Life Changing Adventures

I haven’t posted in a really long time. I’ve been a bit preoccupied. Five children under 8 has rocked my world. I use to leave the house with all the children without batting an eye. Until I had number 5. Suddenly the thought of getting all the kids ready, buckled, and then controlled in public is too much. I do get out but it took me awhile before doing it regularly. And it is still quite overwhelming.

This isn’t really what this post was going to be about. I just wanted you to know that life has been turned upside down for me with number 5. “How much trouble can one more be?” That was my thought with every new pregnancy. When the total sum of the one mores equal 5 under 8 it’s more. The only thing I have less of is time and mental capacity.

Our newest adventure that we have embarked on is relocation. My hubby has taken a job in Norfolk, VA. We  have to sell our house, have a moving sale, pack our things, find new housing and drive all of us to VA and start anew. I have a mental list in my head of all the things that need to be done from now till we are settled. I’m a list maker and I love to scratch things off. And I don’t mind adding things to my list that I’ve already accomplished that go with the list in order to reward myself. I’ve checked a couple of things off already – get the house ready to show, and list the house.  So the ball is rolling and I’m on the right track. I just plan to take it one day at a time and then one box at a time. And we’re praying that only a few people have to see the house before we get an offer. I am so not into keeping it spotless and in “show” quality for months on end. We are looking to be moved by the end of Jan.

I’ll try to update more often on what’s going on.

Find that phonogram

As you can tell I have the blogging bug. Blood must be flowing through my brain again. My kids have a new came that they are begging me to play. We call it “find the phonogram.” My children dred reviewing their phonograms everyday. So yesterday I gave it a new twist.

Madison and Eli have been working on learning the last 30 of the 72 phonograms for several weeks. I decided to spread them around the living room floor. I then called one out and they had to find it. Then they had to repeat it to me. They hopped all around sometimes going all around the right one to make their turn longer. When we were done they asked to do the rest of them. I couldn’t believe my ears. They usually moan and groan about phonogram review. So I got the first 42 out and laid them on the floor. By this time Laura Ashley came out to see what fun she was missing in the living room. She is working on learning the first 26 so she joined the game.

They had such a great time they wanted to play again. I had to deny the request a baby needed to be fed and lunch needed to be made. Oh and I want them to want to play on Monday. Can’t wear out the new game in a day. Eli has asked three times today to play.

To continue the fun learning day I decided to not make Madison write her spelling words in her notebook. She got to choose between writing them on the sidewalk with chalk or on my window with a dry erase marker. She chose…

She thought this was great fun. When I told her this choose she looked at me with a smirk as to say, “you mean I could write on your window?”

I got this idea from this article at All About Spelling: Tactile Ways to Practice Spelling. This was just what I needed to read to make spelling more fun for Madison. My friend at Freely Educate is giving away a beautiful reader and a box of chocolates from All About Spelling. You have till tonight at midnight to enter.

Need to update my blog title

I need to update my blog title to include Spencer. I just can’t come up with anything. I need help. I thought about Many Adventures with 4 Munchkins and a Little Man or Many Adventures with 5 Munchkins. A friend suggested Many Adventures with the 5 Munchkateers. Help!!

Any creative suggestions out there?

The Transition to Five

We are now in a good daily routine since Spencer’s birth. He is napping and eating on a great schedule which allows me to predict when I can get things done with the older kids. I’m starting to feel a little more normal.

The hardest thing about having five kids under 7 is having a very active and boisterous 6, 5 and 3 year old. This has made most things difficult. Leaving the house is one of the hardest. I was never intimidated to leave the house when I had 4 kids under 6. We just did it. But five under 7 has bound me to my house. We used to leave the house to go to the park on a whim when the weather was nice. Now I gear up all week to get out on Friday only.

My biggest struggle with my “big” kids is keeping them on task. I have been repeating directions way too much lately. They seem to get distracted  playing with eachother or aggravating each other these days. Well the first step is figuring out the problem. I’ve started the pruning process and hopefully will be getting some first time obedience and follow through on a more regular basis. I have found that sending them one at a time to get ready keeps them out of eachothers way.

So all in all five is good. It’s very busy though. For now there are many things that don’t get done as regularly as I would like. But as Spencer gets older we’ll be able to get to those things more.

Three Year Old Vocabulary

I had an interesting encounter with Little Bit. She walks to me holding her blanket and says, “I blessed on my blanky.” I am quite puzzled, maybe I didn’t hear her right, “What?” Little Bit: “I blessed on my blanky.” This goes a few times. And then I say, “You blessed on your blanky?” She says, “Yeah, achoooo.” Now I got it, “Oh, you sneezed on your blanky.” “Yes.” Me: “That’s okay.” Little Bit: “Can we wash it?” There’s a small wet spot on it and she can’t stand for her clothes to get anything wet on them and insists on changing. I say, “We’ll wash it later, it’s okay.” Thankfully this appeases her and she goes back to watching Sid the Science Kid.

Adventures in shopping with a friend

Yesterday I had to make a trip up to Daphne. Being a 40 minute drive I didn’t want to go pick up my order and then turn around and come home. So I decided I would stop at a fabric store. I am ready to make curtains for my kitchen and haven’t found fabric yet. A friend of mine decided she would ride with me. Her husband was able to watch her children so she was able to help me with my kids. It’s always nice to have someone with you when you are out with 5 kids. She pushed my double stroller with Laura Ashley and Jackson, I carried Spencer in my moby wrap (love it!!) and Madison and Eli walked. It was a pretty normal trip. Madison and Eli horsed around and I sushed them and reminded them of proper behavior constantly. Jackson tried to pull things off the end caps. The girls decided they had to go potty halfway through our experience. (Yes I made them go before we left home).  And I was trying to look at fabric while considering the possiblity of it working in my kitchen.

I found just the right fabric, which I will share with you as soon as my curtains are made. We got up to the front of the store to get it cut out. Eli fell into several rolls of fabric nocking them over. I got dirty looks from the cashiers. I remanded him to a chair in the front of the store. We were not getting helped as quickly as the children would like. The store clerks and others seemed to be bothered by the noise. No one exactly said anything to me. But no one said anything to me. Not a hi, how are you, or even a my you have your hands full. So my dear friend takes them outside and gets them in the car while I get my fabric cut and paid for.

After paying I go to the car, put Spencer in and jump in, start it up and begin to back out……

when the car started acting funny. It wouldn’t go back anymore. My friend says, “Oh, the stroller!!” My trunk can’t be opened without the key so she just folded it and set it down behind the van to be put in. I pulled back up and got out to assess the situation. You would think that I just rolled over it, nope. When I backed up, it apparently raised up and got caught in my wheel. We pulled and pushed and tried to turn it out. To no avail. It was wedged in their good. All the while kids start pouring out of the van asking what happened. My brain immediately shut down and couldn’t figure anything out. That happens to me a lot when all the kids are talking and something is wrong. My friend is able to continue to think. She calls her husband and he is already in the car with her kids headed to Home Depot. He is willing to make a small detour to help us out. Then she comes up with the winning idea. She says, “if we could just jack it up I think it would come loose.” So I get my jack out, read the instructions real quick and start lifting the car. Bingo. The stroller comes loose. We assess it real quick, throw it in the trunk, call off our help and drive off to the next stop.

Having help is wonderful. However, I have noticed lately when I do have help my brain quits functioning like it does when I don’t have help. It’s like it goes into sleep mode. This happens even when my hubby is home to help. My well organized, this is the way it works system gets thrown for a loop. I’ll have to work on that because help is good.

The stroller appears to be in good working condition. The foam on the handle is a bit torn and the umbrella is toast. But the wheels and the frame aren’t bent. A few replacement pieces and we should be ready to go.

After we got it out I mentioned that I would have liked to have grabbed my camera. It was a hilarious site.

Our Week with the Elephants

We spent a week learning about elephants in September. The kids really enjoyed it. Madison and Eli learned so much about elephants. We measured the height of an elephant on the driveway. Each of the kids layed down and we looked to see how tall they were compared to an elephant. All three of them together are almost as tall as an elephant. We also made an elephant lapbook from www.homeschoolshare.com. Eli’s favorite elephant book was Horton Hears a Who, which I had to read over and over and over. I enjoyed reading it every time.

Spencer’s Birth Announcement

I finally got around to finishing Spencer’s birth announcement. I am loving smilebox. You can do so many things with it. Enjoy!

Make a Smilebox postcard

Three munchkins and a little man meet the baby boy

Since Spencer was born in the evening the other kids were home getting ready for bed. It was too late for them to be up at the hospital waiting for his arrival. So they came the next morning after breakfast. I wish I had the video camera rolling. It was quite a scene. They visited for an hour. As the tornado dust settled from their visit Wes says, “I’m overwhelmed already.”

So here are a few of the funny things that happened during the visit. They each took turns holding their new brother. When they weren’t taking their turn holding Spencer or snuggling with Mommy they were eating and drinking. For those who know us this should come as no surprise. My kids walk around all day saying, “I’m hungry.” I’m convinced that people at church think that our last name is Hungry.  The entire time we are there they walk around saying, “I’m hungry.” My Mom had made biscuits for breakfast and thoughtfully brought the leftovers with her. I had a few snacks for myself and Wes in our bag. I also packed snacks in a diaper bag for them before leaving the night before. They ate the biscuits, all of my snacks, all their snacks and drank 3 of my little juices (all that was in the room at the time) and all my water. When they purged us of all our snacks and drinks they moved on.

When Laura Ashley first came into the room she noticed that my tummy was not as big anymore. She said their was room for her to sit on my lap without smooshing Spencer. She also asked, “Can we take him home.” She talked to Spencer a lot while I was pregnant. He heard her voice and started looking for her. She is also fascinated by his cord stump. She wanted to know what it was, did it hurt him and when will it fall off. Every time I change his diaper we have the same conversation.

Madison immediately ran to her Dad and told him how much she missed him. Then when they were leaving she came crying to me asking me if she could stay with us. Her only other question as how did Spencer come out. I told her that God gave a Mommy a special place for the baby to come out. I was hoping that was going to satisfy her curiosity. She wanted more, “Where is it Mommy?” Well… It’s in a special place. Realizing she wasn’t going to get anymore answers she gave it up. She hasn’t asked again. Whew!! I just imagine if I tell her more I will walk into her room one day and her and Laura Ashley will be pretending to birth their baby dolls.

Eli was more interested in my juices at first than holding Spencer. But he eventually became interested and snuggled up with me to hold Spencer. Jackson wasn’t sure what to think of the Spencer. He looked at him like he was trying to figure out what he was and how it was going to affect him. I am pleased to report that he loves his baby brother. He likes to give him kisses and pet his head (gently).

During the visit a nursery nurse came in to check Spencer’s vitals. She let each of the kids listen to his heartbeat. Eli said it sounded like waves, Madison said it sounded like a horse running, and Laura Ashley said that it sounded like a heart.

We thoroughly enjoyed our visit with the kids. We left the hospital after dinner that night. We were able to visit with the kids a bit before everyone went to bed. It was really nice having the whole family together.

Here are a few pictures from the whirlwind visit. If you click on the image you can see it bigger.

Welcome Spencer

Spencer 12 hours after birth

Spencer Wesley was born Saturday, January 3, 2009 at 7:57 p.m. He weighed in at 8 lbs. 12 oz. and measured 21.25 inches long. He is officially the blue ribbon winner of the Price babies. He outweighed Jackson by 2 ounces.

So here is some Price baby trivia tidbits. I am a nerd when it comes to numbers so please excuse me. So here is how they all weighed in. Madison, our first was 7 lbs. 12 oz., exactly 1 lb lighter than Spencer. Eli and Laura Ashley both weighed 8 lbs. even. I only thought that Jackson was big weighing in at 8 lbs. 10 oz. I really don’t think it is fair for a short, small waisted woman to carry 8 lb babies. I really envy my friends who get to carry 6 and 7 lb babies and have longer waists. They not only outweighed each other they actually got longer. Madison was 19.5 in., Eli was 20 in., Laura Ashley was 20.5 in, Jackson was 21 in. I guess it got a little roomier each time. So I just think this last bit of trivia is cool. All the boys were born on Saturday. All the kids, except Laura Ashley were born in the evening. Laura Ashley was born at 7 in the morning. But all bets are off because she was a Katrina baby so there’s no telling what would have happened without the incredible pull of the low pressure.

One last bit of fun. For those who want to know who Spencer looks like I will let you decide. Here are the others newborn pictures.

Madison

Eli

Laura Ashley

Jackson

Spencer 12 hours after birth