is this how "'normal" people live?

I am up and it is 7:22 a.m.  I am not up because I am at work, but I am up because I have to be.  And, right now is pretty much my only chance to use the computer without fear of children wanting to use it and/or trying to touch all the buttons.  Andy is almost half-way through a 6 week period of working daytime hours.  Or, as this chronically night shift person calls them: daywalker hours.  It's a hard thing to get used to, for me, at least.  My best friend, coffee, is a big help to keep me going.  Here's one, big, run-on paragraph of our day.

Andy leaves a little before 7 and then I see Marcus off to school.  The other boys trickle downstairs to watch a cool PBS show "Odd Squad" that comes on at 7.  They eat breakfast and get ready to leave for school by 8:15.  Then, it's time for the girls.  If they haven't stayed up late or woken up in the middle of the night, the ladies are usually up right after the boys leave.  They have probably been awake for a little while because when I walk in, they are chatting with each other.  We come downstairs and start our day.  We are slow movers here and it usually takes us a good hour and a half to eat breakfast and put on daytime clothes.  We like to watch PBS and play with toys.  2 days of the week are preschool for Kella.  Sometimes, we are actually on time. (that is pretty much when Andy gets the girls up to meet me on my way back from work)  And, that's our morning.  I do try to do some kind of cleaning and laundry as we go.  I might even get ambitious and run an errand or even grocery shop.  The ladies and I have lunch, watch a video, and go upstairs to take a nap-at least Kinley will nap.  Busses drop off the boys in the afternoon and we start our homework and basketball schedules.  With four boys playing, we have something basketball every day of the week.  Then it's dinner and maybe a little relaxing before bedtime.  Andy gets home around 7pm, so he's really gone 12 hours every day.  On nights that I work, Andy is able to be into work a little later and leaves after I get home.  Yes, I have to stay up all morning then, but I do it a fair amount, so it's not too hard.

3 more weeks and then I think we will be back to our "normal" schedule.  At least for a bit.  I do hope, and pray for Andy to find a job where he can use his master's degree, and if it involves working daytime hours, that is fine by me.

The princess's closet

Christmas Day photos

Well, it's our first "snow" day of the season.  The district held out with two hour delays Tuesday and Wednesday.  And, it's not snow that's keeping us out of school, but the super-cold temps.  It's -2 out right now at 9:30 in the morning.  Hopefully, we can keep entertained.  Marcus just made pancakes for the first time and realized that you do have to use all the batter after you have made your own pancakes.  We have lots of games and the boys actually have a little homework they can do, too. Should be interesting.  It just stinks that it's too cold to go outside.  They, dog included, could use a good run to burn off some energy.

But, here, are some pics from our Christmas morning.  I worked the night before and the kids got to open their stockings before I got home (our Christmas tradition, according to Ewan).  They each got three under the tree gifts from Santa, a stocking present and a DVD.  They also had presents from family to open.  I think they had a great day.  The kids were happy with what Santa brought them.  I'm glad Santa was able to pull it together at almost last minute to get all the presents to the house.

Marcus is sporting his new Gryffindor tshirt.  He also got the rest of the Harry Potter movies we were missing.  We kind of like that stuff here.

just a picture of some of the present chaos.

Ewan, the artist, got a drawing thing. It looks cool.  

Kinley, was more pleasant than last Christmas-a gift itself.  She really likes her school bus that she got.

Cale got his fishing pole and tackle set.  He has been wanting one forever.  In fact, that lucky duck now has two, since his grab bag prize for selling popcorn was a fishing pole as well.

Kella is happy about a her new Frozen DVD from Grammy Linda.

Marcus got the guitatr he really wanted.  Now, he just has to learn how to play it....

Kella, modeling her new mermaid dress.

Santa brought everyone lego and/or robot building kits.  And, our table was covered for the next week with bits of buildings and people.

Some quiet time at the end of the day.  My guess is they are watching one of their new movies.

and that wraps up birthdays for 2014

My birthday was the last birthday of the year for our family.  We get a 4 month break now (well, less than that now) until Andy's birthday.

This birthday came in the middle of a week of sickness and work.  All the kids were sick that week with fevers, I didn't feel well either, there were still practices for the healthy kids and I worked 4 days that week.  We still managed to make time for some cake.

Me and my cake, made by Andy.  Thank you boys for the rabbit ears.  I'm sporting a new hat that Andy found for me.

Kella, modeling my new oven mit.

birthday pic with the hubs.  I have my new scarf on that Andy got me.  He also got me (us) a new teapot. Yea!

Liam needed to be in on the love.

Nice and simple,  It's what I like.  So thankful for another year.

The boys' bests

I got all the boys off to school this morning. 

It is much quieter here.

I miss having them home.

I miss having a slower schedule.

Instead of doing our "Hi/Low"s at bedtime, I asked each of the boys what the best part of their Christmas break was....

Liam

going to Grammy's house

Ewan

everything

Cale

getting the Wii U, getting the trampoline and seeing family

Marcus

the Wii U, trampoline and going to Grammy's

It was an awesome break.

the days after Christmas...

We had a great Christmas here in the land of red heads.  I'll find some of those pictures to post later.  But, the day after Christmas, I took the kids to Grammy Pammy's for more Christmas fun.  The car ride wasn't horrible, but it took us forever to finally get on the actual interstate.  Then, we had to stop to eat and stop again for the bathroom.  We got to Eric and Bitsy's in time for some unsupervised cousin play time and time for the grown folks to sit around and talk.  It was nice.  Joe was there and I hadn't seen him in a long time.  And, everyone got to see Kinley with her super-friendly personality (insert sarcasm here).

Ah, family.

Me, Joe and Bitsy.  Photobombed by some of Bitsy's kids.

The next day was Christmas at Grammy's.  We had a great lunch and then opened gifts from Grammy and Lanny.

Yummy!

We put the kids in the back bedroom while presents were put under the tree.  Liam wants you to know that he is holding a treasure map that he made.

Let the chaos insue!  Presents and wrapping paper were everywhere!

Liam loved his new shirt.  He wore it 2 days in a row.

These lucky boys got a Wii U from Lanny.

Kella, in her new pretty purple dress and crown.

Marcus, excited about bubble wrap.

Liam commandeered Jacob's microphone and sang to us.  Mostly a One Direction song that he knows.  And, then some Christmas music.  He loved this microphone so much, we ordered one for him that same day. (as I type this, Liam is reading right along.  It's pretty fun.)

Kella had to sing, too.

We chilled out and watched Babes in Toyland.

Grammy Pammy's fireplace with all the Spielman stockings.