Saturday my youngest brother came to over to our house to help Dadzoo build a trebuchet.
I love watching boys do boy things, they sure had a good time, and now if there are any enemy invaders we can successfully launch basketballs, watermelon and small animals (joking) to defend ourselves.
It has been over two weeks since I posted anything, I really didn’t intend on taking any kind of break from blogging, it just happened. 🙂 Being the end of May we are busy with a thousand little tasks and a few big ones. School will be out for the summer in 4 days, and I look forward to that, I love lazy unstructured days of summer, but, getting to that point creates a lot of work it seems. Testing has to be done, projects finished, school programs and play and parties are all to be had, it is a lot of fun busyness. We have also had soccer games and practices, a piano recital to prepare for and a garden to try to get planted (more on that later, it has been a struggle this year). All the while I have been quietly moving into the final weeks of my pregnancy. I have seven(ish) weeks to go, moving into the “big” phase where every movement seems to be a bit of a struggle. I also tend to worry a lot around this time, will I have everything ready, what needs to be done, will I be able to do this, what if something goes wrong, can I do an unmediated birth, can I push her out, and will my legs (varicose veins, which are starting to be painful) hold out. Dadzoo is kind and patient, he reminds me that I always get a little frantic around this time and that I have delivered five babies already, I will be able to do this one as well. 🙂 Speaking of preparing for the baby, we have purchased all the essential baby gear, replacing everything we got rid of after number 5 was born and we thought we were done, it has been fun to have all new stuff. We are working (or hiring it out) on remodeling the nursery, the new crown molding, bead-board and trim is all up and waiting to be painted. Now I am working on collecting the little things, a baby quilt, sheets, a nursing cover, a car seat cover and various other items. (A trip to the fabric store is in the works). So that is what is going on in my little world, nothing new, no new projects or crafts, just quietly going about my business and anticipating the arrival of Little Sister.
We are simple people, we don’t need fancy Television sets, gaming systems, or a thousand cable stations. All we need is cement truck, some lawn chairs and a couple of contractors, and we are entertained all day long.
What odd thing(s) do you find entertaining?
Spring Break at our house isn’t a week loaded with vacations, activities and general fun. It isn’t all bad, the kids have plenty of time to play with friends, and there are late nights, with movies and popcorn. It is a nice break from the regular grind. Usually I have some big project that we all work on during spring break, typically it has something to do with spring cleaning and packing away winter clothes, cleaning closets, that kind of stuff.
This year was a moving day for my girls. Because baby sister is coming and needs a little room we used our week long vacation to move the big girls around. Right now our home has 4 finished bedrooms: the master bedroom, little brother’s room, and the other two were shared by two girls a piece. We (I) decided that all 4 of the older girls could share the basement room, when it was built we make it rather big with a big closet and it can easily accomidate 4 growing girls, that way the baby can have a nursery, and won’t be interupted when she is napping, on the other side an older child won’t be locked out of their room while baby is napping or woken up by baby durring the night.
A lot of people express suprise and wonder (out loud) at my general sanity, putting 4 girls in one room. At those times I am reminded of my own pioneer ancestors who slept many people in a room, infact I just finished reading a biography where one family was so excited and happy that they had finally built themselves an 8×10 foot cabin to sleep all twelve of them, and that they no longer had to sleep in tents. I would dare say that it has only been in recent history that it was felt that children were intitled to their own room or to only have to it share with one sibling.
That being said, I did want to make the move and the room special for my girls. They are good sports about the whole thing, and I haven’t heard a single complaint durring the whole process, infact I have had a couple of them say how excited they were to all be together. The biggest adjustment that has had to be made was the older girls learning to be quiet when they go to bed when the littler ones are asleep, also the first few nights they were up giggling and playing games. One of the first nights they were down there together they asked if they could “play quietly in bed”. This is something I let them do often, and it means that they can read or color quietly in bed until they are sleepy. Well after a little while Dadzoo went to check on them and found all 4 girls sitting on one bed playing card games. They were promptly sent to their own beds to sleep, but we weren’t mad at them, I love that they are making friends with each other.
Anyway, I will stop talking and show pictures of their new room. It has never been completely decorated before, so I am excited to have decorated a very girly room for my girls!
On Monday night our family sets aside time for Family Home Evening, we do a variety of things, sometimes it is a religious lesson, or a board game, or I will read out loud. Yesterday, it was some intense gardening, I needed 4 garden boxes prepared for planting and a flower bed needed to be taken down and some perennials moved so our driveway can be expanded to accommodate that beast of a vehicle I drive around.
So my gardening chores, while they have always been some what of a family affair, became a very intense family affair, with my older girls doing some heavy shoveling and lifting.
